November 30, 2018

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Noise Rock
Label Number: 7 75403-2
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☠: Selected by Lass
© 1988 Enigma Records
AllMusic Review by Mark Deming
Sonic Youth made a major step forward with 1987's Sister, their first album where the songs were as strong as the group's visionary approach and they rocked with the force and authority they'd clearly sought since the beginning. If 1988's Daydream Nation didn't make as decisive a leap in terms of theory or style, as far as execution was concerned, it was Sonic Youth's first unqualified masterpiece, a triumph that made them one of the most respected bands in indie rock. Initially released as a two-LP set, the sheer scope of Daydream Nation was ambitious, but the longer tracks worked to Sonic Youth's advantage, allowing them the space to lay down solid melodic structures and then use them as a framework for extended jams (thankfully, the band made splendid use of their wanderlust without wearing out their welcome). Sonic Youth were playing at the top of their game on the Daydream Nation sessions; the guitar interplay between Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo was stronger and more intuitive than before, and bassist Kim Gordon and drummer Steve Shelley had grown into a powerful rhythm section that cut an impressive groove, giving the band a greater freedom to explore the space around them without getting lost. Sonic Youth were not simply tighter on Daydream Nation, they were making better and more satisfying use of their arsenal of alternate tunings and bent but elemental song structures, and the final product fused their love of creatively applied noise and the sound of the electric guitar with song structures that merged elements of punk, prog, boogie, and psychedelia. The journey from the trippy joy of "Teenage Riot" to the hot-rodded choogle of "Eliminator Jr." was a bracing, glorious experience, and Daydream Nation confirmed their status as one of America's best and most original alternative rock bands, and one that had a shot at a future outside the underground -- a pleasant surprise given the alienating air of their earliest work.

tags: sonic youth, daydream nation, day dream, 1988, flac,

Atrophy - Violent By Nature (1990) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Thrash Metal
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☠: Selected by Buccaneer
© 1990 R/C Records
AllMusic Review by Eduardo Rivadavia
Its wacky-silly cover artwork (featuring some kind in a skull-mask) doesn't help matters, but Arizona thrashers Atrophy actually took a tentative step forward with their second album, 1990s Violent by Nature, which showed greater diversity and a more refined sense of musicianship, while sacrificing just a tad of their debut's raucous aggression. Unfortunately, these improvements were not nearly enough to help the quintet distinguish themselves from the hundreds of thrash metal outfits bubbling just under the surface of what had become a fatally crowded pond. Especially given Atrophy's demanding brand of technical thrash, which tended to suffocate listeners with its airtight arrangements and tuneless walls of riffs (think Bay Area bruisers like Vio-Lence and Forbidden, or even Anthrax's incomparably overwrought Persistence of Time album) -- not to mention often humorless, socio-political diatribes which ensured that even amusingly named opener "Puppies and Friends" would discuss the horrors of lab-animal testing. Also, like many other failed thrash bands of the late '80s, Atrophy rarely met a catchy chorus they could relate to (the title track being one moderate exception), and seemed to harbor an almost pathological aversion to melodies. Not surprisingly, though, it was usually when they took the plunge with the melodic intros and solos in "Too Late to Change," "Process of Elimination" and "Things Change," that their songs made the most lasting impression. Hardly enough of an impression to salvage their non-career, however, and this proceeded to fizzle for good immediately following this album's release.

tags: atrophy, violent by nature, 1990, flac,

Ciccone Youth - The Whitey Album (1988)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Noise Rock
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© 1988 Enigma/Blast First
AllMusic Review by Bradley Torreano
On its initial release, The Whitey Album was treated like a collaboration between Minutemen bass virtuoso Mike Watt and punk rock revolutionaries Sonic Youth. This would have been a perfect match, with two enormous talents coming together for an entire album. But in reality it is far stranger than that: a highly experimental tribute to Madonna performed by Sonic Youth with the exception of one song that is entirely played by Mike Watt without any other musicians accompanying him. The DGC re-release features a cleaner sound and the original packaging from the 1988 SST version, along with liner notes written by Watt explaining his small role in the project. His song, a cover of Madonna's "Burnin' Up," is a smooth, groovy home recording that showcases his rich voice. Sonic Youth takes a shot at "Into the Groove" (renamed "Into the Groovey") and manages to mold a fantastic dirge out of the original. Thurston Moore's lazy vocals pair up with Madonna's sampled voice seamlessly, and the low-quality production only adds to the homegrown feel. Besides Kim Gordon's karaoke remake of "Addicted to Love," little else on this album resembles a normal song. Edgy noise experiments and heavy sound manipulation make these songs more than interesting, and the emphasis on dance rhythms keeps things from getting too unlistenable. Although the song order is questionable (after the first song there is a minute of silence), this album is incredibly fun and experimental. Although it was only a side project, the intense creativity of this time in Sonic Youth's career spills out all over this album, making it a rare treat for fans.

tags: ciccone youth, the whitey album, 1988, flac,

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising (1985)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Noise Rock
Label Number: BFFP 1 CD
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© 1985-1986 Blast First
AllMusic Review by Jason Birchmeier
An album quite unlike any other in the colorful Sonic Youth canon, Bad Moon Rising captures the New York band in 1985 during its most morose phase, one that is quite forbidding yet fascinating all the same. The proper album is an eight-song tapestry of droning guitar feedback, distant clattering percussion, and dreamy vocal mumblings, all of it woven together by sullen interludes of ambient noise. With the exception of the closing "Death Valley '69," nothing really stands out per se. Each song shares the same late-night shadowy feel as the others, with no outright singalong hooks to be found anywhere; it's just one ambling slab of dark noise rock. "Death Valley '69" then brings it all to a feverish close, driven by runaway guitar riffs and a frantic vocal duet by Thurston Moore and Lydia Lunch. It's a piercing capstone to an otherwise hazy album and is no doubt one of the highlights of Sonic Youth's overall output. Most editions of Bad Moon Rising don't end there, however. DGC's CD-era re-release appends the Flower EP, which fits in rather well. Similarly morose, these few songs are perhaps even more out-there than the Bad Moon Rising ones, especially "Halloween," which is a subtle five minutes of creeping guitar tingles accented beautifully by Kim Gordon's whispery hallucinations. Overall, this music is a definite leap forward from what Sonic Youth had been doing previously on Confusion Is Sex (1983) and Kill Yr. Idols (1983); it plays as one long piece, a work that perhaps reflects the spirit of the time, American gothic through the glassy eyes of willful moonlit paranoia. And as such, it's certainly a step toward EVOL (1986), the band's successive release, which is likewise obsessed with the dark side of America and likewise informed by sweeping waves of ambient guitar noise, but much more song-based and focused than Bad Moon Rising's dreamscape feel.

tags: sonic youth, bad moon rising, 1985, flac,

Sonic Youth - Evol (1986) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Noise Rock
Label Number: SST-CD-059
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☠: Selected by Lass
© 1986 SST Records
AllMusic Review by Fred Thomas
By 1986, a still relatively recently formed Sonic Youth was in a time of transition. Born out of the noise of New York's thriving-in-ugliness no wave scene and ensconced in the influence of Glenn Branca's avant-garde guitar experimentalism, the band's early albums slowly morphed from the snotty abrasive clatter of its self-titled EP and spotty first proper LP Confusion Is Sex into a far darker but still somewhat inconsistent merging of haunted song sketches and foreboding noisy atmospheres on second album Bad Moon Rising. EVOL found the band in a similarly eerie mindset, but this time the dark dreaminess of songs like "Tom Violence," the tense instrumental "Death to Our Friends," and the gorgeously restrained "Shadow of a Doubt" are snapped into lockstep clarity by Steve Shelley's precise, tom-heavy drumming. Shelley, still a fresh-faced Michigan transplant to N.Y.C., joined the band on EVOL, replacing ex-Pussy Galore drummer Bob Bert, whose trash can percussion added some of the roughness to earlier Sonic Youth albums. While EVOL is still an album steeped in the noise and collage aesthetic the band grew from (most notable in the tape experiments, unexpected screams, and mesh of feedback and car-race sound effects of Lee Ranaldo's spoken word contribution "In the Kingdom #19" and the ghostly music-box loop and Kim Gordon's slithering vocals on "Secret Girls"), the songs here also represent the band's first flirtations with pop. Though gift-wrapped in jagged guitar tones and airy alternate tunings, songs like "Green Light," "Star Power," and the hypnotic bliss-out of album closer "Expressway to Yr. Skull" are built on cores of reaching melodicism and a tunefulness that borders at times on sounding playful. The addition of Shelley's propulsive drumming gave much-needed punctuation to the band's previously murky approach and connected some of the amorphous Halloween-themed textures the band was immersed in at the time to more deliberate, even traditional song structures. This affection for big, dumb, simplistic pop is driven home by their cover of Kim Fowley's unabashedly sleazy rocker "Bubblegum," included as a bonus track on early non-LP versions of the album. A product of a band finding its way between worlds, EVOL is a remarkably strong effort, and sets the stage for crystallizing ideas that would soon result in what many considered the band's finest work.

tags: sonic youth, evol, 1986, flac,

Sonic Youth - Sister (1987) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Noise Rock
Label Number: DGCD-24514
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☠: Selected by Lass
© 1987-1994 DGC Records
AllMusic Review by Mark Deming
The blunt, chaotic sound of Sonic Youth's visionary but difficult early work had begun to give way to a more coherent and song-oriented attack on 1986's EVOL, and with 1987's Sister, Sonic Youth revealed that they were a great rock band as well as a great art band. From the shifting dynamics and disquieting mood of the opening track "Schizophrenia" to the ferocious coda of "White Cross," Sister was the work of a band that had grown impressively stronger and more unified in the 12 months since their previous long-player. The sheets of sound that issued from Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo's re-tuned and modified guitars were still the core of their sound, but Sonic Youth's songcraft was steadily improving as they made better and more effective use of their aural palette and created a melodic context that helped their noisy report make greater dramatic sense. After going through a handful of drummers, Steve Shelley finally gave Sonic Youth the combination of chops, imagination, and force that they needed behind the kit, and while he certainly improved EVOL (his debut with the group), it was Sister where he truly make his mark: the steady pulse and rhythmic shadings of "Catholic Block," "Stereo Sanctity," and "Tuff Gnarl" helped firm up the tunes and added some discipline to Moore and Renaldo's exploratory guitar work that, remarkably, made their twisted instrumental figures more impressive and no less distinctive. And the warmth and clarity of Bill Titus' all-analog engineering made the guitars (and Kim Gordon's bass) sound as glorious as they always deserved; while Sonic Youth had been a band with great ideas from the start, Sister was where the execution finally caught up with the concept, and it was their first truly great album.

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Killing Joke - Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (1986) ☠

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: EGCD 66
☠: Selected by Lass
© 1980-1986 EG Records Ltd.
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
The end of the '80s wreaked havoc on all too many bands that started off strongly and, while Killing Joke hadn't quite reached its nadir (that would happen with the appalling Outside the Gate), Brighter Than a Thousand Suns was a definite transformation from the days of "The Wait" and "Complications." The unexpected success of Night Time and new commercial pressures clearly came to bear -- Chris Kimsey's production, effective on that earlier album, here combined with Julian Mendelsohn's mixing to result in too often blanded-out album rock throwaways, perfect for blasting on highways and little else. Still, the band hadn't changed any from Night Time, and even that lineup was three-quarters of the original incarnation of the group. The emphasis still focused clearly on volume and strong, full-bodied playing -- Geordie Walker, Paul Ferguson, and Paul Raven don't sound like they're holding back at all even if their individual performances are less on the edge. Jaz Coleman's newfound way around inspiring singing, meanwhile, pays off in dividends; though it's impossible to square the results here with his earlier hectoring and cutting rage, the warm, sweet passion that he brings to bear often transforms an OK track into a great one. "Adorations," the killer opening track and easily the album standout, is a perfect example of how this era of the group could make it all connect, Coleman's beautiful performance on the chorus and the overall ensemble effort making it the best anthem neither U2 nor Simple Minds ever wrote. But the stiff, mechanical beats on the immediately following "Sanity" -- a ridiculous substitution of Ferguson's undisputed abilities -- sets the tone for the remainder of Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, an effort ultimately dialed in rather than performed. The sound-alike quality of nearly all the songs -- especially ironic considering the accomplished genre-hopping on the earliest records -- renders Killing Joke its own unfortunate parody in the end.

tags: killing joke, brighter than a thousand suns, 1986, flac,

Killing Joke - Pandemonium (1996)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Industrial Rock
Label Number: 72445-11085-2

© 1996 Zoo Entertainment
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
After the band's lengthiest hiatus since it was founded, Killing Joke returned in 1994 with a new/old lineup and an interesting enough new album. Raven, the group's bassist since the Night Time days, was replaced by original bassist Youth, who produced the album and released it on his label. Compared to the newfound intensity of Extremities, Pandemonium partially steps away from the neo-industrial/thrash of that effort for a more varied, often quite surprising experience. With no one drummer replacing Atkins, the threesome works with a number of performers, Coleman in particular bringing in some of the Egyptian musicians whom he has worked with on a variety of projects, including his collaborative work with Anne Dudley. Noted percussionist Hossam Ramzy takes a key role, replacing the frenetic fire of Ferguson's work with a subtler, more textured approach, while Aboud Abdel's violin further gives Pandemonium a haunting edge, aiming to some extent at recreating the epic, mysterious stomp of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" for a newer day. Elsewhere, the straight-ahead rampage of "Exorcism" and "Whiteout" show that Killing Joke hasn't forgotten the power of sheer intensity, and if Ferguson's sheer power and inventiveness is missed the most here, the results are still a thrilling, fierce listen. The core Coleman/Geordie partnership remains strong, the latter at points holding back on his more scalpel-sharp approach for a thicker, overdubbed flow, sometimes -- as on "Jana" -- finding a friendly, open style that revisits the radio-friendly AOR days of the band without actually sucking. In turn, Coleman slides between his declamatory persona and the closer, more controlled style of later efforts; the combination -- as on the striking, massive wallop of "Communion" -- can be incredible, the contrast between the verses and searing choruses proving captivating.

tags: killing joke, pandemonium, 1996, flac,

November 29, 2018

Adam & The Ants - Kings of The Wild Frontier (1980)

*Reissued by CBS Records with on unknown date. 
This is a repress of the original 1980 LP release. 
Contains 13 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: EK 37033

© 1980 CBS Records Inc.
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Hooking up with Malcolm McLaren was a pivotal moment for Adam Ant, since the manager not only introduced Ant to the thundering, infectious Burundi drum beat that became his signature, he stole his band, too. Adam and the rest of the Ants had just worked up how to exploit the Burundi style when McLaren pirated the boys off to support Annabella Lwin in Bow Wow Wow -- using the very same sound they had developed with Adam Ant. It was now a race to get that sound into the stores first, and Adam lucked out when he joined forces with guitarist Marco Pirroni, who quickly proved to be invaluable. Ant and Pirroni knocked out a bunch of songs that retained some of the dark artiness of Dirk Wears White Sox, largely anchored by those enormous Burundi beats and given great, irresistible pop hooks -- plus a flash sense of style, as the new Ants dressed up in something that looked like American Indians with a velveteen touch of a dandy fop. It was a brilliant, gonzo move -- something that quickly overshadowed Bow Wow Wow -- and the resulting record, Kings of the Wild Frontier, is one of the great defining albums of its time. There's simply nothing else like it, nothing else that has the same bravado, the same swagger, the same gleeful self-aggrandizement and sense of camp. This walked a brilliant line between campiness and art-house chutzpah, and it arrived at precisely the right time -- at the forefront of new wave, so Adam & the Ants exploded into the British popular consciousness. If image was all that they had, they would've remained a fad, but Kings of the Wild Frontier remains a terrific album because it not only has some tremendous songs -- the title track and "Antmusic" are classic hits, while "Killer in the Home" and "Physical (You're So)" are every bit their equal -- but because it fearlessly, imperceptibly switches gears between giddy and ominous, providing nothing short of a thrill ride in its 13 songs. That's why it still sounds like nothing else years after its release.

tags: adam and the ants, kings of the wild frontier, 1980, flac,

November 28, 2018

New Order - Movement (1981) ☠

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: FACTUS 50 CD
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☠: Selected by Lass
© 1981-1987 Factory (US)
AllMusic Review by John Bush
Movement is the first hesitant step in the transition from Joy Division to New Order. Despite a relatively assured debut single ("Ceremony," which didn't even appear on the album), the first New Order album revealed a band apparently caught up in mourning for its former lead singer. (But of course, themes of loss and isolation were hardly novel for them.) Movement encompassed songs written just after the suicide of Ian Curtis, and it was recorded with alternating vocal spots to see whose would fit best -- although neither Peter Hook nor Bernard Sumner sounded worthy of the mantle. (At times, their hesitancy makes it sound as if they were recording guide vocals for a Joy Division LP, expecting Ian Curtis to come in later.) Despite the band's opaque lyrics, critics and fans were spotting references to Curtis all over the record, with despair and confusion reigning especially on "Senses" ("No reason ever was given") and "ICB" ("It's so far away, and it's closing in"). More so than on any Joy Division record, it also revealed a group unafraid to experiment relentlessly in the studio until it had emerged with something unique. Spurred on by producer Martin Hannett, despite his antagonistic relationship with the band (and perhaps, because of it), New Order produced a ghostly, brittle record, occasionally uptempo but never upbeat, with drum machines rattling and echoing over dark waves of synthesizers and Hook's basswork. A masterpiece in the career of any other post-punk band, Movement only paled in comparison to the band's later work.

tags: new order, movement, 1981, flac,

New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave, Synth Pop
Label Number:
FACD SEVENTY FIVE
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© 1983-1986 Factory
AllMusic Review by John Bush
A great leap forward from their funereal debut album, Power, Corruption & Lies cemented New Order's place as the most exciting dance-rock hybrid in music (and it didn't even include the massive "Blue Monday" single, released earlier that year). Confident and invigorating where Movement had sounded disconsolate and lost, the record simply pops with energy from the beginning "Age of Consent," an alternative pop song with only a smattering of synthesizers overlaying an assured Bernard Sumner, who took his best vocal turn yet. Unlike the hordes of synth pop acts then active, New Order experimented heavily with their synthesizers and sequencers. What's more, while most synth pop acts kept an eye on the charts when writing and recording, if New Order were looking anywhere (aside from within), it was the clubs -- "The Village" and "586" had most of the technological firepower of the mighty "Blue Monday." But whenever the electronics threatened to take over, Peter Hook's grubby basslines, Bernard Sumner's plaintive vocals, and Stephen Morris' point-perfect drum fills reintroduced the human element. Granted, they still had the will for moodiness; the second track was "We All Stand," over five minutes of dubbed-out melancholia. Aside from all the bright dance music and production on display, Power, Corruption & Lies also portrayed New Order's growing penchant for beauty: "Your Silent Face" is a sublime piece of electronic balladry.

tags: new order, power corruption and lies, 1983, flac,

November 27, 2018

Cigarettes After Sex - Cigarettes After Sex (2017)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Dream Pop
Label Number: PTKF2146-2

© 2017 Partisan Records
AllMusic Review by Bekki Bemrose
After a slow start, Cigarettes After Sex saw their fortunes swiftly reversed by a whirlwind of YouTube hits. Although they formed in 2008, CAS waited nearly a decade to release their debut record, and rather fittingly it unfolds at a lethargic pace. The music that Greg Gonzales and his fellow bandmates produce is slowcore in the extreme. The shimmering guitars, placid percussion, and wistfully delivered vocals also reveal their debt to dream pop and shoegaze. More than anything, early supporters of the band have praised Gonzales' unashamed sentimentality and dyed-in-the-wool romanticism. You don't have to venture beyond the opening track to experience his hazy passion. "K." recalls the early days of an affair with all the desperate adoration that engenders: "Holding you until you fall asleep/And it's just as good as I knew it would be/Stay with me/I don't want you to leave." The band often captures the nebulous nature of the beginning of a relationship through a dizzying, hypnotic mix of lightly administered instrumentation and Gonzales' deeply intimate vocal. Nevertheless, the record can miss the mark sometimes when the lyrics become dangerously prosaic, as on "Sweet": "It's so sweet knowing that you love me." Overall though, saccharine flashes are swallowed up by a morbid air that pervades the album. "Apocalypse" unfolds against an imagined catastrophic backdrop, while Gonzales sings of the disaster as if he's just awakened: "You leapt from crumbling bridges watching cityscapes turn to dust/Filming helicopters crashing in the ocean from way above." His restless pursuit of a lover in this sleepy gothic tale is claustrophobically intimate; his persistence feels like he's picking at a scab: "Kisses on the foreheads of the lovers wrapped in your arms/You've been hiding them in hollowed-out pianos left in the dark." Any connection to the joys of burgeoning romance is swiftly stripped of its dreamy naïveté by "Each Time You Fall in Love." It quite brutally dispels the myth of true love, describing it as "clearly not enough" and further arguing that "It isn't safe." In some respects, the twist from optimism to cynicism about matters of the heart is honest and bracing, but Gonzales' blame-and-shame tactic also wears thin: "And each time you kiss a girl you never know what it's worth/You say all of the words they wanna hear/It isn't real." Women are often painted as untrustworthy and duplicitous ("She took you for a ride in summer baby/Lost all your money to her"), making the record's loyalty to noir styles and conventions a little tiresome. Equally, the so-called romanticism of CAS' music can seem a little creepy at times. It's hard to know what to make of "Young & Dumb"'s refrain: "Well I know full well that you are the patron saint of sucking cock/Señorita you're a cheater, well so am I/You wanna go where the girls are young and dumb, and hot as fuck." Overall, chronically anti-romantic moments are eclipsed by sweet, somnambulant melodies that may not quicken the pulse but often hypnotize nevertheless.

tags: cigarettes after sex, cigarettes after sex album, 2017, flac,

November 26, 2018

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Liverpool (1986)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: 7 90546-2

© 1986 ZTT/Island Records
AllMusic Review by Alex S. Garcia
Frankie Goes to Hollywood's first double album was a huge hit. Their second offering also met with some success, although it is not as well remembered. And yet, on many accounts, Liverpool can be considered as an improvement over its predecessor. For one thing, the album is shorter, more conventional. While Welcome to the Pleasuredome had some strong material, the length weakened the whole in many places. Here, the band focused on eight tracks and the result is somewhat more convincing. "Warriors of the Wasteland," "Rage Hard," and "Watching the Wildlife" were all minor hits back in 1986, and the other tracks are, for the most part, of the same quality, with perhaps "For Heaven's Sake" standing out as a favorite. Again, Trevor Horn was involved in the production (the band was signed to his famous Zang Tuum Tumb label, so it's no big surprise) -- thus the production is impeccable, as one would expect from a Horn-produced album. Worth a listen if you like the band or have an interest for '80s music -- of which this is not such a bad sample.

tags: frankie goes to hollywood, liverpool, 1986, flac,

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome (1984)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: 7 90232-2

© 1984 Island Records
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
Strip away all the hype, controversy, and attendant craziness surrounding Frankie -- most of which never reached American shores, though the equally bombastic "Relax" and "Two Tribes" both charted well -- and Welcome to the Pleasuredome holds up as an outrageously over-the-top, bizarre, but fun release. Less well known but worthwhile cuts include by-definition-camp "Krisco Kisses" and "The Only Star in Heaven," while U.K. smash "The Power of Love" is a gloriously insincere but still great hyper-ballad with strings from Anne Dudley. In truth, the album's more a testament to Trevor Horn's production skills than anything else. To help out, he roped in a slew of Ian Dury's backing musicians to provide the music, along with a guest appearance from his fellow Yes veteran Steve Howe on acoustic guitar that probably had prog rock fanatics collapsing in apoplexy. The end result was catchy, consciously modern -- almost to a fault -- arena-level synth rock of the early '80s that holds up just fine today, as much an endlessly listenable product of its times as the Chinn/Chapman string of glam rock hits from the early '70s. Certainly the endless series of pronouncements from a Ronald Reagan impersonator throughout automatically date the album while lending it a giddy extra layer of appeal. Even the series of covers on the album at once make no sense and plenty of it all at once. While Edwin Starr's "War" didn't need redoing, Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" becomes a ridiculously over-the-top explosion that even outrocks the Boss. As the only member of the band actually doing anything the whole time (Paul Rutherford pipes up on backing vocals here and there), Holly Johnson needs to make a mark and does so with appropriately leering passion. He didn't quite turn out to be the new Freddie Mercury, but he makes a much better claim than most, combining a punk sneer with an ear for hyper-dramatic yelps.

tags: frankie goes to hollywood, welcome to the pleasuredome, 1984, flac,

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total. 
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: 9 25840-2

© 1979-1989 Qwest Records
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
It even looks like something classic, beyond its time or place of origin even as it was a clear product of both -- one of Peter Saville's earliest and best designs, a transcription of a signal showing a star going nova, on a black embossed sleeve. If that were all Unknown Pleasures was, it wouldn't be discussed so much, but the ten songs inside, quite simply, are stone-cold landmarks, the whole album a monument to passion, energy, and cathartic despair. The quantum leap from the earliest thrashy singles to Unknown Pleasures can be heard through every note, with Martin Hannett's deservedly famous production -- emphasizing space in the most revelatory way since the dawn of dub -- as much a hallmark as the music itself. Songs fade in behind furtive noises of motion and activity, glass breaks with the force and clarity of doom, minimal keyboard lines add to an air of looming disaster -- something, somehow, seems to wait or lurk beyond the edge of hearing. But even though this is Hannett's album as much as anyone's, the songs and performances are the true key. Bernard Sumner redefined heavy metal sludge as chilling feedback fear and explosive energy, Peter Hook's instantly recognizable bass work at once warm and forbidding, Stephen Morris' drumming smacking through the speakers above all else. Ian Curtis synthesizes and purifies every last impulse, his voice shot through with the desire first and foremost to connect, only connect -- as "Candidate" plaintively states, "I tried to get to you/You treat me like this." Pick any song: the nervous death dance of "She's Lost Control"; the harrowing call for release "New Dawn Fades," all four members in perfect sync; the romance in hell of "Shadowplay"; "Insight" and its nervous drive toward some sort of apocalypse. All visceral, all emotional, all theatrical, all perfect -- one of the best albums ever.

tags: joy division, unknown pleasures, 1979, flac,

Joy Division - Closer (1980)

*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: FACTUS VI CD

© 1980-1987 Factory
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
If Unknown Pleasures was Joy Division at their most obsessively, carefully focused, ten songs yet of a piece, Closer was the sprawl, the chaotic explosion that went every direction at once. Who knows what the next path would have been had Ian Curtis not chosen his end? But steer away from the rereading of his every lyric after that date; treat Closer as what everyone else thought it was at first -- simply the next album -- and Joy Division's power just seems to have grown. Martin Hannett was still producing, but seems to have taken as many chances as the band itself throughout -- differing mixes, differing atmospheres, new twists and turns define the entirety of Closer, songs suddenly returned in chopped-up, crumpled form, ending on hiss and random notes. Opener "Atrocity Exhibition" was arguably the most fractured thing the band had yet recorded, Bernard Sumner's teeth-grinding guitar and Stephen Morris' Can-on-speed drumming making for one heck of a strange start. Keyboards also took the fore more so than ever -- the drowned pianos underpinning Curtis' shadowy moan on "The Eternal," the squirrelly lead synth on the energetic but scared-out-of-its-wits "Isolation," and above all else "Decades," the album ender of album enders. A long slow crawl down and out, Curtis' portrait of lost youth inevitably applied to himself soon after, its sepulchral string-synths are practically a requiem. Songs like "Heart and Soul" and especially the jaw-dropping, wrenching "Twenty Four Hours," as perfect a demonstration of the tension/release or soft/loud approach as will ever be heard, simply intensify the experience. Joy Division were at the height of their powers on Closer, equaling and arguably bettering the astonishing Unknown Pleasures, that's how accomplished the four members were. Rock, however defined, rarely seems and sounds so important, so vital, and so impossible to resist or ignore as here.

tags: joy division, closer, closer album, 1980, flac,

The B-52's - Good Stuff (1992)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Pop Rock, Pop
Label Number: 9 26943-2

© 1992 Reprise Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
"Good Stuff" was a transparent attempt to recapture the good vibes of "Love Shack." It didn't succeed, but it had its own charms, from the friendly beat to Fred Schneider's endearing vocal affectations. It wasn't great, but it did have the distinction of being the best single pulled from Good Stuff. Since it was released in 1992, when singles were released in seemingly endless permutations in both the U.S. and the U.K., "Good Stuff" was available in all sorts of incarnations. In the U.S., it was released as a seven-inch single, with an edit of the title track taking up the A-side and the B given over to "Bad Influence." This same lineup was released as a seven-inch and cassette single in the U.K. In the U.S., it was also released as a 12-inch and CD-5 single featuring "Bad Influence" and three versions of "Good Stuff" -- the "12-inch remix," the "remix edit" and the "Schottische Mix." Minus "Bad Influence," this lineup was replicated for the U.K. 12-inch single, but the same lineup -- plus the original version of "Good Stuff" -- was released as a single in Europe. But that wasn't the end of it by any means. Not counting the American promotional single (a worthless issue for anyone but DJs, containing just the edit and original version of "Good Stuff"), "Good Stuff" was also released in a box set (!) in the U.K., featuring the edited single version of the title track, "Bad Influence" and "Return to Dreamland," plus three badges, a sticker and a postcard. Certainly the kind of item just for collectors.
When all is said and done, the American CD-5 single and 12-inch offers the best value for the money, but the mixes aren't particularly noteworthy, so only budget-minded serious fans will need to seek it out.

tags: the b52s, b-52s, good stuff, 1992, flac,

The B-52's - Funplex (2008)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Pop Rock, Pop
Label Number: 094922873071 B52 28730

© 2008 Astralwerks
AllMusic Review by David Jeffries
After hearing the ultra-sheen producer Steve Osborne smoothed across New Order's 2001 album Get Ready, the B-52s' guitarist and music director Keith Strickland found the sound that would bring his band into 21st century. The ultra-slick, synthesizer and drum machine driven Funplex is the result, and while it doesn't make up for the 16 years since their last full-length, it's a good argument that they should get off the revival concert circuit and get back to the studio more often. On the opening "Pump," singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson prove right away they can still create sweet harmonies, while Fred Schneider displays that he's lost none of his campy spark and still sounds credible when barking out stories of hot mamas cruising the mall while high on diet pills. The track's exciting Stereolab-meets-Duane Eddy construction vindicates Strickland's hunch about Osborne, whose half-new wave, half-MP3 age production is a great match throughout. The band's shimmy and shake performance is as energetic as ever and with songs like "Hot Corner," "Juliet of the Spirits," and the title track bringing warm reminders of "Roam," "Summer of Love," or "Good Stuff," the B-52s in 2008 are still adding fine material to their catalog. Bright moments that loyal fans will cherish dot the album, like when Fred delivers a "Robots-Bootybots-Erotobots" chant ("Love in the Year 3000"), or when a simple, quintessential B-52s riff mixes with intoxicating future disco ("Eyes Wide Open"). Problem is the songwriting seems a bit forced at times and the towering highlights found on their top-shelf efforts are missing. Nothing here is as gripping or as perfect as "Rock Lobster," "Private Idaho," or "Love Shack," and the songs that are borderline filler get pushed into one big forgettable lump towards the end of the album. Turns out, being the world's greatest party combo isn't just like riding a bike, but the B-52s are certainly pointed in the right direction. Think of Funplex as a likeable album from a lovable band and adjust your party planner accordingly.

tags: the b52s, b-52s, funplex, 2008, flac,

Evildead - Annihilation of Civilization (1989)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: SPV 084-76032

© 1989 SPV, Steamhammer
Review by "Sirliftsalot48" for The Metal Crypt.com
Ah… Evildead, my favorite thrash band and movie as well. From the opening of the album you know you are in for a treat of thrash. It starts off with a sound clip taken from the movie where the band got its name. After that the riffs pound in your face like a battering ram. The man behind one of the axes is none other than former Agent Steel member, Juan Garcia. He knows how to write riffs and he shows it on this album. This album shows what thrash is all about, crushing riffs played lightning fast with vocals that are of a sort of shouted snarl. Phil Flores's vocals on this album are thrash perfect; aggressive, fast, but still clean enough to understand. If I had to describe his vocal style, it would be somewhat of Don Doty meets Sean Killian. Standout tracks include F.C.I./The Awakening, Future Shock, Gone Shooting, and the closer B.O.H.I.C.A.. B.O.H.I.C.A. stands for bend over here it comes again, showing these guys know how to have some humor in their album while still being more aggressive and faster than many other thrash bands are on some of their heaviest tracks. This is a must have for fans of thrash in the vein of Dark Angel and Vio-lence. Remember that THE BOOK OF THE DEAD IS NOT FOR THE LIVING TO SEE!!!

tags: evildead, evil dead, annihilation of civilization, 1989, flac,