A last look at my favourite albums of the
year back in 1984. This was my top ten, thirty years ago.
'Gravity Talks' was Green on Red's debut full
length LP, released in the USA in 1983,
before appearing in UK record shops to coincide with the band's first visit to these
shores. Green on Red were another band that I
saw live many many times and I was delighted to catch up with
main man Dan Stuart once again, earlier this
year (
here).
Do I really need to say anything regarding
the inclusion of The Smiths first LP in this
list? I don't think so. Other than to note, perhaps, that it's way too
low down the order.
The were a lot of good, retro-tinged, guitar
bands coming out of Australia in the mid-80s
and The Hoodoo Gurus debut LP arrived as part
of that wave. Albums two and three, 'Mars
Needs Guitars!' and 'Blow Your Cool!', were
probably superior, but 'Stoneage Romeos' is
still a fun ride.
I saw Miles Davis in concert twice during 1984
and the time spent in the same room as this
giant of 20th century music, overshadowed virtually everything
else all year. Hence the high position for
'Decoy', a good late period LP, but, in my opinion, not as strong as its predecessor, 'Star
People', or successor, 'You're Under Arrest'. Great to see this clip again though.
Rank and File operated within the short-lived
Cowpunk genre. 'Long Gone Dead', the second
of their three LPs, is a lot of fun, but is
absolutely not the fifth best album of 1984!
Unfortunately, the nearest I ever got got to
catching the mighty Gun Club in concert was passing a
worse for wear Jeffrey Lee Pierce in the
entrance to Dingwalls one night, as I was on
my way into the venue to see another band.
Mind you, this performance was a pretty cool
thing to witness on tea-time telly at the time. (Somebody tell
Jools that his mic is still on!)
I've no qualms about the lofty positions
occupied by Lloyd Cole's first LP and REM's
second - both terrific pieces of work that still hold up
effortlessly today.
Which brings us to The Triffids, with two albums in the top 10. 'Treeless Plain', was another one of those records that only arrived on a UK label in 1984 following its actual release (in Australia) the previous year - and a stunning debut it is too. With the benefit of hindsight, it's obvious that there are serious omissions from this list and erroneous
inclusions in it, but if I had to make the
top 20 again today, the number one would be
the same. I've watched this clip a few times
over the past couple of days and still
struggle to make it through without becoming emotional. David McComb - gone, but never forgotten.
(Addendum: A wider look at the full sheet upon which my Top 20s LPs of 1984 are listed, reveals a 'late addition' scrawled in the margin - and what a belter it is. The Nomads are still rockin' today, thirty years on.)
Whilst loitering around in the comments section over at Brian's place last week, I happened to drop Swedish garage legends The Nomads into the conversation, specifically their incendiary rendition of the classic Standells tune, 'Sometimes the Good Guys Don't Wear White'. A little later, Dirk put out the call for someone to post it - so here you go Dirk! I've got the song on the terrific 1984 LP 'Outburst', where it rubs shoulders with equally rockin' covers of songs by The Kinks, Alex Chilton, The Third Bardo and Sleepy John Estes, not to mention a clutch of stompin' originals. Hold tight!
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