Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

We’ve made it to the final year of the 80s, but what happened outside of music before the turn of the decade? Well, thousands were killed in Tiananmen Square as Chinese leaders took a hard line towards demonstrators, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was named Soviet President , the Berlin Wall fell after 28 years and the Game Boy was released.

Here’s what our trusty rateyourmusic.com users rank as the top 5 albums of 1989:

#1 The Cure - Disintegration
#2 Pixies - Doolittle
#3 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
#4 Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
#5 NoMeansNo - Wrong

And here’s some others I’m grabbing from further down the list:

#6 Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
#7 Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night
#14 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising (also Pitchfork)
#20 Hats - The Blue Nile

Pitchfork’s top albums of the 80s includes some of the above, but also Minor Threat - Complete Discography at number 30, so we’ll add that in.

Finally, as usual, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be grabbing anything from 1989 from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers. This year we’ve got a whole host of albums to throw into the mix:

Janet Jackson - Rhymth Nation 1814 (Also on Pitchfork’s best of the decade)
Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen
Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time)
Kate Bush - Sensual World
Madonna - Like a Prayer

Well, that’s 16 albums to cover, which I believe is a new record. No pun intended.

“Nick of Time is the tenth studio album by the American singer Bonnie Raitt, released on March 21, 1989. It was Raitt's first album to be released by Capitol Records. A commercial breakthrough after years of personal and professional struggles, Nick of Time topped the Billboard 200 chart, selling five million copies, and won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, which was presented to Raitt and producer Don Was. In 2003, the album was ranked number 229 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, then was re-ranked at number 230 on the 2012 list.”" - Wikipedia

I’m not the biggest straight country guy, and Nick of Time isn’t about to change my mind. I can appreciate Raitt’s songwriting and vocal skills, and she certainly has a knack for melodies, but it’s still not doing a lot for me.

6.5/10

“Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and Prince on the album, with her co-writing and co-producing all the songs. Her most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer is a confessional record. Madonna described the album as a collection of songs about her mother, father, and bonds with her family. It was dedicated to Madonna's mother, who died when she was young.” - Wikipedia

The production has taken a step-up up since her debut, which we covered in 1983, sounding a bit less like a karaoke backing track, though it still sounds a bit Casio keyboard at points. Like a Prayer sets the tone with some funky flittering guitar work, and while the bass is still a little synthetic, the instrumental sections and overall sound really give the track a sense of scale and emphatically announce the arrival of a really solid pop album. Brass stabs and funky guitar riffs are tastefully lathered throughout, with tracks like Love Song (which features Prince) giving a slightlier edgier resbite to the general pop-fare. It’s not one with much depth to it, mainly because a lot of the music still sounds a bit soul-less, but Madonna’s melodies, and more interesting lyrics make it rise above her debut.

Song Picks: Like a Prayer, Love Song

“Altars of Madness is the debut studio album of Florida-based death metal band Morbid Angel. It was released on May 12, 1989 through Combat Records/Earache Records. The album was recorded in December 1988 at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida. The album is one of the earliest examples of death metal and is considered to have helped pioneer the sound along with Possessed's Seven Churches in 1985 and Death's Scream Bloody Gore in 1987, and set a new precedent for heaviness and extremity, both musically and lyrically. It is one of the most celebrated albums in death metal history, and one of the most influential heavy metal albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

This influental business is all very good, but is Altars of Madness still any good? Yes. Though the mix is a bit thin, there’s a pleasing raw garage sound to the thing. Even David Vincent’s vocal sounds like it’s reverberating inside a box of breezeblocks. Peter Sandoval’s drumming is frenetic, and refreshingly off kilter compared to the artificial sound of many of the drums on today’s metal albums, where the perfect snare hit gets pasted across the whole track and other such trickery. This is punk death metal, maaaaan.

Song Picks: Lord of Fevers and Plagues, Suffocation

8/10

“Indigo Girls is the second studio album and first major label release by American folk rock duo the Indigo Girls. It was originally released in 1989 by Epic Records, and reissued and remastered in 2000 with two bonus tracks. Upon its release, the album received mostly positive reviews from critics, went gold after six months and eventually went platinum. The duo was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy (losing to Milli Vanilli, who later vacated the award), and won one for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.” - Wikipedia

It feels like an age since we had some folk-rock so this is a more than welcome addition to the list. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers’ vocals harmonise beautifully (Michael Stipe’s backing vocals on track 3 are great too), injecting the album’s melodic choruses straight through into your veins (see opener Closer to Fine for what I mean). The acoustic guitar is so crystal clear it feels like it’s caressing your ears, with just the right amount of energy to accompany the prominent vocals, while never overpowering them.

This is just really great, melodic, accessible and heartfelt music.

Song Picks: Closer to Fine, Kid Fears

8/10

“Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson, released on September 19, 1989, by A&M Records. Although label executives wanted material similar to her previous album, Control (1986), Jackson insisted on creating a concept album addressing social issues. Collaborating with songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she drew inspiration from various tragedies reported through news media, exploring racism, poverty, and substance abuse, in addition to themes of romance. Although its primary concept of a sociopolitical utopia was met with mixed reactions, its composition received critical acclaim. Jackson came to be considered a role model for youth because of her socially conscious lyrics.” - Wikipedia

Growing up, I was a fan of the Michael & Janet Jackson duet ‘Scream’ on Michael Jackson’s History compilation. It had a kind of industrial and grimey riff to it. Rhythm Nation 1814’s heavier tracks are dominated by a similar sound, and they’re my favourites. The blunt social commentary works well with this angrier presentation, but falls flatter for me on some of the slower songs in the album’s second half, where it comes across as a bit cheesy. Thankfully this is only a couple of tracks among the album’s 20. The slower more personal songs such as Lonely and Come Back to Me are effective 80s ballads.

Black Cat wins the award for the most 80s sounding track on the album with a bass drum and snare drum like a battering ram, and a guitar riff that should come free with a really long wig, glorious.

Song Picks: Alright, Rhythm Nation, Black Cat,

8/10

“All Hail the Queen is the debut album by hip-hop artist Queen Latifah. The album was released on November 28, 1989, through Tommy Boy Records. The feminist anthem, "Ladies First" featuring Monie Love remains one of Latifah's signature songs.” - Wikipedia

All Hail the Queen is old-school hip-hop at its best. Infectious beats, notable in particular for their unassuming but bloody fantastic basslines (see opener Dance for Me for a great example). This is the kind of thing you could put on at a house party and have the whole place grooving for its duration. As for Queen Latifah’s rapping, it has a great flow, and I like the rhymes. All Hail the Queen might not be as revolutionary in terms of its lyrical content as some of the decade’s more political hip-hop output, but the whole thing slaps from start to finish, and its a bona fide mood-lifter. When you combine this with the fact female rappers weren’t exactly a dime a dozen in 1989, and she was only 19 at the time of this album’s release, you get a pretty all round impressive piece of hip-hop history.

Also Ladies First is a superb feminist anthem.

Song Picks: Dance for Me, Latifah’s Law, Wrath of My Madness, Ladies First, Queen of Royal Badness, Evil that Men Do

9/10

“Complete Discography is a 1989 compilation album released by the American hardcore punk band Minor Threat on the band's own Dischord Records. As the name implies, it contains the band's entire discography at the time, including their three EPs, the Out of Step album and Flex Your Head compilation tracks.” - Wikipedia

Ok, it’s not technically an album, more a collection of EPs, but Pitchfork included it on their best albums of the 80s and they know more than me, so I’m counting it too. This punk-rock gem seems to have influenced all the music on Tony Hawk Skater 2’s soundtrack along with much of the 90s alternative scene too. A collection of punchy tracks with bouncy guitar riffs and vocals that seem to be rasped through a megaphone over the relentless din of amp stacks. The whole thing sounds like it might just crash and burn any moment, but they somehow manage to keep the train of carnage reasonably on course, as it obnoxiously smashes everything in its path. Never has an entire band’s back catalogue fit into one hard-hitting sitting in quite this fashion.

Song Picks: Filler, I Don’t Wanna Hear It, In My Eyes,

“The Sensual World is the sixth studio album by the English art rock singer Kate Bush, released on 16 October 1989 by EMI Records. It reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments in excess of 300,000 in the United Kingdom, and Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States.” - Wikipedia

Is the Sensual World the album that best describes its sound with its title? Probably. Bush creates yet another singular sensory experience with unique soundscapes and a voice about as expressive as any we’ve ever had. The Sensual World feels like Bush working well within her capabilities, but in a good way; a way that makes it feel a little more intimate than her other records, something the more personal lyrics help with too. The Sensual World may be more open and honest than anything she had made up to this point, but it still has that trademark fairy-tale dreamlike quality to it, a quality making it disperse on impact like a cloud of stardust.

Song Picks: Love and Anger, The Fog, Deeper Understanding, The Woman’s Work

9/10

“Wrong is the fourth full-length album by Canadian punk rock band Nomeansno. It was released in 1989 through Alternative Tentacles record label.” - Wikipedia

Wrong came out of nowhere and smashed me round the head like a sledgehammer, with every hit’s timing less predictable than the last. Wrong is a punk masterpiece, and a clear influence on the mathier rock bands to come in the 90s and 2000s. Rob Wright’s screams appeal to me more than those in your average death metal band, as I generally prefer screaming to roaring, and the guitar and drum work is superbly intricate and yet still makes you want to jump around. Wrong is one of those albums where instrumental skill is used in tandem with just making damn good music, and not against it. It’s completely ‘wrong’ that most people haven’t heard this… I’ll get my coat.

Song Picks: It’s Catching Up, Rags and Bones

9/10

“The Stone Roses is the debut studio album by English rock band the Stone Roses. It was recorded mostly at Battery Studios in London with producer John Leckie from June 1988 to February 1989. Despite not being an immediate success, the album grew popular alongside the band's high-profile concert performances, which also helped establish them as fixtures of the Madchester and baggy cultural scenes. The record's critical standing also improved significantly in later years, with The Stone Roses now considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

This album is now so synonymous with the ‘Madchester’ movement, I feel entirely unoriginal even mentioning the fact, and indeed I find it more interesting to talk about the influence this has had on music since its release. Tame Impala, Oasis (and pretty much any britpop band), the Manic Street Preachers (I could go on…) all clearly descend from the Ian Brown led Manchester quartet. I think it’s true that perhaps the album’s most famous track Fool’s Gold, is not a particularly great indication of the rest of the album, and it’s the only one that extensively employs electronic dance beats and synths. The rest of the album features more of a standard rock band formation than many would have you believe. What’s different about The Stone Roses is the dreamy reverb on Brown’s vocals, and the way the guitars drench everything with an emotional fizz. Many have pointed out the similarities the band has to 60s jangle-pop, and I think that’s very true in terms of the melodies and guitar progressions, but the presentation is completely different. The Stone Roses feels like what would happen if you injected the Byrds with a penchant for rave, long meditative instrumental passages, and a need to sound massive. It sounds like the perfect modernising of a classic sound, and it’s one which hasn’t really been modernised much since, quite the achievement for an album over 30 years old.

Song Picks: I am the Resurrection, I Wanna Be Adored, Fool’s Gold

9/10

“Hats is the second studio album by Scottish band The Blue Nile, originally released on 16 October 1989 on Linn Records and A&M Records. After a prolonged delay in which an entire album's worth of work was scrapped, The Blue Nile released Hats to rave reviews, including a rare five-star rating from Q magazine. It also became the band's most successful album, reaching number 12 on the UK album charts and spawning three singles: "The Downtown Lights", "Headlights on the Parade", and "Saturday Night".” - Wikipedia

Hats is the album version of driving through a neon sprinkled city at night-time as a light drizzle patters on the windscreen. It feels meditative, contemplative and full of opportunity. The puddles glow and blur, the wipers go back and forth in time with the distant murmur, and the mind smiles.

We’ve talked a lot about albums being places recently, and if that’s the case, then Hats is where I want to live.

Song Picks: Over the Hillside, Downtown Lights, Headlights on the Parade

9/10

“Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 2 May 1989 by Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the introspective gothic rock style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the band's pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group's newfound popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of hallucinogenic drugs, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album.”

I love it when an album ends up being the culmination of everything a band has done before, particularly when what has come before has been a mix of the experimental and the more mainstream. Disintegration is such an album. It’s the Cure’s Abbey Road, its synths are heaven and its melodies as affecting as they’ve ever been. Disintegration’s songs float seamlessly on a plane very much their own.

Song Picks: Lovesong, Closedown

9.5/10

4. Floating Into the Night

Julee Cruise

“Floating into the Night is the debut studio album by American singer Julee Cruise. It was released on September 12, 1989, by Warner Bros. Records, and features compositions and production by Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch. Songs from the album were featured in Lynch's projects Blue Velvet (1986), Industrial Symphony No. 1 (1990), and Twin Peaks (1990–1991).” - Wikipedia

I’ve not seen any of the above Lynch productions (though I am a fan of Mulholland Drive), so this music is all new to me. I feel quite lucky about that, as I’m not sure this album would have hit me the same had I recognised any of it.

Floating Into the Night feels like being completely immersed in a solemn, soft world: Julee Cruise’s vocals are the perfect balance between warm, mysterious, and slightly haunting, while the often simple instrumental backdrop strikes much the same balance. The padded synth taps, the gently plucked guitars, everything seems to disappear into space. It’s an album about atmosphere for sure, but it’s also more than that: with a real melodic beauty to it. Floating into the Night is perfectly titled, as there’s no better way to describe what this beautiful record feels like.

Song Picks: Floating, Falling, Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart, Into the Night,

9.5/10

“3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on March 3, 1989 by Tommy Boy Records. It is the first of three collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. The album title comes from the Johnny Cash song "Five Feet High and Rising". The album contains the singles "Me Myself and I", "The Magic Number", "Buddy", and "Eye Know". Critically, as well as commercially, the album was a success. It is consistently placed on lists of the greatest albums of all time by noted critics and publications, with Robert Christgau calling it "unlike any rap album you or anybody else has ever heard".” - Wikipedia

While Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was angry rap perfection, De la Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising achieves similar levels of perfection in a much more chill fashion. We’ve got beats as laid back as a mojito on a lilo, and vocals riding waves like Eddie Aikau. While Nations is a marching for equality with its fists in the air, 3 Feet High and Rising is chilling on an urban beach with a ghettoblaster and a can of Pepsi. Both are just as enchanting to listen to.

Song Picks: Magic Number; Eye Know; Me, Myself and I

9.5/10

“Doolittle is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release, with Elektra Records as the album's distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada. Although it is considered the most accessible Pixies album, Doolittle is often regarded as the band's strongest and greatest work, and has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, being certified Gold in 1995 and Platinum in 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America.” - Wikipedia

More polished and less raw than Surfer Rosa, which is an aspect I didn’t think would necessarily suit the Pixies, but it does. Doolittle is a masterpiece in accessible edginess. The songwriting is constantly engaging, and tracks vary enough to keep you enthralled while sticking within the band’s spontaneous and energetic sounding template. This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven, the timelessly simple Here Comes Your Man, and Debaser are probably the album’s best known tracks. They’re superb, but so is everything else on this album, which is where it just pips Surfer Rosa to the post for me, which had a few songs in the second half that dropped slightly below that album’s otherwise high bar.

Doolittle is an album that’s influence echoes through time so much that everything sounds familiar, but in a way that if listening in a vacuum, you’d never guess this was recorded in 1989. It’s a celebration of expression and of creative freedom. As Pitchfork put it in their original best albums of the 1980s list (where this came fourth): “Doolittle is almost senselessly varied—mood-altering hooks, poetically insane lyrics, larynx-demolishing screams and surreal croons, surf, thrash, pop, slow burns and races to the finish line... Let me put it this way: if not for Doolittle, there would be no Pitchfork. In other words, the influence of this record is so vast that, 15 years on, it has altered the course of your life at this very moment.”

Song Picks: Crackity Jones, This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven, Debasser, Hey, I Bleed

“Paul's Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, by Capitol Records. Produced by the Dust Brothers, the album is composed almost entirely from samples, and was recorded over two years at Matt Dike's apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Paul's Boutique did not match the sales of the group's 1986 debut Licensed to Ill, and was promoted minimally by Capitol. However, it became recognized as the group's breakthrough achievement, with its innovative lyrical and sonic style earning them a position as critical favorites within the hip-hop community.” - Wikipedia

The Dust Brothers’ sampling work on Paul’s Boutique is fun, effortlessly smooth and flawless. Every beat and groove emits a kind of wholesome joy. It’s like eating 15 spoonfuls of brown sugar with each tasting as fresh as the first. Couple this with Beastie Boys’ unbounded vocal energy, the fact they have more chemistry than a secondary school chemistry lesson, and their enthusiastic and yet often pointed lyricism and you get one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

Any album that rhymes ‘selfish’ with ‘shellfish’ deserves a 10 in my book. Paul’s Boutique oozes slick, it’s the College Dropout of the 80s.

Song Picks: Shake Your Rump, Johnny Ryall, High Plains Drifter, 3-minute rule, Hey Ladies, B-Boy Bouillabaisse, Looking Down the Barrell of a Gun

It’s time to musically tackle 1982, the year the space shuttle Columbia made its first mission, Steven Spielberg’s E.T. and the Commodore 64 was released, the Falklands War happened, and Ingrid Bergman died.

We’re here for the music though right? Well, here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s users rate as their top 5 albums of 1982:

#1 The Cure - Pornography
#2 Kate Bush - The Dreaming
#3 Michael Jackson - Thriller
#4 Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
#5 Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters

I’m also grabbing this lot from further down the list:

#6 Glenn Gould - The Goldberg Variations
#9 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
#13 The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
#18 Hiroshi Yoshimura - Wave Notation 1: Music for Nine Post Cards

And we’ve also got an extra album from NPR’s best albums by female artists list (Kate Bush’s Dreaming is also on that list, but we already have it above):

Laurie Anderson - Big Science (#80 in NPR’s 150 Best Albums Made by Women)

10 albums, let’s go.

10. The Number of the Beast

Iron Maiden

The English heavy metal outfit’s third album was their last with drummer Clive Burr and first with vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

At this point it’s all a bit of a blur, but I assume I’ve talked about how I’m not a massive fan of the kind of howly, heavy rock that Iron Maiden are famous for, and I’m definitely not a fan of their cover art, this one being partricularly bad. That said, I’ve enjoyed my listens of The Number of the Beast with tracks like Children of the Damned being thoroughly daft and enjoyable. There’s no doubt that Dave Murray knows how to write powerful guitar riffs and ripping solos (see The Prisoner) and that Dickinson’s howled vocals add the required drama to proceedings, it just hasn’t got me past my prejudice towards the genre - something others have managed more effectively.

Song Picks: Children of the Damned

6/10

9. Plastic Surgery Disasters

Dead Kennedys

The Dead Kennedy's second album is lead singer Jello Biafra's favourite and sees them expand further into the high speed hardcore chaos that made Holiday in Cambodia such a great track.

East Bay Ray's guitar riffs are so frantic one imagines his left hand must be a blur while he's playing them, while Biafra’s vocals give off the vibe of someone imminently about to fall off a cliff frantically blurting out as much as they can before they do. Lyrically it’s a mix of political and social commentary, with Biafra’s battling against social norms being as present as ever.

You could certainly critiscise Plastic Surgery Disasters for being samey, and the songs do seem to blend into one a bit, but if you’re after fast songs ranting about a whole range of topics in a relentlessly energetic manner, look no further.

Song Pick: Government Flu

7/10

Kate Bush’s fourth album is often considered her most experimental, and it’s easy to see why. The poppy melodies of her other releases haven’t disappeared entirely, but they are much less frequent and replaced with a playful creativity.

The Dreaming’s tracks feature Kate Bush duetting with herself regularly, in fact - as on the superb Suspended in Gaffa - she’s often singing in four or more distinct styles. Combined with the rhythmic and often staccato instrumentation this creates a really unique sound, and one that I’d struggle to find anything comparable to even today. Bush has herself called the album ‘mad’, and indeed it is. There’s a feeling of freedom to the way the compositions skitter from melody to melody, instrument to instrument and section to section, in a way that is largely unpredictable and unvonventional.

I’m in no doubt that many will find this album a bit too challenging, it’s not as immediately gripping as 1978’s The Kick Inside for example, and there’s not all that much to latch onto or even remember particularly, but to those who give it time this is a really rewarding album that you’re unlikely ever to get bored of.

The Dreaming cements Kate Bush as not only someone who can write great songs - we already knew that from previous entries to these lists - but someone who is completely unafraid to be herself. Bush was already pretty singular before The Dreaming, with its release she became one of the most remarkable artists to grace our airwaves.

Song Picks: Suspended in Gaffa, Sat in Your Lap

8.5/10

The Fall’s fourth album is described by the lead singer, Mark E. Smith, as a satirical stand against "bland bastards like Elvis Costello and Spandau Ballet ... [and] all that shit", and features his standard abrasive vocal style and lyrics rooted in ‘kitchen sink realism’, a movement from the 50s and 60s in the arts that saw protagonists disollusioned with life and living in cramped working-class conditions, portraying a harsh and more realistic style than the art that had come before it. The album was mainly recorded in a disused cinema in Hertfordshire.

The album starts with the fantastically brash The Classical, which unfortunately drops the ‘N’ word within the first few lines, something that was not uncommon at the time. Mark E. Smith has claimed he’s singing as if it’s not him saying it - believable considering his lyrics are often built up of random outbursts coming from seemingly different people - but it’s still problematic as is explored in much more depth than I have room to here. That aside though, the song demonstrates the band’s ability to create an infectiously ramshackle sound - with the melody often coming from the guitars rather than Smith’s vocals, which snarl and grate in a way that’s so brash you can’t help but love them.

Jawbone and the Air-Rifle is another superb track with a guitar riff that you can imagine people bouncing around to aggressively in 80s clubs, Smith’s vocals carry more of a melody this time, something he’s more than capable of doing, while still never loosing that razor sharp edge he has. The track feels entirely unconventional, while also remaining very accessible. It sounds like a band playing in a room far too small for them, so the drums pound over everything else, while the guitars bounce off the grime on the walls and Smith has to thin his voice to make himself heard. It’s a rough, perfectly British mess that’s punker than punk itself. Hex Induction Hour’s remaining tracks are probably less memorable, and certainly less dance-able and infectious, but they’re still the musical equivalent of showing your teeth to the system.

Song Picks: The Classical, Jawbone and the Air-Rifle

8.5/10

The English band’s fourth album wasn’t well received critically, though it was their most succesfull up to that point commercially. It has since garnered plenty of critical acclaim, and is seen as an important album in the development of gothic rock. It was their final album with Simon Gallup, whose departure meant that all of the band’s following albums had a poppier, and lighter feel. This one is very dark though, and was written and recorded during what songwriter and vocalist Rober Smith called “an extremely stressful and self-destructive period”.

The Cure have always been the masters of atmosphere and it doesn’t take long to realise this album is no different, with the opening One Hundred Years’ guitar part sounding positively massive, with so much reverb put on it that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve fallen into a cave, “One and one we die one after the other” Smith sings as the guitar echoes this with suitably doomed notes. The Hanging Garden is a great example of the uptempo but downbeat thing that The Cure do so well, as the song chugs along at a fair clip while Smith sings lines like “Fall, fall, fall, fall out of the sky / Cover my face as the animals die” in a manner that suggests he’s had enough. But it’s not all doom and gloom… no, actually it is, every minute of Pornography is unapologetically devoid of hope. It’s a dip into the mind of someone at their lowest point, and yet in all the gloom and sadness, Smith’s melodies still fly. On the title track which closes the album, Smith is practically screaming as the drums march ominously on one side and a doom synth plays like a church organ signifying the end of time in the other, then it all cuts to black. Smith has cited this as the album that turned things around for him personally, and I see that cut at the end as the moment he’s got so low, that the only way is up, a flicker of hope that ignites a fire.

Song Picks: The Hanging Garden, One Hundred Years, Siamese Twins

9/10

Laurie Anderson’s debut is comprised of a selection of highlights from her eight-hour production United States Live - a performance piece in which music was only one element.

Big Science is avant-garde and hard to define. It’s electronic, but more concerned with soundscapes to back Anderson’s spoken word vocals than songs in the traditional sense. Having said that there are still melodies and hooks in there, often provided by other vocalists, as on the eerie title track, which brilliantly conveys the expansion of humankind in the following verse. Here Anderson cleverly turns direction giving on its head, referencing buildings that will be built rather than ones that are/were there:

Well just take a right where they're going to build that new shopping mall
Go straight past where they're going to put in the freeway
Take a left at what's going to be the new sports center
And keep going until you hit the place where
They're thinking of building that drive-in bank

O Superman, which became a surprise hit in the UK after John Peel championed it, is the album’s centrepiece and - in my opinion - masterpiece. Repeated ‘Ha’s’ in two different notes create the song’s spartan musical backdrop as Anderson talks enigmatically, and breaks into eerie melodies as she sings ‘here come the planes’. Originally inspired by the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 - the one depicted in the hit film Argo - it resonates far beyond that calmly presenting the fall of the world into some Orwellian nightmare:

'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice
And when justice is gone, there's always force
And when force is gone, there's always Mom.

Anderson begins to sing more after this song, and the album’s second half shines because of it. There’s a sense that Anderson has freed herself of self-consciousness as she bursts into a gentle, melodic flame.

Big Science is a bit like a 50 minute meditation session, but where instead of ‘scanning’ your body and feeling present, you follow Anderson’s soothing voice into an infinitely interesting and timeless void. It’s a kind of less on the nose, more beautiful 1984 in musical form. One of the most creative albums of the decade.

Song Picks: O Superman, Example #22, Let X=X

9/10

Springsteen’s sixth studio album is made up of songs that were initially intended to be demos that the E-Street band would flesh out, but he decided to release them as they were. It was recorded using just two SM57s and a 4-track recorder, as many a nerdy, wannabe sound engineer forum poster will tell you. Springsteen’s decision to keep the whole thing raw was a stroke of genius, and has played no small impact in the album being one of his most well regarded. Due to the sombre nature of the record, Springsteen never toured it.

Nebraska’s songs are about murderers, working class people, corrupt cops, or Springsteen’s childhood. He’s always been an exceptional storyteller, and when his songs are reduced to simple melodies, sparse acoustic guitar and harmonica arrangements and his voice, it’s his ability to get into the head of his subjects and portray their stories that makes this album shine so brightly. Bruce’s vocals are low and sombre, with none of the energy of Born to Run for example. There’s a resigned longing to all the songs, as if the songs’ subjects are always hoping for more, though they know they’ll never get it.

Such dark and intimate stories are presented here with no frills beside an atmospheric reverb. The lack of backup from a band makes the whole thing more intimate, you’re there with The Boss as he tells his stories. As Pitchfork’s review states, and indeed Bruce himself, Nebraska is as much about the presentation as the content. It was written in the environment it was recorded, and the songs would have lost something when taken out of that context. Nebraska is the perfect document of a moment when Bruce Springsteen sat down in his rented house in New Jersey, and unbeknownst to himself, wrote one of the most touching acoustic albums of all time.

Song Picks: Nebraska, Mansion on the Hill

9/10

3. Music for Nine Postcards

Hiroshi Yoshimura

Yoshimura’s debut album was initially intended to be played in the Hara Museum for Contemporary Art building, but was given a wider release after it garnered interest from the visitors. The album uses only a Fender Rhodes (a type of electric piano) and a piano. In the liner notes Yoshimura stated that he was inspired by “the movements of clouds, the shade of a tree in summertime, the sound of rain, the snow in a town." The album was only released in Japan in 1982, and was not given a release outside the country until 2017, when it was picked up by the Empire of Signs label and re-issued. It’s re-release was highly critically acclaimed.

Music for Nine Postcards is minimalistic, letting each note echo into your ears, it’s sad and yet hopeful, it sparkles and hums. A triumph in minimalism it sounds well ahead of its time, and could just as well have come out this year. The whistful twinkles of Clouds, the almost childish simplicity, but sheer beauty of the melody on Blink, and the quiet euphoria of Dance PM are just samples of the treat that you’re in for if you listen to this gem. The latter is perhaps my favourite album of the track, with certain notes being just out of time enough to feel real, natural, unprogrammed, and human - whilst maintaining a level of repetition that leaves me in a gentle trance. Dance PM is everything this album does so well. Unassuming, simple, really moving and bloody gorgeous from start to finish. Music for Nine Postcards has gently weaved its way into my heart, and I can’t see it ever leaving again. In a decade of excess, it hums along quietly and patiently, waiting for everyone to notice just how damn pretty it is.

Song Picks: Blink, Dance PM,

9/10

I’ve talked about Michael Jackson’s problematic nature in a previous review (1979’s Off the Wall), and how I think the evidence is pretty strong following numerous documentaries on the subject that he did indeed abuse children and that that has undoubtedly tainted his legacy and music, but also - more importantly - caused a lot of children and families unfathomable pain and trauma. Nevertheless, I’m going to talk about the music here, which is completely sublime.

The term is overused but I’ve no reservations in calling Michael Jackson a musical genius, something which is displayed here where he’s at the peak of his powers. Quincy Jones’ production is superb, with crystal clear instrumentation, and instrumental flourishes filling every space in a way that doesn’t feel overblown, but infectious and tasteful. On the all-time-classic opener Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ , that sublime guitar and bass groove are accompanied not only by Jackson’s sublime vocals - effortlessly going from gritty to smooth and always bang in tune - but also an endless array of instrumental touches; that brass shake echoing the bass and guitar line, the synth taps, I could go on. It’s a dance masterpiece, running through your blood and into your heart.

I’ve always been less of a fan of Jackson’s slower songs, but even those are great here, and he conjures up one of his most memorable melodies in the smooth The Girl is Mine where his vocals work surprisingly well with Paul McCartney’s, while Human Nature is another example of Jones’ knack of accentuating Jackson’s vocals by following them with perfect little guitar jingles, with a skittering, superb synth part that appears twice where most artists would hang an entire song on it.

The mid-album trio of Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean are quite probably the best successive trio of songs on any album ever and Thriller and Billie Jean are undoubtedly two of the greatest pop songs of all time. The former combining gothic and pop in a way that hasn’t really been equalled before or since - those brass stabs, wolf howls, and that groove and narration by Vincent Price creating an atmosphere that’s so brilliant, that despite the fact I’ve hard it countless times, I still whoop whenever it comes on. Billie Jean features what I think is my favourite bass line ever, one which Quincy Jones apparently didn’t like and was only persuaded to use when Jackson told him it ‘made him want to dance’. I guess even the greats are wrong sometimes. The way the song starts with just the drums, before that bass line comes in, those little trumpet hums in the pre-chorus, Jackson’s imperious vocal performance, and that perfect chorus combine to make a song that’ll forever grace a list of my favourites. Hell, I’ve heard it 5,555,423 times, but yet here I am dancing around in my office chair to it, every nerve in my body revitalised. Billie Jean is a freaking beacon of life and energy smashing through your weary flesh.

Oh and I’ve not even mentioned Van Halen’s stupendous solo on Beat It have I? This album is just chock full of brilliance, so apologies if I’ve missed the odd bit.

I can totally understand those who don’t listen to Thriller, but I’m here to review the music rather than its creators, and I don’t think anyone can argue against the fact that this is one of the finest pop albums of all time.

Song Picks: Wanna Be Startin’ Something, Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller

9.5/10

Classical pianist Glenn Gould initially recorded his interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) in 1955, which sold very well for a classical album and very much launched Gould’s career. He re-recorded the variations in 1981 and died a year later in 1982, when this recording was released. Pitchfork have written an excellent comparison between the two here, but as this is an article about 1982 I’ll be focusing on the latter recording, which had sold over 2 million copies by the year 2000.

As Wikipedia states, Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) “is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.”

I’ve always enjoyed listening to solo piano performances - Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert is one of my favourite live recordings of all time - but this one definitely stands out among the crowd. Gould’s virtuoisic skill eminantes from all 30 variations here, with a confident, sturdy style full of beautiful flurries. This interpretation of the Variations sounds autumnal, you can almost imagine the leaves of trees falling in time with Gould’s intricate key presses. The Goldberg Variations is a truly sumptuous piano recording, it makes for great background listening while working, but it shines when you lie down, close your eyes, and submit yourself to its joyful, hopeful music, where Gould weaves delicate worlds of piano notes seemingly effortlessly. There’s something magical about being completely transfixed by just one instrument, and that’s absolutely the case here. The Goldberg Variations is magic.

10/10

1989 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

1982 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge