The 1981 Listening Post - Heaven 17 - Penthouses and Pavement

 Heaven 17 - Penthouses and Pavement

#412

By Steve Caisse

September 1981

Heaven 17

Penthouse and Pavement

Genre: Cold War Synth Pop

Allen’s rating: 2.5 out of 5

Steve’s Rating: 2 out of 5

Highlights: None

The ‘80s gave us a bunch of “number bands” – Haircut 100, UB40, Level 42, and Heaven 17.   I associate them with changing the channel from MTV to something else whenever they came on.  And our family was late to the TV remote world so this meant getting off the sofa.  I’m a classic rock guitar guy and this music did nothing for me.  You couldn’t bang your head to it and I was instantly distrustful of bands with the new look - slick colorful tailored suits and smartly moussed haircuts. I’ve come around to some of it, but for the most part it’s still a genre I move on from whenever I’m confronted with it.

Heaven 17 formed after the Human League traded two guys out for two ladies. The two castaways, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, recruited Glenn Gregory as their vocalist for the new venture.   “Penthouse and Pavement” is their debut and it is song after song of layered synthesizers, drum machines and repetitive, talky vocals.  A thick British accented talky vocal with a hint of faux melodrama to boot.  But that faux melodrama, mostly espousing a left-wing political view, is the only human element in an otherwise cold dehumanized pop soundscape.  They are smart enough to hammer home some catchy hooks, but the verses don’t set themselves apart from choruses and, ultimately, the songs don’t set themselves apart from each other. As you move through the album you don’t tap your feet as much as your head throbs to the beat.

The album did have a minor hit called “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang”.  If this is what the Antifa of the day was using to rally the troops it’s not a surprise that fascism had a foothold in England for as long as it did.  But if you still pine for the days to raise your warm ale and rail against Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan this cheesy electro-groove might be for you. The song was banned by the BBC, a distinction a lot of bands wanted as a badge of honor.  

Anyway I’m not going to belabor this review. The sound is dated and I want to believe anyone who might have cared about this for a few minutes in 1981 would never want to hear it again.  Of course, I would be wrong, as the band still actively tours in the UK.   Still, I don’t understand what there is to like here.  There is nothing I want to listen to ever again, and there is certainly nothing I want to recommend other than some Extra Strength Excedrin.

https://open.spotify.com/album/662vZghUEjQCywafYimHtK?si=L4I5ECAmSaaxShhKDu-oWg

The 1981 Listening Post - Section 25 - Always Now

 Section 25 - Always Now

#411

September 1981

Section 25

Always Now

Genre: Wanna Be Joy Division

1.75 out of 5

Actually, it’s sort of simultaneous with Joy Division, no? It was produced by Martin Hannett and co-produced by Ian Curtis before he committed suicide. 

Thing is, if you strip Joy Division of Curtis’s humanity and depth, you are left with a pretty hollow impersonation. 

Section 25 makes me want to investigate all the other sections for something better.

The monotony, while perhaps a producing accomplishment, is an unwelcome experience to my afternoon. Looking at you, virtually ever track but, most notably, “Babies in the Bardo”. Ugh. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/always-now-remastered/305291217

The 1981 Listening Post - Greg Lake - Greg Lake

 Greg Lake - Greg Lake

#410

September 25 1981

Greg Lake

Grek Lake

Genre: Prog

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Love You Too Much

Retribution Drive

Long Goodbye

Lowlight:

"Let Me Love You Once Before You Go"

You learn a lot about the world reviewing thousands and thousands of albums. One of them is that “you may never come back from a nuclear attack”. Thanks, Greg. 

Although, “may”? Pretty sure a nuclear attack is gonna wipe you out but, you gotta write songs about something, right?

Tensions were so freaking in the 80s and I am so so grateful that we didn’t have 24 hour news to gin up all of our fears. I don’t remember fucking and covering like their did 30 years prior. 

You know why?

Cuz, you WILL never come back from a nuclear attack, Greg.

This album is more rock than prog and…was that what ELP fans were looking for from a Greg Lake solo spinner? Thing is, like Roger Taylor’s record, I find the departure…intriguing and not entirely a failure. “Love You Too Much” has more energy than I was expecting. Then I realized that Lake is a guitarist and, sure, this is what I want from an accomplished rock axe slinger who is breaking away from a sound. (Greg isn’t the lead guitarist, though. He’s enlisted the fingers of Gary Moore for that, and, well, we know how great Moore is. 

Speaking of “Love You Too Much”, I was gonna make a Dylan comparison and then I researched the song…it was co-written by Bob. So, there’s that. 

The songs aren’t great and exists mostly to showcase Greg’s guitar prowess but they try really hard to establish him as a force to make his mark on the rock road. “Retribution Drive” is a prime example of this. 

The one song Lake didn’t have anything to with the writing of, "Let Me Love You Once Before You Go”, is a hot piece of ballad garbage that screams label demand and belongs right where it is on the album, the penultimate track on the second side. It’s a turgid piece of soft Yacht Rock that stands out as the exception from the rest of the album, which rocks pretty hard. 

Among others, Gary Moore, Clarence Clemons and Snuffy Walden(!!!) appear on this. And it shows. It’s a strong record that I would not be unhappy to revisit. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/greg-lake/1061172926

 

The 1981 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca

 Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca

#409

By John Tommassino

September 15 1981

Cabaret Voltaire

Red Mecca

Genre: techno, new wave, art rock. 

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

John's Rating 4.5 out of 5 

Highlights:

A Touch of Evil

A Thousand Ways

Black Mask

...I'm not much of a fan of techno...I like New Wave and all of its styles but I tend to listen to basic guitar, bass, drums and music in a heavier tone. That said, Cabaret Voltaire produced a real listening gem here. A Touch of Evil is an eerie number with unnerving blisters of noise and sporadic beats. I found it both enjoyable and a little anxiety-producing at the same time. Random thoughts entered my head during my listening session...like if there were deleted scenes in the original "Planet of the Apes" film showing Charlton Heston's astronaut companions being lobotomized, stuffed and mounted and suffocating in space- this music would work and fit in seamlessly in the original soundtrack. Sly Doubt is a catchy number that would still work in any number of dance clubs if they were still open...A Thousand Ways works as the album's centerpiece, a 10 plus minute song that is just fantastic. I imagined walking into a corporate orgy or a feast to a long forgotten pantheon of deities and this music would work perfectly, it has an edge to it that must be heard. Red Mask and Black Mask seem to be distant musical cousins but both are engaging techno tracks. The ominously titled "Spreading the Virus" had me at the get-go but the track itself sounds more like Disney's Herbie the Lovebug trapped in a nihilistic demolition derby and winning the event to the dismay of the crowd. The reprise of A Touch of Evil ends the album on an epic note. Listen to this record with an open mind. It is truly unique.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4W0VBisNs7yFtQJ9XX4RCd?si=h3Q0D_hUS6KaepV8-3lmfw

The 1981 Listening Post - Gary Numan - Dance

 Gary Numan - Dance

#408

September 4 1981

Gary Numan

Dance

Genre: Synth-jazz-wave

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Night Talk

Cry, the Clock Said

She’s Got Claws

Crash

You Are, You Are

I’ve talked a lot about my affection for Mr. Numan. 

It was sparked and is intricately woven with an unrequited crush that defined my mid adolescence. 

So, it’s hard for me to be objective when it comes to him and yet, because of that and because, when I was in a car accident, the aforementioned crush came into the store where I worked to say hello and referred to me as “Crash”, which is a play on a title of a song from this record, I decided to take it for myself to see if I felt the same way that I did when I did the Numan Reflecting Pool series over 10 years ago. (Reflecting Pool was the name I gave to catalog retrospectives of bands that I already knew or loved and was reassessing).

Prior to this project knowing that Nash the Slash played violin on “Cry, the Clock Said” would have meant nothing to me. But because of our association with him now I noticed that there’s an improvisational and subversive quality to the playing, and Nash’s playing helps echo the sadness in this end-of-relationship song in a way that, heretofore, I didn’t think was possible for Gary. 

Roger Taylor’s drums on “Crash” and “You Are, You Are” are unmistakable as they echo the work and production he was employing on Fun in Space

I love this album but it’s not for everyone. It’s the deep cut Numan. It’s the last good record he will put out for decades. In fact, in relation to the rest of 1981, I like it even better than last time. 

Here’s some of that original review:

“I like Dance. I'm one of the few. It's such a departure from the previous albums, where they were cold and distant, Dance is minimalist, melancholic and lamenting. Employing more jazzy rhythms than rock, the first side opens and closes with 9+ minute meditations on prostitution and breakups, respectively.

From what I can tell these songs, or many of them, are built on drum loops even though Cedric Sharpley and Roger Taylor (Yes, THAT Roger Taylor) are credit as drums and percussion. A year after this album Queen would release Hot Space and I know that Taylor was instrumental in pushing the band toward synth drums and keyboards, was he influenced by Numan? Perhaps.

Dance is the record that sparked the downward tumble from the charts for Gary. Well, it had to happen sometime, yes? Here's the thing. What most people never realize about Mr. Webb. (Gary's real surname). He was born in 1958. When the first Tubeway Army record was released he was all of 20. When Dance was released he was 23. Between those 4 years he had already released three seminal New Wave records, unknowingly changed music, and sold millions of albums.

Not too shabby.

All before he was 23.

Listening to Dance with the understanding that the composer/singer is the same age as most people when they get out of college (or just slightly older by a year) it now comes across as a much more mature work and a bold turn away from what was expected of him and what popularized him.

It should have been applauded.

This is a headset record, a moody son of a bitch (at least the first side) and a very rich and rewarding experience. I have to say it's awfully brave to put not one but two long opuses on the first side. Usually those tracks are relegated to the second side after you've captured the audience's attention. Gary Numan outshines his earlier self simply by doing what he wants to do.

Dance is more Tangerine Dream than Kraftwerk and that's just fine with me.

The songs on Side Two are a little more in keeping with the Numan of old. "Crash" could have slid off The Pleasure Principle and, I believe, had it and "She's Got Claws" and "You Are, You Are" opened this album people would have been quicker to embrace it and quicker to embrace the moodier aspects of the rest of it.

The only real letdown is "Boys Like Me" which continues the jazzy motifs of Cry and Slowcar. I imagine that I could do without the song mainly because those other two take up almost 20 minutes of the record and by the time we get to Boys I've got the idea and it's too familiar, too redundant. Other times it works splendidly as on "My Brother's Time", a dirge that appears to be a lamentation on libidinous indifference.

Dance doesn't suck. I think the title isn't referring to the act of dancing but, rather, courtship. And failed ones, at that. On that scale it succeeds.”

https://music.apple.com/us/album/dance/1325734803

The 1981 Listening Post - John Foxx - The Garden

 John Foxx - The Garden

#407

September 25 1981

John Foxx

The Garden

Genre: John Foxx

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Systems of Romance

I want so badly to wax poetic on the history of Ultravox and their legacy and Foxx’s tenure and what it meant when he left to create Metamatic. But I am just unable. I’m not as well versed as I should be, considering their placement on the Pete Frame New Romantic org chart. 

This album is more aggressive than what Ultravox would put out when he left. Vienna was a masterpiece and Metamatic was pretty damned good. This one is much more experimental and dark. It doesn’t just have edges, it has serrated edges that are rusty from being left out in the rain. 

I think Adam Ant spent too much time listening to Foxx and Foxx spent too much time worshipping Bowie. 

Not a lot to hold on to here. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-garden-plus/736156706

The 1981 Listening Post - Cliff Richard - Wired for Sound

 Cliff Richard - Wired for Sound

#406

By Julia Talbot

September 11, 1981

Wired for Sound

Cliff Richards

Genre: Forgettable (British) soft rock

Allen’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Julia’s Rating: 1.5 out 5

Highlights: It ended eventually. 

Well, certainly worse things than “Wired for Sound” have happened on September 11, so there is that. Other than that, it’s a forgettable listen. If you love Perry Como, string background accompaniments that build to a crescendo for no particular reason, soft rock, the occasional cover of a harder rock song and long walks in the moonlight, this could be the greatest album ever for you. Might I add, it’s BRITISH! I’d love to say that listening to this album explained Brexit to me, but it didn’t. Mostly I tuned it out until my boyfriend asked what was the crap I was listening to… then I turned it off.  

Cliff Richards is one of those guys who has been around forever. He was born in British India and moved back to England when he was eight or so. He is credited with having the first “authentic” rock and roll song produced in England – whatever that means. According to Wikipedia, John Lennon said that before Cliff Richards (and his band at the time, the Shadows), there was nothing worth listening to in Britain. Strong words, John, strong words - also wrong. There was plenty to listen to prior to Cliff Richards – skiffle for one. In 1958, Paul McCartney and the Quarrymen had their first gig, and let’s be honest, it’s not like Cliff Richards was straying too far from the mainstream of the day or pushing any envelopes whatsoever. I was not one bit surprised to learn that somewhere during his long, long career, Cliff ventured into the realm of Christian rock, where his music did not dispel one stereotype about that genre either. This is a guy who has made a career out of not rocking any boats. Rocking…. Get it? Ha. 

To be honest, I feel I have listened to enough mediocre music from 1981, to make me start questioning the role of white, male privilege in the music industry, at least in Britain if not everywhere. It isn’t like this album (or the others I’ve listened to or read reviews of) is particularly awful or that the musicians are truly terrible. Sure, I hate this album’s steadfast commitment to soft rock but in the end, this and the other records I have listened to/reviewed/read reviews of have mostly been carefully produced, employed the talents of solid musicians, and in many cases evidence that care and thought was given, and yet they are still… a waste of my earballs. God help me if I am struck deaf and this album is the last thing I listened to. It all adds up to my wondering that if these guys hadn’t enjoyed some sort of privilege would they/their music been given any bandwidth at all. In the case of “Wired for Sound” I am not sure if it is deserved. It begs the question that if Cliff Richards hadn’t been a white guy, would have he scored this album in particular, but really, his whole fucking career?

Of course, every musician with any sort of marketability is at some point exploited. There is a village of people depending on their production and their product being marketable – but is that really a recipe for great music? To add insult to injury, this guy has released a whopping 52 albums starting in 1959 with the most recent being in 2020.  Of these, 19 of his songs made it onto the US Billboard chart and three made it to the top ten (never higher than six). He fared much better in Britain with 14 number one hits – much more impressive but still – 52 albums over 61 years, that’s a long time to get hits. I’ll give him points to for showing up, but lots of bad or mediocre things have staying power… like G.W. Bush (and his family) or those orange circus peanut candies. At some point, just because you keep showing up doesn’t mean you are good at anything besides showing up. All that being said, I do need to mention that this album peaked at number four on the British charts and stayed on the charts for a total of 25 weeks. Ultimately, over a million copies were sold worldwide.  There is no accounting for taste. Prince only had one hit single on the British charts and he was actually talented. 

Ever the diligent reviewer, I did listen to this album not once, but three times and let me save you the trouble. If you looooove soft rock, I suppose this is great, if not mindless background music for doing shit with a glue gun, putting glitter on stuff, or maybe reorganizing your underwear drawer, but I implore you: do not listen closely lest you be as underwhelmed as I was by some seriously random lyrics. For example:

“Tomorrow never comes when you are looking forward to it

You try so hard to live the day your way

But what a life if you could live the way you want it

You tried it once before but it didn't work out

You know you need someone to bring out the best in you”

There is so much wrong with the whole thought structure behind this, I need to lie down.

On the plus side of things, there are a few covers on this album. Check out Wreckless Eric’s “Broken Doll”, Shep and the Limelight’s “Daddy’s Home”, and in the 2001 re-release, “Shakin’ All Over”. Those are sort of bearable. In the meantime, I’ll be taking a bubble bath to wash the gooey sentimentality of this whole album off my soul. 

https://open.spotify.com/album/0mWgmgROMsjSvvNydhSj8B?si=eljz8WywS_WMyjgohz3k8g

The 1981 Listening Post - The Suburbs - Credit in Heaven

 The Suburbs - Credit in Heaven

#405

September 25 1981 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

The Suburbs

Credit In Heaven

Genre: New Wave

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Faith

Tape Your Wife to the Ceiling

Spring Came

Girlfriend

Music for Boys

Side One is a herky jerky attack and then Side Two is more groovy and expansive without losing the energy.

Side Three touches on what REM will become. I hear them all over “Spring Came” and the lovely “Girlfriend”, before the return of The Feelies meets Here Ubu on “Postcard”.

Side Four is probably the most experimental of them all and, why not? If you’ve made it this long, what are you gonna do, turn the thing off? 

That first record was such a delicious new Wave entry that it only makes sense that The Suburbs would follow it up with…a double album of skittish licks and rhythm jitters. 

Really, guys? A double album? 

Why???

Why not save something for 1982?!?

There’s not a little religion on this record, the title track and “Faith” in particular. They also offer up “Drinking with an Angel” among others in this motif. But it’s not just that stuff. And I’m glad it’s not. 

The Talking Heads/Pere Ubu influences are obvious. 

It flags about as the repetition grates, but that just happened to me on “Pipsqueak Millionaire”, which was when I really wanted it to end but, then it did and I realized that I loved this record. 

This is an odd little party record. But, without a doubt, it could soundtrack just about any summer backyard get together. I know, weird. None of the songs are catchy but they are innocuous. They are demanding but also easily become part of the background. 

Also, it is advised that you only drink one cup of coffee while listening to this record. 

Why is my eye twitching…?

https://music.apple.com/us/album/credit-in-heaven/973327558

The 1981 Listening Post - Tommy Tutone - Tommy Tutone 2

 Tommy Tutone - Tommy Tutone 2

#404

September 23 1981

Tommy Tutone

2

Genre: Power Pop Rock

4 out of 5

Highlights:

867-5309/Jenny

Shadow on the Road Ahead

Which Man Are You

Only One

How did he get away with this? Movies, for eons, have had to use “555” as a prefix to avoid prank calling (and immediately escort you out of the reality of the movie) and yet, here’s Tommy providing the aural graffiti wall to every douche-nozzle who decided to ring this one up.

Did you? I never did. Is there someone out there with this number? Do they hate their lives? Do they enjoy the randos calling any time of day, month, year?

Here’s a tidbit: Tommy (Tutone) Heath did not write the monster hit. That was his guitarist, Jim Keller and Alex Call. 

Another bit of tid: Springsteen so obviously nicked this riff for his trash single “Radio Nowhere” that it started me on a real ire fest of the subject of Bruce. He followed it by ripping of a KISS riff for a song on Working on a Dream and just recently appeared in a “We should all find a way to the middle” Jeep commercial. Bruce doesn’t need the money and I’m not ready to reach across the aisle to normalize people who acted seditiously while wearing “Camp Aushwitz” t-shirts. I apologize for the politics but, I wouldn’t care what party it was, if they do that, they earn my anger. 

Which means I now hate Jeep.

And, although I will see him in concert, I declared that I would consider not this morning. 

Also, Keller should have sued Bruce. Bruce has Jeep money, man.

I want to smack them for sounding like John Mellencamp on “Shadow on the Road Ahead” but, I don’t think John had really refined his sound and they are already doing it better.

I don ’t think anyone really realizes how close Tommy Tutone flirts with southern rock. If they just committed to it, they probably could have been on the vanguard of that scene.  (“Which Man Are You” “No Way to Cry”)

There’s nothing bad on this record. I almost listed “Only One” as a highlight cuz, it’s a nifty little tune, too. In fact, the whole rekkid is an exemplar of well crafted late 70s/early 80s Power Pop. Screw it. Let’s add it!

https://music.apple.com/us/album/tommy-tutone-2/268543713

The 1981 Listening Post - Meat Loaf - Dead Ringer

 Meat Loaf - Dead Ringer

#403

By Chris Kouzes

September 4 1981

Meatloaf

Dead Ringer

Genre: Rock

Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Chris’ Rating: 1 out of 5

Highlights

The album cover

Sonically sounds great

It’s not one second longer

I think you love and embrace the bombastic, bloated, over-the-top songs of Meatloaf or you don’t. I most certainly do not (and this is coming from someone who LOVES a lot of 70’s Prog Rock). But for the sake of moving out of my comfort zone, I foolishly volunteered to review this album, with the idea that maybe…maybe…my mind would change a bit. I should be open to revisiting past with an open mind, right? 

Bat Out of Hell came out in 1977 and it was inescapable, even for a 9-year-old me. But even then I didn’t like anything about it. I was listening and loving to my mom’s Beatles and Stones albums, Top 40 pop on WLS and just starting to wade into the world of FM with whatever WXRT was playing. Zero of what Meatloaf was doing at the time registered with me. Running around with untucked sweat-soaked ruffled shirts waving around a handkerchief was not my idea of good. But millions (billions?) of people definitely did and if you’re in that group, than God bless ya…

So when this album came out, the long-awaited follow-up to Bat Out of Hell, I didn’t waste one second on it. So fresh ears now, right? The opening strains of motorcycles revving. OK. Oh wait, the song is called “Peel Out?” Hhm, pretty on the nose, but still willing to give it fair shot. Six minutes later and NOPE. I’M OUT!! Holy shit, this is t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. But out of commitment to Allen, I’m trudging on. Listen, if you like the first song, you’re probably going to like the rest, so no need to delve track-by-track. A couple of comments: the track “Nocturnal Pleasure.” First off, there’s no way any song with a name like this is going to be good. Oh, wait, you mean it’s actually a 38 second spoken word piece not by Meatloaf, but his co-conspirator Jim Steinman? Even worse than what I was expecting. The only redeeming quality this has is that it’s less than a minute. And then there’s the title-ish track “Dead Ringer for Love” buried towards the end of the album. I swear on the life of my children that I never thought I’d be so happy to think, “Oh thank God, here comes a track featuring Cher.” Unfortunately her turn in the song sounds nothing remotely like her. Cher sounds a lot more like Little Nell than Cher. Not being a Rocky Horror fan, I also never thought I’d be referencing RH in any way (of course the exception being making fun of a balding man refusing to give up his long hair in back ala Riff Raff). 

So is there anything good about the album? Actually, yes. The musicianship is outstanding, which includes the likes of Mick Ronson, Davey Johnstone, Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, Liberty DeVito, Nicky Hopkins and several others. Even streaming through my car’s stereo system, this album sounds amazing. What I would to have half of the albums I love sound this good. 

Johnny Rotten is famous for wearing a “I Hate Pink Floyd” shirt in the early years of The Sex Pistols, certainly symbolizing what the band and punk in general were rebelling against. Had punk been delayed a few years, Rotten undoubtedly would have been wearing a “I Hate Dead Ringer” shirt.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2Y9CaNn1xUX2EJWIiBG45i?si=4BnC6TKbQ-el5mk1ePqwyQ