Treble’s Best Albums of the ’80s : Part One

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Best of the 80s - part 1

1981

The Raincoats - Odyshape 10. The Raincoats — Odyshape
(Rough Trade)

Odyshape is a difficult album to describe. The closest thing I can come to is this: rather than a clandestine peer downstairs to catch a conversation, Odyshape is more like listening to disjointed voices that come and go in a hallway or on a city street below; you’re still listening in, but the voices are jumbled and even more off-kilter than before. For instance, on “Go Away,” the bass and drums and guitar and vocals and siren squeals of violin move at once independently and yet in some anarchic order like the frantic motion of an octopus’ tentacles. – Hubert Vigilla

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Kraftwerk - Computer World 9. Kraftwerk — Computer World
(EMI)

Kraftwerk’s pioneering work in the field of electronic music makes this album essential listening not only so you can see where a lot of what followed actually came from, but because it captures the zeitgeist of post-war West Germany and the hypnotic rhythms and sounds sound as compelling and unexpected today as they did in 1981. The synthesized voices are bone-chillingly eerie, the sound of the album is pristine and remarkably prescient. – Chris Griffiths

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Gun Club - Fire of Love 8. The Gun Club — Fire of Love
(Slash)

Fire of Love is, quite possibly, the scariest album released in 1981. Bloodlust, voodoo, heroin, alcohol and Satan himself populate this album, exorcised by the possessed, preachin’ frontman Jeffrey Lee Pierce, a man known as much for his unruly behavior offstage as he was for his intense performances. Bands this destructive and haunted shouldn’t last long, though the Gun Club carried well into the ’90s, even if no subsequent release replicated the harrowing and gruesome experience of their fiery debut. – Jeff Terich

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The Cure - Faith 7. The Cure — Faith
(Fiction)

Early on, The Cure had a reputation for being overly gloomy with their haunting dirges, somber tones, and ghostly blurry vocals. Faith, their third (or fourth if you count Boys Don’t Cry) album in a catalog that spans 41 albums (counting all of their the LP’s, live records, reissues, and deluxe editions), showcases the band’s artistic leaning toward goth rock, synth-pop, electro-prog, and ambient music. The atmospheric pieces of Faith produce cavernous echoes, strong funky beats countered by minimalist drum rolls, and spacious arrangements that spread mesas of sound waves across wide melodic fields. – Susan Frances

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X - Wild Gift 6. X — Wild Gift
(Slash)

At the risk of being thought exceedingly literal in my interpretation, I have chosen to think of Wild Gift as just that, an offering, simply a gift—though not a simple gift. That “wild” is a part of the title is illustrative of the fact that X was at the time a band not only consciously, but willfully reckless. And as with many other Los Angeles bands at the time, this was in part a response to stifling boredom and unrest, dissatisfaction with the sprawling suburban landscape emanating from the city and the regimented existences it offered as possibilities. It was a wildness fixated on, if not decapitating outrightly, devaluing a broad range of authority figures and the mores which they espoused. But more than that, it was an expression, through music and excessive living, of the irreducible inner turbulence which artists have been rendering actual for time immemorial. – Tyler Parks

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The Police - Ghost in the Machine 5. The Police — Ghost in the Machine
(A&M)

Ghost in the Machine might have been one of those albums that got more wear out of side A than side B in its vinyl incarnation, but the darkness and political messages throughout made it a perfect example of Reagan / Thatcher-age blues, depression and paranoia. Of course, we seem to be living in a similar if not worse age today, making Ghost in the Machine ripe for a revisit. So, whaddya say guys? Ready for a reissue, or better yet, a reunion tour? – Terrance Terich

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 4. Psychedelic Furs — Talk Talk TalkPsychedelic Furs - TalkTalkTalk
(Columbia)

Few bands in the ’80s created pop singles as perfect as the ones The Psychedelic Furs did. Yet their biggest, “Pretty in Pink,” didn’t receive its due until five years after its release, with the addition of big time production values and extra saxophone. Listening to the remainder of Talk Talk Talk, from which “Pretty in Pink” comes, it makes perfect sense. Though the hooks were there, so were the jagged barbs, the cynicism, the dissonance; pop stardom wasn’t quite in the cards. A perfect post-punk album was, however, and with that under their belts, there was very little to stand in their way. – Jeff Terich

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Black Flag - Damaged 3. Black Flag — Damaged
(SST)

Damaged was an album with which many disenfranchised kids could identify, expressing their outrage toward all forms of authority, be it at school, in a social context, the police and, yes, parents. Anti-social numbers like “Spray Paint (The Walls)” said it all (even though the track itself is only 33 seconds) with Rollins screaming “I don’t want to see the plan succeed/There won’t be room for people like me/My life is their disease/It feels good and I’m gonna go wild!” – Chris Pacifico

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Gang of Four - Solid Gold 2. Gang of Four — Solid Gold
(Warner Bros.)

It’s hard for me to imagine Bloc Party singing about the “Price Of Gas” if Jon King hadn’t first sung out against consumerism in the quirky “Cheeseburger.” And I’d be willing to bet that The Rakes wouldn’t be protesting the drudgery of the 9 to 5 workday if not for “A Hole In The Wallet.” It has me hoping that maybe Billy Joe Armstrong will re-listen to Gang Of Four’s first two albums before he steps back into the studio to make the follow-up to American Idiot (Dear God, please!). Those influenced aside, Solid Gold, as a stand alone collection of songs that characterized the post-punk movement it would later foster, is rather remarkable. – Mars Simpson

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Elvis Costello - Trust 1. Elvis Costello and the Attractions — Trust
(Columbia)

Trust, Costello’s fifth full-length, is an odd one. It didn’t have songs that were nearly the standout successes that were featured in his first three albums, and yet “From a Whisper to a Scream” was the first single to actually chart with Billboard. “Clubland” is an instantly recognizable song that appears on most of Costello’s greatest hits collections, yet isn’t usually held up to the standards set by such tracks as “Radio Radio” or “(What’s So Funny Bout) Peace Love and Understanding.” The truth is that Trust is probably the most diverse and yet consistently great album that Elvis and the Attractions ever released. – Terrance Terich

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Personal Best

Duran Duran - Duran Duran Duran Duran – Duran Duran
(Capitol)

Duran Duran set the standard for the new romantic movement, creating songs based almost entirely around synthesizer and bass while sporting poofy clothes and gravity-defying hair. Posters of every member, individually or as a group, adorned teenage girls’ walls, including those of my sister. There was no denying the power of Duran Duran, girls wanted to be with them, boys wanted to be them. Out of all of their albums, only their first two have stood the test of time, and it was the first, self-titled album, that proved to be the blueprint for the bevy of 80’s knockoffs out there today. – Terrance Terich

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Echo and The Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here Echo & The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
(Sire)

Following their debut release Crocodiles, Liverpool lads Echo and the Bunnymen didn’t let the lore of the sophomore slump fall upon them with Heaven Up Here, which was not only their most driven and possibly darkest album of their career but the first one to earn a spot on the UK’s Top Ten album chart at the time. – Chris Pacifico

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Brian-Eno-and-David-Byrne-My-Life-in-the-Bush-of-Ghosts Brian Eno and David Byrne – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
(Sire)

Brian Eno and David Byrne had begun a collaborative sort of relationship back in 1978, when Eno took on production duties for the Talking Heads’ album, More Songs About Buildings And Food, but their collaborative works wouldn’t achieve their critical mixture until the ’80s, when their experimental work would splinter off from the Talking Heads and gel into the oddball sample-based work, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Though hundreds of albums seem to have borrowed from its multi-cultural mix of samples, funk and digital ambience, Ghosts still out-weirds, and out-funks, them all. – Jeff Terich

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