usic

a .
i CNEMA DIRECTORY 1

of the
Peter Shapiro
NINE BEST OF THE
EIGHTIES
1. ThePretenders The
Pretenders
Despite a second side that is
tamed by Chryssie Hynde's
maternal instincts, this record has
the bitter drive of a lifetime of
male oppression.
2. Tom Waits Swordfish
Trombones
The hippest man in America
finally escaped the spectre of
Rickie Lee Jones and Mose
Allison to produce a work that
evokes the grainy black and white
underbelly of American society
without relying solely on humor
and coolness.
3. Lou Reed New York
This record is an inspired,
passionate, and yes, optimistic
plea for sanity. Listen to Bon
Jovi's New Jersey as proof of what
Reed is talking about.
4. Otis Rush Tops
Forget about the lyrics, I'm just
gonna play my axe for about 35
minutes. As usual, his soloing is
absurdly hot, but what really sets
this record apart is that he plays
with a band familiar with his
music.
5. Tom Waits Rain Dogs
In the second installment of his
Frank's Wild Years trilogy, Waits
combines a beatnik romanticism
of experience with the dark
menace of the country blues and
the coolness of a suave lounge
lizard.

Continued
from page 5
6. Echo and the Bunnymen
Porcupine
The most caustic record from the
most consistent band of the
eighties. Luckily, Shankar's sitar
and string work has nothing to do
with the raga scales appropriated
by the Woodstock Nation.
Instead, it adds an eerie
hypnoticism to the only
worthwhile gothic style record
ever made.
7. Barrence Whitfield and
the Savages Dig Yourself
These 11 re-workings of "Tutti
Frutti" prove that Whitfield is
more than the self-proclaimed
second coming of Howlin' Wolf;
he is the Wolf, Little Richard,
James Brown, and Louis Jordan
rolled into one dynamo of a
showman.
8. The Replacements Let it Be
This is the only time in his career
that Paul Westerberg had a grasp
on his teen angst. With its
affirming sense of humor, even in
the most troubling situations, it is
impossible not to relate to this
record.
9. Motorhead Ace of Spades
If all metal albums were like this,
the late eighties would have been
bearable. This is everything metal
is supposed to be, wishes it could
be- loud, fast, Dionysian, and
orgiastic.
FOUR WORST
1. New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block
2. Def Leppard Hysteria
3. New Kids on the Block
Han gin' Tough
4. Rolling Stones Steel
Wheels
ARTIST OF THE DECADE:
JAMES BROWN

to

Michael Paul
Fischer
The greatest pop albums of the '80s:
U2 The Joshua Tree (1987)
Conjuring a potent symbol of
enduring faith amid the spiritual
desert of America, Ireland's
favorite sons confronted this
terrain of despair with a
sensitivity and outrage as gripping
as their newfound fusion of
folkish roots and cinematic
atmosphere - assaying their
vision with an authority great
enough to fill the gap vacated, in
the previous decade, by Led
Zeppelin. This was the album
which established how important
a rock'n'roll music could be in the
post Live-Aid era.
Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel
(Security (1982) Paradoxically
using computers to produce eerily
earthy, primitive third-world
textures alongside some
thundering tribal rhythms,
Gabriel's fourth solo album -
aided by the first great video ever,
"Shock the Monkey" -
celebrates the mystic, primal
instincts brimming beneath the
unconscious, cracking facade of
"civilized" Western man.
The Waterboys This is the Sea
(1985) Invoking the spirits of
Springsteen, Dylan, and the 19th
century British poet William
Blake, Scottish visionary Mike
Scott's rock'n'roll thunderstorm
of sweeping instrumental
grandeur and punkish
determination is as big as pop
music gets.
Boogie Down Productions
Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of
Hip Hop (1989) Finally, a
definitive hip-hop statement: Stop
the Violence leader KRS-One's
staggeringly ambitious rap
encyclopedia of urban music
styles, delivering its tough social
criticisms with a bracing assertion
of Black history and a spiritual
responsibility that leaves all the
demagogues and sucker M.C.'s of
the gold chain charade in the dirt
at last.
Simple Minds New Gold
Drcam (8 -82-3-84) (1982)
Like a whispering candle-flame of
faith and unabashed optimism
brought forth into the bleakest
nights of Britain's industrial
recession, Scotland's Minds
delivered their first masterpiece
- an exquisite stained-glass
window of precious pop melodies
and inspirational warmth.

Prince Purple Rain (1984) From
the manic Hendrix guitar of
"Let's Go Crazy" to the trend-
setting minimalism of "When
Doves Cry," it is on this
blockbuster soundtrack that the
decade's most prolific artist
displays the broadest sweep of his
pop genius.
Neil Young Freedom (1989)
After a decade of chameleon
inscrutability, Young storms back
with a hellish guitar crunch and a
stunningly prolific return to his
true colors: sun-drenched acoustic
melodies and tempered rockers
offset by a corrosively ironic social
commentary.
Kate Bush The Sensual World
(1989) Still irrepressibly loyal to
her enigmatic muse, rock's
greatest female artist properly
bridges the communicative gap
between instinct and intellect,
between man and woman, with an
ever more accessible focus.
Talking Heads Remain in Light
(1980) On which David Byrne
enlisted sonic innovator Brian
Eno to chart a groundbreaking,
mesmerizing rhythmic foray into
the cross-cultural hybrids of the
"world-music."
Bruce Springsteen and the
E Street Band Live 1975-85
(1986) From rock-and-roll's
biggest, greatest performer... the
biggest, greatest live album ever.
The Cocteau Twins
Victorialand (1986) Effusing a
romantic and crystalline, narcotic
otherworldliness... a beauty quite
literally beyond words.
Robbie Robertson Robbie
Robertson (1987) The former
Band-leader's first work in 12
years proved a gutsy,
unprecedented rock'n'roll
amalgam of mythic Americana.
David Sylvian Secrets of the
Beehive (1987) So deceptive is
the gorgeously nocturnal reverie
of Sylvian's burnished New-Age/
Jazz veneer, that its gripping
secret which lay beneath-- a
lyrical undercurrent of violence,
sin, and redemption - proves all
the more arresting.
R.E.M. Green (1988) On which
the seminal southern janglers turn
their fabled image inside-out with
a Zeppelinesque bravado and
spontaneity curiously contrasted
by Michael Stipe's desperate
efforts to keep hope alive in an
age of political apathy and
environmental decay.
HONORABLE MENTION:
The Call Let the Day Begin
(1989)
Roxy Music Avalon (1982)
XTC Skylarking (1987).

Greg Balse
Reagan and Bush landslides,
civil rights quickly disappearing,
military muscle flexing, mail
bombings-for lots of people, the
'80s sucked, yet the majority of
people seemed to walk through
the age of the information
revolution, ignoring the true
harbingers of the sonic decline of
civilization. Instead, people place
their faith in Neros fiddling their
odes to sexism, racism, and
homophobia. "Turn around bitch
I've got a use for you/ Besides,
you've got nothing better to do/
And I'm bored." Not a quote of
popular, malapropistic Nero Dan
Quayle; that's from Quayle's
fellow Hoosier Axl Rose, the main
medulla behind archetypical '80s
band Guns n' Roses. And he's
talking to you. Like many other
sexists, racists and homophobes,
Gn'R made lots of money last
decade. Like a lot of what
happened last decade, Gn'R
sucks. Take that one to heart.
Appetitefor Destruction (Geffen,
1988): Album of the Decade.

Other, better stuff that many
people missed out on in the '80s:
The Birthday Party, Prayers
on Fire (4AD U.K., 1981)
Bongwater, Double Bummer
(Shimmy Disk, 1988)
Glenn Branco, Symphony No.
1 (Tonal Plexus) (Roir, 1981)
The Clean, Compilation,
(Homestead, 1989)
DNA, A Taste of DNA
(American Clave, 1980)
Einsturzende Neubauten,
Strategies Against Architecture,
(Mute U.K., 1984)
Minutemen, Double Nickels on
the Dime, (SST, 1984)
Public Enemy, It Takes a
Nation of Millions To Hold Us
Back, (Def Jam, 1988)
Sonic Youth, The Walls Have
Ears, (bootleg, ca. 1987)
Spacemen 3, The Perfect
Prescription, (Glass U.K., 1987)
Swell Maps, Jane from
Occupied Europe, (Rather,
1980)
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing
Gristle's Greatest Hits (Rough
Trade, 1980)

You Got Soul,"
Joke," "Follow
the leader."
ice-T
Freedom of
Speech...
"Lethal

InfluentiE
Hip-hop
of the '80

Weapon/Heartbeat," "Our Most
Requested Record," "Colors,"
"Soul on Ice," "Squeeze the
Trigger," I'm Your Pusher."
Public Enemy
Yo! Bum Rush the Show
"Fight the Power," "Rebel
Without a Pause," "Bring the
Noise," "Timebomb," "B-Side
Wins Again," "Don't Believe the
Hype/Prophets of Rage."
Boogie Down Productions
By All Means Necessary.
"My Philosophy," "Why is
That?," "Poetry," "You Must
Learn," "The P is Free," "Illegal
Business."
Run DMC
Raising Hell
"Peter Piper," "Rock Box," "Here
We Go," "Together Forever,"
"Run's House," "Sucker M.C.s,"

0 0
Forrest Green
INFLUENTIAL HIP-HOP OF
THE '80S:
Eric B. and Rakim
Paid in Full
"Microphone Fiend," "I Know

"I Ain't No

4
"Can You Rock it like This."
Big Daddy Kane
"Ain't No Half Steppin'," "Wrath
of Kane," "Pimpin' Ain't Easy,"
"Raw," "Another Victory,"
"Mortal Combat."
TEN "BEST" ALBUMS OF 89
(in no particular order)
1The Cure
al Disintegration
Wendy and Lisa
Fruit at the Bottom
s Schoolly-D
Am I Black Enough For You?
Ciccone Youth
The Whitey Album
Soul 11 Soul
Keep on Movin'
Ice-T
Freedom of Speech... Just Watch
What You Say
Beastie Boys
Paul's Boutique
The Stone Roses, NWA
Straight Outta Compton
Jungle Brothers
Done By the Forces of Nature.
RAP SONG OF THE YEAR:
Eazy-E and M.C. Ren
"2 Hard Muthas."
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
NWA - Think about it-
everyone in the country wanted
to know what it stood for. And
what's more, we believed it.

Daily Arts Staffers, it is commonly held,
are the gauge by which hipness is
measured. To facilitate estimation of
your personal cultural cool, we asked
them to summarize the musical highs
and lows o1 the past decade.
(Mor on page 12)

Ma
BEST
Jenni
Rainco
Rob V
Elvis
Attra
Varic
of Sow
Tom %
Sword
Frank'
Prince
Ted I
Board
The P
the L.
Nevil
Los L
Surviv
BEST
Elvis
Nevil
Lyle I
Quinc
Block
Rickie
Cowb

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T

Sheala Durant
Thinking back on the past 10
ten years and its music could
make a windmill dizzy.
Vivid, the debut album by rock
and roll band Living Colour was
live and in color. The hard rock
on fire a la Jimi Hendrix, quasi
Funkadelic, Marleyfied, hip hop
dope music of these Brooklyn
homeboys was too live.
Speaking of being too live, the
2 Live Crew's Move Somethin'
dissolved the wax out of many an
ear. Although most of the lyrics -
no, all of the lyrics - were lewd,
crude, chauvanistic, homophobic,
and downright vulgar, the gletto
bass rhythms balanced the
questionable content.
On the album, Time and Tide,
Basic uses her "enormous vocal
prowess" to deliver a potpourri of
terrific funk, jazz and Latin
grooves.

Gospel/jazz sextet Take 6 made
a good showing on their self titled
album, Take 6. And they're not
bad looking either.
The Cosmic Thing album has
scored a supernova for the B-52s.
It represents a return to their
earlier sound, a return that
explains why Cosmic Thing is this
14-year-old group's best seller
since 1980's Wild Planet.
British duo Mel & Kim's album
FLM was one of the most
underrated projects of the decade.
Proteges of British producing trio
Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Mel
& Kim added a sophisticated
twist to songs that may have
otherwise become a compilation
of bubble gum jams.
Latin hip hop trio TKA is.
another group which was
threatened by lack of
acknowledgement. Their Scats of
Love album, though not
spectacular, did have a few good
tunes and lots of potential.

Finally, there was European
pop duo Milli Vanilli with their
weird name and the synthesized
overproduced brand of artificial
creativity on their debut album,
Milli Vanii, which came in a
country mile behind last place.
Homeboys Rob Pilatus from
Germany and Fab Morvan from
France got on the Soul Train
stage with host Don Cornelius.
They could barely speak English,
yet they insist on rapping in
almost every song.
All great show business acts
need a good gimmick and Milli
Vanilli sure has one. Milli and
Vanilli shared a common love for
breakdancing and met at a club in
LA. Someone should close that
club and prevent this kinds of
unions from taking place. They
insists on calling their music
"melody rap." And with their
"made-for-video" good looks and
European accents, they've been
getting plenty of attention.

TOP 10 PICKS:
Living Color, Vivid
2 Live Crew, Move Som
Basia, Time and Tide
Al Jarreau, Heart's Hor
Take 6, Take 6
B-52s, Cosmic Thing
Mel & Kim, FLM
Information Society,
Information Society
TKA, Scars of Love
Milli Vanilli, Milli Vonill

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M O W



12

.WEEKEND January 19,1990