Fresh (1994)

   This crime drama is one of my favorite discoveries of the year.  The basic premise is about a young man named Fresh, who slings drugs and has to grow up fast on the streets of New York City.  Also, the score by Stewart Copeland is excellent as well, check it out.

Virgin Prunes, If I Die I Die, CD, 1982, Dublin, Ireland

               Since it's a balmy, sullen, and precipitous day in Portland, I feel this album fits the mood pretty well.  I discovered the Virgin Prunes through vocalist, Gavin Friday, appearing on Dave Ball's impressive 1983 album "In Strict Tempo." It also doesn't hurt that Wire's Colin Newman produced it. 

Hard Stuff, Bulletproof, CD, 1972, U.K.

Hard Stuff's much lauded debut is solid from start to finish and features guitarist, John Du Cann, of Atomic Rooster fame.  If this fancies your taste also check out their second album "Bolex Dementia" from '73.

Stepson, S/T, LP, 1974, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.

Stellar mid-seventies Pacific Northwest hard rock at its finest featuring members of Touch and Don and the Goodtimes.  It seems to me that there are sentiments of early Blue Oyster Cult doled through out this album.  Also, there's a wicked cover of the Animals "It's My Life."  Don't pass this gem up, it's one of my favorite discoveries of 2014

Scott Walker, Climate of Hunter LP, 1983, U.K.

       At this interval in time, this eerily haunting and weirdly beautiful experimental pop album from Scott Walker, formerly of the Walker Brothers, is my favorite of his. Unfortunately, this is the only album Scott Walker did in the 80's and I would have loved to have heard more albums from him during this era.  Oddly enough, Billy Ocean and Mark Knopfler appear on this album.  DAMN IT Scott Walker! Get out of my car and into my dreams.

T2, It'll All Work Out In Boomland Lp, 1970, U.K.

       Rockin debut album from this three piece psych prog unit featuring Peter Dunton on drums and vocal duties.  I will be posting their demos from 1971-72 in the future.

Dantalion's Chariot, Chariot Rising LP, 1967, U.K.

              Superb under the radar psych gem featuring guitarist, Andy Summers, from the Police.

Nikki Sudden and the French Revolution, Groove LP, 1989, U.K.

     Prodigiously mesmerizing rock album by the late swell maps co-founder.  It seems to me that Groove would be an excellent candidate to listen to before the summer's end.

Tankard, The Morning After LP, 1988, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

        Another thrash favorite of mine, these German beer guzzling enthusiasts hit their apex with this third album release.  Also, the lyrics are pretty stellar, "Morning's passed, now I think I remember, holy shit, ugly bitch playing with my member, mutated sow with an extra tit."

Danny Elfman, Wisdom Soundtrack LP, 1986, U.S.A.

     This unconventional score by Danny Elfman for Emilio Estevez's directorial debut, Wisdom, deviates from his quirky, bizarre, and darker compositions. This score is more subdued and atmospheric, perfect for this crime road movie.  The premise of the film shows John Wisdom, a felon who can't find work because of a crime he committed a couple years ago.  He ascertains that if he's going to be treated like a criminal he's going to act like one. While traveling across the country, along with his girlfriend, Wisdom drives off into the mystique of the United States destroying important bank documents so farmers don't have to foreclose on their farms during dire economic times,while taking the occasional Tofutti break and participating in some salacious Twinkie foreplay. At the end, it turns out the whole movie was one big wet dream.  My only beef with the record is that it doesn't contain Oingo Boingo's "Home Again" which plays through end credits and additionally the soundtrack is also missing the montage scene music.

Listen to it here.

Exodus, Bonded By Blood LP, 1985, Richmond, California, U.S.A.

 For my money, Exodus's Bonded by Blood is the best U.S. thrash album ever.  

Robert Calvert, Hype: Songs of Tom Mahler LP, 1981, U.K.

Deemed as the late former Hawkwind frontman's most commercial sounding solo album, Hype dives into new wave rock 'n roll territory.  It's a departure from the first two solo albums he released in the 1970's and doesn't feature as much Hawkwind related members on it.  Most of the musicians featured on Hype were in a band called Bethnal that supported Hawkwind during their 1977 U.K. tour. It shall be mentioned that Hype was also a novel that Calvert wrote about the rise and fall of a rock star and the songs on Hype serve as a device to illustrate Calvert's ideologies about the mainstream record industry.  In some instances the songs remind me of Roxy Music. Listen to it here.

Xinr - Xinr LP, 2012, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.

Xinr's (pronounced ex-sinner) existence was short lived after a motorcycle accident claimed two of it's members lives back in November of 1984.  In 2012 this compilation of songs, recorded in 1984, were released on the label Unseen Forces.  Sonically pleasing, I find these songs extremely raw and reminiscent of Judas Priest, which is why I'll forgive them for their Christian overtones.

Eurythmics - 1984(For the Love of Big Brother) LP, 1984, U.K.

The amount of Eurythmics material I've been subject to over the years has been paltry to say the least.  But thanks to Matt, I heard this at M.D. earlier this year and remember liking it. Unfortunately, at the time, I couldn't give the record my undivided attention.  Luckily, I found this record for cheap recently and was completely enamored by it's laden 80's synth pop sentiments.  This was/is to be part of the soundtrack to the film "Ninteen Eighty-Four" but from what I've gleaned, not many versions of the film contain the Eurythmics songs (I think only on some vhs versions), only the music of  Dominic Muldowney.  I was told by Matt that director, Michael Radford, had the Eurythmics songs excised from the dvd version because he felt they were forced on him by the studio for commercial reasons. Listen to it here.

Tom Fazzini - Neck to Neck LP, 1984, U.K.

Bought this 2009 reissue of Tom Fazzini's experimental electronic debut effort released originally in 1984.  I was eyeing this very LP at Crossroads Music back in March of this year and didn't want to deal with the hassle of traveling with it, knowing that it could possibly get damaged in transit.  Remarkably, the album was still there in July and I snagged it right away.  Prior to recording this album, Tom had been writing and playing songs on an acoustic guitar and after hearing Test Dept. he wanted to venture down a different avenue musically.  He was also said to be known as a quiet person and this gave him an outlet which would negate that notion.  Definitely worth the fifteen bucks I shelled out for it.  
Listen to it here.