Van Halen — Fair Warning

Van Halen -- Fair Warning

• Artist: Van Halen
• Title: Fair Warning
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: Dunno

I should’ve mentioned this earlier. Ted Templeton’s production work on these records is fantastic. He’s a genius. Anyhow, Van Halen’s “Fair Warning” is excellent and the lead track, “Mean Street”, is possibly my favorite song from all their work. It’s rock and roll perfection, from the guitar solo intro, Dave’s lyrics and singing, the riffs, the bridge, to the slow fade. Other hits and personal faves include “So This Is Love?” and “Unchained.”

And we don’t worry ’bout tomorrow
Cause we’re sick of these four walls
Now what ya think is nothing
Might be something after all

Gang of Four — Solid Gold

• Artist: Gang of Four
• Title: Solid Gold
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: Been too long…

“Solid Gold” is the second full album by Gang of Four. Of course, I love it, but not as much as “Entertainment.” It seems like all of the same ingredients are there, but it just doesn’t excite me as much. A couple of the songs were previously released on the “Yellow EP.” My favorite track is “What We All Want.”

You can see the whole “Solid Gold” track list and more at Wikipedia.

U2 — R.O.K.

U2 -- R.O.K.

• Artist: U2
• Title: R.O.K.
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1985 – When she worked at Tower Records in D.C.
• Keeper: Yes

This four song 12 inch was recorded live at the Paradise Theatre in Boston, March 1981. U2 performs “Fire”, “J. Swallow”, “11 O’clock Tick Tock”, and “The Ocean.” It sounds good; they sound really good. The cover is the same on both sides. Not much else to report. This one is for-fans-only.

Echo and The Bunnymen — Heaven Up Here

• Artist: Echo and The Bunnymen
• Title: Heaven Up Here
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1981 ? – No idea.
• Keeper: Yes

Echo and The Bunnymen was always one of my favorite bands. Why I didn’t keep up with them past the first four records is unclear to me, but maybe they just got lame. Or was it me? In reading about them I just realized that they have put out four more albums in recent years that I didn’t even know about. How can this happen? I thought I was hip!

Anyhow, “Heaven Up Here” is a great follow-up to “Crocodiles.” My favorite song is “Over The Wall.” There is slightly, just slightly, too much lyrical whinging for my taste, but when I was a teenager I’m sure I thought the lyrics were awesome.

U2 — October

U2 -- October

• Artist: U2
• Title: October
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1981 – Unknown origin.
• Keeper: Yes

Led Zepplin had “Presence” and U2 has “October.” By that I mean these are more “challenging” records that any decent band will eventually put out, but for U2 they did it on their second release. It’s an interesting album with only one song that got any real radio attention, “Gloria.” Was there another one? I give ’em their propers for effort, but I don’t find “October” as engaging or exciting as “Boy.”

Billy Idol — Don’t Stop

• Artist: Billy Idol
• Title: Don’t Stop
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 5
• Owner: Tracy / Mary – We both had copies.
• Acquired: 1981 – Unknown origin.
• Keeper: Yes

Please, do stop. Actually, this is a reasonably listenable pop record. It’s hard to think that Billy Idol was in Generation X, not that they were really all that punk, but still… “Don’t Stop” is a four song EP that includes a cover of “Mony Mony” and the hit orginal “Dancing With Myself.” This guy definitely turned into a clown, but like any decent clown he’s always good for some laughs. More about that later…

Ideal — Der Ernst Des Lebens

• Artist: Ideal
• Title: Der Ernst Des Lebens
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1981 – Mary bought it in Germany when she was an exchange student.
• Keeper: Yes

I’m writing this one from Virginia Beach, we’re house hunting, but I did actually play the next week’s worth of records, just all yesterday before we hit the road. Also, this really isn’t an “I” day, but I misplaced this one earlier in this pass through the alphabet. Back on track with my favorite letter, “X”, tomorrow.

You may think this band’s name is pronounced I-DEEL, but it’s really i-dee-ALL. They are German, very German. All of the lyrics are in German, and I’m not sure if that makes me like it more or less than I would if knew what they were saying.

Stylistically Ideal are all over the place. One song may sound like Missing Persons, another will have steel drums(?) with more of a pop/ska feel. Some of this apparent eclecticism may come from the alternating of vocalists. Sometimes the one woman in the group is the lead singer and other times it’s a man. One of the more manly songs is “Sex in der Wüste”, or “Sex in the Desert.” Remember what I said about not understanding the lyrics? I’m guessing on this one it’s better that way. This song is so arty, so early ’80s that it you can imagine it being the inspiration for any number of skits on Saturday Night Live. And now… we dance.

(You probably won’t get good search results unless you add some other words like the song title above.)

The Vandals — Peace Through Vandalism

The Vandals -- Peace Through Vandalism

• Artist: The Vandals
• Title: Peace Through Vandalism
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1981 – Olsson’s in Georgetown, DC.
• Keeper: Yes

And the alphabetizing never ends. This should have been after Van Halen, but it’s the record du jour because I already took the pic. It’s only an EP, but there’s more Vandals where this came from. Or, more accurately, behind the Van Halen records.

This is classic, but lyrically pointless party punk. Nothing groundbreaking but it is fun. I felt like stage diving off the dining table, but no one would catch me. Chicken fight! Due to the random, and frequent expletives Mary and I ended up doing a lot of spontaneous coughing or singing since the kids were listening too.

Turn the front side of the album cover upside down and you get the anarchy “A.” They’re soooo punk! And they even went to play for the troops in Iraq. I’m opposed to the war, but playing for the troops is cool.

Etched in the vinyl margins:

• “GAY RODEO”
• “NORDIC CONQUEST”

No idea. “I want to be a cowboy…”

B-52s — Mesopotamia

• Artist: B-52s
• Title: Mesopotamia
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1981 – Mary got it at a “cheesy chain record store” in Annandale, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

This one’s for Lee, a.k.a. Danny Ocean.

This is a six song EP and it was produced by David Byrne. Some of it sounds similar to “Remain In Light” era Talking Heads. I think this release was near hitless, though “Nip It In the Bud” may have gotten some play. It’s definitely my favorite track on an otherwise bland release.

B-52’s – Party Mix

• Artist: B-52’s
• Title: Party Mix
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 5
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1987 ? Mary got it when she was working at Plan-9 Records in Richmond, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

We have some other B-52’s records but this one makes me wish we had more of the early stuff. This one is really just a DJ 12 inch. The highlight for me is when they mix in Private Idaho. Other than that it’s kinda dull.

One of my most vivid music memories is of being in Virginia Beach around 1980 and seeing the new wave kids dancing at the Peppermint Beach Club. At that time the place was sort of an open-air joint. I remember standing in the sun on the boardwalk, hearing Rock Lobster blasting out of the building, while barefoot teenagers were jumping up and down inside. It was like something out of a ’60s beach movie. It was just cool. I gotta get that record!