Category: 1981

Categories
1981 D Depeche Mode Non-Soundtrack Music

Depeche Mode – Speak and Spell

Depeche Mode - Speak and SpellSo, here we go, I’m sure I’ll hear about this. Yes, I like that electronic group whose music careens back and forth between brilliant and banal. And sadly, the group’s debut album was – at least to me – more banal than brilliant. Though Depeche Mode really didn’t start finding its more familiar voice until after founding member Vince Clarke left, there are a few shining moments amid the primitive drum-machine- and-synth droning of the first album; “New Life” and “Dreaming Of Me” are worth a listen, though “Photographic”, a song which a high school friend of mine often played which was one of my first points of interest in Depeche Mode, has never quite rating: 1 out of 4fascinated me as much as the group’s later tunes. The same can be said for much of the rest of this album. I know it was revolutionary at the time, but Sgt. Pepper it’s not.

  1. New Life (3:56)
  2. Puppets (3:57)
  3. Dreaming of Me (3:42)
  4. Boys Say Go! (3:04)
  5. Nodisco (4:13)
  6. Order this CD What’s Your Name? (2:41)
  7. Photographic (4:58)
  8. Tora! Tora! Tora! (4:24)
  9. Big Muff (4:21)
  10. Any Second Now (Voices) (2:33)
  11. Just Can’t Get Enough (6:41)

Released by: Sire
Release date: 1981
Total running time: 44:30

… Read more
Categories
1981 F Fleetwood Mac Non-Soundtrack Music

Fleetwood Mac – Mirage

Fleetwood Mac - MirageFor some odd reason, this is truly my all-time favorite Fleetwood Mac album. I think it was here that the band managed to create the perfect synthesis of Linsdey Buckingham’s far-afield experimentation on Tusk and the more mainstream sound that endears most people to the Mac. My favorite Mac single, “Hold Me”, hails from this album, as does my favorite non-single album track, the very strange “Empire State”, which sounds like it was sung by Buckingham under the influence of (A) helium, (B) laryngitis, or (C) both of the above. For all the nice weird bits of this album that I loved both then and now, I 3 out of 4also have to state that I have never really liked most of the Stevie-Nicks-centric songs; “Gypsy”, while nice in its own way, really set in concrete the sonic pattern for Stevie’s future contributions to the group for the rest of its existence.

Order this CD

  1. Love In Store (3:14)
  2. Can’t Go Back (2:42)
  3. That’s Alright (3:09)
  4. Book of Love (3:21)
  5. Gypsy (4:24)
  6. Only Over You (4:08)
  7. Empire State (2:51)
  8. Straight Back (4:17)
  9. Hold Me (3:44)
  10. Oh Diane (2:33)
  11. Eyes of the World (3:44)
  12. Wish You Were Here (4:43)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 1981
Total running time: 42:50

… Read more
Categories
1981 Non-Soundtrack Music S Split Enz

Split Enz – Corroborree (a.k.a. Waiata)

1 min read

Order this CDThis album contains the first song I ever heard by Split Enz, “History Never Repeats”, as well as quite a few other gems. Where True Colours tended to fall into a single stylistic rut replete with organ solos and choppy guitar work, Corroborree is much more diverse and much smoother, and Neil Finn continues to assert his growing musical talent with each outing, his contributions now at least equaling those of older brother Tim. Neil’s standout tunes include “Iris”, “One Step Ahead”, “Ships” and the single “History Never Repeats” (which was actually my first exposure to the Enz). Tim, however, also 3 out of 4turned in the wonderfully silly “I Don’t Wanna Dance” (gratingly but humorously sung just perfectly out of key!), “Ghost Girl” and “Walking Through the Ruins”. Tim’s songs stick to the past Split Enz formula of musical comedy, and in that way, his material is perhaps closer to the original intention of Split Enz than Neil’s. Overall, a good album.

  1. Hard Act To Follow (3:17)
  2. One Step Ahead (2:52)
  3. I Don’t Wanna Dance (3:34)
  4. Iris (2:50)
  5. Wail (2:49)
  6. Clumsy (3:29)
  7. History Never Repeats (3:00)
  8. Walking Through the Ruins (4:15)
  9. Ships (3:01)
  10. Ghost Girl (4:26)
  11. Albert of India (4:03)

Released by: Mushroom
Release date: 1981
Total running time: 37:36

… Read more