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Post by riggers on May 17, 2023 12:12:07 GMT
1987 Sorry, bit late with this one... Dinosaur Jr.-"Raisans"
The album, 'You're Living All Over Me' snuck out in December, so I didn't hear it till the following year, but never the less, this lot were bubbling under in the music press. I remember seeing a live review, with a pic of J. Mascis wielding his Jazzmaster, in front of a wall of Marshalls, his face obscured by hair. The opening quote was something like "It's 1969 ok, kick out the jams, motherfuckers!", so straight away, I knew this lot were for me.
When I got hold of the album, I was instantly floored by the wall of wah-wah that opens 'Little Fury Things' and it just got better from there. This track encapsulates everything that was great about them, a well written and structured melodic song, with odd little diversions, like the section from 1.50 to 2.12 "You're killing me..etc..", then that heroic solo comes screaming in at 2.35... I'd spent a lot of the mid 80's adapting my guitar style, having learned to play while immersed in 60's and early 70's rock, but then having discovered 'alternative' music, I'd tried to incorporate the likes of The Edge, John McGeogh, and Keith Levine into my technique, but it felt a bit forced. This album totally liberated me. Within weeks of hearing this, I owned a wah-wah pedal and was unashamedly rocking out again.
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Post by riggers on May 17, 2023 12:39:47 GMT
1988 My Bloody Valentine-"You Made Me Realise"
In 1988, I'd been living with my Dad for about a year, having been chucked out by my Mum. He'd just come out of a relationship and as well as having to sort out his own life as a single 40 something, he now also had to be responsible for a scruffy, 20 year old, dole scum, layabout musician...We had a flat together for a couple of years until he met the woman he's still married to and I had to move on.. I've actually got great memories of this time, he was so laid back compared to my Mum. On many an occasion, I'd be just getting home as he was getting up for work. The worst reaction was him rolling his eyes a bit and telling me to get some sleep. It was round about this time that ITV started 24 hour broadcasting and their night time schedules were full of all sorts of curios, including on I think, Thursday morning from about 3 until 4 am, a show called Transmission, which showed indie music videos, interviews etc.. This was a big deal at the time. I used to set my alarm for 3 and get up for an hour, in order to be able to 'tape' any interesting videos onto VHS. I'm sure many of you out there had similar compilation videos from a pre-digital, pre-MTV (well, pre MTV being widely available and actually showing music videos) age. The House Of Love were big news at the time, one of Alan McGee's latest Creation signings and they were being eulogised by the music press, Peel etc.. and while I thought they were pretty good, they didn't really move me. I then heard MBV being mentioned and I think I saw a photo of them. They sounded more like my kinda thing. Well, when this video was shown on the aforementioned indie show, I was almost bouncing in my chair, it was all I could do not to whack the volume right up, but my old man was sleeping in the next room, so I had to contain my excitement until the next morning, when he'd gone to work and I was able to crank up my video recording of it. It's still a remarkable record, I love the 60's style harmonies in the verses, Colm O' Ciosoig's Moon like drumming (described in the music press at the time as sounding like someone throwing a drum kit down a flight of stairs) and of course, that middle section... Sonic Youth had done this kind of thing before, but MBV took it further, as I found out when I saw them supporting the Pixies later that year. I couldn't take my eyes off Colm, he really did play like Moonie, but everything fitted. When they got to 'The Apocalypse' as that middle section became known, I had to cover my ears, but it felt like the whole room levitated. A remarkable experience.
A fabulous and ground breaking record.
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Post by DarknessFish on May 17, 2023 14:53:59 GMT
1988
Sabbat - A Cautionary Tale
Well, there's been a definite absence of metal so far, so I'm going back to my 13 year old self, since Chuck D's been taken already. At this point in time I was pretty much moving away from Level 42 and the Pet Shop Boys (though "Heart" is a definite contender for this year), and largely becoming obsessed with Metallica. But this is something a bit different, and at the time it seemed astonishingly so, from the debut album of one of the big 4 of British thrash. Guitarist Andy Sneap has since gone on to be one of the dominant producers in metal, and provides a proper buzzsaw frenetic attack here. I find it strange that they're never really associated with black metal in any way; they were obviously influenced by first-wavers such as Venom, the guitar has that cut n' slice about it, and Martin Walkyier's interest in paganism as a belief system rather than a gimmick was clearly influential lyrically. Vocally, he's a rapid fire scratch of voice, spitting out an abridged version of Goethe's Dr Faustus with a frenzied dexterity.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on May 17, 2023 15:01:55 GMT
1988
Not the greatest year, let's face it but in terms of really exciting records that actually define the period I don't think you can overlook hip hop which is really in the ascendancy and basically kicking everybody else's arse at this point. And in terms of albums released in 1988 there isn't a greater one or a BIGGER one than It Takes A Nation Of Millions.... Talk about a statement of intent. A generational call to arms.
Having said that, I have slightly mixed feelings about Public Enemy these days, at least lyrically, as I find them a bit adolescent and conspiratorial but they still thrill me musically and Chuck D's voice still sounds like the voice of God coming through a ghettoblaster. Listening to Bring The Noise now I'm struck by how raw, uncompromising and radical it all sounds. You can tell the sampling technology is still pretty basic at this stage and it's nothing like the dense melange of sampledelic sounds they'd produce on Fear of a Black Planet but taken on its own and compared with their peers there is something quite brutal, atonal and occasionally downright weird about this music that still makes it stand out regardless of its influence. They had a real ear for arrangements, a musicality that many of their peers simply didn't imo plus the fucking thing still sounds phenomenally exciting! Listen to the breakdown at 2.45 for example or that classic PE sound around 3.00 that resembles a police siren etc. It's full of little moments like that. It really does sound like the product of some kind of urban nightmare, drenched in sticky New York summer sweat, powered by paranoia and rage and designed to be played at maximum volume for full room shaking effect. I mean they called it a "brand new funk" right? And I think they really did it.
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Post by DarknessFish on May 17, 2023 15:22:28 GMT
1988Not the greatest year, let's face it but in terms of really exciting records that actually define the period I don't think you can overlook hip hop which is really in the ascendancy and basically kicking everybody else's arse at this point. And in terms of albums released in 1988 there isn't a greater one or a BIGGER one than It Takes A Nation Of Millions.... Talk about a statement of intent. A generational call to arms. Having said that, I have slightly mixed feelings about Public Enemy these days, at least lyrically, as I find them a bit adolescent and conspiratorial but they still thrill me musically and Chuck D's voice still sounds like the voice of God coming through a ghettoblaster. Listening to Bring The Noise now I'm struck by how raw, uncompromising and radical it all sounds. You can tell the sampling technology is still pretty basic at this stage and it's nothing like the dense melange of sampledelic sounds they'd produce on Fear of a Black Planet but taken on its own and compared with their peers there is something quite brutal, atonal and occasionally downright weird about this music that still makes it stand out regardless of its influence. They had a real ear for arrangements, a musicality that many of their peers simply didn't imo plus the fucking thing still sounds phenomenally exciting! Listen to the breakdown at 2.45 for example or that classic PE sound around 3.00 that resembles a police siren etc. It's full of little moments like that. It really does sound like the product of some kind of urban nightmare, drenched in sticky New York summer sweat, powered by paranoia and rage and designed to be played at maximum volume for full room shaking effect. I mean they called it a "brand new funk" right? And I think they really did it. Fearlessfreap beat you to the same track choice. Might've been mine, too.
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Post by riggers on May 17, 2023 15:29:22 GMT
Fearlessfreap beat you to the same track choice. Might've been mine, too. Mine too.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on May 17, 2023 16:15:12 GMT
Oh well. Scrap that.
1988
I'll go with this one instead.
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Post by osgood on May 17, 2023 17:02:49 GMT
Davey and Riggers have helped to clear the path for me. I was considering someything from that Lenny album (Manhattan or I Can't Forget would have been my picks, but no complains) and also Freak Scene, but two Dinosaur Jr tracks might be one too many. So I'll go with
1988
Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick
Definitely deserves a place in the canon.
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Post by oh oooh on May 17, 2023 17:06:33 GMT
Jesus - what's WRONG with everybody?!?! (Liza Minelli my arse! ) 1988
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Post by fonz on May 18, 2023 6:07:08 GMT
1988
Maiden
Another Preludin favourite
Epic song. The guitar work from 7:40 onwards is stunning. The last 30 seconds is some of my favourite music of all time.
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Post by DayoRemix on May 18, 2023 7:39:33 GMT
"Video Unavailable" by Iron Maiden is the best song of the year..
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Post by Stacy Heydon on May 18, 2023 7:51:45 GMT
"Video Unavailable" by Iron Maiden is the best song of the year.. It's "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"
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Post by DarknessFish on May 18, 2023 10:17:42 GMT
1988 Maiden Another Preludin favourite Epic song. The guitar work from 7:40 onwards is stunning. The last 30 seconds is some of my favourite music of all time. That album was just about as far as I got with Maiden. First gig I ever went to was on their 1990 tour, and I have at least one single from then, the pic disc of Holy Smoke. But my interest in non-extreme metal was already waning. I find it really strange that as a 15 year old I saw a band I considered pretty old, probably on their last legs. Thirty-odd years later, the buggers are still going.
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fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,558
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Post by fange on May 18, 2023 10:35:22 GMT
1988: Pet Shop Boys - Heart
I didn't go for anything by the Boys so far, but love this one absolutely. Like all their best stuff, a great dance floor rhythm and melodic as fuck.
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toomanyhatz
god
I've met him/her. He/she's great!!
Posts: 3,243
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Post by toomanyhatz on May 18, 2023 19:15:23 GMT
Now that Public Enemy has been covered, I give you (inevitably) my 1988:
The least likely pop stars ever, there was understandable suspicion when the hippest producer of the moment was slated to produce, but it remains my favorite album of theirs by a longshot. I think Lillywhite knew what to clean up and what to leave be very well. But first and foremost, it's the songs.
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