Tag: 1984
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Ella Fitzgerald, The Harold Arlen Songbook, (originally) 1961 on Verve
I miss this trend from the 50s and 60s where great singers like Ella (as well as folks like Oscar Peterson) did “song books” of great composers. My copy of this one, with Ella doing the songs of Harold Arlen, is an 80s reissue of what originally came out in 1961, with 2 additional tracks…
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David Bowie, Tonight, 1984 on EMI America
Bowie’s follow up to Let’s Dance, produced by Bowie with Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham, with many of the same musicians, but also with contributions by Iggy Pop and a guest appearance from Tina Turner. A couple of covers on the album: The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” and “I Keep Forgettin’” which is a…
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Irma Thomas, Down at Muscle Shoals, 1984 on Chess
Thomas recorded for Chess in the late sixties, and made this recording at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals in 1967, but the album was not released until 1984 (in Japan). It’s very hard to find in the Japanese vinyl, though it was reissued on CD in 1991. There are no credits for musicians, though…
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Various Artists, Footloose: Original Soundtrack of the Paramount Motion Picture, 1984 on Columbia
So in 1984 I’d have thought myself too cool for the Footloose soundtrack: Kenny Logins and Deniece Williams? But I also would have secretly loved it (as I do now unashamedly): the title track, Let’s Hear It For The Boy, Holding Out For A Hero, Dancing In The Sheets, and Almost Paradise. My copy via…
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R.E.M., reckoning, 1984 on IRS
R.E.M.’s second full length LP (following Murmur – Chronic Town was just an EP) and the best album titled Reckoning to come out in the 80s (the second best being the Grateful Dead’s acoustic Reckoning). To be fair there isn’t really an R.E.M. album I don’t love, but this is one of my favorites –…
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Billy Bragg, Brewing Up With Billy Bragg, 1984 on CD Presents
Billy Bragg’s sophomore full length, subtitled “a puckish satire on contemporary mores.” This was released on Go! Discs in the UK but David Ferguson‘s CD Presents in the US. CD Presents started as a promotions company organizing West Coast shows for PiL. My copy, which I found at Academy Records in New York, includes a…
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Let’s Active, Cypress, 1984 on IRS Records
Mitch Easter, Faye Hunter, and Sara Romweber’s debut full-length as Let’s Active, following after the Afoot EP. My copy is UK pressing – “A & M Records Ltd are the exclusive licensees for the UK. Made in England” on the label – but still has the IRS logo. Hunter and Romweber would both move on…
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Bob Marley & The Wailers, Legend (The Best Of Bob Marley & The Wailers), 1984 on Island Records.
This was required listening and a mandatory part of any healthy CD collecting heading into college in the 80s. It didn’t matter what musical subculture you came from, this was the lingua franca. I went on to many other Marley albums and deeper knowledge of Reggae and Caribbean music, but this was the one everyone…
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Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense, 1984 on Sire
It’s hard to overstate how critical this album and movie were – the impact on live music films, the impact on shows themselves (in staging and effects) and just the music itself. I recall it running for a very long time at the Uptown movie theater in Minneapolis – alternating Friday and Saturday nights with…
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Ball and Pivot, Ball and Pivot EP, 1984 on Z Club Records
Ball and Pivot were a self-described “glam-rock” band in the early 80s in Boston, featuring Tom Hauck, B Wilkinson, and Paul Caruso (all of whom had also played in The Atlantics). I picked up this record on the basis of that description and the cover at Island Records on Martha’s Vineyard. You can find more…
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Go-Gos, Talk Show, 1984 on I.R.S. Records
Third and final LP of their glorious 80s run, with Head Over Heels and Turn To You. Found my copy at a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell.
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The Cure, The Top, 1984 on Sire / Fiction.
The Cure, The Top, 1984 on Sire / Fiction. US version on Sire label. Hard core devotee of 80s Cure. No longer have the hair for the full on goth look but it is still in my heart. Via Mill No 5 record fair
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The Waterboys, The Waterboys (Mini LP), 1984 on Island.
The Waterboys, The Waterboys (Mini LP), 1984 on Island. The self-titled EP, which followed the self-titled debut in much of the world but preceded it in the US, Back when releases were more likely to be limited to geography. Both are “must have” in either sequence.
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Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth, 1984 on Capitol.
Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth, 1984 on Capitol. Dolny’s second full length, with Hyperactive, Dissidents, I Scare Myself.
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Tina Turner, Private Dancer, 1984 on Capitol.
Tina Turner, Private Dancer, 1984 on Capitol. Title track written by Mark Knopfler, 1984 by David Bowie. Hugely important album in her career reboot – technically her fifth solo album but this was thr big breakthrough. Definitely how I came to know her before digging into the backstory
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Various Artists, Street Beats, 1984 on Sugar Hill Records.
Various Artists, Street Beats, 1984 on Sugar Hill Records. There are many versions of this comp – some 1LP as Vol 1 or Vol 2, some called Street Beat, etc. Great compilation of early eighties hip-hop: Grandmaster Flash, Sugar Hill Gang, Cash Crew, Kevin Kev. Get out your parachute pants and cardboard – time to…
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The Scorpion, The Plain Truth, 1984 on Trex / West Indies Records.
The Scorpion, The Plain Truth, 1984 on Trex / West Indies Records. Love this 12″ soca style calypso single from Barbados that I acquired as part of an Everything But The House lot
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The Psychedelic Furs, Mirror Moves, 1984 on Columbia/CBS.
The Psychedelic Furs, Mirror Moves, 1984 on Columbia/CBS. This was the fourth LP from the Butler brothers and company – The Ghost In You, Heaven, Heartbeat. They’re out touring now – coming to the Cabot in Beverly in mid-November (sold out). Via The Record Exchange in Salem MA