1983

This is exactly what I was talking about with the 80s.  It was  kinda hard to remember all ten of these records  and some pretty un-worthy ones almost made the cut, if you can believe that.  These are  all top-notch,  though.  A whole lot of interesting things begin here.  Some very important bands debut, and a certain country makes its first of many appearances in my lists.  However, I am kind of forcing this one out.  I just don't feel like writing today, but my life  is about to finally take a turn for the better and I will be  kinda wrapped up in some very pleasurable and occupying things.  I expect to get to 1984 Saturday and resume with 1985 Monday, but there will be some holes...

10.  The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge
The psychedelic revival finally makes its way to the bleak musical landscape of Manchester on the  Cameleons' first full-lengths following the stunning debut  single "In Shreds."  The closest point  of reference is the Teardrop Explodes, especially in fellow singer/bassist Mark Burgess' deep vocals.  It  is a lot more goth than that, replacing that  funk with a slow drone and the playful keyboards with the dueling atmospheric guitars of Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding.  Post-punk fury still dominates the band's dreamy sound with arrangements a bit simpler and less dynamic than heard on  their later work.  The group does demonstrate an ear for pop melody, best heard on "Up the Down Escalator," hinting at the ethereal beauty the would later achieve.  Anger is the most present emotion indicated on the aggressive opener "Don't Fall," but their wide range and depth signals that this band is more  than just another bunch of depressed Mancunians even more than their taste for the psychedelic.

9.  The Go-Betweens - Before Hollywood
Following a second move to the other side of the globe and addition of drummer (and Forster's girlfriend) Lindy Morrison the Go-Betweens became much more than the vehicle of Brisbane songwriting duo Grant McLennan and Robert Forster.  They also created one  of their finest albums.  Still retaining the home-made new wave of their earlier work it also begins the lusher, prettier sound that earned them the reputation of "the indie-rock Fleetwood Mac."  All the songs are some of their best, but "Cattle and Cane" - considered to be one of the finest Australia songs ever written, is enough to qualify this a masterpiece.  The careful arrangement and tastefully sentimental lyrics make this song a vivid and cinematic image of rural Queensland life for the rest of the world to see.  This  band's only growing  reputation as pop masters begins here.

8.  Sneaky Feelings - Send You
At last, Flying Nun records and the Dunedin sound makes its debut on the lists with this obscure gem.  The better known artists of that isolated little word began with singles and EPs, so it begins with this little album (sometimes considered an EP, but not by me).  It has a slower, moodier sound that the Clean or the Chills, but no less jangly post-punk.  That, and all the intelligence of the Verlaines without Graeme Downes' academic pretense.  "Waiting For the Touchdown" and "Throwing Stones" set the standard for the band's distinctly powerful sound, but things speed up for some of the best songs "Someone Else's Eyes."  While the diversity may not be  a strong point, few  were looking for that in an artist  in 1983 and the songwriting and playing is enough to grant this record many, many repeat listens.  Big, simple rhythms and loose guitar dynamics make this  Flying Nun's lost  classic with "Everything I Want" at the end making me want a lot  more Sneaky Feelings, to which I have had little luck.

7.  Green on Red - Gravity Talks
I first discovered this album by the Tuscon via LA Paisley Underground group on a list of each member of Pavement's top 10 albums lists.  While I sadly have  not been able to find that list again in recent times (RIP geocities, I beleive), I do remember this one was on Bob Nastanovitch's list,  and thank God it was!  This is more on the country-end of that scene, but the psychedelia is  still there  mostly thanks to the prominent organ on songs like the title track and "Deliverance".  Other highlights "That's What You're Here For" and "Five Easy Pieces" make them one one of the finest country-rock groups of the decade, without their heavy-handedness getting in the way.  It still only detracts slightly on their home-state-inspired "Old Chief," but almost ruins "Brave Generation," similarly to the way that very generation has irreparably ruined this country and their children (i.e. me and probably everyone reading this).  It's actually kind of offensive.  With guests Matt Piucci and Steve Wynn in tow, it is one of the key albums of the paisley underground.

6.  Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
After a much-needed break the Heads return with an album up to par with their last three.  With Eno out of the picture the four official members have a more unified vision and thanks to that experience, cohesive and limitless sound.  It feature Bernie Worrell on synthesizer leaving few, if any wishing for Eno and lending the perfect addition to the funky sounds of this record.  "Burning Down the House" is their ghostly hit and a great song in its own right, but it is far different from the disco of "Making Flippy Floppy."  Despite the influence from dance music the tempo is usually slower and atmospheric like on "Slippery People" and "Girlfriend is Better," but it hits its peak at the end with the stunning "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)."  It is probably the band's best song with its perfectly-arranged vocals that prove the band does not need Eno to create transcendent, otherworldly beauty.  Integration of African music has never sounded so good.

5.  Wipers - Over the Edge
The final installment of the classic Wipers trilogy.  The big, dirty fury of Youth America meets the concise songwriting of  the debut on what many consider  the band's pinnacle.  That belief holds enough credence that I feel the need to apologize for it only being at 5, but the next  five... it's mostly personal.  Pop is at its best on "Messenger" and "No Generation Gap" (relatively speaking) and the fury of the last album is best repeated on the first three tracks.  "Romeo" naturally captures the dark romance of some of Sage's better later work  and "No One Wants and Alien," is a return to and improvement upon the themes he explored on his pre-Is This Real? work.  If there is one definitive Wipers record this is definitely it, as all of Sage and company's best talents are brought forth at once on these eleven angsty slices of heavy Northwestern rock.

4.  Rain Parade - Emergency Third Rail Power Trip
Another one of the most perfect album covers.  The Paisley Underground quintet's debut is often unfairly attributed to future Mazzy Star founder David Roback.  I am in the rare belief that the band's later material is roughly as fine as this, and surpasses the guitarist's later project.  In truth the guitars are just another part of the mix more dominated by three-part harmonies and Stephen Roback's punchy bass lines.  Eddie Kalwa's popping, but quiet drumming (I believe achieved by playing softly with heavy sticks) keeps this sleepy record moving while Will Glenn's subtle keys keep the daze in full effect.  The whole record captures the feeling of the West Los Angeles June gloom in all its minute slow-paced beauty, a feat few would be so inspired to attempt.  Opener "Talking in My Sleep," captures it best and like "This Can't Be Today" is a perfect anthem for that unreal part of your early twenties.  "What's She Done To Your Mind" is a lost Byrds track and the album's most accessable, but Rain Parade's slower and more keyboard-dominated work makes them one of the more unique psychedelic bands despite their debt to their 60s forefathers.

3.  R.E.M. - Murmur
To call this a spectacular debut would be to belittle the "Radio Free Europe" single and equally fantastic Chronic Town EP.  R.E.M. does pull off the feat of recording a 12-track album all standing up to that.  Like many of the artists on this list the Athens quartet excels in returning to the jangly roots from the 60s, the Byrds in particular, with Peter Buck and Mike Mills explicitly showing off their use of Rickenbackers.  Their tight group sound highlights all of their talents enough to stand up against Stipe's lyrics.  If there is one definitive R.E.M. song in existence I would say it is "Shaking Through," with its chord changes and mumbled lyrics being what most crave from this classic band.  It even features the kind of piano that would make an appearance on idols the Feelies' albums  a few  years later.  The LP's excellence is in no small part due to producer Mitch Easter who proves his worth on "Perfect Circle" with hypnotic dual pianos.  This album deserves its place at the top of the "alternative" rock pantheon, so long as you see that as a good thing.

2.  The Three O'Clock - Sixteen Tambourines
Likewise, their brothers in this South Bay group fooled many with singer/bassist Michael Quercio's Austin Powers-esque fashion sense into being a bunch of 60s revivalists.  Their integration of modern synthesizers was enough to dismiss that notion, with this wide array of influences making "Jet Fighter" one of the best pop songs of the decade.  Quercio's high voice and bizarre lyrics, Danny Benair's  hard-hitting pop drums, and co-songwriter Greg Gutierrez' creative guitar playing all contribute to this band's unusual sound.  In a perfect world they would have defined the eighties with their tight and clean songs like "Stupid Einstein" and "Seeing is Believing" where the quartet's dynamics are at their best.  The romantic rebellion of "And So We Run" and "A Day In Erotica" which alternates between eerie textures and new wave pop make this album the perfect eighties album, containing  just about everything that made this decade's music great.  Check out the cover for a band photo as intelligent and perplexing as the music found within.

1.  Meat Puppets - II
The greatest band out of Phoenix ever goes beyond merely being the loudest and fastest on Earth and really comes into their own.  These hippies were still showing hardcore kidz all over the  country what speed really meant, but did it now with a finely-tuned psychedelic country sound.  The Kirkwood brothers, both gods of their instruments have a dynamic that can only come from shared blood in both their playing and off-key singing.  The three songs that Nirvana covered with their help are the best known, but they hardly stand out against others like the speedball of an opener "Split Myself in Two" or the the splendor of "Aurora Borealis."  The extraterrestrial "We're Here" and highway adventure Americana of "Lost" sit surprisingly well against the blaring "New Gods" and "I'm A Mindless Idiot."  This is the beginning of cowpunk, but none of those other bands did  as much peyote or found a balance with the rabid playing of the Kirkwoods and the steady simplicity of Derrick Bostrom.  He is perhaps the Ringo of the 80s, wowing few with any tricks but achieving a rare transcendence by doing so, the only logical thing a drummer could do on Curt's request of, "alright boys, let's get way out there now."  The closing "The Whistling Song," goes in yet another new direction and a softer, sweeter one that they would follow on their next masterpiece.

See you soon!