Honorable mention, in alphabetical order by artist:
| Downtown | Marshall Crenshaw | |
| You're Under Arrest | Miles Davis | |
| Hot Diggety Dog | The Dishes | |
| The Dream Academy | The Dream Academy | |
| Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2 | Billy Joel | |
| Magic Touch | Stanley Jordan | |
| Play Deep | The Outfield | |
| Promise | Sade | |
| Voices Carry | 'Til Tuesday | |
| Wide Awake in America | U2 | |
| The Falcon and the Snowman | Soundtrack |
| 25 | Vocalese | The Manhattan Transfer |
| 24 | Whitney Houston | Whitney Houston |
| 23 | The Power Station | The Power Station |
| 22 | Around the World in a Day | Prince & The Revolution |
| 21 | To Live and Die in L.A. | Wang Chung |
| 20 | Alternating Currents | Spyro Gyra |
| 19 | Fables of the Reconstruction | R.E.M. |
| 18 | Low-Life | New Order |
| 17 | Be Yourself Tonight | Eurythmics |
| 16 | Riptide | Robert Palmer |
| 15 | Dream Into Action | Howard Jones |
| 14 | Stay Tuned | Chet Atkins |
| 13 | Soul to Soul | Stevie Ray Vaughan |
| 12 | Brothers in Arms | Dire Straits |
| 11 | Listen Like Thieves | INXS |
| 10 | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti | Squeeze |
| 9 | Songs from the Big Chair | Tears for Fears |
| 8 | Little Creatures | Talking Heads |
| 7 | In Square Circle | Stevie Wonder |
| 6 | Here's to Future Days | Thompson Twins |
 | Once Upon a Time Simple Minds A&M 5092 Produced by: Bob Clearmountain and Jimmy Iovine |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box | RS |
| 10 | 5 |
Ratings:
| Rolling Stone | ★★★½ |
| Allmusic | ★★★★½ |
| Virgin | ★★★★ |
| Christgau | B- |
| Smash Hits | 7/10 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | Rock | Dance |
| Alive and Kicking | 3 | 2 | 25 |
| Sanctify Yourself | 14 | 3 | 24 |
| All the Things She Said | 28 | 9 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Sanctify Yourself"
"Once Upon a Time"
"Alive and Kicking"
The music here is much more guitar-oriented rock-pop than the synth-pop
of the band's earlier releases. This is a rawer sound and probably
the band's best overall album. Maybe. Not sure. These days, I'm listening to the earlier stuff more than this one, but I listened to this a lot back in '85. It must have come out in the fall, because I immediately associate this album with cooler weather. In any case, it was the band's most successful album here in the US. Maybe Jimmy Iovine was trying to make Simple Minds more like U2 when it should have gone the other way IMO.
 | The Dream of the Blue Turtles Sting A&M 3750 Produced by: Sting and Pete Smith |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box | RS |
| 2 | 2 | 2 |
Ratings:
| Rolling Stone | ★★★★ |
| Allmusic | ★★★★ |
| Virgin | ★★★ |
| Christgau | C+ |
| Smash Hits | 6/10 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | Rock | AC | Dance | R&B |
| If You Love Somebody Set Them Free | 3 | 1 | 39 | 10 | 17 |
| Fortress Around Your Heart | 8 | 1 | 32 | ||
| Love is the Seventh Wave | 17 | 19 | 20 | ||
| Russians | 16 | 34 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Fortress Around Your Heart"
"Love is the Seventh Wave"
"Children's Crusade"
In which Sting attempts to merge pop and jazz in his own
self-aggrandizing style of music. What he ended up with was simply pop
music played by jazz musicians. Still, there was nothing else like it
out there at the time, plus it was Sting, so I snapped it up upon release. Some great jazzers here: Brandford Marsalis, Omar Hakim, Kenny Kirkland. They take Sting's pop songs and make them better. Not Sting's best album, that would come later with Ten Summoner's Tales, but still a great debut for someone like me who enjoyed jazz music and was a huge fan of the Police.
 | Black Codes (From the Underground) Wynton Marsalis Columbia 40009 Produced by: Steve Epstein |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box | RS |
| 118 | 101 |
Ratings:
| Rolling Stone | ★★★½ |
| Allmusic | ★★★★★ |
| Virgin | ★★★ |
| Christgau | - |
| Smash Hits | - |
| U.S. charted singles: |
| none |
Top 3 Tracks
"Blues"
"For Wee Folks"
"Aural Oasis"
Released on my 19th birthday, my LP copy of this neo-bop album got a lot of playing time in my dorm room during my sophomore year in college. Not only my favorite Marsalis album, it has become one of
my favorite jazz albums. The young quintet here includes Wynton's brother Branford, Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, and Charnett Moffett. (If you'll recall, Branford and Kirkland also played on the above Sting album.) The writing and playing here belies the ages of all
involved.
In addition to reaching 118 on the Billboard 200 album chart, it also spent 42 weeks on Billboard's jazz album chart, peaking at #2 where it was held out of the top spot by Stanley Jordan's Magic Touch album.
In addition to reaching 118 on the Billboard 200 album chart, it also spent 42 weeks on Billboard's jazz album chart, peaking at #2 where it was held out of the top spot by Stanley Jordan's Magic Touch album.
 | The Moo Album The Judy's Wasted Talent JWT4044 Produced by: The Judy's |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box | RS |
Ratings:
| Rolling Stone | - |
| Allmusic | - |
| Virgin | - |
| Christgau | - |
| Smash Hits | - |
| U.S. charted singles: |
| none |
Top 3 Tracks
"Milk"
"Teenage Millionaire"
"Wilma a Go-Go"
I've owned this gem first on cassette, then once that was stretched out, I found an LP, burned the vinyl to a CD when that technology became available, then finally purchased a CD when it was re-released through the band's website. Sounds like a lot of trouble? Nah - worth it. Coming from a non-traditional power trio from the Houston suburb of Pearland, we're treated to plenty of 2 minute songs full of hooks and witty lyrics. Need a genre? Let's go with "minimalist power pop-ish New Wave satire."
Even though they played gigs around Texas frequently in the '80s, I only caught them once:
I don't have memories of getting a concert tee, but surely I did, right?
Even though they played gigs around Texas frequently in the '80s, I only caught them once:
I don't have memories of getting a concert tee, but surely I did, right?
Allmusic
|
 | Cupid & Psyche 85 Scritti Politti Warner Bros. 25302 Produced by: Scritti Politti and Arif Mardin |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box | RS |
| 50 | 35 |
Ratings:
| Rolling Stone | ★★★½ |
| Allmusic | ★★★★½ |
| Virgin | ★★★ |
| Christgau | A- |
| Smash Hits | 6½/10 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | Dance |
| Perfect Way | 11 | 6 |
| Wood Beez | 91 | 4 |
| Hypnotize | 43 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Perfect Way"
"Wood Beez"
"Hypnotize"
I don't know why I love it, but I do. I know absolutely nothing about Scritti Politti and I've never heard any other SP albums. One of those albums where you hear one song ("Perfect Way") on the radio and decide to take a chance on the full thing. I did just that over Christmas break in 1985 ("Perfect Way" peaked on Dec 21), put the tape in my car and listened over and over, never hitting the ffwd button. It's all bubblegum synthpop and it's all good. Sure, the production and CMI Fairlight synth sound dated now, but that just makes this pop treasure a perfect time-capsule.
These are my personal top 25 albums released in 1985. 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 past 30 years
- Overall quality of the album
References:
- Billboard magazine chart information is available from the Billboard website, the American Radio History archives, Google Books, or any of the wonderful Record Research books.
- The Cash Box chart information was taken from The Cash Box Album Charts, 1976-1985 (1987).
- The Rolling Stone chart information was compiled using Rolling Stone magazine's DVD-ROM set, Cover to Cover: The First 40 Years (2007).
- The Rolling Stone ratings were taken from either the Rolling Stone Album Guide, 3rd ed. (1993) or the Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999).
- The Virgin ratings were taken from The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music (1997).
- The Robert Christgau ratings were taken from Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990). They are also available at his comprehensive website.
- The Smash Hits ratings were taken from the archives at Like Punk Never Happened.
