ABC isn’t one of the better-known New Wave bands (at least not to me) but they are one of the most critically-acclaimed. Their 1982 debut album, The Lexicon of Love, received heaps of praise and a spot on many publications’ year-end lists.
‘The Look of Love’ was the album’s biggest hit, reaching the top five in the U.K. and the top 20 in the U.S. Though I’m hard-pressed to name any songs by ABC, this one sounds instantly familiar. And wonderful.
I think of Depeche Mode as a quintessential 80s band. But oddly enough, it took them the whole decade to arrive at their pinnacle achievement, 1990’s Violator. That record featured two of their biggest hits, ‘Personal Jesus’ and ‘Enjoy the Silence.’ And they released as many albums after Violator as they did before it.
The band spent the 80s tweaking their New Wave sound, which met with more commercial success in their native England than on this side of the pond.
Continuing my look at acclaimed albums released in 1982, we arrive at Peter Gabriel’s self-titled fourth solo album. Not to be confused with his self-titled first, second and third solo albums.
Gabriel is an imaginative fellow, but that imagination didn’t extend to his album titles. Those first four albums, all officially titled Peter Gabriel, have come to be known by a word derived from the album covers: Car, Scratch, Melt and Security.
Three years before Kate Bush released her most acclaimed album, Hounds of Love, she set the table with her fourth record, The Dreaming. This was the first album Bush produced on her own and she took advantage of the chance to let her freak flag fly.
Hounds of Love is a great art pop album, and the only one of Bush’s records I own. Her style is a bit too out there for my taste, but I recognize the talent.
The Cure’s Pornography didn’t show up on many top ten lists back in 1982, but the album has developed a following in the ensuing years, and it does show up on quite a few retrospective lists chronicling that year.
It’s always interesting to see films, albums or novels get ripped upon release only to become classics decades later. Some works of art are either ahead of their time or require time to sink in.
Meet Me In Montauk 