On the whole, Caribbean Sunset was not a particularly strong album. Even the front cover looked like Cale had aped Kauko Röyhkä's Onnenpäivä (1983) and was ready to begin resting on his laurels. But there was one exception: the absolutely masterful title track that Cale had put together in collaboration with my old favorite Brian Eno. It was unbelievable. You can pretty much forget about the rest of the album and listen to Caribbean Sunset the song only. The piano sequence at the end is perhaps the most stunning musical moment of the year.
When listening to the track embedded above, you can safely skip the first four minutes and 17 seconds. For some reason the title track is not available in YouTube without Model Beirut Recital that precedes it on the album. This is probably because it is hard to cut these two apart. Following the explosive sound effect that closes the former song, we segue seamlessly into the latter. Total bliss ensues.
At the height of midsummer, on 25 June Mike Oldfield closed his short period of renewed inspiration with Discovery which, although a pretty decent album, already displayed a new declining trend that was getting steeper. Discovery wasn't as good as Crises and it most certainly wasn't as good as Five Miles Out, but on the other hand there were no major failures on this new release either. What we had was a good if not great collection of songs that was pleasant to listen to but hardly made music history.
Discovery's highlights include songs like Tricks of the Light, Saved by a Bell and To France, the last of which has been embedded above. Even the album's long track, the 12-minute The Lake is definitely worth a listen. But this is where it all ends. Following this album, Mike Oldfield has not made a single good album and even his individual good tracks have been few and far between. We will nonetheless still be mentioning him a few times, whenever appropriate.
2 July saw the release of The Last in Line by Dio. The heavy metal group's new album was a one trick pony in much the same way as Holy Diver had been, but once again I couldn't help liking one particular song which this time was the title track. I was working my third consecutive summer at my all time favorite summer job, had bought my very first VCR only one week earlier, and remember taping this particular video, embedded above, for repeated watching - something I used to do a lot during the next ten to twelve years.
Exactly one week later, on 9 July it was time for Public Image Ltd. to succeed in making me understand that they really were a force to be reckoned with. I already mentioned the release of Flowers of Romance earlier: the new album called This is What You Want... This is What You Get was an even more enjoyable collection of slightly zany rock songs than its predecessor, best exemplified by the outstanding The Order of Death embedded below.
At some point during 1984, the female singer who was nicknamed "Canada's Peter Gabriel" released her new album. Whomanfoursays was already Lisa Dalbello's fourth full length studio release - her self titled debut had come out as early as 1977 - but it wasn't until now that I took notice. The single picked from the album called Gonna Get Close to You got plenty of radio play, and a second brilliant song from the same collection was the B side of that very same single: Guilty by Association.
I was never quite sure what the comparison to Peter Gabriel meant. Dalbello, who used only her last name on her music releases, had a very strong voice and liked to use it all the way from quiet tones to high pitched screams - something I can't remember Gabriel ever doing. However, she was a talented musician and her next album, due three years later, was going to be even better. Perhaps the comparison came from similar musical style and not the singing.
August arrived, and with it the recorded result of the sensational reformation of classic seventies heavy rock outfit Deep Purple. I mentioned them a couple of times already during that decade, even following singer Ian Gillan's departure when they made the surprisingly strong album Burn. Since then, Deep Purple had released a couple of less interesting albums and finally disbanded, only to have its members form separate groups such as Rainbow.
I remember well that it was a slight surprise at the time that the guys would leave their own pet projects in order to return together. However, it was a very successful return, resulting in Perfect Strangers. It gave me no reason to get excited about everything on it, but admittedly it did contain a couple of the year's best rock songs. The second track Under the Gun immediately comes to mind, but of course the true classic on the album is its title track. Please enjoy its humorous music video below.
And then, I finally get to introduce Dead Can Dance. The immensely talented duo of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry had already released their self titled first album on 27 February. I didn't mention it then because at that point they had yet to find their true voice. The goth influenced rock / pop that they displayed on their debut was in many places interesting but didn't really grab me. That would however change soon enough.
On 17 August, Dead Can Dance put out a four track EP called Garden of the Arcane Delights that began their development towards becoming the single most important art rock outfit of the eighties. I was immediately blown away by one particular track on this new collection, which has been since combined with the ten track debut album to form a fourteen track CD. In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated was an unpolished diamond that became yet another strong contender for Best short track of the year.
What a beautiful way to close this blog entry. At this point, Dead Can Dance still sounded a bit like a guitar rock outfit whose soundscape placed a strong emphasis on treble. Their very special brand of art rock would find its true form on their next full length album, out the following year.
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