Best 1981 P&J Album

Dreamtime was really that high? I'm surprised it was that acclaimed upon release.

I was waffling 'tween Clash, Was (Not Was), Human Switchboard, Rick James, Prince, and a couple other things, then settled on Wild Gift by X, then changed my mind and finally went with Joan Jett. It's close, though (and even the best albums don't seem as good as the best ones from 1978/1980/1981.)

Anybody know what that David Lindley album is? (Does anybody not get him mixed up with David Lasley?)

Can we vote on EPs, too? That would be fun.

I liked these lists back then:

TOM CARSON: X: Wild Gift (Slash) 15; Human Switchboard: Who's Landing in My Hangar? (Faulty Products) 15; Rick James: Street Songs (Gordy) 15; Stampfel & Weber: Going Nowhere Fast 15; Black Flag: Damaged (SST) 15; The Swimming Pool Q's (DB) 5; David Johansen: Here Comes the Night (Blue Sky) 5; Suburbs: Credit in Heaven (Twin/Tone) 5; English Beat: Wha'ppen? (Sire) 5; Pretenders II (Sire) 5.

JOHN FOSTER: John Gavanti (Hyrax) 30; Raincoats: Odyshape (Rough Trade) 10; David Thomas & the Pedestrians: The Sound of the Sand and Other Songs of the Pedestrian (Rough Trade) 10; Killing Joke: . . . What's This For? (Editions EG) 10; X: Wild Gift (Slash) 9; Dark Day: Exterminating Angel (Infidelity) 8; Zounds: Curse of Zounds (Rough Trade import) 8; Furors: Juke Box Album (Hit Man) 5; Eugene Chadbourne: There'll Be No Tears Tonight (Parachute) 5; C. W. Vrtacek: Victory Through Grace (Leisure Time) 5.

NELSON GEORGE: Rick James: Street Songs (Gordy) 20; Slave: Show Time (Cotillion) 15; Fela Anikulapo Kuti: Black President (Arista import) 10; Chaka Khan: What'cha Gonna Do for Me (Warner Bros.) 10; Ray Parker & Raydio: A Woman Needs Love (Arista) 10; Maze featuring Frankie Beverly: Live in New Orleans (Capitol) 10; Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise! (Columbia) 10; Linx: Intuition (Chrysalis) 5; Steely Dan: Gaucho (MCA); Curtis Mayfield: Love Is the Place (Boardwalk) 5.

PABLO GUZMAN: Prince: Controversy (Warner Bros.) 20; Gil Scott-Heron: Reflections (Arista) 20; Devo: New Traditionalists (Warner Bros.) 10; The Clash: Sandanista! (Epic) 10; David Byrne: Songs from the Broadway Production of "The Catherine Wheel" (Sire) 10; Jerry Harrison: The Red and the Black (Sire) 10; Eddie Palmieri (Barbaro) 5; The Police: Ghost in the Machine (A&M) 5; Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places (ZE/Sire) 5; Was (Not Was) (Island/ZE) 5.

GREIL MARCUS: Go-Go's: Beauty and the Beat (I.R.S.) 20; David Lindley: El-Rayo-X (Asylum) 20; Red Crayola with Art & Language: Kangaroo? (Rough Trade) 15; Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Reactor (Reprise) 10; The Mekons (Red Rhino import) 10; Joy Division: Still (Factory import) 5; Rickie Lee Jones: Pirates (Warner Bros.) 5; The "King" Kong Compilation (Mango) 5; Au Pairs: Playing with a Different Sex (Human) 5; Raincoats: Odyshape (Rough Trade) 5.

JON PARELES (unweighted): David Byrne: Songs from the Broadway Production of "The Catherine Wheel" (Sire); Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime (Warner Bros.); Ronald Shannon Jackson: Eye on You (About Time); Funkadelic: The Electric Spanking of War Babies (Warner Bros.); Glenn Branca: The Ascension (99); Congos: Heart of the Congos (Go Feet import); Was (Not Was) (ZE); Rickie Lee Jones: Pirates (Warner Bros.); King Crimson: Discipline (Warner Bros.); Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Trust (Columbia).

Pablo Guzman regularly had the best taste of anyone in these polls. Maybe not the best spelling though.

And I always associate David Lindley with his band, El Rayo X, a cool-ass name indeed. David Lasley I've never heard of.

oops, not as good as 1978/1979/1980/1981, I meant.

How the heck did Rickie Lee Jones score that high? Jesus. (I still only care about her debut album, where she sings about me.) In general, I can kind of see premonitions of the adult alternative/indie rock tedium era all through that album list. (Two dbs albums? What the hell was that all about?) Sigh.

Re-ac-tor is cool though! And the Go-Gos. And U2 actually didn't quite suck yet, which is nice. I am glad that Lindsey Buckingham LP (which I just paid $1 for last month, and it was a lot duller than I'd remembered it being) didn't finish higher though.

David Lasley has a lovely falsetto, actually! Wicki:

David Lasley (born August 20, 1947 in Branch, Michigan) is an United States singer-songwriter, best known for his contributions as a background singer for such artists as Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Luther Vandross.

Lasley started his music career in his teens, forming a singing group with his sister and achieving some success in the Detroit area. In 1970 he joined the cast of Hair, performing first in Detroit and then on tour. This led to a move to New York City, and performances on and off-Broadway.

Lasley started his career as a back-up singer at this time. Along with Vandross, he performed on many of Chic's and Sister Sledge's recordings.

In 1977 he began touring and recording with James Taylor. Other performers that he has worked with include Todd Rundgren, Melissa Manchester and Bonnie Raitt, who has recorded a number of Lasley's compositions.

No Japan? No Human League?

Those P&J polls are useless!

At the time, Sandinista was the most important record in my life. But I'd have to go with Wild Gift now.

Voted for Squeeze but this is just yet another example that P&J polls are useless. Use NME or Acclaimed Music instead.

funny I remember 1981 as such a sterling year for music but this list seems a bit ho-hum. maybe it was a better year for singles and no doubt my tastes have uh matured. lots of good-not-great albums.

gotta think about it, right now I'm wavering between james blood & x. so much great disco/dance/postpunk in 81 - on 12 inch and ep I guess.

human switchboard! the all-time critics band. anybody play them now?

P&J polls are useless. Use NME or Acclaimed Music instead.

What about Melody Maker or Sounds?

What about STOP GOING ONTO EVERY SINGLE THREAD AND WHINING ABOUT HOW YOUR CRAPPY PET EUROBANDS WERE BEING SO TRAGICALLY IGNORED 27 YEARS AGO?

or like 26 or whatever

Not to mention howzabout checking US release dates before you start whining, nincompoop:

The 1982 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll

Albums
26. The Human League: Dare (A&M)

pazz and jop lists >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> nme or melody maker ones!

i still await a poll where i've heard more than 2 albums* though, sigh. though that said i also await the year of my birth.

*(grace jones and - again! - X. i picked grace)

P&J polls are useless. Use NME or Acclaimed Music instead

Ah, Herr Hongro at his finest. I would expect nothing less.

Jesus, how many 1981 polls have we had now?

for once i have to agree to geir. this list totally misses the great music of 1981. there is no overlapping with my top ten in alphabetical order of that year:

Anyone's Daughter - Piktors Verwandlungen
Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Durutti Column - LC
Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Gun Club - Fire of Love
Keith Jarrett - Concerts: Bregenz, München
New Order - Movement
The The - Burning Blue Soul
UB40 - Present Arms in Dub
Wipers - Youth of America

Most of those are absolutely essential. Wipers rule 1981.

Jesus, how many 1981 polls have we had now?

i know! the polls have been going on for what seems like bloody years and we're still stuck on 1981.

CHANGE THE RECORD. TO AN AALIYAH ONE.

i voted for boy by the way. when u2 were still a promising little post-punk band.

Yeah, it wasn't exactly a great year for albums, by my reckoning. Nevertheless, I found it kinda tough to choose between the top 3. Had to go with Sandinista! in the end, though. Sure Wild Gift, for one, is a much more consistent record overall, but sometimes sheer bulk really does matter.

Anybody know what that David Lindley album is?

The Lindley is really pretty great. Kind of '50s r&b/rockabilly inspired late '70s/early '80s L.A. studio rock, if my memory can be trusted. He was Jackson Browne's guitarist at the time, y'know. Although his record is nowhere near as boring as that would probably lead you to expect, IMHO.

The Lindley and Buckingham albums complement each other nicely.

Talk Talk Talk and Wild Gift are the ones I still listen to most.

Can we vote on EPs, too? That would be fun.

Curses. I forgot to include the EPs along with the albums on this poll. I don't want to have to run a seperate poll for them, so I guess I'll just add the EPs to the singles poll in a couple of days. I'm not sure if that will make much sense, but what the hell. Besides, I want to be able to vote for the "Ghost Town" EP as a single.

Not to mention howzabout checking US release dates before you start whining, nincompoop:

An album has only one release date. Its first release date.

All US albums are released in the UK the same year they are released in the US. Thus, use UK mags!

Yeah, it wasn't exactly a great year for albums

i guess that's why it's being polled huh

Close call between 'Talk X 3' and 'Nightclubbing', but I'll probably go for the latter.

xp: WTF does that have to do with anything?

What years does The Lex want a poll to be on?

2006?

Yeah cos polls can only be about years and canon bands/labels after all...

WTF does that have to do with anything?

it seems a bit odd to do a poll on a list of albums you don't think amounts to much in total.

Odyshape is my number 1, not on the list. Of those I'd go with X or Joan Jett. I like that Christgau has the Descendents "Fat" and the Panics "I Wanna Kill My Mom" on his EP list!

All US albums are released in the UK the same year they are released in the US.

And in what alternate dimension does this happen, exactly?

Yeah cos polls can only be about years and canon bands/labels after all...

it seems a bit odd to do a poll on a list of albums you don't think amounts to much in total.

As I thought would be obvious by now, my intention is to run an ILM equivalent of every P&J poll in chronological order. Also, I never said anything about what could/should, couldn't/shouldn't be polled. To each his own, y'know.

What years does The Lex want a poll to be on?

May 2007.

According to The Lex, only old people care about what happened in music in April 2007.

i dont have any of the albums on this list (definitely seems late 70s early 80s is the period i know least about), ive gone for the grace jones, as i have some of it, if not all

wow, you kids...

Heart of the Congos should own '81. But in its absence, I'll go with Trust, followed by Re*ac*tor, which I think is Neil's most underrated record. Take out the corny ass boogie song in the middle of it, and it's damn near great.

reactor is ok but i think his most underrated record is hawks and doves from 1980. the old homestead is on par with cortez the killer, i think. and captain kennedy is a killer tune.

Verlaine is the only one I've listened to! (I think I've heard the Prince in passing.) I'm pretty sure it wasn't the best album of that year. Man, did no one even give a bottom-place vote to Moving Pictures?

(Respect to Lex but that's funny, Geir.)

Heart of the Congos' initial release date was '77, wasn't it? At any rate, its critical tally didn't amount to much in '81 in the U.S.--though obviously it's a wonderful album. Circumstances, etc.

I went for Trust, easily my favorite Costello and the one I play the most by far on the list.

The fuck was I talking about? I have the Ulmer and it's good, although Tales of Captain Black is still my favourite. (Some days I think I might like Tales more than Dancing In Your Head, which could possibly make it a contender for best album ever.)

I actually own the Psychedelic Furs, I realized, although I don't think I've played it all the way through.

where is dude who put together the 1981 box for all of us?

This was the most exciting P&J at the time for me to read at the time, but the LPs list doesn't really reflect that.

so much great disco/dance/postpunk in 81 - on 12 inch and ep I guess.

Yeah, I think for me this might be the greatest year ever for 12" singles.

p.s. I voted psychedelic furs, could also have gone with any of the top 3....that's it for albums, though.

Heart of the Congos' initial release date was '77, wasn't it?

Ha, I remember listening to it in '76, and I was only in 5th grade at the time. (Part of that is a lie.)

I am a shitty music fan, because I've only heard about half of these. Of those, I went with Wild Gift, although Trust is a close second. Fela and the Au Pairs are up there, though.

it's one of my very favourite albums, so of course i voted for rickie lee jones' "pirates".

I knew the Congos record was record in 1977/78, but its appearance on Pareles' list had me figuring it was in play as a new US find. Perhaps akin to the enthusiasm for The Third Unheard a couple years back. Of course, that was a 25-year gap, but whatever.

Wild Gift, please. But yes, 1981 was THE greatest year for singles in the 1980s.

i was wavering going down the list until i hit bad reputation, which to me is a pretty easy call in that lot. (and the lindley album is a keeper for sure. search: "she took off my romeos," "pay the man".)

sorta surprised freeze frame isn't on the list somewhere. did it roll over to the '82 poll?

(no it didn't. booooo.)

Discipline for me, with Free Lancing and Wild Gift close behind.

Actually I don't think J Geils ever scored in Pazz & Jop, did they?

they wuz robbed!

So what happened to the Discipline vote?

Heh, maybe Jeb Bush can answer that!

Really, I dunno what happened there. I'd speculate that I changed my mind at the last minute before posting...except that my second choice was Blood Ulmer, and HE didn't get any votes either! So either I clicked the wrong box or forgot to vote entirely.

So, that Talking Heads thread yesterday inspired me to dig out a Top 10 of 1981 piece I did for my college paper that year -- which was also the first year I voted in Pazz & Jop. My ballot is long long gone, but unless I changed something from the article, here's what I voted for:

ALBUMS
1. Prince - Controversy
2. Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache
3. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
4. Elvis Costello - Almost Blue
5. Joe Ely - Musta Notta Gotta Lotta
6. J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame
7. David Byrne - The Catherine Wheel
8. (Various) - Seize The Beat (a/k/a Mutant Disco, on Ze Records)
9. Merle Haggard - Big City
10. Gang Of Four - Solid Gold

SINGLES
1. Grandmaster Flash - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
2. Laurie Anderson - O Superman
3. Clash - Magnificent Seven
4. Funky Four Plus One - That's The Joint
5. Gap Band - Burn Rubber On Me
6. Generation X - Dancing With Myself
7. Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper
8. Debbie Harry - Backfired
9. Teena Marie - Square Biz
10. John Lennon - Watching The Wheels

I'd say that's pretty xhuxk-like--the only pick that makes me think "seventh sign of the apocalypse" is "Watching the Wheels."

how do you feel about the Costello and Hag picks, xhuxk?

The Hag totally holds up! Probably my favorite album by him of the past three decades; we've talked about it before, right?

The Costello pick is ridiculous; it's not even the best album he put out that year. And I'm sure there were many, many better country albums (three of which I voted for.) But Almost Blue was one of the main albums that first got me interested in country music -- helped open up a whole new world for me; for all I know, it may have even introduced me to Hag himself. So I kind of understand why it's there.

Surprised "That's The Joint" and "Square Biz" aren't higher, on the singles list, but the single I'm must proud of voting for is "Burn Rubber On Me" -- Gap Band didn't score in Pazz & Jop until a couple years later, so I was ahead of the pack. Albumwise, I'm most proud of J. Geils and Seize The Beat, I think--and Haggard too. I was a 21-year-old from suburban Detroit, what the hell did I know about hillbilly music?

And oh yeah, "Watching The Wheels" (notably way down at #10) must've totally been my token "this'll freak out clemenza in 30 years" pick. But I do remember being really, really moved by it -- even identifying with it, somehow.

Very eddyfied by the Gap Band love, xhuxk.

Sorry, I turned into Carrie Bradshaw there for a second.

The Hag totally holds up! Probably my favorite album by him of the past three decades; we've talked about it before, right?

Have you Heard Serving 190 Proof? I think it's more solid. Some of the ballads on BC cross into corn territory.

I love "Red Bandana" and "My Own Kind Of Hat," but for some reason I always preferred them on this cheesy tossed-off 1982 MCA comp called Merle Haggard's Greatest Hits (all 1977 to 1981 material). Used to own 190 Proof; got rid of it at some point for some reason, and probably shouldn't have. But anyway, that album came out in 1979 -- more than three decades ago! So it doesn't count.

Anyway, I think Big City's four or five best songs hold up well enough to make for its mushy parts -- Not saying it's the most consistent album ever made, though. (Whether I'd still put it on a 1981 top 10 is another question -- doubt I'd still list many of the albums I voted for at all. Possibly a few -- Prince, Geils, Seize The Beat -- but I'd probably replace most of the others with rock music that I was for some reason ignoring at the time: Joan Jett, for starters.)

must've totally been my token "this'll freak out clemenza in 30 years" pick

No, no, not at all--I was happy to see it there, just surprised. It's a very nice song about contentment.

xp Actually, I'd almost definitely vote for the first Was (Not Was) album now, too -- called them "new group of the year" in that year-end piece's Seize The Beat writeup, so they must've at least come close to my top 10 then. Might vote for the Linx album that Nelson George names upthread, too. Maybe other r&b things, too. (And I'm very curious about Maze featuring Frankie Beverly: Live in New Orleans).

Teena Marie, Slave, Kix, Rose Tattoo, Quarterflash, and Kleer would all have excellent shots at my album list; might also consider Aurra, the Blasters, Cameo, ZZ Hill, X, Loverboy, Human Switchboard, Rick James, and/or others I'm not thinking of right now.

And outside of "That's The Joint," "Square Biz," and maybe Gap Band and Grandmaster Flash, my whole singles list would be over-hauled, I'm sure. Xgau's singles list that year is so insanely good, maybe I'd just grab a handful of these, and throw in J. Walter Negro and The Loose Jointz' "Shoot The Pump."

1. Funky Four Plus One: "That's the Joint" (Sugarhill 12-inch)
2. Taana Gardner: "Heartbeat" (West End 12-inch)
3. T.S. Monk: "Bon Bon Vie" (Mirage)
4. "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (Sugarhill 12-inch)
5. Killing Joke: "Change" (Editions E.G. import)
6. Afrika Bambaata/Zulu Nation/Cosmic Force: "Zulu Nation Throw Down" (Paul Winley 12-inch)
7. Bits & Pieces: "Don't Stop the Music" (Mango 12-inch)
8. Medium Medium: "Hungry, So Angry" (Cachalot 12-inch)
9. Liliput: "Eisiger Wind" (Rough Trade import)
10. Black Flag: "Louie Louie" (Posh Boy)
11. The Treacherous Three: "The Body Rock" (Enjoy 12-inch)
12. Scritti Politti: "The 'Sweetest' Girl" (Rough Trade)
13. Yoko Ono: "Walking on Thin Ice"/"It Happened" (Geffen)
14. Teena Marie: "Square Biz" (Gordy)
15. Frankie Smith: "Double Dutch Bus" (WMOT 12-inch)
16. Depeche Mode: "New Life" (Mute import 12-inch)
17. Pete Shelley: "Homosapien" (Genetic import)
18. Kim Carnes: "Bette Davis Eyes" (EMI)
19. Trickeration: "Rap, Bounce, Rockskate"/"Western Gangster Town" (Sounds of New York 12-inch)
20. Rolling Stones: "Start Me Up" (Rolling Stones)
21. Spoonie Gee: "Spoonie Is Back" (Sugarhill 12-inch)
22. Chron-Gen: "Reality" (Step-Forward import)
23. Brother D. & Collective Effort: "How You Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise" (Clappers 12-inch)
24. Denroy Morgan: "I'll Do Anything for You" (Becket 12-inch)
25. Luther Vandross: "Never Too Much" (Epic)

xgau and P&J's singles lists were both phenomenal; I spent years tracking this stuff down pre-Internet.

3. T.S. Monk: "Bon Bon Vie" (Mirage)

This song is the shit.

"Wheel Me Out" would've probably been my #1 single pick that year. Were I not 2 when balloting was going down.

Good year imo.

I like your list Alfred! would also include Faith and Movement

also The Ascension although I don't expect concurrence about that

One of my all-time faves was released that year:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Red_Krayola_-_Kangaroo.jpg

“Blank” Uhuru?

(there’s a “Wordy Rapinghood” in the replies as well)

He's a frequent commenter for whom Spanish is a first language, so his keyboard might do strange things.

Im listening to ghost in the machine on good phones for the first time and the arrangements and shit going on are fucking amazing. it’s like fear of music Is happening. i think i love this.

The second side is awesome, actually.

*refuses to hound Alfred about Indoor Life again*

*but seriously all y'all that album is a fucking amazing overlooked classic, I'd bet one of the five best to come out of San Fran*