(or, more accurately, my favorite albums released in 1983)
You Broke My Heart in 17 Places
Tracey Ullman
| Billboard 200: | 34 |
| CashBox 200: | 55 |
| Rolling Stone: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "They Don't Know" (#8) |
| Top track: | "They Don't Know" |
A fun covers album all done in the classic '60s girl group sound, but I didn't know they were covers when I first heard the album. In other words, Ullman's versions introduced me to these fluff bubblegum pop songs.
Pyromania
Def Leppard
| Billboard 200: | 2 |
| CashBox 200: | 2 |
| Rolling Stone: | 5 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Photograph" (#12) "Rock of Ages" (#16) "Foolin'" (#28) |
| Top track: | "Photograph" |
Not really heavy metal, the melodies and smooth production makes this more of a 'pop metal' album. To be enjoyed at a very high volume, preferably in a fast motor vehicle with the windows rolled down. At the time of this release, I was more of a new wave kind of guy, but after seeing the video for Photograph on MTV, I figured I'd give the band a shot. Glad I did.
Rebel Yell
Billy Idol
| Billboard 200: | 6 |
| CashBox 200: | 8 |
| Rolling Stone: | 6 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Eyes Without a Face" (#4) "Flesh for Fantasy" (#29) |
| Top track: | "Rebel Yell" |
The sound of the sneer. This is a wonderful album that combines New Wave synths and hard rock guitar, courtesy of Steve Stevens. This album lives in the seldom-visited world between head-banging and technopop - heavily produced, fun, harmless, full of hooks are plentiful, and Stevens steals the show.
Modomusic
David Bean
| Billboard peak: | - |
| CashBox peak: | - |
| Rolling Stone peak: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Marsha's Car" |
A 7 track EP from the former leader of The Judy's, a Houston-based garage band. New Wave power pop gems; plenty of 2 minute songs full of hooks and witty lyrics.
True
Spandau Ballet
| Billboard peak: | 19 |
| CashBox peak: | 20 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 20 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "True" (#4) "Gold" (#29) |
| Top track: | "Communication" |
It all came together here for the band. Maturity and new producers (Tony Swain, Steve Jolly) can go a long way. As for the title track, I love the thing, I always have, and I don't care who knows it. I know all the lyrics and will also vocalize the sax solo. The track that got me hooked, however, was Communication, particularly the chorus, so I'm partial to that tune. But it's a solid album; the only track I'll occasionally skip among the eight here is Foundation.
Mike's Murder
Joe Jackson
| Billboard peak: | 64 |
| CashBox peak: | 81 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 29 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Cosmopolitan" |
Night and Day was my first Joe Jackson album and I listened to it constantly in late '82/early '83. I was starved for more of the same so I purchased this soundtrack album as soon as I saw it. It is in the same vein and uses the same musicians as Night and Day and for a musical chameleon like Jackson, that's saying something. And that was good enough for me. It's got a couple of strong songs, a couple of good songs, a derivative single, and extended instrumental soundtrack cuts. It's hit-or-miss, mostly enjoyable, and it held me over until the next album.
Pipes of Peace
Paul McCartney
| Billboard peak: | 15 |
| CashBox peak: | 12 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 8 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Say Say Say" (#1) "So Bad" (#23) |
| Top track: | "Pipes of Peace" |
Sometimes called a companion peace to its predecessor, Tug of War (many songs were recorded at the same sessions), I actually like this record a little better than Tug. It's more poppy and cohesive to my ears. All produced by George Martin. Many critics disagree with me but so what? There's beautiful ballads, throwbacks to the previous decade and a #1 duet with Michael Jackson.
Synchronicity
The Police
| Billboard peak: | 1 |
| CashBox peak: | 1 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 1 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Every Breath You Take" (#1) "King of Pain" (#3) "Synchronicity II" (#16) "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (#8) |
| Top track: | "Synchronicity II" |
Almost a greatest hits package in itself. While the music is upbeat, the lyrics are very dark. Making a slow turn from rock to adult contemporary, the final tracks hint at what was to come on Sting's Dream Of The Blue Turtles.
Cargo
Men at Work
| Billboard peak: | 3 |
| CashBox peak: | 2 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 2 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Overkill" (#3) "It's a Mistake" (#6) "Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive" (#28) |
| Top track: | "Overkill" |
No sophomore slump here. In fact, I like this album better than the band's 1982 debut, Business As Usual. Even so, it took me a while before I had my own copy of this one. Before that, I simply dubbed a cassette copy from my friend Scott's LP. Like the first album, Cargo consists of a few obvious singles and some obvious filler, but the filler on Cargo is better although the overall atmosphere is a bit moodier.
Learning to Crawl
The Pretenders
| Billboard peak: | 5 |
| CashBox peak: | 4 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 1 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Back on the Chain Gang" (#5) "Middle of the Road" (#19) "Show Me" (#28) |
| Top track: | "Middle of the Road" |
This is the group's greatest album even though "Message of Love" is my favorite Pretenders song and it was on their previous release, Pretenders II. This is a more complete album. Chrissie Hynde can bring it; this music has aged well.
Mirage à Trois
Yellowjackets
| Billboard peak: | 145 |
| CashBox peak: | 152 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Claire's Song" |
While this album has never been named to any "best-of" lists for jazz fusion, I came across this music at just the right time in my life. When this was released, I was just discovering instrumental pop/smooth jazz through the music of Tom Scott, Spyro Gyra, and David Sanborn. At the same time, I was heavily into New Wave music with all its analog synthesizers and sequencing. This album seemed to combine the two: instrumental jazz with the synth as the main melodic instrument. At this time, the group was basically a synth-bass-drums trio with lots of guest artists appearing on certain tracks, but in later releases, the group would add a sax player. To me, they never sounded this good again.
Sergio Mendes
Sergio Mendes
| Billboard peak: | 27 |
| CashBox peak: | 33 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Never Gonna Let You Go" (#4) |
| Top track: | "Never Gonna Let You Go" |
I can't help it. I just love this cheesy album. To say that anyone could have made this record may be overstating the case, but the fact is that there is no way of knowing that this is a Sergio Mendes record without looking at the jacket. Mendes produced the record and plays keyboards on all the tracks, but I think he was more of a coordinator for this album, putting together songs written by top-notch songwriters (Ivan Lins, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Michael Sembello) and the best session musicians available at that time (Nathan Watts, Ernie Watts, Jerry Hey). Sure it's not Mendes' '60s sound and it's over-produced, but it's a solid pop album to my ears.
In Heat
The Romantics
| Billboard peak: | 14 |
| CashBox peak: | 15 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 21 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Talking in Your Sleep" (#3) "One in a Million" (#37) |
| Top track: | "Rock You Up" |
I'll let Village Voice critic Robert Christgau do the heavy lifting on this one: "I was annoyed at first by the loud drums and big echo, which tend to dwarf their simple pop-rock, but daily doses of "Talking in Your Sleep" destroyed my resistance. Really, fellas, anything you say, I'll stop thinking altogether if that's the ticket. Just give me another HOOK! B+"
Sports
Huey Lewis & The News
| Billboard peak: | 1 |
| CashBox peak: | 1 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 2 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Heart and Soul" (#8) "I Want a New Drug" (#6) "The Heart of Rock & Roll" (#6) "If This Is It" (#6) "Walking on a Thin Line" (#18) |
| Top track: | "Heart and Soul" |
Sure the lyrics are silly, but most songs here come with at least one infectious hook. Add some top notch self-production to those hooks and the radio friendly songs become mindlessly enjoyable. So mindless that I've heard these songs hundreds of times yet don't know the lyrics when I try to sing along.
Murmur
R.E.M.
| Billboard peak: | 36 |
| CashBox peak: | 37 |
| Rolling Stone peak: | 23 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Radio Free Europe" |
I didn't purchase this album when released, but my friend Jim did. He played it for me and I immediately took his album home to dub it to a cassette. I had never heard anything like it and it would be a while until I did. The jangly guitars, mumbled vocals, and unpolished garage band production were different enough in 1983 and while there's nothing special about the chord progressions, the writing is good throughout.
These are my personal top 83 albums released in 1983. 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
- Overall quality of the album
The top track for each album is solely my opinion.
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