Day 0456 - Back in Black

AC/DC "Back in Black" (1980)

 
AC/DC had managed to pull themselves up by their Aussie bootstraps to 'take on the world'. By the time they released "Highway to Hell" they had won over Europe, but hadn't quite cracked the US. Tragedy befell them when their lead singer Bon Scott died after a night of drinking.

The band didn't pause.  They started recording straight away and recruited British vocalist Brian Johnson to take up lead singer duties. The album opens with tolling bells and then slow, ominous guitar, leading you to believe that maybe the band were going to deliver a solemn eulogy to their fallen bandmate... at least you might believe that if you were unfamiliar with the rest of their work. Pretty quickly,  the slow opening gives way to an 'all hands to the pump' rocker, and things doesn't really let up from there.

The band continue with their misogynistic, wild-time lyrics and solid riffing rock. Solid is the word too; apart from Angus Young's flashy lead guitar parts, the music is fairly workmanlike in its simplicity. The rhythm section mainly hold down the most basic groove needed to support the guitar riffs, which in turn provide a bed for Johnson's vocals to bounce around on top of. It is rock economy, and it works really well for the songs.

The album took off in the US. It has since racked up 22x platinum sales, and sits as the sixth highest selling album of all time in the US!

Day 0455 - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

Dexy's Midnight Runners "Searching for the Young Soul Rebels" (1980)

Touché 80s - the goodness continues!

Kevin Rowland and Kevin 'Al' Archer, late of the punk band 'Killjoy' formed Dexy's Midnight Runners at the tail end of the 1970s. The band's name was a reference to the 60s party drug of choice, Dexedrine.

The album opens with a confusing babble of mixed radio programme signals before these are interrupted by a raucous yell, signalling the start of the music proper. My first impression was that this would be another punky ska album (though that hadn't been my experience with the one or two DMR songs I'd heard), it turned out to be more like 'Northern soul... with guts'. Horns and backing vocals that almost have a slight hint of theatricality to their wildness.

Day 0454 - Kings of the Wild Frontier

...and hello the 80s. Bracing self for cheesiness, overflow of synthesisers, big hair, but hoping to discover some good music out of it. In particular the early rap music, most of which I'm not that well versed in.


0454

Adam and the Ants "Kings of the Wild Frontier" (1980)

Well the 80s are off to a good start. I'd heard a couple of Adam Ant songs in the past and liked them; one of them "Antmusic" is on this album.

Reading about this one it's quite interesting. A&tA had released a 1979 post-punk album, Adam wanted to distance himself further from punk and its supposed anti-pop aesthetic. The Sex Pistols' architect Malcolm McLaren suggested using African rhythms and so Adam set about assembling some drummers to make this happened... then McLaren stole them away to form the group Bow Wow Wow.

Adam picked up and started again, assembling a new band and drawing in influences from all over the spectrum, military drum beats, hints of African rhythms, blasting guitars, clean plinky funk guitar, sea shanty melodies with almost glam guitar, and skittish Talking Heads-esque vocals. Definitely keen to check out more from this band!

Day 0453 - Specials

The Specials "Specials" (1979)

The Specials kind of came out fully formed here; from their image (suits and narrow ties, shades and porkpie hats - referencing UK 'mods' and Jamaican 'rude boys'), to their music which was a brash and rocky take on ska, dub and rocksteady... all with a hint of the recent punk movement reflected in it.

A number of the band members sing, but it's the combination of lead singers Neville Staple with his warm round Jamaican accent and Terry Hall with his punkish holler that really help carve out a unique sound amongst the then burgeoning ska scene in the UK. "Too much too young" is a favourite of mine here.




....well goodbye 1970s. You have been an education.

Day 0452 - The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan "The Pleasure Principle" (1979)

Numan!   Stop eyeballing that pyramid.

Another synth-pop album that kind of heralded the sound that would come to rule the airwaves in the 80s. Numan's band consisted of drums, synthesisers, bass, and a viola... the last of which adds a touch of the organic to what can occasionally be an overly polished and dehumanised genre.

The cover too speaks of that move from flamboyant or macho scruffy musician in the 70s to a buttoned down, corporate look that a few bands opted for the following decade.

The track M.E (or a part of it) is the basis for the popular Bassment Jaxx song "Where's your head at", aside from that, I was familiar with the song "Cars".

Day 0451 - Machine Gun Etiquette

The Damned "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1979)

Things that make you go "oooh"

Outside of a fairly rote cover of one of these songs by the band the Offspring, I was aware of the Damned by name only, including the names of its band members, who sport such spicy monikers as Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible.

This sounds like a Ramones album and a Kinks album got shoved in blender with glorious results. Snarling punk attitude one moment, eccentric British pop the next.  Most of the time it falls partway in between, in the form of high-velocity melodic punk with a decidedly British flavour and some great little lead breaks.

Fun fact: Lemmy from Motorhead and Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon from the Clash help out with some bass, backing vocals, and hand claps.

Day 0450 - Off the Wall

Michael Jackson "Off the Wall" (1979)

The beginning of the end of the... beginning, I guess. MJ hadn't had a solo hit in 7 odd years, and while working on the (not particularly successful) film 'The Wiz' Jackson asked Quincy Jones to recommend him a producer. Quincy suggested himself and they began what has to be one of the more commercially successful partnerships in music.

This album combined funk, disco and soul to basically lay out the blueprints for modern RnB (and the blueprint for nearly every Jamiroquai album).  Michael is let loose over these tracks, forming and honing the array of vocal ticks and exclamations that would become one of his many trademarks and would go on to define his vocal style.

Amongst all the upbeat danceable songs, he even has one of the more straightforward heart-string tugging ballads of his career in "She's out of my life".  He's so sincere that by the end of it he sounds like he's more or less in tears... tears of money.