1983

                1983 is a bad one, and no mistaking.  Much like ’74, our last nadir, we’ve got the die-off of the genres that previously were the best sources of excitement.  And like ’74, there’s precious few albums from major acts to lift up the general mediocrity.  However, unlike ’74, that’s because most of the great acts have broken up, and not just because they’re all on hiatus at once.  We do have the early inklings of alt-rock, but also a whole lot of mediocrity and falls from grace. 

More than anything, we get the beginnings in earnest of that awful, awful synthetic 80s production sound.  Whether it’s dance-pop (Madonna), prog (Yes), post-punk (Gang of Four), New Wave (Style Council), or even blues rock or folk rock (the Stones, Dylan), it’s all the same morass of gated drums, treated guitars, and artificial gloss.  I find this especially frustrating for Dylan, since his outtakes show that he had a whole clutch of great songs.  Still, not the first time this decade awful production will mask quality Dylan material.  It does make me understand why all these 60s & 70s rockers wanted to work with Jeff Lynne, though.  ELO has retreated into a far less adventurous trad rock sound, but at least they’re still produced in a listenable fashion.    

Perhaps no one splits between listenable and unlistenable production wise this year as much as the Kinks, who release the best and worst hits of their Arista years, and they’re both about dancing.  “Don’t Forget To Dance” is probably an ok song, but it’s a wash of everything wrong with 80s production, making an otherwise sweet trifle drag interminably.  On the other hand, “Come Dancing” stacks up well against just about anything Ray Davies has written, even if at this point the Kinks sound like they’re influenced by Madness rather than vice versa.

Nothing new from Madness this year, but a clutch of the old New Wave bands are still active.  Fun Boy Three have another album out, and while it’s not as sonically daring as their debut, it does sound a lot like the Specials both musically and lyrically (unsurprising but to the good).  I also prefer their moodier version of “Our Lips Are Sealed” to the Go-Go’s more uptempo one (not technically a cover, since the song was a co-write between Go-Go Jane Weidlin and Fun Boy Terry Hall, who were dating at the time).   Fun Boy Three also recall the Talking Heads, which is again unsurprising, as David Byrne produced them.  The Talking Heads, meanwhile, are back from their hiatus and haven’t missed a beat.  Speaking In Tongues pales slightly in comparison to the dual masterpieces of Fear of Music and Remain In Light, but is still fantastically inventive, with the Heads incorporating a more straight-up funk influence in their pan-global beat-heavy sound.  Also sounding a bit more pop than on Remain In Light, which again is by no means a bad thing.

                Elsewhere among the remnants of New Wave, both Devo and Captain Sensible (late of the Damned) are flirting with novelty act status.  Devo always edged up against this line, but Captain Sensible is a bit screwier, dancing between novelty UK hip-hop, show tunes & Syd Barrett covers, and more or less straight New Wave pop songs.  Not as good as the Damned, though considerably lighter in tone, and miles ahead of the dour goth band the Damned will become without the good Captain to laugh at their goth pretentions.  

Elvis Costello and the Style Council (Paul Weller’s post-Jam group) are mining similar territory this year, a sort of soul-inflected sophisti-pop sound that’s more or less a reasonable outgrowth of their material last year, although in both cases it’s a bit of a step down.  The Style Council, in particular, are a group that start in the hole for me just by not being the Jam (and being the group Weller broke the Jam up to form), but honestly on their uptempo numbers they’re pretty good.  Of course, the best of these, “Solid Bond To Your Heart,” is a Jam leftover.  The bigger problem, though, is that their ballads are terrible.  Costello’s ballads, however, are fantastic, and even topical (the anti-Falklands War “Shipbuilding”).  And, of course, we get the first of Costello’s anti-Thatcher songs.  By the end of the decade, Elvis will actively pray for Thatcher’s death so he can dance on her grave, so accusing her of wanting to melt the poor down for pills & soap is relatively moderate of him.  Still, being an angry old leftie is a nice transition from being an angry young man for Elvis.

Combining both girl and political angst quite well on his debut this year though is Billy Bragg.  Not counting R.E.M., who already had an EP and single, Bragg’s first record is the most exciting debut of ’83.  A solo-guitar folkie a la Bob Dylan circa Another Side, albeit with an electric guitar rather than an acoustic one, and more openness to rock & roll (& punk rock).  Derivative, sure, but none of the NYC folkies ever wrote a verse as good as: “I saw two shooting stars last night/I wished on them but they were only satellites//is it wrong to wish on space hardware?/I wish I knew, I wish you cared” (from “A New England”).  Good stuff.

Elsewhere in the UK, the new alt-rock is dominated by the “big” sound of bands like U2, Big Country, and Midnight Oil (who are Australian, but fit most comfortably with this crowd).  This is the sound that first made U2 big stars, and it’s a pretty compelling one: basically stadium-ready post-punk.  It’s got the emphasis on rhythmic and sonic innovation of the post-punks, emphasizing creativity over virtuosity (or at least virtuosic recreation of blues/rock clichés).  But unlike the post-punks, not at all interested in obscurantist art-noise, rather favoring big full-throated vocals, and a generally leftist political angle.  So really sounding like Who followers, as filtered through a post-punk apprenticeship (and, of course, the post-punks owed a lot to the 70s-era Who anyway).  Certainly, you could do a lot worse for a pop music template, and I’m sure the best stuff actually played on mainstream radio circa ’83.  Plus Big Country made their guitars sound like bagpipes, and that’s just good fun.

If the “big sound” bands were in a sense a popularization of post-punk, New Order was also reshaping post-punk to a broader audience, albeit one in the clubs rather than the stadium shows.  Power, Corruption, and Lies is my favorite New Order album, but it’s also very much a transitional album between their Joy Division roots and the shiny happy band they’d become soon enough.  That might be why it works so well: we saw on Movement that New Order had no future continuing as (basically) Joy Division without Ian Curtis, and needed their own identity, but by ’83 hadn’t entirely lost the grit or darkness that Joy Division had.  Anyway, certainly more dance-friendly, although like Afrika Bambaata, they sound a lot more like a club-ready Kraftwerk than the equally synthetic but far less compelling club music of, say, Madonna.  Or, for that matter, of Gang of Four.  I’ve heard bands fall farther from grace, but rarely as quickly as Go4 do this year.  Last year’s Songs of the Free was a slight step down from Solid Gold, but spit out an unexpected but by no means embarrassing fluke hit in “I Love A Man In A Uniform.”  This year, Go4 are chasing chart glory with all their might, and it’s just embarrassing.  First of all, they replaced their drummer with a machine, which is never a good idea.  Secondly, they smooth out all their rough edges.  Gang of Four have always approached funk as an academic exercise rather than an instinctual one, so without a drummer, and without the abrasion, they just sound like the limpest dance-pop you can imagine.  Not even interesting in a “it’s a disaster but I can’t look away” way; just dull, dull, dull.

In the US, meanwhile, alt-rock is continuing to take shape.  R.E.M. release their debut album, sharing with the likes of U2 and New Order post-punk roots, but taking their sound in a far folkier direction; vaguely like a combination of the Byrds and Wire.  Certainly any hints of punk in their sound are pretty buried at this point, though.  Compare, for instance, the original, rockin’ “Radio Free Europe” with the far more obtuse and mellow version on Murmur.  Showing far more punk roots, however, are the Replacements, who don’t so much leap forward this year as stumble, with the drunken party of Hootenanny.  If I were conspiracy-minded, I’d almost suspect that the amateurish fumblings were cover for the Replacements to expand their musical vocabulary without losing their punk cred: sure, they’re experimenting with New Order-style synths, surf-rock & country tunes, and even Beatles homages, but they can play it all off as a goof.  Regardless, it’s all a whole lot of fun, plus has the first real example of the classic Westerberg mid-tempo rocker in “Color Me Impressed.”

Also releasing their debut LP this year are Sonic Youth, although I confess that I don’t much care for early Sonic Youth.  I understand that they’re playing with the avant-garde Glenn Branca whatever, but it’s music that’s probably easier to appreciate than enjoy.  Plus, listening on shuffle, they sometimes just sound like the most amateurish, low-energy punk-rock band you’ve ever heard.  They get better, though.  Also getting better later on, but sounding basically like a sloppy punk band now are the Flaming Lips, who at this point are just another American punk band.  Like Burlington, Vermont’s own Wards, who also have their debut this year (woo-hoo Vermont!).

                Of course, a lot of the action in American music this year is in the punk/hardcore world.  Minor Threat, it turns out, I like a lot better at album length.  They seem to have grown in their songcraft, with a greater appreciation of the utility of space rather than the blur of attack of their earlier singles and EPs.  Still not among my favorite hardcore bands.  Another hardcore band that’s starting to pick up steam is Hüsker Dü, who haven’t deviated much from the loud-fast-simple template, but already are starting to show a real knack for melody and some broader musical horizons.  They do cover Donovan this year, after all.  Still, much like Minor Threat/Fugazi, they’re not yet at the fullness of their potential.

                Getting perilously close to their potential, however, are the Minutemen, who despite being a part of the LA hardcore scene and on the SST label, really don’t fit the hardcore tag.  They’re not even really a punk band, but more like an unpretentious art-rock band working in sub-2 minute territory.  Vaguely like Gang of Four songs played with a Wire-like sense of brevity, but without the affected attitude of either of those great but self-consciously arty bands.  On the other hand, what those bands had that the Minutemen lacked was a decent producer.  I know that the amateurish (primitive) production is part of the aesthetic of SST, but while that works for the likes of Hüsker Dü and Black Flag, the Minutemen really deserved a proper producer.  Oh, well.

                Also not really fitting with the rest of the LA hardcore scene are X, who have never gotten my “Most Benefiting From Reevaluation” tag, and are now starting to lose some steam, but really were one of the best American bands of their era.  Here they seem to be trying to push the boundaries of their sound (although not so much as they will next time out), which is to their credit, even if it’s not nearly as compelling as it’s been in the past.  Also, the Minutemen beat X at song titles this year, with “Dreams Are Free Motherfucker!” beating out “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts.”  Also working in rockabilly this year, by the way, is Neil Young, in a record that’s basically a big F-You to Geffen Records (who wanted him to record a more “rock & roll” record after Trans).  It’s fun enough, but almost inevitably minor, a return to the tossed-off records he’s been doing since Rust Never Sleeps apart from Trans.  Also, since I paid a couple bucks in a used bin, it doesn’t bother me, but it’s basically an EP (25 minutes) that Young sold at full-LP prices.  If it were released as an EP, I suspect the reaction would have been somewhat kinder to what is a fun but trifling record. 

                Even further on the margins of the LA scene this year are Bad Religion, with their infamous “prog” record (which is technically their debut LP).  It’s not nearly so bad as the band seems to think it is, although I’ll grant that it was highly unfashionable in ’83.  Still, it sounds a lot more like Ziggy Stardust-era glam than prog, levened perhaps with a touch of late-70s stadium rock of the Boston variety.  So not at all hardcore, though Bad Religion’s sense of melody remains intact, making the record overall solid.  Also leaving the pastures of punk & its offshoots for the wilder territory of prog are Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, a Mission of Burma offshoot that, like Sonic Youth, are much more interested in exploring the world of modern avant-garde classical than rock & roll, but unlike Sonic Youth are already entirely listenable.  Possibly because they’re less reliant on abrasive noise as a crutch (although that certainly is an element).

                Among the real prog bands, it’s not so hot a year.  Yes are back, but are severely victimized by that big 80s production style.  Credit for expanding their sound, but Yes sound more like Madonna this year than I suspect either would like to admit.  It works on “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” but elsewhere it degenerates into embarrassingly cheesy hooks & sound effects.  It’s hard to say how much this would be improved by a more classic production style, but there’s not much left of the old Yes here to recognize.  It’s more machine now than man, twisted and evil.  Still, better than Yes offshoot Asia, who aren’t quite so victimized by production, but suffer from really boring songwriting, sounding closer to stadium rock than prog, and thus kind of a sell-out.

                On the other hand, since I’m a Roger Waters partisan, we get the last real Pink Floyd album, and if you’re willing to take it on its own terms, The Final Cut is a stunner.  Nothing like the disco-rock of the wall or the expansive psych-rock of their earlier stuff, and nothing even remotely approaching a hit single, but quite affecting.  Treat it more like a tone-poem, don’t expect it to sound like earlier Floyd, ignore the dumb metal of “Not Now John,” and just enjoy some of Waters’ finest lyrical moments.  Another fine anti-Thatcher, anti-Falklands album, closing, as these things must, with nuclear holocaust.

Relatedly, it’s not worth a “song of the year” nod, but it’s worth discussing Nena’s “99 Red Balloons,” if only because it’s so precisely dated, the product of the second generation to grow up under the constant threat of Cold War nuclear annihilation.  A point where the fear of nuclear war is so real, yet so constant, that you can’t help but throw a bouncy pop song about accidental nuclear apocalypse up the pop charts. 

Finally, some big steps forward for a couple of genres poorly-represented in my collection.  Run-DMC debut with “It’s Like That,” which is radically more aggressive and tight in its rhymes than any of the relatively primitive (lyrically) rap singles to date.  Also more aggressive and tight than its predecessors is Metallica, and the beginnings of thrash metal (the last metal innovation I can really get behind).  Metallica aren’t half as good as they’ll be even on their next album, but they’ve clearly struck on something new.  Other bands may be faster (Motorhead), tighter (emphatically not Motorhead), or better singers (most of them, really), but Metallica were the first to combine the speed & unflashy virtuosity that were thrash’s hallmarks.  Elsewhere in metal, Dio is starting to form his post-Sabbath identity as the king of power-metal, which is kind of everything thrash isn’t: pretentious, vocally rigorous, and flashy.  A whole lot of fun, though, if harder to take seriously if you’re at all punk-inclined.  

Song of the Year:  “Blue Monday” – New Order.  Kraftwerk goes to the clubs, basically, but a lot of fun.  Plus it was the top-selling UK 12” single for awhile, which proved disastrous for Factory Records (New Order’s label), as the faux-floppy drive packaging was actually more expensive than the record sold for, meaning that the label actually lost money on the deal.

Album of the Year:  Either the Talking Heads’ Speaking In Tongues or R.E.M.’s Murmur.  In both cases, not the artists’ best work, but in both cases, still tremendously inventive and towering over most of the other records out this year.  The first is one of the last gasps of New Wave and the second one of the first breaths of alt-rock, so there’s a nice symmetry there, I suppose.

Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  A whole host of minor alt-rockers, like the Style Council, New Order, and the Wipers.  Basically, I realize that New Wave died so suddenly, there was precious little to take its place, and the mainstream was so terrible, that you’re left grasping at any bands that have a hint of genuine creativity and human connection.  All of these bands are just pretty good, but given what else was around them, I understand why they were beloved to a generation.

Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  Yes.  Some prog bands really responded well to punk & its followers (Rush & King Crimson, basically), some less well (Jethro Tull), but Yes just flat-out embarrass themselves this year. 

Album List

Asia – Alpha

Bad Religion - Into the Unknown

Bauhaus – 1979-1983

Big Country – The Crossing

Billy Bragg - Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg

Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic - Birdsong of the Mesozoic

Black Flag - The Last Two Years

Blue Öyster Cult - Workshop Of The Telescopes

Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits Volume 3

Bob Dylan - Vol. 3: Rare And Unreleased, 1974-1991

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend

Bruce Springsteen - 18 Tracks

Buckwheat Zydeco - 100% Fortified Zydeco

Captain Sensible – A Day In The Life Of….

Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young) - Carry On

David Bowie - Best Of Bowie

David Bowie - Changesbowie

Devo - Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology

Dio - The Very Beast Of Dio

Electric Light Orchestra - Strange Magic: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra

Elvis Costello - Best Of

Elvis Costello - Out Of Our Idiot

Elvis Costello – Punch The Clock

Fun Boy Three – Waiting

Gang of Four – Hard

Hüsker Dü - Metal Circus (EP)

Iron Maiden - Misc.

J.J. Cale - Very Best Of

King Crimson - In the Studio 1981-1984

Merle Haggard - HAG: The Best Of Merle Haggard

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

Michael Jackson - Misc.

Midnight Oil – 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Minor Threat - Out Of Step

Minutemen - Buzz or Howl Under The Influence of Heat

Minutemen - What Makes A Man Start Fires?

Motörhead - No Remorse

Neats - Bonus Tracks

Neats - Neats

Neil Young – Everybody’s Rockin’

Neil Young - Lucky Thirteen

New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies

New Order - Substance

Nick Lowe - Basher: The Best Of Nick Lowe

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ozzman Cometh

Paul McCartney - Wingspan: Hits

Paul Simon – Hearts and Bones

Peter Tosh - Equal Rights [Bonus Tracks]

Peter Tosh – Mama Africa

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

Prince - The B-Sides

Public Image Ltd. - Commercial Zone

R.E.M. - Dead Letter Office

R.E.M. - Murmur

Rick James - Motown Legends: Give It to Me Baby

Run-D.M.C. - Greatest Hits

Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex / Kill Yr. Idols

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Greatest Hits

Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Vol. 2

Talking Heads - Sand In The Vaseline

Talking Heads – Speaking In Tongues

The Clash - Super Black Market Clash

The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats

The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips EP

The Jam - Live! EP

The Kinks - Come Dancing With The Kinks

The Kinks - Wedding Songs

The Mekons - I Have Been to Heaven and Back..., Vol. 1

The Police - Every Breath You Take: The Singles

The Ramones - Mania

The Replacements - Hootenanny

The Rolling Stones - Forty Licks

The Smiths - Singles

The Specials - The Singles Collection

The Style Council - The Singular Adventures Of The Style Council

The Wards - The World Ain't Pretty And Neither Are We 7"

The Wipers - Over The Edge

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Playback IV: The Other Sides

Toots & The Maytals - Time Tough - The Anthology

U2 - B-Sides 1980-1990

U2 - The Best Of 1980-1990

U2 – Under A Blood Red Sky

U2 – War

V/A - 12 Classic 45s

V/A - Children Of Nuggets I

V/A - Children Of Nuggets II

V/A - Children Of Nuggets III

V/A - Children Of Nuggets IV

V/A - Old School I

V/A - Post Punk Chronicles: Left Of The Dial

V/A - Snatch

V/A - Trainspotting

Violent Femmes - Add It Up (1981-1993)

Waylon Jennings - Best Of Waylon Jennings

Willie Nelson - Pancho & Lefty

X - Beyond & Back: The X Anthology

X – More Fun In The New World

Yes - 90125