1988

So, the 80s has been taking a long time!  I thought I would be onto the 90s by the time I got back to Michigan (here for about a week or so this time, nothing to worry about New Yorkers...  It has been a time even more overwhelming than usual lately.  I am not savoring this decade, its peak has already passed and I am really looking forward to the 90s.  Not like it's that much better, but I'm pretty zazzed to write about the likes of PJ Harvey and Guided by Voices.  So, here we are, almost there, in another one of those years that has some real heavy-duty masterpieces but is overall... just pretty good.  Special shout-outs to Superfuzz Bigmuff - one of the year's finest records, but it's an EP, and to Bug which may have made it were I able to listen to it now.

10.  Beat Happening - Jamboree
Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford just kept getting better and better and many consider this their finest work.  I don't.  Still great, though.  All their sensibilities are here at their most enjoyably exaggerated.  The playfully simple and tinny is there, and is even joined by their noise on the closer "The This Many Boyfriends Club."  The drony ballads that would grow  in prominence begin with "Indian Summer," which Johnson has called "indie rock's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door."  I disagree and will save similar analogies for later in this list.  The raw rock sound that would dominate their next album is also getting more finely-tuned on such definitive tracks as "Midnite A Go-Go" and "Crashing Through."  It's still pretty Calvin-dominated, but that's nothing to complain about especially in the context of having little knowledge of just what Heather Lewis is capable just yet.

9.  The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good
Björk makes her first of several appearances on her old band's debut.  It's a shame they are best remembered for her, as the large band is a tight and collaborative force.  This energetic psychedelic pop album was so out of place in the 80s context it can seem a little too "quirky" if you're not ready for it, but perhaps that's what it took to put Iceland on the musical map (obviously, that country has many more appearances ahead).  The clean production works perfectly in highlighting the band's crazy rhythms, bizarre lyrics, and fearless approach to music that exudes a rare joy.  At this time, young American and (as ALWAYS) British artists were very hung up on what they could and could not do, according to their image and fanbase, so these Norsepeople really shook things up with their embrace of the avant-garde, pop, prog, and aggressive, distorted guitars.  Naturally, the following exports had nothing in common with them, and that was okay.

8.  Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
The guitarist-less group often credited for creating "post-rock" and their producer/unofficial (or hidden) member Tim Friese-Greene go further into their experimental direction.  Forgoing the pop structure of new wave, they hone their jazz-like approach to their complex and dynamic music.  The songs are long and travel from loud and fast to quiet and forlorn in a way far less predictable than most of their followers.  Rather than a big, electric drone and crescendo, their sound is more reliant on keyboards that could come from another time and the expressive voice of Mark Hollis in complex unanimes arrangements that could only be composed with the delicate precision of Erik Satie or the most freakishly unified band of all time.  This was the future as many of the few who heard it envisioned.

7.  The Church - Starfish
Similarly, this Australian band was not only far removed from the American mentality, but also that of their home country.  It may be related to their being from Canberra that they have more in common with the Chameleons than the Triffids, but there is still a lot of drama.  It may also be for the fact that this album was recorded in Los Angeles while other Australian bands left home for Europe.  The Church may have played it unusually wise for an Aussie band that way with "Under The Milky Way" being better-known than even anything by Nick Cave in the States.  Many of the other songs do come close to the romantic hit in quality, especially "North, South, East, and West" and "Reptile," which show that the band can hit a much higher energy level and still retain their dark mystery.  Like many of the foreign records of this year it is a well-produced, psychedelic, and smooth album from a highly-dynamic and skilled group.

6.  My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
A weird little album that is often thought of as MBV's first "real," LP, somewhat accurately.  It stands far apart from the others in my opinion, functioning best as Kevin Shields' education in studio wizardry that really paid off on the following album.  The band had tightened up their jangly psychedelic harmonies, dreamy atmosphere, and expert song craft on the preceding masterful yet raw EPs.  As a result, this may be their best sounding album until recently, as the music takes a bit of a back seat.  Their are still some great songs and their odd changes show just how capable the Irish quartet is at pulling off the unfathomable, plus the love between guitarists/vocalists Shields and Bilinda Butcher adds that fuzzy pink and purple feel that would just get bigger and deeper.  It is a favorite amongst the fans who prefer the group's more angular and jarring sound as that aspect has never been more prominent.

5.  The House of Love - The House of Love
The ultimate Creation band outdid their now more famous label mates this year and all without bankrupting Alan McGee!  The quartet has a lot in common with the Church but with an more refined knack at writing short and catchy tunes.  While all the songs are written by Guy Chadwick, the dynamic is still very collaborative and it is clear that all members have an unusual understanding of the finer points of noisy psychedelic postpunk and how to apply it to friendly pop music.  The band has a lot more humor and less of a tendency for pretensious poetry than their shoegazey followers and influences like Echo and the Bunnymen, but naturally all of the romance - particularly in the opening track "Christine," which is equal parts pretty romance and heavy drone.  If you're into this kind of thing and still haven't heard this album, change it immediately, you will be glad you did.

4.  The Feelies - Only Life
The new incarnation of the Jersey band somehow gets even tighter on their second major label album as they make room for a bit of the old sound in addition to the more laid-back new one.  The chase of "Too Far Gone," ups the tension even more than in the early days thanks to Brenda Sauter's ultra  smooth and precise bass playing and the re-assertion that no band sings "oh"  better.  The band appears more patient than ever with the elements that make them great letting each other shine separately such as the subtle percussion of "Deep Fascination" and the wailing lead guitar of "Higher Ground."  Tyrpes holdover "The Undertow" was a wise choice for inclusion, while bigger and less eerie than the original, it has as dynamic a build and achieves the same kind of Eno-esque transcendence while retaining more of a folk-rock accessibility.  With a cover of "What Goes On" closing the album, the band embraces its roots while it creates similar roots for the likes of Yo La Tengo, Real Estate and generations of New Jersey bands following in their wake (note album cover).

3.  The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Out of the raw and angry American scene comes one of the most influential and unexpected bands of the decade, effortlessly writing the future of American rock.  This band came late to the booming Boston underground and busted out far beyond their neighbors with the help of Steve Albini on this sick little record.  Maybe the most unlikely frontman of all time, Black Francis demonstrates his rare ear for pop music and devastating self-deprecating sense of humor.  Even better is the prominence of Kim Deal (aka Mrs. John Murphy), a woman so cool and talented Robert Pollard may have destroyed his marriage for her and still didn't get her!  Her vocals and twin-like lock with drummer Dave Lovering make this album about as interesting as Francis does.   ...But that is to disregard the biting guitar of Joey Santiago, the treble-y surfing sound that is the real voice of this band with a dynamic so intense it was no wonder it ended in violent hatred.  A rare record that balances the perverse ("Bone Machine"), the innocent ("Tony's Theme"), the obsessive ("Cactus"), the just plain funny ("Broken Face") and  just plain cool ("Brick is Red") with incredible ease.

2.  The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane
Often called the indie rock Rumours, this would be the Brisbane group's final album of its original run and the final one as a real band rather than a project for songwriters Robert Forster and the late Grant McLennan.  The rest of the band, particularly Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown, do a lot more than just provide their (ex-)boyfriends with lyrical fuel.  The harmonies and prominence of Brown's violin and oboe make this album a far cry from about anything else made before after.  This is a smooth and pretty album with all the dark intensity to be expected from an 80s band from Australia, particularly on the story of one woman's descent into pyromania "Was There Anything I Could Do?"  With its airy guitars and nostalgia it can be easy to overlook the darkness in the best-known song "Streets of Your Town," the best song since "Cattle & Cane."  Alternating between the joy of new love and the torture of heartbreak, songs like "Love is a Sign" and "Clouds," live up to the album's title with it's delicate and personal approach to both sides of romance, with a voice as wise as it is childlike and innocent.  As crushing as it can get this exceptional songwriting team asserts "The Love Goes On!" with both the happy and sad worth living through.

1.  Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
New York's representatives in the 80s uniquely national underground scene make their masterpiece on this expansive double album.  They take the big plunge into pop without sacrificing any of their avant-garde tendencies, fitting them seamlessly into generally accessible tracks like "Silver Rocket" and "'Cross the Breeze."  Even Steve Shelley and Kim Gordon's vocals/lyrics sound great on this album, with the former not afraid to keep is simple and hard and the latter's rage being fun and relatable rather than obvious, uninspired, and too smart-assed for its own good.  Ranaldo is also at his best, contributing three songs  to the album all sounding so different you would expect him to be able to do.  In this context the experimentation of "Rain King" and the Mike Watt sample of "Providence" are as enjoyable listens as the pure pop perfection of "Teen Age Riot," one of the greatest rock songs of all time.  The closing "Trilogy" makes the album end as well as it began, with its parts going from love for the city, to science fiction, to Gordon's most aggressive, leaving the album on an exhilarating and unsettling note begging for more.  You will never find Sonic Youth so focused and tasteful.  Some say they were "too into being Sonic Youth" at the time, but that may have been what did it - being too into being Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Steve Shelley is why they never repeated this success.  Regardless of what you think of the band, this is a masterpiece.