
10. The Durutti Column - Another Setting
The Durutti Column was not familiar to me before making this blog. I don't know if it will never become more familiar to me, but their album Another Setting has some interesting songs on it. The music is a weird mix of synthesiser music, post-punk, new wave and ambient. Most of the album is instrumental but there are some vocals in some of the songs. The first two songs, Prayer and Response caught my attention. The first one has dreamy saxophones and the last one could be seen as an influence for post-rock. The clean guitars sound very 80's, but it's not too bad, since the drums are very subtle and quiet and the result is quite pleasant. Francesca shows more melancholic and experimental jazzy sounds. listen to the album on Spotify.
9. Pulp - It
As the frequent readers of this blog will know, I am a huge fan of pulp's 90's music. Their albums in the 80's don't have that same hit potential and great songwriting and lyrics, but I'm glad to be able to bring up their debut album here. It already has some of that Jarvis Cocker charisma known from their later albums, but the songwriting isn't that interesting yet. The opening song My Lighthouse could've been a great song, had it been produced and performed a bit differently. The ballad Blue Girls is a great atmosphere piece with it's flutes and Jarvis' deep whispers. If anything, this album deserves to be on this list in order to celebrate the way towards the great 90's band. It's good to know the history behind the first of the big brit-pop bands. Listen to the album on Spotify.
8. Divinyls - Desperate
Divinyls has been a familiar name to me for a long time, but i never really listened to them. My search for good albums in 1983 brought me to this Australian rock band's Desperate album and I was convinced enough to include this album on my list. Songs are fairly good with great hooks and pretty good sounds for that matter. it has a bit overproduced sound, but it doesn't matter too much. Chrissy Amphlett's vocals are diverse from high pitch squeals to rock yells resembling those of Patti Smith. The sound is very rock n' roll. Siren (Never Let You Go) is probably the best example of the talent this band can amount to. I think that in the time of the release of this album I would've been really excited, but now it's slightly ruined by the 80's sounds. Good album though! Listen to the album on Spotify.
7. The Church - Seance
Again I'm presenting an album from this great Australian post-punk band. Seance is less produced album than those mentioned before in this blog. This suits the band quite well. There are more acoustic bits here and there and the more electric songs work beautifully. The sounds resemble those of R.E.M. and The Stone Roses. The vocals have just the right amount of charisma and the whole sound is really classy. I think that with time this album could really become one of my favourites from the 80's. It's hard to say yet, since I've only been listening to it for such a little time. i must buy it on vinyl, since the album art is also top notch. Disappear? might be my favourite song on this album. There's something really 'brit-pop' about it. Listen to the album on Spotify.
6. Brian Eno - Apollo
Brian Eno worked as a producer for quite many albums in the 80's. His touch often made something very special out of otherwise bit dull bands. His own music is not easily approachable. His albums are ambient in its best though. The problem with this album is that you have to be exactly in the right kind of mood to listen to this and you also need a proper stereo and no-one to disturb you. When you get that, this album is mere bliss. An Ending (Ascent) and Deep Blue Day are familiar to me from films such as Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. Danny Boyle must be a fan. But all in all, Eno's music is excellent film music and I think you can't go wrong with his music in films if you just know where to use it. Listen to the album on Spotify.
5. The Times - This Is London
The Times was completely unknown to me few weeks ago. Their melodic lo-fi folk-punk is great though. It took me hours of listening to different 1983 album to actually get to this one and I'm really glad I had the patience to do that, since This Is London is a brilliant album. The vocals have a strong English accent and the lyrics often talk politically about London. A lot of the fascination obviously is due to the fact that I live in London, but these songs are actually really good and they have hit hooks that are really well made. Just listen to the first two first songs and you'll understand. Now I just need to find this album somewhere and I suppose it's not going to be an easy task. Fortunately it can be found on Spotify.
4. Vangelis - Antarctica
Vangelis is a Greek artist combining classical music and synthesiser sounds. There's a space age feel to these songs, but they're made with class. The sounds have some resemblance to Kraftwerk and some to Jean Michel Jarre. They also have some ambient influences there that are quite similar to Brian Eno. The sound world is beautiful and relaxing, hypnotising almost. Antarctica Echoes is a beautiful song, which was used in the Finnish artist Slowhill's Finndisc album. This was one of my last finds for this list so it took me quite a while of listening to crappy albums to get to this jewel. i hope you like it as much as I do. This album makes me want to have an 80's synthesiser myself just to try out all the weird space sounds. listen to the album on Spotify.
3. Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages
Electric Light Orchestra's 70's albums were mostly a bit tacky. This is actually probably one of the only band's that actually became better in the 80's. The songs still have that hit potential and catchy hooks as the previous albums, but there is a lot more artistic air in the albums. Secret messages is a great album of space pop-rock. Synthesisers and electric guitars with various effects take the main stage, but the vocals are quite good as well. The best thing about this band is its skills in making amazing melodies. The opening title track is one of the finest pop songs of this year. The synth riffs have no doubt been an influence to a bunch of later space rock bands, such as Muse or Grandaddy. I wasn't expecting this much from any ELO album. Listen to the album on Spotify.
2. R.E.M. - Murmur
I've included an R.E.M. album to almost all of the 80's lists. This doesn't mean that I would be a huge R.E.M. fan. It just means that they were successful in making good albums at a time, when most of other music was not particularly good. This is not true with the band's debut album Murmur. This is actually a really great album. Songs like Radio Free Europe, Talk About the Passion and Moral Kiosk are among the band's best songs. At the time the sounds were quite unique and R.E.M. got a lot of followers and you could even say that they were one of the most influential bands in creating 90's guitar pop scene. My readers who are not R.E.M. fans may also be thrilled that this is the last R.E.M. album featured in this blog. Listen to the album on Spotify.
1. The Cure - Japanese Whispers
japanese Whispers is one of the most 80's sounding albums by The Cure. It's also one of the best nevertheless. There are numerous hit songs with danceable qualities. I don't think this album is absolutely fantastic, but since the really phenomenal albums were absent in 1983, this got the first place. Let's Go to Bed and The Lovecats are the songs with most hit potential. They have playful oddities about them. Just One Kiss and La Ment on the other hand show all the dark clichés of The Cure. Before I started to make this blog, I had mainly listened to The Cure's first few albums and hit collections. This blog has made me realise the full potential and range of the band. I've come to appreciate albums I hadn't noticed before. This is one of them. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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