Posted on October 10 2020
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
- The Go Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane
- The Waterboys – This Is The Sea
- REM – Life’s Rich Pageant
- The Smiths – Hatful Of Hollow
- Teardrop Explodes – Wilder
- Joy Division - Closer
- Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnake
- The Pale Fountains – Pacific Street
- Echo & The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
- U2 – Boy
David – Top 50
- Donald Fagen – The Nightfly
- John Martyn – Glorious Fool
- Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen
- Rush – Signals
- Pixies – Surfer Rosa
- Jethro Tull – Under Wraps
- Blue Nile – Hats
- Bruce Springsteen – The River
- Roxy Music – Avalon
- Camel – Nude
- Journey – Raised on Radio
- Cheap Trick – Next Position Please
- New Order – Low Life
- China Crisis – Working with Fire & Steel
- Cocteau Twins – Treasure
- Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden
- David Sylvian – Secrets of the Beehive
- Propaganda – A Secret Wish
- Joni Mitchell – Dog Eat Dog
- Thomas Dolby – the Flat Earth
- King Crimson – Discipline
- Mark Isham – Film Music
- Michael McDonald – If That’s What It Takes
- Pat Metheny -As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
- Prince – Sign ‘O’ the Times
- Rickie Lee Jones – Pirates
- ACDC – Back In Black
- Scritti Politti – Provision
- Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
- Simply Red - Picturebook
- Steely Dan – Gaucho
- Steve Hackett – Defector
- Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver
- Supertramp – Paris
- Tears For Fears – The Seeds of Love
- The Police – Ghost In the Machine
- The Waterboys – Room To Roam
- Todd Rundgren – Nearly Human
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Long After Dark
- Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
- Toto – IV
- Van Morrison – Beautiful Vision
- Weather Report – Procession
- Wedding Present – Bizzaro
- Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnake
- The Go Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane
- XTC – Skylarking
- Joe Perry Project – I’ve Got The Rock N Rolls Again
- This Mortal Coil – It’ll End In Tears
- Talking Heads – Remain In Light
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