Jun 18 2025
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Juju
Siouxsie And The Banshees
Kind of a electro Gothic vibe with at times almost belligerently repetitive, almost monotonic melodies. Feel like I can hear the seeds of acts as different as The Pretenders and The B-52s.
3
Jun 19 2025
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Beautiful Freak
Eels
Musically really interesting, feels very personal while still exploring the medium itself. A little uneven in that it starts strong but flags towards the end.
4
Jun 20 2025
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D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Less an album of songs than a series of soundscapes for an Alex Garland run of Black Mirror. Evokes a sense of fragmentation, disarray, and paranoia.
3
Jun 21 2025
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Disraeli Gears
Cream
I mean, c'mon. Just a great album with so many great hooks and drum fills.
5
Jun 22 2025
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Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand
Fun and upbeat
4
Jun 23 2025
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Seventh Tree
Goldfrapp
This one didn't do much for me. Lots of soft vocals and mellow moods, but I never felt hooked. I liked some of what happened musically on "Little Bird" and"Monster Love ."
2
Jun 24 2025
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Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
I can see the musical talent, but this wasn't my thing in the 80s, and it's not my thing now. The first couple tracks were all right, but for the just pay the melodies didn't do it for me.
2
Jun 25 2025
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Shadowland
k.d. lang
I don't know much about lang or country music from the 80s, so I was surprised at how old-fashioned this sounded. Maybe it makes more sense in context. She's got a great voice, and there's some fun stuff on here. I'm open to hearing more from her, but it hasn't quite made me a fan
3
Jun 26 2025
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Repeater
Fugazi
Starts really strong but gets a little long by the end. Like a lot of punk, a lot about a vibe as much as the music, but there's also plenty of good rocking happening here.
4
Jun 27 2025
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A Short Album About Love
The Divine Comedy
Gave it two listens and can't get past the campy lounge act quality. If the lyrics weren't so banal, they may have saved it for me.
2
Jun 28 2025
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Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
While there are certainly several great songs on here, this isn't the kind of thing I would choose to listen to, normally. But it's also clearly a different kind of album; it's like you can feel it's significance even today.
5
Jun 29 2025
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Thriller
Michael Jackson
There are, like, five great tracks on here and four cringey ones.
4
Jun 30 2025
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Actually
Pet Shop Boys
I was just fighting with my girlfriend about how irritating synths were in the 80s, and then I get this album. Doesn't totally redeem the aesthetic, but it feels less manipulative and melodramatic. Nothing here sticks out, exactly, but each track has something interesting going on, and it was enough to get me to explore more of their stuff.
4
Jul 01 2025
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A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield
I didn't realize so many of her iconic tracks were on this one album. But, then, there are a lot of tracks here. I don't hold her up against my favorite female vocalists, but a lot of these tunes are lodged in my head, and I don't mind.
4
Jul 02 2025
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In A Silent Way
Miles Davis
The first track is more of a soundscape than a melody, though it also has movements, and you're either going to go with it or resist it.
The title track is easier to settle into and is really beautiful.
Not the easiest thing to get into, but reading reviews and appreciation of this album confirms some impressions and gives language for others: psychedelic, fusion, minimalism, negative capability. One guy compared it to Dylan going electric.
Like so much of Davis's work, this album deserves to be listened to on vinyl on a hot night with a bottle of wine. It grows on me every time I hear it.
5
Jul 03 2025
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Achtung Baby
U2
I don't know that I've ever listened to this straight through, but it's so good.
5
Jul 04 2025
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Maggot Brain
Funkadelic
That first track is majestic; the rest is a ton of fun.
4
Jul 05 2025
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Nebraska
Bruce Springsteen
This album stood back so much of what makes his music exciting and let's the storytelling shine through. Even when he gets sentimental or slows the tempo down farther than seems necessary, he's so tapped into the dynamic of hope for redemption versus wandering through purgatory as described in the idiom of the American Dream that it's still always poignant.
5
Jul 06 2025
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Songs Of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
I never really listened to Cohen other than heading songs here and there. I've always liked him, tho listening to a lot of him in a row reveals how much he likes certain song structures. Still very good storytelling, and many some are compelling while you hear them even if it's hard to remember the melodies, such as they are.
5
Jul 07 2025
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I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail
Buck Owens
Took a couple listens not to feel like this was some of the cheesiest county I'd ever heard, like he was parodying himself. One you get past the self-satisfied smile in many of the songs, you can appreciate some of the pathos that the humor is covering up. Still not one I expect to return to, but I can appreciate why some of his stuff was influential.
2
Jul 08 2025
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Graceland
Paul Simon
I've known this album for years, and it took me a lot of listens to really appreciate. It's one of those albums that I don't necessarily choose, but when I hear it, it always takes me on a journey.
4
Jul 09 2025
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Garbage
Garbage
Okay, this is the first one I feel I have enough context and familiarity to wonder why it's on this list. I liked it fine in H.S., but even then "Only Hair When it Rains" felt a little disingenuous, or at least like a lyric that's trying too hard and also not hard enough. It brings back some memories, but I don't know that I feel one *must* listen to it.
1
Jul 10 2025
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Maverick A Strike
Finley Quaye
Found a lot of this interesting and fun, some of it was a little meandering. Liked "Supreme I Preme."
3
Jul 11 2025
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m b v
My Bloody Valentine
I feel like this was a band the "real" music kids were into. This album wasn't enough to help me understand them; they should have gone with Loveless, which is more accessible. M b v feels like an album you like if you already like the band. Also, do the lyrics actually matter, or are they just more texture? I don't think I understood a single line.
2
Jul 12 2025
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Africa Brasil
Jorge Ben Jor
A lot of fun stuff on here. Doesn't grab me quite the same as Burns Vista Social Club, say, but someone I'll keep exploring.
3
Jul 13 2025
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Mr. Tambourine Man
The Byrds
I don't think of The Byrds as a band I love, but they are uniquely able to put me in another state of consciousness, wch is not nothing.
3
Jul 14 2025
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Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes
2
Jul 15 2025
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Catch A Fire
Bob Marley & The Wailers
A strong album, and it led me to a few other acts like The Frightners.
4
Jul 16 2025
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Shaka Zulu
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4
Jul 17 2025
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Good Old Boys
Randy Newman
This is a guy who's really got his own thing going, and sometimes it's fun or poignant, and sometimes it feels rambly. It's never something that has grabbed me when I'd I can appreciate it conceptually. I liked "Louisiana, 1972."
3
Jul 18 2025
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The Last Of The True Believers
Nanci Griffith
4
Jul 19 2025
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The Joshua Tree
U2
Maybe not a perfect album, but the first half is so strong that I don't really care. I didn't grow up with but came to it in college, so the nostalgia factor is not strong. It made an impression then and still grabs me now.
4
Jul 20 2025
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Aja
Steely Dan
Today I learned I don't care at all about Steely Dan. Literally skipped thru every song. Just felt so cheesy.
1
Jul 21 2025
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All Things Must Pass
George Harrison
There's nothing on here that hits me as hard as his Beatles stuff, but I still find it a powerful album. Possibly his most personal, but still with his characteristic sense of the absurd.
4
Jul 22 2025
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Live At The Harlem Square Club
Sam Cooke
Lots of great energy here, and you can see why he was popular. It's a different side of him than I know from the radio, for sure. I didn't really love any of the arrangements, tho. It felt like a lot of show without real emotion. I'm sure it was fun to be there, and it's interesting as a document, but I guess it's not what I enjoy about Sam Cooke.
3