Saturday, December 8, 2018

Smash Hits Album Ratings - 1981 [part 1 of 2]


Smash Hits was a British teen music magazine that was issued fortnightly. On a scale of 1-10, here's how the magazine's reviewers rated albums released in the first half of 1981. Hope you find something new that you missed back in '81.



January 8 issue
Rocky Sharpe & The Replays Rock-It to Mars 6
Dollar The Paris Collection 6
Jermaine Jackson Jermaine 6
Showaddywaddy Bright Lights 5
Black Slate Amigo 5
Queen Flash Gordon 2
The Clash Sandinista!
Linton Kwesi Johnson LKJ in Dub 7



January 22 issue
Boomtown Rats Mondo Bondo
Elvis Costello Trust 9
The Runaways Flaming Schoolgirls 2
Steve Winwood Arc of a Diver 5
UFO The Wild, the Willing, and the Innocent 5
Basement 5 1965-1980 6
Gen X Kiss Me Deadly 2
Mtume In Search of the Rainbow Seekers 8
Rose Royce Golden Touch 6



February 5 issue
Sheena Easton Take My Time 7
Pearl Harbour Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too 6
Phil Collins Face Value 5
Heatwave Candles 8
The Stranglers The Meninblack 6
Mike Batt Waves 3
Splodgenessabounds Splodgenessabounds 3
Styx Paradise Theatre 2
The dB's Stands for Decibels 8



February 19 issue
UK Subs Diminished Responsibility 2
The Barracudas Drop Out with The Barracudas
Moon Martin Street Fever 6
Jets Jets 5
Nash the Slash Children of the Night 4
Walkie Talkies Surveillance 6
Joe Sample Voices in the Rain 7
The Boys Boys Only
The Selecter Celebrate the Bullet
Nine Below Zero Don't Point Your Finger 5



March 5 issue
Sister Sledge All American Girls 6
Stray Cats Stray Cats 5
Rainbow Difficult to Cure 7
Gang of Four Solid Gold
Eric Clapton Another Ticket 3
Marvin Gaye In Our Lifetime
Todd Rundgren Healing 6
Brian Briggs Brian Damage 7
Defunkt Defunkt
Spandau Ballet Journeys to Glory 7



March 19 issue
New Musik Anywhere
Russ Ballard Into the Fire 3
James Brown Rapp Payback
Detroit Spinners Labour of Love 6
The Spizzles Spikey Dream 6
Tata Vega Giving All My Love 4
Shona Laing Tied to the Tracks 3
The Vapors Magnets 4
Wilko Johnson Ice on the Motorway 4
Linx Intuition 8



April 2 issue
The Shakin' Pyramids Skin 'Em Up 5
Rico That Man is Forward 8
Change Miracles 5
Landscape From the Tea Rooms of Mars to the Hell Holes of Uranus 8
Chas'N'Dave Mustn't Grumble 4
Slade We'll Bring the House Down 6
The Who Face Dances 4
British Electronic Foundation Music for Stowaways 9
Diana Ross To Love Again 6
Status Quo Never Too Late 7



April 16 issue
Dave Edmunds Twangin
Incognito Jazz Funk 8
Public Image, Ltd. Flowers of Romance 8
Stiff Little Fingers Go for It 7
The Cure Faith 7
Whitesnake Come An' Get It
The Jags No Tie Like a Present 4
Cockney Rejects Greatest Hits, Vol 3 11
Roger Taylor Roger Taylor's Fun in Space 3
B.A. Robertson Bully for You 6



April 30 issue
Gillan Future Shock 4
Girlschool Hit and Run 5
Tenpole Tudor The Swords of a Thousand Men 7
REO Speedwagon Hi Infidelity 4
The Keys The Keys Album 5
Quincy Jones The Dude
Sharon Redd Sharon Redd 8
Snips La Rocca 6
The Isley Brothers Grand Slam 5
The Scars Author! Author! 8



May 14 issue
The Undertones Positive Touch 9
Holly and The Italians The Right to be Italian 4
The Plastics Welcome Back
Split Enz Waiata 7
The Lambrettas Ambience 7
The Tubes The Completion Backward Principle 4
Ruts DC Animal Now 8
Albania Are You All Mine 7
Kraftwerk Computer World 4
The Beat Wha'ppen? 7
Squeeze East Side Story 9
The Cramps Psychedelic Jungle 8
The Searchers Play for Today 5



May 28 issue
Original Mirrors Heart-twango and Raw-beat 7
Richard Strange The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange
Joe Walsh There Goes the Neighborhood 5
Shakatak Drivin' Hard 7
Grace Jones Nightclubbing 8
Bill Nelson Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam 8
Classic Nouveaux Night People 6
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Hard Promises 7
Wild Horses Stand Your Ground 4
The Psychedelic Furs Talk, Talk, Talk 8
Sparks Whomp That Sucker 6
Positive Noise Heart of Darkness 5
Toyah Anthem 3



June 11 issue
Elton John The Fox 5
Echo and The Bunnymen Heaven Up Here 9
Doll by Doll Doll by Doll 8
Jean-Michel Jarre Magnetic Fields 7
UB40 Present Arms
Ken Lockie The Impossible 6
Phil Seymour Phil Seymour 4
Black Uhuru Red
Eddy Grant Can't Get Enough 9



June 25 issue
Killing Joke What's This For
Third World Rock the World 5
TV Smith's Explorers The Last Words of the Great Explorer 5
Duran Duran Duran Duran 4
Magazine Magic, Murder, and the Weather 7
Siouxsie and The Banshees Juju 5
Thompson Twins A Product of... 6
Peter Tosh Wanted Dread & Alive 4
Yoko Ono Season of Glass 3
Modern Eon Fiction Tales 8
Barbara Dickson You Know It's Me 4


h/t to Brian McCloskey over at Like Punk Never Happened

No comments :

Post a Comment