Jim's Gems 1985: The Smiths, Microdisney... the 10 best albums marking their 40th anniversary
Microdisney's The Clock Comes Down the Stairs and The Smiths' Meat is Murder are among Jim Comet's 1985 picks
Ah yes, the 1980s. Back in 1985 I still had the day job in CIE while I attempted rock stardom in the evenings and weekends with Cork band Belsonic Sound. As a country, it was the year we allowed over-18s access to contraception without a prescription, despite the best efforts of the Catholic Church. In music, Live Aid overshadowed everything, as the live concerts raised millions for famine relief.
Personally, I was a bit disillusioned with some of the music coming out in that era, and I turned back to the 1960s. However, there were still some fine albums released in 1985. Here are my favourites:
One of the first times I saw Microdisney was in the Metropole Hotel on a school night... me being a North Mon boy at the time. It was their first gig as a two-piece, and they’d hired a function room on the pretense that it was a wedding so everyone going to the gig was given these little buttonhole flowers to keep up the pretense.
I remember saying goodbye to them at their final gig in the now defunct Ivernia before they moved to London. They left the next morning and two quickly became five. This is very much a London record and part of the sound they went on to forge but Cathal's voice will always be entrenched in Cork folklore.
I’m welling up here thinking of the night when they finished the journey in Cypress Avenue, bringing it all back home for the last time. That beautiful rendition of was very emotional. I had a lovely chat with Cathal that night. I didn’t know then that it would be the last.
This is REM's difficult third album. Difficult because they were working with a new producer, the legendary Joe Boyd, and also because they were trying to take their sound to a different place and they weren’t really sure where they were going. That probably explains why the album sounds a bit disjointed and all over the place.
The songs themselves were great. and veers into Byrds-like folk rock territory while could have been on any of the earlier records. All in all, it’s a transition record because I think they knew they had to change their music a bit to take it to the next level. They didn’t manage that with this record. It would take another album to achieve that.
History has been kind to this record and many fans including myself hold it in very high regard.
This is the second album of his Berlin period featuring the original Bad Seeds line up. It’s a dark, gothic and very biblical record that combines punk with raw guttural blues. Its musical and literary influences are firmly rooted in the southern states with particular focus on Elvis Presley with whom Cave always had a fascination.
The album's title refers to Elvis’s twin, Jesse Garon who died at birth and always haunted Elvis, while is an ode to the King's birthplace. I remember speaking to him about Elvis when he did a signing in Comet Records in Cork back in the day. It's an intense album with lots of mood swings and emotions and not always an easy listen. It's best enjoyed on a decent sound system in a quiet room where you can hear a pin drop.
My particular favourite is , for years the highlight of his live shows.
The follow up to the classic sees the Gurus plow the same musical furrow and continue their fascination with sci-fi, 1970s TV cartoons, and '60s power pop. It's all put through a blender and still comes out sounding like a punk Big Star.
The songs are still top notch and hook you in from the start. and the two standout tunes. The Hoodoo Gurus could best be described as a fun band not to be taken too seriously. For a brief period they were the best band that nobody had heard of.
I’m a huge fan of Kevin Rowland. The guy could sing the phone book and I’d probably buy it. This is the third album and it’s a departure from the celtic soul of its predecessor. It’s a very stripped back affair; the band having been reduced to a four-piece.
The trademark Dexys trombone does fortunately make an appearance. The songs are longer, always intense and incredibly fascinating. Rowland wears his heart on his sleeve like no other artist. The recording was long, difficult and expensive and the album didn’t do well. Having no obvious singles on the record probably didn’t help matters. Stung by the rejection, the band split shortly afterwards.
The third studio album and the culmination of the big music. Dropping the needle on this you’re immediately hooked by the blistering opening crescendo of which leaves you in no doubt that they’ve found their sound. Moods and tempo fluctuate throughout the record from the upbeat to the more introspective .
For me, the track that defines the record is the powerful , in my opinion their best-ever song. The final song, , introduces Steve Wickham and gives a hint at what life will be like after the big music. On the production side, this album has the best piano sound I’ve heard since .
1985 was a very productive year for Husker Du. They followed up the classic with not one, but two albums. This is the second and arguably the better one. It would also be their last record for SST. While the basic formula is still there one can sense a different musical approach. The 'Beatles of hardcore' placing a lot more emphasis on structure and melody with the guitars back in the mix.
Mould and Hart are really expressing their individuality as songwriters with contrasting styles. Hart's big contribution is , written about his cat, while Mould gives us games and the excellent . The less said about the better.
The actual follow up to was always going to be doomed by comparison. How do you follow up a record like that? They recorded it with the inhouse producer which was probably a bad idea because they clashed with him throughout the recording which may explain why it's one of the most badly produced records I’ve ever heard.
Mould's excessive drinking during the recording of the album didn’t help matters either. Deciding to focus on the poppier elements of the new material they managed to deliver a fine album which included arguably their finest song .
I would love to see this remastered some day so it could properly fulfil its potential.
Initially I wasn’t a fan. I thought I was too old for The Smiths. I was definitely too old and too busy to sit in my bedroom angst ridden listening to Morrissey's lyrics. The tune that changed my mind was . That one blew me away — so when the second album came out I had to see what I was missing.
A brilliant album that pulls no punches on topics such as vegetarianism and the education system. I know quite a few people who stopped eating meat because of this record.
The first thing that filled me with a sense of wonder about this album was the fact that he was smiling on the sleeve. Anyone familiar with Van will know that he doesn’t do smiling. Thankfully it didn’t affect the music. It’s a very lyrical and poetic record that follows that celtic soul thread he began with 1979's would become a live favourite while incorporate the words of William Blake beautifully with the Caledonia soul. However, the album suffers greatly from that soulless 1980s production that ruined so many great records of that era.
Channeling The Velvets, Shangri-Las, and The Ramones... with a side order of feedback.
While it's hard to take the prince of darkness seriously, this is a great record.
Not my favourite Tom record but still an impressive offering.
