Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…
#4 – Lifes Rich Pageant – R.E.M.
Few bands had as a good a run in the 80s as R.E.M. Lifes Rich Pageant was the band’s fourth album in as many years and every one was a masterpiece.
Following up the murky folk rock of Fables of the Reconstruction, Pageant found the band in full rock mode, putting the muscular sound of their live shows on record for the first time.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…
#5 – So – Peter Gabriel
My top five albums of 1986 are all-timers. Each one would be on the long list of my favorite records. It’s pretty crazy that they all came out the same year.
English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel had modest U.S. success with his first four albums (all self-titled), but his fifth release — given the throwaway title So after the record label asked for something easier to market — was his breakthrough.
The #1 song on the Hot 100 the week of October 5, 1965, was a little tune called ‘Yesterday’ by a little band known as The Beatles. The track was not released as a single in the UK because the band felt it was more of a Paul McCartney tune than a proper Beatles release, but in the U.S. it topped the charts for four weeks.
Considering I wrote 40 Beatles Weekend posts back in 2009/10, I was sure I had already featured ‘Yesterday.’ But alas, I made it to Song of the Day #6,300 without posting one of the most beloved, famous, and oft-covered songs of all time.
Throwing back to the week of October 4, 1955, we find the usual crowd of repeat offenders atop the chart (I won’t bother listing them… they’ve all been shouted out repeatedly by now).
At the #5 spot that week, on its way to a peak at #2, was ‘Moments to Remember,’ a sleepy pop ballad by Canadian quartet The Four Lads. This song is tied with 1956’s ‘No, Not Much!’ as the foursome’s top-charting single.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…
#6 – Blood & Chocolate – Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello had such a good 80s run that my #6 album of 1986 was just his second-best release that year. I’ll get to the other one next week.
After a series of genre exercises (country, baroque pop, 60s soul, New Wave, Americana), Blood & Chocolate was a muscular rock-n-roll album, Costello’s first since 19878’s This Year’s Model. When Costello snarls out the album’s title in the opening moments of first track ‘Uncomplicated’ to the strains of an aggressive electric guitar, you know you’re in for a wild ride.
Meet Me In Montauk 