Underrated and/or Forgotten Albums of the Mid-80s

Argh! I messed up and was missing a chunk, which I still would have had to pared down anyway.

Fine Young Cannibals - Fine Young Cannibals (1985)
Flesh For Lulu – Big Fun City (1985)
Furniture - The Wrong People (1986)
Game Theory - The Big Shot Chronicles (1986)
Gene Loves Jezebel – Immigrant (1985)
The Godfathers - Hit By Hit (1986)
Green On Red - Gas Food Lodging (1985)
Guadalcanal Diary – Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man (1984)
Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians - Fegmania! (1985)
Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars! (1985)
Hunters & Collectors - Human Frailty (1986)
The Icicle Works - The Icicle Works (1984)
INXS - Listen Like Thieves (1985)
Jacobites – Robespierre's Velvet Basement (1985)
The Jazz Butcher – Sex And Travel (1985)
Paul Kelly & The Messengers - Gossip (1986)
Killing Joke – Night Time (1985)
The Lotus Eaters – No Sense Of Sin (1984)
Lowlife - Permanent Sleep (1986)
The Lucy Show - ...Undone (1985)
The Lyres - On Fyre (1984)
The Mighty Lemon Drops - Happy Head (1986)
Naked Raygun - All Rise (1985)
New Model Army - No Rest For The Wicked (1985)
Opposition - Promises (1984)
The Pale Fountains – Pacific Street (1984)
Rain Parade - Crashing Dream (1985)
Ramones - Too Tough To Die (1984)

Big Country and a-ha's albums were hits though, right?

Really tough choice, but Knife.

My memory is that everyone were into Big Country's first album The Crossing, then they were completely ignored, but that may have been a different case in the UK. At any rate, it's not rated on Acclaimed. It seemed A-ha were considered a one-hit wonder with the single from Hunting High And Low. Was Scoundrel Days a hit?

More than didn't make the 50:

The Associates – Perhaps (1985)
Big Audio Dynamite - This Is Big Audio Dynamite (1985)
Dead Kennedys - Frankenchrist (1985)
The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard In My Backyard (1985)
Drivin' N' Cryin' - Scarred But Smarter (1986)
Duran Duran - Notorious (1986)
Electric Light Orchestra - Balance Of Power (1986)
Erasure - Wonderland (1986)
Eurythmics - Revenge (1986)
The Fixx - Walkabout (1986)
The Human League - Crash (1986)
Kraftwerk - Techno Pop/Electric Cafe (1986)
Let's Active - Big Plans For Everybody (1986)
Lone Justice - Lone Justice (1985)
The Long Ryders - Native Sons (1984)
Ministry - Twitch (1986)
The Mission - God's Own Medicine (1986)
Monochrome Set - The Lost Weekend (1985)
Peter Murphy - Should The World Fail To Fall Apart (1986)
Nyam Nyam - Hope Of Heaven (1984)
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party (1985)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Junk Culture (1984)
Iggy Pop - Blah Blah Blah (1986)
The Pretenders - Get Close (1986)
The Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves (1984)
The Rainmakers - The Rainmakers (1986)
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About The Weather (1985)
The Sisters Of Mercy – First And Last And Always (1984)
The Stockholm Monsters - Alma Mater (1984)
The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop/Internationalists (1985)
David Sylvian - Gone To Earth (1986)
Talk Talk - It's My Life (1984)
Ultravox – Lament (1984)
Tom Verlaine - Cover (1984)
The Verlaines – Hallelujah All The Way Home (1985)
Violent Femmes - The Blind Leading The Naked (1986)
The Waterboys - A Pagan Place (1984)

I guess it's all relative, but most of these (and the bulk of this list is albums that I like a lot) don't really strike me as underrated or forgotten. I'll have to check out the ones I've never heard of, which would be:

And Also The Trees
The Apartments
Breathless
Care
The Effigies
The Sisterhood
Furniture
Opposition

If anyone wants to rep for any of those, I'm all ears.

I did give The Blind Leading the Naked a relisten not long ago, and it hasn't actually suffered as much from age as I would have thought.

I totally would have voted for The Big Shot Chronicles. Or Get Close.

I'm pretty sure that my favorite song from that whole extended list, by a mile, would be E=MC2 by BAD. Which doesn't reflect my general taste, but that is such a monster of a song.

Also, Til Tuesday's Welcome Home is underrated and thus, perhaps unsurprisingly, was forgotten.

Didn't mean that to sound so snarky--my apologies. I haven't checked, but for all I know Welcome Home could have showed up on either the Acclaimedmusic or Rateyourmusic lists (doubt it though). Or again for all I know, you just might not like the album all that much!

would've voted for game theory or inxs

wipers and that petrol emotion!

IIRC Steeltown pretty much died on the vine immediately, in the US anyway. where's TWAS when you need him? :)

Probably going with Like This.

Oil & Gold on the main list, and Gas Food Lodging on the second list.

See also: In Praise Of...Shriekback's "Oil and Gold"

i would suggest that its Big Night Music thats the forgotten Shriekback album.
Oil and Gold had Miami Vice/Mann love, and even a reissue a couple of years back whereas BNM has never had any such love.

Heyday

INXS went platinum with LLT. A better album than Kick too.

Of the ones I can vote for:

A-ha - Scoundrel Days (1986)
China Crisis - Flaunt The Imperfection (1985)
The Stranglers - Aural Sculpture (1984)
XTC - The Big Express (1985)

I'm going to go with Scoundrel Days, which is a masterpiece, just over Flaunt The Imperfection and its gorgeous Walter Becker production and the underrated The Big Express. I personally like Aural Sculpture, but think Dreamtime is a stronger record. INXS can fuck off.

Two albums that I would have considered voting for but are absent: Soft Cell's This Last Night In Sodom and Heaven 17's How Men Are.

Heyday barely beats out Internationalists for Best Album-Cover Outfits.

Of the ones I can't vote for:

Erasure - Wonderland (1986)
Kraftwerk - Techno Pop/Electric Cafe (1986)
Ministry - Twitch (1986)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Junk Culture (1984)
The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop/Internationalists (1985)
Talk Talk - It's My Life (1984)
Ultravox – Lament (1984)

Probably would have went with Junk Culture or Our Favourite Shop, which is the best album The Style Council made. Ultravox, Kraftwerk, Erasure and Talk Talk all made far better records than these ones, as much as I like them.

The Wake - Here Comes Everybody (1985)

this is absolutely fantastic, kind of like early New Order, but also with that fey, wispy quality of something like Felt.

I would have voted for No Sense Of Sin if that were an option, but otherwise I think I'd go for this

Green - s/t (1986)

Dunno if it's really "forgotten" so much as "barely remembered in the first place," but one of the greatest debuts of all time/one of the best albums of the '80s.

I knew The Big Express would be in here. Listening to it right now.

My memory is that everyone were into Big Country's first album The Crossing, then they were completely ignored, but that may have been a different case in the UK.

Steeltown charted higher in the UK than The Crossing, but The Crossing is generally seen as their best album and the one which pretty much has most of their best known songs on it.

The Effigies – Ink : This is a pretty good record, maybe a bit more obscure as like other LPs that came out on Restless it didn't come out on CD or was very limited print if it did. I'd figure their early album and singles released by Touch & Go on Cd as Remain's Nonviewable is perhaps more known now. That record is kind of a blue print for Chicago punk in a way, as that drony guitar sound shows up in similar ways in other groups. The Effigies remind me a bit of The Ruts too. Ink is a few years later, it is a bit slower and more hard rock. I'd figure if you like mid period Killing Joke or rock of the ilk, you probably would find something to like here.

Hey look, it's the soundtrack to my university years!

The Feelies vs The Apartments is an impossibly difficult choice.

I remember quite a few of these pretty fondly. Went with The Chills, though some of the contents date back to ca.1982.

this is between Oil & Gold and Victorialand for me. Oil & Gold has songs that got so far under my skin they'll never get back out, but Victorialand was lifechanging for me.

for me, this is inarguably Fried, a record of increasing importance

Victorialand is one of my favorite albums of all time, but Tinderbox is damn good too. I had no idea they were underrated!

i feel like at least half these albums are pretty well remembered, tbh. maybe that's only among ilm types, though.
the apartments got my vote pretty easily, but if 'born sandy devotional' by the triffids had been here this would have been a harder choice for me.

To be honest, there's only two albums from these lists that I've ever owned: Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party" and INXS "Listen Like Thieves". Both of which I owned on cassette in the late '80s. The rest are rather unheralded and unremembered at last as far as I'm concerned.

Victorialand is only underrated insofar as it isn't one of the 2 albums shoved down every Cocteau Twins neophyte's throat by an unfeeling and misguided critical establishment. the fact that Heaven or Las Vegas is the 2nd most rated (and 2nd most highly rated) CT album on RYM only tells you how far aggregate numerical music criticism is from becoming a serious art, with Blue Bell Knoll and Victorialand languishing at spots 4 and 5 because one is too maximal and the other too minimal for a userbase more interested in latching onto the stereotypical *pure essence of an artist* than engaging with the stylistic outliers in their discography. "whoa there, fellas, don't you think you're getting a little too ethereal? leaning toward http://i.imgur.com/LQokeTb.png but I'll bump it up to a http://i.imgur.com/UpRAHW0.png because Flying Lotus sampled the sax from 'Lazy Calm'." philistines.

I was getting kind of disinterested with "alternative music" by this point. I was missing the relative rawness of post-punk, and the performances and production of something like A-ha was definitely what I didn't want in 1986. For something I liked a lot back then that I think is underrated or forgotten now, I'm voting Dumptruck.

The Lyres album has some filler, but the opening "Don't Give it Up Now" followed by "Help You Ann" is maybe the best 1-2 punch of paisley revival.

As for worthy but forgotten records, Easterhouse mixes Joy Division sonics and Smiths-like cantankerousness in a very appealing way. Works out to something very close to early Interpol.

Cope's "Sunspots" might be my favorite song among all the tracks on these records that I know, and jeez I'm surprised how many play in my head as I peruse the titles. So many of these tracks I heard from mix cassettes passed among friends and acquaintances.

Got to go with "Kaleidoscope World". a gorgeous collection of tunes which they never bettered or equalled imo

There's rarely a clear consensus on what's underrated or forgotten, which is why polls can be interesting!

dlp9001: I wrote about some of those you listed - http://fastnbulbous.com/the-greatest-post-punk-bands-you-never-heard/. A few of those bands never even got an entry in the Trouser Press guides. Considering how completist they were, that definitely qualifies as being forgotten! I only learned about Care (Ian Broudie's early band) and Furniture when they were reissued in recent-ish years.

cryptosicko: 'Til Tuesday - Welcome Home. That's a good one, a band with a big single that did not earn much respect until Aimee Mann had a highly regarded solo career. Thanks for the reminder, will check out. I'll also tally "write-in" votes after poll ends.

mark e: I'm also fond of Big Night Music, but went with Oil And Gold which of course has gotten plenty of attention and reviews due to the recent deluxe reissue. But surprisingly, it's only ranked #144 for '85 in RYM, and not even in the "bubbling under" section on Acclaimed.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn: Yes, LLT is a good example of a platinum album by a mainstream artist that seems to deserve a bit better than #260 on RYM and the bottom of the bubbling under list on Acclaimed.

soref: Yes, everyone should hear The Wake. Vote for The Lotus Eaters noted.

Tarfumes: Yes, Green! I had that and Elaine MacKenzie on tape at the time, which have been long lost. And I forgot 'em! I actually made a note to track down a copy recently, then forgot again, thanks for the reminder. Apparently the two CD reissues no longer exist, at least anywhere accessible online. However Lion Productions made a 500 copy run and seem to have copies left that can be ordered by your favorite record store: http://www.lionproductions.org/

Earlnash: While four songs from For Ever Grounded are included on the Remains Nonviewable comp, everything else is long out of print. Touch & Go had said they were going to reissue all the albums in the mid 90s, and then didn't, don't know why. They've remastered/reissued stuff from Slint, Big Black, Rodan, Urge Overkill and Silkworm, and they might respond if they're made aware of demand (773-388-8888) heh. They should also do a comp of Shellac singles. Effigies was one of my first shows, with Naked Raygun and Big Black.

monster mash: I was surprised to learn that the Triffids album is #26 on Acclaimed, sandwiched between Madonna and The The!

A-ha - Scoundrel Days (1986)
Shriekback - Oil & Gold (1985)
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Tinderbox (1986)

One of these. Shamefully, I've never heard that Sisterhood album.

I was getting kind of disinterested with "alternative music" by this point. I was missing the relative rawness of post-punk, and the performances and production of something like A-ha was definitely what I didn't want in 1986.

This is probably a good reason why a some albums slipped through the cracks. Some suffered from a dated mid-80s sound, while other bands struggled to find a new path after post-punk, and lost a lot of their audience. After veering more toward Pixies/Sonic Youth/Dinosaur and some metal in the late 80s, I pretty much abandoned many old favorites on this list for the next couple decades. Going back and hearing many for the first time in close to 30 years has been quite a trip.

Soft Cell - This Last Night In Sodom -- this is great! I don't know why I stopped listening after The Art of Falling Apart.

Shamefully, I've never heard that Sisterhood album.

I remember hearing it, or some of it, when it was new, and thinking, "nope, just not as good," but I was listening the other day and it's a good deal better than it seemed to me then

tbh I didn't know Scoundrel Days was rated until ILM.

I'd have voted for Dumptruck but that album wasn't as memorable to me as D is for Dumptruck, which I totally love.

Chills vs. Feelies was what it came down to. Also love the Verlaines, Spacemen 3, Talk Talk...

x-post to Fastnbulbous:

Yeah, This Last Night In Sodom is excellent and I'm glad that you like it..
I think it's woefully underrated and it's undoubtedly my "go-to" Soft Cell album. A lot has been said about it being unlistenable and tuneless, but that's bullshit IMO. Abrasive in places, maybe, but definitely not tuneless! It's easily their darkest release!

I'm giving Heaven 17's How Men Are another listen now and it's hitting the spot all over again. A painfully underrated album, and the 10 minute epic 'And It's No Lie' may just be their best ever track.

Er, 'And That's No Lie', rather.

If there's a chance to vote for The Chameleons, I'm taking it. Mind you, there's over a dozen other favorite albums on this list - that Woodentops albums is so goddamn fun!

Trying to think of other albums that have been as divisive to their fan bases like Phantasmagoria.

Kraftwerk - Techno Pop/Electric Cafe (1986)
The Chameleons – What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985)
Spacemen 3 - Sound Of Confusion (1986)
The Sisters Of Mercy – First And Last And Always (1984)
The Sisterhood - Gift (1986)
Killing Joke – Night Time (1985)
Cocteau Twins - Victorialand (1986)

I wish I could post my Pitchfork Review article in which I touch on Soft Cell's second and third albums.

Lots of bands liked wearing suits and bolo ties in this period.
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0000/659/MI0000659315.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

This is a great thread to talk up one of the great obscure New Jersey bands of this era, Winter Hours. They have a ton of excellent songs, Hyacinth Girl being one of the obvious standouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX2SVxH9uYc

<3 Winter Hours. The sort of tragic vibe of their music matched the fate of their singer.

Yes. And now sadly it appears their guitarist Michael Carlucci just passed away in November.

i actually don't think it's fair but i have to vote for the best album here, Sound Of Confusion.

2. The Wake - Here Comes Everybody
3. The Church - Heyday
4. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Easy Pieces
5. The Sisterhood - Gift

xp kornrulez, nice, one of the many Feelies-connected (Stanley Demeski) bands of the era. That one I totally forgot about! Link compiled the EPs on CD on Wait Til the Morning, but Leaving Time was never reissued. That would be a nice double set.

It's also remarkable that there was a double disc tribute album of Winter Hours songs. Steve Barton's participation reminded me of this:

Translator - Evening Of The Harvest (1986)

Absence of Ophelias on this list is telling, especially since Scott Miller (from a band that's neither underrated nor forgotten) was a huge fan.

And where the hell are Christmas, while we're at it (another Scott Miller fave).

Not sure if I'm buying that Scott isn't underrated/forgotten. P4k hasn't even been reviewing the Game Theory reissues.

I feel like the people who need to know about him, know about him.

xpost--Translator - Evening Of The Harvest (1986)

Everywhere That I'm Not is one of the best songs of the 80s. I will have to check this album out.

Whereas, for example, a lot of potential Donner Party fans are at the mercy of the New Pornographers...

Scott Miller was fantastic. Plus his book is one of the most essential music guides I've ever seen.

I prefer the first Loud Family album to anything by Game Theory.

So there's no mistake, I'm a huge GT/LF fan. I just don't see them as forgotten or underrated. I'm pretty sure they generally reached the people who they were destined to reach.

the good earth rules. last two songs on it are sublime. peter buck's touch was gold at that point

xposts

Possibly, but--and I fully admit that using P4k as a barometer is NAGL--but I feel like if any comparable band of that era were having its greatest album reissued, P4k would be reviewing and BNR'ing the shit out of it. That seems to typify Scott's acclaim: the fans get it, but no one is discovering him even though the music (by virtue of being newly reissued, available on Spotify, etc) is more accessible now than ever.

I'm actually not trying to be annoying, but again, the idea that Feelies are forgotten or underrated seems a little crazy. If they're forgotten/underrated, what do we call Hose?

Feelies, Game Theory, and most of the other bands on the list are pretty well-attested online, you can find their albums, etc. There's great stuff from the 80s that is a huge, huge effort to get ahold of. I'm not sure what to call that. I mean, Tom's Electric Tombstone's version of Just Like Santa is amazing. Go to google and see what you get...

Sorry, "Must Be Santa."

I mean, Fems' "Go To A Party" was completely huge when I was growing up. Huge.

And what of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8onHHzDYXVA

write-in vote for...

slovenly - thinking of empire (1986)

Yes! That sort of thing.

I mean, write-in vote for Stop Those Songs by V-Effect.

Where's ABC's How To Be A...Zillionaire! ???

voted for The Damned. got the LP as a present recently and it's really grown on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o696PWjelU

the album itself has a weird mix of psychedelic and New Romantic influences. it's pretty far from their early punk stuff but i love it and it fits in nicely with The Cure on a rainy day.

I'm unfamiliar with at least half of these - I should check some more of them out.

It comes down to Victorialand vs Fried vs Big Express for me.

Well, The Feelies - The Good Earth is #54 on Acclaimed and #67 on RYM. The album is one of my top 3, and IMO anything less than top 20 is crazy f***n underrated. I know several friends who listen to a ton of music who have heard of the Feelies, but never really listened to them. I think they qualify.

Similar with Game Theory. Hell yes their albums are underrated! Now that the reissue program is going strong and the book about Scott Miller came out a couple years ago, less forgotten. In the book, Game Theory did well in certain cities like Chicago, but elsewhere they never really reached their potential fanbase. Miller's frustration with that was a factor in ending both bands. I looked hard for Christmas' In Excelsior Dayglo album and had no luck, but did find MP3s. Then I spaced on including them here.

xp AdamVania, The Damned had already started dabbling with psych and proto-goth on Machine Gun Etiquette, so it's not as big as a departure as some think. Losing Captain Sensible did sort of tip the balance, and I didn't love it at the time, but it grew on me too, especially "The Shadow Of Love."

xp dlp9001, Donner Party and Ophelias debut albums are 1987, and for mid-80s I cut off at 1986. Surf Punks had records in 1982 and 1988, but none in the mid-80s, and both Hose (I assume you mean Rick Rubin's band) and The Fems didn't release anything after 1982 that I can see. You seem a bit cranky about this whole thread, but thanks for the suggestions. For the purpose of this thread, we're looking at 1984-86. Technically 1983 could count, but it feels like early 80s to me still.

I never liked Slovenly, but keep the write-ins coming, I'll tally them.

xp V-Effect - Stop Those Songs is 1983, but ima check it out.

xp thanks i will check out Machine Gun Etiquette!

and maybe this year i will finally get into The Feelies too.

Write-in vote for The Wishing Chair by 10,000 Maniacs.

Write-in vote for Drop of the Creature by The Steppes

xpost: Sorry, not at all cranky about this thread. It's almost all bands I like. Points taken about release dates.

So I started looking at Rateyourmusic.com's album lists, starting at number 500 on and picked out 5 albums per year that I think highly of:

1984:
Three Johns - Atom Drum Bop
Fiat Lux - Hired History
23 Skidoo - Urban Gamelan
Red Guitars - Slow To Fade
Malcolm McLaren - Fans

1985:
Frank Tovey - Snakes & Ladders
28th Day - 28th Day
Wall Of Voodoo - Seven Days In Sammystown
American Music Club - The Restless Stranger
The Golden Palominos - Visions Of Excess

1986:
The Three Johns - The World By Storm
The Cleaners From Venus - Living With Victoria Grey
He Said - Hail
The Brilliant Corners - What's In A Word
Vic Godard - T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

I was as big a Wall of Voodoo stan (see what I did there?) as there was in the early 80s, but I just couldn't deal with the Andy Prieboy era. I should relisten?

It's definitely a change in direction but I came to love Andy's work almost as much as Stan's.

I evidently sold my vinyl (although I still have Happy Planet.) I'll track it down for a reappraisal.

I can't imagine Wall of Voodoo without Stan, but will try. I love that Donner Party album btw.

nuno canavarro - plux quba (1988)

Virginia Astley-Hope in a Darkened Heart

Danielle Dax-Dark Adapted Eye

The Wonder Stuff-The Eight-Legged Groove Machine

Anne Clark-Joined Up Writing

Another doozy, courtesy of Robert Christgau. DFX2, Emotion.

Are you all really vouching for these as favorites over virtually everything already on the list or are they just some obscure albums nobody cares about including yourself?

Welcome to ILM!

I do love that Danielle Dax record though.

It's definitely a change in direction but I came to love Andy's work almost as much as Stan's.

didn't even know there was a Ridgwayless WoV. listening now for about thirty seconds it sounds like the first thing they told him was "your job is to sing like the guy who bailed for greener pastures" but the music is still nice!

this song is the best fyi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6_YsP7u-JY

Haircut One Hundred continued after Nick Heyward left, and released an album called Paint and Paint in 1984, which seems to have sunk without a trace. it's good though! not as good as or Pelican West or North of a Miracle, but those are two of the best things ever

obviously cardiacs - the seaside uber alles but i respect your choices and fried is just as worthy a winner

Are you all really vouching for these as favorites over virtually everything already on the list or are they just some obscure albums nobody cares about including yourself?

Uh, neither man. I voted for The Church in the poll, and was just talking about some other cool bands from the era. Am I buggin you? Don't mean to bug ya...

Not really, I just want to be sure to differentiate between actual votes and just suggestions. Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoj9eIeolWI

Hey, those are my favorite Chameleons and Cocteau Twins albums, but I'll still have to vote for The Sound. The Wake and The Chills close behind.

I've relistened to Seven Days in Sammystown, and it's better than I remembered (and I must have played it more often than I had thought, because I could sing along with much of it.) Andy is imitating Stan's vocal delivery on much of it, which I think is why I didn't remember it fondly, but yeah it's a pretty good batch of songs, I like the production, and Marc's guitar is reliably great throughout.

I missed Hoodoo Gurus on the poll, love that record and played it way more than Dumptruck, switching my vote.

Oh, that's not actually on the poll, nm

my favorite would have to be that FYC debut. I haven't listened to it in a while, but it has to be in my top 20 during my collage years.
loved the whole thing. Roland Gift was such a understated force.

nuno canavarro - plux quba (1988)

This is incredible

Feel free to list your top 5 and I'll tally them at the end of the poll.

I totally love that Red Guitars album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs0OkiCZNRI

I'm just here because someone mentioned Slovenly upthread. Good call, indeed.

I know there are some great albums in this poll but once you see Sound Of Confusion listed there really is no other choice.

voted Chills, but given the option would have gone Robespierre.

short list:
Jacobites - Robespierre
Chills - Kaleidoscope World
Cope - Fried
SP3 - Sound of Confusion
That Petrol Emotion - Manic Pop Thrill
Nuno Canavarro - Plux Quba
Apartments - The Evening Visits

and mini-lp's are very mid-80's:
The Verlaines - 10 O’Clock in the Afternoon
Orange Juice - Texas Fever
Tav Falco/Panther Burns - Sugar Ditch Revisited

other favorites of this window that could be considered less well remembered:
s/t Jacobites album
Jean Paul Sartre Experience - Love Songs
Jeffrey Lee Pierce - Wildweed
Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
David J - Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh
Ivor Cutler - Gruts
17 Pygmies - Jedda by the Sea
Dexys - Don’t Stand Me Down
Plasticland - s/t
Half Man Half Biscuit - Back in the DHSS

always hated the production on Knife, but have probably listened to it as much as anything here in recent years. and, otm above for Anne Clark's Joined Up Writing.

David J - Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh

i didn't know this existed and i'm doing the Bauhaus poll right now. please vote as we can really use the votes. five song min. (David J and Jazz Butcher qualify)

anyone please vote...not trying to put pressure on that poster.

Lotsa third-best albums here.

Went with The Feelies because their third best album is better than a lot of bands' best.

This was going great for a while, but I guess ran out of gas. Some thoughts on the mid-80s, it's often considered a terrible time for music, the Miami Vice years. Album sales had picked up some with blockbusters from the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Springsteen, but anything not mainstream was pretty far underground (though I can cite plenty of exceptions at least in the UK by '86). Trouser Press magazine ceased publication in April 1984, allegedly " citing a lack of interest in the continuing but stagnating new wave scene that left his writers with very little to say."

And yet as this thread suggests there seems to be no end to fascinating albums that can be dug up.

My top 5:

The Feelies - The Good Earth (1986)
The Woodentops - Giant (1986)
The Chameleons – What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985)
The Screaming Blue Messiahs - Gun-Shy (1986)
Hunters & Collectors - Human Frailty (1986)

My choices are less about what I believe are the absolute best at this moment, more about the impact they had on me. I was a Feelies fanatic and nearly died of excitement when I got to see them open for Lou Reed. Screaming Blue Messiahs sounds murky and subdued in the mix, as Wounded Bird's 2009 reissue did not remaster it. I played that tape to death at the time though, and still feel that album is special. Human Frailty might seem a bit melodramatic now, but it was perfect in my late teens through college. The Church, That Petrol Emotion, The Jazz Butcher, Game Theory, The Damned, Dumptruck, Felt, Killing Joke and The Saints follow.

btw thanks for the Machine Gun Etiquette recommendation, that album does rule!

but anything not mainstream was pretty far underground

True enough, but even that which was "pretty far underground" could be seen on things like IRS' The Cutting Edge. In fact, I probably wouldn't know who any of your top 5 were without that show.

This whole thread is basically my old record collection. The only ones on the original poll I don't know at all are:

Care – Diamonds & Emeralds (1984)
The Effigies – Ink (1986)
Feedtime - Feedtime (1985)
Jacobites – Robespierre's Velvet Basement (1985)

But I don't know these write-ins, either:

He Said - Hail
Nuno Canavarro - Plux Quba (1988)
Nyam Nyam - Hope of Heaven
The Steppes - Drop of the Creature
The Stockholm Monsters - Alma Mater (1984)
V-Effect - Stop Those Songs

Some other favorites of mine from these years that haven't been mentioned:

Cactus World News - Urban Beaches
Eurogliders - This Island
Eurogliders - Absolutely
Juluka - Stand Your Ground
The Parachute Club - At the Feet of the Moon

I voted Big Country, of course, since there have been periods of my life when Steeltown was my single favorite album. But the thing this list made me put on and play again is the (slightly later) Icicle Works album If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song.

He Said was a side project of Wire's Graham Lewis. The two albums sound quite dated now, the first (Hail) less so, but they're still fun. And of course it's all about that voice!

That talk of Big Country and the Icicle Works reminded me of the first self-titled Zerra 1 album, which I still stick on from time to time.

Yep, had that, too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Kind of a grey morning, so I put on Here Comes Everybody for the first time in over a year and it's sounding damn good.

Squirrel Bait – Squirrel Bait (1985) - This record is pretty prophetic, considering what 90s pop/grunge/hard rock sounded like.

some others that haven't been mentioned:

1984:
Cristina - Sleep It Off
The Lighthouse Keepers - Tales of the Unexpected
Pale Cocoon - 繭

1985:
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Rockin' and Romance
John Surman - Withholding Pattern
Chin-Chin - Sound of the Westway

1986:
Jon Hassell - Power Spot
The Hollowmen - Sinister Flower Gift
A Primary Industry - Ultramarine
It's Immaterial - Life's Hard and Then You Die
Stars of Heaven - Sacred Heart Hotel
Daniel Amos - Fearful Symmetry
Gigi Masin - The Wind

thanks for the Winter Hours, kornrules. never eard them before, but this is good stuff — reminds me alot of early Lilac Time

(er 'Winter Hours mention', 'heard', 'a lot')

The teenage goth in me remembers these albums with fondness:

Trisomie 21 - Chapter IV (1986)
Clan Of Xymox - Medusa (1986)
The Neon Judgement - Mafu Cage (1986)
X-Mal Deutschland - Tocsin (1984)
Sad Lovers And Giants - In The Breeze (1984)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5o1-HxaRFM

Oh, and I just noticed that Wire Train's In a Chamber hasn't been mentioned yet!

https://open.spotify.com/album/08Ut26qVWXHXXSBNi8LIeO

At the time, I would have voted for Squirrel Bait; today, the Feelies.

Favourite song, though, might be Dumptruck's "Going Nowhere," then and now.

Good call, Glenn. I love In a Chamber.

I just realized that Yung Wu's "Shore Leave" falls in this time period. Pretty sure I'm on other threads mentioning that over time it's turned out to be my favorite Feelies related album (so not being reactionary). If Feelies are going to walk it, I'd propose this as a viable choice (and also probably more deserving of the underrated/forgotten tag).

i'm not clear what underrated or forgotten means in 2016 but here's some albums from 84-86

Khaled ‎– Moule El Kouchi
Soaring Raï vocals, magnificent synthy melodies and drum machines.

Hector Lavoe ‎– Revento (on Fania, I believe)
Hot hot salsa that sounds like it was recorded 10 years prior (except towards the end, a steinberger/fretless bass (?) inexplicably makes an appearance and it's kind of lol)

Nemesy ‎– Nemesy
Classic huge-sounding melodramatic italo. The real kind, from Italy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The Colourfield – Virgins and Philistines (1985) 0

:(

ah cool, 5 of you are magnificent

Okay, this is totally haphazard, as only a few people took me up on my offer of top 5s so write-ins had limited impact:

1 The Feelies - The Good Earth (1986) 11
2 Cocteau Twins - Victorialand (1986) 10
2 The Chills - Kaleidoscope World (1986) 10
4 China Crisis - Flaunt The Imperfection (1985) 9
5 Julian Cope – Fried (1984) 7
5 Spacemen 3 - Sound Of Confusion (1986) 7
7 The Church - Heyday (1986) 5
7 The Wake - Here Comes Everybody (1985) 5
7 XTC - The Big Express (1985) 5
10 Slovenly - Thinking Of Empire (1986) 4
10 Squirrel Bait – Squirrel Bait (1985) 4
10 The Chameleons – What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985) 4
13 INXS - Listen Like Thieves (1985) 3
13 Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Easy Pieces (1985) 3
13 That Petrol Emotion - Manic Pop Thrill (1986) 3
13 The Apartments – The Evening Visits...and Stays for Years (1985) 3
13 The Woodentops - Giant (1986) 3
13 Winter Hours - Leaving Time (1986) 3

Christmas - In Excelsior Dayglo (1986) 2
David & David - Boomtown (1986) 2
Felt - Ignite The Seven Cannons (1985) 2
Game Theory - The Big Shot Chronicles (1986) 2
Heaven 17 - How Men Are (1984) 2
Kraftwerk - Techno Pop/Electric Cafe (1986) 2
Shriekback - Oil & Gold (1985) 2
Soft Cell - This Last Night In Sodom (1984) 2
Talk Talk - It's My Life (1984) 2
The Damned - Phantasmagoria (1985) 2
The Screaming Blue Messiahs - Gun-Shy (1986) 2
The Sisterhood - Gift (1986) 2
The Smithereens - Especially For You (1986) 2
Wipers - Land Of The Lost (1986) 2
Wire Train - In A Chamber (1985) 2
10,000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985) 1
ABC - How To Be A...Zillionaire! (1985) 1
Ambitious Lovers – Envy (1984) 1
And Also The Trees - Virus Meadow (1986) 1
Anne Clark - Joined Up Writing 1
Aztec Camera – Knife (1984) 1
Big Country - Steeltown (1984) 1
BoDeans - Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams (1986) 1
Breathless - The Glass Bead Game (1985) 1
Clan Of Xymox - Medusa (1986) 1
David J - Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh (1985) 1
Descendents – I Don't Want To Grow Up (1985) 1
Easterhouse - Contenders (1986) 1
Erasure - Wonderland (1986) 1
Feedtime - Feedtime (1985) 1
Fine Young Cannibals - Fine Young Cannibals (1985) 1
Green - Green (1986) 1
Green On Red - Gas Food Lodging (1985) 1
Haircut One Hundred - Paint and Paint (1984) 1
Hunters & Collectors - Human Frailty (1986) 1
Jacobites – Robespierre's Velvet Basement (1985) 1
Ministry - Twitch (1986) 1
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party (1985) 1
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Junk Culture (1984) 1
Sad Lovers And Giants - In The Breeze (1984) 1
Squirrel Bait – Squirrel Bait (1985) 1
The Alarm - Strength (1985) 1
The Bluebells – Sisters (1984) 1
The dB's – Like This (1984) 1
The Lotus Eaters – No Sense Of Sin (1984) 1
The Lyres - On Fyre (1984) 1
The Neon Judgement - Mafu Cage (1986) 1
The Pretenders - Get Close (1986) 1
The Saints - All Fools Day (1985) 1
The Sisters Of Mercy – First And Last And Always (1984) 1
The Sound - Heads And Hearts (1985) 1
The Stranglers - Aural Sculpture (1984) 1
The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop/Internationalists (1985) 1
The Verlaines – Hallelujah All The Way Home (1985) 1
Til Tuesday - Welcome Home (1986) 1
Translator - Evening Of The Harvest (1986) 1
Trisomie 21 - Chapter IV (1986) 1
Virginia Astley - Hope in a Darkened Heart (1986) 1
Wall Of Voodoo - Seven Days In Sammystown (1985) 1
X-Mal Deutschland - Tocsin (1984) 1

I was really surprised to see China Crisis so far up. Totally worth doing this for the fact that I got to hear new discoveries like Winter Hours, the Soft Cell album, and while they were after this era aside from their first EP, The Steppes (I got the Green Velvet Electric 2CD comp in the mail yesterday, which has the entire Drop Of The Creature '87, highly recommended). I spent time with albums by these bands for the first time in nearly 30 years - The Blasters, Green, Wire Train, Wipers, Translator, Christmas, David J, Slovenly, Dumptruck, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and David Sylvian. I remember first finding out about Translator and Wire Train through features in The Record magazine. Anyone remember that? While I kept most of my Trouser Press issues, I only have a couple of those. They folded around 85/86, and SPIN took on the subscription.

I totally forgot to mention this band, which I got turned on to just over a month ago via an ILM thread. Anyone into them? Did anyone know about them at the time?

Nits - Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof (1984)
Nits - Henk (1986)

I also finally started reading Andrew Earles' Gimme Indie Rock, which came out Sep '14. It's his 500 essential picks in alpha order. His choices are pretty solid so far (I'm at G). The biggest gaff so far was choosing Eleventh Dream Day's Beet over Prairie School Freakout. It's only American stuff, so someone needs to do one for the UK, Europe and Australia!

i have that book. its good

I remember first finding out about Translator and Wire Train through features in The Record magazine. Anyone remember that?

I had one or two issues, which I didn't hold onto, but didn't it turn out that Record was sometimes/mostly republishing Rolling Stone pieces? Or am I misremembering?

I was really surprised to see China Crisis so far up.

Same here (or maybe not, given the amount of Steely Dan love around here.) In 1985 one of my roommates started dating a yuppie. None of of us liked him, or his brand new BMW with the high end stereo, or his taste in music. We were rocking The Minutemen, he was into Heaven 17 and China Crisis. I tried relistening this morning, still really don't care for this at all. On to Julian Cope next. Great poll!

xp re: Record mag, I don't think so. I mean, it covered some of the same mainstream stuff as RS. One of the issues I have still gives X's Ain't Love Grand a nearly rave review. There was a bit of a gap of music coverage in '84-'85. There were plenty of fanzines, but stuff with actual distribution was rare. Matter was good but a very small operation that didn't make it beyond the Midwest. Puncture started in '82 but I didn't start finding it until '86. Option started in April '85.

Speaking of Puncture, an anthology of articles from that mag is coming out April 7 from co-founder Katherine Spielmann - Now Is the Time to Invent: Reports from the Indie-Rock Revolution, 1985-2000.

the idea of being a yuppie in 1985, driving around in my new BMW, blasting Heaven 17 and China Crisis from the high end stereo seems like some vision of perfect happiness and fulfillment

bought the china crisis album when it came out, never liked it much though. i've come to appreciate the music on it a little more, but the singer is such a drip. i feel like i want to reach in through the record and wring him out. came out the same year as prefab's 'steve mcqueen', feel like it aims for the same sort of mood, but it sounds so feeble and dreary in comparison.

Glad someone discovered Machine Gun Etiquette, it's one of my all-time favorite records. There's a couple of expanded editions out there-try and grab the one with their 'White Rabbit' cover & 'Rabid Over You' both of which are fairly great.

Happy to see Glenn vote BC, I was a big TWAS fan back in the day.

I bought the China Crisis album about five years ago strictly out of curiosity: the Becker production. I don't find it involving.

also: where in America would one have heard China Crisis – college radio?

Adult Album Alternative radio. And a certain British yuppie.

thank you thread for causing me to intentionally listen to shriekback beyond enjoying their cuts on the manhunter soundtrack

I like Flaunt The Imperfection a lot, probably the strongest batch of songs China Crisis ever did, and also obviously the production is top notch, IMO. However, I do agree that the vocals are the weakest thing about the record, and indeed China Crisis in general. They're an acquired taste.

thank you thread for causing me to intentionally listen to shriekback beyond enjoying their cuts on the manhunter soundtrack

yessssssssssss

This would have made my top 5, but it's a compilation with the last five tracks from 1987 - The New Christs - Divine Rites.

I totally forgot to mention this band, which I got turned on to just over a month ago via an ILM thread. Anyone into them? Did anyone know about them at the time?

Nits - Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof (1984)
Nits - Henk (1986)

Yay! Adieu Sweet Bahnhof sprung immediately to mind, plus the live album Urk which is totally classic.

I gave Flaunt The Imperfection another listen last night and it really hit the spot.

I've been re-listening to the Slovenly albums and they are growing on me. They totally didn't click when I listened back in 86-88, but man, if a band ripped their style, even songs, today and no one noticed, their arty post-punk jangle n psych, with just slightly updated production, might just be met with enthusiastic approval. Does this mean I have to listen to Saccharine Trust again too?

I finished Gimme Indie Rock a while ago, and here are some more I would have added to the poll:

Salem 66 - A Ripping Spin (1985)
Salem 66 - Frequencey And Urgency (1986)

Vocals wobble on and off key, but remind me in a pleasant way of a more shambling Helium. Would love it if Merge would reissue these Homestead albums the way they did the first two Volcano Suns (and they really ought to do the same for the latters' Bumper Crop (1987) too).

Sorry - Imaginary Friend (1984)
Honor Role - The Pretty Song (1986)
JFA - JFA (1984)
Toiling Midgets - Dead Beats (1985)
My Dad Is Dead - ...And He's Not Gonna Take It Anymore (1986)

Some post-hardcore, and San Francisco's Toiling Midgets, which I posted about in the post-punk thread last week. Their 1982 album Sea Of Unrest is their best, and all of them available now on Bandcamp. I still consider the only essential MDID album to be The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get (1989). I'm looking for the 20 Years Is Not the Kind of Time You Can Just Leave Behind comp.

I've got the "Your Soul Is Mine (Fork It Over)" comp of Salem 66's early years - love it. I've never heard their last two albums, "Natural Disasters" and "Down The Primrose Path". Anyone heard them?

I have MP3s of Natural Disasters, but have only listened once so far. I guess I didn't include these either:

Volcano Suns - All Night Lotus Party (1986)
Volcano Suns - The Bright Orange Years (1985)
Moving Targets - Burning In Water (1986)
Die Kreuzen - Die Kreuzen (1984)
Die Kreuzen - October Files (1986)

As I mentioned, Merge reissued the first two Volcano Suns in 2009. Not essential for everyone, just for those who need that link between Mission Of Burma, Husker Du/Squirrel Bait/Moving Targets and Shellac.

Been revisiting these. At the time I thought there was a big drop in quality, but in retrospect, I think The Dream Syndicate albums, and most of Steve Wynn's albums, particularly his desert rock with The Miracle 3, are really consistently good to great.

The Dream Syndicate - Medicine Show (1984)
The Dream Syndicate - Out Of The Grey (1986)

Fastnbulbous, what about Angst? They're another kind of forgotten SST band.

In later years, Angst would be cited by Black Francis/Frank Black of Pixies fame as a major influence upon his work. He covered “Some Things (I Can’t Get Used To)” on his Snake Oil LP, and wrote a tribute song to the band entitled simply “Angst” that appears on the UK-only CD release of “Robert Onion” as well as on the One More Road For The Hit collection of B-sides and rarities. When asked by Rolling Stone magazine what band he would like to see reunite, he stated: “Angst. I'm sure there are other bands called Angst, but this is an obscure one from SST in the mid-Eighties. They used to play at the Rathskeller in Boston -- that's where I first heard them. Then I bought all their records. They were a San Francisco trio -- high energy but not punk -- and they were very influential on the Pixies and on me. Lite Life is their best album -- good luck finding it”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angst_%28band%29

Ah, I completely forgot about this one. The only real problem I have with this thread is that most of the bands (with the Feelies being the prime example) are exactly as well-known and highly-rated as they probably deserve to be. Like I can't imagine that there are huge numbers of east coast 40-something liberal arts majors who *haven't* heard of Feelies. Spoken as a huge fan of the Feelies, fwiw. I just really question the definition here of underrated/forgotten. Anyway, these guys, 1986:

https://www.discogs.com/Wayfarers-Worlds-Fare/release/1596103

We kind of already went over this. Obviously the Feelies are not the most obscure band, but they are underrated. I don't think there are 53-66 albums from 1986 better than The Good Earth. You disagree, I get it. But by all means keep digging deeper into the obscure bands though. I heard Angst on a compilation and didn't like them. Listening again, there is a sort of cowpunk post-Minutemen/Meat Puppets charm. Just not nearly as good. A fun listen though, and interesting to try to glean what Frank Black got out of 'em.

Will check out Wayfarers.

And to be fair it's a thread about albums, not bands. How many of those east coast 40-something liberal arts majors can name a Feelies album that isn't Crazy Rhythms? This is the era when I first started getting really into music and it's still a favorite, but even so I think there are 20 records on that initial list that I haven't heard (vs five bands that I haven't heard at all, and three band that I hadn't heard of).

On the other hand I do think there were so many great records released in this period that just cutting off the top 50 or 100 isn't really going to get you into truly forgotten/unknown/ (maybe) underrated territory.

You could have least put the phrase "college rock" in the thread title