Scatterbrain "Keep Dancing" (1981)

Keep Dancing [debut]

release date: Aug. 1981

format: vinyl (IRMG 3) / digital (10 x File, FLAC) (2005 remaster)

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

producer: Scatterbrain, Anders Lind

label: Irmgardz... / Glorious Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Neo-Love Tango" - 3. "Vatican Reggae" - 4. "Crosses of Verdun" - 6. "Ice Age" - 8. "Insect Danger" - 10. "Keep Dancing!"

Studio album debut by Danish band Scatterbrain originally released on Irmgardz... The band here consists of founding members Jesper Siberg on vocals, keyboards & electronic percussion, Hilmer Hassig on guitars & synths, Jens Erik Mose on bass & synths, and Morten Torp on vocals & synths. Despite only releasing two albums, Scatterbrain has quite a substantial legacy in Danish music history, where the band stands as forerunners and as the first actual synth-rock band coming out on the punk rock scene.

In retrospect, the band appears influenced by Joy division and to what was perceived as a growing art punk scene at the time counting artist like Magazine, Visage, Gary Numan, and Ultravox and apart from these musical contemporaries it also seems that artists like King Crimson, Brian Eno, and Kraftwerk should be included amongst the band's natural sources of inspiration. This also include inspiration from artistic ideas of visual arts and authors, and Scatterbrain build on cold war politics and a de-humanisation of society, which is also reflected in some of the aforementioned artists' music (with bonds to David Bowie and Lou Reed) and also a similar starting point of contemporary Danish author Michael Strunge and his poetry, e.g. "Skrigerne" (1980) and "Vi folder drømmens faner ud" (1981).

Keep Dancing came out to positive reviews but the band and its music didn't attract a wider audience and Scatterbrain was first and foremost a cult-like band. In retrospect, however, Keep dancing and the band's second album Mountains Go Rhythmic (1984) both stands as highly original releases with the debut as an album that has found status as a cornerstone in modern Danish rock-history.

At the time, I came across the debut and I kept an illegal copy of the record, which I both found challenging but also quite fascinating and unforgettable, although, I also saw it as strange and too experimental for my liking. Many years later, as of 2023, I got hold of the original vinyl issue, and it's definitely an album to know of.

Recommended.

Toyah "Anthem" (1981)

Anthem

release date: May 22, 1981
format: vinyl (VOOR 1) / cd (1999 enhanced reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Nick Tauber
label: Safari Records / Connoisseur Collection - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "I Want to Be Free" (4 / 5) (live) - 2. "Obsolete" - 3. "Pop Star" - 5. "Jungles of Jupiter" - - B) 1. "It's a Mystery" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Masai Boy" - 3. "Marionette"

3rd studio album by Toyah [the band] following The Blue Meaning (Jun. 1980) originally released on Safari Records. Here the band again showcases one of its ever-changing line-ups as only lead vocalist and songwriter Toyah Wilcox and main musical composer Joel Bogen on guitar took part in the making of the predecessor, and here they constitute Toyah together with three new members: Phil Spalding on bass, Adrian Lee on keyboards and Nigel Glockler on drums.
Musically, the album is not only Toyah's best charting album (and only album to reach 'Gold' status) but also the band's most famous studio release. Despite only following The Blue Meaning (1980) by some 11 months, this is quite a different tonal experience. The '80 album was made with other band members, and although, the songs were also primarily by Wilcox and Bogen, the songs on Anthem introduce a completely new approach and style, but more importantly: the songs are simply better on every level. The Nina Hagen / Siouxsie Sioux influences are gone, and instead some would argue that Wilcox here instead loans (too) much from songs and the singing style of Kate Bush.
The album spawned Toyah's biggest hit song, the non-single cover song "It's a Mystery" (released on the Four From Toyah ep) - written and composed by Keith Hale (originally for his band Blood Donor), who also co-wrote two songs for Toyah on the debut album, Sheep Farming in Barnet (1979), and the album itself peaked at #2 on the albums chart list only surpassed by Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam & The Ants [which is a bit of a paradox as that was released in Nov. 1980, hence only featured on the successive year's list]. Also the single "I Want to Be Free" was a commercial success peaking at #8 on the singles chart list.
Anthem may owe much to Kate Bush, David Bowie, Blondie and Patti Smith, but it's still an original mix and a most coherent whole that belongs to the list of truly fine and important albums of the early 1980s, and imho, it should be included in any list compiling the best of new wave.
The 1999 'enhanced' cd issue contains an additional six bonus tracks.
Recommended.

1999 enhanced CD issue

Kraftwerk "Computerwelt" (1981)

Computerwelt

release date: May 10, 1981

format: cd (1986 reissue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]

producer: Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider

label: Kling Klang / EMI - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 1. "Computerwelt" - 2. "Taschenrechner" - 3. "Nummern" - 4. "Computerwelt 2" - 5. "Computer Liebe" (4 / 5)

8th studio album by Kraftwerk released three years after Die Mensch-Maschine (1978) - also seen as number five in the list of classic Kraftwerk albums counting from Autobahn (1974), which by Hütter and Schneider is regarded their first, although, they actually released three albums before that. Like the band's recent albums this was recorded in the band's Kling Klang studio in Düsseldorf, and as usual it's the band's founders Hütter and Schneider who are credited as producers. On the 79 album we saw percussionist Karl Bartos as co-composer and on this, he's been granted a more prominent role as composer, and he is thus exclusive composer together with Hütter on all of the album's tracks. Schneider is credited the music on four of a total of seven tracks, and once again Emil Schult is credited album cover and as contributor as songwriter of three songs. And - one might be tempted to add - percussionist Wolfgang Flür is only credited as... percussionist, although rumor has it that he only appears in the credit list and doesn't play on the album at all, but officially it's the band's final album with Flür as instrumentalist.

The album continues deom where the '78 ended, and may at first sound like a mere extension of that, but Kraftwerk basically defined their strength in the present by composing small hooks and catchy melodies, made sharper as pure 'pop' tunes. This is best expressed on "Computer Liebe", as song Coldplay has used on its 2006 hit "Talk", just as La Roux incorporated parts of the track in the song "I'm Not Your Toy" (2009), and LCD Soundsystem has used a sample of "Heimcomputer" (track #6) on the song "Disco Infiltrator" from its debut album LCD Soundsystem (2005).

Reviews were again quite positive and in Germany the album reached number #7 (as Autobahn had done back in '74), and number #15 in the UK. Four tracks in total were selected for singles release: in order tracks #2, #5 , #3, and #1, with no significant rankings. The second single "Computer Love" didn't initially perform significantly, but when it was re-released later that year as the B-side to "The Model" (from the 78 album Die Mensch-Maschine), then it topped the singles chart in the UK (although it was more likely "The Model" pulling that home). In retrospect, the album has achieved a fine position as an influential album, appearing on a number of lists counting the best albums of the 80s.

In my opinion, the album is a classic Kraftwerk album, although without reaching the same heights as the previous four. In the early eighties, the band was overshadowed by bands and artists who managed to write better hooks and music that wasn't so strictly electronic, although most of them drew great inspiration from Kraftwerk's back catalogue. I don't find a lot of recycling in many of the album's compositions, and it may be seen as the band's first step away from the strong influence they have otherwise had in shaping synthpop.

The title track makes it essential.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, Mojo, Select 4 / 5, Uncut, Q Magazine 5 / 5 stars ]

Icehouse "Icehouse" (1981)

Icehouse [debut]
release date: Jun. 1981
format: digital (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Cameron Allan
label: Chrysalis Records - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Icehouse" [same song by Flowers] - 2. "Can't Help Myself" [same song by Flowers] - 4. "Walls" [same song by Flowers] - 6. "We Can Get Together" [same song by Flowers] - 10. "Not My Kind" [same song by Flowers]

Studio album debut by Australian band Icehouse; or actually: the international debut 'cause fact is, in Oct. 1980 this band was called Flowers, and they released the debut album Icehouse exclusively for the Australian and New Zealand markets on Regular Records. Flowers was founded in '77, and the debut album provided some entries on the Australian charts and the band soon signed with Chrysalis, who wanted the album released worldwide. Songwriter, lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and oboist Iva Davies was the band leader and together with bassist and backing vocalist Keith Welsh they founded the band, who were joined by keyboardist Michael Hoste - who is replaced during the recordings of the first album by Anthony Smith, and together with drummer John Lloyd they were Flowers. Now with a record contract with Chrysalis the quartet was sat out to re-record both music and vocals, and the company wanted Flowers to pick another band name for the release, since a Scottish band were already called Flowers, so they came up with the title of their first track for new band name. The two albums (Flowers' Icehouse and Icehouse by Icehouse) appear almost identical. The '80 album was released with eleven tracks - one more than the Icehouse album, and then the track order is different.

Stylistically, it's in the category of uptempo synthpop and pop / rock with influences from especially Ultravox, Gary Numan, David Bowie, early Roxy Music, and T. Rex.

I didn't listen to this until some point in the 90s, and by then found it of little interest but simply had to hear it 'cause Icehouse's sophomore album, Primitive Man (1982) was such a distinctive and originally strong release. Despite also being 'synthpop', it's still quite far from their more famous album(s), and what really strikes me - of course listening to it from a later point - is how little original it sounds. It is very much with Ultravox, Gary Numan, Roxy Music and Bowie in mind that you listen through (nearly) all of these songs.

Only a must for collectors.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

"Icehouse"

by Flowers (1980)

David Lindley "El Rayo-X" (1981)

El Rayo-X

release date: Apr. 1981

format: vinyl / cd (reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]

producer: Jackson Browne and Greg Ladanyi

label: Asylum / Elektra - nationality: USA

Track highlights: A) 1. "She Took Off My Romeos" (4 / 5) - 2. "Bye Bye Love" - 3. "Mercury Blues" (4 / 5) (live 1981) - 4. "Quarter of a Man" - 5. "Ain't No Way" - 6. "Twist and Shout" (live 1988) - B) 1. "El Rayo-X" (4 / 5) - 3. "Don't Look Back" - 5. "Tu-ber-cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues" - 6. "Pay the Man"

Studio album debut by David Perry Lindley is a late but also much anticipated release. Lindley was co-founder of 1960s psychedelic folk band Kaleidoscope and later became renowned for his skills as multi-instrumentalist on all types of strings. He was an acclaimed studio musician and worked for and with artists like Jackson Browne, Crosby & Nash, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, and Ry Cooder before finally making music under his own name.

Stylistically, the album feels timeless with influence from various styles and genres. Only the title track and the closer "Pay the Man" are credited Lindley but really, all songs here are re-arranged according to Lindley's taste, and the result is a highly original coherent whole serving to document what a musical wizzard Lindley is.

This is absolutely and highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

The Beat "Wha'ppen?" (1981)

original cover

Wha'ppen?
release date: June 1981
format: vinyl (BEAT 3) / cd (1999 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]
producer: Bob Sargeant
label: Go Feet Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Doors of Your Heart" (4 / 5) - 2. "All Out to Get You" - 3. "Monkey Murders" - 4. "I Am Your Flag" - - B) 2. "Walk Away" (4 / 5) (live)

2nd studio album by The Beat is like the debut produced by Bob Sargeant and originally released on the band's own label, Go Feet. The sextet remains intact, but it's quite evident that the style has altered since I Just Can’t Stop It from 1980. The tempo has slowed down and it's much more an experimentation with a huge fusion of styles.
Instead of the more original ska revival and 2-tone there's clearly more focus on reggae and calypso with steel band and dub.
The album was released to mixed reviews but still sold quite well reaching #3 on the national albums chart list and NME ranked the album #4 on its 'Albums of the Year' end list.
The album contains some very fine compositions, but the overall impression is a release with many loose ends - some fillers, and perhaps also what appears as an incoherent release, partly because of the strong debut with its tight original sound and sheer energy, but also because of an indistinct direction and blend of too many styles. That said, Wha'ppen? may not equal the strong debut but it's really no near a mediocre album - it simply contains too many fine compositions..
The '99 remaster has a different track listing and comes with several bonus tracks. [ allmusic.com, Records Mirror, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

1999 cover

Eva Dahlgren "För väntan" (1981)

För väntan
release date: 1981
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,96]
producer: Anders Glenmark
label: Columbia / Sony Music - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "Titta på mig" - 3. "Violence" - 4. "Jag vill ha dej"

3rd studio album by Eva Dahlgren, and her first rock-founded album after two initial more pop-styled releases. The album was well-received in Sweden, and it gave her, her first Swedish award 'Best Female Artist', Rockbjörnen in '81 for this album.

The Gun Club "Fire of Love" (1981)

org. cover

Fire of Love [debut]
release date: Aug. 31, 1981
format: cd (2000 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Chris Desjardins, Tito Larriva
label: Last Call Records (re-issue) - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Sex Beat" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Preaching the Blues" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Promise Me" - 4. "She's Like Heroin to Me" - 5. "For The Love of Ivy" - 7. "Ghost on the Highway" - 11. "Goodbye Johnny"

Studio debut album by L.A. post-punk band The Gun Club consisting of songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Rob Ritter on bass, Ward Dotson on guitars and slide, and with Terry Graham on drums. The band changed members throughout its 16 year lifespan. Lee Pierce is almost synonymous with The Gun Club, as he was the only lasting member through various formations of the band, however, these were the four members at the time of the recordings for this album. The Gun Club plays an energetic form of post-punk with a clear garage rock influence, which comes out as rockabilly, psychobilly, and what some would call punk blues. I guess, at the time of the release another label would have been art punk. The mix of styles puts the band in family with another legendary band, New York-based The Cramps. The album has aged, but it really was something else in 1981, when most bands of the punk scene, either played post-punk as art punk, no wave, gothic rock, or psychobilly, but this is quite original with its inclusion of blues rock and garage rock in an up-tempo and melodic way, although Pierce was influenced by the relatively new style of no wave. The band and Jeffrey Lee Pierce has been source of inspiration for many artists including Danish Sods / Sort Sol, Thin White Rope, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and in modern days: The White Stripes. From the early 1980s, I recall, a rather well-known record store in mid-town Copenhagen, who had taken its name from this album's first track: Sex Beat Records.
It's not all great but I really like the singing voice of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, which consists of both an uncertain craziness and a disturbing fragility, and then I'm quite pleased with the garage rock sound on most of the tracks - an element they [or: he] maintained on all albums by the band. Sometimes, however, the band tend to play with too much psychobilly, at least on this album, which make me think of The Cramps. The album is somehow the only by The Gun Club to be included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Personally, I don't find it among the band's 3 best.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Uncut Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

2000 remaster

The Undertones "Positive Touch" (1981)

cover vinyl

Positive Touch

release date: May 5, 1981

format: vinyl / cd (1994 reissue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: Roger Bechirian

label: Ardeck - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

Track highlights: A) 1."Fascination" - 2. "Julie Ocean" (4 / 5) - 3. "Life's Too Easy" - 4. "Crisis of Mine" - 6. "His Good Looking Girlfriend" - - B) 1. "When Saturday Comes" - 2. "It's Going To Happen!" (5 / 5) - 3. "Sigh & Explode" - 6. "Boy Wonder" - *15. "Kiss in the Dark" - *16. "Beautiful Friend" - 17. "Life's Too Easy (Alternate Version)" - *18. "Fairly in the Money Now"

*Bonus track on 1994 cd reissue

3rd studio album by The Undertones and the follow-up to Hypnotised (1980), which quite naturally was perceived as the difficult second album after a most stunning debut, and Hypnotised actually succeeded better than critics had imagined it would. With that, the band succesfully bonded with the sheer energy of the punk rock debut and at the same time proved to be able to take their style to a new territory mixing it with pop / rock and more subtle new wave, although, you could argue that the strongest moments still bore the energy of the debut, but nevertheless, the band showed more diversity with an album that went as high as to number #6 on the UK albums chart list - a peak performance of any studio album by The Undertones.

Positive Touch is a big leap in terms of style changes - and perhaps it distances itself too much, both by being their most incoherent album, and also for introducing a bold use of brass and strings. Looking at the highlights, though, it's remarkable that it both contains near soul pop-tunes like "Sigh & Explode" and "Julie Ocean" AND "It's Going to Happen!" - a song which is up there amongst their absolute best but which also appears very much on its own. The band had tried really hard not to be political and they were at times critizised for not addressing the ongoing Northern Irish conflict and here they actually make produce their possibly most political statement with "It's Going to Happen!"

The 1994 expanded cd is the better release with at least three fine bonus tracks - "Beautiful Friend" is a non-album single, which came out in between Positive Touch and The Sin of Pride but it fits nicely on the album alongside "Fascination" and "Julie Ocean". In retrospect, Positive Touch still is a mighty fine album showing how you could make the difficult transition from punk rock to pop / rock with bits of power pop and Northern soul bonding quite nicely with how beat artists of the 60s made the transition by employing blues and r&b to form new musical styles.

[ 😲allmusic.com, Smash Hits 4,5 / 5, Select 4 / 5, 👎Blender 3 / 5 stars ]

1994 cd-reissue

The Durutti Column "LC" (1981)

LC
release date: Dec. 15, 1981
format: digital (fact 44)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,15]
producer: Stew Pickering and Vini Reilly
label: Factor Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Sketch for Dawn I" (4 / 5) - 2. "Portrait for Frazer" - 3. "Jaqueline" (5 / 5) - 4. "Messidor" (4 / 5) - 5. "Sketch for Dawn II" (4 / 5) - 6. "Never Known" (5 / 5) - 7. "The Act Committed" (4 / 5) - 8. "Detail for Paul" (4 / 5) - 9. "The Missing Boy" (4,5 / 5) - 10. "The Sweet Cheat Gone" (4 / 5)

2nd album by The Durutti Column, where Reilly continues his own original style, which seems so unprovoked by anything else, and leaving music critics at the time with a difficult time labelling his music. LC (short for 'Lotta Continua' i.e. 'The fight continues') is one of his finest albums. "The Missing Boy" is written in memory of Reilly's late friend Ian Curtis (lead vocalist of Joy Division).
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

1996 Remastered Bonus Tracks Edition

The Go-Betweens "Send Me a Lullaby" (1981)

(with the Faces of, L-R:
Forster, Morrison,
McLennan)

Send Me a Lullaby [debut]
release date: Nov. 1981 / (Feb. 1982)
format: digital (2 disc remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,92]
producer: The Go-Betweens and Tony Cohen
label: EMI Music - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 2. "One Thing Can Hold Us" - 3. "People Know" - 5. "Midnight to Neon" - 10. "Hold Your Horses"

Studio album debut by Australian band The Go-Betweens originally released Nov. 1981 as an 8-track mini-album on the Australian label Missing Link Records, and then in Feb. '82 it was released in the UK on Rough Trade Records as a 12-track album with a slightly different track listing, although keeping all of the eight original tracks.

The band was founded in 1977 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia by the two friends Grant (William) McLennan and Robert (Derwent Garth) Forster, who met at university. Forster persuaded McLennan to take up learning the bass, and soon after he also played the guitar. They both sing, play guitar and bass, and from early on they shared roles in providing new songs to play. After a period involving various drummers, and after having toured the UK in attempts to find a record company that would release their music they returned to Australia. (Belinda) "Lindy" Morrison joined the two in 1980 as stable drummer. at a time when Morrison and Forster already were a couple. The band recorded its debut album in the Summer of '81, which saw its national release on Missing Link, and as the UK distributor was Rough Trade Records they released the album three months later with the addition of four compositions for the British market. Alongside The Birthday Party, The Go-Betweens experienced interest from the UK - and the band also saw the market in Britain as broader and more attractive, which explains their decision to return to Britain - only this time as a trio and with some reputation.

Stylistically, the album may sound more abrupt and as demo-like takes when comparing to later albums, and the band boldly reveals its influence from Velvet Underground, Tom Verlaine, Bob Dylan and the like, and then producer Tony Cohen also worked with The Birthday Party, as he would later continue as engineer and producer for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - there's a link to the immediacy, the garage sound and a certain abruptness you'll also find on early albums by these artists.

The album may not contain natural hit songs, nor strong memorable compositions but it's also clear that despite the strong influences it's by no means music by musical amateurs nor less original material.

[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Beto Guedes "Contos da Lua Vaga" (1981)

Contos da Lua Vaga

release date: 1981

format: cd (2002 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]

producer: Beto Guedes

label: EMI - nationality: Brazil

Track highlights: 1. "O Sal da Terra" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Tesouro da Juventude" - 3. "Boa Sorte" - 6. "Veveco, Panelas e Canelas" - 7. "Quatro" - 10. "Canção do Novo Mundo" (4 / 5) - 11. "Noite Sem Luar"

4th studio album by Beto Guedes follows two years after Sol de Primavera and is the first with himself as producer. Much as usual the majority of the songs are written by Guedes with various other co-composers like Ronaldo Bastos, Marcio Borges and Luiz Guedes. In tradition with his former releases this also contains one song written by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant (track #6), and ends with a song of his fathers (track #11).

"O Sal da Terra" is already a modern classic of MPB but other songs lifts this release and makes it his so far second best only superceded by Amor de Índio (1978).

Recommended.

The Raybeats "Guitar Beat" (1981)

Guitar Beat [debut]
release date: 1981
format: digital (expanded reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Martin Rushent
label: PVC Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Tight Turn" - 2. "Big Black Sneakers" - 3. "Tone Zone" - 5. "B-Gas Rickshaw" - 6. "International Operator" - 8. "Calhoun Surf" (4 / 5) - 11. "Guitar Beat" - 13. "Holiday Inn Spain" (Bonus track)

Studio album debut by American band The Raybeats released on PVC Records and produced by British engineer and producer Martin Rushent in England. The album came out as an anachronism while the world of popular music was either pop / rock, disco, mainstream pop, contemporary r&b, new romantic, new wave, or post-punk-minded, but this is mostly pure surf rock as played primarily in the US in the 1950's. Some tracks contain elements of no wave and jazz fusion, and it's an exclusively instrumental release. I guess, most people never really knew about the album, and it was only by chance that I stumbled on it in 1982 or '83 when it was still a new album. A friend of mine had bought the album in a local record store with mostly punk rock music, and I remember finding it quite interesting but never really great, but fine enough to keep a copy on cassette for years. The version I refer to here is an extended cd with two bonus tracks. Unfortunately, they changed the original track listing, which seems like a major blunt - although, a quite typical label decision.
The Raybeats released one more album before disbanding in '84.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Debbie Harry "Kookoo" (1981)

Kookoo [debut]
release date: Aug. 8, 1981
format: vinyl (CHR 1347) / digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,72]
producer: Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards
label: Chrysalis - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Jump Jump" - 2. "The Jam Was Moving" - 3. "Chrome" - 4. "Surrender" - 6. "Backfired"

Studio album debut by Blondie vocalist Deborah Ann Harry released under her stage moniker Debbie Harry. The style is rather different from what one might expect. The simplistic uptempo new wave has been exchanged with a more funky form carried out by the three prominent members of the American disco band Chic, songwriter / guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers and songwriter / bassist and producer Bernard Edwards and drummer Tony Thompson. The guest trio contributes with a disco and dance pop style and Rodgers and Edwards are the primary songwriters on four of the albums ten tracks and they are co-writers on two. The remaining four songs are written by Harry and Chris Stein with whom she mostly writes material for Blondie and who also contribute as guitarist on the album. Two of the songs (tracks #8 and #10) are credited all four main songwriters.
The two Chic songwriters are credited a vast number of classics within the world of disco, and they later on contributed with their [magic] qualities on Diana (e.g. "I'm Coming Out") by Diana Ross, "Let's Dance" (title song) by David Bowie and Madonna's Like a Virgin album - all that is part of the highs of modern popular music, but here the result is not good. Harry and Stein's punchy new wave style, their admiration for reggae and funk in a simplistic form collide with the much more orchestrated and varied sounds and shapes of disco. Or: that's how it sounds like 'cause what really lacks here is a bunch a good songs. In fact, there's hardly any. The production sound is fine, though, and initial parts of songs are truly far from bad, but the overall picture is bland and it leaves me kinda thinking "was that it?"
The best thing about the album, which puts it on the shelve among classic albums, is actually the front cover artwork made by Swiss artist H.R. Giger.
I acquired the album at some point in the mid-80s just because it was a solo album by Harry but never played it much, as I soon found it lesser album with little connection to the music by Blondie.
[ allmusic.com 1,5 / 5 Rolling Stone 2 / 5 stars ]

Pretenders "Extended Play" (1981) (ep)

Extended Play, ep
release date: Mar. 30, 1981
format: vinyl (cut-out record - MINI 3563)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Chris Thomas
label: Sire Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) 1. "Message of Love" (4,5 / 5 ) - 2. "Talk of the Town" - 3. "Porcelain" - - B) 1. "Cuban Slide" - 2. "Precious" (live)

5 track ep release by Pretenders in the same line-up as on the one-year old debut. Two tracks (#A3 and #B1) are outtakes from the debut album, and tracks #A1 and #A2 are included on the sophomore album Pretenders II (Aug. 1981).
A tight and very fine ep.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Re-ac-tor" (1981)

Re-ac-tor
release date: Nov. 9, 1981
format: cd (2003 hdcd reissue)
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,12]
producer: Neil Young, Tim Mulligan, David Briggs, Jerry Napier
label Reprise Records, Germany - nationality: Canada

Track highlights: 1. "Op-er-a Star" - 3. "T-Bone" - 6. "Mo-tor Cit-y" - 7. "Rap-id Tran-sit"

Released as Neil Young & Crazy Horse in a time of ever-changing styles with punk rock, post-punk new wave gothic rock synth pop and art pop / art rock, Neil seems caught in confusion of what to do. And once again the result is not one of his best albums. This is his perhaps first real hard rock release, and as such not really great, unless that's what you love. And no, it's not entirely hard rock - had it only been that, and it may have been worthwhile, but Young wants to have his say with new wave, and that's really a shame. The album opener "Op-er-a Star" is a pretty good rock song - my only complaint is that it sounds like another version (and with different lyrics) of "Welfare Mothers" from Rust Never Sleeps. Unfortunately, the album is not his only blunder in the 80s.
This album is not recommended for other than completists.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark "Architecture & Morality" (1981)

Architecture & Morality
release date: Nov. 8, 1981
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: OMD, Richard Manwaring and Mike Howlett
label: DinDisc - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "The New Stone Age" - 2. "She’s Leaving" (4 / 5) - 3. "Souvenir" - 4. "Sealand" - 5. "Joan of Arc" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" (5 / 5) - 7. "Architecture & Morality" - 8. "Georgia" - 9. "The Beginning and the End"

3rd studio album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark making this the band's third studio album release in less than two years, which really says a lot about their productivity level, and when one looks at the reception the albums met, it's clear for even the blind that this band has much to offer. At this point they make experimental art pop, synth pop but at the same time great and much more mainstream pop music, which could turn out as a conflict of interests but they keep to their own style and sound without getting trapped between a commercial and artistic output, or so it seems, 'cause later on they ended up finding it difficult to navigate in this spectrum. Anyway, this is one of their best reviewed albums ever, and it is today included on many 'best of' album lists. Most of the songs were written by the band's two founders, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys but as with most of their cleanest pop songs and single hits throughout their career, it was McCluskey who wrote these compositions, and that include "Joan of Arc" and "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" on this album. It's also the band's best selling album in the UK, reaching number #3 on the albums hit list, which only Sugar Tax (1991) equaled, and the compilation album The best of OMD (1988) beat by reaching number #2. The album is the only by the band to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Her Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Records Collector, Q Magazine 5 / 5 stars ]

Malurt "Vindueskigger" (1981)

L-R: Viskinde (555), Dia (777),
Mors (666), Falch (000), Littauer (333)

Vindueskigger

release date: Mar. 24, 1981

format: cd (1989 reissue) / *cd (2011 remaster)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]

producer: Nils Henriksen

label: Medley / *EMI Music - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "CPR" (org. video) - 2. "Alting ka' ske" - 3. "Superlove" (org. video) - 4. "Neonsolen" - 5. "Panik" - 6. "Tilbage til byen" - 7. "Den tid det tar" - 8. "Ligeglad" - 10. "Sidste station"

2nd studio album by Malurt following only six months after Kold krig (Sep. 1980), originally released on Medley Records is produced by Nils Henriksen from C.V. Jørgensen's band, and it's quite evident that the band has evolved considerably since the simpler debut. Michael Falch is remains the band's undisputed leader as vocalist and songwriter of all songs - with the music credited the band.

The music is still an uptempo blend of styles and it has become more evident that the Springsteen influence has a bigger part in more varied arrangements but also in the songs, where (broken) love and relationships are at the centre of attention.

Vindueskigger was perhaps my first acquaintance with the band - I listened to the debut and this around the same time - and I quickly got myself a copy of their first two albums on cassette, and Vindueskigger was and still is my all-time favourite Malurt album - and by a large margin. When comparing to Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), it's clear where the inspiration lies, but it's done with respect, love and a good deal of energetic drive.

Speaking of the 2011 remaster, I must say it's far from an improvement of the original - and frankly, quite the opposite. The album contains the bonus track "Vindueskigger", which didn't figure on the original nor is part of the '89 reissue, but other than that it's not a recommended puchase. Unfortunately, it follows a trend of making 'remasters' of practically any album regardless the quality of the original sound pressing, and this one hasn't been made with an ear for compression. Jørgen Bo Behrensdorff is responsible of the remastering and that's simply a poor job done. The dynamic range is off the spectre, and it's just hard compression and loudness up with full focus on bass, which makes it sound more like a poor 1980s production in the way music was made in the mid-1980s when all releases were made with high dynamic range. In this case the original, or the 1994 reissue, with it's thinner sound, is just much better anyday.

Recommended.

Dead Kennedys "In God We Trust, Inc." (1981) (ep)

In God We Trust, Inc., ep
release date: Nov. 1981
format: vinyl (VIRUS 5) / digital
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: East Bay Ray, Norm
label: Alternative Tentacles / Statik Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: A) 1. "Religious Vomit" (4 / 5) - 2. "Moral Majority" (4 / 5) - 3. "Hyperactive Child" (4 / 5) - 4. "Kepone Factory" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Dog Bite" (4 / 5) - - B) 1. "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (5 / 5) - 2. "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now" (4 / 5) - 3. "Rawhide" (4 / 5)
[ "Lost tapes" studio sessions ]

Ep release by Dead Kennedys showing a somewhat musical different side. The style is still punk rock but here almost only as hardcore punk, and most tracks are shorter than 2 minutes. The altered music also has to do with the band's almost conceptual way of making an album that speaks of the two of the band's most notorious subjects on their following albums: religion and capitalism. Here, they yell at the horrors of religions on one side and pins out its criticism on the American government and Ronald Reagan in particular. The song "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now" is a remake of "California Über Alles" from the debut with completely new lyrics and a new style of that plays on elements of spoken word genre. The ep was later included on re-issues of their second album release Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982).

Siouxsie and the Banshees "Once Upon a Time / The Singles" (1981)

Once Upon a Time / The Singles (compilation)

release date: Dec. 1981

format: digital

[album rate: 4 / 5]

producer: various

label: Polydor Records - nationality: England, UK

Compilation album by Siouxsie and the Banshees comprising the band's single releases from 1978 to '81 is a 10-track album with a total playing time at just above 30 minuttes. The album contains ten A-side singles from the band's first four albums including the four non-album tracks "Hong Kong Garden", "The Staircase (Mystery)", "Mittageisen", and "Israel" all of which is listed in chronological order showcasing the band's progression from dark abrassive post-punk via more complex gothic rock to embrace art pop on "Arabian Knights".

A fine but somewhat short collection, but for completists it's essential as it also contains well-known non-album songs.