Twang finally finds the key to the pod and virtually gathers with Tiggerlion, Dave Amitri and special guest Hilary to discuss the 80s, a decade beloved and reviled by equal numbers of people. Perhaps, the team muse, a decade with plenty to feel down about in the world needed frothy, fun, happy and irreverent music to provide some respite. Unless, Twang sighs, you were a miserable git anyway.
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Blue Boy says
Yay – the podcast is back! Looking forward to listening.
Twang says
Thanks BB. It’s a goodie!
deramdaze says
Hating the dire 1980s doesn’t suggest someone being miserable.
During the dire 1980s I was listening to the Beatles, who brought more joy into the world than anyone (individual, artist, pop star) has ever done, before or since.
No, you’re right, I should have lumped on Morrissey.
Tiggerlion says
That’s not the equation with regard to misery. You’ll have to listen to the cast. Funnily enough, The Smiths never came up!
Tiggerlion says
Best three guitarists of the eighties:
Will Sergeant
Johnny Marr
Vini Reilly
Martin Hairnet says
Has anyone heard any recent news about Vini Reilly? Has he retired from making music? I know he suffered a series of mini-strokes almost a decade ago that affected his guitar playing ability. His back-catalogue is still being reissued and there were some Record Store Day releases. But no new material since 2014’s Chronicle (which was itself a reworked version of a 2011 performance at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall – his last gig) and I can’t find any news about his current health.
fentonsteve says
My pal is a massive DC fan, I was talking to him the other day. I don’t think much has changed since this was written, other than Vini is no longer living under a hedge.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/jan/04/call-for-help-vini-reilly
Tiggerlion says
I don’t think his hands respond to his brain in the way they should. He has music in his head all the time and he can’t get it out. It drives him mad.
dai says
Glad it’s back!
Twang says
Cheers Dai.
fentonsteve says
Ditto. I thought about it at the weekend (I listen to podcasts when housework/gardening) and I was wondering if I should nudge Twang, but I knew he’s been busy with work.
First of many, I hope.
Twang says
As long as people want ’em.
Anyone for an Endofyearcast between Christmas and New Year?
fentonsteve says
Well, I’m always free, should you need a dullcast.
Black Type says
That would have to be a dull and overcast, surely…?
Twang says
I forgot to mention EBTG, one of my favourite 80s acts.
Tiggerlion says
Nor Jethro Tull. Was their eighties as shit as Dylan’s?
Twang says
Sadly yes. 5 albums, 3 weak, one decent (Knave, which won a Grammy) and one excellent (Broadsword) once Ian Anderson had worked out how to use the tech in a Tull context.
Black Celebration says
My take on this debate is that during the 80s there were plenty of people who hated the music and yearned for the old days with real instruments and all that. The “money for nothing” crowd.
When the music was good, it was very very good – when it was bad, it was horrid.
Tiggerlion says
Ten acts that ignored the eighties sound and played proper instruments and that:
Dexys Midnight Runners
Tom Waits
The Fall
The Smiths
The Replacements
Les Negresses Vertes
Pixies
John Cougar Mellencamp
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
R.E.M.
Diddley Farquar says
Sonic Youth also eschewed the gated drum among other things.
dai says
Some of The Smiths production is a bit 80s on a few of their records.
Diddley Farquar says
Waterboys, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions…
Uncle Wheaty says
The Waterboys
World Party
New Model Army
The Housemartins
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
The Bible
The Icicle Works
Del Amitri
The Cure
retropath2 says
Talking of good, the Scritti Polittis are touring Cupid & Psyche next year! Tix on sale today.
attackdog says
Well done Twang, Tigger, et al for resurrecting the pod. I really look forward to listening. I almost hope my recollection of the dire ‘80’s will be challenged.
Dave Ross says
It was great fun to do despite my pre pod nerves. It was my first but everyone treated me very gently, with respect and I had no guilt the following day.
Twang says
You did great Dave.
dai says
Good listen. I like the 80s music generally, just think major artists lost their way as they reached the grand old age of 40 or something! Most of them had pretty bad decades, Dylan, Macca, Neil, the Who etc.
Having said that Trevor Horn made Yes listenable. Owner of a Lonely Heart is the best thing they ever did!
Loads and loads of great stuff from new(ish) bands in the 80s, Human League, Bunnymen, REM, Smiths, Teardrop Explodes/Julian Cope, ABC,OMD, Talking Heads, The Cure, Madness, Specials, Clash, Dexys, Banshees, Japan, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Eurythmics, New Order, FGTH etc etc. Prefer it to any decade except the 60s probably.
Not joining in for the re-evaluation of Stock, Aitken and Waterman though. Terrible then, terrible now. Conveyor belt, soulless pop music that exists purely as a money making exercise and is almost completely devoid of any artistic merit.
Probably was in Camden Palace same time as Mr Amitri a few times, and I also spent a lot of time in clubs in Liverpool which was always a fantastic night out, especially if the club played music that strayed from the top 40 sometimes.
Tiggerlion says
There is nothing wrong with fun, formulaic, disposable Pop Music.
Their success was phenomenal, hit after hit, week after week, especially 1988 & 1989, a true Hit Factory. Berry Gordy would have been so proud.
Top ten SAW singles:
Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up
Kylie Minogue – Better The Devil You Know
Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan – Especially For You
Bananarama – Venus
Jason Donovan – Too Many Broken Hearts
Sonia – You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You
Sinitta – G.T.O.
Bananarama – I Want You Back
Donna Summer – This Time I Know It’s For Real
dai says
But it’s all shite! (some of them are quite good like Venus or Spin Me Round)
Diddley Farquar says
I’m with you. Baffling apart from one or two. So much other great dance music. Shannon – Let The Music Play for one. Princess, Joyce Sims, Gwen Guthrie.
Uncle Wheaty says
1988/89 house music was the pinnacle of 1980s dance.
Tiggerlion says
We didn’t get round to discussing House Music. Sorry.
Twang says
Or reggae!
Moose the Mooche says
Reggae went to shit in the 80s and, if you ask me, never came back.
“Jamaica has the greatest musicians on the planet. Let’s replace them with Frank Sidebottom’s keyboard and shitey drum machines”
Great idea, fellas
Tiggerlion says
The decade started with the death of Bob Marley. Reggae mourned and never really got over it until a resurgence of Roots and Dub this century!
Scientist released about ten albums in 1980/1. All magnificent!
Moose the Mooche says
And lest we forget that this generation ruled the nation with version.
Funny way to describe Willie Whitelaw and Keith Joseph, but still…
Uncle Wheaty says
No worries. I am not an expert in any way but just loved the groove and the chart stuff at the time.
KDH says
Is that the same Princess whose hits were all produced by, er, Stock-Aitken-Waterman?
Twang says
Who I even mentioned in the podcast!
KDH says
Ah, yes you did! (just finished listening).
Another good, entertaining one, from a consistently high bar. Only the Afterword though would have a discussion about John Coltrane in an 80s podcast!
Tiggerlion says
Arf!!!
Diddley Farquar says
I wrongly didn’t attribute Princess’s records to SAW. That’s another one in the credit column for them. Dead or Alive’s hit sounds a bit dated now, as does most SAW stuff. All that tay tay tay, tay tay tay tay tay business. Innovative at the time, now sounds rather crappy, and clichéd. A disastrous lapse of taste quite often.
Dave Ross says
It was a great night out wasn’t it @dai ? I wonder what happened to the giant trapeze artist models that hung from the ceiling? Very happy days….
dai says
To be honest @Dave-Amitri I don’t remember too much about it. In those days was probably 6 or 7 pints to the wind before going in. Have some vague recollections of getting night bus home to Enfield at 3am or thereabouts.
Uncle Wheaty says
I started the 1980s as a 14 year old naive Norfolk boy who loved NWOBHM/Sounds and a chart loving nerd with a wide range of musical tastes.
I ended it as a house owning qualified pharmacist with a company car and living with my then girlfriend in Leeds with a nice record collection (mine not hers!)
I did alright in the 1980s…then came the 1990s!
dai says
I was a spotty 17 year old living in the Welsh valleys, through the decade I lived in Liverpool, London, Liverpool again, back to Wales briefly before moving to Zurich to work for a semiconductor company after I had obtained a Masters.
Didn’t own a house, didn’t end it living with a girlfriend, saw lots of gigs, drank lots of beer and my father died. Bittersweet I guess.
Uncle Wheaty says
Between Pyromania and Hysteria Def Leppard allegedly approached SAW as producers during a short period when they fell out with Mutt Lange.
Uncle Wheaty says
I would pay to see Nick Heyward play Pelican West as a solo artist.
Supported by an acoustic ABC? Would that work?
Moose the Mooche says
Some dude on a 12-string doing the Anne Dudley parts. Could work.
Rigid Digit says
Started the 80s 1 year shy of secondary school, ended the decade working and spending all my money on beer, fags, takeaway food, and records.
40 years on, not much has changed.
I was 50 this year so wrote about my favourite albums from each year. Here’s the 80s winners for me
https://rigiddigithasissues.blogspot.com/2020/08/50-albums-for-50-years-1980-to-1989.html
retropath2 says
Jings, the 80s? Qualified in 1980, married 81, first house 83, GP by 84 with kids in 84 and 86. Seems several lifetimes ago. And was.
Black Celebration says
I had a wonderful 80s. Left school, met lots of new people through the world of work. Lots and lots of gigs and beer. Had two longish relationships but I wasn’t really mature enough, looking back. I had a difficult 90s -late twenties/early thirties seemed a bit miserable and life became hard. Got through it, though.
mikethep says
I remember the 80s as a bit of slog, work and children mostly, punctuated by occasional bouts of bad behaviour, and backgrounded by Thatcher. Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett and business to the States though. My 40th was spent on a French campsite and was attended by a puzzled Dutch couple from next door who gave me a jar of mustard.
Tiggerlion says
Sounds as though most of us began the decade happy-go-lucky and ended it wrestling with adult responsibilities. I know I found that difficult.
davebigpicture says
Left school in 1980 to start an apprenticeship. I left the company in 85 and had a couple of dead end jobs before finding my place in events. By the end of the decade, I was struggling financially having bought a flat in 88 but it was 91 when it all went badly wrong for a few years…….
Musically, the late 80s was the Q magazine period when I bought quite a lot on the strength of a review. I never bought Smash Hits and I’d given up on the “inkies” by then. With the benefit of hindsight, I can appreciate some great pop songs but they just weren’t my thing at the time, unlike a colleague who loved almost everything and came back with the Betty Boo album one lunchtime and played it loud in the warehouse until asked to stop or at least turn it down. He also loved The Waterboys and Echo and the Bunnymen and went on to be an in demand tour camera director until his love of booze and drugs got the better of him and he became unreliable. He died penniless a year ago and his ex wife had to crowdfund his funeral. Apart from the Betty Boo tape, my other memory is of him playing Great Balls of Fire on a grand piano in The Ritz. Sorry, that just came tumbling out.
Feedback_File says
Yay the pod is back with a bang! Good listen chaps but tbh I would have been quite happy to have just listened to Hilary telling us about being a working musician in the 80s and what Paul Weller is really like (maybe an idea for another pod @Twang).
For a long time in my head the 80s music always seemed a poor 2nd to the 70s but in reality most of my music listening today was informed by the stuff I started to listen to in the 80s. Its when I first started buying and really appreciating world music; country; new age/ambient (via the lovely Wyndham Hill label). There was some brilliant British jazz – Loose Tubes ( a memorable gig at the RFH) and Working Week and some of my all time favourite bands and albums Talk Talk, The Blue Nile (in fact a whole raft of superb Scottish bands), The Sprouts, EBTG. I didn’t particularly like some of the pop music but there was Culture Club, Tears for Fears and Frankie (sorry Twang but you are wrong there) to balance it out.
Twang says
Like you ever listen to Frankie. You’re terrified if you can hear the snare drum. 🙂
Twang says
Incidentally Hilary was too modest to mention that she also played with Loose Tubes!
See at the back on the right.
pawsforthought says
It’s back, back, BACK! as Smash Hits would have no doubt said. Great podcast as always.
Twang says
Ta Paws
Black Type says
Indeed I did, frequently!
Dave Ross says
Finding out Hilary had been in The Style Council 2 minutes in to my first podcast completely threw me to be honest. Could easily have made it into a Style Council pod. I’m annoyed I didn’t mention Tal Talk. Such an incredible band for any decade…
This was an answer to @Feedback_File
Twang says
I forgot ZZ Top!
Tiggerlion says
I forgot to tease Twang about Becker and Fagen who fully embraced the eighties sound. They stopped auditioning drummers and used machines. Kamarikad is full of eighties production techniques. Becker joined China Crisis, a band that is completely eighties.
Talk Talk are a very interesting band. They could occupy a cast all to themselves.
We couldn’t just list bands. That would be such a boring cast.
Twang says
And made their worst album before returning to having a drummer. 🙂 There’s nothing wrong with drum machines per se though some of the early ones are horrible sounding now. Idlewild by EBTG has the crappest sounding drum machine ever on it which is really annoying.
Blue Boy says
Well what a triumphant Return to Form! One of the most enjoyable pods to date with four articulate and interesting contributors. Hat tipped.
I had a great 80s personally – started it a few months into my first job, which I loved, and which brought me to London for a few years where I had the best time. And ended it, married, a home owner, and having taken on a big and fulfilling job which took me very happily into the 90s.
I listened to a lot of music of course but if I’m honest most of what I listened to was from artists from the 60s and 70s many of whom did amazing work in the 80s – Bruce, Van, Elvis C, Joe Jackson, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Weller (I love Cafe Bleu so how amazing to hear Hilary) and many more.
I was never that bothered by the big anthemic sound of Big Country, Simple Minds and U2, or the New Romantic stuff. But two acts who sum up the 80s for me are the above mentioned EBTG and Eurythmics who I think were magnificent and now seem somewhat underrated and undervalued.
I think there is a lot in Tiggs’ theory as to why the 80s are so often reviled – it got big, business like, stadium scaled. The sound and the look of much of it was glossy and shiny and some of that hasn’t aged well. But as the pod illustrated, there is no one 80s music – it was in fact broader and more eclectic than the 60s or 70s.
Would have loved to hear Hilary say more about the classical music from that period she admires – do ask her when you see her next Twang.
Twang says
Thanks BB.
Hilary has a lovely podcast herself with the most eclectic mix of artists from all genres called Harmonious World.
She also has a classical music radio show on local radio and a nice blog.
http://www.northhertsfm.com/rubato-classical-music
https://hilaryrobertson.blogspot.com/2020/03/one-of-my-favourite-views-inside-north.html?m=1
Feedback_File says
The problem that I think many of the older generation e.g. me had with 80s music at the time was the emergence of digital technology that made us think , much like our mothers and fathers before us, that this isn’t proper music. Hepworth notes in his 1971 book that this was the high-water mark for rock where the confluence of talent. money and technology (but not too much) was just ‘perfect’. By the 80s the galloping acceleration of music tech seemed at the time like opening the sweetie shop and saying help yourselves boys and girls. Never mind the quality check out those synth pads.
That theory was all nonsense of course – you still need to be able write, arrange and deliver songs that people want to hear. Ok some of those early production styles might not have aged well but it didn’t take long for musicians to start to master this new world and for every cheesy ‘synth’ band there was a plethora of really good new guitar based pop/rock bands – REM; Blue Aeroplanes; The Bible; The Go Betweens; Lloyd Cole & the Commotions who were pretty much continuing the tradition of the 60s and 70s but bringing some fresh new ideas to the concept.
Tiggerlion says
Drum kits are expensive and cumbersome. A young band starting out in 1979-82, with most of its members on the dole when the dole allowed you to get by while being creative with your time, would struggle to source a kit and transport it around. Echo, the leader of Echo And The Bunnymen, was a drum machine, remember. When I first saw Joy Division in 1979, I was stunned by Stephen Morris’s kit. Those pads were so flat and the boing sound so different. He still thrashed around as energetically as Keith Moon. Once you have a drum machine, it’s a small step to synthesisers generally. They were cheap, cheaper than a decent electric guitar. BC rightly points out (below) how Depeche Mode started that way. So did Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, The Human League, etc. One of my favourite singles at the time was by The Normal, Warm Leatherette/TVOD, that was pure synthesiser.
The technology allowed better access to music-making by young, imaginative kids. It unleashed a tide of independent creativity that kick started the eighties and was an antidote to the misery in the UK at the time.
Twang says
Steve Morris had a very nice drum kit actually, long before Joy Division.
Tiggerlion says
He obviously had to sell it to pay for the van.
dai says
A friend of mine is a drummer, he used to have gigs all over London and would transport the drums on the Tube! He normally roped his sister in to help.
Tiggerlion says
That must have been a minimal kit.
I briefly helped out roadying for a band in the seventies. The drums were a beggar to lug about and set up.
Sniffity says
ELO drummer Bev Bevan, in his pre-Move days, lugged his kit to gigs on the bus.
Black Celebration says
This thread has caused a build up of Depeche Mode in my guts – I can’t stand it any longer so I’m going have to let rip and blame it on the dog I haven’t got.
They came about in 1980 as a direct consequence of cheap synths becoming available. Vince Clarke mastered the art of creating catchy pop music using them. He left the band in 1981 and continues to this day almost exclusively using that technology.
By 1989 Depeche Mode were still very much a synth band but guitars and real drums were beginning to come in. I think they reached “peak synth” with Violator and then moved to more actual guitar based songs in the early 90s.
As a live act they realised that there is only so much you can do with keyboards – so their live set up is now no different from most big bands.
I do get a thrill when they have an occasional synth-heavy song on an album. In their case, this is them going back to their roots.
Dave Ross says
I love your passion for Depeche Mode. They were such Top Of The Pops regulars in the 80s and they just kept hitting the mark with incredible consistency. From Dreaming of Me to Everything Counts was a journey, what came after the 80s is perhaps even greater. Great band, great story, great memories…
Black Celebration says
Thanks Dave – I’m having a bit of a ‘mare on the Dire Straits thread, so your words have perked me up no end.
Colin H says
‘badly misunderstood decade’? Not by me, Twang – I was 12 to 21 in the 80s and bar the first couple of years (1979-82 being the last great time, and a really diverse time, for pop) it was a thoroughly rotten time for music – and also clothes (really badly fitting jeans, in my recollection). I hated it at the time – it managed to sound tinny and crappy yet also excessively over-produced and sloshed with money in direct disproportion to the musical quality.
No offence to Hilary, but I thought Loose Tubes were ghastly. Every genre seemed to go crap in the 80s – and anyone who sounded magical and herculean in the 60s/70s who was still making music in the 80s were like giants with shorn locks (metaphorically – possibly literally, but that doesn’t matter).
I lived through it, hated it, and see no reason to change that view. It really, really baffles me that things like 30CD box sets of Bananarama records have a market these days.
Uncle Wheaty says
Nothing bad or tinny about the first four New Model Army albums.
Uncle Wheaty says
Dave Ross says
Age wise you were perfect 80s music fodder Colin but thank goodness we all like different things. Out of interest, apart from The Adventures obviously, what was there in those early 80s years you enjoyed?
Colin H says
Thing is, Dave, I didn’t really know Adventures music in the 80s. I enjoyed the Icicle Works and, to a degree, Cocteau Twins, Long Ryders, Husker Du… Indeed, I saw all bar the Du in concert at the time. But to be honest, in retrospect I can see that I was desperately scratching around for something of the time to half like. None of it really stuck. I don’t have much emotional connection to any of the above these days – though I enjoyed hearing Bob Mould’s recent ‘Siberian Butterfly’ single a couple of times recently.
Dave Ross says
There we go. The Icicle Works is where we meet on a 80s venn diagram. Their eponymous album would make my top 10 80s albums
Colin H says
They peaked for me with ‘The Small Price of A Bicycle’ album. But even then I was disheartened by the (80s) production sound compared to their performance of tracks on OGWT.
Freddy Steady says
@colin-h
Definitely their high point and still an album I love today. Not sure I agree that it sounds 80’s though. Whatever you do, don’t follow McNabb on Social Media, he’s a tit.
If you want something none more 80’s, how about the first Cactus World News album? Spangly guitars and angsty lyrics ahoy!
Uncle Wheaty says
Cactus World News. The sound of 1986/7!
Loved the debut album.
Freddy Steady says
Yep @uncle-wheaty
Debut still gets the occasional play chez Freddy. They released a follow up you know, about 20 “years later.” It was not up to much imho.
Uncle Wheaty says
I know I bought it as well!
Freddy Steady says
You were the other one!
fentonsteve says
Me too. I didn’t buy the CD with the extras, wish I had now.
Twang says
You remember Hilary did a writing gig for you @colin-H?
Colin H says
Indeed – and I’ve no doubt Hilary and I would have plenty of common ground… as long as we kept the 80s under the carpet! 😀
Colin H says
Actually, I’ve just had a rummage on YouTube and 2000s (reunion?) Loose Tubes seems very palatable to my ears. The one thing I remember being horrified by was an LT appearance on some TV show in the 80s when some ‘British jazz revival’ was being trumpeted and I have this vision of a load of gangly people all dancing and goofing around with Hawaiian shirts and trombones. It’s seared in my mind – and I wish it wasn’t. Honestly, I can’t tell you how much I loathed that era.
Feedback_File says
I know where you are coming from @Colin-H but my memory of seeing Loose Tubes live (I think at the RFH) was one of my most enjoyable gigs. Yes it was joyous but not in a naff way – had a similar vibe to when I saw Sun
Ra around the same time I guess. The stand out moment for me was when they realised that great South African sax player Dudu Pukwana was in the audience. They found him a sax and he came up on stage and joined in for a few numbers – if I remember rightly he may have started playing whilst still in his seat.
Colin H says
I guess I just wasn’t very joyous in the 80s.
attackdog says
Thank God you discovered The Mavish, Mahari, MacHavitis, well, thank God you discovered them anyway. And saved us from doing so.
Colin H says
Indeed! I can vividly recall buying ‘Birds of Fire’ (having never heard MO before, only read an encyclopaedia entry) in The Gramophone Shop, Belfast c.1983/4. Magical!
Moose the Mooche says
The McVities Orchestra…. totally calling them that from now on.
Into the Digestive Beyond
The Inner Mounting Hobnob
Gingernuts of Fire
….etc
Colin H says
Very good! 😀 ‘A Lotus on Custard Creams’…
Feedback_File says
Colin thought fashion was bad in the 80s? My glory years were the 70s and my God the clothes were awful (and I have the photos to prove it). My full length fur lined Levi coat with opposing quarters of dark and light denim was unbelievable. Of course I thought I looked magnificent at the time. Then there were the loon pants – two quid on Leicester market. They left nothing to the imagination from the waist to the knee and then enough cloth to equip a small sailing vessel from there down. Not to mention the acres of itchy cheesecloth and cheap tie dyed T shirts. The 80s was sartorial elegance in comparison.
attackdog says
Yes, but what a coat. Do you still wear yours?
Feedback_File says
Strangely no! Ive tried to cast it from my memory but it haunts me in my darkest moments
Diddley Farquar says
Plenty of less happy music around in the 80s too. Post punk becoming goth and indie among other things but even those lovers of gloom would dance, even if in the case of JAMC fans that meant curling up on the floor twitching like a dying fly. I definitely think being up for a good boogie was required to fully appreciate certain records. I still have that outlook even if I’m not going out clubbing these days, it’s a hedonistic thing. People who don’t care to dance may dismiss some of the most joyous records you can find.
Tiggerlion says
Absolutely agree with you about dance music.
I went to see JAMC in the eighties. 1986 if I recall correctly. I think they under estimated the size of the venue. The crowd was sparse. Or, maybe I couldn’t see them because they all wore black. I certainly didn’t see anyone twitching on their backs. The band played with their back to the audience and the gig was short. Mercifully. Their main feature in their sound was feedback.
Diddley Farquar says
It was Newcastle Mayfair student alternative disco, circa 1988. The DJ played Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, New Order, The Smiths and more. The JAMC fanatics only came onto the dancefloor for their band and everyone laughed at them during their antics. Happy times. At some point you would get The Timewarp. I always hated those ones where you had to all do the same moves, like with YMCA. Last time I went to a wedding all the songs were like that. I don’t dance at weddings any more. Another avenue of pleasure closed off to me he added, bitterly.
retropath2 says
Little has changed. Whilst I love JAMC on my own terms: i.e. recorded music, played at home to my ear’s taste. They were at Bearded Theory a couple of years ago, and, even outside, it was a muffled din. Pity. I had been looking forward.
Carolina says
Wonderful to have the podcast back and on such a high too. Everybody’s contributions were excellent and I learnt what a gated drum is. Extremely enjoyable and thanks for introducing me to John Coltrane’s Spiritual track, Twang. Transcendent – he seems to be tapping into the divine.
Tiggerlion says
Lovely to see you, Carolina. I hope all is well.
Live At The Village Vanguard (Master Takes) is my absolute. favourite Jazz album. Every time I listen, I hear more. All his work with the great quartet touches the divine, in my view.
Matthew Halsall plays modern day spiritual jazz. His trumpet style is far more gentle than Coltrane’s constant searching. Salute To The Sun, is a soothing balm for the soul in these troubled times. Try it on Spotify. I think it’s there.
Carolina says
Thanks Tig. I looked up Matthew Halsall Salute to the Sun, and his trumpet playing was beautiful and I loved the melodies too. I would have bought it if not for the background tweeting sounds that sounded like an aviary had been released into the studio which I found too distracting!
Tiggerlion says
Ack. It’s meant to sound as though you are listening to an outdoor concert at the height of summer. To be fair, the birds aren’t present on all the tracks.
Carolina says
That’s v helpful, will try and seek out bird-free ones!
Hamlet says
I have no idea why, but I’ve never listened to any of the Afterword podcasts before. I gave this one a go and really enjoyed it, so thanks to all involved for putting it together.
Twang says
So you have lots of treats to dip into Ham!
Uncle Wheaty says
The prog one is excellent!
Ainsley says
Just finished it and the Pod is back, baby!
Nice one.
NigelT says
Really good to hear you all again! It strikes me that a lot of one’s reaction to the 80s is age dependent. This is probably true of a lot of decades, but the changes introduced with the new technology was such a step change that it was bound to jar with many of us who were brought up with 60s and 70s pop and rock, but it is so easy to generalise. I would probably say now that I don’t much care for 80s music, but I certainly bought plenty of it at the time – in the early 80s I loved Eurythmics, for example, but I now hardly ever play them and when I do I find myself thinking it hasn’t aged well. My memory is of a period dominated by singles, and I’m really an albums man, so Lexicon Of Love and Dare are my early 80s touchstones, as well as Roxy’s last albums.
I don’t think U2 got a mention – I realise the opprobrium I will get, but their 80s outpit was terrific, and Simple Minds and Big Country still get played here.
On the Style Council, I didn’t embrace them until later when I went back via his solo work and the penny dropped. I just didn’t get it at first! Always late to the party me….
Uncle Wheaty says
I agree on U2.
All of their 1980s output was excellent.
Black Celebration says
U2 are quite soundly battered by critics every time they release anything but they have some very good moments indeed. I love the way this song has some undefined story of building tension, and then something happens – and then theres a feeling of relief and peace.
Tiggerlion says
The question was posed: “What was happening in America?” The answer is U2. They were HUGE, easily the biggest band across the globe in the eighties.
Twang says
I loved them around New Year’s Day. It went pop at Live Aid with the dancing on stage thing.
Uncle Wheaty says
The Unforgettable Fire is their best album and I agree the dancing is unacceptable.
Unless he did that he would be climbing the stage surround like he did supporting The Police in 1982 in Gateshead!
Uncle Wheaty says
They were huge after The Joshua Tree but not before IIRC.
Tiggerlion says
Yes. But that and Rattle And Hum sold gazillions.
Uncle Wheaty says
They did and both are great albums (less so Rattle and Hum).
Tiggerlion says
Across the decade as a whole, which bands compete? Simple Minds? Duran Duran? Wham! Depeche Mode?
Uncle Wheaty says
None of those. The Waterboys would give them a good challenge.
Some would agree with Depeche mode but I have never liked them apart from the early synth by numbers tunes.
Gary says
In terms of quality, as opposed to commercial success, I’d say JAMC did a pretty good job. Only 4 albums released in the 80s (compared to U2’s 6) but those 4 were Psychocandy, Darklands, Automatic and the compilation Barbed Wire Kisses. All brilliant.
Dave Ross says
It seems Phil Collins is the answer
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/abyss89/the_100_biggest_selling_albums_of_the_80s__usa_/
Uncle Wheaty says
Listening to his back catalogue apart from the first two solo albums would be far from a day in paradise!
Tiggerlion says
Looking at that list, Def Leppard is the answer (Phil isn’t a band).
Thriller is amazing. It sold greater than 50% more than second place!
Rigid Digit says
Band of the 80s?
Iron Maiden. Always consistent, always big selling, and rounded off the decade with a number 1 single
(OK the song was a bit crap, but still …)
Twang says
Nah, ZZ Top. 😁 Underrated.
dai says
Blimey
Uncle Wheaty says
Def Leppard.
You could see them grow by each album and then become massive.
Carl says
I finally got round to listening. Very enjoyable, so well done to all concerned.
No mention of The Comsat Angels though. Nor The Icicle Works.