Day 0606 - Calenture

The Triffids "Calenture" (1987)

I had heard the Triffids' name but had no real idea of what they'd sound like.  This album is almost indie-meets-gospel.  It has a really raw, soulful feel that is admittedly curtailed somewhat by the amount of studio sheen heaped on it.

The musical style, combined with David McComb's deep and declamatory vocal delivery make the music sound like a more upbeat take on early-mid era Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.  Not surprising then that bass-player Martyn Casey would later go on to play in the Bad Seeds.

Definitely enjoyed this and will keep it in mind for further investigation at a later date.

Day 0605 - Sister

Sonic Youth "Sister" (1987)

The more I listen to Sonic Youth, the more I start to like them.  I always had the idea that they were nothing but noise-makers with not a lot of musical substance, but they actually have some pretty solid pop songs and punk songs that they dress in a coat of feedback and squealing squalls of guitar.

From what I read, their first one or two albums might have been a bit more confrontational with their sound mellowing as they developed.  Certainly "Sister" and "Evol" are perfectly accessible for the average rock person.

Day 0604 - Scum

Napalm Death "Scum" (1987) - got it

Napalm Death, one of the progenitors of grindcore and producers of maybe the shortest song in the history of recoded music - "You suffer" clocks in at barely more than 1 second.

The band took punishing blast-beats, growling, barely-intelligible Cookie-Monster style vocals combined with some intense guitar riffs to produce an album that is nothing short of an aural onslaught.

The two halves of the album are also produced by almost completely different bands, with only drummer (and sometimes vocalist) Mick Harris playing on the entire album.  Guitarist Justin Broadrick had left partway through recording to help create industrial metal band Godflesh. 

Day 0603 - Opus Dei

Laibach "Opus Dei" (1987)

One of those "what did I just listen to?!" albums.  It's hard to listen to the guttural vocals and Teutonic groove of Laibach and NOT assume that Rammstein were heavily influenced by them.

The band were musical magpies, with a reworked version of Queen's "One Vision" (as "Geburt einer Nation").  Pieces of Bernard Hermann's edgy film scores are mixed in with other pieces of Queen music, industrial rhythms and wild synthesizers on "Trans-national" to produce something that sounds like Kraftwerk on meth!

The Slovenian band courted political controversy by naming themselves with the name historically given to Slovenia's capital Ljubjana by the Germans, alluding to the Nazi occupation during WWII.  In the face of socialism, they poked everyone in the eye by draping themselves in the trappings of nationalism and totalitarianism.   They were the provocative musical arm of a political artistic collective called 'Neue Slowenische Kunst' (New Slovenian Art).

Day 0602 - Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo "Shaka Zulu" (1987)

Having gained some international notoriety backing Paul Simon on his Graceland album, LBM made use of this attention and released "Shaka Zulu" and won further hearts and minds.

Nice to see that less obvious 'hit' albums were still selling well in the 80s, with the Astor Piazzola instrumental/jazz/tango album earlier in the list, and now this dose of 'World Music' or African folk music (depending on your choice of label).

Love the timbre of their voices, and the huge swells of harmony that occur.  An acapella album that feels uplifting and exciting.

Day 0601 - Darklands

The Jesus and Mary Chain "Darklands" (1987)

With "Darklands" J&MC move from a fuzzed-out 'shoegazer' sound, to something that almost sounds like "upbeat Joy Division".  Their drummer had left to become the lead singer of Primal Scream, so the band opted to replace him with a drum machine.  As a result of this, and I guess their general songwriting style, their songs have zero groove.  It's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that their songs drift along like a dreamy wave heading serenely for shore, rather than like choppy surf.

I feel as though their previous album "Psychocandy" was the one that the band is better known for.  But I prefer the rolling, pulsing drone pop of "Darklands" over the fuzzy cloud of "Psychocandy".  I listened to this one 2 or 3 times and would happily spin it again.

Day 0600 - Appetite For Destruction

Guns n Roses "Appetite For Destruction" (1987)

 
Gunners, formed from members of two bands: LA Guns and Hollywood Rose... should be pretty obvious from that where their new band got its name.   After a few disagreements and members quitting, guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler were brought into the fold and... well I'd say the rest was history, but the band line-up continued to be in flux long after this.

The 'classic' GnR lineup set about recording their debut album.  They had an abundance of material, and several songs (including "Don't Cry", "November Rain" and "You Could Be Mine") were held over until the "Use Your Illusion" album.

The album doesn't suffer from the omissions, it's a stonking classic of a rock album.  From opener "Welcome to the Jungle", the blues rock vibe of "Nightrain" to the MTV favourite, rock ballad "Sweet Child o' Mine", the album is a lean, mean rock monster.  I'm not even a huge GnR fan, but I enjoyed every song.

I'm not sure if this is true or 'Axl legend' but I read that the band finished the music quite quickly, but Axl insisted on recording his vocals one line at a time to make sure and get everything right.  I'll bet he had a glass of brown M&Ms on standby too.

The original cover (top) featuring some kind of robot john and a prostitute or something was deemed to be 'a bit much' and was replaced with the better known alternative above.

Day 0599 - Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths "Strangeways, Here We Come" (1987)

Despite my previous statement that all Smiths albums sound the same to me; this one is something else.  There are certainly some familiar 'Smithy' sounds going on, but there's a touch of glam rock, and the moody slow groove of 'Death of a Disco Dancer'.   I don't know, I think that I just prefer the songs on this album to the other two that I listened to via this list.

It could be that old chestnut of 'personal turmoil and creative tension serving the artistry' because between this album being finished and it being released, the band broke up.  As I mentioned earlier, they have managed to this day to resist the urge to reform.

Day 0598 - The New Tango

Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton "The New Tango" (1987)

There is nothing I didn't like about this album.  It's like the best mix of a dream and a nightmare.  Beautiful melodies occasionally crash into discordant screeches of violin, or even just a subtle hint of uneasy dischord.

The album features a meeting of Piazzolla, on the bandoneon (an instrument I love the sound of) and Burton, a Vibraphone wizard.  Together they made this album, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, an album that seems to blur the lines between composition and improvisation.

Highly recommend it.

Day 0597 - Locust Abortion Technician

Butthole Surfers "Locust Abortion Technician"

Music-wise I used to think of the 80s as all glam and synthesisers.  I was also very aware of the thrash metal thing (having been a fan of Metallica and Slayer), but I mostly forgot, or didn't know about some of the interesting boundary pushing bands that were active then.  I mean, I was aware of Butthole Surfers and Sonic Youth, but I'd associated them more with the 90s.

This is the Surfers' third album, and the first with bassist Jeff Pinkus (who has also played on Melvins albums, including the appropriately titled "Pinkus Abortion Technician").  The album also marks the first appearance of singer Gibby Haynes' "Gibbytronix" device which he used to manipulate and distort his voice to create a number of weird and wonderful sounds.

There is the straight-ahead punk of "Human Canonball" and the world music-meets-puerile-humour "Kuntz", but other than that, the album is generally a some of the noisiest, most deconstructed rock you're likely to hear anytime soon.  The album closes with a chorus of mooing cows on "22 going on 23".

Day 0596 - Warehouse: Songs and Stories

Hüsker Dü "Warehouse: Songs and Stories"

Another album born from a tumultuous, confrontational creative relationship.  Songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart were at loggerheads and  the band disbanded during the tour for this album. The break was partly due to their animosity, and partly over drummer Hart's drug use.

Mould had reportedly told Hart that he'd never have more than half the songs on a Hüsker Dü album, and with neither writer wanting to back down, this ended up being a double album.  Mould contributed 11 songs and Hart 9.

While there are some good tracks on here ("She Floated Away" being one that particularly caught my ear); their sound of melodic vocals over distorted guitar and rattling, pounding drums does tire out over the space of 20 songs.  You find yourself yearning for an acoustic or clean guitar, or for them to go further into realms of heaviness.  Faint criticism though, as any of these songs taken on its own would be perfectly listenable.

Day 0595 - Faith

George Michael "Faith" (1987)

 
Wham! played their last show, then George Michael immediately got to work on his first solo album.  Given that he had been the producer and main songwriter in the band, and had an easily marketable image (i.e. he was a pretty face); the move to a solo career wasn't exactly a shock. 

He probably could have coasted for his first solo outing, producing Wham!-lite; instead he delivers a stonking pop and RnB album that perfectly showcases his strong, clear voice.

Possibly a controversial take but I feel like George Michael would have made a great replacement for Freddie Mercury in Queen.  Obviously nobody can live up to Freddie, but GM has a kind of similar tone to his voice, he can sing it hard or delicate, and his rendition of "Somebody to Love" at the Freddie tribute concert was fantastic.   I kind of feel like his pop and soul vibe would nicely offset the rock of Brian and Roger to produce the variety that Queen always had. 

In case you didn't get the message, this is me giving GM high praise.  Normally, the idea of Queen playing with anyone else on vocals leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Day 0594 - Floodland

Sisters of Mercy "Floodland" (1987)

The Sisters bring Gothic glower... and a choir.

After their first album, a couple of members left the band.  Remaining member Andrew Eldritch then enlisted the help of Patricia Morrison (from the Gun Club) on bass and vocals, producer Jim Steinman (of Meatloaf fame) and a drum machine called Doktor Avalanche.  Together they created a relatively cold, brooding, but surprisingly 'to the point' goth-rock album.

Day 0593 - Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode "Music For the Masses" (1987)

With this album, Depeche Mode changed producers and set about shedding their more fragile synth/electronic pop for a more robust sound.  The album has fingers in genres ranging rock, electronica, goth and even pop.

Great range of sounds, from the boomy-roomy opening track "Never Let Me Down Again" through to the eerie piano and choir of album closer "Pimpf".

The band named the album ironically (much like Faith No More with their release "Album of the Year") based on its perceived lack of commercial appeal, but it ended up faring reasonably well.  It eventually sold a million copies in the US.

Day 0592 - Electric

The Cult "Electric" (1987)

The Cult had started work on their third album but, unhappy with the results, they asked Rick Rubin to remix one of the tracks.   Rubin agreed to work with them, but only if they'd re-record the track with him.  They ended up re-recording the whole album and delving into a more straight-ahead rock sound than on their previous, more gothic and melodic releases.

This is definitely a rock album.  Wall to wall riffs that seem to draw equally from the gene-pools of AC/DC and Led Zep.  I'd have to say too, this the most "Yeahs" I've ever heard in an album.  Obviously we're not just talking about a standard 1 syllable "Yeah"; we're talking about an all caps, 2-3 syllable "YEE-EE-AH"

Day 0591 - Sign o' the Times

Prince "Sign o' the Times " (1987)

 
Prince had been working on a double album with the Revolution "Dream Factory", and a solo album that he'd planned to release under the feminine pseudonym 'Camille'.  He ended up disbanding the Revolution and scrapping the Camille album.  Combining the material from these projects with some new songs he planned a triple album "Crystal Ball".   This was vetoed by the record company who baulked at releasing that much material simultaneously, and Prince was left to cherry-pick tracks for a single album.

You'd think that choosing from such a large pool of songs this would be a 'home run' of an album.  Instead, I feel as though the songs being drawn from 3 disparate projects over a number of years led to a bit of a lack of cohesion across the material.

There are plenty of good moments here, and Prince explores every genre that he'd investigated up till that point (and then some), but as a whole it just doesn't quite hit the spot for me the way that '1999' or 'Purple Rain' did.

Day 0590 - Document

R.E.M. "Document" (1987)

Kind of a transitional album for R.E.M.   It was their last album for IRS records before moving onto a major label and their first with Scott Litt producing.

Musically, they were already starting to evolve into their more commercial 90s sound... to the extent that I was sure that catchy track "The One I Love" was on one of those later albums, rather than on one of the IRS releases.  I think part of the change is that Michael Stipe had really found his feet as a singer and frontman, so had set aside his mumbled obscure vocal delivery and moved to a more clear and outgoing style.

Musically, the album has a nice range of styles, from the jangly folk rock of "It's the End of the World..." (with the event of Covid 19, this one has actually had a resurgence), the slow dirge intensity of "Oddfellows Local 151" and the catchy, borderline-anthemic nature of "Finest Worksong".

Day 0589 - Hysteria

Def Leppard "Hysteria" (1987)

An interesting one... I mean the music itself is just catchy, bombastic, glammy rock with a touch of studio sheen to it, but there's a bit of a story to the album's creation.

The album was originally to be produced by Mutt Lange (he's produced everything from AC/DC and Foreigner through to Maroon 5 and Britney Spears) who had produced their previous album 'Pyromania', but Lange bowed out due to exhaustion.  The band tried to make things happen with Jim Steinman (of Meatloaf fame), but he wanted to make a raw, stripped-down rock record, clashing with Leppard who wanted to go with a more glossy and pop-metal sound.  Eventually Steinman departed and the band tried to produce themselves.  These sessions were eventually scrapped when Lange came back into the fold.

Of course, as is well known, Leppard's drummer lost his arm in a car accident.  The band stood by him and his decision to keep drumming, using a mix of traditional drums and some automation tricks to fill in the gaps left by his missing arm.

The long wait, the time put in, and all the studio work paid off.   At its peak, the album was moving around a million copies a week.

Day 0588 - Trio

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris "Trio" (1987) - got it

The three country stars were fans of each other and had been trying to get this collaboration together for a while.  Schedules and the fact that they were all signed to different labels interfered with these plans and early efforts generally fell by the wayside.

Some of these early attempts at collaboration leached into their respective solo releases in the following years, and they continued to cover each other's songs.  Finally they were able to make it happen and "Trio" the album was born.

Their three voices join together in beautiful harmonies on the country hymns, while making space for some strong spotlight performances.  It was a bit of a return to more straight-ahead country for at least a couple of the members who had been wandering into more novelty pop-country territory.

"Wildflowers" is a personal favourite of mine.

Day 0587 - You're Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr "You're Living All Over Me" (1987)

Wasn't overly familiar with Dino Jr outside of one or two tracks.  This seems kind of like droney, sensitive shoegazer stuff.  Washy guitar rock but with an element of noise rock, and maybe a little more emotion to it.  The Dino Jr mix of noise and melody is maybe best displayed on their cover of Peter Frampton's "Show me the way", with squeals and whines backing the pleasant tune.

Another one that I have enjoyed without going gaga for it.  I can certainly see this being a building block towards the 90s/grunge sound.

Day 0586 - Among the Living

Anthrax "Among the Living" (1987)

Of the 'Big 4' of Thrash (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax), Anthrax were the ones I knew the least about, so was quite interested to see how this panned out.  Not bad, as it turns out.

To my mind, the star here is Scott Ian with his cutting, thrashy rhythm guitar.  Drummer Charlie Benante's pounding, speedy-yet-tight beats are also noteworthy.  I found the vocals to be a bit close to the glam style, which sort of clashed a bit with the more punky, angry music.  A few of the lyrics were a touch cringe-worthy too with the benefit of hindsight, such as "Indians", or "I am the Law", which, though it's actually about Judge Dredd, comes off sounding a bit pro-police-brutality.

Solid enough metal album.  Another one of those "if someone puts it on at a party, I'd listen; but I most likely won't buy a copy" albums.

Day 0585 - So

Peter Gabriel "So" (1986)

Huge success for Peter, helped along by high rotation of the unusual and entertaining video for the funky single "Sledgehammer", not to mention the fact that PG's handsome mug was displayed unadorned on the album cover for once.

While there are some familiar 80s sounds here with synths and stabs of brass and some synthy slap bass, Gabriel manages to add his own touches to the songs.  Whether it's his solid songcraft, including elements of world music (including a guest spot by Youssou N'Dour), elements of experimentation (including a poppy duet with wild-card Kate Bush), or just his own strong and versatile voice.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, and could see why the blurb it the book holds it up as a good starting point for getting into his work.

Day 0584 - The Queen is Dead

The Smiths "The Queen is Dead" (1986)

Seems I kind of have this thing with the Smiths, whereby I like their music, but I can't really tell their albums apart.  It all just sounds kind of... Smithy.

This is an enjoyable album though.  Johnny Marr paints the songs with a range of guitar tones from swirling and dreamy to vigorous folk, to country twang and everything in between.  Morrissey's lyrics continue to be intelligent and with a touch of humour.

This was the band's 3rd album in 4 years, and after one more album the band broke up.  Unlike most bands that go through the whole break up thing, they seem to have resisted the urge to reunite, even to revisit their back-catalog for a quick buck.

Day 0583 - Rapture

Anita Baker "Rapture" (1986)

Apparently this album was well-received on its release, but quickly faded from the public consciousness; I can kind of see why.  It's similar to Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" album.  A talented singer belting it out over a somewhat glossy, studio-polished set of tracks.

Enjoyable and totally listenable music, but not the most memorable or vital release ever.

Day 0582 - I Against I

Bad Brains "I Against I" (1986)

I'm kind of surprised that the first (self titled) Bad Brains album isn't on this list.  Its sound - blistering onslaught of fast thrashy hardcore punk that could change speed or rhythm on a dime - is breathtaking.

That's not to take anything away from this album though as it is an amazing collection of tracks.  There's the groovy "Sacred Love" with its dreamy vocals which were recorded over the phone from the jail by singer HR where he was being held on charges of marijuana possession.  There's the face-melting opening of "House of Suffering" or the catchy Neanderthal groove of the title track.

The mix of groove with thrashy guitars and sneery punky spat-out lyrics brings to mind the Chuck Mosley iteration of Faith No More (seem to remember reading that Chuck briefly joined Bad Brains) or Fishbone.  Great album!

Day 0581 - Guitar Town

Steve Earle "Guitar Town" (1986)

Another album being given the "birth of alternative-country" badge.  The book outlines Earle's country credentials by pointing out that he was a rebel who ran away from school, struggled with addiction and was married 7 times (including twice to the same woman)... that's enough material for 10 country albums right there.  Certainly he also addressed the nature of addiction when guesting on the tv series 'The Wire' as an addicts-anonymous facilitator and former addict.

I'm not sure that the album earns its alt-country credentials.  To my ears it sounds like a pretty straightforward country album, but then maybe compared to what had come before it, it was a bit of a minor left-hand turn.  There is a little touch of 'rock' going on in places. 

Not a bad album, mind, just not as interesting or good (in my mind) as something like Nanci Griffith's "Last of the True Believers" or the Mekons' "Fear and Whiskey".

Day 0580 - Skylarking

XTC "Skylarking" (1986)

I'm always keen to check out more XTC.   I got into their album "Apples Venus vol.1" (I think through looking at the 1001 albums book back in 2009 or so) and I loved the lovely, lush, slightly 1960s-esque pop with it's orchestral touches here and there.

By the time this album came out, the band had largely become a studio-based project, following singer/songwriter Andy Partridge's breakdown and refusal to continue touring.  I do wonder if artists would be able to work as a solely studio-based unit nowadays with the majority of people not bothering to pay for recordings of music anymore.

This albums is typical of the other XTC albums I've heard before: excellent songcraft, some lush and interesting orchestrations, but with the occasional song that suits and utilises a more stripped-down approach.  The tracks range from baroque pop to faux jazz to eastern psychedelia.

Apparently lyrically it is supposed to be the journey from birth, school, marriage, kids through to death.  I picked up on bits and pieces of that, but for me it was largely just a musically enjoyable album.

Day 0579 - Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C. "Raising Hell"  (1986)

The third album from Run-D.M.C put them on the map (and on MTV), in particular their collaboration with the members of Aerosmith on that band's track "Walk this way".  The collab was suggested by producer Rick Rubin after he gave Run-D.M.C. a copy of the lyrics to read.  The track was a hit and also helped rejuvenate Aerosmith's slightly slumped career by introducing them to a new audience.

'Raising Hell' continues the group's brilliant mix of rock riffs with scratches and with the two MCs trading rhymes over the top.  The extra loud and chunky scratches, booming beats and occasional cowbell render this almost the epitome of "old school hip hop".

A sonically interesting album that, much like Afrika Bambaataa, takes existing material and molds it into something new, original and exciting. 

Day 0578 - Graceland

Paul Simon "Graceland" (1986)

Described by the book as Paul Simon's midlife crisis - which seems somehow appropriate as, when I was growing up it was that album that everyone's middle-aged parents seemed to own.  My own parents had the concert on VHS.

PS had briefly reunited with Art Garfunkel, only for it to end acrimoniously.  His marriage had likewise ended, and his previous solo album had flopped.  A depressed PS found himself listening to bootleg recordings of South African township music.  Inspired by the sounds, he and his producer visited South Africa to record with musicians there, this despite a cultural boycott against South Africa due to the existence of Apartheid

PS stated that on previous albums he'd written the songs then brought them into the studio to teach them to his band, but for this album he tried to work the other way: jam out ideas with his musicians and then write a song around them.  The public were ready to slate the album for its perceived breach of the cultural boycott, but instead it became one of the biggest releases of the year and certainly of Paul Simon's career.

I enjoyed this a lot... it is possible that I am middle-aged now.

Day 0577 - Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses "Throwing Muses" (1986)

Another one of those bands where I knew the name but had no real idea what they sounded like.  I was expecting something a lot more new-wavey pop; but ended up with a blistering, yet melodic rock album that would not feel out of place in the early-mid 1990s rock scene.

The book labels this as the missing link between Siouxsie and the Banshees and PJ Harvey; I'd add to that it's likely an early blueprint for Hole and Veruca Salt.   Christine Hersh and Tanya Donelly rock like mofos, moving from beatific vocal harmonies to raspy yells.

Good stuff.