I don't have a ton but I'll start a little list.
Off the top of my head:
REM: Fables of the reconstruction
U2: the unforgettable fire
The Pretenders: Learning to crawl(although "my city was gone" sounds good)
now, here is a list that sounds particularly good:
The Clash: London Calling (original)
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (new reissue)
Pink Floyd: ANY
Not much to go on here but I'll add later.
I think part of the reason you might have doubts about Learning To Crawl relate to the total chaos that ensured after James Honeyman-Scott's overdose and Pete Fardon's dismissal and eventual meeting of the same fate. Hynde and remaining member Martin Chambers enlisted a LOT of people before finally adding Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Foster.
HOWEVER...Back On The Chain Gang and My City Was Gone were released as a single in
1982 and later included on Learning...released in early 1984. These songs had members of Big Country and Rockpile as well as Andrew Bodnar of Graham Parker's band and Paul Carrack of Squeeze helping on "Thin Line Between Love And Hate".
So if they sound odd to you, perhaps it was the two year transitional period from old to new Pretenders and different production elements...PLUS Chrissy had just given birth to a daughter (Show Me was the track she wrote about her first child).
Then there were materials shortages at the time (as in expensive oil)...What does your pressing LOOK LIKE? Keep in mind that even DYNAFLEX was re-tried at one time back then (When RCA Records took DYNAGROOVE and tried to make the records thin enough to actually flex/bend considerably...they weren't any more popular then than previously when LPs were far less than five bucks.
I have some US Pretenders singles from this period and they ARE rather thin...and by that time STIFF Records was a joke/pun too.
In 1982-84 gasoline prices in my part of the US hit between 1.209 to at least 1.499 for regular unleaded and as my late father was a service station operator and mechanic I remember these things quite clearly. Heavy pressings were rare and for the 'audiophile' and even mediumweight pressings suffered some.
Another thing to consider is that in the early eighties quite a bit of content was coming from foreign markets and not mastered to "US" standards, with fat bottom and wider range. Europeans did things a bit differently than, say, Steve Miller.
As for R.E.M it took Michael a few years to get over the mumbling, muddy thing--I attended a "Green" Tour show and with all the fantastic, new and modern gear on the floor in the sound mixing area I couldn't get it as well as my sister that took me (and was a big fan of Reba McEntire and George Strait-as am I but HEY-IT'S A MESS).
The Unforgettable Fire was another case of a band looking for a new direction, and they also started the collaborations with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois with this album.
I have all of these three of these and find them acceptable on cassette at least.
Now to your GOOD list.
London Calling IS/WAS/ALWAYS SHALL BE a really excellent recording PERIOD...The Clash were lucky and had great production start to finish. PARANOID is a great recording that suffered from years of not as great releases. EMI/Capitol and Columbia knew what they were doing with Pink Floyd, and might I add AEROSMITH's Dream On as one of those amazing songs that transcend any crappy medium...in my opinion it defined what rock music could be for the entire 1970s. It was out in left field too, just caught the ball and turned a double play. Same thing for (Don't Fear) The Reaper. When you think of 'Classic Rock' don't you tend to think of mainly 1967-71 and about 1973-78?
