POLL: AVClub's Not Murmur -- 36 great but underappreciated records from 1983

Raincoats, ESG, Jonzun Crew, B-52's, I even love that Blue Oyster Cult record*, but I gotta be true to my self and vote Perverted by Language

Great to see Psychic TV in an ILM poll, although 'Soul Mining' just edges it for me.

has to be The Hurting

*the op should have an grainy still of the desert femcat from the Shooting Shark video, but apparently my laptop is in such disrepair that even simple tasks like that takes longer than the little time I have to allot to it

xxp

Pulp's debut or Paul Simon, though I never got the sense the latter was underrated

that Aztec Camera record is superb

DAZZLE SHIPS

Felt!

Dazzle Ships over The Hurting.

Laughing my arse off at seeing Dig That Groove Baby in that list... I mean, I guess it's an entertaining record but The Toy Dolls were never anything more than a joke band.

I expect to see plenty of votes for Script Of The Bridge, mind.

OMD

or

FELT

Waiting's a good pick for this sort of list. But yeah, Dazzle Ships or Jonzun Crew FTW

that Jonzun Crew album is so incredibly good

what's astounding is how terrible the follow ups were

What a wild assortment of records. It's not my favorite on the list, but I'm voting "Jonathan Sings," since it is a really wonderful record, quite unusual, and for me the best after the first Modern Lovers record.

Strangely, I just picked up Revolution by Night at my local record store! I saw BOC on that tour!

voted Plimsouls. I had no idea Pulp was around that early.

"The Hurting" is underappreciated? I don't disagree, (it could never be over appreciated) but it went to #1

The Simon record, like Trans, is beloved on ILM, obscure for everyone else.

Poncho and Lefty gets my vote. Excellent title track.

apologies for being dull but Perverted By Language is amongst these albums, it lurks irrepressible

voted Plimsouls. I had no idea Pulp was around that early.

― skip, Thursday, August 22, 2013 4:22 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They had already been around five years when that record came out!

"The Hurting" is underappreciated? I don't disagree, (it could never be over appreciated) but it went to #1

In the UK; in the US it went to #73.

I feel like, as far as general American pop culture is concerned, most people thought Tears For Fears started with "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" came out until that dreary cover from Donnie Darko became famous and lots of people went "oh those random synth pop songs I heard on college radio all the time circa 1984 were Tears For Fears? WHO KNEW"

one day I will edit a post properly before hitting submit

Dan, I think that's exactly when all their early American fans ditched them.

Btw,voted Soul Mining

Haha waht
Xpost

Great poll idea. 1983 was a curious year for music in that a lot of great acts put out very bad albums (Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Gang of Four, arguably The Church and The Fall). The year ended a lot of hot streaks.

crass vs subhumans vs swans vs ministry vs the the

I strongly considered Ministry and The The

that bad religion album is so so so so strange, honestly one of the weirdest failed left turns in punk history. also it pretty much blows

per usual I am torn between the Chameleons, Psychic TV, and Weird Al

Looking over the discographies of numerous bands, 1983 is a very interesting year for me musically, because it seems to be the year where some weird line was drawn. A lot of the bands that were making what you could consider to be comparatively arty records just seemed to drop it all and decide they wanted to embrace a more poppier sound circa 1983.

Simple Minds were definitely different after 1983 compared to what they'd been beforehand. Likewise with OMD after Dazzle Ships, The Cure made the singles that made up Japanese Whispers, Ultravox went in a far more pop direction with Quartet/Lament etc. etc.

Even Bowie put out Let's Dance after making a clutch of art-rock records!

and Speaking in Tongues

clearly, this is because The Lexicon of Love changed the world.

otm

it gave us a whole new lexicon

of love

Everything is temporary written on the sand
looking for the poll that meets supply with demand

clearly, this is because The Lexicon of Love changed the world.

― mr.raffles, Thursday, August 22, 2013 9:22 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

...and provided a climate in which Spandau Ballet were able to thrive :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDw1_dGok9Y

YMO's Naughty Boys and Stewart Copeland's Rumble Fish both deserved a mention here!

I guess I'll rep for that Satan album.
It's fantastic NWOBHM, underrated even amongst metal fans.

Great album cover too:

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/4/1/9/2/4192.jpg?0213

This song in particular kills:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Nei5Axde4

crazy list, plenty of good stuff, but going for Jonathon Sings! Dude's lack of management (ownership?) of his back catalog is a national tragedy imho.

Chameleons over TFF, just barely. Post punk was still in its glory in 83, lots more under the radar of this list.

Would generally vote for Felt over just about anything, but Whammy! is one of my favourites for all time, so that.

think I've got to vote Dazzle Ships, sorry ESG and Jonzun Crew (also the Fall but I imagine that one will get a fair few votes)

Court in the Act and Crystal Logic are just the tip of the iceberg for how dynamic a time this was in British heavy metal but they'll have to do. I go with Court in the Act, it's pretty perfect to me. I also rep for their recent reunion album, which is uncanny in how it feels like it's just picking up where they left off

aztec camera, flawless record

I think "underappreciated" is a good description of Subterranean Jungle. It's not Leave Home, but it's got "Outsider" and "Everytime I Eat Vegetables It Makes Me Think of You" (both great), "My-My Kind of Girl" (nice), a funny cover of "Time Has Come Today," maybe more (been a while).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLcB2IsiIYo

Dreams Less Sweet is one of my favorite records OOT, just edging out The Fall. Maybe The The in 3rd. Whammy and Hard are terrible, wtf.

could've sworn there were some funk, soul, r'n'b records made in 1983

could've sworn there were some funk, soul, r'n'b records made in 1983

― Dacca to Environ (Noodle Vague), Thursday, August 22, 2013 8:42 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I bet Rabin is kicking back with a fucking daquiri laughing at this

Court in the Act and Crystal Logic are just the tip of the iceberg for how dynamic a time this was in British heavy metal

manilla road is from kansas!

(Not that I would know that if not for the fact that I copyedited part of this piece.)

the The by a freaking mile.

this is absolutely The Hurting, would vote for The The next, i even like that Ministry album.

o god plz plz plz let us not start polling av club listicles

voted the fall fwiw

Lol sorry bout that, this one more than most seemed to hit the ILM sweet spot

Either I don't like this year or it's a bad list, voted Whammy! over the Fall

"The Splendour of Fear" in a heartbeat. Listened to it dozens of times and it has never gone stale, unique and ineffably beautiful.

Almost tied with Perverted By Language and Filth but Crystal Logic by a long frizzy hair.

I'd bet Motörhead Another Perfect Day would get more than a few votes in this one if it were a choice. That one is a polarizing release but a lot of folks buck the consensus and love the shit out of it.

i always thought The Splendour of Fear was released in 1984

Ach those are my favourite Felt and OMD and Swans records. I like that Fun Boy Three record a lot. I have never heard The The!!

manilla road is from kansas!

that's near Newcastle though right

High Land was my favorite album in high school and still one of my favorites!!

Splendour of Fear = 1984

I voted for Soul Mining based purely on the amount of 'turntable time' (or cassette deck or CD player time) over the years. Waiting and High Land Hard Rain close second and third.

Underappreciated?

Not under-appreciated at all, but I voted for my favourite.

Weird Al an easy pick here

Don't really love any of those—will probably vote Filth.

soul mining and hlhr always seemed well appreciated to me. waiting is not quite is good, but is much more under appreciated afaict.

Another Perfect Day'd rule for Dancing On Your Grave alone, but there're other great tracks on it

Wow, my listening in 1983 didn't involve any of these. Even the Paul Simon record, pretty much the only one I know from that list, I didn't discover until the mid 90s.

[Editor's note: The blurb for Felt's The Splendour Of Fear was removed from this story after we discovered that it was released in 1984. Sorry about that. It's still a good record, though.]

"WHAT'S A COMPUTER?"

Dazzle Ships or Jonathan Sings. The Splendour of Fear and High Land, Hard Rain would be up there too.

o god plz plz plz let us not start polling av club listicles

― balls, Thursday, August 22, 2013 9:19 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

voted the fall fwiw

― balls, Thursday, August 22, 2013 9:20 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lol sorry bout that, this one more than most seemed to hit the ILM sweet spot

― mucus has a right to children (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, August 22, 2013 11:01 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's a different term for this than "sweet spot", it's close to the same concept that made "push" by matchbox 20 a hit single.

craftsmanship?

payola?

Dazzle Ships shouldn't be there after the re-evaulation of its merits these past few years.

If it's there, it wins. If not, then it'd be Script of the Bridge for me.

1983 was all about "Let's Dance" (the single) for me, I think the first album I tried from my parent's collection was Low and I wasn't prepared/didn't have the attention span to appreciate it the way I later would. I didn't really start listening to and buying albums until 1985 (I picked Rhythm of the Night over Songs from the Big Chair as my first purchase) so most of the albums I know from this list I only got to know (much) later. Soul Mining, Come Away with ESG and Dazzle Ships are my favourites.

My favorite Chameleons album over TFF.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"The Hurting" is underappreciated? I don't disagree, (it could never be over appreciated) but it went to #1

In the UK; in the US it went to #73.

I feel like, as far as general American pop culture is concerned, most people thought Tears For Fears started with "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" came out until that dreary cover from Donnie Darko became famous and lots of people went "oh those random synth pop songs I heard on college radio all the time circa 1984 were Tears For Fears? WHO KNEW"

I knew, some people knew. I listened to that shit all the time (though admittedly I found it when it was over a year old— but c'mon, I was in the southern U.S., for chrissakes!

"Underappreciated" does depend on where you may have lived. Where I was, most all of this was virtually unknown. I voted Soul Mining, because that shit killed me when I first heard it, I still listen to it regularly, and I knew very few people who also knew it. I ended up finding "Burning Blue Soul" also, which— believe me— was not easy in Tennessee in the eighties.
The Hurting, too, a close second for me, sure nobody really knew it there. I ended up reading all that Janov shit after that; it changed my life, though it's kind of nuts, really.

The usual "_______" is not on this list

I will be the only person voting for Yes Sir, I Will but it'd prob win this poll in a landslide if other people had heard it. God, what a fucking underrated album!

Dazzle Ships vs. High Land vs. Script of the Bridge

**head explodes**

Soul Mining is a perfect album. Lots of good choices on this list but that's one of the best albums ever. Just got the 12" for This Is The Day last week and the week before that I picked up my 3rd different version of the Uncertain Smile 12".

Sorry, a bunch of albums I love. You will always be second to "Dig That Groove, Baby."

I will be the only person voting for Yes Sir, I Will but it'd prob win this poll in a landslide if other people had heard it. God, what a fucking underrated album!

Does anyone know of other records that sound like Yes Sir, I Will? I can't really think of anything that sounds like it.

I remember seeing a film that the album soundtracked in Newcastle about seven years ago which I'm guessing is the one referred to here on wikipedia:

A film made by Crass member Gee Vaucher to accompany Yes Sir, I Will was shown at the UK National Film Theatre's Stuff the Jubilee festival of punk films in 2002

This doesn't seem to be online anywhere, has anyone seen it, or knows if it is on the internet somewhere?

I bought Yes Sir I Will on CD when I was a teenager, I'd never heard a note of Crass at that point, I think I'd wanted to get Penis Envy but I was too embarrassed to take that to the sales counter. I agree it's a fantastic album. I think I first heard of Crass when The Idler magazine did an interview with Penny Rimbaud in 2001, and they were one of those bands that built up a mystique in my head before I ever heard them.
I remember before I listened to the CD i was a bit worried they were going to sound like New Model Army or something. Were there any other anarcho-punk/crusty-punk bands that didn't sound crap? I don't really know much about that scene outside of Crass.

God, I've just gone to youtube and listened to New Model Army for the first time in years and it sounds like Frank Turner. Is there a line that can be drawn from Crass to Frank Turner? Some of Crass were poshos throwing rah-rah-radical shapes as well weren't they? Obv Crass's politics quite a bit different from Frank griping about having to pay his TV licence in interviews.

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

Well, blow my goat!

Great showing for Rain Parade; need to check that album out

Some of Crass were poshos throwing rah-rah-radical shapes as well weren't they?

smdh at this idiocy

Is there a line that can be drawn from Crass to Frank Turner?

you can draw a line from anything to anything p much, doesn't mean it's a worthwhile use of energy