#1!!! (1979)

Oddball human pop meets danceable robot groundwork. They arrive at disco and do disco well (albeit weirdly and mechanically), tag-teaming the role as thing-responsible-for-retarded-transcendence 5 times over. The most retardedly transcendent track (6) is a collaboration wherein the robots back the pop for three minutes of heavenly absurdity not transcendentally pop, not transcendentally electric, just a blissful synthesis of these playfully competing elements. A division occurs at the halfway mark- they pretend to go back to competing playfully, but the bond is still audibly/philosophically there. This is important- we can still thank Moroder but it's the Maels' positivity which distinguishes it from everything that came next (Sparks being 'literate', 'camp', 'mean', 'caustic', 'acerbic') at the same time that it paved the way for everything that came next (rockists claiming synthpop to be 'anaemic', 'soulless', 'Hiterlish').

A

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Sing it if you want a better way of life! (1989)

IN HAIKUS-

People of the world today
Scratch the tops of their heads and
Sort of wince at this

Ball sweat from bball
Played a Japanese guy who
Was as bad as me

Offered him a beer
He declined but tried to sell
Me cigarettes and

I was like 'I don't
smoke and I have no money'
He needed money

His friend was meant to
Pick him up at the airport
But never showed up

I winced at that too
Having read the description
Of 'wince' which before

I was ignorant
Of evidently because
This record goes hard

In fact if I see
It around I will buy it
You don't have to though

If you don't want to
Here's a dropcanvas link for
Your troubles, love you

Have a good night and a great weekend

A

Anxiety (2013)

1. Did gloomy hipsters ruin R&B in 2012? (the guardian, 29 December 2012)
2. Nah (everyone)
3. Will gloomy hipsters ruin R&B in 2013? (someone, 5 March 2013)
4. Nah (most people)
5. Anxiety's all about disconnection and Ashin already told you that before you heard it
6. I guess the inclusion of Munch's The Scream on the cover would've been too obvious, though obviousness isn't something Anxiety avoids, ever
7. The art of disconnection- anxiety as the byproduct of desire and lack, of not having and wanting, or of having and not wanting, behold the nature of desire and the inevitability of anxiety
8. Behold the opening and closing tracks
9. Peter Gabriel
10. Post-internet
11. Grimes
12. Turgid solipsism or a treatise on the self (universal) and r&b in general (pretentious, unnecessary)
13. Seriously though
14. He'll probably fess up and say that's the point, man
15. And I'll be like yeah I know, man
16. And he'll be like did you hear where it's all poppy and there's a buzzsaw
17. And I'll be like yeah that was a cool song, man, is it about your anxiety, my anxiety, their anxiety, or every r&b song ever
18. And he'll be like it's all the same, man
19. Anxiety in the age of superficial knowledge+connections+identities
20. A scream through the vaporwaves
21. Climbing Up the Walls for gloomy 21st century hipsters
22. Does its status as a socio-technolo-musico-psychological dissertation add to or lessen its value?
23. Well, when it gets me by the balls...
24. And then when it doesn't...
25. Love it when it screams to me and gets all in my head and like makes me feel sick
26. Because at those points it's beyond the self-awareness, irony, and intertextuality supposedly defining it- it's startling, and human- a sort of cure for the conditions of its (his, and our) anxiety
27. And when it fails to transcend...
28. A failure. Don't let anyone tell you that its failures enhance its message (Lacanian self-analysis)
29. Because they will, and it matters more than that- Anxiety occasionally transcends both the problems it deals with and its ideological arsenal- an emotional mess that utilizes the 21st century existential crisis for moments both reassuring and genuine (if absurd) 
30. It's about moments, I'm sure, and it has them, sure, and to have highs you need lows, and if it was all desire achieved without the subsequent lack then it would be to avoid the condition of having and not wanting, meaning no anxiety, meaning no Anxiety, and so he sticks to his conceptual guns, so it's more truthful, fine, but man, this makes me lame, or whatever, but on a third of these tracks we get something transformative, something curative rather than reflective, evidence of the power of art, and emotion, whether it lifts or crushes, it breaks us out of our heads rather than telling us what's in there and why we're in there, occasionally it's a work of art beyond the one that people are saying it is, and how am I in the minority not being frustrated by this

B-

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Andy Partridge - Take Away / The Lure of Salvage (1980)

"This used to be some XTC records. It is now a collection of tracks that have been electronically processed/shattered and layered with other sounds or lyrical pieces. All initial sound by XTC. Additional sound/lyrics by Andy Partridge. Put and take by John Leckie and Andy Partridge on 10/10/79. Alan Jakoby was the tapir. Destructed/constructed at Regents Park Recording Company. If you liked Go+ then this record weighs approximately the same amount."

I mean, you could do that. If it's what you want to do, and it's how you want those songs to sound, I mean, they're your songs, and they're not mine, they're yours, your songs, your percussion, your percussion shattered, your songs destructed to the sound of shattered percussion, I always liked your percussion, even when it wasn't shattered and hearing it shattered freaks me out a little bit, and they're your songs and it's how you want them to sound so I'm not complaining, I wouldn't do that, they're your songs, not mine, so I wouldn't do that, I mean, you could do that, if it's what you want to do, and you did do that, it's what you wanted to do, and I respect it, I respect you, your label must've freaked, and your fans must've freaked, and here I am freaking too. Fuck.

B+

256

Ecstasy at the Uffington White Horse

I mean, if it's good enough for Mandy...

Woah! Seriously though, English Settlement is great. I first started getting into XTC when I was into Scott Walker 'cause I was real into the idea of the pop star going weird, and heard Andy Partridge (singer, guitarist of XTC) didn't exactly go batshit but got sophisticated or something (Talk Talk?) but shit's crazy, he was always good/artistic (Talk Talk!) and then was all appreciative of the art of growing as an artist within pop rather than going avant-tard or quoting Camus. Nah sorry Scott you're still cool. But that Andy Partridge! New waver staying new wave but just getting better is my jam. English Settlement shows how insanely well he understands rhythm and acoustic guitar while retaining the poppiest of pop sensibilities. Hear that, Anco? I'm onto you! I'd call it their best 'cause I'm listening as I type and MAN that acoustic sound rulz and MAN those downer tracks at the end of Skylarking really fuck things up, but I'm not sure. Always the same, always better.

A

here

Joe Meek & the Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

Freak-out concept album about life in outer-space from freaked-out genius/psychopath Joe Meek. Uses instruments 'of this world' to create otherworldly soundscapes/vibes and so it's Chipmunks in space or Hawaiian jams in space or music from your lounge in space. It freaks me the fuck out. Whether that's because Meek was a freak (rhyme!) and this shit is a straight vision of his insanity, or because it's actually pretty awesome in places (Love Dance of the Saroos) as it blends instantly recognizable retro sounds with the anxiety/alienation of the unknown, I have no idea. All I know is I will never play it at night.

C+

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The Brothers Johnson - Light Up the Night (1980)

THAT COVER. Sets things up interestingly: I can't see The Brothers Johnson playing this, but Interstella 5555 by way of Star Wars, or just some delightful space pop funk. The Brothers Johnson's last Quincy Jones production and arguably last good album. Stomp is a funk pop classic, You Make Me Wanna Wiggle is oddball funk but still lite, and This Had to Be was co-written by MJ and has him singing backup

B


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Connie Francis - The Very Best of Connie Francis: Connie's 21 Biggest Hits! (1987)

1. Who's Sorry Now

2. I'm Sorry I Made You Cry

3. Stupid Cupid

4. Fallin'

5. My Happiness

6. If I Didn't Care

7. Lipstick on Your Collar

8. Frankie

9. You're Gonna Miss Me

10. Among My Souvenirs

11. Teddy

12. Everybody's Somebody's Fool

13. My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own

14. Many Tears Ago

15. Where the Boys Are

16. Breakin' In a Brand New Broken Heart

17. Don't Break the Heart That Loves You

18. Second Hand Love

19. Vacation

20. I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter

21. Follow the Boys

Damn

A

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The Style Council - Introducing The Style Council (1983)

Admittedly I a) have never really given a shit about The Jam although All Mod Cons is pretty cool, b) was not alive when this was released, and c) am not British, so Weller's transition from beloved mod revival punk rocker into cornball sophisti-popper has no way of upsetting or disappointing me- especially when becoming said cornball popper gave him the freedom to write songs as undeniably great as Long Hot Summer. And as a non-fan of The Jam, I find the famous national disappointment weird because I heard traces of white boy soul and new wave through the (admittedly polarizing) The Gift. Introducing has Weller introducing (yep) his new sound to the world as a mini-LP so as to soften the blow of a full-length a year later. That's right, he's serious, and having taken two years to get used to that, people started to warm up to it with 1985's Our Favourite Shop. But I'm here for Long Hot Summer. I went in thinking that the others would just be extras, but I didn't think I'd be so right. Two bland (maybe they sounded good in the 80s) "club" remixes so you can take your dinner party to the club if you feel like it, two more beloved singles, and a few rough sketches. I dunno. Maybe it all comes down to charm. And I am charmed! But I also love Long Hot Summer so much that charm can't save me from the disappointment at not finding a few more songs of that quality here

C+

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Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

Neither dwelling in the defeated sympathy of his suitably folkish Nebraska, nor the Dylan/Waits-ish low-life existential embrace of his epic Born to Run- Born in the U.S.A. is real while the others are literature. Given his knack for writing universals, realness isn't really realness when discussed in regard to Springsteen unless you're talking about something like Tunnel of Love. Even so, here he becomes what he's talking about. He means it more. His voice is at its peak. His stories are mini-dramas that're over once the song is. He's bold enough to go pop on the opener- his Deer Hunter set to an ironically muscular, patriotic anthem. He's bolder when he goes synthpop twice afterwards- I'm On Fire and Dancing In The Dark- although he necessarily ends it all in the most stripped-down, heartland way he can with the touching My Hometown. I like his stories, I believe his passion (the vocal turn in Bobby Jean: "just to say I miss you, baby": easily one of the best moments in rock music), and I count Born in the U.S.A. as one of the very few "perfect" albums in rock

A+

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Rick James - Street Songs (1981)

The classic one- the cover's not as mesmerizing as Bustin' Out of L Seven which recalls The Ramones' big dumb 80s period, playing Street Fighter at an arcade machine at night, Escape From New York, and The Warriors. Nor as creepy as Throwin' Down which is the end of Poltergeist II meets Mad Max by way of a creepy sexual theme park ride or laser tag. Not as confusing as Garden of Love's surreal take on reggae artwork. BUT I LOVE THOSE BOOTS. OH THE CLASSIC ONE. There's no Mary Jane or epic heartfelt Hollywood! But that doesn't matter. There's a Ghetto Life, and if that's not good enough, a Super Freak. You know what? I'd be happy with even one of them. The fact that it opens with the lesser known (actually a single, whatever) but equally strong Give It to Me Baby just makes the record all the more confident: James is gonna come back from a critical lull (Garden of Love), grabbing the listener's attention and promising he won't let go 'til his 8 tracks are over. His grip weakens (now regretting this analogy) on Mr. Policeman- not because of the message but because it's not quite as good as the ones that come before and after. The final four are solid though. The only problem might've been the seven minute Fire and Desire, but it's crazy epic and touching in its hit those high notes when you've got no more words to sing wooooooooo sugar sugar sugar-ness. His songs don't always grab me (I try to forget about his and Prince's rivalry), but there's always enough chaotic funk and sexual ridiculousness to keep me listening and saying fuck yeah I love Rick James! Street Songs! Mary Jane! Hollywood!

A

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Linda Scott - The Complete Hits of Linda Scott (2000)

Yeah yeah David Lynch used it, yeah crazy dude, weird movie, great movie? yeah i liked it too

I just get a real good vibe from I've Told Ev'ry Little Star, and even half the songs after it. It's probably (definitely) because of the film, but I really like this collection any way. Kitsch yet unspectacular

B+

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The Time - What Time Is It? (1982)

1. Wild and Loose 7:33

2. 777-9311 8:04

3. OneDayI'mGonnaBeSomebody 2:26

4. The Walk 9:31

5. Gigolos Get Lonely Too 4:41

6. I Don't Wanna Leave You 6:28

Morris Day and The motherfuckin' Time. Everything written and performed by Prince with the exception of lead vocals which are Morris Day's. That's a good thing though- Prince is a genius when it comes to writing and performing funky pop and so What Time Is It? is widely considered to be a funk classic

A

here

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - The Doldrums (2004)

1. Good Kids Make Bad Grown Ups

2. Strange Fires

3. Among Dreams

4. For Kate I Wait

5. Haunted Graffiti

6. Gray Sunset

7. The Doldrums

8. Envelopes Another Day

9. The Ballad Of Bobby Pyn

10. Don't Think Twice (Love)

11. Until The Night Dies

12. Crying

13. Theme From Unreleased 'Claris Gardens'

14. Let's Build A Campfire There

15. Young Pilot Astray

The sound of your favourite pop records when you're sleepy and they've been left out and warped by the sun

B+

vbr

Mary Jane Girls - Mary Jane Girls (1983)

Party Side

1. Candy Man 4:30

2. Boys 5:34

3. Prove It 4:28

4. Jealousy 3:28

Cool Out Side

5. You Are My Heaven 3:14

6. On the Inside 3:55

7. All Night Long 5:34

8. Musical Love 5:07

Brought together by Rick James, The Mary Jane Girls played fun dance pop. Their self titled album features the song All Night Long, one of the highlights from the Vice City soundtrack.

Side one is party music (as you can probably tell from the title Party Side), and side two is slow jams

B

192

Rebecca - Poison (1987)

1. Poison Mind

2. Moon

3. 真夏の雨

4. Tension Living With Muscle

5. Deep Sleep

6. Killing Me With Your Voice

7. Nervous But Glamorous

8. Cherry Shuffle

9. Trouble of Love

10. Olive

OPEN YOUR HEART

B

192

pop post back from the dead

All the way back from 2009. The rips are probably pretty bad

The Walker Brothers - After the lights Go Out 1 / 2

Jacques Brel - Marieke 1
The Kinks - Something Else by the Kinks 1
Scott Walker - Scott 4 1
Lee Hazlewood - Cowboy in Sweden 1
Queen - A Night At the Opera 1
John Cale - Paris 1919 1
Brigitte Fontaine - Vous et Nous 1
Antena - Camino Del Sol 1 / 2
Prince & the Revolution - Around the World in a Day 1
The Divine Comedy - A Short Album About Love 1

Prince - Purple Rain (1984)

1. Let's Go Crazy 4:39

2. Take Me With U 3:55

3. The Beautiful Ones 5:15

4. Computer Blue 3:59

5. Darling Nikki 4:15

6. When Doves Cry 5:52

7. I Would Die 4 U 2:51

8. Baby I'm a Star 4:20

9. Purple Rain 8:45

The album where Prince managed to fully break into the mainstream and also get a white audience. His musicianship is insane, his songs are catchy, and Purple Rain is consistent and passionate. Great record by a guy who made it big through nothing other than hard work and talent

A+

320

Yeezy - 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Yeezy's saccharine robocop concept album: the heat and mind destroyed by an event, the machine required to hold things together. 808's dumb aggression sufficiently balanced by lines as achingly true as I know my destination, but I'm just not there regarding the need to, and yet seeming impossibility of, moving on

PS delete the fuck out of that bonus track. Shit goes straight self-parody

A-

v0

Jo Armstead - A Stone Good Lover

This was posted a few days ago just before megaupload spazzed out and Max had to burn this blog to the ground. This should make everyone feel better. This is pop so good even if you feel like everyone is looking at you and judging you, you will still want to dance.

This is worth it just for the fantastic 'I Feel an Urge Coming On' - but then, it is worth it for everything else too. Now, Golden Classics seems like the kind of mediocre publisher or label or whatever that is actually detrimental to know something about, but like I said when I posted this the first time, I'm sure they never hurt anyone.

I wish Jo Armstead was more famous. She wrote most of her own songs, and did a lot for Ray Charles. Great voice, great vibe etc. Have a party and play this. More soul to come, so stay tuned I guess.

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