Posts Tagged 80s
Archive
January 30, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Seemingly By Fluke
Twelve years old when we finally got a CD player – not the last house in the street I’m sure, but certainly not the first. First album though, what a strange one, ‘Tutu’ by Miles Davis. Not his worst but a very strange entry point. I’m so grateful, I loved that album. And I dig […]Archive
November 17, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 16
The Staple Singers, Turning Point (1984) I love checking out the “out of place” albums by a heritage act – sixties and seventies groups that ‘failed’ in the 1980s…that sort of thing. The Staple Singers were making gospel gems and spirituals through the late 1950s and early 1960s and then political funk and soul in […]Archive
November 15, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 18
Toots & The Maytals, Knock Out! (1981) The song Beautiful Womanwas everywhere when I was a kid. I remember it well. I didn’t particularly like it. Nor did I know who it was by. It was just everywhere. It was years – and possibly even a few more years after that – before I found […]Archive
November 10, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 40 – Frank Zappa, “Jazz From Hell”
Frank Zappa, Jazz From Hell, 1986 Almost a trick question really – looking for the crap Frank Zappa albums that are good. His music lives in the vacuum of its cult endorsements. Ask the wives and girlfriends. Ask the bemused best friends of certain music nerds. Ask yourself. Is there an enjoyably Frank Zappa album? […]Archive
October 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 29
Cyndi Lauper, She’s So Unusual (1983) I have things under control now – I’m down to just one copy of this album. I had four vinyl copies, the CD reissue (anniversary) and my original cassette tape. I grew up with this album. It was almost a guilty pleasure for a time, I remember being teased […]Archive
August 3, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 81
Transvision Vamp, I Want Your Love [Single] (1988) I wasn’t a big Transvision Vamp fan but I always loved the song I Want Your Love. Big song. Popular video and really the whole thing can be summed up in two words: Wendy James. She was everywhere. Music mags. Music TV. The radio. She was everywhere. […]Archive
May 5, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 125
Earl Klugh, Low Ride (1983) If I have a record – and artist – that would jump in and out of the “Guilty Pleasure” category (if I did actually have a Guilty Pleasure category) then it would be this album in particular, and more generally Earl Klugh. Look, he’s obviously great – and I love […]Archive
April 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 130
Amazulu, Amazulu (1986) Just the other day I was remembering Aswad – I pair them with Amazulu. Both British bands fusing a type of light reggae with pop, both big in the mid-80s, both beginning with ‘A’ – a lot of surface comparisons I guess. I pair them simply because I discovered them around the […]Archive
April 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 134
Hoodoo Gurus, Mars Needs Guitars! (1985) I don’t know a whole lot about Hoodoo Gurus – but I guess all you really need to know is that they knocked it out of the park with their first two albums – and had some highlights after as well. I bought the first two albums on vinyl […]Archive
December 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 202
Paul McCartney, Pipes of Peace (1983) Of all the Paul McCartney material to be reissued this is the one I hated the most hearing it the second time around – I had lost love for it, rather than gained any. And I say that as a fan of the title track purely because my intermediate […]Archive
December 9, 2019 by Simon Sweetman