NIGHTFLY BROADCAST #11 - NATIONAL ALBUM DAY

 It is National Album Day today!! …. Yup I know, I’m not sure what it means either but hey it gives us a reason to talk about records. This year it is 80’s National Album Day and Radio 2 carried out a poll of the top long players from the 1980’s. U2 topped the poll with ‘The Joshua Tree ‘ while Dire Straits ‘Brothers in Arms’ came in at number two. It is an interesting list but generally I’m not a fan of national polls or even magazine polls of the best albums as they don’t give you the personal touch, a window into the soul of the list maker. Polls of best albums are like listening to a DJ mix put together by committee! You want to listen the compiler’s selection and go on their journey, that is far more interesting than hearing what everyone voted for.

The records in my Top 50 80's albums are purely personal without a withering critical or retrospective eye. So, I know Jethro Tull fans hate 1985’s ‘Under Wraps’ but I absolutely loved (and still love)  its new wave copycat synth sounds and cold war vibes and whilst every self respecting lover of Joni Mitchell’s singer songwriter confessions wince at the thought of her 1985 ‘Dog Eat Dog’ album with its kooky 80’s Thomas Dolby production, I know the record back to front and sideways and dig all its quirks and idiosyncrasy’s far more than the over wrought ‘Blue’.  Equally most people’s love of John Martyn comes from the heart on the sleeve ‘May You Never’ or the smoky stoner ‘Solid Air’ period and not my favourite, the 1981 Phil Collins produced ‘Glorious Fool’ which to me is simply a slick 80’s jazz/folk/rock  masterpiece, but hey I was 14 when I bought it and nothing anybody can say will ever spoil it for me. I won’t hear a bad word about any of the records in my list as I can’t hear them through anybody else’s ears, I can only hear them as the person I was when I first bought the album and set them on endless repeat. These records are embedded in me and are carried around like memory bubbles waiting to pop their nostalgia endorphins, I don’t prick them very often but….

Enjoy the day and listen in full to those albums you love, they deserve your time.

Thanks for calling

David

Below is a list of our favourite 80’s albums here at Nightfly.

Paula Top 10

1. The Go Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane
2. The Waterboys – This Is The Sea
3. REM – Life’s Rich Pageant
4. The Smiths – Hatful Of Hollow
5. Teardrop Explodes – Wilder
6. Joy Division - Closer
7. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnake
8. The Pale Fountains – Pacific Street
9. Echo & The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
10. U2 – Boy

David – Top 50

1. Donald Fagen – The Nightfly
2. John Martyn – Glorious Fool
3. Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen
4. Rush – Signals
5. Pixies – Surfer Rosa
6. Jethro Tull – Under Wraps
7. Blue Nile – Hats
8. Bruce Springsteen – The River
9. Roxy Music – Avalon
10. Camel – Nude
11. Journey – Raised on Radio
12. Cheap Trick – Next Position Please
13. New Order – Low Life
14. China Crisis – Working with Fire & Steel
15. Cocteau Twins – Treasure
16. Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden
17. David Sylvian – Secrets of the Beehive
18. Propaganda – A Secret Wish
19. Joni Mitchell – Dog Eat Dog
20. Thomas Dolby – the Flat Earth
21. King Crimson – Discipline
22. Mark Isham – Film Music
23. Michael McDonald – If That’s What It Takes
24. Pat Metheny -As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
25. Prince – Sign ‘O’ the Times
26. Rickie Lee Jones – Pirates
27. ACDC – Back In Black
28. Scritti Politti – Provision
29. Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
30. Simply Red - Picturebook
31. Steely Dan – Gaucho
32. Steve Hackett – Defector
33. Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver
34. Supertramp – Paris
35. Tears For Fears – The Seeds of Love
36. The Police – Ghost In the Machine
37. The Waterboys – Room To Roam
38. Todd Rundgren – Nearly Human
39. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Long After Dark
40. Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
41. Toto – IV
42. Van Morrison – Beautiful Vision
43. Weather Report – Procession
44. Wedding Present – Bizzaro
45. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnake
46. The Go Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane
47. XTC – Skylarking
48. Joe Perry Project – I’ve Got The Rock N Rolls Again
49. This Mortal Coil – It’ll End In Tears
50. Talking Heads – Remain In Light