Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1985…
#7 – No Jacket Required – Phil Collins
The albums I’ve featured this week aren’t records I know by heart. I don’t have a deep enough stable of 1985 releases among my personal favorites.
But each of them has an overall sound and perspective that speaks to me, and three or four songs I really love. Today’s selection is a another great example.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1985…
#8 – Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
English singer-songwriter Kate Bush’s fifth studio release, Hounds of Love, was her biggest success and is widely considered her best album. It sits squarely in her avant-garde, art pop comfort zone while remaining accessible to mainstream audiences.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1985…
#9 – Scarecrow – John Cougar Mellencamp
Here’s another album I don’t know by heart, but know well enough to give it a spot on this list.
John Mellencamp (still using the Cougar for this release) is one of those artists I enjoy and admire but not enough to consider myself a dedicated fan.
I’m a little more than halfway through my Decades series, in which I’m covering albums released in each of the 40 years between 1970 and 2009. I’ve covered the first four years of every decade from the 70s through the 00s, plus — most recently — 1975.
That brings me to 1985, the year I turned 13. That’s a formative year in anybody’s life, musically and otherwise, so I’m excited to dive in once again to one of my favorite musical decades.
Concluding my look at the albums of 1975…
Wrapping up the latest Decades installment, here’s a track from the Parliament album Mothership Connection, the funk band’s fourth. This was their highest-charting album and featured their top-charting single in ‘Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker).’
As somebody who decidedly doesn’t have the funk, I appreciate this album more than I like it. It certainly has infectious grooves but it just isn’t my thing. That said, I enjoyed spending some time with the record and it made me wish it was more up my alley.
