what are you listening to?

MarkWComer said:
OH, YES! LOVE this band!

Sampled some YT vids on this band, they’re STELLAR! Checked out some listings on Discogs, their releases are going for astronomical prices (understandable…). I have a lot of stuff from that era- Chameleons, Echo & Bunnymen, Souixsie, Mighty Lemon Drops, etc. Wire is another band I rabidly followed. I love that era of music.
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yes, The Sound belong to that same scene as the other nice bands you mentioned.
back in the 80s, there was a friend who used to record a few mixtapes for me who regularly added a few songs by The Sound, then I've started to know and like them back in the old days. And I do consider them being some of the most promising ones but, somehow, they got forgotten.
They also had a decent "commercial" potential, IMO, because their songs are also easy/catchy in regards of that kind of music.
Adrian Borland (the leader, guitarist, vocalist, writer of the band) was a truly talented guy but his life wasn't easy at all.

Of course, I also have a lot of stuff from that era, including darker and more weird stuff than what we mentioned here... because I grew mostly with such kind of music...
For example, another band from that era I always loved are The Sisters of Mercy. :cool:

And I'll tell you another band... they simply released their stuff a bit too late to really get some success... first album in 1985 and second one in 1990... both are nice but their 1990 album ("Smother Earth") is, IMO, another new wave masterpiece... they are The Snake Corps and are somewhat related to the Sad Lovers And Giants... like that one or two members of the Sad Lovers then founded Snake Corps.
I own both of their albums on vinyl... not easy to find... if you are just curious to check them, start with their whole "Smother Earth" 1990 one... it sounds totally 80s and I suspect you'll love it, too.
 
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vince666 said:
right, also Stranger is remarkable but, yes, as you say those two albums are totally nice.

also, i own a CD reissue of their first mini LP "subsequent pleasures" which includes, as a bonus, a few demos from CoX album songs.
Sound quality isn't that great on my CD version but it's interesting to hear their earlier works.

about The Sound, albums like Jeopardy and From the Lions Mouth are true classics, but i'd say the latter might be a perfect album with only great songs, all of them.
But also their other albums are NICE.
The Sound was one of the very best bands of that era, IMO... they got a lot less success than they deserved, though.
Anyways, starting with them by listening just the whole "from the lions mouth" album is just a great introduction. :)

Will be curious to know your impression about it and the band in general.

decades ago, with my old band, we used to play "winning" and "contact the fact" from that album.
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Very obscure, only see box sets available and they are pricey. Nice sound, one of those bands I never heard of before this thread. Easy to listen to. Good discussion.
 
Gepetto said:
Very obscure, only see box sets available and they are pricey. Nice sound, one of those bands I never heard of before this thread. Easy to listen to. Good discussion.
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Happy you liked it. :)

Is it true or, back in the 80s, the typical UK and EU new wave wasn't a lot popular there in USA or, if anything, it was less popular than here?
(I mean, a bit like it happened, during the 70s, with progressive which was going very strong here and so so there).

A good indication of this might be that I happen to know very few 80s bands from USA of this kind of music.
But a remarkable one, from USA, is "Red Temple Spirits"... they made a double album in late 80s and a second one around 1990-91... both are good stuff.
They sound like a bit of new wave, a bit of goth rock, a bit of rock and a bit of psychedelic... in those two albums there are also two cover versions of "The Nile Song" and "Set The Controls" by Pink Floyd which they definitely personalized their own way.
Another example from USA which I love is the band "Trek w/ Quintronic" (two albums in 1980 and 1981).

Anyways, new wave as a kind of music, back in the 70s, started just there in USA (I mean bands like Devo and Talking Heads) but it started there even in a more experimental way which involved lots of weird stuff of various kinds, early industrial music, etc... like those 4 bands from the San Francisco area like The Residents, Chrome, Tuxedomoon and MX-80 Sound... but, IMHO, they aren't easy to listen to, at all.
Other ones from USA 80s new wave scene but which are on the easy listening side which come to mind are Blondie, Missing Persons, Lene Lovich and Polyrock... Mr Mister too.
 
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vince666 said:
Happy you liked it. :)

Is it true or, back in the 80s, the typical UK and EU new wave wasn't a lot popular there in USA or, if anything, it was less popular than here?
(I mean, a bit like it happened, during the 70s, with progressive which was going very strong here and so so there).

A good indication of this might be that I happen to know very few 80s bands from USA of this kind of music.
But a remarkable one, from USA, is "Red Temple Spirits"... they made a double album in late 80s and a second one around 1990-91... both are good stuff.
They sound like a bit of new wave, a bit of goth rock, a bit of rock and a bit of psychedelic... in those two albums there are also two cover versions of "The Nile Song" and "Set The Controls" by Pink Floyd which they definitely personalized their own way.
Another example from USA which I love is the band "Trek w/ Quintronic" (two albums in 1980 and 1981).

Anyways, new wave as a kind of music, back in the 70s, started just there in USA (I mean bands like Devo and Talking Heads) but it started there even in a more experimental way which involved lots of weird stuff of various kinds, early industrial music, etc... like those 4 bands from the San Francisco area like The Residents, Chrome, Tuxedomoon and MX-80 Sound... but, IMHO, they aren't easy to listen to, at all.
Other ones from USA 80s new wave scene but which are on the easy listening side which come to mind are Blondie, Missing Persons, Lene Lovich and Polyrock... Mr Mister too.
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HA! You mentioned Polyrock! I was going to mention them. They’re frequent flyers on my turntable. Sisters of Mercy as well. The first three OMD albums had a unique sound, I have no idea what they were thinking when they recorded Dazzle Ships- that one was a complete mess, but I captured the opening trumpets of “Radio Prague” for use as a ringtone.

Far too much of what was called “New Wave” turned out to be monotonous pop in my opinion, record execs saw that money was flowing in that direction, and that dictated which bands were promoted, and the most mediocre tracks from their albums got airplay. I probably shouldn’t have said that since I bought albums that had a major hit on the radio and the other tracks were a pile of feces. Sadly this is the case for most music anyway.

So many bands, though- I can’t keep up!
 
Another shipment of about 340 CDs from Tom Clone. Sure I have about 20 of these titles in my collection already because he gave me the record or the CD before or I had my own copy, but most is new to me. I've got some work to do just going through them all.
David Bowie, DJ Krush, Gorrilaz, The Orb, Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Underworld and a number more Miles Davis are the well represented ones based on the first 200 I have listed. This makes it more than 1000 I have received from him. He has divested his physical media collections. Remember I sold Tom a TT in 2010 and in 3500 days he had 4500 records. Sold most of them a few years ago as he 'downsized' for the coming apocalypse he is worried about.

He sent me a box with the first shipment paying full retail USPS from Seattle to Phila about 7years ago and I clued him up on media mail. Second shipment was similar in size but cost way less. This box was mostly hanging files with the paperwork and weighed over 35 pounds.......26 bucks media mail. The first two shipments had small foot lockers that hold about 350 CDs in those hanging folders. This pile was just a box with the files and dozen in the original cases.

Fire up the CDC with the upgraded chip, load 5 and listen while I rate them on the discogs site so I know which ones I like and which need to be put aside.
 
MarkWComer said:
HA! You mentioned Polyrock! I was going to mention them. They’re frequent flyers on my turntable. Sisters of Mercy as well. The first three OMD albums had a unique sound, I have no idea what they were thinking when they recorded Dazzle Ships- that one was a complete mess, but I captured the opening trumpets of “Radio Prague” for use as a ringtone.

Far too much of what was called “New Wave” turned out to be monotonous pop in my opinion, record execs saw that money was flowing in that direction, and that dictated which bands were promoted, and the most mediocre tracks from their albums got airplay. I probably shouldn’t have said that since I bought albums that had a major hit on the radio and the other tracks were a pile of feces. Sadly this is the case for most music anyway.

So many bands, though- I can’t keep up!
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And don't forget--- Kaptain Kopter and the Fabulous Twirlybirds
 
MarkWComer said:
HA! You mentioned Polyrock! I was going to mention them. They’re frequent flyers on my turntable. Sisters of Mercy as well. The first three OMD albums had a unique sound, I have no idea what they were thinking when they recorded Dazzle Ships- that one was a complete mess, but I captured the opening trumpets of “Radio Prague” for use as a ringtone.

Far too much of what was called “New Wave” turned out to be monotonous pop in my opinion, record execs saw that money was flowing in that direction, and that dictated which bands were promoted, and the most mediocre tracks from their albums got airplay. I probably shouldn’t have said that since I bought albums that had a major hit on the radio and the other tracks were a pile of feces. Sadly this is the case for most music anyway.

So many bands, though- I can’t keep up!
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ah, nice. About Polyrock, I happen to own their vinyl LP "changing hearts".
early OMD are nice too.

agree that "new wave" can be a too generic way to call a genre of music... to me, new wave could anything from post punk to mid 80s rock.
But it's true that there is a lot of pop which was called new wave.
Actually, the most proper new wave might be the most weird/experimental one from 1978 to 1981, before the business side took over and artists were still quite free to record and release whatever they wished to... then, in early 80s, new wave might have been a certain kind of sound and style, not necessarily experimental... also, new wave might be all that synth-pop stuff (more or less experimental), certain mixes of rock and reggae/ska (i.e. The Police, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Clive Langer and The Boxes, etc...) or also the darkwave or the 80s goth rock (before goth turned out to a lot of distorted guitars which makes it more like some kind of dark heavy metal).

another band I grew with, together with The Sisters of Mercy, is Christian Death... but my preference goes to their works from the 80s... with their 1994 album they switched to a sort of mix of heavy metal, heavy industrial and the later version of goth... but their older works are totally different and also quite different from album to album.

So, here, I happen to consider new wave a large container with lots of different music styles inside.

PS: this evening i've put on my turntable a nice album which is definitely new wave... "Kilimangiaro" by The Teardrop Explodes, from 1980... if you never listened to it, you might wish to check it out.
 
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I’ve started the work of listening to the 370 new to me CDs, a few duplicates and some I already have so about 325 new music discs in the collection. I’ve cataloged them on discogs so I can rate them as I listen to them in the car, soundroom and bedroom.

Above & Beyond “Tri-State” is playing now. Liking it.
 
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