10. Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
Echo & the Bunnymen's sounds and aesthetics are really good. What they lack at the beginning of their career, is the songwriting skills. Melodies have to stay in shadows, when most effort has been saved for the sounds. The beginning of the album is impressive and three first songs are among my favourites from the band, but by the end of the album it gets a bit boring. The album cover is one of the coolest album covers of all times as is the case with most of the band's albums. At least this music was something new at its time. This kind of sound had not been heard before. Later bands processed these sounds into better, more melodic songs that have become very dear to me, so I must appreciate this groundwork, but something about this is not yet just right. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Girls at Our Best was true indie at its time. This Leeds-based band combines elements of punk and pop in their upbeat rock. Some of the songs are amazingly good, but the album, as a whole is a bit uneven. Some of the songs are outright irritating. That is why it's only at the ninth spot on this list even though the sounds predict much more. I guess with more experience this band could've become really good, but unfortunately they broke up after this debut album. The band is at its best in pop songs with great melodies, such as in Getting Nowhere Fast or Politics. The vocalist Jody Evans' voice is a bit too high in some of the songs, but when she keeps her voice lower, it works beautifully. This music sounds like the role model for bands like The Go Team and The Black Kids. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I already mentioned Durutti Column in this blog once. They may become more dear to me in the future, since I really like their futuristic sound. Their individual songs are not exceptionally interesting, but the sound is calm and relaxing and there are true elements of great experimentation considering the time it was released in. Guitars with effects and synthesisers take the main stage. LC is released by Factory record company which is of course known by many groundbreaking bands. This is not as loud or buzzing as many of the record company's albums, and that may be one of the reasons I like it so much. I can't grade this album higher at this point, since I've only listened through it twice. I have a feeling that with a bit more listening this could well lift its position in my mind. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Electric Light Orchestra's 80's albums are really ambitious concept albums and beat in artistric features the albums made in the 70's. Time is a concept album telling a story about a man from the 80's who finds himself in the year 2095 and has to accept that he has no way of return. The music pulls together influences from pop, disco and synthesiser music and the result is quite original space-pop sound. This has no doubt influenced bands like Grandaddy and Muse later on. This sound has no doubt been really futuristic at its time. There's robotic singing, synthesiser plucking and electronic fizzing sounds. Even though ELO is not one of the classiest and artistic bands out there, this album is filled with great melodies and sounds. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The Sound is yet again a band that I started listening to while making this blog. They are strongly in the post-punk genre with dark and cold melodies and sounds. The influences from Joy Division are evident, but there are more complex melodies here. From the Lion's Mouth at least seems to be the best album from the band, but I've only listened to them a short time so my mind is open for changes. This music explains quite plainly why the musical movement in the 2000's was called post punk revival. Bands like Interpol and Editors clearly owe a lot to bands like The Sound. Strong bass lines and clear and high guitar licks dominate the sound. As a bass player I am really drawn to these kinds of bands where bass is actually in the front line making melodies. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Again those who are sick of me posting The Church albums may be pleased to hear that after this there will be no more of them. This is their debut album. And what a debut album it is. Songs are beautifully constructed pop-rock songs with clear electric guitars and power chords. The melodies are innovative and filled with neat hooks. I haven't been able to find any The Church albums on vinyl in the record stores in London. I don't know if they were ever popular here, but I'm surprised if they weren't because they really know how to make good music. Although it might be that this kind of pre-indie-pop wasn't to the liking of the goths and punk rockers at the time. In my opinion, The Church deserves to be heard by new audiences, because it sounds really approach-looking for its time. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The previous text lifted Finnish Hassisen Kone to the first place. This year they couldn't reach to the same position, since there are better other albums and Rumat Sävelet is not as good as Harsoinen Teräs. This album, though, used to be the most important album by the band to me. The melodies are happier and not as artistic as on the subsequent album, but the songs are skilfully played and interesting. For this album there are no English versions, but I think my international friends may still appreciate these great melodies and sounds. There are no bad songs on this album, but my favourites are probably Jurot nuorisojulkkikset, Tällä tiellä and Oikeus on voittanut taas. The factory in the dusk in the front cover is beautiful and really appropriate for a post-punk album's cover. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This album is pure early The Cure, pure coldness, pure goth! After making few really great hits like Boys Don't Cry and Jumpin' Someone Else's Train, The Cure went on to make really melancholic music that reek of sadness, agony and darkness. Faith and Seventeen Seconds are in my opinion the golden years of The Cure when it comes to whole albums. These albums don't have obvious hits, but the artistic sound is better than ever. The album cover is pure art. Although there are many links to Joy Division I think The Cure managed to actually make more interesting albums, even though they weren't as appreciated or as weird. Faith has only eight songs, but they are all a bit longer than your average radio hits. This is a great album as a whole. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This was the first Go-Go's album I came across. It's their debut album and looking just at the sounds it's probably their best one. The sounds have obvious influences from Blondie, but the songwriting is much more interesting than on the 80's Blondie albums. This is like bringing Blondie back to the level of the 70's greatest albums but with a twist. The band also, unlike Blondie, consists altogether of women, which wasn't common in the beginning of the 80's. The rhythm section, bass and drums, are exceptionally good in this band. The songs combine punk, pop and rock cliches but the music itself is not a cliche, since the songs keep you interested all the time. I would've loved to have seen this band live in the beginning of the 80's! Listen to the album on Spotify.
I don't know why I love Kraftwerk so much. It's completely different from almost all the other bands I listen to. I'm also not a huge fan of other electronic albums of the time. Kraftwerk just knew how to make good sounds and catchy melodies. Computer World belongs to the golden age of the band together with the two previous albums. It must have sounded really futuristic at the time of its release, because there's still something eerily futuristic about it. When Coldplay released their hit song Talk, I didn't know that they had ripped the melody off an old Kraftwerk song. Computer Love has unmistakably the same melody. I love the weird vocals in Pocket Calculator. There's something genius in these nintendo sounds and simple compositions. Electro bands of today should really take more direct influences from Kraftwerk to make it interesting. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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