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Thread: Great synth, goth, electronica, new wave LPs from 80 & 81

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    Great synth, goth, electronica, new wave LPs from 80 & 81

    As a balance to the essential prog albums thread. Here are some of the best electronic & experimental non-prog LPs of 80 & 81.

    Bear with me..for some reason this post sent itself automatically.

    List in the next post.
    Last edited by PeterG; 03-06-2016 at 04:07 PM.

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    Here we go then, 1980 & 1981:

    Cardiac Arrest - The Obvious Identity
    Cardiacs - Toy World
    Duran Duran – s/t

    John Foxx - Metamatic
    The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry; Seventeen Seconds
    OMD – s/t; Organisation; Architecture & Morality

    Squeeze – Argybargy; East Side Story
    Roxy Music – Flesh & Blood
    Magazine – The Correct Use of Soap; Magic, Murder and the Weather

    The Human League – Holiday ’80; Travelogue; Dare
    Cabaret Voltaire – Three Mantras; The Voice of America; Red Mecca
    Ultravox – Vienna; Rage in Eden

    The Stranglers – La Folie
    Jon & Vangelis - Short Stories
    Einsturzende Nebauten – Kollaps

    Wall of Voodoo – Dark Continent
    Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids; Tin Drum
    Spandau Ballet – Journeys to Glory

    Siouxsie and The Banshees – Kaleidoscope; Juju
    Gary Numan – Telekon; Dance
    Kate Bush – Never for Ever

    Kraftwerk – Computer World
    Simple Minds – Empires & Dances; Sons and Fascination; Sister Feelings Call
    Bauhaus – In the Flat Field; Mask

    Soft Cell – Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
    Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell
    Gang of Four – Yellow EP; Solid Gold

    Toyah – Anthem
    JMJ – Magnetic Fields
    MO – QE2

    Visage - s/t
    Devo – Freedom of Choice; New Traditionalists
    Heaven 17 – Penthouse and Pavement

    Eurythmics – In The Garden
    Joy Division - Closer
    New Order – Movement

    Classix Nouveaux - Night People
    XTC - Black Sea
    The Sound – From the Lion’s Mouth
    The Stranglers - The Gospel According To The Meninblack
    Last edited by PeterG; 03-07-2016 at 06:02 AM. Reason: divided into groups of 3 for ease of reading

  3. #3
    Wall of Voodoos, dark continent & call of the west were both excellent.
    Still alive and well...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nijinsky Hind View Post
    Wall of Voodoos, dark continent & call of the west were both excellent.
    I just span the Mexican Radio/Call of the West 7" a few minutes ago.

  5. #5
    Hey Peter - did you intentionally leave The Stranglers' 1981 release The Gospel According To The Meninblack off your list? I remember when it came out I thought "what the f*ck is this?" - now I think it's one of their best. I actually just finished listening to it right now.
    "One should never magnify the harsh light of reality with the mirror of prose onto the delicate wings of fantasy's butterfly"
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    "I'm content to listen to what I like and keep my useless negative opinions about what I don't like to myself -- because no one is interested in hearing those anyway, and it contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation."
    aith01

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    I have two of the albums on PeterG's list, and looking over it it's unlikely I will ever own more.

    (I only count Sons & Fascination/Sister Feelings Call as one, since I have them on one CD.)

    For my money, I think the debut album by Icehouse (who at that time called themselves Flowers) is better than most of what's on that list.
    I would also add two albums by Split Enz: True Colours, and Corroboree (a.k.a. Waiata)

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    Martha and the Muffins' first three albums: Metro Music, Trance and Dance, and This is the Ice Age.

    Less known than most of PeterG's list, and out of Toronto, this band sounded like a cross between Roxy Music and Blondie. The original line-up included not one, but two "Marthas" - Martha Johnson and Martha Ladly, both singing and playing keyboards. Their first two albums were produced by Mike Howlett (formerly of Gong), while This is the Ice Age brought in a more textural approach and represented the first steps of Daniel Lanois's long career as a producer and creative collaborator. Later albums added a Talking Heads world music influence to the mix, a name change to M+M, and a smaller lineup of just Martha Johnson and guitarist/songwriter Mark Gane, plus sessionmen.

    Good stuff. There was nothing world-beating about them, but they had good songs, a sound of their own, and were reasonably progressive (not "prog") for their time and idiom. Their music wasn't particularly complex, but it was done very well - the kind of stuff where every note was the right note, the note that needed to be there. Metro Music contained their only hit, "Echo Beach", which gives a pretty good example of their early sound:



    "Danceparc", from a few years later, typifies their work with Lanois:



    (The woman in the blue dress is Jocelyne Lanois, their bassist at the time and the person who connected the band up with her brother.)

    Finally, "Cooling the Medium", represents the M+M period:

    Last edited by Baribrotzer; 03-07-2016 at 06:07 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Geoff O'Donoghue View Post
    Hey Peter - did you intentionally leave The Stranglers' 1981 release The Gospel According To The Meninblack off your list? I remember when it came out I thought "what the f*ck is this?" - now I think it's one of their best. I actually just finished listening to it right now.
    No, I simply forgot it. Thanks for the reminder. Great album.
    List amended.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    I think the debut album by Icehouse (who at that time called themselves Flowers) is better than most of what's on that list.
    A good album, not IMO better than most of the list as you think though, and not really fitting the profile of the list to my ears.
    Last edited by PeterG; 03-07-2016 at 06:15 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    Martha and the Muffins'
    Great band, love them. Again, an oversight on my part, I just didn't remember them and they certainly fit the style of this type of list for 80-81.

    But there are many bands of the 80-81 period that were rock or guitar pop bands, that were only one or two steps removed from rock n roll, pub rock, punk, ska, and light vocal pop and so don't make my list, for example, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, the Pretenders, Echo and the Bunnymen, Madness, Altered Images, Boomtown Rats, Specials, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, The Clash, The Damned etc.

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    Some obscure Yugo-New Wave from 1980 and 1981...










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    Love Martha And The Muffins, especially This Is The Ice Age.
    The band is rereleasing their stuff and if all works out fine The World Is A Ball will get its first CD-release this year. Watch out for ther Pledge-page.

    The Comsat Angels: Waiting For A Miracle
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    Anthony Moore: Flying Doesn't Help (although some sources mention ©1979)


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    Random Hold: The View From Here


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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    The Sound – From the Lion’s Mouth
    Jeopardy was also a strong debut.

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    The Buggles: Adventures In Modern Recording

    Rupert Hine's solo-debut Immunity

    Modern Eon: Fiction Tales (with Jon Anderson-like vocals)

    Johnny Warman: Walking Into Mirrors (a bit like Rupert Hine and clearly influenced by Phil Collins first album)

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    Great band, love them. Again, an oversight on my part, I just didn't remember them and they certainly fit the style of this type of list for 80-81.

    But there are many bands of the 80-81 period that were rock or guitar pop bands, that were only one or two steps removed from rock n roll, pub rock, punk, ska, and light vocal pop and so don't make my list, for example, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, the Pretenders, Echo and the Bunnymen, Madness, Altered Images, Boomtown Rats, Specials, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, The Clash, The Damned etc.

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    An obscure Yugo-New Wave female fronted band called Paraf and their LP Izleti from 1981



  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    Great band, love them. Again, an oversight on my part, I just didn't remember them and they certainly fit the style of this type of list for 80-81.

    But there are many bands of the 80-81 period that were rock or guitar pop bands, that were only one or two steps removed from rock n roll, pub rock, punk, ska, and light vocal pop and so don't make my list, for example, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, the Pretenders, Echo and the Bunnymen, Madness, Altered Images, Boomtown Rats, Specials, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, The Clash, The Damned etc.
    You can't include Echo & The Bunnymen in any of those descriptions, listen again to Crocodiles (1980) and Heaven Up Here (1981).

  20. #20
    Any love for Lustmord's first, from '81? I believe it is currently available as part of his VOD 'Things That Were' set, also available in digital form from Bandcamp: https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/things-that-were

    Also: Nurse With Wound 'Insect and Individual Silenced' might count.
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

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    Quote Originally Posted by cannygoodlike View Post
    Yes, along with bands like Comsat Angels, both great bands but they were neither synth, goth, electronica or new wave. At the end of the day a guitar band playing moody, minimalist pop is just that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    Any love for Lustmord's first, from '81? [/url]

    Nurse With Wound 'Insect and Individual Silenced' might count.
    Yes, both well ahead of their time. Really at the very infancy of that mix of what we currently in Europe call darkwave with ambient, goth, trance and techno.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    A good album, ...and not really fitting the profile of the list to my ears.
    I'd certainly put it in the same camp as Ultravox, Visage, Gary Numan and early Spandau and Simple Minds.

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    Quote Originally Posted by moecurlythanu View Post
    I'd certainly put it in the same camp as Ultravox, Visage, Gary Numan and early Spandau and Simple Minds.
    You might be right. I really listen to my Icehouse albums again...and probably my Echo and the Bunnymen albums as well.

    Whatever, there certainly was some great music being made then in these related styles, which is why the 80s-music haters always baffle me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sunlight Caller View Post
    You can't include Echo & The Bunnymen in any of those descriptions, listen again to Crocodiles (1980) and Heaven Up Here (1981).
    Yea, granted, you're probably right.

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