[Best songs of 1988 playlist on Spotify]
I’ve enjoyed doing my top 20 lists over the past 10 years or
so that I’ve decided, what the hell, let’s do all the years.
Let’s start with 30+ years ago, 1988.
The 80’s were filled with lots of great music
if you looked hard enough, but I didn’t really look for the era’s deep indie
cuts until much later.
But the decade
did have
R.E.M. and
U2 at their finest, and scores of brilliant new wave/post
punk singles, and the working class heroes of
Bruce Springsteen,
Tom Petty,
Dire Straits,
The Waterboys,
The Alarm, and
Billy Bragg.
The 80’s were also horribly hamstrung by the self-conscious narcissism
of the MTV age, pastel colours, and ridiculous rock star pretensions of fey new
wavers and atrocious hair metal bands.
Corporate music takeovers of glam and punk ruled the Top 40.
1988 specifically saw the early stirrings of shoegaze, gangsta
hip hop, indie rock, and the grunge explosion of the 90’s, with important
records by My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Galaxie 500, Spacemen
3, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Jane’s Addiction, and Pixies. At the time, I was not on top of all this
greatness – trapped in my freshmen residence, my listening habits were directly
affected by my peers and I went down an important retrospective path of psychedelic
60’s and folk, 70’s classic rock, and early reggae. It was an education. Years later I caught back up with 80’s, and
1988 was a pretty good one. And so, 30+
years later here is a fulsome review of my Top 20 favorites of that year.
First, respect to the following long-players that fell just
out of the primo list:
Close Lobsters – Headache Rhetoric
Spaceman
3 – Playing With Fire
N.W.A.
– Straight Outta Compton
The
Feelies – Only Life
Cowboy
Junkies – The Trinity Sessions
The
Smithereens – Green Thoughts
The
Proclaimers – Sunshine on Leith
Phillip
Glass – Powaqqatsi
Jane’s
Addiction – Nothing Shocking
The Jazz
Butcher – Spooky
Dinosaur
Jr – Bug
Felt
– Pictorial Jackson Review
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
And here is
a quick Top 20 of my favorite songs of 1988.
A full playlist of superior tracks is on Spotify here.
1. Waiting
For the Great Leap Forward – Billy Bragg (from Workers Playtime)
2. Jane Says
– Jane’s Addiction (from Nothing Shocking)
3. The Host
of Seraphim – Dead Can Dance (from The Serpent’s Egg)
4. Orinoco
Flow – Enya (from Watermark)
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5. You Are
the Everything –
R.E.M. (from
Green)
6. Chinese
Bones – Robyn Hitchcock (from Globe of Frogs)
7. Punk Rock
Girl – The Dead Milkmen (from Beelzebubba)
8. Pulling
Touch – Poi Dog Pondering (from Poi Dog Pondering)
9. I’m Not
Always So Stupid – The Wedding Present (from George Best)
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10. Crash –
The
Primitives (from
Lovely)
11. World
Leader Pretend – R.E.M. (from Green)
12. (Nothing
But) Flowers – Talking Heads (from Naked)
13. Desire –
U2 (from Rattle and Hum)
14. Fairytale
of New York – The Pogues (from If I Should Fall From Grace With God)
15. Straight
Outta Compton – N.W.A. (from Straight Outta Compton)
16. I
Believe In You – Talk Talk (from Spirit of Eden)
17. Where Is
My Mind? – Pixies (from Surfa Rosa)
18. Antenna
– The Church (from Starfish)
19. Tighten
Up Vol. ’88 – Big Audio Dynamite (from Tighten Up Vol. ’88)
20. Flowers –
Galaxie 500 (from Today)
And now…my
Top 20 favorite albums of 1988.
20. House of Love – House of Love
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It is
amazing to me that I didn’t get around listening to this band until the past
few years. For one, they were one of the
first successful bands (relatively speaking) of the UK’s Creation Records,
which were to go on to release records by perennial favorites of mine,
including Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Boo Radleys, Slowdive, The Jazz Butcher, etc. (not to mention Oasis).
I honestly think I got them simultaneously mixed up with Book of Love (remember “I Touch
Roses”?) and House of Pain (remember
“Jump Around”?). They were erased by
this cognitive mishap. But here were
are. House of Love are the perfect
musical connector between The Smiths/Joy Division, Stone Roses, and shoegaze.
They have that uniquely British power pop feel, but reworked
considerably through cavernous shimmer and reverb and that downcast vocal
delivery that helped define bands like The
Chameleons, Kitchens of Distinction,
and The Psychedelic Furs. It’s so 80’s but also so good at prefiguring
the noises of the 90’s just around the corner.
Choice track: “Love In A Car”.
19. The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues
I was
enthralled and obsessed with The Waterboys’ previous LP This Is The Sea, and it took me awhile to warm up to Fisherman’s Blues. Years even.
This Is The Sea was anthemic,
angst-ridden, and somehow unworldly.
Fisherman’s Blues felt timid in comparison. But I’ve made peace with this
transformation. While it seemed The
Waterboys were beginning to lurk into the grand (grandiloquent?) territory of U2 (who had just released The Joshua Tree the year prior), they
instead took a step back and refashioned themselves into the cerebral soul-folk
of Van Morrison (directly referenced
in their cover of Van’s ”Sweet Thing”).
This has aged well, retaining the deep romanticism of the earlier
records, while muting the grandiose elements.
It’s a great record, pastoral and intimate. Choice tracks: “Fisherman’s Blues”, “And A
Bang On The Ear”.
18. The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Whiskey
soaked Celtic romps from these bad asses from London. It is the sort of stuff you can hear at many
an Irish bar, but the Pogues are impossibly jiggy and off the rails. Lead Shane McGowan brings an authentic
drunken growl to the mix and he’s punk as fuck, a complete menace (McGowan grew
up and experienced first hand the anarchy of nascent UK punk). On this set we have righteous political
anger, love and regret, and high speed drunken merry-go-rounds. Included is one of the most compelling duets
recorded, “Fairytale of New York”, which has become an anti-hero Christmas
classic and a widely adored love song, primarily because things fall apart so abjectly
between McGowan and Kirsty MacColl
(RIP). While the Irish folk on If I Should is front and centre, one
also hears Spanish and Middle Eastern influences and a tightly wound and
frenetic musicianship that is the best of the best. Choice track: “Fairytale Of New York”.
17.
The Mighty Lemon Drops – World
Without End
I always
thought these blokes didn’t get nearly enough love. One songwriting weakness, at least in my
estimation, was a tendency to recycle melodies on the verses, creating a
sameness across numerous songs. But the
choruses always seemed to make up for it, improving the songs immensely. World
Without End showcases the Drops’ best stuff, which draws on the post-punk
of Joy Division and The Psychedelic Furs, the Madchester
rhythms of Stone Roses and Inspiral Carpets, and big hooky sounds
of the Britpop to come. Choice tracks:
“Inside Out”, “Closer To You”.
16. Big Audio Dynamite – Tighten Vol. 88
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It could be
that this is the least loved of B.A.D.’s first string of albums. I’m not sure, although it does rate a paltry
2/5 stars on Allmusic. I remember buying
it on vinyl when it came out and being hugely disappointed – this was the
moment I began to ignore the output of Mick Jones, which is startling since he
was one half of the songwriting team of The
Clash, my first true love. Something
about it bothered me. Perhaps I grew
tired of the wry/sardonic sampling, and the looping synths and digibeats. But I eventually came back to it and I feel
it is more interesting and engaging than No.
10 Upping Street, and is only a shade shy of the greatness of their debut This Is Big Audio Dynamite. The melodies and choruses are stellar, and the
experimentation on display shows that literally no other band was doing what
B.A.D. was doing back then, fusing sampling and looped beats with rock riffs, hip
hop, folk, and whole ton of other weird shit.
Lyrically, it’s a sarcastic word salad that, over time, compels meaning,
dark and funny and poignant. The
penultimate song, the title track, is an amazing amalgam of jazz, samba, pop,
and moody electronica that is truly transportive. Choice tracks: “Mr. Walker Said”, “Tighten
Up, Vol. 88”.
15. Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll
I became a
fan of the Cocteaus long after their heyday in the 80s. I had heard of them of course, but was
certain they would be too goth and gloomy for my tastes. I’m not sure where I got this
preconception. Damn those
preconceptions. Eventually I got things
straight when I heard too many references to the band as foundational to other
favorites (especially Lush). A new love affair began when I picked up
1996’s Milk & Kisses, which
turned out to be their last proper studio album. I’ve since been acquiring their back catalog
and found Blue Bell Knoll to be a
highlight of 1988. It’s what you expect
if you know the Cocteau Twins. Layers
and layers of chorus/delay guitar shimmer, compressed and reverbed drums, and
the glorious goth-opera vocals of Elizabeth Fraser. Like music you’d hear while travelling the
astral plane with a Nephilim entourage. Choice tracks: “Athol-Brose”, “Ella
Megalast Burls Forever”.
14. The Go-Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane
The
Go-Betweens put out five solid albums of jangly, Paisley Underground guitar pop
before landing the acclaimed and beloved 16
Lovers Lane, their last album before reuniting twelve years later in
2000. These are genuine, heart-on-sleeve
meditations on love and loss. The
emotionality and vulnerability of the lyrics is striking and poetic, but for me
I am just taken by melodies and chord progressions that act as perfect vehicles
for these messages. This is some pretty
breathtaking songwriting here, and, in the context of simple four-piece guitar
pop, seems peerless. If you think well
of Billy Bragg, Lloyd Cole, The Lilac Time,
or The Dream Syndicate, The
Go-Betweens will lead you to the promised land of sweet song. Choice tracks: “Love Goes On”, “Clouds”,
“Streets of Your Town”.
13. Minor Threat – The Complete Discography
This may not
be considered a proper album, really, as it is a collection of all of Minor
Threat’s incendiary punk dating back as far as 1981. But it is the only long player they released and
is often the first and only record that many listeners have ever been able to
get. Their discography, obviously, is
not large, but it looms so. 80s hardcore
sometimes doesn’t age very well and I have to be in the mood – the structures
are pretty strict, and in MT’s case, it is a relentless, unyielding, impossibly
fast barrage of punk mayhem. While there
were quite a few great 80s hardcore bands, Minor Threat appeared to be in a
league of its own. A principled,
completely DIY, highly localized, political juggernaut. Leader Ian MacKaye would go on to create the
more free-form hardcore of Fugazi,
but Minor Threat still stands as monument to American indie and hardcore. Flex Your Head! Choice tracks: “I Don’t Want To Hear It”,
“Minor Threat”.
12. Galaxie 500 - Today
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Heavily influenced
by The Velvet Underground, Jonathan Richman, and twee indiepop, Galaxie
500 by all rights should have been a tiny footnote in the indie music scenes of
Boston and New York. They seriously lacked
musicianship (poor singing, rudimentary guitar), but somehow made up for it
with artiness and that sort of detached urban cool that made the Velvets
anti-heroes of the late 60s. In the end,
G500 became hugely influential to a 90’s indie scene of stripped down, slowed
down, sparse minimalism celebrated by outfits such as Codeine, Low, Bedhead, Seam, Idaho, Smog, and many others. (The genre was most often called “Slowcore”,
and that’s the last I’ll speak of it).
G500’s trademark was their production.
While merely a three-piece of guitar, bass, and drums, producer Kramer
(of Bongwater) laid on the reverb so
thick and wide, the band sounded like they were playing in the hull of an oil
tanker. This hid their many
imperfections and gave them a ghostly, wistful presence and a signature sound. Of course, songs are nothing without melody,
and Dean Wareham and company knew their way around a good hook. Add in deadpanned, cheeky-noir lyrics and you
have the G500 oeuvre. Today, their debut, perfectly captures
all this, launching the still-going-strong careers of Dean Wareham (Luna, Dean and Britta), bassist Naomi Yang, and drummer Damon Kruskowski
(the latter two having married and forming Damon
and Naomi). Choice tracks: “Flowers”,
“Tugboat”.
11. Talk Talk – Sprit of Eden
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One might
have initially thought Talk Talk would be one of those one-hit new wave wonders,
with the incomparable single and title track “It’s My Life”, regressing and
drifting into the mists, perhaps showing up alongside Endgame, The Assembly,
and Furniture on one of the Hardest Hits compilations. The follow up, The Colour of Spring was, however, a massive reformulation. While they gained enormous mainstream exposure
with the accessible and powerful single “Life’s What You Make It”, the rest of
the album was a rewarding foray into a fusion of jazz, ambient, and avant-pop,
solidifying them as high-brow contemporaries of Brian Eno, David Sylvian,
and King Crimson. Spirit
of Eden followed and it was even more challenging. There are no clear singles – the band refused
to issue any, or tour the record due to its complexity; instead we have long,
meditative, and beautiful movements of jazz, classical, and prog-rock. Stunning, spiritual, and expansive. Is that enough adjectives? Choice tracks:
“Inheritance”, “I Believe In You”.
10.
Public Enemy – It Takes A
Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
I was a peripheral
fan of PE in the early days, largely (and very embarrassingly) because I was
turned on to “Fight The Power” through an early cover by Barenaked Ladies (on the self-released “Sandwich” tape – but later
redone on the Coneheads soundtrack, oddly but awesomely). Over the years, I realized that no one comes
close to the mighty and righteous Chuck D in terms of the pure power of rap
delivery (and yes, Flavor Flav adds great punctuation). Nation
of Millions is a hip hop high water mark in my mind. I was ridiculously fortunate to see them
perform this whole record, beginning to end, at the Pitchfork Music Festival in
2008. Wicked ass funk guitar samples,
jazzy drums, fiery political lyrics, and gut punch raps that destroy
all-comers. Old school that stood above
the rest. Choice tracks: “Louder Than A
Bomb”, “Caught, Can We Get A Witness”.
9. U2 – Rattle and Hum
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While U2’s Unforgettable Fire established the band
as stadium ready, the legendary Joshua
Tree absolutely blew the roof off the rock world. It was a height that would not (could not?)
be reached by the band again. So what to
do next? Rattle and Hum was a conceit
that led to a fair bit of critical blowback, with strongly worded suggestions
that the band was pandering and name-dropping in order to reinvent themselves
and their influences. It was a fair
question. Did the band really emerge out
from Dylan, Hendrix, BB. King,
gospel, blues, and general Americana? This
feels like a leap when examining their formative years as post-punkers/new
wavers. Here is a band that has just
conquered the world with their own distinctive (now canonical) material and yet
they still felt a need to establish some sort of retroactive roots rock credibility? But in the end, to me, this didn’t matter,
and I see the whole record as an homage to the greats – there is a humility to
U2 in some strange way, side by side with the bombast, as in “yes, we have made
some fantastic albums, but remember who really matters.” Perhaps critics felt that a self-celebratory
rockumentary was pure egoism but if anyone deserved documentary treatment in
the late 80s, it was U2. If you deeply
felt the inclusive spirituality of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
on Joshua Tree, the gigantic live gospel version put you over the edge. “All Along The Watch Tower” probably didn’t
need covering by anyone after Dylan and Hendrix cemented it in two exemplary
ways, but it stands up as a cracking live tribute. And anybody who has seen U2 live intimately
knows that “Pride (In The Name of Love)” needs live representation. But the real value of Rattle and Hum comes
from the new material that was penned by the band. “Desire” became an instant classic, with its Bo Diddley, garage surf rhythm coupled
with the Edge’s signature guitar sound.
“All I Want Is You” is a simple and pretty love song that transforms
into a universal anthem. “Angel of
Harlem” brings in the Memphis Horns
to eulogize Billie Holiday – who
knew U2 could sound like Wilson Pickett? While it was clear that band was reaching a
point that would require a radical rethink – which ultimately birthed the
brilliant Achtung Baby -- Rattle and
Hum was a necessary set of roots rock demons to exorcise, punctuated by some
A-game U2 originals. Choice tracks: “Desire”, “All I Want Is You”.
8.
Sonic Youth – Daydream
Nation
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Sonic Youth,
the grandparents of indie-rock and avant-pop noise bedlam, put out a number of
amazing albums, but Daydream Nation
counts as my favorite (Dirty would be
a fairly close second). I don’t think I
am alone in this opinion. While J. Mascis, Robert Pollard, and Frank
Black may have something to say about it, I don’t think the indie rock
scene we know and love happens without this album. Would we have Pavement, Blonde Redhead,
Broadcast, and Superchunk? Nirvana? Eric’s Trip, awesome Haligonian indie
rockers, take their name from track 5. In
2015, I ran into Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin and, in full fanboy mode,
recounted how me and my buddies assembled to listen to their new album
beginning to end. He replied that he and
his mates did the same for Daydream Nation almost 30 years ago, clearly marking
the album’s influence. While still
angular and challenging (and claustrophobic and dystopic), gone are the
maddening sound experiments of SY’s earliest records. While delightfully distorted, Daydream Nation
has memorable songs and hooks. I wish I could listen to this for the first time
in 1988. It would have floored me and I
would have glimpsed the future. Choice
tracks: ”Teen Age Riot”, “Silver Rocket”.
7.
My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t
Anything
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Huh, feels
like I could repeat the Sonic Youth review above and sub in shoegaze for indie
rock. Here is another album I wish I
heard when it came out. I don’t know
when I first heard the sublime and peerless Loveless,
but it was a long time ago, long before I finally got my hands on MBV’s debut, Isn’t Anything. At this point the band’s sound does not yet
feel fully realized, but that is only in comparison to Loveless, which isn’t remotely fair. Taken on its own merits, Isn’t Anything is tremendous and unique for its time, with layers
upon layers of beautifully effected guitar, carefully constructed dissonance
and drone, and the distant vocals of Bilinda Butcher and Kevin
Shields. It marks the beginning of
shoegaze (an awful, inapt term, but perhaps my favorite subgenre). I repeat, it marks the BEGINNING OF
SHOEGAZE! The beginning of Ride, Slowdive, Lush, Boo Radleys, Verve, and countless other authors of fuzz and bliss. Choice tracks: “Lose My Breath”, “Feed Me
With Your Kiss”, “Sueisfine”.
6.
Billy Bragg – Workers
Playtime
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Billy Bragg,
the leftist, unionist Woody Guthrie
of the 80’s, is known for his sharp-as-knives political commentary packaged
into super catchy, honest-as-fuck folk pop.
But, as all Billy Bragg fans know, he is an equally accomplished writer
of the simple love song. Because he is
an absolute lyrical genius, his
simple love songs are also clever, poignant, and possibly profound if you
happen to be a bit heart-stricken. Both
song types are on Workers Playtime,
although one might think love songs would be scarce. The cover is adorned with socialist imagery
of communist China, exclaims “Capitalism is killing music”, and includes an
Antonio Gramsci quote in the liner notes.
It just presents like a heavy political album. But within are brilliant little songs about
the basics of love and loss, including the gems “She’s Got A New Spell”, “The
Price I Pay”, and “Valentine’s Day Is Over”.
But the cream of the crop and one of my all-time favorite tracks is
“Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards”, which documents Bragg’s ambivalence and
disillusionment with modern socialism and activism in his world of “pop and
politics”. Bragg’s narration of the
pitfalls of Bolshevik communism, the scars of the Cold War, and the trappings
of superficial western liberalism is penetrating and sublime – and sad,
cynical, hopeful, and funny all at once.
I reckon I’ve never heard lyricism so perfectly concocted, at least not with
Bragg’s everyman practicality and humour that ostensibly eluded some of my other
favorite poets, such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Matt Johnson (of The The). The Great Leap Forward was China’s post war
propaganda of economic and social development.
Bragg’s still waiting for the bonafide leap, presumably to this day, toward
the sort of socialism that can free us all.
Revolution is just a t-shirt away!
Choice tracks: “She’s Got A New Spell”, “Waiting For The Great Leap
Forward”.
5. Enya
– Watermark
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I have
received a fair bit of flack from a range a peers for my love of Enya, with the
most common criticism being that she apparently shills prefabricated new age
slop that is somehow clichéd and musically insipid (no one has said this to me in
this way exactly, but it’s what I hear).
Can I just say…please shut it? Brian Eno may be the grandfather of new
age (unfortunately spawning countless boring soundscapes and recorded rainstorms
best fit for yuppie beauty spas) but Enya is clearly the powerful matriarch of
it all, beginning in earnest with her self-titled debut (after some years with proggy
new agers, Clannad); and then
remarkably crossing over to the pop charts with her second album and the
brilliant single “Orinoco Flow”.
Perhaps, skeptics might say, this is a sorely dated piece of work,
sounding far too tethered to 80s synths and MIDI choirs – that I need to listen
to it again and straighten myself out.
Fact is, I have routinely put on this album over the past 30 years
whenever I have wanted to calm my mind and sink away into neo-classical
beauty. YOU need to listen to it
again. Start with the title track, “Watermark”,
as well as “Miss Claire Remembers”, two hauntingly beautiful piano solo pieces
that are not out of place next to Debussey
and Satie. This gives you a sense of Enya’s
compositional roots. Then listen to “Na
Laetha Geal M’Oige”, in which Enya mesmerizes the listener with an otherworldly
vocal solo over subtle organ, with an instrumental bridge on uilleann pipes
(pretty distinctive bagpipes of Ireland, although I know very little of such
things). Finish off with Enya’s
signature sound – that which has given her the new age tag – best featured on “Orinoco
Flow”, “Storms of Africa”, and “The Longships”.
Now, if you don’t like ethereal musical mind castles, then, sure, Enya
is not for you. But if you do, if you
are attracted to meditative, classical soundscapes and gorgeous transportive
melodies, give Enya another chance. She
is, after all, the Mother. Choice
tracks: “Orinoco Flow”, but you really
should listen to the whole album beginning to end, on headphones, under the
stars.
4. The Primitives – Lovely
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One wonders
why the Primitives never got the same kudos and exposure as similar female led
guitar pop groups, such as Blondie, The Go Go’s, and The Bangles. While they
earned some success with the lead single “Crash” – which led me directly to
their records – they remained on the relative margins. Perhaps because they avoided overproduction,
retaining a fuzzy foundation underneath Tracy Tracy’s candyfloss vocals, and aligning them more
closely to the Jesus and Mary Chain
and Lush. With the exception of the eastern-influenced
“Shadow” (tablas!) this is a simple but irresistible indie pop-punk, with a
dose of 50’s sock hop and 60’s garage-band.
When I reviewed 1988 for the purposes of this list, I was a little
floored by how highly this rated for me.
I knew I liked it a lot – but a revisitation put it mighty high on my
favorites list. Lovely is a key document in the indie-pop, C86 genre, giving rise
to a host of jangly/fuzzy indie bands I adore, such as The Aisler’s Set, Dear Nora,
The Vivian Girls, Veronica Falls, Frankie Rose, Best Coast,
Slumber Party, The Pipettes, and many others.
Choice tracks: “Crash”, “Way
Behind Me”.
3. Robyn
Hitchcock and The Egyptians – Globe of Frogs
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Robyn
Hitchcock is one of those amazingly fantastical dudes who weaves the quirkiest
and strangest of tales into his outsider folk rock music (like the druidry of Julian Cope, the madcappery of Syd Barrett, and the sardonic wit of The Jazz Butcher). I am a fan of this guy, although nothing in
his discography comes close to Globe of
Frogs. Absurdism is tough tightrope to
walk without losing the audience and crossing over into the land of dumb, but
Hitchcock stays the course somehow on what is one of the oddest concept records
I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.
I’m not suggesting there is particular narrative here; rather it is the
lyrical symbolism that coheres. It is
relentlessly “organic”. That is to say,
the songs all consistently invoke organic metaphors and imagery. It’s about flowers, soil, skin and bones,
birth/death/rebirth. It’s all sticky and
fleshy and compostable, but also inscrutable.
I don’t know how else to explain it.
Sample lyrics: “He splattered me with tomatoes, hummus, chick peas and
some strips of skin”. Or “And in the
demon’s hat, discoloured flowers grew, and they had fleshy stems, and fleshy
petals too.” Song titles include “Tropical Flesh Mandala”, “Luminous Rose”, and
“A Globe of Frogs”. The album feels like
a paean to a freaky, hallucinogenic biosphere, all queasy and uneasy. All this lyrical wonderment would be for
naught were it not for the music itself, which is imbued with attractive
rhythms, jangly guitar, rollicking bass, and ear worm melodies. If there is a grandfather of the “freak folk”
genre of the 2000’s (i.e., early Animal
Collective, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom), it is Hitchcock. Globe of Frogs’ closest relatives at the time
may have been Julian Cope and R.E.M. (in fact, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck
guests throughout on guitar). I could
have easily missed this album were it not for the minor college radio hit
“Balloon Man”, which got some Toronto airplay.
A friend bought the vinyl and I promptly taped it (Mike Hotta, thank
you). There is no way I would have taken
the deep dive into this album that it deserves without this well-worn
cassette. And now, 30 years later, both
the LP and CD are long out of print and absent from major download and
streaming sites. A lost classic. Choice tracks: “Vibrating”, “Balloon Man”,
“Chinese Bones”, “Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis)”.
2. Poi
Dog Pondering – Poi Dog
Pondering
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Who listens
to Poi Dog Pondering? Anyone? Anyone?
Once again attributable to my teenage supplier (thank you again Mike
Hotta, you are officially responsible for 2 of the top 5 of 1988), this record
arrived unannounced into our naïve musical sphere of punk and new wave (and Led Zeppelin, Rush, and The Beatles, of course) and I don’t
quite get why we connected so strongly to it.
Perhaps we were receptive due to the growing presence of Celtic
influenced bands like the Pogues and
Spirit of the West. Or maybe it is simply that we were suckers
for really good melody. In any case, we
knew that Poi Dog Pondering were something special, albeit beyond any teenage
articulation of that fact. Had they any
footprint to speak of in the landscape of popular music (beyond a small,
seemingly rabid, fanbase) they would have been considered trail blazers of the
rock-folk-pop ensemble. Clearly the “ensemble” – and by that I
mean lots of musicians contributing to a coherent whole – has been around as
long as classical and jazz, and that’s a mighty long time, but the framework of
rock and roll was essentially an attempt to tear that down into the classic
line up of guitar, bass, keys (maybe), and drums (notwithstanding the
orchestral arrangements of The Beatles
and The Beach Boys, among others). In the early 2000s, Arcade Fire revived (repurposed? reintroduced?) this approach,
employing both in studio and in live set ups a rotating cast of numerous
multi-instrumentalists, covering the rock basics, but enhanced by brass,
strings, extra percussion, and any number of folk instruments. The effect was monumental and represented a
distinct trend in popular indie rock (e.g., Broken Social Scene, The
Decemberists, Mercury Rev). Well, Poi Dog Pondering was well ahead of
this game back in 1988, assembling a plethora of amazing musicians based in
Austin TX and, unexpectedly, Hawaii. (Sidebar:
Guelph’s own Black Cabbage
deserves mention as another earlier adopter of the “all hands on deck”
cacophony). For a young, under the radar
indie band, these lovely folks had serious chops and amazing production
value. In any given song, you have
crystal clear layers of three or so guitars, bass, violin and cello, flutes,
drums and other percussion, piano, and other accoutrements. The lyrics of led ponderer, Frank Orral,
could be a little saccharine, a little on the nose of the 90’s hippie love
revival, but also often poignant and poetic.
The whole package was astounding.
While the Poi Dogs would later move into RnB structures, this first
album was a triumph of cinematic Celtic folk with Hawaiian flares. Choice tracks: “Living With The Dreaming
Body”, “Pulling Touch”, “Fall Upon Me”.
1. R.E.M.
– Green
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R.E.M. was
growing concern in the pop landscape ever since Lifes Rich Pageant (which
landed the surprise hit “Superman”) and Document (which gave us the lyrical
rollercoaster ear worm “It’s The End of the World as We Know It” and the much
loved “The One I Love”). Green, however,
jumped into the big time, with giant hits “Orange Crush” and the ultra-radio
friendly “Stand” (both going to #1 on mainstream charts in the US). I had a been a devoted fan every since I saw
heard/watched “Pretty Persuasion” (from 1984’s Reckoning) on an after-school video show. Despite marking their
move to a major label (Warner), Green was pure R.E.M. in my mind, even
though Peter Buck suggests the album represented a big change to “major key
rock songs”. Conversely, Buck also
acknowledges the album’s eclecticism and experimentation, including a decision to
trade instruments and to introduce new sounds (most obviously Buck’s mandolin
on three songs). There are so many great
moments on here – from the anti-war rock piece “Orange Crush” to the cerebral
folk of “World Leading Pretend”, “Hairshirt”, and “You Are The Everything”, to
the bubblegum pop of “Stand” (which, I should note, dignified itself by perhaps
being the first #1 pop song about mindfulness, localism, and
environmentalism). Remarkably, R.E.M.
would reach even greater heights with follow ups Out Of Time and Automatic
For The People. But don’t forget
Green, a moment when a beloved independent band went to the majors without a
hint of compromise. Choice tracks: “You Are The Everything”, “World Leader
Pretend”, and the last untitled track.
What’s next? Probably I’ll jump back to the 60’s.
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1 Swim Until You Can't See Land Frightened Rabbit
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10 Avant Gardener Courtney Barnett How To
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24 Clawing Out at the Walls Dominant Legs Young
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39 The Scene Between Go! Team The Scene
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50 Lost Dreamers Mutual Benefit Skip A
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66 Jigsaw Heart Elliott Brood Work and Love:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2014863-1258636869.jpeg.jpg)
77 Feel It All Around Washed Out Life of
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95 Ends of the Earth Lord Huron Lonesome
Dreams
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