UB40, Signing Off, 1980 on Graduate Records. Opens with “Tyler” (about Gary Tyler, sentenced to death at 17 in Louisiana, who served 41 years before being released in…
Slash: The Early Sessions, 1983 on Slash Records. The Blasters, X, Rank and File, Violent Femmes, Fear, The Germs. Great cover art directed by Lou Beach. Via Planet…
Guadalcanal Diary, Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man, 1984 on DB records. My copy is the 1985 repressing on Elektra. Murray Attaway, Jeff Wallls (who passed…
The Young Snakes, Bark Along With The Young Snakes, 1982 on Ambiguous Records. Aimee Mann , Douglas Vargas, and Michael Evans. Extra credit for a pre-internet cat meme…
Mutant Pop 78/79 on PVC Records, 1980 Mekons, Scars, Human League, 2.3, The Flowers, Gang of Four. Collected singles from the Fast Product imprint out of Edinburgh
What’s New (1983), Lush Life (1984), and For Sentimental Reasons (1986) A great trio of platinum albums by Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra on Asylum/Warner Bros….
Paul Young, No Parlez, 1983 on Columbia. My copy is a Canadian pressing. Debut studio album including covers of “Love Will Tear Us Apart Again” (Joy Division) and…
Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry,, Temptation, 1989 on Situation Two.( SIT 60T) Another Leeds UK export Situation Two was one of the sub labels of Beggars Banquet in the…
The Eurythmics, Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four), 1984 on RCA. The Eurythmics made a soundtrack for Virgin Records for the film version of Orwell’s 1984 by Michael Radford, not knowing…
Sting, Nothing Like The Sun, 1987 While Sting has fallen out of fashion in some hip circles (duet album with Shaggy for example) I love every second of…
The March Violets, Natural History, 1984 on Rebirth Rebirth was a label formed by the band. Includes “Religious as Hell” which was their first single in 1982 on…
Forever Young, Alphaville, 1984 on WEA. Venezuelan pressing I found atDaddy Kool Records in St. Petersburg Debut album rushed out based on the success of “Big In Japan”
The March Violets, Electric Shades, 1985 on Relativity Tom Ashton, Cleo Murray, Loz Elliott, Simon Denbigh – great 80s goth out of Leeds UK Via Academy Records
The Smithereens, Green Thoughts, 1988 on Capitol. While the debut album was “Especially For You,” the track by that name is on this sophomore release, along with “Only…
Soft Cell, Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go, 1981 on Sire. Combined cover of Gloria Jones and The Supremes, by the inimitable Marc Almond and David…
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, If You Leave (extended version), 1986 on A&M. Another song that was on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack – clearly John Hughes films…