Interactive Poll XXVI: The Dreadful Decade

suitkees:  Nena “Satellitenstadt“  I do remember the huge hit, of course, but never really heard anything else by them.  Synth pop with some tasty guitar accents.  A march-like cadence to the piece with a sort of almost mechanical-yet-human vocal, which makes sense to me, being about a satellite.  Cold kind of feeling to the tune, lots of 80’s music had this sort of ambience.  Very representative of the era.  Het Goede Doel “België (Is er leven op Pluto”) Bouncy synth, percussion and bass start to the piece.  The verses are spoken, the choruses sung by a lilting male voice.  The lyrics I find funny, esp regarding America (it doesn’t exist, lol!)  Iets van gevoel (Something of a Feeling)”  this one has a much heavier feel (as it should, from the lyrics).  The keys almost create a bagpipe sound and the bass is very heavy-handed.  This one has the vocalist speaking the words.  The chorus is again sung.  There are some really nice touches about half-way through, ear-catching glassy sounds on keys and reverb-y sounding something, that I can’t quite touch on.  Sad song, poor guy Cutting Crew.   “The Scattering”  Pleasant vocalist, singing of when things were different, there are bass and guitars, and slightly, in the background, a bagpipe kind of sound, probably done on keys.  Pretty, nostalgic song. 

The Anders: Kliché “Militskvinder”  They waste no time in getting started here.  Group-sing and steady beat of the band behind it, with a sort of lead played on a keyboard.  Reminds me of some early 60’s music, with the chorus.  I am not sure if they approve or not.   Gnags “Slingrer ned ad Vestergade”  This one also is very new wave sounding to me.  An ironic (again) tone in his voice, indeed, he does seem to be critical of the attempted sunniness of the past, growing their gardens and now everything is asphalted and the people of the past don’t understand how the world has changed.  Bouncy, steady beat with percussion and keys moving the song along it’s way down that street.  Sneakers “Efter festen”  This one is very different indeed, than the previous two.  Solo piano begins, with a pretty, pretty female lead vocalist.  Reminiscent to  me of Laura Nyro, I like this one a lot.  Lovely ballad, and beautifully played. 

Tancos:  Boiled in Lead “The Microorganism” Begins with some twangy guitar and a single male singing, then fiddles join in.  The accompaniment fades to the background during the verses, then swells with the choruses and includes bagpipes sound as well as the fiddles.  This is really such fun, this had totally passed me by, even though I love this kind of music.  Thank you!  Rare Air:  “Dee Dee Diddley Bop” Here we start with pipes (bombardes?) will have to look these guys up for that.  Also acoustic guitars, bass and percussion.  The bombarde drops down into a solo (yes, looked it up to see if they had bombardes), joined with some very subtle strings, with shimmerings of guitar joining in.  Back to the main portion of the song to finish out on a repeat of the melody.  Another new one to me and another thank-you!  Don Ross “Ginger An Fred”  An obviously excellent acoustic guitarist starts this one, another I haven’t heard of, have no idea how all three of these escaped me in those days.  I guess you just can’t have ears everywhere.  Really gorgeous acoustic guitar piece.  None of these were “typical” 80’s, but, just like prog, other music kept right on going, no matter what was mainstream.  Very well done, indeed!

Lorenzo:  Nick Cave “The Carny”  This one starts out with a dark, ominous, slightly jarring keyboard (and gets more jarring) and vibes or xylophone, emulating a circus theme, which is, of course, entirely appropriate.  I know of Nick Cave by name, but really only recently have I started to hear his music, with his fantastic “Ghosteen,” release.  Absolutely love this, too.  A dark circus story, chillingly delicious. 

U2 “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”  Very familiar with this, of course.  We carried them on our buses several times, so got to see them live, as well.  I know some people love to hate them (now), but they were pretty unstoppable in their time.  I do like the band, especially certain songs, of which this is one.  Suzanne Vega:  “The Queen and the Soldier”  This one I’ve also heard before, I do enjoy her music and this is a great allegorical tune, very spare production with a message. 

Mike:  Squeeze “Last Time Forever”  Almost a capella beginning, with just voices and drums, then bass and shimmery keys come in with a voice over, and a scream….moves into sprightly piano, slightly akimbo.  Lots of dynamics here, with a smooth smooth (and I meant that repeated, it’s super-smooth) and soulful lead male vocal.  Keeps it’s upbeat tone throughout, even though he’s said goodbye for the last time…..hope he means it, not good if you have to keep saying goodbye to someone.  The slipping and sliding horns etc keep up the interest on this one.  Glass Moon “Killer At 25” Begins with maybe mandolins, a clear male vocalist, keys and guitar underscore another sort of marching-along-song.  A singer/songwriter with rock band behind him, I would venture to guess.  Wonky in a good way, guitar lead in the middle. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions “Forest Fire”   A bit wistful of a song, straight-forward rock/singer/songwriter with a spare band backing him.  Touches of keys come in, underneath and a rich and full-sounding lead guitar close out the song.

Scott: Bitter Sweet Alley “Time to Move”  Fun idea to go local!  The video/sound on this one is just fine.  Young rock band with catchy lyrics and good sound, overall.  Clear vocals with nice doubling up on vocals here and there.  Very good guitar playing,  nice tight band.  Definitely a mid-western vibe here, with a sort of pop sensibility.  I could easily have seen them making the circuit in Hollywood at the time.  They’re a little poppier than most of the hair bands, but that might appeal a lot as a “gateway,” band to metal for the slightly younger set.  Seduce:  “Crash Landing”  This one is much harder-edged, I see they were signed to IRS/MCA.  They come out of the gate, swinging, with full band and vocals as usual for this style, pyrotechnic-style lead in about the middle…another I could see making the rounds of Hollywood in the hair band era.  The Almighty Strut “Undercover”  Another harder-edged band, from the same era and bag of tricks as the previous band.  Very capable act of this nature, with attitude.  Halloween “Trick or Treat”  Another set of hard rockers, pulling no punches right from the start, with a bit of glam makeup and costuming thrown in for good measure. I think I prefer the first one, but that could just be as I’m not as big a fan of this overall, heard and seen plenty of it.  But they were all excellent at what they did, even though it’s not my cup of tea.