The U.K. 80s Singles & Albums Chart General Discussion Thread.

I like it as well. Not really a hit anywhere except Australia (#14)

 

I gave up on Michael McDonald after his first solo album. I like his Doobies work but his solo stuff is too saccharin for me.

 

Ah! He is unique and so talented. You keep forgettin the good stuff.

 

I certainly see what you did there . . .

 

I can't remember if I ever heard "Love Has No Color" by The Winans ft. Michael McDonald on the Dutch radio stations. But this song wasn't a hit here in the Netherlands.

 

I mean it's nothing very special but I do like hearing his voice on pretty much anything.

EG.

 

Only album I have is the Sweet Freedom comp. Another relatively early CD purchase.

Have 3 Doobies albums. Cycles, Minute By Minute and One Step Closer. The last 2 are Japanese SACDs.

 

24/25. Don't have The Mission album.

My top 25 of 1988

01 My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
02 Pixies - Surfer Rosa
03 The House Of Love - The House Of Love
04 Morrissey - Viva Hate
05 Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden
06 Pet Shop Boys – Introspective
07 Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
08 Happy Mondays – Bummed
09 The Go-Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane
10 The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God
11 The Fall – I Am Kurious Oranj
12 R.E.M. – Green
13 Prince – Lovesexy
14 Erasure – The Innocents
15 N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
16 The Sugarcubes – Life’s Too Good
17 The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues
18 Prefab Sprout – From Langley Park To Memphis
19 U2 – Rattle & Hum
20 Enya – Watermark
21 The Fall – The Frenz Experiment
22 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Tender Prey
23 The Smiths – Rank
24 Dinosaur Jr. – Bug
25 Microdisney – 39 Minutes

 

24/25 again. No Nine Inch Nails although I did buy the 12" of Head Like A Hole

My list

01 The Cure - Disintegration
02 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
03 De La Soul - 3 Feet High & Rising
04 New Order - Technique
05 Madonna - Like A Prayer
06 The Blue Nile – Hats
07 Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
08 Lou Reed – New York
09 Peter Gabriel – Passion
10 Neil Young – Freedom
11 808 State – Ninety
12 Tears For Fears – The Seeds Of Love
13 The Wedding Present – Bizarro
14 Pixies – Doolittle
15 The B-52s – Cosmic Thing
16 Paul McCartney – Flowers In The Dirt
17 Neneh Cherry – Raw Like Sushi
18 Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation 1814
19 Fine Young Cannibals – The Raw & The Cooked
20 Erasure – Wild!
21 Felt – Me & A Monkey On The Moon
22 Liza Minnelli – Results
23 The Cult – Sonic Temple
24 Faith No More – The Real Thing
25 XTC – Oranges & Lemons

 

I definitely prefer your list.

 

For most people, that comp is all you need. Flawless from start to finish. I'm going to deluxe his 1985 album No Lookin Back, as some of the versions of those songs were remixed for Sweet Freedom, as was Yah Mo B There when a hit in 1985 (the comp uses the original). If you also add in On My Own and the Joni duet Good Friends, it's basically an extra disc's worth of material.

EG.

 

Listening to the playlist of Euro Disco - The Lost Legends comp. I came across one of my favorite guilty pleasure records
and perhaps the absolute favorite from 1984



Presented in its 12" version (not in this link), its really a fascinating party record of absolute bare esssentials.
The rhythm pattern / added percussion is more or less basic, the lyrics are laughable and as simple as can be
and the real riot is the middle eight / bridge where - there is absolutely nothing going on!
Other than - we are back to the basic rhythm pattern and some simple crowd effects added ( a la Club Tropicana intro).

My favorite bit is though - ...."and Frankie`s got his gang ......Whoooaaahhh"
I wonder if they had cleared that sample upfront.....

Incidentally.....back in the day when I didnt have access to the lyrics, I used to sing along:
"I want an atmosphere......." instead of "Oh what an atmosphere"

I guess it was hard to tell over the radio waves......

Anyone up for a guilty pleasures list ?

 

Some places confused this one with the waaaaaaaaay different (and much darker) Joy Division number of the same title. But it's Abbot's that, at the end of one 1985 Benny Hill Show "Hill's Angels" segment, was covered by Louise English.

 

Incredible to think now, but Russ Abbott really was quite a star on TV back then.

EG.

 

I have those two Japanese SACDs and three others by the Doobies. They are beautifully done.

 

Let’s hope they do, the last one i got Paul Young pretty much all the uk based folks had them delivered before they even posted mine. It took them a week later and a reminder from me and my double pack was mailed later that day, but when they do that it means a 2 week delay, fingers crossed they do not repeat that again.

 

Hopefully not.

You’ll just have to move back here.

 

Thanks for posting your album lists from 1980, 1982, 1988 and 1989. Could you also post your album lists of 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987?

 

Really? I didn't know about Don Johnson's song. Aaron Neville may be an acquired taste. I don't have more than a compilation of him and his brothers, but I have often thought about buying a SACD of his. I love his version of "Tell It Like It Is", and, yes - what's not to like about "Don't Know Much"?

 

Part three of my '1980s bands who blew it'. This time it's Boy George & pals. From the poptastically sublime Colour By Numbers to the very patchy Waking Up... and the downright dreck of From Luxury..... Ego; hubris; creative cluelessness. Their pop well had run dry; never to be replenished. A couple of years of adulation & fab tunes; then all done and dusted.






Their last great single; from a damp squib of an album:

 

The swift and terminal decline of Culture Club really was extraordinary.

I did like Move Away, but it was like a blander pastiche of the Colour By Numbers sound.

You found yourself asking how the same band which got it so perfectly right in 1983 could get everything so wrong a year later. And never really recover. How, for instance, did Roy Hay go from a supposedly acclaimed songwriter to churning out faceless pop/soul by 1987 with This Way Up.

EG.

 

Oh yes! Smash Hits May 1982, and it's that irrepressible bottle of pop fizz herself: Ms Willcox.






Here's the single she was promoting: Brave New World (Uk #21), from her forthcoming The Changeling album (UK #6). Fab.

 

"Beseiged by autograph hunters". A daily occurrence in the world of Toyah!

EG.

 

That’s quite an impressive line-up listed on the cover of Smash Hits. Seven fine artists. And Toyah.

 

I haven't done 1981, 1983, 1984 or 1986 yet.

But here is 1985.

01 Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down
02 The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop
03 Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
04 The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
05 The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
06 Propaganda – A Secret Wish
07 The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
08 Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love
09 The Cult – Love
10 The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy & The Lash
11 The Cure – The Head On The Door
12 Arcadia – So Red The Rose
13 Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair
14 Scritti Politti – Cupid & Psyche ‘85
15 Prince & The Revolution – Around The World In A Day
16 Microdisney – The Clock Comes Down The Stairs
17 R.E.M. – Fables Of The Reconstruction
18 New Order – Low-life
19 Felt – Ignite The Seven Cannons
20 A-ha – Hunting High And Low
21 Phil Collins – No Jacket Required
22 Bryan Ferry – Boys And Girls
23 Colourbox – Colourbox
24 Grace Jones – Slave To The Rhythm
25 Level 42 – World Machine