The lovely single Through the Barricades by Spandau Ballet, out on 15 July, is perhaps a little closer to art rock than most of the other selections here. Excellent sequences with acoustic guitar and great songwriting made this song memorable and one of the essential selections of the summer. The British group, formed in London in the late seventies, would make no more impact on my favorites list but it might be worth mentioning that the Kemp brothers would later go on to star in a brilliant gangster film The Krays.
Another July release worth noting was the debut album by another British group Cutting Crew, called Broadcast. They had an international hit in their hands with (I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight, which was of course one of the songs on the debut that you just couldn't listen to more than once. Most likely, those who grew tired of that track playing repeatedly everywhere never took a closer look at the rest of the album. I think they should have: it was much better than the oversimple hit single indicated.
I would probably never have known either, had I not heard Life in a Dangerous Time just by chance. It attracted my attention: are these really the same guys that play on that obnoxious radio hit that pisses me off at least twice a week? This is actually good. And that's how I came to realize that Cutting Crew had written several quality pop songs for inclusion on their debut album, such as Any Colour You Like, One for the Mockingbird and in particular I've Been in Love Before. It was just that their most nerve-wracking one had received all the attention.
The next noteworthy release of the year was a little edgier than your average radio hit. Cyndi Lauper had a style completely of her own. Her hair looked like something had exploded in its middle; strong makeup, small build and badass attitude completed the picture. Her best album True Colors would be coming out at the end of September; 25 July saw its title track released as a single. Below, I have embedded the original video which is admittedly a little cheesy. Nevertheless, the song itself is beautiful and remains Ms. Lauper's best work to this day.
August saw the release of a new album by one of my seventies favorites Tangerine Dream. Underwater Sunlight was a catchy, inviting title and the cover artwork could be called lovely. There was now a new member in the group: Paul Haslinger had joined Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke. New directions, perhaps? Renewed inspiration?
Well, not exactly. The new direction was only to make the classic electronic music group sound more contemporary than ever before. Technically advanced production values, electric guitars, percussion; a credit was given even to a computer programmer. And yet, as foreboding as all of this sounds, there were some moments of brilliance contained on the album, which is of course the only reason we are even discussing it.
The second track of Underwater Sunlight, titled Song of the Whale Part 2: ...to Dusk is an 11-minute instrumental that suddenly shows Tangerine Dream's composing skills honed to their very best, but is severely handicapped by an excruciatingly mediocre two-minute sequence in its middle. We begin with a lovely piano introduction, then synthesizers join in with a beautiful main theme. Then, between the 5 and 7-minute marks, drums and guitars are added to play a theme that has nothing to do with the rest of the composition. Were it not for this part, this could have been the Best long track of the year.
We are now entering an important time in my life. At the end of August, I moved away from home to Vantaa to live and work there for nine months, and to use that time to prepare my thesis while working. The first interesting release during this period came out on 8 September and was yet another pop song. I have never even heard the rest of Bouncing off the Satellites by The B-52's, but the single Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland felt like a bull's eye in its own genre. And just look at that silly music video.
Only five days later, on 13 September, the only artistically ambitious release of the second half of 1986 that I found likable came out. David Sylvian, the former singer of Japan, released his third solo album, a double vinyl called Gone to Earth which was the first one that I really took notice of. Japan's output had already been perfectly fine art rock with futuristic roots; now it sounded like Sylvian's solo work was developing into something even more ambitious and interesting.
On the other hand, I can fully understand those who dislike the English singer's solo works. He does have a tendency to sound, at times, more than just a little artificial. Even one of my favorite tracks on Gone to Earth, called Laughter and Forgetting admittedly suffers from that. Yet its greatness cannot be denied. But, as a compromise, let's embed the lovely Home from side four of the vinyl release. No one can possibly have anything against it, right? Please enjoy it below.
October saw only a couple of more pop albums. Or actually, in the case of Berlin, it was only one song on their new album Count Three & Pray, out on the 13th. The magnificent opening of You Don't Know creates an oriental sounding mystery that the rest of the song doesn't really match, but it is a very recommendable listening experience in any case. I will not embed it here but please go ahead and look it up.
One week later, on 20 October, it was time for yet another minor classic of pop / dance music. Once again, the classic in question was not an entire album but rather only one song on it. Following the massive success of their first singles a couple of years earlier, Frankie Goes to Hollywood must have been under a lot of pressure to succeed with their second effort. They didn't, but the opening track that begins with a lengthy introductory sequence to the entire album was a minor masterpiece.
It looks like there is no satisfactory video of Warriors of the Wasteland available in YouTube, so the best alternative is to listen to the first 4 minutes and 54 second of the album embedded above. There are all kinds of remixes available but the only one that packs the full punch of the song is the album version. It is a beautifully orchestrated introduction to a mediocre dance music album that promises way more than the rest of the songs actually have on offer.
Finally, there is only one more 1986 album left to discuss. I already mentioned the extremely popular Finnish rock group Eppu Normaali back in 1985. They started their career as a punk rock outfit, then moved on to regular rock and roll and ended up flirting with art rock. Their new album was out on 4 December and was called Valkoinen kupla which is a humorous Beatles reference. In Finland, the Beatles' White Album is generally called Valkoinen tupla. By changing only one letter the White double became a White bubble. And of course, the album cover was all white.
The band's greatest masterpiece En saa mielestä sinua (in English, Can't Get You Off My Mind), embedded above, is even better than last year's Voi kuinka me sinua kaivataan. While it is a great melodic rock song regardless of instrumentation, its crowning achievement is to have added those Spanish sounding acoustic guitars that elevate it way above your average rock and roll single. This was to be the pinnacle of the group's output: for them, it would all be downhill from here.
As great a return to form as So by Peter Gabriel was, it will have to take second place behind Depeche Mode's fantastic Black Celebration which I am happy to name Album of the year. The best short track is not very difficult to choose either: Ultravox wins with All in One Day, easily their best work ever. Finally, in the long tracks category it is Tangerine Dream's flaws, described above, that allow The Enid to win with their well over 18-minute masterpiece The Change.
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
Depeche Mode: Black Celebration
Peter Gabriel: So
UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
Cutting Crew: I've Been in Love Before
Cutting Crew: Life in a Dangerous Time
Cyndi Lauper: True Colors
David Sylvian: Home
David Sylvian: Laughter and Forgetting
Depeche Mode: New Dress
Depeche Mode: A Question of Time
Depeche Mode: Stripped
The Enid: The Change
Eppu Normaali: En saa mielestä sinua
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Warriors of the Wasteland
Jean-Michel Jarre: First Rendez-vous
Jean-Michel Jarre: Second Rendez-vous
Madonna: Live to Tell
Peter Gabriel: Red Rain
Peter Gabriel: Big Time
Peter Gabriel: We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)
Public Image Ltd: Ease
Queen: Who Wants to Live Forever?
Spandau Ballet: Through the Barricades
Tangerine Dream: Song of the Whale Part 2: ...to Dusk
Ultravox: All in One Day
Best albums of the year, 1967 to 1986:
1967: Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968: -
1969: Procol Harum: A Salty Dog
1970: Genesis: Trespass
1971: Genesis: Nursery Cryme
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge
1975: Electric Light Orchestra: Face the Music
1976: Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: And Then There Were Three
1979: Robert Fripp: Exposure
1980: Talking Heads: Remain in Light
1981: Camel: Nude
1982: Rush: Signals
1983: Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon
1984: Rush: Grace Under Pressure
1985: Marillion: Misplaced Childhood
1986: Depeche Mode: Black Celebration
Best short tracks (under approx. 12 minutes):
1967: Pink Floyd: Bike
1968: Pink Floyd: Julia Dream
1969: Pink Floyd: Cirrus Minor
1970: The Beatles: The Long and Winding Road
1971: Genesis: The Fountain of Salmacis
1972: Gentle Giant: Schooldays
1973: John Cale: Paris 1919
1974: Mike Oldfield: Mike Oldfield's Single
1975: The Tubes: Up from the Deep
1976: Gong: Chandra
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: Down and Out
1979: Barclay James Harvest: Play to the World
1980: Saga: Don't Be Late
1981: John Foxx: The Garden
1982: Laurie Anderson: O Superman (For Massenet)
1983: Brian Eno: An Ending (Ascent)
1984: Laurie Anderson: Blue Lagoon
1985: Talk Talk: Time it's Time
1986: Ultravox: All in One Day
Best long tracks (Approx. 12 minutes or over):
1970: King Crimson: Lizard
1971: Van der Graaf Generator: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1
1974: King Crimson: Starless
1975: Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn, Part 1
1976: -
1977: Yes: Awaken
1978: Popol Vuh: Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts
1979: U.K: Carrying No Cross
1980: Mike Rutherford: Smallcreep's Day
1981: -
1982: Mike Oldfield: Taurus II
1983: Mike Oldfield: Crises
1984: Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor
1985: Robert Fripp: God Save the King
1986: The Enid: The Change
