Favorite Greil Marcus '80s Records That I Know Almost Nothing About

From an end-of-decade article he wrote in the Minneapolis City Pages, dated February 14 1990, that I found in a Manilla envelope in my closet. Most of these, I haven't even heard. Have you? Are they good?

1980
Red Crayola "Born In Flames" (Rough Trade UK)
Anemic Boyfriends "Guys Are Not Proud" (Red Sweater)

1981
Arthur Tracy "Pennies From Heaven" (recorded 1937, from soundtrack of Pennies From Heaven, Warner Bros.)
Bunny Wailer Bunny Wailer Sings The Wailers (Mango)
Passions Michael And Miranda (Fiction UK)
Marine Girls Beach Party (cassette, no label)

1982
Jive 5 Here We Are! (Ambient Sound)
Bunny Wailer Tribute (Solomonic UK)
Inflatable Boy Clams "I'm Sorry" (Subterranean)
Fellowship Independent Baptist Church of Stanley, Virginia Powerhouse Of God (University Of North Carolina Press LP)
Nightingales "Elvis -- The Last Ten Days" (Cherry Red UK)

1983
Robert Plant "Far Post" (Esperanza/WEA Japan)

1985
Rubella Ballet "Money Talks" (Ubiquitous UK)

1986
Stan Ridgway The Big Heat (IRS)
Communards "Disenchanted" (MCA)
Wire "A Serious Of Snakes"/Snakedrill (Mute UK EP)

1987
Fastbacks ...and his Orchestra (Popllama)
Cruzados "Bed Of Lies" (Arista)
Elvis Costello "I Want You" (Demon UK)
Chris Isaak "You Owe Me Some Kind Of Love "(Warner Bros.)

1989
Tantia Tikaram "Twist In My Sobriety" (video, by Gerard de Thame)
Elvis Costello "Tramp the Dirt Down" (from Spike, Warner Bros.)
My Sin "My Sin" (Endless cassette)
Guadalcanal Diary "Always Saturday" (Elektra)

you totally have to heard this one back in the day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwN5frachUE

have to have heard, i mean.

the Wire ep and Costello tracks are good to great. i'm not sure if i've heard that Bunny Wailer album or not, but i do won a copy of his Time Will Tell, which is terrific. (they're both collections of Bunny's interpretations of Marley songs, as far as i can tell, but i've never been able to ascertain if the one i got was a reissue of the one Marcus listed or not.)

stan ridgway album has 4 or 5 pretty good tracks, iirc. (haven't heard it in years, since i ditched my vinyl.) title track is a nice piece of new-wave noir.

you know, you probably wouldn't be missing much if you never heard a lot of this stuff. i like the tanita song and i like marine girls and some other stuff, but...yeah, i dunno, i'll let someone else make the case that you HAVE to hear something here before you die. i can't make one.

Re having heard the Tanita before: Yeah, I probably did, but I never saw the video before! (Still haven't yet now, though I will.)

Turns out I own those Red Crayola and Nightingales songs on anthology CDs by the bands in question; just never noticed those titles. No opinion on them yet, though.

I actually used to own Powerhouse of God (ordered it through the mail when I was in Germany -- it's a Southern black gospel record, recorded on the spot in church field-recoding style), but got rid of it after a couple years. Probably had that Wire EP at one time, too; generally totally hated their late '80s stuff at the time (and wrote a lead Voice review of their 1987 The Ideal Copy album saying so), but haven't gone back and listened to it much if at all since. May have once owned that Jive 5 album, too; definitely briefly had a copy of an Ambient Sound doowop-revival compilation they had a couple songs on, called Everything New Is Old. Should've kept it.

Also possible I had the Ridgway at one time; I've bought used LPs by him before, but they never quite clicked with me. And may have at least overheard those Costello tracks; never had any use for stuff from him after, say, 1983 or so. Which lots of people would tell me is my loss.

nightingales were cool though. maybe you do need to hear them.

1983
Robert Plant "Far Post" (Esperanza/WEA Japan)

This is a B-side to one of the Pictures at Eleven singles, anchored by a catchy 12-string guitar hook. Good tune, but c'mon.

i'm sure it said something very portentious and/or trenchant (portrenchantious?) about america

"Wheels keep a turning round and round
years keep a spinning round and round"

http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2009-10-18_4373653164436874/movies/pee-wee/significance.wav

I'm pretty sure I own every Tanita Tikaram album, The Sweet Keeper is my favorite

Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers is a marvelous, joyous reinterpretation of songs mainly stemming from the Wailers' ska and rocksteady days, and also a version of Tosh's "I'm the Toughest". It was produced by Sly and Robbie in the midst of their most creative period. It absolutely rules.

oh, ok, so it's definitely not the same record as Time Will Tell then.

Guys Are Not Proud by the Anemic Boyfriends is fantastic, sadly overlooked in all the post-punk compilations that came out a few years back. I discovered it on ILM, thanks to the John Peel single box thread. I doubt the YSI links still work, sadly. Canadian women cheerily lampooning men's disgusting habits and sexual proclivities over a wonky post-punk skank. What's not to like? Whaddya, know, the internet delivers the goods: http://www.pukekos.org/2008/10/anemic-boyfriends.html

Sorry, they're Alaskan!

xxp (I swear!

Anemic Boyfriends track is a post-punk-meets-cheap-reggae-beat novelty, like if a female Weird Al had been around to parody Essential Logic, the Slits, Au Pairs, et al. (likely wasn't intentioned as a parody, but that's kind of how I hear it). Unbelievably, it is not the greatest thing ever, but it is cute.

Did not know they were Alaskan (a young Sarah Palin on sax, perhaps?). Just assumed they were Brits.

Bunny Wailer Bunny Wailer Sings The Wailers (Mango)

sly & robbie - ized remakes of oldwailers tracks, not essential but really really good if you like S&R's early 80s groove.

Cruzados were former LA punks the Plugz gone AOR. I favorably reviewed an album of theirs but I don't remember this song.

This list seems overly post-punky. I know Marcus was himself but a lot of his faves are missing from here (e.g., "I Want To Know What Love Is," Brooce).

For all your Inflatable Boy Clams needs: http://inflatableboyclams.com/

He sure loved his grrrlpunk.

Communards "Disenchanted" - Gay pride pep talk/come on with requisite bubbledisco backdrop.

Pennies From Heaven is a trite, hateful little film which the Arthur Tracy song "needs" in order to signify. Marcus should be forced to watch a 24-hour loop of Xanadu to atone for his sin.

Speaking of which, I'm most intrigued by this:

My Sin "My Sin" (Endless cassette)

Googling turns up:

"a creepy fellow with virtually no affect on his face to speak of who called himself My Sin"

This French ebay listing says he's (?) "goth minimal synth" on a 1984 12" called Beyond Good and Evil. Can't get the pic to download, though. Another site calls his 1984 7" "Chains" "SF synth/deathrock." Then there are these two cassettes for sale:
My Sin: All the Pussy You Want In A Dodge (tape & book)
My Sin: How To talk Dirty And Alienate People (tape & book)

And a CD called Tribes.

All on the Endless label.

Then there's this:

STRAWBERRY
"Smash Up: Story of a Woman"
ENDLESS 2-2 CD $7.75
A world-weary, Valley-girl-on-the-skids-meets-Nico collaboration of two women, produced by My Sin. Butchered torch songs, neo-industrial country, spoken word sleaze stories and more. (ENDLESS MUSIC)

Sounds very Inflatable Boy Clams.

I know Marcus was himself but a lot of his faves are missing from here (e.g., "I Want To Know What Love Is," Brooce)

I left out MOST of the '80s favorites he listed the article (because I could hardly say "I know almost nothing about" "I Want To Know What Love Is" or Born In The USA or, uh, the Iron City Houserockers or whoever.) This thread was for the ones that struck me as obscure -- i.e., the ones that nobody ever talks about, including a bunch I'd never otherwise heard of.

I think I've always confused My Sin with these two records that people voted for in Pazz & Jop in 1984 (neither of which I also know anything about, and which may or may not have something to do with each other):

Some Weird Sin Some Weird Sin (Headbutt) (Steve Kiviat's album ballot)
Damaris "Some Weird Sin" (Columbia) (Brian Chin's single ballot)

I've been searching for My Sin "Chains" since about 1985-ish when I accidentally taped over it. Please tell me more. There's such little reference to it on the web and the few and far between auctions.

Inflatable Boy Clams "I'm Sorry" (Subterranean) 1982

Me and others used to play this a fair amount on the Univ. of Maryland radio station. San Francisco novelty new wavey postpunk

Marine Girls Beach Party (cassette, no label

Kurt Cobain loved Marine Girls as did Beat Happening and the Slumberland and Chickfactor folks. Tracey Thorn was in the group I think. Kinda Raincoats go twee pop

Passions- Michael And Miranda (Fiction UK)

Was "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" on this one? catchy new wavey synth pop

Some Weird Sin Some Weird Sin (Headbutt)

A Canadian group that sounded like the Saints and Radio Birdman

1987
Fastbacks ...and his Orchestra (Popllama)

Speedy pop-punk from Seattle, right?

I would totally listen to "Always Saturday" right now but can't find it online anywhere.