New Order "Technique" (1989)

Technique
release date: Jan. 30, 1989
format: digital (FACT 275)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,39]
producer: New Order
label: Factory Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Fine Time" - 2. "All the Way" (4 / 5) - 3. "Love Less" (4 / 5) - 4. "Round & Round" - 6. "Run" (4 / 5) (other link) - 9. "Dream Attack"

5th studio album by New Order released as FACT 275 on Factory Records. I heard a few tracks from it then, and decided that it wasn't worth it. I guess, I wasn't ready for their acid house and dance-pop combo with synth pop. To me, it was just dance pop music, and in those days, that meant: bad. 15 years later I bought the album after listening to "Run", thinking "Now, what album is that from?". I had to look through their back catalogue, and found so many positive reviews telling stories of how New Order was one of the sources to the techno and electronic revolution of the 90s, and my new heroes were The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy. Today I get why New Order is mentioned as a source. Nearly all their albums of the 80s point to what later became techno. And Technique andRepublic(1993) contains some fine proto-'house' material. Well, even today I can listen to "Round & Round", although, I don't find it great, and I couldn't stand it when it was a dance floor hit. Anyway, despite the album mostly shows how they're perfectly capable of incorporating the band's characteristics when adapting to new styles. It's the second New Order album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Sebastian "Den danske sang - Opsamling 81 - 85" (1985)

Den danske sang - Opsamling 81 - 85 (compilation)
release date: 1985
format: vinyl (MdLP 6240) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Nils Henriksen, Sebastian
label: Medley Records - nationality: Denmark

Compilation album by Sebastian with the alternative title Hodja, Romeo, bohemen og den danske sang - Opsamling 81 - 85. It contains compositions from his albums Stjerne til støv (1981), 80'ernes boheme (1983) and Tusind og en nat (1984), and feature two new tracks.
In 1988 a 2 lp vinyl and 2 disc best of 26 Hits was issued containing all of tvelwe ongs from this with an additional 14 tracks released on K-Tel, which seems like a better collection considering all the fine songs from his extensive discography. Another fine alternative is the EMI-Medley compilation Dejavu from '95 consisting of 19 tracks, or the 2-disc compilation Romeo-serenader on Recart Music from '99 with 36 songs. The best compilation nearly covering the majority of his releases is the 2-disc De største hits from 2009 released by Sony Music.

Leonard Cohen "The Future" (1992)

The Future
release date: Nov. 24, 1992
format: vinyl / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Steve Lindsay, Leonard Cohen; various
label: Columbia Records - nationality: Canada

9th studio album by Leonard Cohen follows nearly five full years after his acclaimed I'm Your Man (Feb. 1988), which by many is regarded as a Cohen renaissance album that transformed his status as a critics' darling to actually be able to reach out to a wider audience.

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Q Magazine, Spin, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, NME 3 / 5 stars ]

Felt "The Pictorial Jackson Review" (1988)

The Pictorial Jackson Review
release date: Mar. 1988
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,15]
producer: Joe Foster
label: Creation Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Apple Boutique" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Ivory Past" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Until the Fools Get Wise" - 4. "Bitter End" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Christopher Street" - 8. "Don't Die on My Doorstep"

8th studio album by Felt, now with a new producer. The album mostly shows the band continuing its style with something that feels like the addition of sophist-pop. The original vinyl release contains 8 tracks on the A-side, all composed by Lawrence, and in the usual jangle pop style, whereas the B-side contains only two tracks, both entirely played and composed by keyboardist Martin Duffy. The first of these is the 12 min. "Sending Lady Load", and both tracks are solely piano instrumental jazz compositions, and as such in a different style, which makes it an odd release. Not that it's bad, the last two tracks just seem completely out of sync with the other (usual Felt tracks). The whole album is not bad, it does feel like Felt (except for the aforementioned tracks), it's just without great tunes, really. It's a bit like a band going through its usual repertoire, which is kind of sad.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Paul Young "The Secret of Association" (1985)

The Secret of Association

release date: Mar. 25, 1985
format: cassette / vinyl / 2 cd (2007 remaster) (Deluxe)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Laurie Latham
label: CBS Records / Edsel Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Bite the Hand That Feeds" (4 / 5) - 2. "Every Time You Go Away" (5 / 5) - 3. "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse" (4 / 5) - 4. "Standing on the Edge" - 5. "Soldier's Things" (5 / 5) - 6. "Everything Must Change" - 7. "Tomb of Memories" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "One Step Forward" (4 / 5) - 10. "This Means Anything"

2nd studio album by Paul Young originally released on Columbia Records. Stylistically, this is a move away from the synthpop and pop-shape of the debut to a more mature and complex style of pop / rock founded in soul.
Already in the aftermath of his debut album Young experienced problems with his vocal chords and suffered throat difficulties - something that would re-appear throughout his career, and explain his few live tours, a steady increasing period between studio releases, and a general absence from the spotlight.
I recall buying the album on original cassette upon the release, and I was rather fond of the album - the only Paul Young album, I have bought when it was released. I have always found this album by Young his absolute best, and I have often wondered why he didn't continue in its footprints instead of returning to contemporary pop. This is also pop but it's also so much more than 'just' that with a distinct tone of jazz and soul. Again, the best tracks on this album are cover versions, but here they have been totally rearranged to fit his expression and the sound of the album, which is quite homogeneous despite the many writers and composers, which also distances it from the debut, which sounded more like a compilation of tracks.
The album went straight to number #1 on the national albums chart list like his debut album, but also the single "Everytime You Go Away" topped the charts, and other singles (tracks #3 and #6) from the album became top 10 single hits in the UK. My favourite track of the album is "Soldier's Things" written by Tom Waits. The original is great but so is this, and the best thing is how Young doesn't even try one bit to sound like Waits but simply manages to make the song his own. Only years later I realised that Waits had written the song and released it on his great album Swordfishtrombones from 1983.
The album comes in various re-issues and I happen to have the 2007 2-disc Deluxe Edition released on Edsel Records containing a bonus disc of 12" mixes and single B-sides. Paul Young went on to make other fine albums but he never again managed to record an album of this high standard.
To me, this is an essential album of the 1980s and thus highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Grace Jones "Island Life" (1985)

vinyl issue front cover

Island Life (compilation)
release date: Dec. 1985
format: vinyl / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Alex Sadkin, Chris Blackwell, Tom Moulton, Trevor Horn
label: Island Records - nationality: Jamaica / USA

Compilation album by Jamaican-American artists Grace Jones with songs recorded from 1977-85. The album is the first compilation album by Jones and it follows only 2 months after the release of her 7th studio album Slave to the Rhythm (Oct. 1985).

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

CD cover

Richard Hawley "Standing at the Sky's Edge" (2012)

Standing at the Sky's Edge
release date: May 7, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,06]
producer: Richard Hawley and Colin Elliot
label: Mute / Parlophone - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 5. "Seek It" - 9. "Before"

6th solo album release by Richard Hawley is also his 6th to be co-produced by Colin Elliott, although, it's really his most experimenting album to date. It seems like he's in search of a new style, and it remains rather unclear what it is. It's psychedelic, alternative and experimenting, and only little chamber pop and folk, and I haven't accustomed to it. The album harvested some fine reviews and many critics loved his change of style. Actually, the album was nominated The 2012 Mercury Prize, a prize he was previously nominated with Coles Corner (2005). I just don't agree with the positive reviews, and despite the fine date of its release, and not because it isn't Hawley as usual, but simply because the music doesn't appeal that much to me.
[ allmusic.com, The Independent 4 / 5, The Guardian 5 / 5, Uncut 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Lou Reed "The Blue Mask" (1982)

The Blue Mask
release date: Feb. 23, 1982
format: digital (1999 remaster) / vinyl (2017 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: Lou Reed, Sean Fullan
label: RCA Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Women" (4 / 5) - 3. "Underneath the Bottle" (4 / 5) (live) - 7. "The Heroine" - 8. "Waves of Fear" (live) - 9. "The Day John Kennedy Died" - 10. "Heavenly Arms" (4 / 5)

11th studio album by Lou Reed is his return to RCA Records. The return to the label that released his most famous album Transformer (1972) is subtly commented in the cover art - being a retouched image from that album.
This is a more than just fine return to shape and form, and in some ways it continues more succesfully where the predecessor, Growing Up in Public (1980) left us. On this, things are much more focused with several strong compositions where "Heavenly Arms" underline the man's true potential, and it brings about a sensation of Lou Reed being back on the right track with something to say, and something to offer. The album may even be his most coherent album and it's rightfully considered by many fans one of his absolute best studio albums.
Highly recommended.

EDIT 2017:
The 2017 reissue is "remastered under Lou’s direct personal supervision" - it sounds amazing and the pressing reveals superb dynamics.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 5 / 5 stars ]

The Glove "Blue Sunshine" (1983)

Blue Sunshine

release date: Aug. 23, 1983

format: vinyl (SHE LP 2) / digital (2006 remaster)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]

producer: Merlin Griffiths, Robert Smith, Steven Severin

label: Polydor / Wonderland - nationality: England, UK

Studio debut and only album by collaboration project The Glove consisting of guitarist and vocalist Robert Smith - founding member of The Cure, and guitarist in Siouxsie and the Banshees [SATB], briefly in '79 and then again from '82-84 - here together with bassist Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The album was made in between albums so to speak. The Cure released its fourth studio album Pornography (May 1982) as its final epic gothic rock-shaped release after which the band underwent a major transformation experimentating with electronic dance and synthpop and eventually releasing The Top (May 1984). SATB released its fifth studio album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (Nov. 1982), sacked its prolific guitarist John McGeoch and then hired / pursuaded Robert Smith to act as substitute for the rest of an album tour. Subsequently, Smith then agreed to stand-in as the band's new guitarist for a number of new recordings - the first being Dear Prudence (single) (Sep. 1983) culminating with the album Hyaena (Jun. 1984).

Blue Sunshine is a highly experimental synthpop album where you find similarities with contemporary songs by The Cure and sound-bits on the '84 album by SATB, only this is much more extreme.

I immediately purchased the album and frankly found it quite good. The production sound is in many ways ahead of its time, although, it wasn't copied nor sat any new standards in terms of style-innovation.  It's quite obvious how Smith and Severin brought some of their ideas to the table when going to the studio to record new albums with either The Cure or SATB. Every now and then, I return the album and I'm always baffled about how well it actually works.

Recommended.

[ collectors' item ]

Laura Marling "I Speak Because I Can" (2010)

I Speak Because I Can

release date: Mar. 22, 2010
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Ethan Johns
label: Virgin - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Devil's Spoke" - 2. "Maid by Maid" - 3. "Rambling Man" - 6. "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)" - 8. "What He Wrote" - 10. "I Speak Because I Can"

2nd studio album by Laura Marling. The style is unchanged, the quality of her songs are at an even higher standard, like she has matured as songwriter, although, I kind of feel that the album miss really great and memorable songs, like "Ghosts" and "Tap at My Window" from the debut.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo, NME 4 / 5, Pitchfork 8,1 / 10, The Guardian, The Times 5 / 5, Spin 3,5 / 5 stars ]

XTC "Beeswax - Some B-sides 1977-1982" (1982)

Beeswax - Some B-sides 1977-1982 (compilation)
release date: Nov. 5, 1982
format: vinyl (OVED 9)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Compilation album by XTC containing 13 B-side singles, which came for free with the purchase of the 1982 compilation album Waxworks - Some Singles 1977-1982.

I have however, only purchased both of the albums individually as second-hand albums.

The "Waxworks" album more or less showcased the band to people who weren't familiar with XTC, but the real gem is of course the "Beeswax" album, which proves the true potential of XTC.

XTC "Waxworks - Some Singles 1977-1982" (1982)

Waxworks - Some Singles 1977-1982 (compilation)
release date: Nov. 5, 1982
format: vinyl (V2251)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Compilation album by XTC containing 12 A-side singles.
Originally, the album was released as a double vinyl album. The front cover of the album is provided with a sticker stating "2 Albums for the Price of 1", which meant that you were also handed the compilation album Beeswax- Some B-Sides 1977-1982 containing an additional 13 tracks. Unfortunately, I have so far only been able to purchase the two albums as individual albums.

Pink Floyd "The Final Cut" (1983)

The Final Cut
release date: Mar. 21, 1983
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Roger Waters, James Guthrie, Michael Kamen
label: Harvest Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Post War Dream" - 2. "Your Possible Pasts" - 4. "When the Tigers Broke Free" - 6. "The Gunner's Dream" - 12. "Not Now John" - 13. "Two Suns in the Sunset"

12th studio album by Pink Floyd released four years after The Wall (Nov. 1979). As was the case then, Roger Waters is in almost complete control, as he not only wrote all tracks except one (co-written with Gilmour), but he also came up with the concept of the album, which is about loss and betrayals of war, and specifically WWII and The Falklands War. Also, Waters is the only band member to be credited as producer of the album, and he also deigned and made the album cover. David Gilmour and Nick Mason are credited as band members, despite Gilmour adding a couple of great guitar solos to "Your Possible Pasts" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home", and critics are divided in seing this as the final by the band and an actual solo release by Waters using the band name - some go as far as to argue that only a record contract obligation kept Waters from releasing this under his own name. Another point of discussion is that several tracks are in fact outtakes from The Wall, and Gilmour didn't forget to address that Waters now found compositions good enough despite they had previously been rejected for their missing qualities.
The album is the most mainstream pop / rock, singer / songwriter album by Pink Floyd to date, and I recall my immediate disappointment after having purchased the album. Yes, it contains fine songwriting and is almost like a linear novel, but Waters' voice and arrangements are tiresome in the long run, and I have never paid the album a lot of interest and actually resold it about a decade later. Still, the production sound is fine, the stories are anything but mediocre, and a couple of strong tracks keep it above average. In the aftermath of the album, Waters intended to dissolve the band, knowing as he had become its undisputed, yet self-appointed, leader. Gilmour and Mason, however, wanted to continue Pink Floyd, which led Waters to initiate law-suits against his former colleagues who won the right to carry on using the band name. Gilmour and Mason's decision to continue as Pink Floyd would later result in the first album without Roger Waters with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (Sep. 1987).
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Best of 1993:Tindersticks "Tindersticks" (1993)

Tindersticks [debut]
release date: Oct. 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,34]
producer: Ian Caple & Tindersticks
label: This Way Up - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Nectar" - 2. "Tyed" - 6. "City Sickness" (5 / 5) - 8. "Marbles" - 10. "Milky Teeth" - 14. "Tie-dye" - 17 "Her"

Studio debut album by Tindersticks released on This Way Up and produced by Ian Caple and Tindersticks. The band took the whole music industry by storm with this fantastic debut. It really sounds like nothing else, and their use of classical chamber instruments within a pop / rock setting was soon copied by many others. The music is very varied with references to baroque pop, post-punk, art pop, jazz, r&b, and soul. It contains the beautiful track "City Sickness", a song I played over and over again that year, but it's also a song that wasn't to be part of their later musical universe, which I regretted at first, but they proved to re-invent themselves and find their most unique sound and style. The original album contains 21 tracks and has a total playing time at around 77 min., another thing that makes it rather unusual, and it was released as a double lp on vinyl. Both band and album was met with critical acclaim, especially in Europe, but the album released on a small independent label wasn't a best selling album, much like none of the band's later releases would prove to be.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, NME 4 / 5 stars ]

1993 Favourite releases: 1. Tindersticks Tindersticks - 2. Björk Debut - 3. The Breeders Last Splash

<  show lyrics >

~ ~ ~
"City Sickness"

"I'm crawling, don't know where to or from
The centre of things from where everything stems
Is not where I belong
And the city sickness, growing inside me
So this is where I ran for freedom
Where I may not be free

[Chorus:]
I have these hands beating with love for you
And you're not here to touch
Sent you away, what else can I do
When I need something that much?
I'm hurting babe, in the city there's no place for love
It's just used to make people feel better

It's not like us
I got this sickness as I got off the train
Now it chafes away at my heart
Until nothing remains

[Chorus]

I'm okay afterwards
Afterwards lasts for minutes only
I'm okay during
You kind of fill up my mind
It's just that before, may last forever
It's just that before, may just f**k my mind

[Chorus]"

~ ~ ~

Mikael Wiehe "1977-85" (1986)

1977-85 (compilation)
release date: 1986
format: vinyl (AM 60)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Amalthea - nationality: Sweden

Compilation album by Swedish singer / songwriter Mikael Wiehe with 10 compositions released from 1977 to '85 released on MNW sub-label Amathea. Wiehe is internationally acclaimed as one of the main composers and driving forces of the Swedish band Hoola Bandoola Band, which also featured another acclaimed Swedish songwriter, Björn Afzelius. 8 of the songs here are composed by Wiehe except two written by Bob Dylan (translated by Wiehe). Another two tracks are live songs and several songs are from various collaboration projects.

Best of 1999:The Chemical Brothers "Surrender" (1999)

Surrender
release date: Jun. 21, 1999
format: cd / 2lp vinyl (gatefold)
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,78]
producer: The Chemical Brothers
label: Freestyle Dust / Virgin - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Music: Response" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Under the Influence" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Out of Control" (feat. Bernard Sumner) (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Let Forever Be" (5 / 5) - 6. "The Sunshine Underground" (5 / 5) - 9. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" - 10. "Surrender" - 11. "Dream On" (5 / 5 )

3rd full-length album by The Chemical Brothers released on Freestyle and produced by the duo. Again, they have put together a strong big beat album, and this time they experiment within the genre of big beat to produce longer and more progressive or neo-psychedelic tracks. In fact, I think it takes off where Dig Your Own Hole (1997) ends with its two great end-tracks.
The track "The Sunshine Underground" is a marvellous piece - I simply can't get tired of that one, just like I can't help turning up the volume whenever I hear it. This is an absolute wonderful and 'must-have' album. Together with Further, I think this is where they touch the sky.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine, NME 4 / 5, The Guardian 5 / 5 stars ]

1999 Favourite releases: 1. The Chemical Brothers Surrender - 2. Underworld Beaucoup Fish - 3. Everything but the Girl Temperamental

Simple Minds "Up on the Catwalk" (1984) (single)

Up on the Catwalk, 7'' single
release date: Mar. 18, 1984
format: vinyl (106 263)
[single rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Steve Lillywhite
label: Virgin Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Tracklist: A) "Up on the Catwalk" - - B) "A Brass Band in Africa"

Single release by Simple Minds is the third and final single from the album Sparkle in the Rain (Feb. '84). The B-side is a non-album track.

Radiohead "Amnesiac" (2001)

Amnesiac
release date: Jun. 4, 2001
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Nigel Godrich, Radiohead
label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Pyramid Song" - 6. "Knives Out" - 8. "Dollars and Cents"

5th studio album by Radiohead are in fact compositions recorded at the same sessions as Kid A. Thom Yorke has also described it as "another take on Kid A, a form of explanation." Or, one could argue that these recordings are much as the other disc of what could have been a double cd release, only this is even more experimental in style. The album was met by positive reviews and it also topped the albums chart list in the UK and making it to top-3 in many countries around the world. This is also included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

I like it and find it one of the band's better albums but I don't quite see it on par with Kid A.

[ allmusic.com, Slant, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, NME, Sputnikmusic 4 / 5 stars ]

Hüsker Dü "New Day Rising" (1985)

New Day Rising
release date: Jan. 1985
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Hüsker Dü, Spot (aka Glen Lockett)
label: SST Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "New Day Rising" - 3. "I Apologize" - 4. "Folk Lore" - 6. "Celebrated Summer" - 8. "Terms of Psychic Warfare" - 11. "Books About UFO's"

3rd full studio album by Hüsker Dü. The album may not be as daring experimental as Zen Arcade (1984) but it's the first album where I hear what is unmistakeably Bob Mould harmonies - just listen to "I Apologize". The band is the same trio of Mould, Hart and Norton, only this time Mould has written eight out of fifteen and is co-writer on another four tracks. Three of the tracks are written solely by Grant Hart. Compared to the 84 double album this clearly takes a firm direction of punk rock and alt. rock glued together by power pop. The fact that Mould has established himself as the musical composer of the band is a highly infectious point of discussion. Hart and Mould were both lead vocalists as well as writers, but unlike the broader musical output on Zen Arcade this reflects Mould's dominant role within the band - something that ultimately led to arguments and may even have been a primary conflict leading to the future split.
However, so far, this is the band's best effort, although, the production sucks, being poor and murky.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 5 / 5 stars ]

Robyn "Don't Stop the Music" (2002)

Don't Stop the Music
release date: Oct. 30, 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Ghost [Ulf Lindström and Johan Ekhé]
label: BMG Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Keep This Fire Burning" - 2. "Don't Stop the Music" - 3. "O Baby" - 4. "Blow My Mind" - 9. "Big City"

3rd studio album by Robyn again with producer and musical songwriter songwriter duo, Ghost, on 9 out of 12 tracks, and again with BMG, although, she left the company to have more artistic freedom and signed with Jive Records in 2001, only to realise that her new label had become a sub-label to BMG. The controversy she experienced with My Truth (1999), and the subsequent label decision not to release the album internationally, rebounds on this. The album was released in Sweden and Japan only.
Stylewise, it's Robyn as we know her from her two previous albums. The dance-pop is again at the centre of the songs, which makes this more like a natural follow-up to her '95 debut album, and she has turned down on the American r&b style and instead jumped onto the back wheel of Michael Jackson.
The album spawned the two singles #1 and #2 peaking at number #3 and #7 respectively on the Swedish singles chart list, and the album reached number #2 like the predecessor. Once again, she proves to be up front on the pop scene in Scandinavia, but the album feels as her least interesting to date. There's too much recycling, no really great songs and little originality on what turns out as a bit of an anonymous release.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Gaffa.dk 3 / 5 stars ]