Tag Archives: 4ad

Forty Years On: Favorite Music from 1986 Part VIII

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I started off my high school sophomore year with a plan to change my outlook. I was now the only sibling at home (all my older siblings were in college or adulting at that point), so it felt a bit weird to have the house mostly to myself for hours at a time. This meant that I finally had a bit of relative privacy and time to figure out who I was without all the interruption and outside influence.

This of course meant staying up far too late, hanging out in my bedroom and listening to music after my parents went to bed. This meant exploring avenues of creative writing. This meant immersing myself in music magazines I bought at the local smoke shop downtown. And this also meant videotaping various episodes of Night Flight and 120 Minutes and watching them Monday afternoon.

I would also get a new job: a hall monitor at the local YMCA. For a few hours during the week I’d walk the halls, mopping and sweeping the floors, gathering up equipment left behind, and babysitting the little kids before and after their swim classes. [Most of them were perfect angels but there was one or two who would screw around for ages.] Did I utilize that time to do a bit of light homework, reading my music magazines, trying out a few writing ideas, and goofing off with friends who stopped by? Of course! It was a simple job but it was harmless and sometimes kind of fun. I’d take the job again in the summer and fall of 1987 until I was ‘hired’ at the local radio station.

As expected, Q3 starts out with a ton of great releases, so this one’s going to be another long one!

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Shriekback, Big Night Music, released September 1986. I’d heard of them in passing and noted their listing in Trouser Press, and I believe this was the first album of theirs that I’d be aware of, and WMDK would play “Gunning for the Buddha” now and again. I owned this one as a dub first until I found a cheap vinyl copy in the bargain bins somewhere.

Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, Element of Light, released September 1986. “Raymond Chandler Evening” is one of my all-time favorite RH songs, and I adore the music video as well (I would learn via 120 Minutes later on that it was a tribute to the 1927 dadaist film Ghosts Before Breakfast). RH was getting considerable press in the music magazines at this time as an alternative musician, and this album went over quite well with critics and fans alike. Surprisingly, I would not own this one for a few more years.

The Mighty Lemon Drops, Happy Head, released September 1986. Another band beloved by critics and signed to Sire — a label known for its stellar alternative and punk catalog, thanks mostly to the brilliant Seymour Stein — this album was fodder for 120 Minutes and AOR stations like WMDK. I owned this one on vinyl via another bargain bin dive.

It’s Immaterial, Life’s Hard and Then You Die, released September 1986. I vaguely remembered “Ed’s Funky Diner” on WMDK, but it would be another couple of years until I owned this record when I found it and a few other gems at the downtown Salvation Army store.

Cocteau Twins, Love’s Easy Tears EP, released September 1986. I think this might actually be the first time I’d heard of this band, having seen this EP on cassette at that other record store at Hampshire Mall (the one whose name I no longer remember, alas), but I wouldn’t actually hear them for another couple of years. Come 1988 I’d have this one dubbed on a cassette with their other 1985-86 EPs which would end up getting major play on my walkman.

The Chameleons UK, Strange Times, released September 1986. I distinctly remember hearing “Swamp Thing” on WMDK a couple of times and really loving it, only to completely forget it for a few years until I heard it again on the same station and finally picked up the cassette. By the time I was in college, this album would get a lot of repeat play on my headphones. It’s a banger album that is worth checking out.

Skinny Puppy, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, released 5 September 1986. I distinctly remember seeing the video for “Dig It” on 120 Minutes over the next several months, and in retrospect I think this was the song that actually introduced me to the industrial genre. I dubbed this one from a friend (the same one I dubbed multiple Cocteau Twins albums from) in 1988. Also in retrospect, it’s definitely because of “Dig It” that I ended up being a huge Nine Inch Nails fan a few years later.

The B-52’s, Bouncing Off the Satellites, released 8 September 1986. I remember this one coming out and WMDK playing various tracks off it, but it not doing well on the radio or the charts, due to it having been in limbo for over a year, partly because of Ricky Wilson’s passing. It’s not their strongest record, but it certainly set the stage for their chart-topping follow-up three years later.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Blood & Chocolate, released 15 September 1986. Costello’s output had grown sporadic and introspective at this point, and his second album of the year was similar to King of America in that it felt more like something he did for himself than for anyone else. None of the singles were hits, although “Tokyo Storm Warning” would show up on AOR stations now and again.

Love and Rockets, Express, released 15 September 1986. Now this album, on the other hand, was unexpectedly popular on both sides of the Atlantic for college radio listeners! While their previous album, 1985’s dreamlike Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, was a minor favorite in the UK (it would remain an import in the US until its reissue in 1988) preceded by their debut single, a crunchy and distorted cover of The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion”. That single would be appended to the US edition of Express as a selling point, and it did amazingly well. I bought this one (not long after its release) in the oddest of places: a local flea market my dad and I would frequent on Sundays. Best eight dollars I’d ever spent, I played the hell out of this record for a good couple of years, and it remains one of my favorites of 1986.

This Mortal Coil, Filigree & Shadow, released 20 September 1986. This collective came to my attention at 1am while listening to WMUA in November of that year, when they played the funereal “Inch-Blue”/”I Want to Live” at the top of the hour. What was this…?? It wasn’t the punk or the post-punk I’d been fascinated by on college radio, and its dark ambience blew my mind. I’d always been fascinated by music that made me visualize listening in a darkened room or a forest at night, and this was like being in a deserted cathedral. By early 1987 I’d find this one on cassette at Al Bum’s in Amherst (the better to relisten at 1am, of course) and it became one of my favorites for the next couple of years. It introduced me to 4AD’s early years and I was hooked on nearly everything that label released. [No big surprise that it became a frequent soundtrack for my writing.]

Throwing Muses, Throwing Muses, released 20 September 1986. This too was a 4AD release, and to my surprise it was also a somewhat local band! The Muses were the first American band (from Rhode Island) to be signed to the label (Pixies, another local band, would be signed soon after), this got some minor play on WMDK and WRSI. Their early work is a bit hard to take in if you’re not used to it, but they fast became a favorite band of mine.

Billy Idol, Whiplash Smile, released 20 September 1986. Meanwhile, The Punk With The Sneer finally returned after a nearly three year absence with an album that became a huge hit on MTV even despite the critics feeling he’d lost his drive by embracing synthesizers. I was hooked on the groovy single “To Be a Lover” (originally a great Stax single from 1968) and bought the cassette through my RCA Record Club membership, and it got considerable play during the afternoons. It’s a surprisingly solid record that proved he wasn’t just a face on a pop video.

Billy Bragg, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, released 22 September 1986. Bragg had been around for a few years by this point and beloved by fans and critics, but this was the first album where he had a full band behind him. “Greetings to the New Brunette” got a lot of play on WMDK and even a bit on MTV, also getting repeat plays on 120 Minutes. I’d soon be a fan and collector in a few months.

The Fall, Bend Sinister, released 29 September 1986. This was probably the first time I’d heard of this band, although I wouldn’t really hear anything by them for a while longer (unless they were played on college radio and I wasn’t paying attention). I distinctly remember noticing in Trouser Press that they had a ridiculously long discography, most of it import and thus out of my budget.

New Order, Brotherhood, released 29 September 1986. I wouldn’t own this one for around another year, but I do distinctly remember seeing a highly glowing review in a music magazine I’d started picking up called Only Music — a spin-off from Spin magazine that focused only on music news and releases. This quickly became my favorite New Order album once I finally picked it up.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Pacific Age, released 29 September 1986. This was another one I’d picked up in the bargain bin, this time at Al Bum’s if I’m not mistaken, partly because I really liked the single “(Forever) Live and Die”. I was well aware of the band because of their ubiquitous “If You Leave” single from Pretty in Pink as well as their Crush album that had gotten a bit of play as well with its single “So in Love”. This was the album that made me a fan of them. And also taught me the British spelling of ‘maneuver’.

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Next up: Further down the college rock rabbit hole…

I need to revisit 80s 4AD again…

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…it’s been far too long since I’ve sat down and let myself get lost in this stuff. I mean, considering I’ve been working on reviving the Walk in Silence book, I think it’s fair to say that a lot of these albums were a huge influence on my high school years, and would fit nicely with the current iteration of this project.

I always call this era of the label’s output autumnal, because a lot of it, at least for me, evokes the feeling of an impending change of seasons near the end of the year. The air growing colder, the sounds of nature growing quieter, the sky greyer. Many of these albums — most of which I had on cassette and played incessantly at night as I went to sleep — might not always invoke a darkness, but more of a sense of desolation and breakdown, and even abandonment at times. You can hear the dust being kicked up as you walk through the wide emptiness of this music.

That, now that I understand music a lot more, was the key to 4AD’s signature sound then. A clever mix of heavy reverberation with sparse instrumentation gives it that same sound that Cowboy Junkies achieved with The Trinity Session when they recorded inside an empty church. Listening to these albums with my Walkman, volume set high and bedroom darkened, I entered another world, sometimes an escape but often times a safe place. I could let my mind and creativity get lost within the music, letting it take me on a metaphysical trip somewhere.

The collection Lonely Is an Eyesore is a great place to start. I listened to this one just a few days ago. Several of its accompanying grainy 8mm and 16mm videos were shown on MTV’s 120 Minutes, which in turn inspired me later on during my college years for my film production classes.

This Mortal Coil was a huge favorite of mine, especially after hearing a few tracks from their second album Filigree & Shadow on college radio in late 1986. That particular album was one of my top favorites in 1987-88 and inspired a lot of story ideas.

Dead Can Dance was a band I’d heard of in passing but it was 1987’s Within the Realm of a Dying Sun that became my all-time favorite of theirs. Not quite chamber music, not quite alternative rock, not quite current orchestral music, this album wasn’t just one that I’d lose myself in at night, it helped me find a Zen calm right when I was at my most anxious.

Cocteau Twins was of course a major influence on my bass playing, thanks to the Blue Bell Knoll album. By late 1988 I had a good portion of their discography on cassette (and a few on vinyl) and I was constantly listening to it. The twin 1985 EPs, Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay, remain in heavy rotation after all these years alongside their project with Harold Budd, The Moon and the Melodies.

And of course, let’s not forget the surprise hit by MARRS, a one-off project between 4AD label mates Colourbox and AR Kane. While this one goes against the grain of the typical autumnal sound of the label, it’s so damn catchy and inventive that you can’t help but love it.

Vacation fly-by: 4AD origins

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The above building with the green store front is 8 Hogarth Road, just down the block from where we’re staying in Earl’s Court.

For those curious, this was the original location of the Beggars Banquet record shop, and soon after housed the record label/distributor of the same name. In 1980, Ivo Watts-Russell started the 4AD label there on the second floor. They only stayed there for a few formative years, but those years included Matt Johnson/The The, Bauhaus, and Modern English.

Favorite Albums: Lonely Is an Eyesore

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R-260839-1340652556-7447

CAD703, 4AD Records

I’ve finally gotten around to reading Martin Aston’s giant tome Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD, and already I’m revisiting a lot of my collection from that label, many of which I haven’t listened to in ages, including this one.

Lonely Is an Eyesore is another album that’s turning thirty this year, originally released 15 June 1987.  It’s a stellar mix that should be in the collection of anyone who listens to classic alternative rock.  I’d heard of this import via 120 Minutes, and knew the only places I’d be able to find it would either be Al Bum’s in Amherst or Main Street Music in Northampton.  I also knew I’d have to buy the cassette, considering I knew it would be part of my late-night headphone listening.

The album was produced and conceived by label head Ivo Watts-Russell as a multi-format release, provided with its own music video, which I believe was either directed or produced (or both) by Vaughan Oliver from the label’s art collective, 23 Envelope.  [As an aside, these videos partly influenced my decision to attend Emerson to study film.  A lot of my shooting assignments look very similar in style and composition to the images you see in these videos.  Granted, I did not become a filmmaker, but I did use these visual and aural ideas in my future writing.]

 

Side One starts off with the quirky, sample-heavy “Hot Doggie” by Colourbox, an oddball electronic group more known as being two fifths of MARRS (the band behind the 1987 surprise hit “Pump Up the Volume”). It’s a wonderful opening track, maybe a bit silly, but that was part of Colourbox’s charm: they were like listening to a Big Audio Dynamite clone that played a lot of soul music with just a hint of moody ambience.

Following up is This Mortal Coil, a loose label-wide collective put together by Watts-Russell to record unique covers of his favorite 70s folk songs as well as haunting originals. By this time they’d released two stellar albums, 1984’s It’ll End in Tears and 1986’s Filigree & Shadow, both which I highly suggest. “Acid, Bitter and Sad” is a bit scattered as a track, but its multi-part construction is actually quite similar to the feel of their albums as a whole; the different sections take you on a specific journey, leading you to the next section and sometimes cutting short and leaving you floating in midair.

The Wolfgang Press was one of 4AD’s earlier post-punk band signings (various members were in previous 4AD bands Mass and Rema-Rema) with a deconstructive, sometimes brutalist sound similar to The Birthday Party. “Cut the Tree” is one of their quieter songs but retains their trademark intensity.

Next up is Throwing Muses, then a recent signing (their self-titled debut had been released a year earlier) and one of their first non-UK bands. The Muses, like their labelmates Pixies, were from New England and frequently played the Boston club scene. “Fish” is a very good example of what an early Muses track sounds like: tight and tense, unsure of which direction it’s going in, yet somehow still catchy and amazing. Kristin Hersh’s lyrics are sometimes confrontational and frequently obscure (the album title comes from this song), but the emotions behind them were never hidden.

Side One ends with the first of two amazing tracks from Australian/UK/European band Dead Can Dance. “Frontier” (a demo of a track from their debut album) amazes on multiple levels, from Lisa Gerrard’s soaring vocals to Brendan Perry’s haunting counterpoint drone-hum to the hypnotic oil barrel percussion.

Side Two starts with the always lovely Cocteau Twins with “Crushed”, a gorgeous and uplifting track that features all the CT staples: Robin Guthrie’s chiming effects-laden guitar work, Simon Raymonde’s melodic bass, and Elizabeth Fraser’s unconventional singing style. If you love this track, you will most definitely love the rest of their work.

Following up is semi-instrumentalist band Dif Juz* with one of my favorite songs of the late 80s, “No Motion”. I’ve always used this song as a benchmark that I would love to hit in my own music playing and writing, though I highly doubt I’ll ever reach it.  It’s one of the first examples of the experimental post-rock we hear nowadays from bands such as Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.  Their discography is criminally small but well worth checking out.

* – As an aside, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who knew how to correctly pronounce this band’s name. In my head it’s always been /diff jooz/, and there’s a fan theory that the j is silent it should sound like the word ‘diffuse’, but apparently according to Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, it is indeed /diff juzz/.

Clan of Xymox is one of the original darkwave bands that revel in their goth-like sound, maintaining that dark sound even when their style evolves from dark gloom to bright beauty. “Muscoviet Mosquito” (a much improved re-recording of an early EP track) is unrelenting in its speed and drive, even as singer Ronny Moorings meanders over the top.  They would follow this a few years later with an amazing album called Twist of Shadows that did well even in the US.

Finishing up the album is the second Dead Can Dance track, “The Protagonist, and an extremely good example of their more orchestral-esque works (like 1987’s Within the Realm of a Dying Sun and 1988’s The Serpent’s Egg).  Often DCD’s music isn’t so much about the melody as it is about the mood and the construction of the track; each attack and sustain is deliberate.

 

I believe I bought this cassette in late 1987, maybe early 1988, having heard a few of the tracks on 120 Minutes or on one of the college radio stations (I remember WAMH used to use part of “Frontier” for the background music of one of their PSAs about drug addiction).  I’d heard of most of these bands but sadly had not owned anything from any of them.  However, within a year I’d own most of the Cocteau Twins’ and Clan of Xymox’s discographies, a few of the Dead Can Dance albums (Within the Realm is still my favorite of theirs), and The Wolfgang Press’s 1992 album Queer would be one of my top favorite albums of that year.  A few years back Colourbox released a box set of their entire recorded output, which I of course picked up.  And every now and again I’ll pull this album back out and give it another listen.  I’d be a long-time fan of 4AD mostly because of this album, even as it evolved and changed their signature sounds over the last few decades.

Again — I highly suggest adding Lonely Is an Eyesore to your collection.