The 1980 Listening Post - The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop it

The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop It

#183

by Brian San Marco

The English Beat

I Just Can’t Stop It

Genre: Ska, Mod – I was never really sure what that meant.  Modern?  Wasn’t New wave modern at the time?

Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 After group consideration, it has been bumped to a 5

Brian’s Rating 4.75 our of 5 stars – minus .25 for being a victim of 80’s recording styles

**

Allen’s Highlights:

Mirror in the Bathroom

Best Friend

Brian’s Highlights: 

Hand’s Off She’s Mine

Ranking Full Stop

Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret

I feel like there are two types of people in this world.  Those who like Ska and those who don’t.  I happen to be one that does.  At least most Ska.  At least THIS Ska.  The English Beat came around when there was magic in the air for reggae and Ska. These sounds started influencing rock music in the years prior, but it was the English Beat who took it to the next level.  They influenced a generation of 80s kids and were a trailblazers who along with KROQ radio influenced those same kids to dress a certain way and listen to a whole new wave of music.

As soon as I heard Hand’s Off, She’s Mine”, I was taken back to the beginning of the KROQ days in Los Angeles.  The English Beat helped build KROQ into a powerhouse of modern music and then sustain them as the influence of The Beat grew and redeveloped into acts I loved almost equally: General Public and The Fine Young Cannibals.

Songs like “Mirror In the Bathroom”, “Hand’s off, She’s Mine”, and “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” tent pole an album that makes you move one way or another.  These are real players and real instruments through and through.  “Hand’s Off” reminds me of being a kid, steel drums and all.  But honestly, it’s the second half of the record that really spotlights the intricacy and diversity of their sound.  The 4-on-the-floor Ska of “Twist and Crawl” and The Tears of a Clown” lead into the backbeat reggae of “Rough Rider”.  By “Whine and Grine”, I’m passing the doobie, and then the dance party starts all over again.  Looking back on it, I understand the influence it had on me as a player and a stoner.

https://open.spotify.com/album/08zjJfP4f6cXGxscvztbvh?si=Q_LdKVO1TNGrznrWmVj_gw

The 1980 Listening Post - Suicide - Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev

Suicide - Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev

#182

May 8 1980

Suicide

Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev

Genre: The review that loses me whatever cred I have left. 

3.75 out of 5 (But, I really wanna give it 3.25)

I am supposed to revere Suicide. I get that. I just…don’t.

In fact, I would say that you could put this record on right after Xex and what it would actually do is elevate Group:xex’s offering. 

Maybe I should have assigned this to someone else. I feared this review. But because I had never heard this album or even their first I HAD to review it. 

By the time I got to “Sweetheart” I found myself longing for Roxy Music’s Avalon which borrows from this but does it better.

I read (in, ugh, Pitchfork) that Thurston Moore pointed out that the Suicide albums didn’t really bring out the vibrance of their live shows and, maybe I should seek some videos out. But the trouble is, this isn’t inspiring me to do that. 

And the mission statement of The Listening Post is to be an archeological dig to learn if there was something that I missed back in the day. 

I hear them approaching menace in “Fast Money Music” and maybe it was cutting edge in 1980 but I think there’s a reason we don’t listen to Suicide anymore. Although the Ocasek production runs strong in that song. 

I feel like I would have had the same reaction to this that I am now. It’s fine. Xex is better. “Touch Me” is the Xex song Xex actually did make with “Holland Tunnel”, but even that is more menacing. 

We’re going to get into a discussion about context of the era when I publish this review and I get that but to me that suggests that the album wasn’t for consumers but, rather, to serve as a message and a template for other musicians. Even ground breaking punkers were trying to move the audience. And, as a result, turn them all into artists who created their own bands. In that context, Suicide works. But only in that context. The difference being that the Pistols inspired non musicians to pick up an instrument and bash it out. I feel like Suicide is talking to others who are already making music. Like Waw Pierogi. 

Reading up during the interminable “Harlem”, I’ve learned that Vega had little to do with this record save for the vocals and that Ocasek was given marching orders to make the band sound more like A Giorgio Moroder disco thing. Even Moroder’s work with Sparks is more interesting than what they came up with. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-second-album-the-first-rehearsal-tapes/1143677073

The 1980 Listening Post - Joan Jett - Bad Reputation

Joan Jett - Bad Reputation

#181

May 17 1980

Joan Jett

Bad Reputation

Genre: Rawk

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Bad Reputation

Make Believe

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got

Do You Wanna Touch Me There?

Let Me Go

Did you know Joan Jett produced the Germs record, G.I.? Don’t know why I wanted to put that out there. Ok. Maybe because that’s considered one of the pre-eminent punk albums of the era and I don’t consider Joan “punk”. I think The Runaways were a terrific Power Pop Girl group. And, if her own success proved anything to me it’s that Joan is a Pop Rocker with a snarl. 

And that’s what this album is filled with.

It’s a waste of time to put “requisite 80s covers” on this thing because it’s replete with them. And yet, Joan’s originals are just as good, if not better than her choices of covers. 

This is glam, this is power pop rock, this is 50s girl group gone bad. “You Don’t Own Me” is a striking cover that, in many ways (for me, at least) announces the beginnings of Riot Grrl by taking ownership of a trope from 20 years before and, well, owning it. 

And it doesn’t stick around long, giving way to some boogie rock on “Too Bad On Your Birthday”, which only suffers from sounding like Joan is singing her vocals separately from the band. She comes across as a lead vocalist and less the guitar slinging front woman on that cover. She seems distanced from the band. But that’s picking nits. 

I find myself in a bit of a quandary, though. I am usually one who can separate the art from the artist but I have real trouble tapping my feet to anything written by Gary Glitter. And yet, tap my feet I did while listening.

And that’s just Side One. Which is a fucking timeless party album. I defy you to put any track on at a barbecue and stop someone from swaying, dancing or tossing the hostess in the pool and then everyone diving in with her. 

Points off only for being so cover heavy and two of those being Glitter tracks and I…I just can’t…

Also, her version of “Shout” comes too soon after Animal House and that, my friends, is the definitive version of that song. Here she just seems like she’s rushing through it like she has a contract obligation to do the song. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/bad-reputation-expanded-edition/1434145250

The 1980 Listening Post - Human Sexual Response - Fig. 14

Human Sexual Response - Fig. 14

#180

Human Sexual Response

Fig. 14

Genre: New Wave

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Guardian Angel

Jackie Onassis

What Does Sex Mean to Me

Requisite 80’s cover: “Cool Jerk”. I love the nerdy, hiccupy version of this song even more than the original. 

Spooky action at a distance. 

Have you heard of it? 

Quantum Entanglement. 

I have a theory about it so, here goes. I’ll make it short. 

When my daughter died in 2006 something interesting happened. As we were in the midst of sitting shiva, my first post-college roommate, a man I hadn’t spoken to (or even about) in 16 years, suddenly reached out and called me to see how I was. He had some life news he wanted to share and I told him about Liz. He came to Shiva and that was the first contact he and I had in over a decade and a half. 

Just a coincidence, though, right?

I didn’t think so. And the reason is because when Liz died I received, also seemingly out of the blue, an email from a woman who meant quite a bit to me as a youth. She and I hadn’t really spoken to each other in about 7 years or so and even then it was cursory. The most meaningful exchanges being when we were both in our teens to early 20s. My affection for her was not entirely reciprocated but it was deep, for me. She influenced the way I saw the world. She was confusing, magical, funny, spiritual and unlike anyone I’d ever met before. One of those people. 

Her email was of the “I was thinking about you” sort. And, as I said, it seemed to come out of the blue. 

I believe in Quantum Entanglement. I believe in it because it’s science and it’s proven. When two particles become entangled they develop a physical relationship. One spins while the other does not. You can take the spinning one and separate it from its twin, move it to an island 100 miles away or take it to the moon and when it stops spinning, the other one will start. 

How do particles become entangled? I think the emotional quotient of the relationship has something to do with it. 

So, when my particles were spinning, my friend’s were not. And then, my daughter died. And I believe that my particles stopped spinning (or started, depending on their state). And that caused the spinning of particles in my roommate or the girl. 

Hence the outreach. 

I’ve been thinking about Quantum Entanglement lately because we are all in a heightened state of emotion right now, being quarantined and I had reached out to the woman to see if she was interested in reviewing the record that she lent me when I was 16, which was, among The Incredibly Shrinking Dickies and Gary Numan’s Telekon, Human Sexual Response’s Fig. 14. After all, that was a really important experience for me. She basically formed the musical taste of my mid teens with those records. Perhaps she had some insights as to why they were important. 

So, I reached out. She didn’t respond. 

I let it go for a while, until I looked at the spreadsheet and realized that the album was coming up for review and I hadn’t assigned it to anyone. 

I asked again if she was interested, perhaps she just missed the message. 

This morning, around 5 AM I had a dream about her. The content isn’t important, but it was personal. It wasn’t fantastical. It was almost purely conversation. And walking. It was a gentle dream. It was calm. It was comfortable. 

I awoke and thought to myself, “self, if Quantum Entanglement is a thing, I bet you that while you were dreaming of her, she responded to that message.” I reached over, picked up my phone and, lo and behold, at the precise time I was dreaming about her, she wrote to me on facebook, politely declining to do the review as her life is incredibly busy and she didn’t think she would have the time. 

It’s impossible for me to be dispassionate about this record. I am entangled with it. And with the person who lent it to me. It has remained a singularly indelible moment for me. And, as life would have it, when I did finally make contact with her about the record, and asked why it was important enough to lend it to me, she had little recollection of the band or the album at all. 

Life is irony. And wonderful. And weird. 

And so is this record. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/fig-15/121697220

The 1980 Listening Post - Surf Punks - My Beach

Surf Punks - My Beach

#179

1980 Housekeeping

Surf Punks

My Beach

Genre: It helps to have friends in the record biz

1.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Shoulder Hopper

Lowlights:

Dummies

Big Top

Ugh, are they belching? Yes, they are belching. Cuz, they are “punks, man!”. Except they aren’t. They wanna be funny and anti-social and everything and…they aren’t. They are rich Malibu kids’ idea of what Punk is. 

Ok, originally I had a different locale for the simile and then I looked them up and, dammit, this band is led by Daryl Dragon’s son. You know, Daryl, he was the Captain of Captain and Tenille. This is a rich kids version of skater punk. It’s tourism. 

“Their subsequent first album, an independent release on their own label, Day Glo Records, garnered them enough airplay on the then fledgling L.A. alternative radio station KROQ-FM to lead to a re-release of the album on Epic Records in 1980, and the release of two further albums, Locals Only and Oh No, Not Them Again on Enigma Records, with Mark Miller, keyboard player Jerry Weber and lifeguard/guitarist Andy Jackson.”

Lifeguard/Guitarist. 

All you need to know. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/my-beach/193935682

The 1980 Listening Post - George Harassment - Masai Sleep Walking

George Harassment - Masai Sleep Walking

#178 

1980 Housekeeping

George Harassment

Masai Sleep Walking

Genre: Indie lo-fi Record Store Secret Find

1.75 out of 5

R. Stevie Moore.

Daniel Johnston.

The Homosexuals.

Jandek.

That’s where this band lives. They sound like they were recording it for themselves and then had the opportunity to put it on vinyl or cassette and put it out to the public to see what would happen. 

Yeah, there are more songs here than on Jandek’s garbage. But it’s not as heart wrenching as Johnston nor as accomplished as Moore. 

This sounds like me and my roommates in our dorm room with a 4 track. 

You don’t need to have heard that. You don’t really need to hear this. 

I did. But that’s the job. 

The joke here is that “Harassment” sounds like “Harrison”. Except that it doesn’t. They and others want to put the accent on the “Ha” and not where it is grammatically correct. The pronunciation of the word was changed so that people wouldn’t hear the word “Ass” with their delicate ears. 

Since the band didn’t know that and thought they were being cheeky, I have to dock them an entire point. 

From the notes in the YouTube link: Notes

All tracks were recorded at home. Some on 2 track Revo + some on Mono Portable cheapo cassette machine. All tracks mastered on cassette machine. Tracks: 10. on Side One + 1. 6. on Side Two Rough Mixes from Sloppy Sound Studios - Surrey. The first song on Side Two is sung by lovely 'Michelle' of Battersea. Love to the twins and L Voag for bass on Tracks 1. and 6. of Side Two and much inspiration on the rest. This album was cut at Pye Cutting Studios and consequently sounds terrible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO7aOkBtOAk

The 1980 Listening Post - The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

#177

April 22 1980

The Cure

Seventeen Seconds

Genre: Goth Rock

Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5

Lori’s Rating: 4.5/5

Allen’s Highlights:

Play for Today

A Forest

Seventeen Seconds

Lori’s Highlights: 

A Forest

At Night

In Your House

Disclaimer:  I'm a YUUUGE Cure Fan, so this may be biased.  This is the kind of record that is like a painting; it's just best to listen to the thing as a whole, and the more you hear it the more it grows on you.  I can appreciate this especially for the insight into The Cure's progression.  It's a new lineup and it does at time sound tentative, but that pays off.  'A Reflection' is an instrumental and with a voice like Robert Smith's you'd wonder, "what's that about?" but it's an introduction to the rest of the minimalist and experimental tone of the record.  A 'warm up stretch' if you will (and you will).   Somehow, Smith (King of the Minor Chord) manages to make an artsy, sparse and kinda scary album sound like it should be the soundtrack to a Ghost Prom, it's haunted but, yeah, it still ROCKS and somehow retains a danceable quality.  It's like if dread and fog combined to make a sound but also wanted to go to a party.  The lyrics to In Your House are great; I can't tell if it's about a stalker, a broken hearted lover, or a murderer.  But who cares with a beat like that?  This album teeters on creepy but it's just too interesting.  On another note, not to start a fight or anything, but if Lovecats (not on this album) could be included in the next CATS remake, I think that would be a real game changer.  Poor CATS.  Anyway,  I can't be the only person to have thought of this.  

https://open.spotify.com/album/2KWHRfKSRpgsxNGIl2nQva?si=WDYQNV5WToKIuMUK9zk7og

The 1980 Listening Post - Axe - Living on the Edge

Axe - Living on the Edge

#176

1980 Housekeeping

Axe

Living on the Edge

Genre: Mainstream Metal

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Carry On

Requisite 80s cover: An attempt at blues breaking, smoky bar band version of “I Can’t Help Myself”. No one needs this. 

Mike Curb.

Can we talk about Mike Curb for a minute? 

See, this band was signed to his production company. And it sounds good, like a heavy glam record would sound like in 1980. 

But, Mike Curb. 

That Mike Curb.

No one talks about him.

I promised that this page would not turn political and it won’t but, Mike Curb. How many songwriters (besides Sonny Bono) would go on to run for higher office? 

Yes, that Mike Curb became the Lt. Governor of California. And a NASCAR car owner. And a philanthropist who gifted millions to CSUN. I mean, the guy really has lived life to his highest ideals and had more than a small impact on the music business.

He scored movies and wrote songs for Elvis and Orbison and the Osmonds and more.

I’m sitting here writing reviews of old albums that get sent into the ephemera. 

That’s really something.

This album is fine MOR guitar/synth rock. That’s it. The only reason I know of the Curb connection is that it’s listed on the Discogs page. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/axeology-1979-2001/496800618

The 1980 Listening Post - Flash and the Pan - Lights in the Night

Flash and the Pan - Lights in the Night

#175

1980 Housekeeping

Flash and the Pan

Lights in the Night

Genre: (Not the) Buggles

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Captain Beware

“Media Man”. It sounds like and is basically the same concept as “Video Killed the Radio Star”. It’s actually sort of remarkably so. I don’t know which came first, nor do I really care because that kind of thing happens. 

This is another record that should be 2 songs longer and they should all be shortened by 30-90 seconds to make that work. There’s no reason to keep going on and on once the song is inarguably over and the guys aren’t adding anything interesting, musically, to the rest of the track. Harry Vanda wants very badly to be as interesting as Pink Floyd and Yes and, at this point, he isn’t. 

If “Welcome to the Universe” didn’t suffer from a bloated 2 minute intro and a 3 minute coda it might actually make it to the highlight reel. It’s not great but it’s got that Richard O’Brien feel and I’m here for that. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/lights-in-the-night/416784799

The 1980 Listening Post - Chilliwack - Breakdown in Paradise

Chilliwack - Breakdown in Paradise

#174

by Rob Slater

Chilliwack

Breakdown in Paradie

Genre: Canadian Styx

Allen’s Rating 4 out of 5

Rob;s Rating: 2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Trial by Fire

148 Heavy 

Road to Paradise

Breakdown in Paradise 8th album from Chilliwack, a band from Vancouver, B.C. not far away from here. Chilliwack is a nearby town, whose name means "valley of many streams" in the Salish language.

They've got the rockers, ballads, and the keyboard songs, decent lyrics and great harmonies. Unfortunately, for the most part they don't have hooks in most of them. Very listenable.

Best songs: 

The opening song Communication Breakdown sounds like a rough cut version of the soundtrack song with too much keyboard. It makes the next song, Trial By Fire, glow and burn well. 

The next song that stuck out to me was 148 Heavy. It's about a plane trip heading to Toronto, YYZ (Soon to be a great Rush song!), from the West Coast of Vancouver probably YVR. 

        “When you left in the west it was only afternoon

        Half alive and awake you're flying into the moon

        with a drink and a smoke and a movie - you're O.K.

        There's a girl in the seat beside you - been there all day”

A few uneven spots, but the rest of the album is decent as well. Like many things Canadian! 

Wish they called it breakdown to paradise, as the 1st song is Communication Breakdown and the sun is Road to Paradise, which was the original working title of the album. The breakdown is because of the label going under, which also received the blame for this album not doing well. I think the album is just kind of a C+ endeavor. The follow-up is where they really clicking with the hooks.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0MYWdc7KYlyCyXFGnBfQdb?si=TEHmeZ0JQXe13xN3XxZhOw