Top 50 Albums Of The '80s, Part 2 (31-40)

31. Tattoo You - Rolling Stones

While it sure sounded great at the time, coming to find out in recent years that Tattoo You was comprised mostly of songs that had hit the cutting room floor throughout the seventies. There are two ways to take this, of course. You can either believe that the well had run dry and that they desperately pillaged the vaults looking for worthy material to release in time for their '81 tour, or that the seventies were, in fact, such a fruitful decade for the band that they were left with a wealth of great songs…so why not release them? Turns out that there is truth to be found in both scenarios, but we still wonder how a song like "Waiting On A Friend" could have ever been left off of Goat's Head Soup, or how "Worried About You" and "Slave" missed the final cut of Black And Blue. The band had reportedly recorded over 50 takes of "Start Me Up", with all but one driven by a reggae groove. As it turns out, the lone non-reggae take was the winner, becoming one of their most popular singles. Our personal fave on the album, though, remains the caffeine-and-angst-filled "Neighbours".



32. Licensed To Ill - Beastie Boys

Seen as a one-trick pony upon its initial release, Licensed To Ill is certainly an album whose genius has become more evident the further away one gets. Some twenty years later, the masterful juxtaposition of hard rock samples, tongue-in-cheek rap stylings, and sophomoric humor (to put it mildly) seems to work together so perfectly that one almost wonders how the critics could have ever dismissed this album so venomously. Paul's Boutique, on the other hand, is the album a lesser critic would have listed instead based simply upon the critical hyperbole that has been layered upon the album long after its release and subsequent commercial failure. Sure, the wealth of sampling performed on Paul's Boutique could not be done today due to current sampling clearance requirements, but that in and of itself does not a great album make. All the Beasties anyone could possibly need (and then some) can be found on Licensed To Ill. [Listen to "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn"]



33. The Trinity Session - Cowboy Junkies

There are some bands who need only one album to say everything within their vocabulary. This is not to say that their vocabulary is limited, per se, but, rather, that said vocabulary, like a rich pastry, tends to taste great in moderation, but that too much of a good thing gets old fast. In the span of a single album, Cowboy Junkies not only create their own unique sound, but also perfect it, all the while delicately pummeling it into the ground. The glacial tempos and the husky, slow-as-molasses delivery of singer Margo Timmins' work together to create a sonic landscape that works best on their hypnotic rendition of Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane", then carries that same mood throughout the rest of the album. One is left to wonder if some of the songs wouldn't have been better served with some minor deviation from the formula, but, then again, there are few records that sound this beautiful on a rainy, deeply introspective morning or at some ungodly hour in a one-star motel as the night comes down and the walls close in.



34. Escape - Journey

One could probably count the number of lists of this particular decade's greatest albums brave and honest enough to list a Journey album on one finger. And can you guess which finger that would be?
In all seriousness, Journey has always been an easy target. By the time singer Steve Perry joined the band, they'd half given up on their dedication to strictly artistic pursuits. They may have begun as a continuation of Santana's once-fresh fusion of jazz and rock, but when they failed to reach the heights they felt they deserved, a new plan was slowly, begrudgingly put into action. Escape is the culmination of one band's slow, stubborn transition into an all-out hit-making machine. At the same time, it stands as a shining example of what all albums should strive to be, and to accomplish. Within the album, there is a little something for everyone; a slow, sultry ballad ("Open Arms"), an up-tempo pop tune with a positive can-do message ("Don't Stop Believin'"), and one for the rockers ("Stone In Love"). What is most impressive is that Journey never stoops to talking down to their audience, lyrically or musically. Instead, they believe that their audience can totally dig the trip they're on and is more than welcome to come along for the ride.



35. Disintegration - The Cure

Up until this album, The Cure were an anomaly on the music scene. They certainly looked like a goth band, all dyed-black hair and smeared eyeliner, but the songs that burst forth from Robert Smith's guitar were not that far removed from some stick-in-your-head-for-days bubblegum hit (oh, what the 1910 Fruitgum Co. could have done with a gem like "Just Like Heaven"). On Disintegration, main man Robert Smith finally matched the music to the mystique, unleashing a wall of infinite, chaotic darkness. Synthesizers and guitars crash, meld, then break apart, creating the musical equivalent of a Tim Burton movie-gone-haywire. Past Cure efforts had included the occasional song that pulled you in, but Disintegration is a wave of unrelenting darkness that pulls you under. [Listen to "Pictures Of You"]



36. Like A Prayer - Madonna

With a title so similar to one of her previous albums that one was led to believe she'd run out of ideas and begun recycling her own material, Madonna closed the decade with an album that would have been hailed as a dramatic artistic achievement if anyone else's name had been attached. Since it had the name "Madonna" on it, though, it just had to be pop fluff, right? Wrong. Sure, there are memorable melodies aplenty, but very few albums are as confessional and forthright as this. Perhaps she was still smarting from her divorce from actor Sean Penn. Maybe she was tired of being dismissed as nothing more than a manufactured pop star. If Like A Prayer proves anything, it is that Madonna is, in fact, a manufactured star, but one of her own making. On Like A Prayer, there is such an abundance of intelligently crafted material that songs like "Express Yourself" and "Cherish" seem like throwaways - brilliant ones at that. Once one grasps the breadth of this album, it is easy to understand the need for such songs within the framework of this startlingly honest and confessional album.



37. The Completion Backward Principle - The Tubes

Built upon a premise of industrial globalization, or, perhaps global industrialization, Fee Waybill & Co.'s most ambitious musical outing provides maximum aural gratification; the idea being what would an album sound like that was created by committee, refined via extensive market research, and finely honed to a lustrous sheen for mass enjoyment? That album, of course, is The Completion Backward Principle and if such audio perfection were possible to achieve within the confines of corporate America, Wal-Mart would be selling their own exclusive titles by major artists.

Wait, they are selling their own exclusive titles by major artists.

Oh. My. God.

To say the Tubes were ahead of their time is an absolute understatement, but they were never more spot-on in their musical and thematic vision as during the sessions for this album. The band has never been short on outlandish themes, but their downfall has often been that their songs never quite live up to the concepts around which their albums are built.

This time out, they have the good fortune to pair up with producer David Foster, whose presence provides a calming influence upon the otherwise mentally hyperactive band. Foster's no Todd Rundgren, of course, but he is able to maintain control of the proceedings without ever losing sight of "the big picture". "Talk To Ya Later" practically leaps out of the speakers and grabs the listener by the lapels. Foster's influence prevents the band from doing any serious damage. The band's performance is unbridled, yet tight and the arrangement is such that there is not a note out of place or moment wasted.

The band continues the pace and focus for the remainder of the album, delivering rock-solid smash after rock-solid smash. Even when the band downshifts from fifth gear to first, as on "Think About Me", they do so with absolute precision. The inside joke is that music has become more product than consumers realize, with love songs meant to manipulate and anticipate a preconceived response rather than simply touch the human soul. In their attempt to achieve the former, the band creates their most powerful album and, at the same time, reveals the humanity behind the vision. [Listen to this live version of "Talk To Ya Later" from their '81 tour.]



38. Green - R.E.M.

To this day, we still wonder if R.E.M.'s move from I.R.S. to Warner Brothers was a good one. The band, of course, felt that I.R.S. had done as much as they could do for the band and that Warner Brothers could help them further penetrate the European and overseas markets. Additionally, the WB was willing to sink millions into the band, both up-front and in tour/promotional support. The band's debut for the label is, to this day, a hard album for fans to wrap their heads around. Some consider it to be the sound of a once-great band indie selling out to the big leagues. Others feel it is the culmination of almost a decade of hard work by the band at that this album fulfills the potential the band had always hinted at. At the time, we found it to be an incredibly listenable and musically diverse effort that sounded unlike any of their previous albums. Whereas it had been hard to tell where Life's Rich Pageant had ended and Document began, Green sounds fresh and exciting, as if the band had come to view their WB deal as a clean slate on which to begin anew. Sure, “Pop Song 89” was sung with irony fully intact, but Warner Brothers was a label that could ensure them worldwide success minus the indie-level irony they would quickly discard once and for all. [BONUS TRACK: Check out the band's version of "World Leader Pretend" (live at vRed Rocks 2008).]



39. Heavy Metal Soundtrack - Various Artists

Very few motion picture soundtracks are assembled with the thematic care and wit as this one. The range of talent alone is worth picking up the album: Cheap Trick, Devo, Sammy Hagar (prior to ruining Van Halen and becoming the Tequila-hawking circus clown he is today), Blue Oyster Cult, Stevie Nicks, Don Felder, Trust, and others turn in one great performance after the other, creating an album that actually manages to build upon the magic and mystique of the movie. Strangely enough, as good as these bands are, it is a little-known band from down south that steals the show. Riggs is the name of the band and the two songs they contribute to the soundtrack, "Radar Rider" and "Heartbeat", are both standouts. The real surprise about this soundtrack is about how well it works as a whole. Forget which band does which song and just play it from start to finish and you too will be amazed at the fluidity and cohesiveness of the tracks. You’ll also find yourself digging tunes by bands you never thought you’d like, or whose best days you’d wrongly assumed were behind them. Case in point, the mega-tasty "Crazy" by Nazareth.



40. Killer On The Rampage - Eddy Grant

Drop the name Eddy Grant and most people will respond with "Electric Avenue" and little else, but did you know that the Clash covered one of his songs ("Police On My Back" for their Sandinista album)? Having a US Top 20 hit must have been nice, but the real shame of being so closely associated with one song is that very few people ever bothered to dig a little deeper and discover just how great the entire album was. While he certainly looked like Bob Marley's younger brother, reggae was but a minor element of his music. Truth be told, Grant has reggae in his blood, but he's also very much the rocker and Killer On The Rampage is a great rock album, full of unique flavors and surprising twists. His knowledge and command of a wealth of other musical styles makes each song completely different from the last. If you can find it, we urge you to seek this album out. You can thank us later.