1978...a lot of key albums, but I pick Ultravox's Systems of Romance. It's the last Ultravox album that John Foxx was on, but set the sonic template for the decade that followed. It drew on what happened before in the 70s: Krautrock rhythms and electronics, psychedelic rock, and pushed it forward with a futurist's eye and brought hints of what was to come.
1986: Breathless - The Glass Bead Game. I've raved plenty about it before and yet not enough. Unheralded and almost unheard at the time, still not appreciated very much. A little too late for post-punk, too adventurous to simply be gloom-pop. Twisted song structures that usually went from placid to gorgeous to harrowing, compelling rhythms and usage of non-4/4 time signatures, keyboards that were glacial and warm, bass lines Peter Hook would kill for, careening proto-dream-pop guitar work, and vocalists that played off each other exceptionally well. The production doesn't date it to the Eighties, either. It says a lot that I'd put this over albums issued that year by Throwing Muses, For Against, Cocteau Twins, Talk Talk, R.E.M., and This Mortal Coil (Breathless frontman Dominic Appleton appeared on three Filigree and Shadow songs, most notably "The Jeweller").
Comments 4
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment