NME Best Albums 1982

[Mike Boom]

NME Best Albums 1982

1 Marvin Gaye - Midnight Love
2 Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Imperial Bedroom
3 ABC - The Lexicon of Love
4 The Clash - Combat Rock
5 Denys Midnight Runners - Too Rye Aye
6 Yazoo - Upstairs at Erics
7 Donald Fagan - The Nightfly
8 King Sunny Ade - Juju Music
9 Shalamar - Friends
10 Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse
11 Siouxsie And The Banshees – A Kiss In The Dreamhouse
12 Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Tropical Gangsters
13 Van Morrison – Beautiful Vision
14 Grandmaster Flash – The Message
15 Curtis Mayfield – Honesty
16 Robert Wyatt – Nothing Can Stop Us Now
17 Bobby Womack – The Poet
18 The Associates – Sulk
19 Roxy Music – Avalon
20 Culture Club – Kissing To Be Clever
21 The Fall – Hex Education Hour
22 Ornette Coleman – Of Human Feelings
23 Laurie Anderson – Big Science
24 Madness – The Rise And Fall
25 The Jam – The Gift
26 Gil Scott-Heron – Moving Targets
27 Defunkt – Thermo-Nuclear Sweat
28 Imagination – In The Heat Of The Night
29 The Birthday Party – Junkyard
30 Lester Bowie – The Great Pretender
31 Aswad – New Chapter Of Dub
32 Donna Summer – Donna Summer
33 Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
34 Tom Verlaine – Words From The Front
35 Aswad – Not Satisfied
36 Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
37 Grace Jones – Living My Life
38 Sun Ra – Strange Celestial Road
39 Michael Smith – Mi Cyan Believe It
40 Joan Jett – I Love Rock And Roll
41 Art Ensemble Of Chicago – Urban Bushman
42 Wynton Marsalis – Wynton Marsalis
43 Gun Club – Miami
44 Marshall Crenshaw – Marshall Crenshaw
45 Cabaret Voltaire – 2 X 45
46 Orchestra Makassy – Agwaya
47 George Clinton – Computer Games
48 Sun Ra – Sunrise In Different Dimensions
49 Dr John – Dr John Plays Mac Rebennack
50 The Associates – Fourth Drawer Down

A lot of the best albums are there but the order is a little strange
Notably Missing -
The Dreaming - Kate Bush, Sweets from a Stranger - Squeeze, Mirage - Fleetwood Mac, Night and Day - Joe Jackson, Shoot Out the Lights - Richard and Linda Thomson , English Settlement - XTC ....
Better than 1981 ?
Questions , comments, concerns ?

[Six String]

Maybe it’s just me but I always find it strange to see two or three jazz albums in a long list of pop/rock albums. Lester Bowie? Ornette Coleman? Not saying they aren’t worthy, just weird to see them on the list. Are they just trying to be edgy? Your mention of the other Kate Bush album, Shoot Out The Lights and a few others afterwards are spot on. Oh, and nice to see Tom Verlaine on the list too!

[Darkness_Fish]

It looks a much more boring and stodgy list of albums to me. Even though I don't like the mag's ethos, you do expect a bit more edge, a few more surprises or quirky choices.

[robertff]

Not a great year end list but then I never thought much of the NME choices anyway, despite that, off the top of my head, I've got 13 or 14 of those.


What happened to Thriller, 1999, Rio, Shoot Out The Lights, Pornography, Long After Dark, Abracadabra and the others mentioned by Six String? Not edgy enough for NME's radar I guess.


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[Santa C]

I can’t recall what I was buying in 1982, but it certainly wasn’t this lot

I have two - Avalon and Robert Wyatt


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[Darkness_Fish]

My top 5:

1. Virgin Prunes - ...If I Die, I Die
2. SPK - Leichenschrei
3. The Dancing Did - And Did Those Feet
4. Killing Joke - Revelations
5. The Sound - All Fall Down

[Santa C]

Omissions:

Captain Beefheart - Ice Cream for Crow
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Peter Gabriel - 4
Tangerine Dream - White Eagle
Ultravox - Quartet
Jethro Tull - Broadsword & The Beast

And of course as previously mentioned R&T





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