u/EddieBaby1001

530 Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (1983)

530 Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (1983)

I got to know the Meat Puppets around 1991 with their amazing record Forbidden Places. But Meat Puppets II, (Spotify) from 1983, is considered their masterpiece, including the 1001 Albums list. I tried listening to it a few times back in the day, but I found it difficult; messy, unfinished, and frequently out of tune. It’s in the same vein as Ween and the Minutemen, but for me, just a little less. Time to give it another solid listen.

The album, and the band in general, is primarily known because Nirvana covered no fewer than three tracks from this record on their MTV Unplugged. The Meat Puppets Kirkwood brothers also played along. The album pleases me a more now than it used to, it’s actually kind of fun—that zany vibe, it goes in every direction. Apparently, there were quite a lot of drugs involved. But I still miss the spark of the absurd and humorous that I do find in Ween (especially their debut, which goes a few steps further) or the virtuosity and humor of the Meat Puppets album Forbidden Places. I still don't quite get the fuss about this record.

I saw the Meat Puppets live at the Effenaar, in the Netherlands around 1991 (if I remember correctly). It was good and pretty weird. At one point, the singer grabbed a roll of stage tape and taped his microphone to his head by slapping large strips of tape around his face, including over his big mop of hair. I don't remember how he managed to get that off, but that couldn't have been fun. Ouch.

Here some videos:

No decent live footage from '83. But here is the brilliant “Sam” from Forbidden Places. Try singing along to that! Sam + That's How It Goes (Into The Night 7/31/91): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhQgvIqa62c

https://preview.redd.it/7qy68gvoqnuh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f875f1c953df148f4b7a393e481b7b1fc82561e

A few songs from the follow-up Up On The Sun, Live 1986, Music Machine, Los Angeles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCOoKDXjhZ8

https://preview.redd.it/2lshb68sqnuh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad255a51e31dfa2753184ec473af342006caf51f

One of the three songs Nirvana performed with the Meat Puppets during their famous Unplugged session. Lake Of Fire (Live On MTV Unplugged, 1993): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4LdUQzCPPM

https://preview.redd.it/hhddf2fwqnuh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e6c0bc92204c481d586e1f7566f06bc80cc1a70

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=530-meat-puppets-meat-puppets-ii&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 5 days ago

523 Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual (1983)

Cool, Cyndi (not 'Cindy') Lauper. I've never listened to a full album of hers and actually never felt the need to, no matter how much I like the hits. This album features the massive hits “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” and “Time After Time”. She never managed to top this debut, especially in terms of hits. “True Colors” is on the album after this. She peaked early.

Half of the album is covers. Actually “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” is also a cover, written by Robert Hazard in 1979, but thoroughly revamped by Lauper, among other things by singing it from a female perspective and making it 100 times poppier. Never knew it was a cover.

“She Bop” is fun too, apparently an ode to masturbation. In 1983, there was still a bit of a battle between Lauper and Madonna, who also debuted that year, over who would become the biggest star. Cyndi was more popular initially, but we all know the outcome.

In the great documentary The Greatest Night In Pop, about the recording of “We Are The World”, there's a fun bit with Cyndi. Every time she sings, a kind of ringing noise comes through in the audio. Turns out it's her massive amount of jewelry.

The original of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by Robert Hazard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aLNwOxPsjg

https://preview.redd.it/pq33q50kuoqh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd924aa554d2c3e8721c9e4d0ebcf31ad0347e76

Quite brilliant. The jewelry part is at 3:10. They're wrestling with the bridge big time, and at 7:50 you hear it: they've got it. This is THE version! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpReqNFVL-0

https://preview.redd.it/qsdoyelquoqh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=5f6b9db99e437707dd984488cbec5a89556af3be

Cyndi in 2023. Still a beautiful woman

Album on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1FvdZ1oizXwF9bxogujoF0

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=523-cyndi-lauper-she-s-so-unusual&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 25 days ago

515 Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1983)

Ah, great. Violent Femmes made the list too. For me this is one of the better albums from the eighties. What a relief after Duran Duran ;). Just like The Feelies' first album, Crazy Rhythms from 1980 (why on earth wasn't that on the list?!?), this is one of those somewhat overlooked but jaw-dropping debuts. So apparently you can still be pretty badass with just a minimal (standing) drum kit, a guitar, and an acoustic bass guitar taking the lead role.

Just listen, for instance, to the ending of the highlight, "Add It Up" (check out the Youtubes too). Opener "Blister in The sun" is maybe the catchiest of them all, though "Prove My Love" also has a killer chorus. Pixies must have listened closely to "Confessions." Only on side B do the first filler tracks show up, but that's also where you find the wonderful "Gone Daddy Gone" (which became a hit for Gnarls Barkley again in 2006) with suddenly two incredible xylophone solos! Two! Where did those suddenly come from? But it's a great touch nonetheless. Amazing record!

Videos:

Whether that underwear on the head is also a stroke of genius, I'm not so sure. Blister In the Sun - Live at the Hacienda, Manchester, UK, 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUbFtHr3vCE

https://preview.redd.it/e8jq1q5sqboh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=92f780543859028a6e2d82a1a3372616fcb1eb53

Here I see it's an electric bass, but then it's also possible to play slide on it. Kiss Off - Live at the Hacienda, Manchester, UK, 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJUtlnn4KDg

https://preview.redd.it/njxr2tg6rboh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=7f30dc6edaaffee83969edc84e566d5b6f52c158

The cool bassist from Low End University listens to Add It Up for the first time. "There's a huge attitude thing going on there!" First Time Hearing VIOLENT FEMMES! Bass Teacher REACTS to “Add It Up” and Brian Ritchie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdB3QfC3XLk

https://preview.redd.it/6buvj5ucrboh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=7f6c2d2721334607efbc68f3a13f78c03857166f

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0Ojio25IPzIrw1rUmgrhrG?si=W6u9YJz3QlaOKDYAkdBTZQ

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=515-violent-femmes-violent-femmes&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

514 Duran Duran - Rio (1982)

Since I'm on the subject of when I was still a teenager (see my Number of the Beast entry): the video for "The Reflex", with that waterfall coming out of the screen, and especially "Girls on Film", with those half-naked ladies in the boxing ring (on YouTube there's only a very tame version, I mean the uncensored version of course, which can be found on Reddit, see also below), made quite an impression before guitars came into my life. I think I was 12 or so, and this was still early 80s.

Neither of those two tracks, by the way, is on the Rio album. I was actually done with Duran Duran fairly quickly, and, unlike a lot of people I know, have little childhood nostalgia for them. A "Hungry Like the Wolf" is fine I guess, and "Rio" is also alright, but not much more than that. Found it a bit of a chore to sit through; I've definitely had my fill of DD for a while now.

The uncensored version of Girls on Film, on : https://www.reddit.com/r/80smusic/comments/s4iiz3/duran_duran_girls_on_film_extended_uncensored/

https://preview.redd.it/z3wso3ie74oh1.png?width=915&format=png&auto=webp&s=a6733818aacf05d9eff6f6e16bcba813200e8ec8

"Rio" | Live at the Palladium, New York City (1982): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jo3xtNyxUc

https://preview.redd.it/h98wjion64oh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=dfb5f547094644c0c06b720cc08a0c7bc647f950

“Hungry Like the Wolf” | Live at the Palladium, New York City (1982): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjEGtMvoTM

https://preview.redd.it/05fkjnpo64oh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=678df2966d2429cb8f7f541134962c60ce819048

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

513 Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast (1982)

>Woe to you, o'er Earth and Sea. For the Devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short. Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast. For it is a human number. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six!

When I was a Dutch fifteen-year-old kid fishing albums out of the crates at the amazing alternative record rental place Kereweerom (a guy in the next village rented out his 25.000+ alternative record collection almost for free, god bless him!; my main music source in the 80s), Number of the Beast was one of the first I picked. Together with Led Zep I & II, the '70s Springsteen and Hendrix, if I remember correctly. That leaves quite an impression when you're fifteen! What a fantastic record.

Especially the opening duo of side B with the title track "Number of the Beast" (until now I never noticed that the intro is in 5/4 time, or 10/8 if you wish) and killer song "Run to the Hills" (impossible to not sing along with that one). This is really not comparable to Venom, which I reviewed earlier, is it? The Iron Maiden, a medieval torture device, are at least a hundred leagues ahead. Super professional, tight and crispy, without ever becoming too slick.

When the four greatest metal albums of all time are named, they're often: Paranoid, Reign In Blood, Master of Puppets and The Number of the Beast. As far as I'm concerned, MoP is indeed the Master of these four, but Beast is also fantastic. And what an enormous step forward now that Bruce Dickinson is at the helm belting it out!

Also a charming detail: When they're on a tour in the Netherlands bassist Steve Harris is always playing soccer (or football in the rest of the world) with the guys from Wintelre, a tiny 2,000-person village in the south of the Netherlands, next to the one from the record rental place mentioned above, as he met them once and and has been a friend ever since. And sometimes he has the full team fly over to wherever they are touring (like Brazil) to have them watch the show and play some soccer.

The Number Of The Beast, Live 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7yrA_Bz6Oc

https://preview.redd.it/a2sk2ihtfxnh1.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=e23a843384ddd3abc6d745af31195f10087e4b0d

Run for your Liiiiiive! Run To The Hills, Live 1982 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7viY-K4Twlg

https://preview.redd.it/0cyj2qtvfxnh1.png?width=1198&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e13038baeae6e91bcbdec01dfe2585704134db2

A local news item about Steve Harris joining the local team (in Dutch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slAy6V2dQfQ

https://preview.redd.it/6fm6e0j8gxnh1.png?width=1177&format=png&auto=webp&s=0122058dbb00fea8508a40b183b3b757f472b223

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=513-iron-maiden-number-of-the-beast&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

511 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982)

From Venom's Black Metal to Springsteen's most sober, most desolate album, Nebraska. And one of his best. It's a special one, squeezed in between the stadium rock albums The River and Born in the USA. It was quite a daring move to release an album like that at that point (it was also called "a career suicide"). Nebraska are literally demos, recorded in his bedroom, usually with only his vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica. All great songs. He tried to rework them with The E Street Band but the demos were so powerful that he eventually decided to release them as they were (after the cassette tape had been sitting in his pocket for weeks).

In the recently released box set Tracks II, it turns out there was a whole unreleased album (LA Garage) between Nebraska and Born in the USA, though. The movie "Deliver Me from Nowhere" is exactly about this period of The Boss's live. There you can see he already had written most of Born in the USA tracks at that time, but they were not suitable for this sober album. He tried several times with the song Born in the USA though. One thing is odd. On the "Nebraska '92" box there is already an electric version of the song Born in the USA, which is only Springsteen with drummer Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent (so drums and bass, no keyboards). Quite raw and minimal. Which is totally different from the version later on the same named album. But in the movie they perform the full band Born in the USA version, we all know from a few years later. But it is a great scene, so I understand why it's in the movie. And it's actually Jeremy Allen 'The Bear' White who sings it himself, mixed with Springsteens vocals if I'm correct. Impressive.

Nebraska - The Story (From VH1 Storytellers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkdmLjpLu4g

https://preview.redd.it/qopahvelacnh1.png?width=1223&format=png&auto=webp&s=c19e76937c0e1b64ad8e668392b93e0766abdae2

No live footage from those years, but there is from the Born in the USA tour in '85. 2 tracks from Nebraska. I do find those bulging muscles a bit distracting ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si1VCyC4IBo

https://preview.redd.it/vm8x264qacnh1.png?width=1216&format=png&auto=webp&s=b2eed3632cc91af13e567e8220f79756b9d22fd0

Deliver Me From Nowhere | "Born In the USA" Official Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u14FY_i-88A

https://preview.redd.it/qbu5w1gzacnh1.png?width=861&format=png&auto=webp&s=c177b7f2ff8ca2a4bb474a3fb399ddbad5069e4d

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

510 Venom - Black Metal (1982)

Sometimes I'm surprised by albums that are on the 1001 Albums list. Venom with Black Metal for instance. I definitely think it's fine that metal is in the list (Iron Maiden has already been done in 1980 and is coming up again soon). But I this this album sounds awful. But according to wiki:

>The album is considered to be a major influence on the speed metal, thrash metal, death metal and black metal scenes that emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s

And with the song and album they dropped the term 'black metal'. Maybe that makes their claim to fame bigger? I actually think it sounds more like Motörhead than what I know as black metal. After reading up on it a bit, they were indeed hugely influential on the Metallicas, Slayers, Megadeths etc. But for instance Metallica's debut half a year later, Kill 'Em All (which also sounds awful but is so much better), isn't on the list (Ride the Lightning isn't either by the way, ridiculous!!). Metallica were already miles ahead. Let alone the metal album that's coming soon in the list.

Maybe I'd like it a bit better if it didn't sound like it was recorded somewhere in the back of a basement. "Countess Bathory" is nice though. I'll just stick with the idea that it's mainly influential, which is why they're on the list.

Cute

Lars Ulrich praises Venom and cites them as an early influence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD1ocBGkBBg

https://preview.redd.it/hepz067zy4nh1.png?width=1237&format=png&auto=webp&s=2fd5638353ae3bea0be3943ca3954b494cf18eb1

Countess Bathory, Live in London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-dvU7RQ6bo

https://preview.redd.it/qat797esy4nh1.png?width=1254&format=png&auto=webp&s=ec89b74b914deb5ff472f504ddefe26f2dc6b277

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=510-venom-black-metal&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

509 The Birthday Party - Junkyard (1982)

Since 1982 contains quite a lot of 80s pop, it's time to shake things up properly with something filthy. And how! The Birthday Party with Nick Cave, back when he was still a dangerous junkie and didn't yet walk around in Italian tailored suits with his hair slicked back. Which suits him really well, by the way, no denying that.

What a transition after Thriller. This record sounds absolutely nothing like that. But of course that's the idea. Raw, pure, primal energy! That band was truly scary live. You wouldn't want to stand up front. "The front row is not for the fragile, my dear," Cave himself says, in the beautiful documentary "Mutiny in Heaven". Since I saw that last year at the Melkweg in Amsterdam I've learned to appreciate the band a bit more, especially the role of Rowland S. Howard too.

I love Nick's Bad Seeds years a bit more and honestly almost never play Birthday Party. I've seen Nick live many, many times; with his Bad Seeds, solo, or as a duo with Warren. But never during his truly wild years. I also don't think I should have been present there as an 11-year-old...

Mutiny In Heaven: The Birthday Party - Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b6DEqqs7Qs

https://preview.redd.it/dpjwyasyjxmh1.png?width=1158&format=png&auto=webp&s=44fdc284f21b26942416727bd0afa08d1e58b4a0

Release The Bats live at the Melkweg, Amsterdam in 1981: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3pV-rwW1Eg

https://preview.redd.it/h13y9wn2kxmh1.png?width=1163&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ec089f99182cd99a098d7faaa00822c06893bae

This is with that crazy bassist Tracy Pew, who was in jail during the recording of the record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CgNymWt5_I---

https://preview.redd.it/sgtwkciakxmh1.png?width=1214&format=png&auto=webp&s=76ebcfba93abb1e464f05f2d78b8a86b9725643d

See also in my 1001 dashboard: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=509-the-birthday-party-junkyard&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

508 Michael Jackson — Thriller (1982)

Well, what more is there to say about perhaps the biggest, or at least the best-known album of the 80s, or maybe even of all time? There are facts and records aplenty, but most of it is already well known, so I'll leave that aside. It was one of my first albums (I don't remember anymore if it was this one or 4US by very popular Dutch band Doe Maar).

What's actually kind of strange: in my memory sides A & B of the record are switched around. I was quite sure, until now, that the LP started with "Beat It" and "Billy Jean", and side B started with "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and then ended with "Thriller." I also find that a lot more logical. Starting with the 2 strongest tracks, like an album usually does, then side B starting off super groovy and ending with the epic "Thriller." That's the ultimate album closer, isn't it?

I was 11 and found the video for especially "Thriller" enormously impressive and thrilling; the mini feature film, horror-light. Unheard of at the time! I still remember when it first aired on TV, glued to the screen. "Beat It" was also so good already. What an inescapable megastar Michael became with this album, unbelievable. That's completely impossible in today's fragmented landscape. Unfortunately, after this it slowly but steadily went downhill for Michael.

Ok, one more little fact, I can't help it. Also give a listen to Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango. Michael's lawyers paid a hefty sum to Manu outside of court to avoid any fuss about how "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" sounds a whole lot like it.

Some great videos:

Here is the first time the Moonwalk. He doesn't milk it at all yet. It's only for a moment. But what a performer, and what a dancer. Too bad it's playback, even though everywhere it says it's live. I don't believe it for a second. What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXmjhRkPVFc

https://preview.redd.it/glfirtxcsqmh1.png?width=1183&format=png&auto=webp&s=552cd925f74e0d889fd82fad730634463bb3562e

Jennifer Batten gets to step up for THE solo. I'm not sure what's the most difficult, the solo or her hair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_DYSr-dJgI

https://preview.redd.it/03q5533osqmh1.png?width=1218&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef5d6f10faaa13372b1272585df5146fb7ea07ab

This is also a nice one. In the Netherlands we have a Top 2000 end of the year and part of that are 'story behind the song' video's. Don't worry, it's in English with Dutch subtitles (good for your Dutch...). In this one Bruce Swedien, the technician of the album tells about recording Thriller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=633Nz8Jtttc

https://preview.redd.it/9xwmiq36uqmh1.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d01ded0f7d5013921ea8f50fe9cd8242c4fb529

And well, this also exists.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfXzx1SHsY

https://preview.redd.it/43y2t8abuqmh1.png?width=1223&format=png&auto=webp&s=b04d1ceb5b7524f4996e84418a46df6e4757cd1a

u/EddieBaby1001 — 1 month ago

504 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly (1982)

I've always been rather averse to Steely Dan, which is why I never ventured into Donald Fagen's solo albums. Because of that I never realized that the opening track of The Nightfly, "I.G.Y.", is that famous hit I do know, and that it's not by Steely Dan. Weird title too, given that the chorus keeps going "What a beautiful world this will be, what a glorious time to be free". The same goes for "New Frontier", also a well-known hit and a solo track.

Just like with Steely Dan, it's all put together very cleverly of course. In "I.G.Y." for instance, when the vocals kick in after the long intro, the key changes completely in a fairly ingenious way. Honestly, I barely hear any difference from Steely Dan at all. I would fill Steely Dan in with fairly high confidence in a pop quiz (though thankfully I'd also be corrected). It gives me a similar feeling too. I can stomach the smooth jazzy yacht rock a bit better now than I used to, but boy, is it all slick as an eel. A whole album is really just too much for me though.

Donald Fagen in 1982

I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World) live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di0_KYtmVKI

https://preview.redd.it/9v072aixrjmh1.png?width=1260&format=png&auto=webp&s=71800aad6383fb018109505ed2f39621ceab62a3

New Frontier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtovFI8etOg

https://preview.redd.it/753rf7v5sjmh1.png?width=1246&format=png&auto=webp&s=4196260d216eaa60efc05bd6b17acb29b266aaaf

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=504-donald-fagen-the-nightfly&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 2 months ago

503 Madness - The Rise and Fall (1982)

Two albums by The Specials have already been in the list. So it's about time for Madness. Only fair. The Rise and Fall is already their fourth album, but maybe the compilers of the list found the earlier albums just a bit too light, too silly. This album is still typically Madness but also has a more serious and mature side. It's a concept album with songs about childhood memories. Already in the opener "Rise and Fall":

>These are the streets I used to walk on summer nights

Or in the beautiful "Tomorrow's Just Another Day". The big hit is "Our House", not the one by CSN&Y (although they do think that's a very very fine house), but the one 'in the middle of the street':

>Father wears his Sunday best, Mother's tired, she needs a rest'

The first half is a lot stronger than the second, but here Madness ventures a bit into the territory of an Ian Dury or The Kinks, not quite what I know them for. It's a bit like with ABBA's The Visitors; if you're mainly after the wonderfully wacky hits, get a good compilation, but for a somewhat more serious and melancholic side, The Rise and Fall is a good one. And just like with ABBA, there was always an element of desperation in the lyrics, but with them it's not as much on the surface as it is with Madness.

Click here for Our house live in 1983:

https://preview.redd.it/25avbhkj6amh1.png?width=1193&format=png&auto=webp&s=48341ba977fe5ec428758ff1c6d994d63324a4d4

Here's the wacky video of Tomorrow's (Just another Day):

https://preview.redd.it/6iq3iipg6amh1.png?width=1251&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae59ec80431f7ea8bc72ce602cb5d896af326a7a

See also https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=503-madness-the-rise-and-fall&lang=en

u/EddieBaby1001 — 2 months ago

502 Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84) (1982)

Oh oh, I'm going to have a hard time with this one. I quite dislike Simple Minds. There's a story behind that too. They played at Roskilde festival in Denmark in 1991. We were there, and well, why not, who knows. I thought the hits were rubbish, but I know a few people with reasonably good taste who kept insisting that Simple Minds are a good band. Unfortunately, almost everybody at Roskilde Festival, about 60k visitors, had the same idea about going to see them. In no time we were completely stuck in a way too crowded crowd. Genuinely dangerously packed, I could lift my feet and just stay stuck in place. Maybe we were just standing in the wrong spot, but by the first song we already couldn't take it anymore and decided to flee, and managed to wriggle our way out, which was not easy. I already thought they were a crap band, and this experience was truly terrible.

That moment was the first thing I thought of when I heard on the radio in 2000 that nine people had died during the Pearl Jam concert at Roskilde. Crushed, because the entire festival wanted to see PJ. At that radio moment I was with the same friend I'd been standing in the crowd in '91. We were genuinely shaken. That could have happened back then too. And it could've happened when we saw Nirvana when they played there in '92 as well. Unbearable. Roskilde is a great festival, nice and spacious too, huge even, you get to walk around plenty. Until everyone wants to see that one band. Then it goes wrong. After that event, all festivals around the world took measures.

Anyway, I got carried away. Simple Minds - New Gold Dreams. Pfff. Nope. I always want to switch off the radio when 'Promised You A Miracle' comes on. Or start complaining to anybody who's around about what a terrible song it is. I notice it with the rest of the record too. Blergh. I want to wriggle my way out!

Here's Travelling Man live at the Roskilde festival 1991: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWJC62PiEjA

Quite a list though, with the Allmans, Paul Simon, Iggy & Elvis. And I remember personal highlights Primus and Buffalo Tom

u/EddieBaby1001 — 2 months ago

501 Kevin Rowland and Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay (1982)

The denim jackets from the debut have been swapped for dungarees and a hobo look, and banjo and three(!) violins are added to the 'Celtic Soul Brothers' sound. It's become a blend of Northern Soul and Irish folk. Part of the original band has left though, because they couldn't take control-freak Kevin Rowland anymore. On the sleeve it now also says "Kevin Rowland and Dexys Midnight Runners", maybe someone's indeed getting a bit big-headed.

This is the record with the massive hit 'Come on Eileen'. A bit of a played-out track; in any case heard way too often. The crazy thing is it was only the third or fourth single from the album, and a last-ditch attempt at success. It hung around near the bottom of the UK charts for weeks and barely did anything. And then suddenly it started sprinting upward and became a monster hit.

Subsequently also a number 1 in the US and the rest of the world. I like the Van Morrison cover 'Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)' a lot better, there the blend of violins and thick horns really works. And a rock-solid song of course. But in 1982, at the peak of their success, almost the entire band left due to disagreements with Rowland. He probably wasn't an easy guy to work with. A pretty nice record all things considered, now and then.

They went from this look during their debut in 1980...

To this look in 1982 (and will change again soon but that's for their next record in the list)

Still pretty good actually, if you try to listen with fresh ears. Especially this live version of 'Come on Eileen'. Good energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs4_LZl1OIs

They also appeared at the The Young Ones in 1982 with 'Jackie Wilson Said'. That's always a classic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQGHdluFBk&t=3s

u/EddieBaby1001 — 2 months ago

500 The Cure - (album name removed because Reddit will delete the post) (1982)

Hi, I’m Ed and new to this group. Introduction: For quite a few years now, I’ve been working my way through all the albums listed in the 1001 book (2018 edition). I write a review that include relevant YouTube videos, images, and so on. I don’t go through the list randomly; I follow the order of the book. I’ve made significant progress (over 600 albums in, currently reaching the late 80s). I created a dashboard for that: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?lang=en . My plan is to post an album here every few days, starting with number 500 and work my way up.

-- side note: Reddit deleted the first attempt of this post, I think because of the name of that album. :(. Trying again, album name removed

500 The Cure - (that album name Reddit doesn't like) (1982)

We've arrived at number 500! So halfway there; that went, ahem, pretty fast. The first entry was on November 13, 2019. Yikes. Anyway, we're celebrating that cheerful milestone with one of the darkest albums by The Cure. It's doom & gloom all over. Album number four, but besides that dark work The Cure wasn't a hit machine at all yet (only 'The Forest' from 1980 was a minor hit). I've always found it a peculiar and fascinating combination, that dark side and the cheerful hits. There's no cheerful side to be found on this album.

It opens right away with the fantastic opener 'One Hundred Years'; awkward guitar parts, repetitive bass, joy division drums, Smith's unmistakable vocals and the opening line 'It doesn't matter if we all die', and from there it's all downhill for the coziness. 'The Hanging Garden' is also very good. After this record The Cure took a bit of a break, and Robert Smith went to work with Siouxsie. A year later they'd come back in a new lineup, now with the iconic spiderweb hair and lipstick, and besides the dark work, they also chose to head more down the pop path. The first single was the happy-go-lucky 'The Lovecats' (cozy sing-along, of ba-ba-ba-ba-baaaa-ba-ba), so completely different from anything on this record.

Live in '82 with, among others, One Hundred Years (start) and Hanging Garden (10:24): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw3h0etvWVU

The evolution of The Cure, from goth to pop and back again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faVBcFmoAC8

What a burst of coziness all of a sudden, 2 years later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcUza_wWCfA

i.scdn.co
u/EddieBaby1001 — 2 months ago