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.
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.
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
Wall of Voodoos, dark continent & call of the west were both excellent.
Still alive and well...
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"
Thumpermonkey - How I Wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman
"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
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)
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.
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.
Some obscure Yugo-New Wave from 1980 and 1981...
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
The Comsat Angels: Sleep No More
Interview: Snakes And Lovers
Anthony Moore: Flying Doesn't Help (although some sources mention ©1979)
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)
An obscure Yugo-New Wave female fronted band called Paraf and their LP Izleti from 1981
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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