155 replies to this topic

[surlacarte]

#43. Shannon - Let the music play



God, this is fucking brilliant. I think it was quite a big hit in the UK, I remember it anyway, but this 12" version is something else. The intro is insane.

Shit, I know this song. Junior Vasquez remixed it on Twilo, Vol. 1 in 2000. Not even sure why I have that, but I remember this being one of my favorite tracks.

[Badger]

#42. Madness - Tomorrow's just another day



One of several singles on which the kings of knockabout urchin pop Madness dealt with the subject of depression. It was not one of their biggest hits.
This is not the radio/chart version but a re-recording with a guest vocalist which appeared on the 12" single and which has long been a favourite here at Badger Towers.

edit - it is Elvis Costello. Congratulations for reading this.

[Badger]

#41. Public Image Ltd - This is not a love song



Just to keep things moving. Song is used to great effect in 'Waltz with Bashir'.

There was a time when all concert tickets looked like this by the way.

[Badger]

#40. Al Green - Feels like Christmas



Because it does. Thread now on a seasonal detour for a while.

Almost every American artist that ever mattered nodded to Christmas at some point in their career and Al Green is no exception. This is from his 1983 concept piece "The Christmas Album". It's a surprisingly terse workout given the subject matter.

[Badger]

#39. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence



By 1983, the groundbreaking Yellow Magic Orchestra were 'spreading out' and one of Sakamoto's first post-YMO projects was the soundtrack to this iffy David Bowie vehicle.

[Badger]

#38. The Pretenders - 2000 Miles

[Badger]

#37. Yamashita Tatsuro - Christmas Eve



J-pop classic. See you on the other side.

[Badger]

#36. The Assembly - Never never



Long-forgotten downbeat synthy effort, #1 in the UK iirc, this was a a one-single project of Vince Clarke, lately of Yazoo (see #60 on this list) and a bloke called Eric Radcliffe (in-house techy at Mute). The idea was to make a series of singles with guest vocalists, hence the presence here of Feargal Sharkey (lately of the Undertones, see #82), but I think this was the only thing released under The Assembly name.

[Badger]

#35. The Triffids - I am a lonesome hobo



Great band, terribly overlooked, one of a number of Australian bands that had their lives turned upside down by punk but who were far away enough from the hotbeds to develop a sound of their own - see also The Go-Betweens (#50) and plenty of other bands who might or might not yet turn up in this thread.

This comes from their first album, 'Treeless plain', and is a Dylan cover obv. Like near-contemporaries The Bunnymen, they had a familiarity with and love of the canon that didn't compromise the development of their own sound. This has a scratchy post-punk feel to it, and the whole album sounds a little too much like a debut heard from this distance, but they went onto to develop a uniquely intelligent musical worldview whilst still being thrillingly intense live - still one of the best bands I ever saw.

They split in 1990 and remain bafflingly obscure to this day but Domino are in the middle of a lovingly curated rerelease programme right now. Singer-guitarist-songwriter and all round good guy David McComb died in peculiar circumstances in 1997. Bassist Martyn P Casey joined the Bad Seeds for 'Henry's Dream' I think and remains there today (McComb also appears on 'Let love in'). The band have recently played some reunion shows with guest vocalists from other Aus bands - the Church, Black-eyed Susans etc.

[johnny largesax]

The Three Johns

Terrific idea for a thread! The Johns' '85 LP The World By Storm is fantastic. Haven't heard it in a long time - import only to the States. Off to eBay for a look...

[f4df]

#34 Styx- Mr Roboto

http://www.imeem.com...styx_mr_roboto/

Edited by f4df, 04 January 2009 - 06:33 PM.

[Badger]

#33. The Sisters Of Mercy - Gimme shelter



Here's a song you all know. Covered for the b-side of the Temple of love' single. We can't pretend this stuff didn't happen.
Actually I really liked this at the time, and the band generally for that matter, but it sounds kinda silly now.

edit - 2 plays, it's growing on me again

[Badger]

Bumped in light of Stones love currently running in NP (see above).

Good thread by the way.

No? Oh please yourselves

[Badger]

#32. The Cramps - The most exalted potentate of love




So it's been a long while since The Cramps made a decent record but the 'Smell of female' live record, represented by this official promo, is entirely unfuckwithable. This incarnation of the band, 1980-83, is my favourite for the participation of the great Kid Congo Powers (The Gun Club, The Bad Seeds). It was the last of their records to feature two guitars and no bass. I think they lost the something that made them really special when they made that switch, I guess reflecting a heightened interest in 50s music at the expense of 60s music in their own tastes. Lux & Ivy are slogging around the circuit, making a living, and they're still worth seeing believe it or not - but they were never quite this good again.

Fans of penmanship take note, this song includes the claim 'I'm the celebrated hottentot of twot' among other lols.

[vurt]

Cramps ftw.

I've never heard The Smell of Female, but I feel like I should rectify that asap.

[Badger]

^ right on

#31. Talking Heads - This must be the place (naive melody)



Another song you probably all know, from the 'Speaking in tongues' long player, the last thing they did that held water imho. It is kind of an obvious inclusion here but this record was a big deal in 1983, too big to be dropped from this list, so I'm trying to hold your interest (both of you) with a live version from their show at Saratoga NY, Aug 5th of that year.

[Badger]

Occurs to me that there have been a lot of big-hitters on this page so I'll try and dig out some small fry for the next round.

[Badger]

#30. Crass - Yes sir, I will



Crass were the elephant in the music room for the first half of the eighties. They sold tens (hundreds?) of thousands of records in the UK, spawned countless irritating imitators, and were the first to articulate much of the thinking that now comprises the anti-globalisation-anti-business-anti-pollution anti-manifesto that inspires people to put the windows in at MacDonalds every once in a while. And they did so with pretty much no media coverage whatsoever. Link is to an album that was a single song in seven-parts so it just about qualifies. This has aged pretty well, lots of skronk and shouting in a largely improvised piece, occasionally inclined to hector but that's the genre I suppose. They were pretty angry.

Title comes from a conversation reported to have taken place between HRH Prince Charles and Simon Weston, serviceman horribly disfigured in the Falklands War.

Chas: Get well soon
Weston: Yes sir, I will.

[James Iha]

best fucking band

[Badger]

#29. New Race - Crying sun



New Race was a short-lived affair involving Ron Asheton, Dennis Thompson (from out of the MC5) and 3 acolytes from Radio Birdman.
Recorded live earlier but tidied up and released in 83, this does pretty much what you'd expect it to do.