Radcliffe doesn't count.

It's one of the handful of CDs I've sold back shortly after an album came out. I haven't heard it in a while, but I have no real desire to either. It's not mind-blowingly terrible to me and I wouldn't say I hate it, but compared to some other stuff that came out in 1986 (The Queen Is Dead, Strange Times, Immaculate Deception, Master of Puppets, Raising Hell, Express, Forever Breathes the Lonely Word), it doesn't hold a candle.

AllMusic calls it a 1987 release, but if it was, it was very early and, for some reason, I tend to think of it as 1986. So that is what I am going to call it -- a 1986 release. A beautifully psychedelic release, and one of my "gateway" albums into the wonderful world of indie/underground/college rock when I was in high school. It was also one of the first albums that I loved that had any sort of real country flavor -- "Quit It" and "Confusion Fog" being a helluva 1-2 punch coming right after the leadoff psych weirdness of the title track.
Speaking of psych weirdness, the gloriously off-key whistling in "Maiden's Milk" still brings a huge smile to my face. I love this band so much. And this was the flip-side of the Memorex tape that got me into them (on the other side of Up on the Sun).

I agree on Graceland and So. I was a fan. Their production on them is on such a different level I can see why some people aren't including them next to their REM, Smiths, Blood Monkeys or whatever.



How come I don't know/own this one? I must check it out. Is it in the vein of Hymns to the Silence?

yes!

Certainly there are similarities, but No Guru has a more spiritual (i.e., Van's dabbling in religion) bent. I can up it from the other computer after I get finished with a business telecon.

I grew up listening to Graceland. I certainly don't hate it, but I don't love it, either.

I have never heard So, but I'm generally not a fan of Peter Gabriel. I'd be willing to give it a shot, though.

According to Itunes, I have 2 albums from 86'; Ramones - Animal Boy and Mojo Nixon- Frenzy. The mid-80s is probably the smallest part of my music collection.

This is the demographic center of Obner reaction to the two monumental releases from 1986.

Van's No Guru is in the spiritual space of things like Hymns to the Silence, but in so much of Van (who is as close to my favorite artist as any) there is this intensity that is ego-centric to the point of isolating... No Guru has a calm and sweetness... and it's sound makes me calm in the best ways.

Graceland I like quite a lot. So, on the other hand I never cared for. Not much a Peter Gabriel fan in general and this one never changed that.

Good Dwight Yoakam mention, by the way. Great album. I think this guy gets overlooked by too many people who are interested in more traditional sounding country or the whole alt.country crowd just because he's had too much mainstream country success for them to want to like him. But, he really was a big player in bringing back old style country sounds, was an important figure in the California cowpunk scene, and his debut was a fine record. Hell, he's made a lot of fine records since then.

The Meat Puppets put out the Out My Way EP in 1986, and it's much better than Mirage, IMO (which is 1987 according to every source I've seen). Pretty robust EP at 6 tracks in close to 30 minutes, and recent reissues have expanded it to 13 tracks. I'd recommend it. Possibly their best release outside of II and Up on the Sun.

Great EP and the Ryko reissue just about doubles the running time. Some of the extras are worthless, but some of them are pretty great.

Yeah, Graceland and So were mainstream pap.

The Pandoras - Stop Pretending



Led by the dynamic Paula Pierce (who died at the start of the '90s) and including a pre-Muffs Kim Shattuck, the Pandoras rocked '60s garage with a true punk intensity. And that description undersells the charm of this album, because every song is full of pop hooks despite Pierce's tendency to whoop and holler like a gutter version of Wanda Jackson. The band split after this, with two different Pandoras confusingly touring - one that was a '60s garage photocopy and the other being Pierce's odd descent into crotch rock/hair metal (mirroring the similar horrific career move by Rank and File). The garage purists tend to like the previous Pandoras album better, citing its more authentic '60s sound, but that's the very reason I prefer Stop Pretending - it definitely ain't the '60s.

blog link to the reissue with a ton of bonus tracks and demos:

The other Obner demographic center, aging and bitter. As opposed to harry, who is aged and bombastic.

The Coolies - Dig..?



In one of the strangest decisions of all time, '80s punk/alternative band the Coolies chose to make their debut with an album consisting entirely of songs by Paul Simon (with one exception, but more on that later). In the ensuing mess - and I mean that in a good way - a punky version of "Mrs. Robinson" (um, hello Lemonheads, I see you) sits uncomfortably alongside an AC/DC rifferama version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," a proto-alt.country stab at "Cecilia," and a guitar-fuzzed runthrough of "El Condor Pasa." It's all surprisingly better than it has any right to be. Even the addition of Paul Anka's odious "Having My Baby" doesn't snuff out the good times, although it does make one stop and wonder why it's there in the first place. The band's typically retarded/brilliant explanation for its inclusion is that "it was written by a guy named Paul." They followed this album with the twisted rock opera Doug, which also requires a fairly healthy dosage of irony to enjoy.


<---- raises hand

Survivors, Brah, survivors. At least, so far. As for "mainstream pap", I'll offer up my opinion with something said by Kristofferson as the crowd at Isle of Wight in 1969 was trying to boo him offstage- "If it sounds country to you, man, that's what it is. It's country music."

Yup. That's certainly what it is.

thank you very much for this one, btw. i played it last night, and had to give it a go this morning once again. really like it. i've tried a couple of times now with Crazy Rhythms, and i just could not get into it. it has been a while, but to me this doesn't really sound like the same band. maybe it's time to give Crazy Rhythms another go....

are their next 2 albums in the same league as The Good Earth?

Haven't even thought of that Coolies record in a really long time, thanks.

One record I've always wanted to check out, but never have. Everything I've been reading states it as one of the best of the 80's, in the top three acts of the decade along with REM & The Mats.

The Good Earth is their best album imho so I'd so no they aren't quite as good but they are still good and closer in style to The Good Earth than to Crazy Rhythms. I like Crazy Rhythms but it's my least favorite Feelies and its cult status probably comes from it being out of print for so long.

Glenn Mercer's solo album from a couple of years ago was pretty good too and deserves more attention. I think I had it in my top 5 of whatever year that was.

I like Graceland but I can't stand So. I hate everything I've heard by Peter Gabriel though.

I'd rather listen to Shock the Monkey on repeat for 45 minutes than play So all the way through.

I like The Good Earth but Only Life and Time For A Witness are considerably better.

Only Life is really good and very Lou Reed-ish. Definitely worth checking out if you like The Good Earth.

I need to get Time for a Witness.