NME's Best Albums of 1981

[Santa C]

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I was reminiscing with my brother this morning about the time we went to see Kraftwerk play live together.

It was in 1981, on the Computer World tour.

I saw them on two consecutive nights, once at the Hammersmith Odeon and once next door at what was then called The Hammersmith Palais. We can't recall which venue he attended

We travelled up to the venue on our motorbikes from Essex - he had a Honda 400-4 and I had a Honda 750.

Anyway, he hated it!

He dabbled in a drop of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis but that was about it. It was the old cliche - 'it's all bloody pre-recorded'

So, that got me thinking about where the album was placed in the Best Albums charts at the time and I was amazed to see it ranked, by NME, as the second best album of 1981

So, I have attached the chart and welcome your views on the above and on the albums included and where they are ranked.

It isn't a good year - was it?

What would be your top 5 in order?

And how many of those albums have you still got in your collection?

https://www.nme.com/features/1981-2-1045398




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[robertff]

Off the top of my head without looking I’ve got 11 of those albums, not a very good year by my reckoning. Probably if it was the Melody Maker 1981 list I’d have a lot more, they served different interests didn’t they, I never much liked the NME.

I like Kraftwerk well enough but it’s not the genre of music I play very often, although I do have quite a few of their records, 6 or 7 I think. As for the top 5 of that list:


1. Stones
2. Human League
3. Echo
4. Squeeze
5. Costello (Trust) Heaven 17, Japan, Bow Wow Wow

Still play the top 4 and the odd Costello at a push, as for the others once in blue moon, although I did play Bow, Bow, Bow recently, still quite like that.

Amazed the Stones were on that list, thought all weeklies were anti by that time.


Just checked out a top 100 albums list of that year, it was a pretty grim year but where were the likes of the Cure, AC/DC, Pretenders, The Who, Steve Winwood, Genesis, ELO, Tom Petty, Police and Queen who had the biggest selling album of that year on the NME list, to name but a few?


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[Santa C]

I would rank Human League’s Dare number 1

I still play it regularly I love it!


I can’t do a top 5 as the only other album I have is Japan’s Tin Drum - another I play regularly

So for me

1. HL
2. Kraftwerk
3. Japan

I was a Melody Maker man too



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[robertff]

I would rank Human League’s Dare number 1

I still play it regularly I love it!

.

No doubt about it, definitely a very good album as was Hysteria but not quite as good.



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[Santa C]

I was never into Costello but I did see him do a solo acoustic set at The Hackney Empire, which I enjoyed, with John Cooper Clarke and Ian Dury on the same bill

A very attractive Victorian venue

Described by The Guardian as "the most beautiful theatre in London"




I can see my seat, honestly, I remember it well!

Four rows back left hand of front stalls - seven or eight seats from the left

Bizarre!


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[ChrisB]

1. Trust
2. Penthouse and Pavement
3. Eat SIde Story
4. Dreamtime
5. Tin Drum

Crikey, only had 8 of the albums. I used to buy the big three publications .... NME, Melody Maker and Sounds. Some of the best articles I've ever read were from the NME, but other times they seemed to be contentious for contentious sake

[robertff]

1. Trust
2. Penthouse and Pavement
3. Eat SIde Story
4. Dreamtime
5. Tin Drum

Crikey, only had 8 of the albums. I used to buy the big three publications .... NME, Melody Maker and Sounds. Some of the best articles I've ever read were from the NME, but other times they seemed to be contentious for contentious sake

That Nick Kent, no doubt.

[ChrisB]

And Les Enfantes Terrible, Tony and Julie.
As for Nick, absolutely spell binding articles on such artists as the Beach Boys, Neil, the Smiths, tempered with vitriolic and very personal attacks on various other artists. Unfortunately, as we all know, he was also enthralled with Keef and his hedonistic lifestyle, and developed a debilitating heroin habit, just like his hero

[Mike Boom]

Human League - Dare
Elvis Costello - Trust
Squeeze – East Side Story
Echo And The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
Japan – Tin Drum
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing

More notable for what it leaves out of course -

Ghost in the Machine - The Police
Eno/David Byrne - My Live in the Bush of Ghosts
Discipline - King Crimson
Archecture & Morality
Hard Promises - Tom Petty
Movement - New Order
Phil Collins - Face Value
Bella Donna - Stevie Nicks
Stands for Decibels - The dbs
Faith - The Cure
Juju - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Pirates - Rickie Lee Jones
The Pretenders - II
Joy Division - Still
Devo - New Traditionalists
Wilder - Teardrop Explodes

[Darkness_Fish]

My top 5:
1. Clock DVA - Thirst
2. Eyeless in Gaza - Photographs as Memories
3. Killing Joke - What's THIS For!...
4. Palais Schaumburg - Palais Schaumburg
5. Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca

Those top 2 are definite all-time top 10.

From the NME list, I have:

Kraftwerk - Computer World
Human League - Dare
DAF - Alles Ist Gut
Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca
DAF – Gold Und Liebe
The Raincoats – Odyshape
Japan – Tin Drum
The Cramps – Psychedelic Jungle

[Santa C]

Human League - Dare
Elvis Costello - Trust
Squeeze – East Side Story
Echo And The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
Japan – Tin Drum
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing

Is that a foreign five....?



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[robertff]

1. Trust
2. Penthouse and Pavement
3. Eat SIde Story
4. Dreamtime
5. Tin Drum

Crikey, only had 8 of the albums. I used to buy the big three publications .... NME, Melody Maker and Sounds. Some of the best articles I've ever read were from the NME, but other times they seemed to be contentious for contentious sake

Bet you had more from the list of albums that came out in 1981 though, just not the NME list.



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[ChrisB]

Absolutely. Just from the other list (singles) I had 8 different artists, and that's nothing compared to the list submitted by Mike Boom. This month's Uncut albums of the year, surprisingly I had 8! ( I know we mention it every year, but in the old days it would be 8 I DIDN'T have )

[Santa C]

This is marginally better (I can't find a Melody Melody - anybody...?)

https://www.radiox.co.uk/features/x-lis ... bums-1981/

Some of yours included Mike with Phil at number 1 (gawd 'help us!)

More notable for what it leaves out of course -

Ghost in the Machine - The Police
Eno/David Byrne - My Live in the Bush of Ghosts
Discipline - King Crimson
Archecture & Morality
Hard Promises - Tom Petty
Movement - New Order
Phil Collins - Face Value
Bella Donna - Stevie Nicks
Stands for Decibels - The dbs
Faith - The Cure
Juju - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Pirates - Rickie Lee Jones
The Pretenders - II
Joy Division - Still
Devo - New Traditionalists
Wilder - Teardrop Explodes

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[Tom Waits For No One]

.
I was reminiscing with my brother this morning about the time we went to see Kraftwerk play live together.

It was in 1981, on the Computer World tour.

I saw them on two consecutive nights, once at the Hammersmith Odeon and once next door at what was then called The Hammersmith Palais. We can't recall which venue he attended

We travelled up to the venue on our motorbikes from Essex - he had a Honda 400-4 and I had a Honda 750.

Anyway, he hated it!

He dabbled in a drop of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis but that was about it. It was the old cliche - 'it's all bloody pre-recorded'

So, I... welcome your views on the above

.

I saw the Newcastle City Hall show.
It was fantastic, bits of Kling Klang set up on stage, dummies, neon name boxes, letting people at the front have a go at playing their tiny keyboards.

I've just read David Hepworth's book "A Fabulous Creation - How The LP Saved Our Lives'

He says this about Computer World:

"I worked in magazines when this came out. Our copy was still sent to the typesetters by courier. Pages were wrestled into being from Letraset and glue. There were just three TV channels. All the reviews of this record, like all the records talked about in this book, were written on manual typewriters. This still seemed to belong to a place called the Future. We were only a few years away from the day when the future arrived"

He slagged it off in his review at the time.

He lists the following in his 1981 appendix:

The Pretenders - Pretenders II
Phil Collins - Face Value
Pat Metheny & Lylt Mays - AsFalls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
Eno and Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache
Kraftwerk - Computer World
Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna
Black Uhuru - Red
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
Human League - Dare

Mike's list is great but I'd add Duran Duran's 1st and Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

[Lord Rother]

Human League - Dare
Elvis Costello - Trust
Squeeze – East Side Story
Echo And The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
Japan – Tin Drum
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing

More notable for what it leaves out of course -

Ghost in the Machine - The Police
Eno/David Byrne - My Live in the Bush of Ghosts
Discipline - King Crimson
Archecture & Morality
Hard Promises - Tom Petty
Movement - New Order
Phil Collins - Face Value
Bella Donna - Stevie Nicks
Stands for Decibels - The dbs
Faith - The Cure
Juju - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Pirates - Rickie Lee Jones
The Pretenders - II
Joy Division - Still
Devo - New Traditionalists
Wilder - Teardrop Explodes

And Rush - Moving Pictures....

[Samoan]

Melody Maker 1981 Readers’ Poll…

[Darkness_Fish]

Rateyourmusic current top 10 for 1981:

1. King Crimson - Discipline
2. Glenn Branca - The Ascension,
3. This Heat - Deceit
4. Rush - Moving Pictures
5. Siouxsie and The Banshees - Juju
6. Kraftwerk - Computerwelt
7. Wipers - Youth of America
8. The Cure - Faith
9. Los Jaivas - Alturas de Machu Pichu
10. Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring

https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1981/

[Santa C]

Melody Maker 1981 Readers’ Poll…

Yes, I saw that perviously….

The third worst album: No Sleep Til Hammersmith - Motörhead

Nonsense. I'm sure the writers' choices would be more sensible





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[Santa C]

.
I was reminiscing with my brother this morning about the time we went to see Kraftwerk play live together.

It was in 1981, on the Computer World tour.

I saw them on two consecutive nights, once at the Hammersmith Odeon and once next door at what was then called The Hammersmith Palais. We can't recall which venue he attended

We travelled up to the venue on our motorbikes from Essex - he had a Honda 400-4 and I had a Honda 750.

Anyway, he hated it!

He dabbled in a drop of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis but that was about it. It was the old cliche - 'it's all bloody pre-recorded'

So, I... welcome your views on the above

.

I saw the Newcastle City Hall show.
It was fantastic, bits of Kling Klang set up on stage, dummies, neon name boxes, letting people at the front have a go at playing their tiny keyboards.

Yes - I remember it well!



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