1001 Albums: 0471 - 0480 - A Clockwork Eighties

I know friends, I continue to be horribly late with these blogs. The project still continues though! Let's look at the next block of ten.


0471 The Jam – Sound Affects - This is the second album by The Jam on the list, and I didn’t like it. This must be why I was expecting not to like that first album.


0472 Tom Waits – Heartattack & Vine - I’m guessing this one is on here because Tom starts getting weird and sounding like “Tom Waits” instead of the old piano bar sounding Tom Waits. Weird blues is to found in this album, and it’s pretty great.


0473 UB40 – Signing Off - I only knew UB40 for that song “Red Red Wine” that was such a hit. After listening to this, I didn’t need to know anymore. White man reggae that just doesn’t work for me.


0474 The Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro - The name of the band was way better then the music it made. Pretty forgettable British punk/new wave whatever.


0475 The Specials – More Specials - And more good music! This one is more polished and goofier then the first album. Still on par though, really good stuff. I like these checkerboard guys!


0476 Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver - My hate for Steve Windwood continues as he leaves Traffic behind (pun!) and goes solo with this horrid synth-lite album. Hell can reserve a specil place for Mr. Windwood.


0477 The Pretenders – The Pretenders (1st Album) - A band known for one song, “Brass In My Pocket”, and that song is on here! I bet they go on to do other good songs, but we shall never know since just that one song matters. Which is a shame since the whole album was pretty great, even with “Brass” being the stand out. A really solid rock offering that managed to sound current without sounding too new wave or any of that type of stuff.


0478 Einstürzende Neubauten – Kollaps - More noisy Krautrock that did nothing for me. Sigh.


0479 Siouxsie & the Banshees – Juju - I was not in love with the first Siouxsie album. I did not love this one either, but I did like it a lot more. No horrid cover songs, it’s more polished production wise and more assured in how it wants to sound. Made for a great step up.


0480 Heaven 17 – Penthouse & Pavement - This started out sounding a bit DEVO and I got all sorts of excited. Song two was decidedly not like DEVO, and I kinda lost interest from that point on. It’s a shame really. The band got it’s name from my favourite Stanley Kubrick film, it should of been better then this!

Not the most inspired blog I've ever written. Then again, none of the music in this block really inspired me in any way. The best of the lot was the Tom Waits, and I'm sure I've listened to it before. Blargh! Hopefully the next blog will be more fun.

1001 Albums: 0454 - 0470 - Oh my GAAWWWWD! It's The 80's!

Ho ho! I bet you all thought I forgot about this project, what with vacation time and all that. Nope! It's still going on! I'm just dead lazy in updating it with a side of being very busy the past week or so. Also, Listening to the music is more fun/interesting then writing about it. I don't know, I've been quiet lately. Anyway, here is massive catch up. The 80's are proving to be wildly interesting compared to the 70's. It is early days though, so let's hope it continues eh? Enjoy!


0454 Adam & the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier - It’s the perfect start to the ‘80s! Does any other band scream out the decade like Adam and the Ants? There probably is. This is not a real question! Anyways, this was surprisingly rocking and not a synth fest like I thought it would be. I shall be forced to admit this was good!


0455 Dexys Midnight Runners – Searching for the Young Soul Rebels - When I hear the name of this band, I think “Pass the Dutchie”. I am probably wrong in thinking that this band sang that song. As it is, that song is not on here and I was disappointed in the irrational way I tend to be with this list. This album is kind of a mess with some spoken word skit type stuff around the music. I just didn’t care for it OK? Maybe they will come back to pass some dutchie around and I will forgive them! Let’s be positive!


0456 AC/DC – Back in Black - I am a fan of the dead lead singer who’s name is escaping me at the moment and I can’t google since I’m pretending I’m typing this on my old Vic 20 this block of reviews so as to force an 80's vibe on myself and it didn’t have a network. Or the internet which wasn't invented yet. Anyways, I’m not supposed to like this one since it’s got the new singer Brian whatsisname. But to hell with expectations... this was really good! As good, if not maybe a little better then the old dead guy singers stuff. John Bonham? Was that his name or the dead Led Zeppelin drummer? Man, the Vic 20 days kind of sucked, we were all so helpless. Only having Gorf and Omega Race to play! Right, this was good and this is way more then should be writen about AC/DC! Moving on!


0457 The Cramps – Songs the Lord Taught Us - PISS UP A ROPE BUT DO I LOVE THIS BAND! Love them! And this album, and everything they’ve ever done or attached their name to. I would orally please every single one of them in gratitude, even Lux who’s currently deceased. I say currently because let’s face it, if anyone is going to come back to life, it’s Lux Interior of The Cramps. So click on the link and buy this if you don't currently own it. DO IT RIGHT NOW BEFORE THE MP3s SELL OUT! How will you face your children if you don’t? Do you enjoy living in shame?


0458 Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - This might be the most kick-ass rock pack yet! I LOVE THE DEAD KENNEDYS TOO! Not enough to orally please them, but I would lick their tummies if they desired me to. This is a great debut of the hardcore band before they got really hardcore. So there’s almost a classic rockabilly thing going on. Almost because there totally isn’t a rockabilly thing going on. I might not know what I’m talking about because I am so excited that two of my favourite bands made it to the list, and in a double header! Since you’re buying that Cramps album, you should buy this too.


0459 Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (III) - God damn it! It was going so good and now Peter Gabriel waltzed over here and kind of mucked it all up. Asshole! This album wasn’t as good as that debut one I liked so much. It wasn’t terrible either. Pete’s (he doesn’t mind if I call him Pete) is moving into the world beat sound that will bore the shit out of everyone in the next few years after all those food for Africa songs come out. It’s early days though, so it’s mostly subtle and works. I should probably listen to this again since it’s a pretty sharp turn from the methed up one-two punch of The Cramps and Dead Kennedys. I’ll come back to this later...


0460 The Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight - It was a little friendly like punky, but kind of underwhelming. Soft boys is right I guess?


0461 The Cure – Seventeen Seconds - Legendary Goth Rockers The Cure make their sad debut on the list with their second album. It’s actually not all that sad, I’m just being a jerk. I don't think I had heard any of the songs off it. It was good.


0462 Echo & the Bunnymen – Crocodiles - This band has a horrible name that makes me think “Minstrel Show”. The music is significantly better, but not so great that you should run out and get this.


0463 Motörhead – Ace of Spades - Motörhead are awesome, Lemmy is fantastic and this album rocks. I don’t know what more to say. Buy it.


0464 Killing Joke – Killing Joke (1st Album) - Pretty solid punk offering. the overtly political songs manage not to come off as corny.


0465 Judas Priest – British Steel - Oh Judas Priest! You are so awesome, yet hard to take seriously. This is pretty great British metal. I might be biased since as of this writing I plan to see them in a few months.


0466 Circle Jerks – Group Sex - I really liked this one. A solid punk album that was pretty sarcastic. If I’m remembering it right.


0467 Talking Heads – Remain in Light - After the minor let down of the last album, this one was a step forward. It has that song where in the video (the greatest video ever made) David Byrne demonstrates the only acceptable way to dance at night clubs. So that’s pretty great. The rest of the album was good too, with a good mix of peppy songs and slower ballad/dirge type stuff.


0468 Joy Division – Closer - Another Joy Division album that didn’t do much for me. This one was noisier then the previous one, and I liked it more. Not enough to have it stick around with me though.


0469 Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden (1st Album) - This was the first Iron Maiden album I ever bought, and I remember not liking it. It has their original lead singer on it, not Bruce Dickenson, and Bruce was the man at the time I bought it. Revisiting it though, it’s actually really good. The songs aren’t as epic as they will become, but there’s still some gems, and “Running Free” is flat out great.


0470 The Undertones – Hypnotised - I loved this album, manly because it reminded me of a favorite song of mine from a porn movie soundtrack (Electrify Me by The Plugz, found in “New Wave Hookers”, an exceptionally good porno from the 80’s, but that’s another story...) Anyways, The Undertones don’t actually sound much like The Plugz, but they are good. Simple type songs that are super catchy. I really liked this one. That’s two very likeable Undertones albums on this list! And hooray that they did more then just the debut, since this one was better! This is why it’s good to not always wiki everything since you get nice surprises!

There it is, thanks for reading my ones of readers! I'm going to try to get my blog going more regular with the rest of life. Don't hold me to it though...