Saturday, March 9, 2024

Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time" (2022 edition)


Back in 2013, Rolling Stone magazine released their picks for the 100 best debut albums (I posted about that list on October 28, 2013). I just noticed that they updated the list in 2022, so let's take a look at the new list as it concerns albums released 1976-85. It is quite a bit different and it should be - different people with different perspectives in a different place in time. 5 albums were dropped from the list; 4 albums were added to the list; 17 albums dropped in ranking; 10 albums moved up. The biggest movers were Violent Femmes (dropping 66 places from 22 to 88) and Madonna (moving up an incredible 80 spots for 96 to 16), while Steel Pulse is introduced to the list at 17.


20222013ArtistTitleYear
-98Joe JacksonLook Sharp!1979
-68Talking Heads Talking Heads: 771977
-52U2Boy1980
-41BostonBoston1976
-38The PoliceOutlandos d'Amour1978


20222013ArtistTitleYear
66-SadeDiamond Life1984
58-The SlitsCut1979
36-X-Ray SpexGermfree Adolescents1978
17-Steel PulseHandsworth Revolution1978


20222013
ArtistTitleYear
9876-22DevoAre We Not Men? We Are Devo!1978
9289-3YazUpstairs at Eric's1982
8984-5Whitney HoustonWhitney Houston1985
8822-66Violent FemmesViolent Femmes1983
8763-24Cyndi LauperShe's So Unusual1983
8354-29MetallicaKill 'Em All1983
7951-28The SmithsThe Smiths1984
7550-25XLos Angeles1980
7448-26Modern LoversModern Lovers1976
7045-25The Jesus & Mary ChainPsychocandy1985
6421-43Elvis CostelloMy Aim is True1977
4027-13Van HalenVan Halen1978
4328-15The B-52'sThe B-52's1979
3726-11Run-D.M.C.Run-D.M.C.1984
3016-14The CarsThe Cars1978
2413-11PretendersPretenders1980
237-16The Sex PistolsNever Mind the Bollocks1977


20222013
ArtistTitleYear
6269+7WireWire1977
6075+15The Go-Go'sBeauty and the Beat1981
5264+12The English BeatI Just Can't Stop It1980
4981+32Gang of FourEntertainment!1979
3840+2TelevisionMarquee Moon1977
1920+1Joy DivisionUnknown Pleasures1979
1696+80MadonnaMadonna 1983
1118+7R.E.M.Murmur1983
912+3The ClashThe Clash1979
12+1The RamonesThe Ramones1976



Thursday, March 7, 2024

Top 50 Jazz Albums of 1984


According to the December 22, 1984 edition of Billboard magazine. Chart peaks are from that publication's jazz, pop, and R&B album charts, respectively. If the album was released in a year prior to 1984, that information is noted following the album title.


Album ArtistJazzPop R&B
1 Backstreet ('83) David Sanborn181 21
2 Think of One ('83) Wynton Marsalis1102
3 Future Shock ('83) Herbie Hancock243 10
4 December ('82) George Winston254
5 Autumn ('80) George Winston7139
6 Wishful Thinking Earl Klugh169 18
7 What's New ('83) Linda Ronstadt53
8 Passionfruit ('83) Michael Franks4141
9 In Your Eyes ('83) George Benson127 6
10 Jarreau ('83) Al Jarreau113 4
11 Access All Areas Spyro Gyra159 41
12 Imagine This ('83) Pieces of a Dream490 16
13 Winter Into Spring ('82) George Winston14127
14 Ghetto Blaster The Crusaders379 20
15 Individual Choice ('83) Jean-Luc Ponty2134
16 G Force ('83) Kenny G662 17
17 Decoy Miles Davis1169
18 Rejoicing Pat Metheny4116
19 Foxie ('83) Bob James3106 45
20 Shadowdance ('83) Shadowfax13145
21 Travels ('83) Pat Metheny Group362
22 In the Heat of the Night Jeff Lorber7106 44
23 City Kids ('83) Spyro Gyra266
24 Night Lines Dave Grusin4

25 Domino Theory Weather Report5136



Album ArtistJazzPop R&B
26 Bodies and Souls ('83) The Manhattan Transfer1052 38
27 Modern Times Steps Ahead11

28 Scenario ('83) Al Di Meola8128
29 Time Exposure Stanley Clarke10149 52
30 Low Ride ('83) Earl Klugh238 27
31 Now Patrice Rushen740 4
32 Steppin' Out George Howard9178 39
33 Caverna Magica ('82) Andreas Vollenwieder8149
34 On the Line ('83) Lee Ritenour12

35 Love Explosion Tania Maria13

36 Target ('83) Tom Scott9

37 An Evening with Windham Hill Live ('83) Various Artists18

38 Scenes in the City Branford Marsalis11164
39 Banded Together Lee Ritenour6145
40 Third Generation ('83) Hiroshima10142 50
41 Offramp ('82) Pat Metheny Group150 43
42 Rendezvous Sadao Watanabe2
37
43 Marathon Rodney Franklin15187 54
44 Breakin' Away ('81) Al Jarreau19 1
45 Past Light ('83) Will Ackerman20

46 Jammin' in Manhattan Tyzik15172 35
47 The Two of Us Ramsey Lewis & Nancy Wilson6144 42
48 Fill Up the Night ('83) Sadao Watanabe19

49 Sound System Herbie Hancock771 34
50 Come With Me ('83) Tania Maria28



Speaking of jazz albums from 1984, why don't you give Dr. Smooth's flashback a listen:


Friday, February 23, 2024

Counting down the Top 50 of '84 - Albums #5 - 1

(or, more accurately, my favorite albums released in 1984)



Difford & Tilbrook
Difford & Tilbrook

Produced by:Tony Visconti, E.T. Thorngren, Chris Difford, & Glenn Tilbrook
Billboard 200:55
CashBox 200:25
Rolling Stone 100:33



Top 3 Tracks
"Love's Crashing Waves"
"Action Speaks Faster"
"Man for All Seasons"

The songwriting duo from Squeeze put out this album after the group split up (temporarily) in the early '80s. Compared to the duo's usual fantastic writing, the songwriting on this release isn't that great, but even the best material couldn't hold up to the slick, flat production given here. However, this came out in the summer of 1984 and I listened to it non-stop, so I'm very familiar with all the tunes and arrangements. Difford & Tilbrook should have been more well known in the US, but this wasn't the release that would gain them that fame and recognition.





Big Bam Boom
Daryl Hall & John Oates


Produced by:Daryl Hall, John Oates & Bob Clearmountain
Billboard 200:5
CashBox 200:7
Rolling Stone 100:5




U.S. Billboard charted single: Hot 100 R&B Dance AC Rock
Out Of Touch124181
Method of Modern Love52115185
Some Things are Better Left Unsaid1885
1716
Possession Obsession3069208

Top 3 Tracks
"Some Things are Better Left Unsaid"
"Method of Modern Love"
"Out of Touch"

This album was a marked departure for the group as they updated their "blue-eyed soul" sound to match the times. Lots of synths, sequencing, echo, and dance beats in a louder and noisier setting than we were used to with these guys. Now it sounds like every other dance/hip-hop album from the late '80s, so I guess these guys were actually ahead of their time in terms of sonic originality.





Learning to Crawl
The Pretenders

Produced by:Chris Thomas
Billboard 200:5
CashBox 200:4
Rolling Stone 100:1


  • Rolling Stone: ★★★★
  • Trouser Press: "100 percent Hynde. And it's fine."
  • CashBox: "one of early 84's success stories"
  • Billboard: "strong songs, crack performances"
  • Smash Hits (5 out of 10): "a patchy comeback LP"
  • Robert Christgau (A-): 'I'm not the kind I used to be/I've got a kid, I'm thirty-three' is certainly a quotable quote, and whether rock-and-rolling her baby or growling at fat cats Chrissie Hynde backs it up."
  • High Fidelity: "contains some of the Pretenders' finest music to date"
  • Stereo Review: Best of the Month


U.S. Billboard charted singles: Hot 100Rock
Back on the Chain Gang54
My City was Gone
11
Middle of the Road192
Time the Avenger
6
Show Me288
Thumbelina
57

Top 3 Tracks
"Middle of the Road"
"Time the Avenger"
"My City was Gone"

This is The Pretenders' greatest album and a more complete album than any they previously released, including their spectacular debut (yeah, I said it). Plus, this music has aged well. The song My City was Gone is especially poignant to me now because it makes me think of the town I grew up in which has undergone significant changes and decay over the years.





Like a Virgin
Madonna

Produced by:Nile Rodgers, Steve Bray, & Madonna
Billboard 200:1
CashBox 200:1
Rolling Stone 100:1

  • CashBox: "a healthy dose of disco-rock"
  • Billboard: "This second album brings considerable muscle"
  • High Fidelity: "Madonna pulls off the neat trick of outstripping her own fast start."
  • Rolling Stone (★★★½): "Rodgers wisely supplies the kind of muscle Madonna's sassy lyrics demand."
  • Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "a good all-American dance album"
  • Stereo Review: "sounds thin to me - not terrible, but predictably commercial"
  • Robert Christgau: B 


U.S. Billboard charted single: Hot 100 Dance AC
Like a Virgin1129
Material Girl2138
Angel515
Dress You Up5332

Top 3 Tracks
"Material Girl"
"Like a Virgin"
"Dress You Up"

No sophomore slump here. Madonna brought in Nile Rodgers to produce, found a great bunch of dance tunes, put a sexy "Boy Toy" picture on the cover, and gave the whole package an ambiguous, suggestive, slightly controversial (at the time) title. With this album, Madonna moved from pop singer to pop icon. Madonna doesn't have a great voice, but she knows how to put together a package (e.g., the backing band for much of the album is freakin' Chic for chrissakes) and, with a few missteps, this album transcended the existing concepts of dance-pop and set the stage for dance music in the late '80s.





Stop Making Sense
Talking Heads

Produced by:Talking Heads & Gary Goetzman
Billboard 200:41
CashBox 200:29
Rolling Stone 100:16

  • Rolling Stone (★★★★): "a solid artistic statement from a band that's starting to have as much as they've given their listeners."
  • Stereo Review: "a great live performance"
  • Robert Christgau (B+): "a soundtrack, albeit for the finest concert film I've ever seen"
  • CashBox: "an electrifying LP"
  • Billboard: "sustains remarkable polish"


Top 3 Tracks
"Found a Job"
"Once in a Lifetime"
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

Simply put, this album represents the best concert movie ever filmed.




These are my personal top 10 albums released in 1984. The following criteria was used on a very slippery sliding scale:
  • How often I enjoyed the album at the time of release
  • How often I've enjoyed the album over the years since release
  • My opinion of the overall quality of the album
The top tracks for each album are solely my opinion.



Other album charts from MFD (formats vary):


Thursday, February 22, 2024

Counting down the Top 50 of '84 - Albums #10 - 6

(or, more accurately, my favorite albums released in 1984)



Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Produced by:Trevor Horn
Billboard 200:33
CashBox 200:20
Rolling Stone 100:19

  • Billboard: "a marriage of slick, old-line disco with tribal rock primitivism"
  • Rolling Stone (★★★): "a work of extraordinary studio imagination and perverse commercial ambition dedicated to the elevation of hip agitprop and homoerotic self-absorption"
  • Smash Hits (7 out of 10): "A pretty thin package at times, but it still seems a real adventure."
  • Stereo Review: "the most absorbing new rock album of 1985"
  • Robert Christgau (C): "on the whole Frankie are a marginally competent arena-rock band who don't know how to distinguish between effeminacy and pretension"

U.S. Billboard charted singles: Hot 100 Dance Rock
Relax1020
Two Tribes43327
Welcome to the Pleasuredome4831

Top 3 Tracks
"Welcome to the Pleasuredome"
"Relax"
"Two Tribes"

Embarrassingly juvenile disco/arena rock with lots of covers and I love it - well, every so often. I didn't own this album in the '80s, but I dubbed a cassette copy of a friend's 2 LP set in early '85. I'm sure the group members must have contributed something during the recording, but this is a Trevor Horn album from start to finish. From what I can tell, the backing band were really studio aces from Horn's camp, including Art Of Noise bandmates Anne Dudley and JJ Jeczalik, and two former bandmates from Yes: Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin.





Body and Soul
Joe Jackson


Produced by:David Kershenbaum & Joe Jackson
Billboard 200:20
CashBox 200:12
Rolling Stone 100:11


  • Rolling Stone (★★★★): "a breakthrough"
  • Stereo Review: "can claim three of the best things he's ever done"
  • Robert Christgau (B-): "it's likable enough."
  • Smash Hits (6 out of 10): "a downbeat collection of croony orchestrated 'pieces' rather than songs"
  • Record Mirror (★★★): "a solemn, deadly serious piece"
  • Downbeat (★½): "pompous, unintentional goofiness of the highest order"


U.S. Billboard charted single: Hot 100 AC Rock
You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)151312

Top 3 Tracks
"You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)"
"Heart of Ice"
"Happy Ending"

The music isn't as smooth as Jackson's previous effort, 1982's Night and Day, but some of the influences are the same: pop, standards, and salsa music. Jackson also continued his transition into his soundtrack/serious music stage with two instrumental tracks. Many critics think this album has jazz influences, but I don't hear it. It's certainly not as jazzy as Night and Day. I think the critics were just fooled by the album cover, a copy of a 1957 Sonny Rollins album. While Night and Day was more influenced by Cole Porter, this album has a '60s Brill Building feel to it. Is it fair to compare this album to Night and Day? Probably not, but I do anyway. Not exactly what I was hoping for in 1984, but a solid effort that I listened to quite a bit.





Couldn't Stand the Weather
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

Produced by:Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Richard Mullen & Jim Capfer
Billboard 200:31
CashBox 200:23
Rolling Stone 100:18

U.S. Billboard charted singles: Rock
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)26
Cold Shot29

Top 3 Tracks
"Couldn't Stand the Weather"
"Cold Shot"
"Stang's Swang"

My true introduction to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I knew of SRV from Bowie's Let's Dance album, but this album was my first exposure to his own work. My buddy Jim had this album and played it for me but I was too much of a wannabe New Waver at the time to give it much of a chance. I became a true fan around 1985 and I've made up for lost time ever since.

Kurt Loder didn't much care for the album, giving it just ★★ in RS 429. I prefer Robert Christgau's characterization of this album in his B+ review in The Village Voice: "a roadhouse album with gargantuan sonic imagination." Let's go with that.





Modern Times
Steps Ahead

Produced by:Steps Ahead
Billboard 200:-
CashBox 200:-
Rolling Stone 100:-

  • Billboard: "invites comparison with Weather Report" 
  • Downbeat (★★★★): "marks the emergence of a new era for Steps Ahead"
  • Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Top 3 Tracks
"Self Portrait"
"Oops"
"Safari"

In the early '80s, I was just turning on to jazz music, but my interests were definitely in the smooth jazz vein (Yellowjackets, Spyro Gyra, David Sanborn, etc.), so straight ahead jazz and jazz fusion were foreign to me. One of my high school band directors recommend this album to me, so I dubbed a cassette of his album and, after a few listens, I liked it enough to purchase my own copy. For me, this album bridged the gap between the smooth and fusion sub-genres. While hardly smooth jazz, it was highly synthesized with strange structures, odd chord progressions, and disjunct melodies - continuing along the lines of Weather Report and Return To Forever (bands I had yet to discover). I was drawn to the synth sounds because, after all, this was the '80s. Even with all the electronics, the music here has aged well.





Music from Purple Rain
Prince & The Revolution

Produced by:Prince & The Revolution
Billboard 200:1
CashBox 200:1
Rolling Stone 100:1

  • Rolling Stone (★★★★): "Anyone partial to great creators should own this record. Like Jimi and Sly, Prince is an original; but apart from that, he's like no one else."
  • Robert Christgau (A-): "an artist in full formal flower, and he's got something to say."
  • Billboard: "a potent springboard to a vastly broader audience for the saucy pop'n'funker"
  • Stereo Review: Best of the Month
  • Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "sensational"
  • CashBox: "A masterpiece."

U.S. Billboard charted singles: Hot 100 R&B Rock Dance
When Doves Cry11311
Let's Go Crazy11191
Purple Rain2418
I Would Die 4 U811
50
Take Me With You2540


Top 3 Tracks
"Let's Go Crazy"
"I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm A Star"
"Take Me With U"

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember the music of Purple Rain (not the movie, because that thing's gawd awful). I consider Prince to be more of a singles artist than an album artist, but to my ear, this is easily Prince's best, most consistent album and my dubbed cassette was never far from the Markmobile's Pioneer cassette deck or my new Sony Walkman WM-10 during the last seven months of 1984. After giving us some albums that included great dance/funk tunes (e.g., Dirty Mind & 1999), Prince creates the perfect funk/rock crossover here with scorching guitar licks over dance grooves that won't quit (and you don't want them to).




These are my personal top 10 albums released in 1984. The following criteria was used on a very slippery sliding scale:
  • How often I enjoyed the album at the time of release
  • How often I've enjoyed the album over the years since release
  • My opinion of the overall quality of the album
The top tracks for each album are solely my opinion.