Posts Tagged 1988

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June 11, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1358

Prince, Lovesexy (1988) The two things that killed this album – I’m guessing, here – were the cove and the fact that, prepared for the CD-age, it was all one track, one single 45-minute song-medley. If you had the tape or LP that didn’t matter so much. Also of course it followed an incredible run, [...]

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June 2, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1365

R.E.M., Green (1988) It’s become the thing to say – or maybe it was always the thing to say – that the first four or five R.E.M. albums are faultless or close to it and everything else is either bits’n’piece-y or redundant/flat out awful. Not true of course – I’d argue the band’s first decade [...]

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April 6, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1544

Dire Straits, Money For Nothing (1988) Now here’s an example of where the vinyl is not as good as the CD – for space issues (presumably) you lose the version of Telegraph Road, a highlight of this compilation. But this record is also an example of the compilation-attempt not being as good as the original [...]

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March 26, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1560

Talking Heads, Naked (1988) People forget about this album – or try to forget about this album. I can’t go calling it the best Talking Heads album. But I don’t agree with the idea that only the first four albums were worth it. I like all of the band’s material – as I outlined here [...]

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February 9, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1628

 Mike + The Mechanics, Living Years (1988) And people think the worst thing to come out of Genesis was Phil Collins’ solo career? Really? Really! Oh but the title song for this Mike + The Mechanics album was about some dying fathers, man! Ah, but they never tell you the cause of death. The father [...]

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February 2, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1642

Marty Willson-Piper, Art Attack (1988) Maybe the urge to play this came from the fact that I have recently acquired a really lovely Gretsch 12-string. But just as likely it’s because it was next in line of a bunch of LPs I’m sorting through – deciding what goes/what stays – having been in storage for [...]

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January 30, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1645

Everything But The Girl, Idlewild (1988) It wasn’t so much that I didn’t like Everything But The Girl, it was more a case of my exposure to the band coming at the wrong time, in the wrong way. I worked in a music store when that Missing song was at its peak – so I [...]

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January 12, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1670

V/A, Billboard 1962: Top Rock’n’Roll Hits (1988) 1. Big Girls Don’t Cry, The 4 Seasons 2. Peppermint Twist – Pt. 1, Joey Dee & The Starliters 3. Soldier Boy, The Shirelles 4. Duke Of Earl, Gene Chandler 5. Johnny Angel, Shelley Fabares 6. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Neil Sedaka 7. Sheila, Tommy Roe [...]

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January 7, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1678

Pink Floyd, Delicate Sound Of Thunder (1988) I have a huge love for this album – a sentimental attachment. You see, I never got to see Pink Floyd live. But I got (kinda) close. We were in Auckland when they played on the tour that would come to be represented by this double-live album; the [...]

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January 5, 2012 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1681

Jerry Harrison, Casual Gods (1988) I wanted this album so badly when I was young, when the album was released. I was (still am) a massive Talking Heads fan and I was sold – big time – on the band’s last album, Naked (along with all the others). So I guess (maybe) I heard this [...]