Urban75 Album of the Year 1981

[belboid]

19 Rip Rig and Panic - God

belboid is allowing a record that plays at 45rpm into an album chart? It must be good. It is.

 

[belboid]

18 Grace Jones- Nightclubbing

Post-disco perversity.

 

[belboid]

17 Deutsch Amerikianische Freundschaft – Alles Ist Gut

Clap your hands and move your lips, cos Paul Morley is about to rip you off horrendously

 

[belboid]

16 This heat - Deceit

Genre busting expiremental noise post-punk that sounds like half if it was recorded in a toilet. Classsic.

 

[belboid]

=14 The Fall – Slates

Because its good enough

 

[belboid]

=14 Japan - Tin Drum

Mannered cubist pop.

 

[belboid]

13 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju

McGeoch's superb guitaring and that voice continue to leave us Spellbound.

 

[belboid]

12 A Certain Ratio - To Each

'Studied tedium' and 'mired in its own misery' were two of the nicer reviews. Aye, cos we should be pissing ourselves about suicide and the upcoming nuclear war, innit? Rest assured, said reviewers were wrong.

 

[belboid]

11 Soft Cell ‎– Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Debut from the synth-pop masters. I used to have a landlord who claimed 'Bedsitter' was written in one of his flats. He'd obviously never actually listened to it.

 

[belboid]

10 Cabaret Voltaire – Red Mecca

"It's not called that by coincidence. We weren't referencing the fucking Mecca Ballroom in Nottingham!"

 

[belboid]

9 Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps

Who says angle grinders can't make music? Terrifyingly terrific.

 

[belboid]

Here comes the big surprise! Don't expect any others

 

[belboid]

8 Crass – Penis Envy

What the fuck? I wasn't expecting that. Includes the legendary 'Our Wedding' and was impounded by Christian loon copper James Anderton. I bet he wanked off over the cover.

 

[Raheem]

Is it Cliff?

ETA: too late. Maybe he'll pop up for 1991.

 

[belboid]

7 New Order Movement

Wherein they buried Ian Curtis and began to move on. Another one largely hated at the time.

 

[belboid]

6 Au Pairs - Playing With A Different Sex

It's obvious that this is a classic piece of post-punk. Much banned by the BBC and in the six counties.

 

[belboid]

5 King Crimson -Discipline

The return after a seven year break and, with the addition of Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, better than ever. Their meisterwork.

 

[belboid]

I should pause at this point for the traditional top three countdown - yes, at this point. But there isn't really much point, there's arguably something slightly unexpected in here, but only slightly.

 

[belboid]

stutter

 

[belboid]

=3 The Birthday Party - Prayers on Fire

Hello Nick, my word you like to shriek and roll about a bit, don’t you?

 

[belboid]

=3 Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here

Genius taken to its logical limit. This is the one for the money.

 

[belboid]

2 Human League - Dare

Pure pop perfection. Be sure to stroke a pocket with a print of a laughing sound as you listen.

(part of the reason I have taken so long to post this list up is cos I've been trying to hit all the Ctrl-C's and Ctrl-V's in time with the tune. It's not easy)

 

[belboid]

What else can it be?

 

[belboid]

1 Kraftwerk - Computer World

Well, no shit Sherlock. Say 'guten tag' to the record that (virtually) invented electro

 

[killer b]

wow i called it totally wrong with Dare.

 

[andysays]

No My Life In the Bush of Ghosts?

 

[belboid]

No My Life In the Bush of Ghosts?

That, the Gun Club & Undertones all missed out by the narrowest of margins.

(MLItBoG not being helped by people variously ascribing it to Eno/Byrne, David Byrne & Brian Eno, etc)

 

[andysays]

Most of my top ten made the overall top 20

Siouxsie and the Banshees	Juju
The Gun Club	The Fire of Love
Brian Eno & David Byrne	My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Japan	Tin Drum
Echo and the Bunnymen	Heaven Up Here
Soft Cell	Non Stop Erotic Cabaret
The Birthday Party	Prayers on Fire
The Human League	Dare
Rip Rig & Panic	God!
Cabaret Voltaire	Red Mecca

 

[belboid]

I ended up with a top 12

Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here

King Crimson - Discipline

The Fall - Slates

Public Image Ltd - Flowers of Romance

Teardrop Explodes - Wilder

Au Pairs - Playing With A Different sex

Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates

Human League - Dare

Motorhead - No Sleep till Hammersmith

Kraftwerk - Computer Love

Einsturzende Neubaten - Kollaps

New Order - Movement

I forgot to highlight the excellent Rickie Lee Jones album in the thread and am a bit surprised no one else mentioned one of the greatest live albums ever released.

 

[hitmouse]

No Sleep? Slates is definitely a fucking EP though. Also, is Crass more of a surprise than the Au Pairs? And no Solid Gold?