Bianchi27,
That's Romeo Void, the song is "Never Say Never" Great dance tune, excellent sax throughout the song.
That's Romeo Void, the song is "Never Say Never" Great dance tune, excellent sax throughout the song.
any early 80's alt/soft punk fans out there?
great time for music imo. new sounds, edgy but musical and sometime.....downright deep/moving. never got into the really hardcore punk seen. liked the softer side destruction alot better =)
just finished a psychedelic furs binge tonight. had joy division/early new order on all weekend. planning on reminiscing with lou reed/velvet underground and early rem later this week.
haven't really listened to this stuff much in recent memory. not sure why?. i own almost everything these bands ever put out but still rarely give them a turn anymore?.
early furs with all that sax and mr butler's near painful voice =). i'm gonna grab some tickets for their upcoming show at house of blues (chicago). i'm sure it won't be as crazy as the shows back then but the music will still be great. didn't even know they were touring.
really enjoyed joy division and after the death of Ian....early new order stuff. incredible music considering their roots. new order eventually lost their edge but back then....they were it!
any other fans out there?
just finished a psychedelic furs binge tonight. had joy division/early new order on all weekend. planning on reminiscing with lou reed/velvet underground and early rem later this week.
haven't really listened to this stuff much in recent memory. not sure why?. i own almost everything these bands ever put out but still rarely give them a turn anymore?.
early furs with all that sax and mr butler's near painful voice =). i'm gonna grab some tickets for their upcoming show at house of blues (chicago). i'm sure it won't be as crazy as the shows back then but the music will still be great. didn't even know they were touring.
really enjoyed joy division and after the death of Ian....early new order stuff. incredible music considering their roots. new order eventually lost their edge but back then....they were it!
any other fans out there?
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Oh and let's not forget Pet Shop Boys, OMD, and Erasure. Great stuff! Ultravox, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby, Yaz, Visage and lets not forget the pretty boys - Duran Duran - their "Strange Behaviour" double CD has some great extended mixes in gloriously dynamic sound (Trevor Horn and Alex Sadkin masterpieces). Why oh why can't they make nice audiophile sound quality productions like this anymore - all we get is hypercompressed angry sounding stuff these days - likes of Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, Coldplay, Keane, Snow Patrol, Kooks etc. are all badly compressed. |
Lots of UK Bands are copping these 80s sounds at the moment, including Little Boots, Ladyhawke, La Roux and Patrick Wolf. La Roux reminds me of Blancmange. Heads will Roll (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) is awesome especially the Tommie Sunshine mix). I also love the snare sound on Maps (fun song to sing on Rockband). Great stuff. |
just spent an evening of Substance with New Order. it's been 10+ years since i listened to the whole damn thing. played a few tunes once in great while but that's about it (until very recently that is....when i first started this thread). decided to sit down for a rather loud and long session tonight (all 150 minutes of it)). forgot how TRULY fantastic this release is. just incredible music imo!. hard to see how anyone, regardless of musical tastes, wouldn't enjoy giving it a listen. even the alt rock haters should find something they like on Substance. Ceremony, State of the Nation, Shell Shock, ect...way to many awesome songs to list. almost 150 minutes of solid, good tunes. sorry...just had an outstanding session....thought i'd share. |
Yeah, I always thought that was their best album. I heard the single "Love" for the first time way over France on my Walkman on my first visit to Europe in '86. I remember thinking, this is good and didn't find out who it was until a guy played the album one night in Germany a couple months later. They messed up once they got involved with Rick Rubin and thought they had to sound more contempory hard rock. I saw them in the States in '89 opening on the Metallica tour and they didn't play much of their early stuff and definitely not "Love". Astbury's voice was gone, he couldn't hit any high notes. Duffy could still playing but was mostly going through the motions. Bought at least two of their later albums and was disappointed with them. Saw Asbury unexpected one night in Chastain Park Amphitheater in Atlanta when it turned out he was working the lead singer position for the Doors. Again not too impressive. Still I'll always remember their heyday in England after the Love album was released. It didn't get much better than that and I must of listened to that tape dozens of times while driving back and forth between cities in West Germany. |
FYI the Cult is releasing two remastered deluxe versions of the Love album in August. There is a 2 disc version with the remastered original album and a second cd of B-sides and out takes and a 4 cd "omnibus" version that includes a live show from 1985 and a demo disc from the Love sessions. A lot of this has been around in various forms. Hopefully, they won't give it the ipod recording treatment. |
Lots of UK Bands are copping these 80s sounds at the moment, including Little Boots, Ladyhawke, La Roux and Patrick Wolf. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released an electro pop masterpiece earlier in the year. By the way, do see Coldplay live. They have really matured as a live act and may be, alongside U2 and Radiohead, the best the world offers. Masterful production in staging and lighting with crystal clear and balanced sound. |
Walter, I like a lot of the Jayhawks' stuff, but I really don't know The Handsome Family (except by name). I'll check it out. As to Uncle Tupelo and spin offs, IMHO, UT's "No Depression" was THE seminal "alt. country/cow punk" record (and, since this genre is sometimes called "No Depression", I guess I'm not alone in that judgement). I'd tend to agree that the rest of their catalog is spotty. Son Volt started out great with "Trace" but sank pretty quickly. Wilco is Wilco and Bottle Rockets (specifically on the strength of the eponymous first record and TBS - although all of theirs are very good records)would be my pick of this litter. Another "Cow Punk" band worth mentioning is 16 Horsepower, but if Uncle Tupelo leaves you cold, this one may not be your cup of tea, either. Marty |
Waltersalas - Thanks. I'm surprised the username wasn't taken. My band had the good fortune of opening for The Handsome Family a few years ago. They are excellent. I'll throw one other name out there. Anybody remember The Housemartins? The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death is a pretty great album. I specifically remember that this is one of the first digitally recorded albums I heard. Paul Heaton went on to form The Beautiful South and bassist Norman Cook later reinvented himself as Fatboy Slim. Also, Cocteau Twins and The Durutti Column and are two more of my favorites from this time period. |
Big fan of the early New-wave/post punk recordings that followed up much of the Joy Division era. The Wake, Magazine, Chameleons, Sad Lover's and Giants, The Names, Stockholm Monsters, The Sound. Tons of great music out of England that sadly has been lost over the years. Been some nice sounding re-releases and remastered version in the last few years. |
Marqueemoon (great moniker, by the way), Man, that is a fantastic catch on the Go Betweens. One of my very favorite bands from that period. The solo albums of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan (especially the acoustic-driven "Horsebreaker Star") are also excellent. Like the Soft Boys, too, and Robyn Hitchcock's earlier solo records. Marty, I couldn't agree more on Rank and File, and I agree with you on the Bottle Rockets. You want good songwriting, check out "The Brooklyn Side," which "reads" like a book of excellent short stories. I never could get into the Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt branch of the tree, although Wilco is a notch better. The Jayhawks and Silos are more my speed as far as alt country goes. Have you heard the Handsome Family out of Chicago? |
The cowpunk crew can be extended to include all the early Alejandro Escovedo bands (Rank & File, etc) and Chuck Prophet stuff (Green and Red, IIRC). There's also James Mastro's post Bongos group, Health and Happiness Show - although they might be a bit too pop/crafted to qualify as "cow punk". Uncle Tupelo and the "nephew" bands all qualify; Son Volt, Wilco, and Bottle Rockets - although Wilco goes all over the place. Kim Richey qualified briefly when Pete Anderson was her lead guitar. Another band at the margin (due to excessively beautiful vocal harmonies) was The Reivers, IMHO the best songwriters of this lot. Walter, I'd also agree that the Scorchers were a great live band. I'd add that there's also those Feelies spin-offs Yung Wu and Wake Ooloo, among others. Marty |
Siouxsie & the Banshees Billy Idol The Fixx Janie Lane's cover of "I want you to want me" is really cool. |
Soft punk. Funny. Only Ones, certainly. I was a little kid and all that (junkie) swagger got to me. Generation X, Rich Kids (completely underrated), Buzzcocks, of course, and Real Kids. So many. Dictators, Elliot Murphy, the Skids ("Sweet Suburbia" over and over), Jim Carroll, the Saints' second album, Eternally Yours, UK pop-punk band the Boys (brilliant), first Cheap Trick album ... Johnny Thunders' So Alone and David Johanson's first two solo ... the Beat (every song's a single on the debut ...), Shoes, that first 20/20 record (anyone remember seeing the band do "Remember the Lightening" on American Bandstand?), Undertones, Vapors (forget "Turning Japanese," the band was great.) Penetration (underrated, particularly the song "Shout Above the Noise"), Onto the Church, Echo and the Bunnymen, and la la la... growing up ... |
ok guys....cow punk? kinda get what it is but have never heard to it referred to as that. don't really get the cow part?. never heard jason & scorchers. just grabbed a few of their tunes on my ipod to check um out. sound pretty good....surprised i wasn't on to them?. good call on the pixis and los lobos.....some good stuff there too i had a love/hate relationship with the hard core stuff. enjoyed going to live shows but just couldn't get into it by myself/alone at home. it was a "social thing" to me....go out and crazy music. couldn't just sit at home and listen to the stuff. still can't. i guess that makes me a wanna bee lol! |
I am surprised most of you missed The Replacements, which had five seminal albums during that period. "All for Nothing" is the definative Best Of, but I recommend dive dives with "Pleased to meet me," "Let it Be", "Inconcerated Live," "Tim" and the very under-rated "All Shook Down." Also forgotten is the Pixies. Hard not to note the obvious influence on Nirvana and the whole Grunge Movement. The Pixies, along with Jane's Addiction, served as a bridge between those genres. For hardcore listeners, hard not to mention Fugazi. The bass line on "Waiting List" is epic. The Adolescents,Agent Orange, Bad Brains,Bad Religion, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Descendents, The Dickies, Fear, Flipper, The Germs, Wasted Youth, the Weirdos, and Youth Brigade all defined American Hardcore movement from 1980 to 1986. The original LA Punk Rock also morphed into Cow Punk. Hard not to like the Beat Farmers (Country Dick was one of the best showman!), The Blasters, Concrete Blonde, the Dils, X/The Knitters, and the Minutemen ("Corona" is a great demo disc for music shows). Santa Cruz spawned Cracker and Camper B. East LA spawned Los Lobos and the Plugz. How about the early funk punk experiments with the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Manchester UK defined Post Punk with the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, the Smiths and New Order, and set the stage for the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and the Charlatans to come. All the bands from that town share a tonality that suggests a month of overcast skies. Mission to Burma is a great "unsung" band. "Academy Fight Song" is a lost gem. REM's early output was amazing, especially the first EP which contained "Gardening at Night." |
just found three Concrete Blond disc's buried in a stack of cd's i never go through. anyone remember these guys?. listen to the first release this morning (from 1986). man they rock!. "still in hollywood" bough back some found one's. love a good female vocalist with my "punk". maybe it's the wild times we had with punk gals back then =). brutally honest and shameless as they were...i still loved um. |
absolutely to the clash and sonic youth along with all the others. really liked the replacements and waterboys. good stuff! you're right walter. soft punk is alot like jumbo shrimp threw "soft punk" in the title at the last minute. wanted to avoid the vagueness of just "alt". used the word "soft" in place of "being able to play instruments fairly well" and "some form of coherency to the music itself" =) |
Loved the Gang Of Four and XTC suggestions. Since we are moving away a bit from the "soft punk" category--which sounds kind of like an oxymoron, even though I think I know what the OP is getting at--the floodgates really do open. How about Sonic Youth, the Replacements, Black Flag, the Minutemen, Husker Du, the Wipers? Heck, why not the Clash? Oh yeah, the Waterboys definitely belong in the conversation as well, and probably could fit the soft punk label. |
maybe Construction Time That is my favorite Depeche Mode album. Once again the Extended 12" Version of "Everything Counts" is killer compared to the album version - they were nice enough t oinclude this on the CD. Yaz and Ultravox and Tears for Fears (only Pale Shelter) may be up your street too - I have all this on extended versions aswell. However, if you are looking for sonic paradise then the Trevor Horn extended version of Grace Jones Slave to Rhthym (Hot Blooded Mix) is a MUST have - just crank it and you are in awe of how the guy mixed it so carefully and well balanced. |
I have a ton of the original extended 12 inches re-issued to CD of many of these. It has taken a huge effort to find them as they are often only available on certain rare compilation CD's. My preference, by far, for this entire 80's period are the extended versions (some lasting more than 8 minutes!). Extended Version Classics like The Cult Sanctuary Rational Youth Saturdays in Silesia ATF Der Kommissar |
just spent the evening with some old Depeche Mode. thx for the reminder/recommendation!. Songs Of Faith along with Music For The Masses were the players tonight. maybe Construction Time tomarrow?. haven't listened to these guys in years. really enjoyed it. found an on old The Church disc too. forgot i even had this one (starfish/1988) until it was mentioned. good choice's guy's. had forgotten about alot of this stuff. maybe i did party too much in collage?? =) |
