Jim's Gems: Best albums of 1983 - including REM, Waterboys, Violent Femmes...

By 1983, the glories of post-punk era had very much waned, but a scratch of the surface still reveals an impressive roster of records 

R.E.M. and Echo and the Bunnymen are among the best of 1985's pop parade, reckons Jim Comet

The year was 1983. Shergar had been kidnapped, the gardaí were bugging journalists’ phones and the constitutional amendment banning abortion was passed. 

Musically it was becoming increasingly evident that a decade that had begun with so much promise was rapidly going down the tubes.