0511 Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska - This would be my favourite Bruce Springsteen album if I liked Bruce enough to have a favourite album of his. It’s a solo album of demos meant to be re-recorded, and because it’s so no bullshit there’s an honesty to these tracks that is lacking to me in most of his work. This one sounds timeless, and would fit just fine with a Woody Guthrie album. Which is fine my me.
0512 The Associates – Sulk - Not a bad pop type album in The Cure vein. Other then not being as good as The Cure and not leaving much of an impression.
0513 Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast - A personal favourite of mine, but I didn’t hear it until around 1986 since my mum wouldn’t let me listen to it. Ah for the days when music was dangerous! Anyways, this is superb. Bruce Dickinson makes his debut with the band on this one, and the songs transcend metal to the point of being operatic. It’s amazing in every way. The band is completely assured with the material and it makes even the cornier bits work. Not a bad song to found, and add in a sound clip from “The Prisoner” and you just can’t go wrong with this.
0514 Duran Duran – Rio - Duran Duran is one of those bands that thrived in the 80’s and then kind of vanished. In Canada anyways. A friend pointed Simon Le Bon out to me in Heathrow and I didn’t recognize him narf narf. Anyways, this is about as good of a 80’s pop album as you will get. A bunch of non-challenging but pleasing songs. That said, Duran Duran are actually better with music videos. I think that’s why they were so popular, music vids with high production values and lots of pretty girls makes this music much more interesting.
0515 Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes (1st Album) - This album features the song “Blister In The Sun” a song so good that it's impossible to hate. It also features that song that Ethan Hawk sings at Winona Rider in a cunty way in “Reality Bites”. So that’s two pretty great songs, and the rest is great too. They manage to capture angst in a way that’s honest and not annoying. I remember the band from Junior High and not thinking them great, but really enjoyed this now. It’s a gooder.
0516 Malcolm McLaren – Duck Rock - I was ready to flat out hate this. McLaren was the mastermind behind the my beloved Sex Pistols, and apparently totally fucked the band over. Anyways, this is pretty much the perfect club album. Buffalo Girls was the charting single on this, and it’s a great song. The whole album was pretty great. The asshole knew how to make a buck by giving the people what they wanted and this one is no different. Great 80’s dance music that while sounding of the time, still packs a funball shot in the arm. I hate to say it, but I like this and Malcolms music contributions to the world so far. I still think he's a prick though.
0517 Def Leppard – Pyromania - I was never much of a Def Leppard fan. The mega hit album “Hysteria” was just way too over produced for my rock sensibilities. This is the album proceeding that one, and it’s pretty solid. Yeah, the production is there, but the songs are solid enough to make it work.
0518 REM – Murmur - The Georgia boys (no one has ever called them that, they’re probably not from Georgia) make their debut! This was really good. "Radio Free Europe" is a great song. It struck me listening to this, that this genre of music is dead. This used to be called “Alternative” or “College Rock”. Now REM are legendary artists, and this is simply rock music. It used to be so much easier being a music fan with clear, simple generalized genres. Now with Indie Pop, Classical Pop, Indie Folk, Prog Metal... I don’t know what the hell anyone is talking about. Fuck I’m old.
0519 The The – Soul Mining - I seem to think there was something important about this band, but I’ve forgotten it. Let me check Wiki... nope, nothing important here. Wiki tells me this is their “synth-noir” debut. What the fuck does that mean? This was noisy, and kind of forgettable. Moving on...
0520 Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones - MORE TOM WAITS HOORAY! I’m not being sarcastic either. This was really good. I hadn’t heard it before. A bunch of great songs and “Franks Wild Years” is the only song you ever have to listen too in your entire life. This was so good that I’ve been on a Waits binge listening to him non-stop all week. Bless his gravelly voiced heart!
Some good stuff here. I listened to that Tom Waits one 3 times I did yes I did! So it wins! I guess I'm picking winning albums again? Who knows, this project is a fucking mess...
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