The 1981 Listening Post - Robin Lane and the Chartbusters - Imitation Life

Robin Lane and the Chartbusters - Imitation Life #144 April 21 1981 Robin Lane and the Chartbusters Imitation Life Genre: Rock 2 out of 5 Assignment: Write 100 words on a Robin Lane and the Chartbusters album “Will you pay me for it?” No. “Will I be able to point to your site as a reference for my CV?” Nah, we’re Facebook. However… “Yes?!?” You may cross post it on your blog. “My…blog?” Yes. “The one I started a decade ago when Blogs were a thing and is now only frequented by bots that crawl the internet for search engines?” Yeah. That one. “Sigh…ok. But only because I need to stretch my writing muscle and I have no patience to do any long form writing.” Whatever. We don’t care. 100 words. Go. Robin doesn’t write good songs. Her voice is distancing. The band is uninteresting. She sounds like she wants to be every other woman led band from Pretenders to Go-Gos and falls short on all of them. Done. https://music.apple.com/us/album/many-years-ago-complete-robin-lane-chartbusters-album/1465207251 Songs 12-21 on this comp.

The 1981 Listening Post - Gary U.S. Bonds - Dedication

"Gary U.S. Bonds - Dedication" "#144" April 1981 Gary U.S. Bonds Dedication Genre: Springsteen 3.25 out of 5 Highlights: This Little Girl I’ve been looking forward to this ever since it showed up on the list. As a pretty big Springsteen fan I knew about this but never sought it out. See, I didn’t love Bruce in 81. I liked him. I appreciated him but it took a while for me to really dive deep. Later in college, lonely, having made some weird choices with my academics and friendships, seemingly intent on blowing both of those things up at the same time, I still have regrets for the things I said and di back then. So, I knew about this record because it was Bruce’s attempt at flexing some of his muscles to elevate an artist he liked by producing the the revival record and writing some of it and playing on all of it. That hit…”This Little Girl”…Bruce took a lot of heat for the way he talked about women in the 70s. And rightly so. They are all “little girls” or something like that. But, in 1957, this is perfect. But it’s 1981. Eh, it’s still ok. The groove is good, the chords, the entire retro-ness of it. Although maybe we need to address the content that Little Stevie brings to the party with “Daddy’s Come Home”. But I think it’s really better when Bruce does it. He slows it down a bit and that works. Bruce will interpolate “Your Love” a few times but never to better effect than he would in “My City in Ruins”. Side Two is a bunch of covers bookending a Bonds original. There are no clunkers but also nothing to demand you flip the record. This album was buoyed by a name and a single. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaEQ0U_gCyw

The 1981 Listening Post - Von LMO - Future Language

Von LMO - Future Language #142 1981 Housekeeping Von LMO Future Language Genre: Space Wave 2.25 out of 5 Highlights: Outside of Time In Memphis there was a casino. Maybe it’s still there but my traveling companions happened upon it on our cross country sojourn. We didn’t go to Graceland but we went to a strip mall outSIDE of Graceland and tried to film the employees as we stumped them on various things Elvis. Back to the Casino. It was on the boardwalk that we happened upon. We were only in Memphis for a day. I don’t recall where we slept. I have no memory of the actual trip save for the stops. Which is weird. It was 9 full days of my life. But we happened upon a bar that was connected to a casino and we met the proprietor. He called himself Prince Mongo. His place was called Mingo Wingo or something like that. He gave us money with his picture on it. He was a hoot. I learned later that he ran for Mayor of Memphis a number of times. He was a wing nut. Von LMO reminds me of Mongo. A self-styled weirdo with his own narrative. A life story that I imagine someone has biographed. I don’t wanna read it. I’m glad he’s out there. But that’s all the exposure I need. This is a manic, synth-metal hybrid with saxophones that tries really hard to be freaky and weird but comes across as abrasive and distancing and I think that’s it’s purpose. The Space Rock of “Outside of Time” is supposed to sound like a mind-fuck and that’s what it does. But not through studio trickery or engineering mastery. It’s a constant drone of fuzz-riffs with interspersed maniacal lead licks held together by a front man who wants you to believe he’s a space traveler from another dimension. It appears that what he really wants to be is a New Wave Ziggy Stardust. Okay. Maybe we need that. But we don’t really need this album. https://music.apple.com/us/album/tranceformer-future-language-2001/828933018

The 1981 Listening Post - Holocaust - Nightcomers

Holocaust - The Nightcomers #141 April 1981 By Michael Gaynor Holocaust ((is that a UK thing, like Joy Division and Spandau Ballet?) The Nightcomers (I sure hope that’s a wet dream joke) Genre: Metal Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5 Michael’s Rating: 3 out of 5 Highlighteds: Everything except Mavrock Not a metal fan, but I’ll take the Brits over the Sunset Strippers any day. I’d never heard of these guys but they sound like Priest’s ransom Scots cousins. When it comes to metal up-tempo is always better than dirges imo, so thankfully everything on the album is listenable other than Mavrock. I particularly like Death or Glory and not just because it shares a title with the great then two-year old Clash song. I guess Metallica covered them once, I can totally hear that. https://open.spotify.com/album/5bcEM2rjdQiOG5J272Ib2w?si=2kJbJLdFRo2AU2O69l5wxQ

The 1981 Listening Post - Scars - Author! Author!

Scars - Author! Author! #140 1981 Housekeeping LISTENING POST DISCOVERY Scars Author! Author! Genre: Tribal Post-Punk 4.75 out of 5 Highlights: Leave Me in Autumn Fear of the Dark David Je t'aime c'est la mort (I Love You It's Death) I know I’ve said this many times before but, after 3000 reviews I’m bound to repeat myself: One of the most delicious discoveries of this project is my love for post-punk. I had no real idea how this genre would resonate with me. From The Pop Group’s first record to the more mainstream of Joy Division and even the dynamic but difficult early Chumbawumba. When it’s done right (and that is purely subjective) it’s pummeling but invigorating like a the effects of a cup of homemade Bulletproof coffee. That’s this record. It’s all there: the coming wave of alternative as spun by the likes of U2 but harsh and original. And this group, from Scotland, disappeared. This is their only record. But, what a spin it is. Note: I really could have just highlighted the whole album but I would be remiss if I didn’t call attention to “Your Attention Please”, a spoken word mind bender set to a poem by Peter Porter. For me it is a pure depiction of the terror and paranoia of living in the 80s, when the world always felt like it was on the brink of war. I really wonder what these guys might have done if they continued. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2NHKfweGcY

The 1981 Listening Post - 999 Concrete

999 - Concrete #139 April 1980 999 Concrete Genre: Snot Rock 3 out of 5 For the other 999 record I wrote: “This is a super delicious power rock offering with mugfulls of snot and just enough punk to not be too pop and enough pop to not be too punk.” Well, this one, just a year later is a kind of uninspired power rock offering with sniffles and a memory of what it was like to be a punk but it started to listen to more pub stuff and found themselves enjoying the pop as the desire to be a “punk” started to fade away. Case in point: The utter predicability of drum fills and walk downs on “Little Red Riding Hood” show a band that has lost interest or just can’t find the inspiration. The Clash got bored and went full reggae/dance. 999 got bored and didn’t know what to do so they just wrote boring songs. Just listen to “Bongos on the Nile” and tell me this isn’t a band that has run out of ideas. On second thought, don’t bother. Just take my word for it. I wish the rest of the record was more loony like “Public Enemy No. 1” but, alas, these guys aren’t really that much fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3dNbocfhzA

The 1981 Listening Post - Dave Edmunds - Twangin'

Dave Edmunds - Twangin' #138 By Daniel Irwin April 20 1981 Dave Edmunds Twangin’ Genre: Allen’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Daniel’s Rating: 3 out of 5 I don’t know what to say about this album, except I was B. O. R. E. D. listening to it. “Almost Saturday Night” is the only track that I vaguely knew, and I remember not liking it back in 1981, when my musical taste wasn’t figured out. Country Welsh Rockabilly? Not my cup of tea. The first handful of songs reminded me of Tom Petty (whose music I very much loved), but the opposite of interesting. The later tracks sound just like 50s/60s tunes by more memorable artists (i.e. Elvis), but I forgot them as soon as they were over. Sorry, nope. Moving on with my life. https://open.spotify.com/album/1ELus4dCVEuSC9rVICAZa3?si=DmICu-IoS9ygXd5QGF0V3w

The 1981 Listening Post - Baby Buddhe - Music for Teenage Sects

Baby Buddhe - Music for Teenage Sects #137 April 28 1981 Baby Buddha Music for Teenage Sects Genre: Electro Punk 2.75 out of 5 Highlights: All Night Long There are too many covers here to create a “requisite” section. 
 There’s precious little about this band or album out there. It feels like it was all done by a couple people in a small, dark room on the outskirts of the city who just bought a drum machine and a 4 track. Of most interest to me is the pedigree of the engineer, Lance Ong. He played with Grand Funk Railroad, Pointer Sisters, Anne Murray, Michael Murphy, David Sanborn and somehow his real dream seems to have been to put out skittish electronic minimalist take on The Residents if they were forced to listen to Suicide while trapped in a void. The nearly pornographic moanings playing to what sounds like a Sam Goody Casio keyboard on “Your Cheatin’ Heart” stand in contrast to Kathy Peck’s serviceable vocals. It’s the most interesting and dangerous track here. But it’s the staccato burps and complete deconstruction of “My Generation”, a song virtually unrecognizable, that saves much of this DIY excursion. https://music.apple.com/us/album/music-for-teenage-sects/1088008747

The 1981 Listening Post - D.O.A. - Hardcore '81

D.O.A. - Hardcore '81 #136 April 22 1981 D.O.A. Hardcore ’81 Genre: Hardcore Punk 3.25 out of 5 Highlights; Unknown Requisite 80s cover: “Communication Breakdown”. This all the markings of a band that has access to studio time and nothing else to do. The Dickies will do this so much better but not as weird. Yes, we are including this. I know it’s 20 minutes long. Yes, I know there are a marillion bands out there for whom 20 minutes is one song. But D.O.A. calls this an album and who am I to argue? What can be said? It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s messy, it’s breakneck, the vocals are yelling, the guitars are slamming and it’s ahead of its time, while being of it’s time and almost like it belongs in amber. https://music.apple.com/us/album/hardcore-81/322204225

The 1981 Listening Post - David Lindley - El Rayo-X

David Lindley - El Rayo-X #135 By Jon Rosenberg April 1981 David Lindley El Rayo-X Genre: Roots rock/Reggae/Zydeco Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5 Jon’s rating: 4 out of 5 Highlights: Mercury Blues Bye Bye Love Quarter of a Man Twist & Shout Pay the Man David Lindley is what’s known as a “musician’s musician.” In the 70’s he was an in-demand session player who appeared on albums by Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Dolly Parton, Curtis Mayfield and many others. If you needed a guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, or just about any other string instrument on a song, you called Lindley. In 1981, he put together his own band – El Rayo-X – and recorded this eponymously titled album (with a little help from his friend Jackson Browne as producer). This was a hard one to categorize. While “El Rayo-X” has many sonic flavors to sample, the overall vibe is very rootsy Americana with some serious reggae and New Orleans influences. Like if Bob Marley got lost in Cajun country while looking for Robert Johnson at the crossroads. Maybe it was a reaction to punk or the nascent New Wave scene, but this album sounds nothing like any of that stuff. No synths, no drum machines, no studio trickery - and it’s great! There’s a wonderfully unexpected reggae cover of “Bye Bye Love,” a scorching slide-guitar jam on “Mercury Blues,” a ska-Zydeco cover of “Twist & Shout,” a fun R&B workout with “Your Old Lady,” and a bunch of other sweet ear candy. Sure, there’s nothing particularly deep here, lyrically or otherwise, but there’s no way you can listen to these tunes and not smile. This is joyful music – and who couldn’t use a little joy in their lives right now? https://open.spotify.com/album/5YBOfNA4D8hUldUGivKZd7?si=6WxMVlR2T6atO5vcsdAKJA