Sulk

This was kind of a mess, but with a few bright spots. I can understand why someone might like it and can see how it inspired the goth sub genre, but it was pretty grating

Sorry falls da irgendwie Pionier vo schlechter Musik gsi sind oder so. Ich chan mer do echt nid ganze album geh. "and then I read a book" eifach mit eme röpser start scho zu unhinged für min Gschmack (han random uf das lied klickt). S album isch au mega lang? Aso weiss nid ob da eifach uf spotify mit de live Version sind aber gsehni irgendwie garnid. 1.7/5

Ischmer eifach chli too much irgendwie sorry

erste track nice 80s cheese. spezielli drums irgendwie. sehr wonky für e drum machine. gfallt mer aber. no. boh etz isch huuere lang gange bises singed. hui d melodie isch out there. und draaamaaatisch hoobla. bap de la bap?? ich sött de synth nervig finde aber finden no cool. alli synths sind so noisyy. uuh gloomy sunday isch chli post punk pop time. findi super. de best bis etz. nude spoons. bgv sehr ominös, geil. its better this way isch au sehr nice weird und er singt nöd würklich tön. Party fears two. sie hend sehr gern wonky tön und so. finds etz chli lang s gliche. country club hani recht nervig gfunde. nothinginsomethingparticular fangt besser ah und isch funky instrumental coool.

uiui aso ich gah devo es isch extra aber bin schomal gar nöd begeisteret vode produktion also s erste lied isch jz für mich game-musig gsi miteme nervige schlagzüg im hindergrund, ich hoff da chunnt nachli meh no gfalltmer jz scho besser, sehr atmosphärisch und weird, fast scho unheimlich JZ CHÖMMED WIEDER DIE ASS DRUMS UND GAME MUSIG ah er singt funny jaa jz zB party fears two findi voll easy, aber sie würked eifach wie wenn sie us prinzip alles münd übertribe (jz idem lied de gsang) logisch chan das au funny sii und kreativ aber finds ener müehsam au club county recht cool mite schnelle strings aber sie wennd alles quirky mache

Smattering of bangers but otherwise not for me

meh. 2 stars.

Guy needed some emotional help. Lyrics obviously coming from a dark place. Hard to listen to. Unfortunately his help never came in a form that could save him. Music reflects a severely tortured individual. Felt sorrow listening to this.

Very 80's New Wave. I just couldn't get into any track. Some of the instrumental work turned out okay, but the vocals really needed upgrading.

Almost lost a star for ruining 'Love hangover'

A couple of decent songs but overall a load of bollocks.

nothing wrong wht it but not for me. while the falsetto was impressive, there were moments where it felt like ti was showing off and did not fit into the song. like a guitar solo going on for jsut a little too long some parts of the falsettos were jsut slightly out of place for my liking. but I am not a critit

Definitely the sound of a moment. Reminds me of a lot of stuff that I prefer to this. I’d rather listen to David Bowie or Devo. I applaud the list for not simply sticking to the obvious choices. But there are less obvious choices that are more interesting and more impactful than this album.

Sounded so Australian!

Started out boring but got a little better. Pretty weird though.

Not great

There were a couple of cool instrumental interludes on this. Overall, though, this was very much not for me. The singing reminded me of a cheap David Bowie knockoff.

The album started out pretty poppy and actually interesting and fun to listen to. In the course of the album, things get progressively weirder and more uncomfortable.

Bit boring, 2-3

The music is a good fun punchy synth pop 80s sound, but good lord those vocals are on crack. Higher does not automatically mean better. Kinda annoying.

Couldn't finish

If they were early in synth, I get why they’d be on the list, but I’m not sure what was special about it from one listen.

There are a lot of post punk records on this list. The main thing to distinguish this one from the rest is that the singer sounds like Russ Mael from Sparks. Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: Party Fears Two Date listened: 10/01/24

The title of track two is my whole review.

Honestly - this sounds like what happens when you order David Bowie on Wish. Trying to hard to sound like Bowie but falling short.

Like a more annoying U2 without the hooks.

Wow this is very 80s. Not really for me - the guys voice is quite off putting

Tesco value 80s album

Hier kan ik weinig mee, maar ik kan in ieder geval zeggen dat ik dit ooit eens gedraaid heb.

Ugh...lekker hysterisch jammeren!

Dat geboer was wel het toppunt!

Early 00s but sounds 90s. Slightly Smithsy?

Catchier, funkier, weirder, saucier would have been better. Also, a bit less in the mid-range: it's rather crowded.

not my cup of tea

sulk's the associates isn't terribly memorable. this album contained a lot of that usual eighties new wave/synth sound, which i do enjoy! and the album was an easy listen. there were some really good beats. the lead singer's voice was reminiscent of david bowie, though.

Like other people, I definitely got strong David Bowie vibes from this, both in the music and the vocals. That said, they didn't have the gravitas or presence to quite pull it off. It was too late to walk back the Bowie comparisons, though; that persisted in my mind throughout the listening. This came off a lot more like chaotic noise and less like calculated art in comparison to anything anything Bowie did. This was okay at best, and absolutely not an album in my opinion that needs a place on this project, as it really just seems like it doesn't bring anything unique or stellar to the table.

Not familiar with this one but it’s an interesting beast. Shades of The Cure or were these guys first to the scene? I liked “Club Country” best and a few others tied for second. “Bap de la Bap” though? No, thank you. Keep you Bap to yourself, please. On the whole, I couldn’t quite reach a solid point of enjoyment with this one and I mainly blame the vocals. There’s a lot going on there.

Too fruity for me

A bit of a Bowie wannabe group. I couldn't find too much that I would describe as original or mind blowing.

meh

This wasn't the worst album on here (I'm looking at you Everything But The Girl) - but it felt like a generic 80's album. Nothing special.

Meh, not really my thing. Some good synth pop moments, but overall seems like wailing over ideas from better bands.

Love New Wave; hated this. Just not good as their contemporaries. The singing alone is something out of nightmares. 3/10.

This is just not really my style of music. Don’t really care for the vocal styling of this band. The music has that kitschy 80’s style with lots of synth/keys but it’s not really my fave. Just an “ok” album.

This was quite bottom of the barrel,not really anything special by a long shot.A but of a dirge.

Just 80s.

I couldn't recall this band. Half recalled on track. They weren't giants of the scene.

Meh

This album is 41 minutes long, and there are 3 different versions of it on iTunes of varying lengths. Always fun to deal with that. This was fine, about what I was expecting for a post-punk synth band from the early 80s. Definitely do recognize their well known song on this album. This music in general is not for me. Enjoyable enough though.

Never heard of this band before. That was a struggle to get through. Lots of Bowie in the vocals.

Pop con sintetizadores insoportable. Un 2.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this app has already suggested this record to me before. I remember writing that I was surprised that Björk liked it so much because, as far as I was concerned, I rather disliked it. My understanding is that she found the free-flowing, meandering, over-the-top vocals "liberating", which sure makes sense in a way. But personally, a large part of those vocals still sound as if the singer was attempting a pitiful, painful imitation of David Bowie at a karaoke. Especially on the first side (at least the one of the UK version--more on that later). Maybe I can't access Björk's level of genius when it comes to listening to certain details. But if most listeners can't grasp those details either, why should we call this record "essential". OK, this might be a bad faith take, I readily admit it. I can sense Robery Wyatt's genius in *Rock Bottom*, contrary to most people in here. Funny how subjectivity always ruins your best attempts to be fair. The thing is, comparing The Associates to Sparks, This Heat, The Cure, or I don't know which other groundbreaking band at the time might be a bit of a stretch. "It's Better This Way" and "Party Fears Two" are *somewhat* listenable, with effective melodic earworms. "No" is an interesting mock-gothic dirge, yet it's awkwardly placed towards the start of this LP (a flaw that the US version tried to correct by switchig most of side one with side two). "Bab De La Bap" has daunting industrial undertones that make it still worthwhile to go through today. But the rest is mostly a cheesefest of gigantic proportions, starting with the horrid "Gloom Spoon", "Nude Spoons" and "Skipping". This is also where the comparison with Sparks doesn't hold water in my opinion. In their best moments the Mael brothers managed to transcend whatever "popular" genre they had elected to play and turn the potential cheese in it into much more perverse and exciting aesthetics. And into far better hooks as well. I believe the comparison stems from Billy Mackenzie's extravagant performance on cuts such as "Country Club". Once again, it makes sense on a a certain level. But I'd rather go back to the original inspiration here. Finally, "nothingsomethingparticular" is a cute instrumental closer, yet it's nothing but a footnote to the whole proceedings. Still feeling nonplussed by this album overall. Going back to what I said at the start of this review, I hope I'm wrong and it's the first time this app has suggested The Associates to me. I intend to *finish* this project, and if really I have to review the same album twice, I'd rather have one truly *essential* one. Next, please. Still giving 2/5 to this record (the recollection of the grade I originally gave to this LP). Which translates to a 7/10 grade for more general purposes. Number of albums left to review: 375 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 282 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 149 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 201 (including this one)

De verdade, queria ter gostado mais. Infelizmente não aconteceu 🥺

I tried, but I'm not a fan. Nope. Just too challenging for my ears. Yeesh. Although I kind of liked their take on "Love Hangover," that's already a favorite song, so it doesn't seem quite fair.

I found this album very irritating to listen to. I mean, it didn't cause my ears to bleed, but it caused me frown the entire time.

I really enjoyed the tracks with no vocals. My reaction to the others was, wow, no thank you.

Hmmmm. I started off thinking this might be ok. Then the scritchy scratchy drums kept scritching and scratching. I’ve liked a lot of chaotic and noisy music on this project, but by the third song (Bap De La Bap) this was causing some degree of irritation. The sulking vocals didn’t boost things either. Moments in a few songs like Party Fears Two seemed promising, but ultimately left me underwhelmed. Too much not enough for me.

I was kind of excited for some influential 80's band I'd never heard, but then found the vocals to be truly insufferable. At its best, there is an almost Bowie likeable quality, but at its worst, neighborhood dogs howl in pain. I was down for all the drum machine and keyboards. That singing though.

I enjoyed the fast-paced, slightly out-of-control, glitchy opening instrumental. But after that, the music descends into a weird nightmare world of twisted 80s pop. It’s bold but I’m not sure it’s something I’ll want to replay.

Yea this is really that corny 1980s sound. Doesn't grab me right away and I'm not sure if it will grab me after some time. I hate the drumming. It sounds like someone who has never played on an electronic kit (or a regular acoustic drum kit with some e-drum attachments) and is trying to make it work. There's some obvious hesitance's and awkward moments in the playing. Not feeling the singer's voice too. It's like the bad parts of when Bono is singing. The album cover is cool atleast?

Bit boring

Not my favorite

The era this album comes from is unmistakable. It is interesting to hear the generally upbeat instrumentation accompanied by the gothic-style vocals that I usually associate with darker works of David Bowie and Peter Murphy. Speaking of which, I'll defer to either of those artists to scratch that itch. It's not that there's anything bad on this album, it just doesn't really grab my attention or keep me engaged, and I don't think I'll be listening to it again.

This gets two stars purely because it was bold and risky. The risk didn't pay off IMO, but I suppose nothing ventured nothing gained.

A few great tracks, and many lackluster ones.

Some of the music was ok, the voice on several songs just was not tolerable. I only made it through one time.

I usually dig early 80's but something didn't click with me.

Very 1980s. It's just synth-pop, nothing interesting or special.

I know there are some heads in the group that will love this, but I just couldn’t connect with it. I found myself restarting a lot because I couldn’t stay focused on the tunes, they just kept losing me.

Nah. I suppose there's some musical talent here, but I just really wasn't a fan. Too 80's art-y for me.

Not my style of early synth pop.

Not for me

Not great production wise. All loud all the time

Pop con sintetizadores insoportable. Un 2.

QuasiBowie a lo rollo.

Regular

*insert generic but not wrong complaint about how there are way too many 80’s British albums here instead of music people actually care about here*

I can't

BL: Never heard of The Associates before, the first thing that stands out to me is how beautiful this album cover is. It’s so definitely 80s but the use of neon and the looks of the two men on the cover really makes for an appealing cover and I’m interested to hear what the album is about. AL: this was a pretty good album for background noise but I don’t feel like anything really stood out. I was listening to this through my phone which I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. Hasn’t got amazing audio quality, I feel this is more of an atmospheric spacial audio experience - so maybe I’ll give it a re-listen when I get the chance with my proper headphones on. FT: “18 carat love affair” 2/5

1982? I bet it's UK new wave no one has heard of outside the UK. Nailed it. But fuck off, christ. 2/5.

lot of the grooves are cool but get kinda boring after a while. a lot of the actual songwriting isn’t really that good. kind of a hard listen to be honest. disjointed. melodies are forgettable. vocals are obnoxious.

Ну прикольная глючная музыка, ну такая вот, с вайбами нью-вейва. Но местами настолько мерзкая и противная, что прям совсем хотелось разкрошить на части наушники и все возможные средства воспроизведения музыки в своей квартире. Так что мда...

2 80s 4 me

This feels like the equivalent of a buck-a-scoop restaurant. Unmemorable, and leaves you hungry again within an hour.

Gothic synth-pop. Cure-sure Club? Not something I want in my life right now, thanks.

A very distinctive vocal sound and I remember their hits but it didn’t grab me so a measly 2*

Unremarkable.

Stupid music.

Fine

Not good

I thought this would be better as it influenced quite a few bands I really like but this loses it’s thunder very early on and then really struggles to keep it up sometimes being boarderline unlistenable sometimes being quite entertaining. 2/5

Never heard of them before. It was pretty decent. Need to hear it again sometime. 2.5/5

Best Song: Club Country. Some kinda groovy, safe funk in there. Worst Song: Party Fears Two. It literally sounds like he's trying to over-sing for comedic effect. Overall: Exhibit A of why the 80s were the most annoying genre, culturally. Nothing of substance, just flash. Layers and layers of boring synth with a bubble-throated man alternating between theatre-style singing and screeching falsettos. Bam, 80s hit-machine.

waoaf j'ai pas passé uin vraiment beau moement.... 2

Not my thing. I don’t even find this a good example of 80s synth pop. It’s just sort of meh for me.

QuasiBowie a lo rollo.

harmittaa vaan että vokalisti ehkä paskin koskaan, challenger to jack white? mukamassa sopii albumiin noh voisitte vaan sitä musiikkia soittaa muutamassa biisissä teeitte oikein... SINGING IS NOT MUSIC.. EVER... niin ei voi ykköstä antaa sen verran kiinnostavaa materiaalia on täällä mutta myös erittäin tylsää jooh 80lukuesquetta siis (nou good) It's got beeps and boops like some old videogame music. lmao. club country

Ugh, tried many times, but none of this album stuck. It's Duran Duran / Spandau Ballet / Roxy Music / David Byrne, but bad. It's a shame - I really wanted to like it.

Forgettable 80s pop.

Tecno simple y corriente.

What a really weird album. It was not good but at times tolerable. I never really got into it. It is better than a not really a two. I will round up.

I'm going to give this record credit assuming they were experimenting with new technologies. It did come early in the synth scene. But that is about the only nice thing I can say. It was early experimentation. Because this record sucks. The songs suck, the flow sucks, the vocals suck. This sucks.

This was a roadblock album that I just was never inspired enough to listen to and caused me to fall behind. It actually had some fun 80s synth dancey times but something about it never made me want to finish it. But I did finish it so 2

Sometimes sounds a bit like Bowie but most of the time sounds a bit like shit

Kaksi kaveria aivan saatanan syvällä omassa jutussaan. Tiedätkö mitä, en inhoa tätä, ja näen hyvää rytmiikkaan pohjaavissa biiseissä kuten Bap De La Bap (olisipa tällä vain joku toinen nimi) sekä It's Better This Way. Lisäksi Party Fears Twon leevimäinen syntikka huvittaa minua. Riittävät perustelut kahden tähden antamiselle?

Track 1- nice instrumental easy listening Track 2- i dont mind this tbf, strange vocals at times, slight cure/ echo & bunnymen feel to it. bit boring after a couple minutes though. cant make my mind up on it Track 3- not for me mate Track 4- nope Track 5- love the drum sound and overall production, fairly enjoyable Track 6- nice sounding song but vocals ruin it again Track 7- meh track 8 - dont mind this, really enjoyed the instrumental outro but vocals and melody ruin majority of the song track 9 - same as rest of the album, decent instrumentals shite melody and vocals, bass solo bit is mint track 10 - instrumental so one of the better songs on the album track 11 - meh track 12 - not even listened yet but more than likely gonna be meh

I didn't like this one at all. In my mind, it is all that I don't enjoy about 80s new wave, the plastic synth, the high-pitched vocals, weird themes...not a fan

I don't have to do this if I don't want to

I didn't care for this. Just didn't really pop out at me in any way.

This is just as bad as the last one.

Nah

They got many ideas, none of them worked. No wonder, when their ideas were "what if we peed in a guitar"

Never again

I may need to get the book about 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die because I’m having a really hard time believing this is on the list

Moody.

Honestly, really annoying. Not something I'd be interested in hearing again. Ever.

Couldn't get past the first song, just terrible.

I tried.

Rubbish! How did this make the list ?

Just a genuinely bad listen.

You bite through the big wall, the big wall bites back You just sit there and sulk, sit there and bawl You are so pretty when you're on your knees Disinfected, eager to please Sometimes you sulk, sometimes you burn God rest your soul When the loving comes and we've already gone Just like your dad, you'll never change Each time it comes it eats me alive I try to behave but it eats me alive So I declare a holiday Fall asleep, drift away Sometimes you sulk, sometimes you burn God rest your soul When the loving comes and we've already gone Just like your dad, you'll never change Sometimes you sulk, sometimes you burn God rest your soul When the loving comes and we've already gone Just like your dad, you'll never change

No

This felt like a waste of time, and even though it sort of got better by the end it was still too dogshit to be a 2

Was this everyone's first day on their instrument? I absolutely hated the drums. The rest was pretty much just as awful.

get the fuck outta here with this nonsense

Man, I don’t know what the appeal of this is or was. The album was indeed a giant sulk.

Terrible listen. Not sure why it is included on this list.

I don’t hate myself enough to force myself to listen to the whole thing. God awful

I mean, did I enjoy this? No, not at all. It was awful. But it almost being in the bottom 20 along with noise, industrial, and kid rock? that seems utterly bizarre.

Wowza. Tell you what man, you gotta put some respect on these guys for making this album. Seeing as they've never listened to music once in their lives. Or even heard of music in general. And what it's supposed to sound like. Also considering the fact that neither of them were born with a functioning human brain. Gotta respect it.

Nearly 2 hours of this shit

inevitably , I find post punk to be needlessly depressing music, and consequently, to justify emotionally or thematically maintaining the status quo, a post punk album really needs to push the boundaries and get it right. unfortunately, Sulk has done neither and I thought it was shit. makes me feel like I am stuck in a conversation about someones 5 year plan at Surfa rosa.

Why do I think that if this book were done by an American author this wouldn't even remotely be considered?

2/10 Some of the instrumentation was interesting but came of repetitive and let down by poor lyrics. My favourite was club country but wouldn’t say I loved it really, the vocals reminded me of morrissey but it just didn’t really work with how the music itself sounds so it came of quite pretentious, and i know it’s a bit nit picky but the song titles also sound pretentious like “arrogance gave him up” sounds like they’re taking themselves a bit too serious. Also it’s not britpop, just because it’s British and pop music doesn’t make it britpop, just like how country music doesn’t have to be recorded in horse stable to be considered country music.

2/10 = liked the synthy 80s instrumentals but the vocals were a bit too a lot warbly and not very memorable for the time, sort of parodied itself and im surprised it made it on here tbh

Marginally better than yesterday‘s album, but not by much and not buy enough to earn an additional star.

This was alright for a bit, but then it just kept going on and on and it felt like they just backloaded it with a toooon of shit at the end. I didn't enjoy it and I won't be listening again. One star.

Spotify is going to know that I listened to this and that scares me. Okay, Spotify is going to know that I skipped through the first three tracks and that still scares me.

no variation

The worst kind of 80s music in my mind. Couldn’t finish.

Very 80s, and I'm only listening to the first 10 tracks of the remastered version on apple music, which was plenty. First track sounded like some filler background stuff. And then they started singing, holy shit pretentious. He has no business singing that high. Shitty bargain bin Bowie. 1*

NEVER AGAIN

I'm good

The first couple tracks were almost okay but it went downhill fast

Yikes! I made it to Party Fears Two (US/Europe release). Wow, this is horrid. I would rather listen to ABBA, and I don't want to listen to ABBA. Bad, simply bad. 1 "generous" star.

There is just too much art-school horseshit on this list. I feel like I'm being trolled. This is just hot garbage. "Bap de la Bap"?! How the fuck am I supposed to recover from that? I'm afraid to continue using my ears now for fear that something just as horrible might enter them!

Героиновое оперное безобразие. Практически все слова в кратком описании негативны и не имеют положительного окраса. Каждая песня неимоверно скучна, и в одном из описании данного альбома было написано, что-то вроде "группа написав один успешный альбом, так и не собралась вновь для написания следующего". Мой комментарий - и слава богам этого не произошло. Это явно спонтанный проект в который вложили чересчур много денег для пиара. Слушать невыносимо больно. Оценка 1/10

Mezcla d ritmo entre indochina y voz de David Bowie. Aburrido

I love new wave and the 80s are a favorite decade, so it pains me to rate this album so low.

No miro nada relevante en este álbum, más que probablemente haya sido influyente

You know, the first instrumental track actually caught my attention right away. It had me thinking this was going to be an interesting spin on 80s synthpop. In a way, I guess that's exactly what it is.... but the captivating instrumentals quickly take a backseat to some bad Bowie-wannabe singing?? Turn down the vocal mixing a bit!! I'm trying to enjoy the synth line on Gloomy Sunday!! I'm trying to enjoy the Cure's bassist's part!!! (wish granted on Club Country) There are definitely elements I enjoy here; none of them are exactly unique to the album. I don't think I need to revisit. Standouts: Arrogance Gave Him Up • Club Country

A few years ago I started doing one album a day using a different list, tracking all of my ratings in a spreadsheet. There weren't many low ratings from me, but when looking at the data I noticed a pattern: I just really seem to hate 80's music. In almost any genre (some 80's punk/hardcore/alt-rock are an exception) I just pretty much hated every production choice made. All of that to say: this album was a downright painful listen for me. I came VERY close to quitting in the middle. I don't personally have much redeeming to say about this record, but I am not going to say to stay away from it, because it is far from bad in an objective sense. It is just the exact opposite of my taste in a way that made a listen straight through impossible. I had to take a few breaks. So, if you really love 80's Bowie but have always wished it was just a little bit more unsettling and that he was doing his best impersonation of a ghost the whole time, this is the album for you!

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

Klinkt erg postpunk en begin 80-s. Waren er qua synthpop in '82 er nog best vroeg bij. Je hoort dingen als Joy Division en the Cure heel goed, maar het is een rommeltje zonder dat het werkt. Zulke postpunk moet op een gegeven moment gaan vliegen, en dat doen deze tracks totaal niet. Dit krijgt van mij geen voldoende. 5/10

Very stereotypically 80s. Not my thing.

I am not into this at all. Some melodies are fine but the vocals are meh and the music is meh.

shite

Very dated. I didn’t enjoy listening to this.

319/1001 The Associates - Sulk Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ On the one hand, this is an incredibly frustrating album and on the other it's something that I really don't like. When it's at its best, it leans into the post punk sound, but the vocals ruin that aesthetic. When they decide to go down the pop route it becomes even worse. The melodramatic, overwrought vocals do absolutely nothing for me.

I honestly didn't give it much of a chance but I don't feel that it deserved one. Sorry, European.

So take the worst histrionic excesses of a coked up David Bowie and mix it with some New Wave, post punk synth noise and you might get something like this. Only, not as bad.

I’m almost a loss for words here. I don’t know what exactly this is, but I really think it’s best we leave it in 1982. I’ve never heard of this band before, and I’m suspecting, after listening to this “album”, that it’s for very good reason. Just terrible all around.

I like how the album cover makes my eyeballs feel. That's about it though. Best bit of music I heard from this was the bit playing in the American Airlines ad that came up between tracks while I listened on YouTube. Why do the vocals so mismatched with the instrumentals? I already just don't like synth but I especially don't like it with the moody voice leading the album. Maybe I'm just getting sick of the synth shit we get every other album but I feel like I've heard a better version of this album maybe 3 or 4 times this month. When they try to do something different (e.g. Nude Spoons) it just feels grating and I was just begging for it to be over. They can't do the overdone stuff well and they can't put a unique twist on it. Skipping and Club Country was okay. Still not happy with the screeching voice but the instrumentals were pretty cool. In fact I may try to find a fully instrumental version of this album and see how much more I like it when there isn't a jarring, dime-a-dozen, britpop banshee shrieking in my ear every 15 seconds. If so, this could be the most tragic waste of a guitarist/keyboardist I've ever heard. Really. Keep listening to Party Fears Two until you can make it through the whole thing without feeling a little sick at the end. I dare you. This sucked.

One of the worst albums yet, this one is right there with The Shamen in terms of awfulness. Disjointed arrangements, terrible rhythm, and vocals that'll make you cringe. Another album where most of the songs had around 30k plays each; this is not some undiscovered gem, this is the author being a contrarian asshole and refusing to put more popular music on the list in favor of some 80s electronic dogshit from the UK. With extreme prejudice, The Associates will take their place in the Hall of Shame as my 16th 1/5

Wow, okay, I did not like anything about this.

Last song absolutely tanked this one for me

Disliked

1 - not good

This is trash.

Was digging the 80s/synth vibe for about 15 seconds on the first track. That's where the enjoyment stops. This was AWFUL

did not like it.

Had to stop, did not like even a little

I put it on while I sat and read the news and don't remember any of the album.

Awful 80s synth pop. I could almost forgive the plastic music but not the vocals. Especially the slaughter of Gloomy Sunday - check out Sinead O'connor's version to hear how it's done properly.

Didn't like his voice or the 80s bibe :(

1.3

Why? This sounds like there’s three songs playing at all times and they never line up. Even the famous single isn’t great other than the opening riff.

Bad news wave/Britpop. I hated it.

could not enjoy...weird mix of 80s top 40 rock with haunting / terrible vocals and techno dance.

No standouts, just noise

Absolute tosh

Awful.

Unbearably bad to the point of being funny.

In yesterday's review I said this list was actually helping me enjoy a lot more 80s pop. The monkey paw behind this website curls, as it lines up this album for today.

I can’t get over how much I dislike the lead singer’s voice. Kind of atonal Bowie or more theatrical David Byrne or something. The music I would probably enjoy if I weren’t so distracted.

Pas aimé, criard...

I tried. In the end I just sampled most tracks for the first 10 seconds, then a minute in. I then just sulked away disappointed.

An appropriately titled album. A painful listen with insufferable vocals that did nothing except send me further down a sulking hole.

This was quite annoying. Suffered as much as I could then bailed.

There’s a world where the music and vocals work but not with one another. They clash and make both worse. It’s not good at all.

no

Nah

Bad versions of Talking Heads

Not good

Mid. Not much to talk about.

Really hard to get through. A lot of incoherent 80s wailing and below average riffs

Annoying AF.

Man. Just not good. The vocals are overdone, the musicianship is messy, there is very little flow or identifying characteristics. Feels like a couple of moody kids in a basement playing with a synthesizer got a record deal. I am a big fan of post-punk and early 80's alternative (Yaz/New Order/ etc.) but this was not good. 1.

This one is fuckin terrible. There's a reason no one's heard of this band. Much better and influential post-punk out there.

If Siouxsie Sioux, Robert Smith and David Bowie were paid to make music as bad as possible it would sound a bit like this

Imagine if David Bowie and Sparks were given severe head injuries, then locked in a recording studio with a mountain of cocaine. You'd likely get something similar to Sulk. It's not good. It's quite irritating, in fact, and I have to believe that the people who voted this onto the list also had severe head injuries. There is a lot of synth pop on the list, and this is surely the worst of it (he says while whistling past the graveyard)

1st song, 80 tv movie soundtrack for an unconvincing action sequence. 2nd song began with an "oh no, these vocals no" but in the end is wasn't too bad. 3rd song, murky synth-driven instrumentation in the back with reverb-and-echo-drenched vocals way in front of the mix and it a weirdly cloying noise. 4th song, thought it would be a more guitar-driven tune with crisp production and then the cabaret vocals draped over top of it all with no rhythmic connection to the music. Again no. 5th song. Sensing a pattern: mechanical and inflexible rhythms punctuated with weird fills. It's all about the vocals and they're the weirdest yet. 6th song has an interesting bass line, finally... some guitars, and then it's drenched with synths and Broadway/Bowie/opera vocals so you can't hear the interesting parts. better than the previous song though. 7th song starts with solo guitar and it's pretty ok, and then drum machines and then... again, as described before. 8th song, Party Fears Two, is a probably the best one here. The vocal and instrumental find a balance, baroque as it is. 9th song, maybe I'm getting used to this. Mix is pretty good. Still definitely not my thing, but I can see its appeal. 10th song, an instrumental bookend. Like the first, very very 80s, but this one has aged better than the opening track. So, for the first half I thought I was definitely going to award my first 1-star review. Couldn't find anything to appreciate. Second half got better or I just got acclimated to the distilled histrionic 80s-ness of it. But by the end, I think my little bit of appreciation was probably Stockholm Syndrome making me sympathize with my captors. So, therefore, and in conclusion, 1.5, rounding down.

The world would have been a better place if it had never been made. The vocals are like if Robert Smith didn't know how to sing, and the music is like highschool jazz band, but if someone gave them a guitar player too.

I really did not like this one. Very repetitive and not pleasant at all. I think I only got 80% through the album.

Repetitive and weird, and not in a fun a way. I read that Björk cited this as an major influence, but I feel like what this album influenced is a lot better than the album itself.

I don't know how this album got on this list. It's everything that was bad about the genre/era, and none of the good.

I thought I was a fan of 80s synth pop, but between this and the Heaven 17 album I got the other day, maybe I'm not. Woof.

They misspelled Sucks in the title.

Down with this sort of thing.

Album development / concept conversation went something like this: Hair dude = "The year is 2399, i've got Garage Band and have uploaded 500 synth loops and 200 drum beats" Hat dude = "Yes, set off a minimum of 50% of these loops / beats for every single track on the album" Hair dude = "Are you sure? Some of them don't go together, in fact they really clash" Hat dude = "Yeah set them off anyway, make sure you do this on the very first track as well, i want it to sound like we've dropped an electric drum kit down the stairs, get people into the groove" Hair dude = "What above vocals? I've got some melodies and harmony parts worked out...." Hat dude = "Sounds good but I think we just sing it like we're alien invaders, lets very our pitch every 10 seconds regardless of the tune" Hair dude = "Awesome" ........presses record

I feel bad giving it 1 star but it was just way too long and it really got on my nerves. Had it been a bit shorter I might have given it 2!

I had high hopes for this album. While I'm not familiar with anything from the Associates, I definitely knew of them because of their associations with The Cure (which many of you know is my favorite band). Michael Dempsey was the original bassist for The Cure and joined the Associates after leaving the band. And, Robert Smith was friends with Billy Mackenzie, who was the lead singer of the Associates. In fact, The Cure's song "Cut Here" is about the regret Robert Smith always had when he blew off Mackenzie backstage at a Cure concert just a few weeks before Mackenzie died by suicide. Having said all that, I just didn't care for this album at all. A lot of the songs just sounded like noise to me. I'm not a fan of Mackenzie's voice. Honestly, just not sure how this one ended up on the list. In fact, there were some bonus tracks from the re-release of the album that were listed on the Spotify track list and I didn't listen to them. Normally I would, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Leider macht seine Stimme nicht mehr mit

Weiss nicht, wie dieses Album in dieser Sammlung gelandet ist.

Uch, not for me. Chaotic, loud and dramatic.

as already mentioned by other comments. This is low budget David Bowie, like bargain bin stuff... If you don't like Bowie listen to Bowie insted of this.

Utter warbling bollocks.

awful and boring

I don't know if I'll be in able to choke this down. 2 sings in and it's unbearable. Possibly the 1st album I won't finish.

Another band I’ve heard the name of but know nothing about. The write up made them sound like they could be interesting and right up my alley. Maybe an alley. One with cats on heat. Bloody awful - and I’d have thought I’d have been in the target audience for this one given the era. Gah! It’s a shame 1 star is the lowest option.

Very 80s innit

The creator of this list is a tone deaf asshole. His tastes are awful and I hope he gets ear cancer. He’s truly a masochist. What a moron and a fool.

You can tell this was made by the most pretentious trust-fund faggots in England. Indulgent and yet unlistenable. Maybe there are too many superfluous British albums on the list?

Ikke for meg i det hele tatt. Et slit å komme seg igjennom. 1.4/5

Holy lord that’s horrible

OMG from the first measure I knew I didn’t need to hear this before I die. What a hot mess. This list is so shite. I’m sorry there’s not over 1000 albums you have to hear. There’s probably 100 that you should listen to no matter what and then whatever you like. And then you should probably listen to a fuck ton of classical/baroque/romantic music. Not all these shite UK albums. Sheesh.

WTF. A strong contender for worst album so far. This is why I don't hand out a lot of 1's - they're reserved for crap like this.

Quite shit

A fine, but not great album. Where this album shines, at least for 1982, is the sublime synths and creative risks taken on the production side. The Bowie-esque vocals are enjoyable, but the lyrics are daft. Not worthy of a position on this list, but a bit better than the usual fare of English bands that are noteworthy to no one. Better albums from 1982 that should have been included instead of this one: Men at Work BUSINESS AS USUAL, Toto TOTO IV, Frida SOMETHING'S GOING ON, Rush SIGNALS, Billy Idol BILLY IDOL, abc THE LEXICON OF LOVE, Fleetwood Mac MIRAGE, The Cure PORNOGRAPHY, Steve Miller Band ABRACADABRA, Madness THE RISE AND FALL,

Interesting choice to start with an aggressive, energetic synth instrumental. I don't hate it. It's definitely a relic of the 80s. I feel that the follow-up, No, is trying too hard to push the boundaries of music. It's all the ingredients of a post-punk band, complete with horrifically bad vocals, repetitive guitars, droney basslines, and synths that echo like nobody's business. It comes across like a very off-brand Talking Heads (circa Remain In Light), so for the good taste in inspiration, The Associates get at least a few style points. I'm 50-50 on the song No, but it gets a pass because the piano melody is kind of catchy. But no more bad-experimentation-for-the-sake-of-it, please. Well, at least Gloomy Sunday is sort of like conventional pop. Apart from the vocals, which are just so darn terrible that it becomes impossible to ignore. They're mixed up loudly in both ears, somewhat out of tune, and echoed as if you were standing in a Satanic cathedral. Sounds like drunk karaoke. At this point in the album, I started to realise all of the remaining tracks would be pretty terrible. Of course, I remained open to a happy surprise, but everything from track 3 onward is so kitschy, so overdramatic, and so unbelievably badly done. The only exception to this is Club Country, which is at least middling (on account of the positive, upbeat mood) and has passable vocals. Now let's check the Wikipedia article... Dang, those "professional" ratings are pretty harrowing. Of the seven listed, the lowest rating is four stars. Out of five. In contrast, the average rating in this project stands at 2.36. I would personally wager that the masses (us) are right about this one (but 2.36 is still far too high for this monstrosity). 1/5 Key tracks: Arrogance Gave Him Up, No, Club Country

.

My optimism soon crashed with this album. I could hear the Bowie influence but not in a good way

"we have Simple Minds at home" Simple Minds at home: Nah, it's just standard-fare UK synth-saturated post-punk new-wave. Vocalist like Morrissey meets Dolby without the charm, forgettable melodies, utterly unremarkable drum beats. Gives a whiff of "only on this list because it was compiled in Britain in the late 90s" à la Dexys. It's fun in parts and I don't really think it's *offensively* bad; just utterly unremarkable. fav tracks: Gloomy Sunday, Skipping, nothingsomethinginparticular

David Bowie wannabes? Not for me

Didn’t like this at all, I remember Party fears coming out, and didn’t like that……🤣

This explains why so many people hate New Wave.

Here's how this played out... 1st song - Instrumental? Cool. Not astounding, but not bad. 2nd song - A bit dramatic and that voice is overly melodramatic. Maybe he's just leaning into it for the vibe on this one. 3rd song - What the hell? Is that just his voice? It's pretty damn annoying. 4th song - He toned it down a little, but really, I don't think I can listen to this whole album. Gloooooomy Sundaaaay Gloooooomy Sundaaaay Gloooooomy Sundaaaay Ok, Let's take a break and come back to this later. 5th song - incoherent yowling. Is this even in English?? 6th song - Oh, ok. Music! cool bassline and he's not yowling. It's still a little dramatic, but dealable. Oddly, the least appropriately named song on the album, "Skipping" is prolly the least skippable song so far. No more play-by-play because I want to get away from this piece of crap. Just one more thing: Some folks commented that "Party Fears Two" is the jewel of this album and I'm calling bullshit. Nobody would play this on purpose, would they? This is a 1 that deserves a 0

Holy shit, no. I had high hopes after the opening track, but they lost me about 3 minutes into track 2. This is album #216, so I am about 20% through this exercise. At this point I have serious concerns that I will finish, and I have serious concerns about Robert Dimery's qualifications for compiling this book, not to mention his editors' and publishers' sanity for approving him as the executor of this project. Send help. Please.

The wikipedia article classifies this band as post-punk. A genre that hasn't been my favorite before but this albums sounds nothing like the previous post-punk albums on this list. That being said I really didn't like this one either. Strange noises, singing/talking out of beat, drums that doesn't really have a tempo and changes when the band feels like it instead of having a transition. There was two or three songs that were okay to listen to but the others made me mostly irritated.

Jep, ei kyl pysty nyt kuuntelemaan kiekumista ja syntikkasaundeja

You just can't be serious at this point

I don't know what that was all about, but whatever it was, it wasn't for me. Off-kilter beats, boring themes, messy.

Its been a while since there has been an album on here that has had me thinking "Can I actually bear to listen to this all the way through?" Surprisingly the answer was yes, though its an hour I'll never get back. I was truly awful 1

Not a fan

First four tracks are God awful, so I stopped listening. Who the fuck thought this was worth including?? Shockingly bad

Not good. Do not recommend. I'm giving this a 1 as in "the worst rating possible".

Horrendous caterwauling that couldn't end soon enough. What Bowie probably sounds like in The Bad Place. I'm appalled that there's a 3-hour version of this on Spotify.

I didnt need to hear this. Actually i would be better without it.

Absolutely horrific, awful, garbage. The only two songs that are not dreadful, are the two instrumental tracks. The rest is painful, wailing crap. How has this ended up on the list? Absolutely nobody needs to listen to it.

Just a brutal listen. Sulk? Yeah, that’s what I did the whole damn time I was listening through this album. In all sincerity, why is this on here? There is just heaps and heaps of much better music in this genre. “Best” Track: 18 Carat Love Affair

No thank you.

No likey.

this blows

Good Lord this was horrendous. The guy's voice makes me want to punch him in the throat so he can never sing again. This represents the worst of the 1980s. Just awful.

Listened to 3 songs. Not into it.

Blech, what a ear sore

Dreadful concept album. The very best bits were listenable. Nuff said

Album No. 0076 on my list. Phew, what do I do with this album? First things frist, I've not been aware of the existence of both the album and the group. This was completely new, and i tried to get into this with an open mind. Unfortunately, the whole album is just annoying. I'm not even sure why. It's not a terrible collection of songs per se, but I just didn't like it. The singing is annoying, the music is unnecessarily weird, I don't like its overall vibe. It's not that I don't appreciate avant garde music, quite the contrary. But this just felt unnecessarily annoying to me. I'll add "Club Country" to my playlist, which is a song that at least somehow got stuck in my head. I'll likely never listen to the rest of the album, unfortunately. Bonus points (negatively) for the whole extent of the album - too many, too bad songs. So, finally: it probably doesn't deserve such a bad rating, but "Sulk" will just get 1 star from me. I guess it's just not for me, or maybe I was just in a bad mood, I dunno. Sorry to The Assoiates, maybe I'll listen to the album again in a few years and find it better. 1/5 stars.

Kuidagi kehv mix, ma nagu kuulaks seda läbi mingisuguse toru. Väga palju kahtlaseid ideid ja kõlasid, mis ei tööta. Selline eksperimentaalne brit synthpop, mis mulle kuidagi ei istu. Vokaalid on ikka päris kohutavad ja kriibivad kõrva. Omal ajal võis ta midagi huvitavat ja uut olla, aga praegu kuulates on see ikka piin. 1/5

Musically could have been background music. But the vocals make it unlistenable for me. Almost quit at track 3.

I didn't think it could get worse until I heard the vocalist. Song 2 sums this up perfectly: No.

This is a slog. It’s every band of the 80 mixed together and then carefully sieve of distinguishing marks. Oingo Boingo without the humor; Tears for Fears, but for the talent. Placeholder at best, but one which sorely tried my patience.

0.9 Well I guess this finally answers the question "What if David Bowie wasn't a somewhat functional drug addict"

55

This was awful. This is the kind of album that scares people away from this list. Especially after listening to Night at the Opera by Queen. I either do not like new wave music at all, or this list is just filled with bad new wave albums. Kind of wish I could discuss the inclusion of this one with the creator of the list. Like even if its a 'stepping stone', it sounded like the sad part of a subpar musical that goes on for an hour. But the singer is putting way to much oomph into everything, and the instrumentation is totally doing its own thing, like they are both deaf to one another. Actually had to skip certain songs, because I honestly couldn't take it, they were difficult to get through. Plus the songs were going nowhere, and you could tell they were going nowhere, so why endure it. blah blah, its experimental... blah blah... wellllll it sounds bad... soooo.... Great name for the album though, surely put me in quite the sulk. 1.5/10

This was an odd one, definitely different, but not something I enjoyed really at all.

Uno de los peores que he me ha tocado escuchar. Música estridente, machacona, y aburrida. No me gusta este sonido del nuevo pop ochentero, y en este disco está por todos lados. La segunda parte no incurre con tanta insistencia en los pecados de la primera, pero tampoco hace nada por redimirse.

Didn’t like this album. Just generic New Wave. Nothing interesting.

This is just hard to listen to! Now I know why even though I was buying tons of albums in the 80’s I never heard of these guys! How about a new book “1001 albums You’ll Actually Enjoy Listening to!” 1 star only because there is now way to rate it ZERO!

Second album in a row of artists I'd never heard of before. Yesterday was a big surprise for me. It was a Scott Walker album that was reviewed very poorly but I really enjoyed. Looking at the reviews for today's record, I'd hoped to find another diamond in the rough. I do generally this genre of music very much, so I figured this would be another where I stood out from the pack. When the first song came on, I was totally on board. It was an instrumental and very much in my wheelhouse. And then the song No started. As soon as the vocals began, I realized what I was reading in the reviews was exactly how I was feeling. Though derivative of Bowie, it was off key and at times painful to listen to. This wasn't enjoyable at all. The next song I liked was the last, another instrumental. Unfortunately there were 8 almost unlistenable songs in the middle. I still enjoyed the music throughout. There wasn't a song on the album where the music was the issue for me. It was all about the horrible vocals. I don't know what I will rate this yet. I'll need to let it fester for a while before I decide.

Not a fan of this one, it's a bit like a sparks record but missing some of the theatricalness and catchy hooks. Wasn't a fan of the singing. Musically it felt quite 80s, but not the interesting strand of the 80s.

This was not good for my hangover. Sounded like a haunted industrial site

What am I listening to? I do try to finish the albums even if I don't always succeed. But this one was hard to give more than 10 minutes of my time.

Shite

Nein

This seemed like the worst 80's pop had to offer

Besides reminding me of the music the goth kids listen to on South Park and giving me a little chuckle, this album did absolutely nothing for me.

I can't work out if this is genius or terrible. Some great energy in the music, very danceable in places. I recognised one song, Party Fears Two, but nothing else here seems that different from other new wave bands at the time. The vocals are quite annoying at times, and very derivative of David Bowie too. The drumming is absolutely frantic on some of the songs, and I think slightly out of time, which made me uneasy. So I think I've landed on terrible.

Overproduced and histrionic; there are some stirring moments and cool ideas here, but it’s melded together by a post-rock and 80s pop fusion that doesn’t work for me. I have to respect the vocal performances even though they often annoyed me - they were really going for it. I listened to the original UK tracklist and couldn’t bring myself to listen to the US/Europe exclusive songs. It already felt longer than its runtime and I think I got the idea.

Ya know, I really didnt like this and was going to give it a 2. Then i heard the guys voice and yeah, it's a 1 for me, dawg. 1/5

It sounds like a combo of David Bowie and The Cure but like you got them from Wish. This is epitome of “We Have David Bowie At Home”, this just sucks

Ear vomit

My first 1 given on an album. I can handle a lot of music. Even if something isn't my style, I often still find some beauty in the instruments, songwriting or overall love into an album. I also enjoy experimental stuff. This however, is shit. Every single element is all over the place, and it feels like the autotune has been deliberately set to false. Honestly, I don't know how you can listen to this and think "yeah man, this is what I'm going to release to the world". It feels like you're high on psychedelics or ate too much spacecake and your best friend decides to play a record backwards, turning your good trip in a trip from hell and you are convinced the devil is talking to you and you are confident your consiousness is transported into the deepest realms of hell. Quite impressive an album can mimic that exact feeling, but still a 1 from me.

Thoroughly hated this. The drum programming all sounds like a mistake

No thanks 🤮

I used to think I liked 80's music but now that I've listened to every garbage post-punk album britian has ever produced I have my douo. Everyone is worse than the one before. This one is so full up their ass i seriously considered not listening to it. The first time that's happened on this list. At least with Neil Young he has a humor to his shittiness

This sucks. Synth pop is really one of my least fav genres. 1.5/5

That album cover and the name “Sulk”? I’m already not happy. I cannot with this voice. I. Can. Not. What if David Bowie wasn't talented? Yeah, I guess I now know what that would sound like (and I don't like it).

Sounds like a bad parody typifying the very worst of the 80s. But I was happy to give a 2 to this terrible album and move on with my life. But then I got the one-two punch of 'It's Better This Way" and "Party Fears Two (Remix)" which amp up the awful vocals to an absolutely transcendent degree, followed by the realisation that my streaming version had 7 bonus tracks, and the 40th Anniversary version 36 extra tracks(!). That's a war crime.

Can't even say I enjoyed part of it.

Uninspired and feels like low-quality garbage straight out of the 80s. I can’t imagine anyone listening to this voluntarily. It's the kind of album you'd hope to never hear again.

nah

Immer noch avantgardistische Musik.

этот альбом тяжело дался, шумный, голова болит от него. не порадовал

I was hoping it was going to be an instrumental album. The second song started and it was a let down. "I bit my nails down to the quiCKKKKKK" what a line. I would never listen to this album on purpose again.

Nope

Sulk is a good name for this album. After 3 straight days of crap, this one included, I just want to sulk. I made it to about halfway into the album before the lead singer’s voice finally made me rage quit. I love 80’s music, but some of the choices on this list are downright terrible.

The singer has a very thetralic delivery. The songs sound dated. I didn't like it at all.

I don’t know what kind of mood this music is even for.

Hmmm. I don't enjoy how this sounds, it feels really trebly and aggressive. It sounds very 80s sample heavy, some of the noisy guitar bits are interesting, but I don't really enjoy the synths and the vocals sound like someone doing an over the top bad impression of Phil Oakley. There are bits that reminded me other stuff, some of which I like (there was a drum intro that sounded like a poorly recorded "run to the hills". I just didn't enjoy it. It was messy and tinny and naff.