Cupid & Psyche 85

Department store ass music.

Everything wrong with 80s music all rolled in one.. perfect way was slightly better than the rest of this hot garbage

The first few songs on this album were really bland. It got better, but never something I'd actively chose to listen to.

Idk what they are going for, me not like. Songs are quiet, slow and repetitive.

Was excited when i saw this was funk but its like super tedious and surface deep synth pop

Paula Abdul eat your heart out. Not for me at all. Just wanted to skip to the next track all the time. Still better than anything bjork has put out though.

This is breathy Prince or George Michael, but in a boring way. Nothing came across as influential, catchy, or all that entertaining. Just another brit-pop entry on the list.

Knallgod og overraskende intrikat pop. Bill Wurtz må ha hørt en del på dette

Vilken skit

Love this album, gonna throw it on constant rotation. Best vibes favorite type of music

yo this not good

I liked this quite a bit - it seems like it was ahead of its time (or firmly within its own time...) I could hear their influence on many of the artists of today.

Yet another record I’d never heard of but the gist of it is imagine if the most 80s sounding record was made by an Italian but all in English. There’s a quote from GTA Vice City on one of the radio stations that says “we’ll tell you what’s good and play it until you like it”. This album made me realize that a lot of the 80s music that has stood the test of time might just be popular because we decided it was. Granted I don’t think this was as good as say Tears for Fears or David Bowie but damn this better than some of those Phil Collin’s records. Overall no songs really jumped out at me but it’s not a terrible listen.

++: Small Talk, Perfect Way, Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin), Hypnotize +: A Little Knowledge, Don't Work That Hard, Lover to Fall +-: The Word Girl, Absolute 6,7/10

The only reason this is on the list is because the singer sounds similar to Michael Jackson

Kinda Michael Jacksoney. thats at least what it reminded me of

fine i guess??

Completely anodyne pop. Wont return but didn’t mind

Usually sceptical of 80's bands I'm not really familiar with and this is another example of why. Pretty sedate stuff.

Thoughts before listening: English post-punk band I believe. I don't know much about them, but I do recognize the name which is hard to forget. I guess I have always assumed they were overly political with the second part of their name, but thats really just a guess. Review: Wait what? This is not what I was expecting at all. According to the band's bio, they apparently started as a "punk adjacent" band but quickly morphed into top 40 pop hitmakers. This album is from after the sound change. This sucks. Its the cheesiest 80s sound possible. How did this make the list? I haven't given a 1-star rating in a while, but this deserves it.

If you’d never heard this album before you’d have no trouble guessing which decade it’s from. You’d also have no trouble spotting the money track Wood Beez. He abandoned Rough Trade Records and his political principles in search of a hit, and you can tell that’s what this is about. He threw every then fashionable production trick at the wall, absolutely all of them; this sounds like the soundtrack to a parody film about the ’80s.

p543. 1985. 2 stars. "Scritti Politti" translates roughly to "political writings" in Italian. It also translates as "dated 80s synths with flaccid vocals". This has not aged well. I cannot imagine any reality where this is essential listening. Saved from 1 star by the admittedly catchy singles.

legalzinho, só.

Not for me. Too much scritti. Not enough politti. Every ditti's dressed up like a pop committi.

This is the type of music played in a video game set in the 80s. Not in a good way, though. Only when the game studio can't afford to get the good 1980s music. The only good thing I can say is that it listenable, but it is extremely generic

Every 80s cliche going. Only 30 minutes long but this is painful

good

Lightweight bubblegum.

Endlessly forgettable.

Sounds like the output of an unsophisticated AI trained exclusively on the Tarzan soundtrack and holiday resort Wham tribute acts

Fine listen, but not really my style. Exemplifies mid-80s pop aesthetics.

Bad George Michael

Unlistenable. Bad.

I hate this. It sounds like a soulless, painfully self-serious version of Bill Wurtz.

Not sure this needed to be on the list? Why is it on the list?

3/5. This honestly feels like indie disco, like something you will hear today, mixed with Phil Collins. It's upbeat and happy-go-lucky, makes you want to nod your head. It isn't a full energy, more chill, but enjoyable. Bass is excellent, and the random drum sounds and samples are great. The issue is that some of the songs are not super interesting, so I lose focus. I think this is one that will grow on me but for now, it gets a decent score. Best Song: Hypnotize, Wood Beez, Absolute

Track 1 - grown British men cosplaying as the Jackson 5 or something? Track 2 - feels like a soundtrack to a shitty 80s action comedy Track 3 - sounds like someone experimenting around with their new Casio keyboard, but somehow the best track so far… Track 4 - utterly forgettable Track 5 - more shitty soundtrack music, but this is for the montage Track 6 - ok I’ve heard this one before, probably back in the 80s. I hated it then, too. Track 7 - more weird Jacksonesque shit with cheesy synth and horn flourishes Track 8 - not terrible, and at least now there’s a light at the end of the dayglo tunnel Track 9 - a pretty bad song to end on, but fits the “end credits” vibe so I guess it makes sense. Overall? Really bad. I can’t believe Gartside still performs under the Scritti Politi name. I’d be so embarrassed by this album I’d fake my own death, change my name, and move to the Faroe Islands or something.

Well produced but rather twee. Definitely too deep in the bubblegum genre for me, but worth three stars.

2.5/5

1 - bad

Not my jam

not my typa pop.

Suuuuuuuuuuuucks

This just isn't very good. Why would I listen to this when I could just listen to Phil Collins and enjoy it farrrrrr more?

Cheesy breathy boy band hoo hah very much of its time

Small Talk has the most mid-80’s sound I think I’ve ever heard. The synths and the vocals work really well together and evoke MJ. Overall a decently fun, 80’s romp without too much to really move the needle.

Not for me, too many 80s sounds that didn’t age well

Not for me

Sounded like a Michael Jackson rip off even if the timing doesn’t add up. Another entire album on here for one song.

Trying to be Michael Jackson and Prince at the same time. Fine but not essential at all.

Mediocre Prince knockoffs. I would be surprised at the inclusion of this unremarkable 80s album on this list, but we are far too deep into this for that to be true.

Bufff

Had no idea what to expect. Kinda reggae, sort of a modern/Bruno Mars'ish voice on the opening track. And then it got very 80s. SO 80s, and not in an innovative way, but in a beige template way. 2* Flesh and blood had some keyboards that tickled the ear in the right way.

This is trash. TRASH! At first I said, "Oh, UB40's closest competitor." But, then, it turned into rejected songs for 80s films closing credits. I half expected to hear 'Who's Johnny?' from Short Circuit. No reason to hear this ever. For any reason, at any time. Alive or dead.

The 80s was a powerful time

Sounds like fake music specifically made for after school specials and corporate training videos

Generic 80s slop but unfortunately for the global rating system I was hungry

There was no bass in the 80's. The transfer from tape to digital cut out all lower frequencies and tight denim squeezed balls under the chin.

I found this album to feel a little bit long and samey and a bit repetitive at times however its not the most unlistenable thing. low 3/5

Scritti Politti, it seems to me, are always spoken about with a certain level of respect which I've never quite been able to fathom. As someone who attempts to record and produce their own music and who relies more and more on computers and electronic gadgets to do this, I feel I do have to point out that, at the very least, where I might have once dismissed this as a stereotypical 80s lightweight pop sound, I can now appreciate just how much effort and attention to detail must have gone into making a record sound like this - especially mind-boggling to think they did this with 1985 technology. Does that make it a good album though? Not necessarily. I mean, I was born in the mid-70s - I grew up through this music - so there is a certain nostalgia at play here, so I can't deny Wood Beez and The Word Girl hold a certain charm for me, even if I was not massively aware of them specifically back in the day. But there is nothing else here that makes this a special album, there must be something I'm missing. After digging deeper, to the point I even watched a Scritti Politti documentary trying to gain some insight, it would seem Green Gartside considers this particular glossy pop sound to be something he pioneered, and that a lot of other acts and producers started to copy Scritti Politti after hearing this album. It's a bold position, but it's not really one I can dispute - for better or for worse, this particular high-end production sound has come to sum up the entire era like little else, except maybe hair metal. And it would explain the admiration they seem to receive from peers and critics alike. However, and you can probably tell by now I toiled long and hard with how to score this LP, my research also inspired me to check out their first album, after which it all became much clearer. Their Rough Trade debut was a much better record in almost every department - more organic, more melodic, more interesting... While I can offer kudos to Gartside from getting tired of the indie game and seeking to pioneer are slicker sounding pop confection, and pulling it off, I can't award him extra stars for making what, in hindsight, is a really well-produced and impressively slick collection of bang average songs. I feel I'm being a bit generous with two stars, but I veer more towards the "songwriter/producer vision" aspect of what makes a great record than I do the "great voice/proficient musician/great lyrics" argument, so I can live with that!

Fun 80s nostalgia. Not sure why all of the hate. This music is what it is and I like it. As a teen of the 80s, I am a bit biased. That aside, I have always loved the song Perfect Way. Such an eclectic different song even for its time.

How did an anarchist punk band from Leeds, with a name inspired by an Italian Marxist and fronted by a welsh art student singing in a falsetto voice over a cod reggae beat played on a Casio keyboard break into the top ten? Beats me too. It’s kind of catchy, and it turns out that the cheap keyboard sounds are actually played on an expensive Fairlight synthesiser (those distinctive brassy stabs are a dead giveaway and date this album precisely to 1985). The 80s truly were a weird time.

Didn't had to check the Wikipedia page to know when this was recorded.

Out of respect for the project, I’m listening to all the 2nd-tier Brit-Pop albums Dimtry included in the 1,000 list. The truth is it’s not very good and, so far, I’ve found 25 albums from 1985 that are not on his list and far better than this. If there were music police, Dimtry would be charged with a crime.

Eighties

Not my thing

I like a couple songs of their earlier stuff but have never really been a fan of Scritti especially once they moved in the pop direction. This clean pop is miserable to me Rating: 1.7

Ok and not what I expected but unremarkable

Nothing for me here.

Finding out Green Gartside is friends with Jacques Derrida is like finding out Countess Bathory and Caravaggio were friends.

it's so mediocre i don't even think i can finish it. 1/5

Got a bit annoyed by their voice and instrumental. And it's bit cringy, not objectively terrible though.

I could see this being used in a movie or series, a montage of a bunch of teens being "quirky" as they go shopping. One of them is wearing a windbreaker

Pure 80s extract. Wasn't as bad as I feared but really belongs in a time capsule.

Fun

I’ll pile on. No reason for this to exist. Not even Perfect Way - a nominally passable pop song - saves the juvenile and cloying cringefest that this album is. Boom! 💥 Roasted!

Sometimes the pioneers are exceeded by their followers so much they don’t seem to be anything special. This is one of those cases. Horrible 80s synth bass.

Terrible, bad, blech! Sounds like an asthmatic Michael Jackson!

Very of its time. Nothing stands out as worth listening to. Neither is anything so objectionable that you rush to shut off the sound. Forgettable.

I did Groove a bit to the whole album so is not completely bad

Pop.. light? Somehow grows on you.

Ok, at this point, I’ve gotten three albums that have been ranked as the lowest on this site. For two of them (Kollaps and They Were Wrong So We Drowned), I understand why they are there. Did I hate them? For Kollaps, sort of. For Drowned, honestly no. But I get why some wouldn’t like it. This album, however, makes no sense being there. I mean, sure, it’s practically every 80’s pop tune crammed into eight songs that have very little variety between them. And the vocalists can sometimes get a little jarring the higher their notes get. But like, that’s as bad as it gets. Like objectively, it’s about a 3, middle of the road album. Just basic ass 80’s pop music. What the fuck about that warrants putting it with the “weird” industrial and noise rock albums? Like there has to be much worse on this list between countless bland double albums and hour long ambient snoozefests. All this is it dated 80’s pop. And to be personal, 80’s synth pop like this is an extreme guilty pleasure of mine. Like I’m not one of those obnoxious people that claim “ThE 80’s WaS tHe BeSt DeCaDe FoR mUsIc”, but it certainly has a charm to me, which is weird because I was a 2000’s kid. I can’t even blame my parents on that, they were into more earlier stuff like The Beatles and disco (though they liked the 80’s too). So that bumps my rating to a 4, may the music gods have mercy on my tasteless ass. Favorite track: Perfect Way Other hits: Small Talk, Absolute, Lover To Fall, Wood Beez, Don’t Work That Hard

Listened before - banger album!!! Fav tracks: Wood Beez, Absolute, Perfect Way

Very well done synthy poppy production of you're into that sort of generic sounding 80's stuff.

Honestly shocked by this being one of the lowest rated albums on the site. I kept waiting for something terrible or offensive, but it was all just 80s bops? You could have told me this was Culture Club and I would have believed you. I mean, is it the best thing? No. Did I need to hear this before I die? Probably not. But is this fun? Hell yeah! There's way worse on this list, and at least I can hear how it influenced other artists. I wish I could give this a 3.5, but I'm going to round up because I had a lot of fun listening, and some of these songs are going to be stuck in my head for weeks.

Okay 80s vibes.

Sounds just like the goofy movie! Enjoyed myself with this one

I remember Scritti Politti from back in those days, but I cannot put my finger on a specific song. They all sound so similar. It's nice synth-pop that was very popular then and gazillions of bands using nearly identical instrumentation. Still, it's fun, and a bit boring.

Pleasant, breathy vocals. Can't really tell one track from another, but they're all quite nice, so that's OK.

It's 80s pop in a very distilled, focused way. Liked the instrumentation and the vocals, but for me it doesn't stand out from the sea of 80s pop out there.

Super cheesy, saccharine, and very much not for me. It’s synthy pop music, it’s upbeat, it’s well produced, and I do not care for this vocalist at all. I’m not really sure what else there is to say about this record. It’s not objectively bad at all, I could see a lot of people enjoying this record, even though I didn’t. It’s certainly a product of its time. I am genuinely struggling to say anymore about it. 2*. Not the worst thing I’ve heard on this list by a long shot.

Pre-listening note: in browsing around the site I’ve seen Scritti Politti among the globally lowest rated albums among the likes of Napalm Death and the Butthole Surfers. The wiki blurb for this album sounds pretty inoffensive so I’m really curious to find out why people hate it so much. — Halfway through this album and like... what? Are these guys secretly terrorists or something? This is deeply unserious and, dare I say it, pretty fun 80s synth pop. I do not understand why this would ruffle so many feathers. I am having a good time. "Absolute" is definitely the highlight from side one for me. Okay I am done with the album. It's just under 40 minutes of pretty clever pop arrangements and lyrics under the cloak of bubblegum pop stylings and a falsetto that is admittedly a bit cartoonish at times. But it's overall a pretty fun listen. Some of y'all are babies.

montage music from a quirky fish out of water 80's movie about big city life

I had only heard "perfect way" before, which was a good tune. The rest of the album was along the same lines but didn't quite hit the highs of that song. It is some serious bubbly synthy 80s new wave pop, which in many ways is a positive listen but can become a bit much over a whole album.

Flock of seagulls is this bands fault?

Pretrrttt good 80s pop.

Wow, that was... something. Very music. Much sounds. 100% not my type of music.

just terrible

Potentially the most 80s sounding album on this list (yet). Got all the Korg M1 and Yamaha DX7 bells and whistles, and shamelessly unprocessed drum machine sounds. Reminds me a lot of Michael Jackson’s music, except his stuff are actually good. Overall I found this extremely boring. The 80s sound is way too cliché to me, so it has to be stellar if that’s going to fly, and this certainly wasn’t.

I like some 80s music and the vibe but man what a bland 80s record. Nothing to write home about and I'm mostly glad it's over. Weak 2.

3/10 This album sounds like it was designed to annoy me.

Boring synth pop

snoozefest. ne razlikujem jednu pjesmu od druge a sve su MJ rip-off

Ovaj album ima mitski status u britanskom tisku, ja ga nikad nisam baš shvatio iskreno, a bome nisam ni sad. Zvuči mi ko prosječan 80s pop

2/10 Little to redeem this. It is everything I dislike about 80s pop - it's music with the soul removed.

Ja, her var det mye lyder. Noe funky MJ-greier. Føles til tider som man jakter powerups og styrer unna bananskall på Koopa Cape Circuit. Synges på både inn- og utpust. I hvilke situasjoner setter man på dette?

Tynne greier, tam vokal (krysning mellom flere 80's vokalisten, men faller litt lavt her) Litt variasjon i sjangere ila albumet (veldig synt 80's pop, til reggae) Lyden i albumet var veldig diskant-heavy med mye synths og el-trommer som ble fort slitsomt (spesielt de første sangene på albumet) A Little Knowledge synes jeg var bra (litt roligere både i tempo og instrumentasjon)

It's clean, fun, witty, and sexy. Always a fan of pop music with a balanced bitterness for pop culture. Still comes off a bit too 1985 at some points for me personally, but is good as is.

1/5 not a fan

What absolute garbage

A good marriage in 1985?

Sounds like everything bad about 80s music was shoved into a bag then left in the sun to rot. Sounds like 80s music had a baby with its sister. Sounds like the soundtrack to Prettiest in Pink, written and directed by John Hughes’ neighbor and with none of the cast from the first two movies, but starring a Molly Ringwald look-alike. Do you ever make orange juice from one of those cardboard tube cans of frozen concentrate that calls for one can of concentrate and one can of water, only you added three cans of water? Sounds like the 80s music version of that. Sounds like I fell into a wormhole that took me to an alternate 1980s where instead of neon everyone was wearing pastel and they were

I don't think I have ever come across Scritti Politti before and if I had I likely would have immediately written it off as some weird 80's boy band of sorts. And maybe that was my initial feeling but then I found comfort in how it both sounded like it was from the 80s and modern at the same time, how it sounded like it was a boy band but also a band emulating and subverting the sounds of a boy band. At times I found it to be a little funny because it sounded so corny. But that is exactly why I also enjoyed the entire album. It's so cheesy at times it feels like an SNL skit. And there is a weird discordance in the music too. Like something is off. Like it wants to be catchy so bad, but it can't, but the lack of catchiness in itself becomes catchy? I both liked this and laughed at this, but in laughing at it I liked it more.

Not my thing

Really?

I really like the grooves on this album and gives me all the 80s pop feels that i didn’t know i wanted. Pleasantly surprised by this one.

voice is rather annoying i can’t lie, songs are okay

Sounds like the same song throughout. It was okay but I probably won't listen to it again

I guess ok.

opinion controversé: ça slap ☀︎j’aime le fait que c’est un parfait stéréotype de la musique synthpop des années 80 ☀︎j’aime vraiment The Word Girl ☀︎j’aime moins: honnêtement j’ai tellement écouté The Word Girl que je me rappelle de rien d’autre de cet album ☀︎c’est pas un album que je considère parfait, donc je ne lui donne pas le 5☆ si convoité. est-ce qu’un album l’atteindra un jour? peut-être pas. on verra

Holy Cliche! This album feels super one note and is oozing with pop. Not bad but not something I can see myself revisiting. It's like synth Armageddon!

didn't like this at all, more crappy 80's pop, nothing but beige on beige

this sucks. soulless 80s pop. i've been a real 80s hater the last few days which is strange because i usually love 80s music but this is just. bad.

An 80s wave that hits just right.

If you ever need an album that combines all the pop styles of the 1980s for you you should listen to this album I guess. From this perspective, it's of historical value. But I couldn't finish it. The singer sounds horrible I find.

An all-time favorite since highschool 1985!! Perfect Way ground breaking!! Not a bad song on this album!

Dated pop music. Standout song: Hypnotize

I thought it was a fun album with some interesting arrangements.

Yeah it's pretty annoying. 4/10

I wasn't familiar with this band or any of these songs. It's classic mid-80s British pop - pop at its most commercial. It's well produced, considering it was made 40 years ago, but the songs are all just dull and too simplistic pop music. The first one or two songs sounded more interesting (because of the reggae influence) then I lost my interest rather quickly. It is nothing offensive, just way too minimalistic 80s pop music for my taste.

Very upbeat and pop!

These white boys are pretty nasty! Most songs are kinda similar but idgaf - the production is total ear candy. Revisionist History: Tears for Fears should’ve gotten a 4 or 5. And I know there are some Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys coming down the road, so I’ll be reserved with my rating on this one. I did have a blast listening to it. Small Talk had me boogying and Perfect Way is a great pop song even if it does sound a little too much like a Super Mario World theme. https://youtu.be/5oXSJG3Fw8c I may not listen to anything else from this again tho. 3.2

Imagine if Wham! sucked ass. The word girl was painfully boring. I was begging for small talk to end. Absolute finally has a cool instrumental but is 20 years long. Right back to boring for a little knowledge. Don't Work That Hard at ripping Prince off, am I right? Perfect way is listenable but again, 5 minutes? Lover to Fall asleep, am I right? Wood Beez is alright but I feel like I'm truly trapped in hell at this point. Hypnotize is fine and perhaps the only song that didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome. I hope I never have to hear anything on this album ever again. Garbage.

The first song got me somewhat excited for a Sublime-like album. It then flipped into garbage 80s "pop", and it went downhill from there. After first listen, I was planning on giving this a 2 after a second listen; however, I can't find myself to do that, so I'm dropping it to a strong 1. Nothing stood out. I tried listening to the vocals, but had to stop because they were so bad. 10/10 do not recommend.

One minute it's shitty wham, next it's shitty MJ, then it's some other shitty rip. How does an album like this get on this list? What context am I missing here? This is so bad. This may be the worst album I've ever heard. Why the fuck shouldn't I be able to die without hearing this? Only positive is that it isn't that long. Holy shit this thing sucked. Listening to it is a human rights violation, they should be playing this at gitmo

I kept writing new reviews constantly as I heard this album, I'm just posting them all: This sounds like it's written by someone who grew up on 80s pop long after the 80s, and as someone who grew up on 80s pop long after the 80s I can relate. Listen. There is a continuous line between Scritti Politti - Color Me Badd - Kylie Minogue - Robyn - Carly Rae Jepsen - Charli XCX - Sophie that defines a horrifying amount of my love of pop music. I can't begin to pretend I didn't start to love this album from the ~50ish second mark of the first song. I don't know how this album sounds revolutionary and incredibly dated at the same time, but Scritti Politti sure did achieve it. What even is a Scritti Politti? Ok. Ok. So. Pulling back the curtain here a bit, I have a tendency to go into the Global Stats section of this website and check out the highest and lowest rated albums. The highest rated are all basically what you expect, but the lowest? A lot of artists I'd never seen before. And there, between Grindcore and Industrial acts that bang and crash and inscrutable Trout Mask-ass art rock sat Scritti Politti, which Wikipedia described as a synth-pop band with state of the art studio production. I've been so curious since, how can a band that influenced Haim, Elton John, Hot Chip and Kylie Minogue be one of the worst bands of the best? And here we are, I finally got to listen to it, and y'know what. I see why it's down here, for sure. Sickeningly sweet production, the lead singer sounds like a parody of a boy band frontman, whole thing is like someone asked Max Martin to make a Stock Aitken Waterman track from memory, but also HATED Stock Aitken Waterman. The album definitely has it's misses, A Little Knowledge and Don't Work that Hard are nothing songs despite being so close to the rest because the album sits on a fascinating razors edge, but honestly. I love it. The singles are solid 80s sophisti-pop with Perfect Way being one of the cleanest pieces of Bubblegum ever made and I can hear the reverberations of this album through the next 40 years of music. Goddamn am I annoying. Genuinely though, I think the only way on earth someone would like this as much as I did is if they grew up on the exact same blend of 80s New Wave, 2010s Synthpop, 2020s Hyperpop, Plunderphonics and the Maplestory soundtrack that I did. All that being said, 4, masterpiece of bubble gum that makes the Archies look like Napalm Death, but this isn't quite reaching the Echelons of 5 star 80s nonsense. Appended: Psyche, figured out the edit function, this is a 5, see Leftism review.

What happens when you mix desecration of your beliefs with S Club Juniors. I am angry, sad, and resigned in equal measure. The definitive sell-out album. What nothing to offer. What a fucking waste.

They all sound incredibly embarrassed to be making this music, as well they should be. A lot of commenters mentioned what this sounds like. To me, it's the rehearsal tape of an 80's high school band preparing for their first high school talent show, 24 hours before they get unceremoniously heckled off stage.

Favorite Track: The Word Girl

Really 2.5

Not my jam, but it’s kind of fun. 2

# 435 : 13/03/2025 : I don't love it, I don't hate it. Very 1985 and sounds like all the other similar bands of the time. I think sometimes this list feels like things are included just because they were really popular at the time, but does anyone actually still listen to this album?

This was really boring :( felt very the same throughout, all very stale 80s synth sounds..

i am a new wave defender but this one makes it hard

Skrýtið eitís popp. Það er eitthvað einkennilegt þarna sem ég þarf að kanna betur. 3,5.

I remember getting this album for Christmas when I was a kid. I was huge into the Greek myths back then and Cupid and Psyche's story was one of my favorites. I was so happy that I knew what was behind the title. I loved it then, but I haven't revisited it in a *long* time. Friends, this was such a friendly warm bath of a listen in these crazy times. The lyrics went completely over the head of young me -- but hearing it again now evokes a certain type of innocence among the peak 80's of it all. It gets a five from me because it still touches my heart and reminds me of all the mixtapes I used to make folks. "Absolute" still rules.

Horror show 80s production; white kid funk and island music out through a blender of super-80s synth. Unlistenable.

It's kind of like a knock-off version of 80s Michael Jackson. It's fine for 80s pop, but not memorable.

Such an 80s sound, but all the better for it; that density of sounds and layers and those butter-smooth vocals. Reminds me a lot of Prince and George Michael. So interesting to hear the band's story as well, they took the ethos of punk and rebelled against punk by becoming a pop band.

Gonna be honest, couldnt even get halfway through this thing (although I did skim the later songs just to confirm I wouldn't like those either). This album feels like it was specifically designed for me to hate it. It's excruciatingly 80's. You couldn't make a more 80's sounding record. The vocalist is insufferable to my ears and it's like they tried to take every 80's music trope, sound, and production technique, and cram them all into one 40 minute album. Like they took a soundboard of every cliche 80's sound that exists and made sure to hit every button on the board.

Incredibly 80’s!

If Michael Jackson and Prince had an illegitimate son, he would sound like this.

I don’t think I’ve heard of Scritti Politti before. I quite enjoyed this album. It started off seeming like it was going to be a straight of ska album, but it’s poppier and contains more synth than I’d expected. It’s definitely very catchy, and the vocals were pleasant. They’re sort of high pitched male vocals, but not squeaky or falsetto. I’m glad to have heard this today.

Listen to the first 30 seconds of second track Small Talk and it is probably the best primer on 80s production techniques short of Phil Collins' solo work. Gated drums, synth bass, samples. The singles were ubiquitous on UK radio, and fair play to Green for constructing a Marxist take-down of the uber-capitalism of the eighties music scene, and coining it in the process. Brutally efficient.

Never had a band name piss me off this much.

Boring instrumentals, terrible singer and cheesy lyrics. Every song sounds like a discarded Disney song. Yeah I think I hate this

Good god this is bad.

For the umpteenth time, this list is way too British.

I really dug this. Great synth sounds and pop production.

Forgettable, bad, why is this here

Shortest album ever because I only listened to each song for about 20 seconds. Hated it.

This album’s vibe is best described as: Super Duper 80’s. Dude even doing his best Michael Jackson impression with those high pitched vocals. Somehow all these songs sound vaguely familiar, but I haven’t heard any of them before. Like these songs could have been in a random 80’s movie, but nothing iconic or memorable like Breakfast Club, we’ll go with something like Police Academy 4 during a montage sequence and nobody noticed. I guess it’s good if you love the 80’s.

This shit is so goddamn 80's. Transports me into the drive-in restaurant scene of Footloose immediately. It all sounds the same....doesn't feel like any emotion - just going through a formulaic process. Wouldn't seek out, wouldn't listen again. Also what the hell is a Scritti Politti?

Double meh. Even the hits were unremarkable. 1/5

3 stars

Better that I expected it to be. Solid and fun 80's pop dance songs. Nothing groundbreaking, but does what it sets out to do well. Fun overall listen, if little dated. Top tracks: Absolute, A Little Knowledge, Perfect Way

meh, too 80s

This was an alright album, nothing too exciting, a bit mid but overall could definitely be better.

I kept asking myself why is this on the list. Bad 80s pop then "Perfect Way" came on and it made sense. One hit wonder.

super nice pop

This is a sound I would have liked when I was 14.

could i write poetry to this? n

Glad to know that my opinion of this band has not changed in forty years. It's everything wrong with 80's music in one package.

5 songs in and I’m still waiting for good song. This may be one of the worst albums I’ve ever heard. This is not boding well….it’s confirmed. This is up there with one of the worst. I’ll never get that 38 minutes and 48 seconds back.

Starting off with white boy reggae is not a good way for me to like your album

I didn't hate this. I can see why people would hate it. I fact, I can't believe I don't hate it. 2.5

Neat little album, nothing fancy tho

I hate low stakes 80s pop that uses the chintziest sounds possible.

This was nice, but not something I had to hear before I die...

A vanishingly insubstantial and utterly disposable, plastic meringue of an album, for which one has no use whatsoever. Its saving graces are two: 1) it's not Metallica and 2) its tepid banality, which seems to approach some horizon of non-existence at several points.

Listening to 'Cupid & Psyche 85' feels like being trapped in a never-ending montage of 80s clichés.

Dear God No!

Ok I’m alittle biased cause I LOVE 80s new wave, like there’s just something about it that scratches an itch for me. My biggest problem with this album is I don’t LOVE the singers voice, it’s perfectly fine, but not like memorable or remarkable. This album is ALL about the instruments! I would buy a record of this with just instrumentals and I would probably enjoy that better. But regardless of the singer, the music is awesome! Super funky and of it’s time, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this band before. (Just looked it up, they were huge in the UK, that explains that). But seriously if you like new wave, this album is for you.

NO

not a 1001, neither a 4004

actually, hell yeah

2.5

По мнению А: 2/5 По мнению С: 2/5 ИТОГОВАЯ ОЦЕНКА: 2/5 (16.02.2025)

Kuunneltu 7 osassa.... seur review selittä 7 osan tärkeys ihmiselle,..... Tässä se oli ettei viha kiihko nouse päähän.. sillä vallan mainiota musiiikkia joka kerta kun spotifyn avasi sain kuunnella.. viha suli..

What is going on here. Ever wonder what would happen if you liked Michael Jackson less? Should not be on this list. There's worse music but this doesn't do anything others haven't done better.

This has the "We have Michael Jackson at home" vibes. Great Britain in the 1980s seemed obsessed with synthesizer reggae. I would appreciate this way more if this was an instrumental album, but these vocals creep me out. The song Lover to Fall angers me.

Extremely polished 80s, but not offensively so.

Fun little quirky album. The expected 80s pop elements present, but still an enjoyable record to listen to. Very dreamy throughout with the soft vocals laid over top of some funky bass guitar, keys and drums. Can't say I was ever familiar with this group before, but this is a nice one.

One of purest representations of '80s music I've ever heard. It might have been just right for the time, but I just don't think it holds up. It's honestly hard on my ears. I made it all the way through, but only just barely.

Pretty sure you really have to love 80s music to enjoy this. Unfortunately, I do not.

This might just be the most unapologetically '80s album I’ve ever heard. Initially, I wanted to hate it—but somehow, it grew on me. That said, I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it anytime soon. Favorite Tracks: The first three songs are genuinely fun, full of energy and catchy melodies. Unfortunately, the momentum fades as the album progresses. Least Favorite Track: Flesh and Blood is a bizarre clash of ska and ‘80s synth-pop, and the result is pretty rough. It just didn’t work for me. Album Artwork: The cover is undeniably cool—easily one of the album’s strongest points.

There is entirely too much 80s pop on this list.

This is definitely a pop album from the 80s it's not great it's not terrible it's very middle of the road lol there were a couple of good songs but it wasn't too bad

I’m not too familiar with Scritti Politti, but based on what I’ve heard—including this album—I can’t say I find their music particularly enjoyable. It’s tolerable at best. What’s interesting is that they’ve explored styles I usually like, yet somehow, their take on those genres just doesn’t click with me.

хз, чет скучно и однообразно, но расслабляет, мне все равно не нравки

многие сравнивают с wham или depeche mode, но по мне это майкл джексон на диком угаре ))

That’s some pristine 80s production right there. Perfect Way can live in my head for a long time and I won’t mind. The weird falsetto vocals are just that - weird. It’s a classic New Wave synth pop jam.

I'm not surprised I've never heard of this band. Christgau is obviously a big fan of this insipid British New Wave stuff considering how much I've heard in my first 100 albums, but I mostly can't stand it and frankly I'm tired of it showing up here. Don't Work That Hard is the worst song I've ever heard that features slap bass.

How is this, in any way, an essential album? I can't find anything beyond super generic 80s pop.

each time i goooo to bed iiii pray like areeeetha franklin 🕺

Rubbish

Some interesting bits but a bit meh. Can’t see myself whacking it on again

A decent slice of 80s pop - exactly what you'd expect, and a lot of fun. Don't work that hard a fave and also a personal mantra.

Really enjoyed this. Some absolute bangers.

Felt like the naff kind of cheese rather than the good kind of cheese, I'm not sure why this made the list

Really didn’t enjoy this. Really bland and flat.

Not a fan of this I'm afraid. Usually like this kind of music but this doesn't do much for me. Couple of decent tracks but not something I'd revisit

Great fun!

The sound effects and production sure have aged like unrefrigerated milk, but in a way that sort of gives this album a weird charm. Nobody makes 'em like this anymore - and even if that's just because nobody *wants* to make records sound like this anymore, it doesn't take away from the fact that this is a unique sounding record. Sophisticated and smooth one moment, cheesy and saccharine the next, but most of all, listening to this album is an act of musical archaeology.

January 31, 2025 I found this on vinyl last year, for really cheap, so- their frickin loss, amirite? (I listened to one song to make sure it wasn’t damaged, and it sounded pretty good, but I saved the rest for when I got this on the generator) Ended up just listening to it online today, rather than work to get my record player up and running This unashamedly represents the rubberiest of rubber soul in the 80’s. I respect that. I even admire it. Little touches like the gamelan halfway through “Absolute” and the shuffle in “The Word Girl” give it character that’s missing from otherwise similar pop songs of the era The second half is slightly lacklustre compared to the 1st imo, but also contains my favourite track of the album “Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)” It is baffling that, as of today, it’s sandwiched between two nonconventional albums by Laibach and Pere Ubu (that I also happen to enjoy) in the lowest-rated albums. I feel like the most controversial aspect about this album is that people seem to hate it on this website- well, and the juxtaposition between the pretentious album title and the incredibly silly band name. Is it really that much worse than Heaven 17? The Culture Club? The Style Council? Idk, much like yesterday the album is hovering between a 3 and a 4, and like yesterday I’ll round it up. You’re welcome, Green Gartside. Now where’s my 5 dollars HL: “Wood Beez”, “Small Talk”, “Don’t Work That Hard”, “A Little Knowledge”, “Absolute”

All a bit meh, really. Couple of nice shiny 80s pop songs, but ultimately forgettable.

Corny 80s ish

Sucky 1

This played as an overly slick and dated attempt at blue eyed rnb. It seemed a little soulless and quite frankly, boring and forgettable.

Went by without rembering a single detail or hook. That's fine but for a pop record was expecting a memorable moment. Not my favourite genre or period but still I couldn't wait for it to finish

I didn't hate this. It was kind a nice 80s pop album. But I just didn't care for it too much either. Not really my taste in music.

i don't know if this is one of the 1001 albums i need to listen to before i die but it's pretty fun, i'll give it that

Having never heard of this artist prior, I wasn’t quite prepared for how heavily produced and poppy this was. First run thru did irritate me a tad. I gave it some time and jumped back into it after my sugar high subsided. On second listen I was prepared to listen to it for what it is and what this is, is a well crafted, synth overproduced pop album with impressive vocals that had me thinking of Michael Jackson at times. Decent 80’s release here. 3 stars

artificial and soulless. very appreciative that this was a short album because i hated every minute of this.

Straight 80’s and not very memorable, other than be straight 80’s.

Oh God... I hate this. Sounds like Milli Vanilli but much much worse. And that's their voice. So no excuse.

If this had Quincy Jones as producer it would be off the wall.

Very 80s sound. I kind of liked the mix of random instruments and sounds coming together to build the melodies, but I wasn't as much of a fan of the vocals. Also the instrumental break in Perfect Way reminds me a lot of one of the Mario themes but apparently this came out first?

2.5 out of 5. A track here and there be ok but a whole album is tiring

Instrumentation generally good, although dated. Singer’s voice is annoying as hell. Would not recommend.

An album that might only work if you were a teenager getting into pop in the mid 1980s with a copy of this that you listened to constantly. Luckily, I'm in that very narrow demographic and have a long affection for this. As 80s as a production can get, with Fairlight and big drum sound and that clean clean production that I kind of miss. I'm not able to give an objective reveiw of this I'm afraid. It's as familiar to me as an album gets and I think, personally, incredibly strong and consistent set of songs.

Didn't finish it. Way too 80's.

Listened to the LP version. This one grew on me as it went along, the epitome of ‘80’s pop’. Felt like I listened to an evolution of this style in the 00’s (reminded me of b44 specifically). Not something I’d gravitate towards because of its rawness but it was a good listen.

This sounded like if Boy George was a regular white boy

Meh

In the field of 80s synth pop, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, OMD, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Human League, Heaven 17 or Eurythmics had the melodic hooks, the surprising or effective chord changes, some killer choruses, the sometimes-dark or sometimes-elated tones... The hits were great but so where some of the deeper cuts. Heck, even Wham! had some memorable moments going for them. In comparison, Scritti Polliti had... nothing, or close. A couple of nice arrangements here and there (mostly in "Absolute"), unfortunately drowned in an ocean of cheesiness that lacked clear lines, stakes or memorability. The vocal performance is shy and demure in ways that totally go against the supposedly triumphant textures of the music. And if this thing is competently executed for sure, it ultimately has the emotional range of a desk lamp. How this band ended up being "successful" is an 80s pop mystery I don't care to solve forty years after the fact. Maybe because large swaths of the target audience were tone-deaf or drawn to surface effects instead of truly powerful music. This is a very judgmental take here for sure, but look at the global score of this record! With unpopular picks such as Einsturzende Neubatten or Robert Wyatt (which I both love), I can understand that the music is too "out there" for general tastes, at least. But for that sort of 80s mainstream drivel, you can bet your boots that the opposite phenomenon occurs and that most people can see through that sort of glossy stuff to understand how void it ultimately is. And I'm glad that they do. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 6/10 for more general purposes (5 + 1) Number of albums left to review: around forty, as I've gone over the 1000 line and this generator is including albums from all editions of the book Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 455 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 271 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 331 (including this one)

2-3

A bit too plasticky.

3*

Another album of this kind. Who is going to listen to this? An 80s album to run away from. All I can say is: ugh, ugh, ugh! That definitely means minus three stars

3.5

This album makes me tired. I don’t want this. I don’t feel any part of this. Not the beats. Not the vocals. Feels disjointed to me. Not a phan. 2/5

A whole album of 80s TV theme songs. Still no Seger

Green Gartside really does need to release new material! Very much missed.

Like if you gave AI a prompt for forgettable, generic 80s pop rock

This was a weird experience. Because I really like the vocals. Dreamy and ethereal. But almost across the board I didn’t like the music/instrumentation that they put underneath. 2/5

Better forgotten 80s

Tedious dross

Sounds like they were feeding off Janet Jackson scraps. (No idea who came first - I’ve done no research)

Obviously not a patch on MJ/Luther Vandross etc but pretty spot on sound for a band formed in Leeds. Really dated sound now but an enjoyable listen

Perfect Way is incredible. The rest is meh.

bad

This album checks a lot of 80s music boxes in terms of instrumentation. Vocals are all the same. To me, a forgettable album. It's not bad, just boring. No idea why it's on this list.

banger 80s sound.

An album I started and then four songs in thought “I don’t care” and turned it off

Scritti ma nittis

Eh, better 80s bands out there. Not bad but ain’t love it. 3/5

It feels like a cross between Wham! and Thomas Dolby. But a lot more dated. NEXT. Top tracks: "The Word Girl," "Small Talk"

Quintessential 80's synth pop. Reminded me of Wham, but frontman Green Gartside's vocals also remind me pop I hear today. It's pretty bubble gum but you can't hate that voice. My favorite tracks were The Word Girl, Absolute, A Little Knowledge, and Lover to Fall. No substance, but fun, I guess.

Super 80s cheesy synth pop. I admit it grew on me after a couple of listens, but I don't think I will revisit. Favorite tracks: Small Talk, Absolute. Liked the end of A Little Knowledge. Wood Beez kind of grew on me.

Written by someone who's only been exposed to a Michael Jackson slow jam cover band and performed using only a toy Casio keyboard. Somehow this is rotting my teeth.

just your average 80's band making average music

3.75

Sounds like a Michael Jackson impersonator got cocky and tried to make their own music.

Wow that was horrible. It kinda sounds like Michael Jackson singing over a goofy synth pop sound on repeat.

This is just an ok 80s band

Well that's 38 minutes and 49 seconds I'm not getting back. Light and cheerful, which is generally to my taste, but utterly unremarkable and a complete let down after the madness the list has been serving me lately.

Майкл Джексон стайл вокал, не считаю музыкой (хотя так-то претензий нет)

Dès les premières secondes on est plongé dans la pop 80’s dans tout ce qu’elle a de plus daté, inoffensive, énervante, laide, oubliable. Tous les clichés de cette époque sont là, et rien ne nous est épargné en matière de synthés daté, de basses ringardes et de solos de saxo. Ca n’a pas grand chose à faire là et aurait du être oublié avec le passage aux années 90, même si le syndrôme de Stockholm peut fonctionner sur certains titres (le rythme de “The World Girl”, c’est à dire le preset “Reggae” d’un synthé bontempi, “Small Talk” coche toutes les cases). Disons que cet album est la forme finale et chimiquement pure de ce style de musique. J’en prends note, 2 pour l’effort mais pourvu que je ne croise jamais plus sa route.

This is like the precursor to the boy bands of the 90s-2000s. Like if the Backstreet Boys played instruments. Kidding aside, it makes sense that these guys (especially the keyboardist) became successful producers/engineers after this. While I don't necessarily "like" it - it's catchy, it's interesting, it's well arranged, executed, and produced. Worthy of the list.

Well I was confused as Luke had previously said he likes Scritti Politti and this sounded a lot like Michael Jackson ballads. Apparently they were more experimental at another time. I didn't love this. Dragged on. mopey 80s

Was not what I expected and I was not a fan.

I think a solid 3.5 on this one. I vacillated between 3 and 4, and had to filter and review my prior 3 and 4 ratings to decide it was maybe better than the 3s and maybe not as good as the 4s. It's the kind of 80s that I heard a lot of but didn't make an impact beyond sounding familiar. Knowing the name but not what songs they did. Not recognizing the titles but recognizing the songs when I heard them. I don't know that it's in the top 1001 of all time, but definitely better than some of the dren I've heard on this list.

The term ‘meticulously constructed’ gets thrown around a lot these days, but I think that a great example of how something should be ‘meticulously constructed’ comes from a mid-Eighties Single, which reached No.6 on the UK singles charts by a British act who were initially associated with the Punk movement but who had moved towards a more New Wave sound. I am, of course, talking about Tom Robinson’s War Baby, which is an absolutely perfect song in terms of how it’s written, performed, produced, everything. One the aspects I think is particularly interesting about it is how deceptively simple War Baby’s construction is, the song itself is a simple Pop song structure, verse chorus bridge etc, and rather simple instrumentation, a simple bass and drum groove, a keyboard marking the chord changes, occasional guitar chords used for emphasis, and then a sax providing lead runs and melody. And yet, the way the production works to make this simplicity work, the little touches like the guitar echoing Robinson’s voice in the chorus. And that’s not even mentioning my usual favourite topic; needless to say the lyrics are fantastic, evocative and melancholy, profound and elusive. The whole song sounds like it was crafted by artists at the very top of their game, doing their best to elevate each idea to the top of it’s potential. On the side of the spectrum, we have ‘meticulously constructed’ to mean, ‘well there sure are a lot of instrumental parts on this, and they’ve sure got a lot to do.’ Cupid & Psyche 85 sounds so busy all the time, it’s maximalist in the very worst way in all aspects but one. I’ve literally just finished to the album as I write this, and my genuine reaction was ‘Is that it?’ It just fades out, on a song that sounds exactly like every other song on the album. There’s no attempt to create a big album closer, it’s just a regular song, that just fades and then nothing. I don’t even like this album and I feel cheated. I’m not sure if I dislike it enough to give it a one, there was nothing egregiously wrong with it, but it gives me the same feeling of self importance that most Prog Rock does, a sense of the grandness of the construction of the music without the understanding of what makes good music interesting

A snapshot in time musically that I'd rather forget. Can't stand the 80s production.

This actually kinda banged, proper 80s

Super super cool I was very pleasantly surprised

solid 80s pop. kinda boring tho

Like when Ween produced an 80‘s Madonna album

D'une immense platitude. On dirait la version Walmart de Wham! ou de n'importe quel contemporain générique. Le gros "single" ne m'a même pas paru différent du reste de l'album et était particulièrement oubliable. Vraiment une perte de temps et aucune raison que cet album apparaisse ici. Clairement un choix personnel de l'auteur. 2.5/10

No. 301/1001 The World Girl 3/5 Small Talk 2/5 Absolute 3/5 A Little Knowledge 2/5 Don’t Work That Hard 2/5 Perfect Way 3/5 Lover To Fall 2/5 Wood Beez 2/5 Hypnotize 2/5 Average: 2,33 Just plain boring.

What kind of crap was that? The 80s were really weird. Strange music developed and strange oddballs crawled out from under their rocks. But there were also great things. This album is not one of them. My life would be nothing poorer if I had never heard of the band and the album. This purring, irrelevant and boring pop even managed to fail as background music. The album got on my nerves so much that I only played 3 tracks and then switched it off in frustration. 1/5

Hyper sugar pop. Juicy hooks.

Perfect Way is the only song that works. Otherwise this album is garbage.

Boring pop.

Did NOT LIKE

This was a sort of innocuous 80's album that stood out not at all to me. One or two tracks seemed vaguely familiar. I sort of hoped it was an album that had barely made the cut...

I had deep hatred for '80s music prior to starting 1001. That's because I assumed the all 80's music sounded like this band. Fortunately, I found out I was wrong. I discovered a load of decent 80's music such as, The Go-Go's / The Police / The The / Violent Femmes / Minor Threat / Halen / AC/DC / The Cult / Jesus & Mary Chain / Pixies / The Cure and a couple others. It's not all bad, just most of it.

This is why I hate the 80s. Well, and Ronald Reagan.

It's not offensive to my ears like some of the albums on this list but damn it feels derivative. Maybe it felt more inspired when it came out but now it sounds like the ghost of 80s music.

This album reminds me of Cliffhanger, a Sylvester Stallone / John Lithgow classic. The movie is so bad that it’s awesome. This album? Not awesome, but the extremely bad, textbook example of 80s music emits a certain nostalgic feeling. These guys leaned in HEAVY to all the latest synthesizer noises. And the drum machine. So bad, I almost found enjoyment.

Wow that was so '80s

Not if this was the 10,001 albums list.

British new wave, where everything sounds the same (bad). Stand-out: Wood Beez

1. uuorld - 1 2. talk - 1 3. abzolute - 1 4. knouuledge - 1 5. hard - 1 6. perfect - 1 7. lover - 0 8. uuood - 1 9. hypnotize - 0

1

Man, I really hated this. It sounded like the music from an 80s movie, but a shitty 80s movie

obnoxiously 80s, i love it

Not for me. Will Lee on bass is always great though.

Synth-pop twaddle. This album embodied everything I hated about 80's music.