Day 0524 - Hearts and Bones

Paul Simon "Hearts and Bones" (1983)

Following a decline in his popularity as a solo artist, Simon reunited with Garfunkel for some successful shows.  The two of them started working on a new S&G album, but all the old arguments flared up and they broke up again.  Paul chucked Art's songs and worked some of his into a new solo album.

At the time of its release, this album didn't fare much better commercially than his recent releases, though it seems to have been reassessed with hindsight.  To me it shows hints of his next (much more successful) solo album Graceland, in that it has a good bit of groove to it and the quite '80s' sounding production.  In places, the synth laden grooves even sound a bit like that good 70s era Stevie Wonder.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, and I'd argue that the more straight-ahead mellow tracks are still his strength, such as the sombre "the late great Johnny Ace", his tribute to John Lennon.  That being said, the peppy "Cars are cars" is a fun little song, regardless of its slightly so-so lyrics.

Day 0523 - She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper "She's so Unusual" (1983)

Lauper's band Blue Angel had been signed, flopped, dropped their manager and were then sued by him.  Lauper was forced into bankruptcy.  From there she set about singing in clubs in New York and essentially restarting her career.   She was spotted by a manager who took her on and got her signed to a label as a solo artist.

The resulting 'debut' album is "She's so unusual" which boasted 7 singles including hits like "Time after Time" and "Girls just want to have fun" saw Lauper for a while in close competition with Madonna for the "Queen of Pop" moniker.

Day 0522 - Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks "Back to Mystery City" (1983)

The book referred to these guys as the meeting point between glam-rock and punk... which I kind of doubted and assumed they'd just sound like every other 80s rock band - newsflash: I was wrong.  This does have the anthemic vibe, flashy guitar solos and some of the glitz that I'd associate with glam; but also has a lot of humour to it and punky energy and swagger in places.

A couple of members of Mott the Hoople helped the band produce this, their third album overall, and their first with new improved drummer Razzle.  The success of the album landed them a three album deal with CBS.  Unfortunately the band broke up after Razzle was killed in a car accident while a passenger in the car of Vince Neill from Motley Crue.

Day 0521 - A Walk Across the Rooftops

The Blue Nile "A Walk Across the Rooftops" (1983)

According to the book, being a fan of Blue Nile requires only patience.  The albums are all pretty similar but it takes them at least 5 years between releases.  Apparently even in being offered a recording deal it took them several months to come back with an answer for their record company.

There was a persistent story that the band had been commissioned to make an album by a company wanting to show off their hi-fi equipment and that the recording so impressed the company that they formed a record label to release the album.  Apparently though that is not true and the company had already released one or two things already; but it makes for a nice story.

The sound of this album is reminiscent of a few other artists of this era, in that these are essentially soulful pop songs but just steeped in instrumentation and production techniques of the 80s that maybe make them cleaner and colder than they want to be.  I liked it well enough.

Day 0520 - Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits "Swordfishtrombones" (1983)

Great album, and the beginning of a whole new era of Waits' music.  His wife Kathleen Brennan had been introducing him to a range of avant music and began collaborating on songwriting with him and it really starts to show with this album.

To me, this album feels like Waits' drunken barfly character fell so far down his hole of inebriation that he ended up in some strange hallucinatory underworld.  The opening track "Underground" could be seen as a signal of this, or a paean to Waits' own new musical discoveries courtesy of Brennan "It's a place I've found/There's a world going on/Underground.  The album title seems like something of a nod to Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" too.   

The other image the music conjures up for me is the Waits barfly joining a travelling circus and hitting the road.  The jarring instrumentation holds a definite carnival vibe, and Waits practises his ringmaster's holler on several tracks.  There are still one or two gentle moments here, including the melodic outro of "Rainbirds", providing a nice contrast to the abrasive opener.

Day 0519 - Soul Mining

The The "Soul Mining" (1983)

The The was set up by Matt Johnson and went on to feature a rotating cast of musicians with Johnson as the only constant, essentially making it more of a collaborative solo project (if that makes sense).

This music has the some of the drama and glitz of the new-romantic movement to it.  There are some squiggly little synth sounds, a little 'world music' percussion, but you can also hear the hints of Johnston's musical upbringing, growing up around his dad's East London pub in his vaguely misanthropic snarl and hints of 60s rock in places, maybe even a touch of the Velvet Underground adding a little New York to the mix.

0518 - Murmur

R.E.M. "Murmur" (1983)

Quite a different beast to the R.E.M. who would eventually break on the scene with their earnest emotional ballads and occasional rockers.  This is much more folky shoegazer stuff, with twangy Rickenbacker guitar behind Stipe's mumbled poetry and much less of Mike Mill's backing vocals.

There are moments of the future band shining through, but I can certainly understand why people who got into the band at this stage of their career might have been disappointed with their later direction (though I'm a fan of their mid-era albums myself).