Off Topic Best Albums of the 80s

Rings a bell mate.....my main listening was David Rodigan on a Saturday night and Tony Williams on a Sunday Afternoon.
Was my way of getting a weekly dose of the latest tracks from the likes of Yellowman, Eek-A-Mouse and Black Ururu....and taping the whole show to listen again later. Seems weird to think that not long after I was listening to Skrewdriver and Brutal Attack
I actually met David Rodigan a few years back as he still DJs at reggae gigs....he was a perfect gent and I had a lovely chat with him about how I grew up listening to his voice on the radio...nice man

 

I like monster too, not my favourite album, but some good songs. The tour that followed that album was great too.

I lost touch after Up for a while, and only more recently discovered that some of their later albums contain some stunning songs.

Pale blue eyes and femme fatale, agree, great.

A kindred spirit.

 

I'll give this a go as far as I can:

Smiths - Queen is Dead
Pixies - Doolittle
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
REM - Lifes Rich Pageant (like many on here, any of their albums could be in the mix)
Human League - Dare
Echo and the Bunnymen - Porcupine
Joy Division - Closer
Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier
(edit) and Genesis - Duke

Bought a few vinyls in the latter part of the 80s but largely ignored the decade for years. My base is 2000s indie and alternative and one benefit of lockdown has been that I've routinely listened to John Kennedy's excellent Xposure on Radio X which keeps me up to date on new indie music and bands).

Wifey is a music obsessive and constantly has late 70s and early to mid 80s shows from Mixcloud. This means I know and like plenty of bands but no so knowledgeable on the albums. I do like a lot of 80s stuff now (TFF, Madness, Psychedelic Furs, Ultravox, Stranglers, Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Duran Duran to name some) but not at an album level.

 

Accelerate was, for me, an excellent album and a return to more consistent form after some fairly erratic ones.

 

First time I saw REM was in 1985, about the time of Fables of the Reconstruction was released. I've seen them 2 or 3 times since, Stipe is a great showman. I've always liked Green as an album, I have all the early albums and a lot of the newer ones, and it would be difficult to pick a favourite.

 

I was impressed when I saw them play in Trafalgar Square back in 2001 for a concert for Nelson Mandela (I think).

 

The recently departed Johnny Nash had a wonderful voice.

 

I only managed to see them once, on the Up Tour in 99, it was amazing but gutted I didn't see the original 4 piece.
Yeah picking a favourite is impossible, mine probably changes weekly.

 

Yeah love it, a really back to basics album, much needed after the preceding album which was a close to a real stinker as they got. I think they ended strongly with Collapse Into Now.

 

It was only when I read his obituary that I realised how much he was responsible for Bob Marley getting recognised first as a songwriter, and then being taught (by Nash) how to sing his own songs. Respect.

 

I saw them at Wembley Arena in 1989, when Green would have been the current album. Only saw them once more and that was Hyde Park in 2005, just after the London bombings. I find Stipe's voice almost mesmeric.

 

Yes, that was a really good album to bow out on.

Earlier this year, I read a really good biography on them called Perfect Circle and revisited all the albums.

Of, what I'd call their wilderness years, Up and Reveal were really a lot better than I remember at the time. Around the Sun is a complete duffer though.

Any fans need to get the IRS years version of Dead Letter Office as it has the Chronic Town EP as bonus tracks which are all sublime.

I only saw them once - Portman Road in 2005 with the Zutons supporting.

 

I must have seen them that year too, at Loch Lomond with Zutons and Feeder as support!

Edit - I've just gone and checked my collection to see what version of Dead Letter Office I've got - and looks like I have the IRS version...

 

Yep, exactly the same for me.
Really like his voice which produces a kind of soft reggae sound.

 

I'm reading Perfect Circle as we speak.

 

There they are - tracks 16 to 20. Superb.

I have half a mind that Idlewild were 2nd support for our leg of the tour. Don't mind them or Feeder.

 

I think I saw them on the same tour in Milan. They can’t have been as popular then in Italy because I distinctly remember seeing them in a mid sized venue called Rolling Stone, about Brixton Academy sized. They had an extra guitarist with them. As far as I can remember, very good indeed.

 

I’m going to give a mention to new adventures in hi fi. I think most considered it a bit odd, but it was the album that reminds of travelling around Australia in 96/97, the last with Bill Berry and some great songs. How the west was won is sublime and Undertow is raucous with Stipe’s scream of “I’m drowning.....”. I wish there were more live versions of it, where he raises the “drowning” vocal, every one I’ve heard, he bottles it.

Sorry Stroller, this has become a bit REM centric.

 

No problem with that, I did have Green in my top 10 after all. I was pondering which band I would consider to be the best to have emerged from the 80s, and - despite my being a big fan of The Smiths, The Stone Roses and James - I would probably say REM.

 

Rubbish Strolls......Nirvana were far better