#GreatAlbums1980s - #PaulSimon – Graceland (1986). Simon defied an Apartheid-era boycott to work with South African musicians on his most successful album. “The Boy in the Bubble,” “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes” and “Homeless” (the last two cowritten with South African legend Joseph Shambalala) were infectious hybrids of American and African forms. Elements of mbaquanga and isicathamiya – the complex harmony of collaborators Ladysmith Black Mambazo – informed the music.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #SuzanneVega - Solitude Standing (1987). New York's Vega channeled the anxieties of modern living in songs that echoed Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones. The acapella "Tom's Diner" was a concise vignette of New York life. Hit single "Luka" brought rare mainstream attention to domestic violence. Longer tracks, including “Ironbound/ Fancy Poultry” and “Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser’s Song)" expanded the musical vista of Vega's poetic art pop.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1983). Lennox and Stewart would later make the kind of pop folks at the marina can enjoy over a plate of clams. But in '83 they retained a murky Eurodisco vibe absorbed in Germany and enforced by Stewart's no-budget tracking in a London loft. The video for "Sweet Dreams" made the duo irresistible to the masses at a level not obvious in the trancey synth clatter of "Love is a Stranger" and "Somebody Told Me."
#GreatAlbums1980s - #TheBangles – All Over the Place (1984). As "the Bangs," the Bangles were part of LA's Paisley Underground, reviving 60s pop and psyche in an 80s context. Before they started walking like Egyptians, the group's debut LP was a bristling charge through power pop and sixties-style jangle. Susanna Hoffs and the Peterson sisters share lead vocals on covers of Emitt Rhodes' "Live," Kim Rew's "Going Down to Liverpool," and hooky originals like "Hero Takes a Fall."
#GreatAlbums1980s - #DepecheMode – Music for the Masses (1987). The title is only thinly ironic, since this quintessentially accessible music does represent synth-pop's graduation into the mainstream. "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Strangelove" are permanently engrained in the late-80s zeitgeist. Depeche's ability to make synthesizers sound warm against their very human vocals made them ambassadors for the cause – and one of the few synth acts to survive the 1990s.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #RoxyMusic – Avalon (1982). When an iconic rock group goes mainstream, it can trigger derision threatening its legacy among core fans. But Bryan Ferry was already enough of a Sinatra figure on For Your Pleasure in '73 that his yachtier inflections on Avalon felt almost preordained. In an early 80s context, this was ideal pop music – smooth and refined but emotionally affecting on "More Than This," "Avalon," and the sublimely atmospheric "The Space Between."
#GreatAlbums1980s - #TheHumanLeague – Dare (1981). Dare was the extension of early 80s synth-pop (OMD, Gary Numan, and THL's early work) from its underground origins to mainstream accessibility. Lambasted by the Musicians' Union for what it perceived as simple push-button execution, the League defied naysayers with songs like "Open Your Heart" and "Love Action." Ironically, it was a tune the group themselves mistook for a throwaway that topped the charts: "Don't You Want Me."
#GreatAlbums1980s - #FrankieGoesToHollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984). This sprawling double LP combined huge pop choruses ("Two Tribes," "Relax," "War," the title track) with extended interludes of sampled atmosphere and big brash percussion. Producer Trevor Horn's baby as much as the group's, the set resembled prog-level ambition and bombast in more than its Coleridge-inspired title. "The Power of Love," if nothing else, made it timeless.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #OrchestralManoeuvresInTheDark – Architecture & Morality (1981). OMD stuck closer to forbears like Kraftwerk and Neu! than most of their synth-pop peers, giving their work an austere facade (architecture) in tension with a natural pop instinct (morality). A mellotron, choral synths, and bursts of guitar darken the mood on "The New Stone Age" and almost ambient "Sealand," while the "She's Leaving," "Souvenir" and two "Joan[s] of Arc" feel all too human.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #NewOrder - Substance 1987 (1987). Although not a studio album proper, this double LP marked the first appearance of many of New Order's classic singles on LP.
"Ceremony," "Blue Monday," "True Faith," "State of the Nation," are 80s dance music's basic repertoire -- songs brimming with imagination and energy. Darkness looms in some, recalling the members' roots as 3/4 of Joy Division.
If you like 80s pop or electronic music, this is your true White Album.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #ThePsychedelicFurs – Mirror Moves (1984). The Furs were not very psychedelic, but they were a brilliant pop band, infusing hits like "The Ghost in You" and "Heaven" with enough emotional depth to make them classics of their era. Richard Butler had one of those immediately recognizable voices, and when the albums served up tracks like "Here Come Cowboys," "My Time," and "Like a Stranger," it made the Furs much more than a singles act.
#GreatAlbums1980s - #TheDreamAcademy (1985). Not to be confused with LA's the Dream Syndicate (it's okay – I do it, too), UK's Dream Academy scored big with their lovely elegy to Nick Drake, "Life in a Northern Town."
Produced by David Gilmour, the trio's debut blends 80s synthpop with Baroque elements, as an almost folky spirit seeps through the studio gloss. I'd hesitate to call the album "great," but it's a well-crafted set of songs with moments of poignancy.
#23From2023 - #Paramore – This is Why (Atlantic). After a six-year break, Paramore disrupt their pop punk origins with new wave guitar licks, knotty funk basslines, and Blondie-fied disco. A darker worldview inhabits the agoraphobic title track and bittersweet “Liar” – like one of Madonna’s ballads washed in dreampop. Hayley Williams is bright as ever, but the first Paramore album of her thirties shows her voice maturing on “Running Out of Time” and “Big Man, Little Dignity.”
#23From2023 - #Mitski – The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans). Mitski’s stark folk-rock echoes the likes of Lana del Rey and Weyes Blood. But on “Buffalo Replaced,” “Heaven” and the hit “My Love Mine All Mine” the lonely cadence of her voice negotiates with the cosmopolitanism of her upbringing. Baroque strings, pedal steel and gospel choruses deepen songs that enable pop, classical, and folk traditions to coinhabit a single musical timeframe.
#GreatAlbums1960s - #HarryNilsson – Aerial Ballet (1968). A relentless musical shapeshifter, Nilsson applied his multitracked harmonies and eclectic arrangements to earnest ballads (“Don’t Leave Me,” “One”), vaudevillian character pieces (“Mr. Tinker,” “Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song”), and loopy novelty bits (“Little Cowboy”). His cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’” graced the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, and his own “Good Old Desk” epitomized his lyrical wit and charm.
#GreatAlbums1960s - #ScottWalker – Scott 4 (1969). Having shed the teen idol residues of the Walker Brothers, Scott Walker (nee Engel) beat his own dark path on his fourth solo LP, shattering pop’s conventional boundaries on cinematic “The Seventh Seal,” political soapboxes “Hero of the War” and “The Old Man’s Back Again,” and lyrical character studies “Boy Child” and “Duchess.” Ignored upon release, Scott 4 eventually won favour as a maverick outing by a true musical eccentric. #GreatPopAlbums
#GreatAlbums1960s - #DionneWarwick – Make Way for Dionne Warwick (1964). Though she was often tagged as R&B/ soul, Warwick was a true pop singer – bridging torch balladry with urbane cool in ways that felt traditional and modern at once. This LP contains several of the Bacharach-David hits that were her (and their) signatures, including “A House is Not a Home,” “People” and a definitive “Walk on By.” Easy listening in the best sense, Warwick’s music is a warm hug on a fuzzy sofa. #GreatPopAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #FrankSinatra – Sings for Only the Lonely (1958). The third in Sinatra’s torch trilogy, this LP escapes the malaise of In the Wee Small Hours with Nelson Riddle arrangements jazzed-up by trumpeter Pete Condoli and pianist Bill Miller. The set deepens Sinatra’s personal blues with allusions to his breakup with Ava Gardner (esp. on Arlen’s “Blues in the Night”). This is late-night music for the ages – sentiment emboldened by Sinatra’s unique magnetism. #GreatPopAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s - #TheDrifters – Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters (1956). The original Drifters were among the seminal R&B groups, bridging traditional pop (the Ink Spots in the 40s) and fifties soul (anticipating Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, etc.). “Money Honey” is a rollicking stop-time with claims to being an early (1953) rock & roll single. But much of this LP features McPhatter’s keening tenor on a set of immaculate gospel-tinged ballads – “Without Love,” “Seven Days” et. Al. #GreatPopAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s - #BigJoeTurner – Rock & Roll (1957). Atlantic’s title for this LP was marketing boilerplate for what is really a jump blues set by one of rock’s forerunners. Already in his forties, Turner had strutted the boards with the likes of Count Basie before “Shake, Rattle and Roll” captivated younger listeners in 1954. “Flip, Flop and Fly,” “Honey Hush” and “Sweet Sixteen” were all dancefloor bangers, and Turner’s voice inspired everyone from Elvis to Ray Charles.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #RayCharles – Ray Charles (1957). Reissued later as Hallelujah I Love Her So, Charles’s debut LP collected signature tracks like “I Got a Woman,” “Mess Around” and “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” alongside grittier fare (the swampy “Sinner’s Blues”) and the odd hokum raveup (“Greenbacks”). For a definitive set of early soul and R&B – blended with the “rock & roll” elements designated on Atlantic’s original cover – this iconic LP has the goods.
#GreatAlbums1990s – TOP 20 - #LaurynHill - #TheMiseducationOfLaurynHill (1998). A premier neo-soul album of the 90s, Hill’s only studio solo CD fused rap, reggae and new jack soul with incisive lyrics about love/ spirituality/ sexuality. Even diss songs like “The Lost Ones” are eloquent, and the rugged social commentary on “Everything is Everything” recalls Marvin Gaye at his best. The disc’s influence resonates in the music of Amy Winehouse, Beyoncé, etc. #GreatPopAlbums, #Soul, #GreatRapAlbums
#GreatAlbums1990s – TOP 20 - #Bjork - #Post (1995). As eclectic as they come, Bjork deepens the mix of 93’s Debut with the deep strut of “Army of Me” and ethereal electro of “Hyper-Ballad.” Just when you think you’re caught the groove, she launches a big band on the Lang-Reisfeld chestnut “It’s Oh So Quiet.” All bets are off from that point. The loveliness of “Possibly Maybe” and Tricky’s production turn on “Headphones” make Post a landmark dissertation of out-there pop.
#GreatAlbums1990s – TOP 20 - #DepecheMode – #Violator (1990). Dark leathery synth tones create tension under the catchy hooks of “Personal Jesus,” “Halo,” and “Enjoy the Silence” on this immaculate set from Basildon’s finest. “Waiting for the Night” recalls early Roxy Music and “Clean” adapts a Pink Floyd riff into new landscapes of emotion. “Never again is what you swore the time before” propels the anthemic “Policy of Truth” to an epic status rare in pop.
#GreatAlbums1990s - TOP 20 #JanetJackson – #TheVelvetRope (1997). A true album artist, JJ delivers a complete musical arc from beginning to end. Interludes between songs vary from the inspirational “Twisted Elegance” to the edgy “Speaker Phone” (a sexually charged phone chat between Janet and Lisa Marie Presley). Songs cascade from the dance pop of “You” to the sexually frank “Go Deep” and gender fluid “Free Xone.” A delight for the mind and body. #GreatDanceAlbums, #GreatPopAlbums