Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…
I was prepared to put English rock band XTC’s Skylarking on my list of the best 1986 albums, remembering my fondness for it during college. But when I listened to it for the first time in years, maybe the first time in decades, it didn’t grab me the way it used to.
‘Dear God’ still hits hard, but much of the rest is a bit too much. Too strident, too weirdly psychedelic.
Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…
When I wrote the Decades posts about 1984, my happiest discovery was The Bangles’ debut album All Over the Place. So I shouldn’t be surprised that their follow-up, Different Light, holds the same designation for 1986.
This was the band’s triple-Platinum breakthrough, the album that featured #1 hit ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and #2 hit ‘Manic Monday.’ It was more polished and poppy than the debut, more designed for commercial airplay, but still unpredictable and energetic.
Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…
Huey Lewis and the News were the Hootie and the Blowfish of the 80s. Both bands had massive but short-lived success releasing feel-good pop rock driven by a charismatic frontman’s excellent vocals. And both were largely (and wrongly) relegated to joke status after the shine had worn off.
If 1983’s Sports was Huey Lewis’ Cracked Rear View, then 1986’s Fore! was their Fairweather Johnson — a triple-Platinum follow-up that still lived in the shadow of the bigger hit. The difference is that Sports went 7x Platinum — impressive, but not the Diamond-selling juggernaut Hootie could never escape.
Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…
I pulled together my top ten albums of 1986 pretty quickly, and while I stand behind it (especially the top six), I might make a couple of adjustments with the hindsight two weeks has provided.
One change I would definitely make is to include Genesis’ Invisible Touch in the lineup. It was on my long list, but when the time came to cut down to six it inexplicably missed the cut.
The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ still claimed the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of October 19, 1965. Just behind it was ‘Treat Her Right,’ the debut single by Roy Head and the Traits.
Written by Head and bassist Gene Kurtz, this two-minute blast of blue-eyed soul was an instant hit, missing out on #1 only because it was up against The Beatles’ classic. ‘Treat Her Right’ went on to be covered by a laundry list of performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Otis Redding, Jimmy Page, and Mae West.
Meet Me In Montauk 