ohtani's jacket

It was really only half a season, so I don't see any point on placing an ultimate judgement on it just yet, but I enjoyed it for the most part. Yeah, i's treading over the same ground, but that's because the tensions are still there.

Finally, somebody else has stepped up to the plate. Hopefully, we'll see a nice little battle between Sinner and Alcaraz for the year-end No.1.

I've been reading the first volume that Fantagraphics put out.

This week I've been reading Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. It truly is the most delightful book I've read in a long time. In fact, it's the most excited I've been about comics since I discovered Strangehaven and Age of Bronze. It reminds me of when I first discovered the early issues of Bone and bought the first trade paperback with the Great Cow Race. Beautiful black and white cartooning and a pure joy to read. I was so absorbed in the story that I put everything else aside this week and only read Castle Waiting. Loved every single panel. Check this out if you enjoy enchanting storytelling.

Congratulations to the Celtics. A model of perseverance, teamwork and selflessness.

This hit me harder than expected. RIP, Jerry.

How do you feel about the 2001 Lakers who went 56-26 and then dominated the playoffs with their 15-1 record?

If the Celtics win the chip are they going to get the credit they deserve as a historically dominant team?

Mmm, Mandom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chnXo839XVs

I've been listening to a lot of Manu Dibango this week. He is mostly known for his international hit, Soul Makossa, which was covered by a bunch of artists in the 70s, but he has an interesting discography beyond that song. Interestingly, while Soul Makossa encouraged United States recording artists to incorporate more African sounds into their music, Dibango borrowed quite heavily from American funk music and later in the 80s even tried to incorporate an electronic sound similar to Herbie Hancock with Rockit. Listening to a bunch of Dibango records let me down a jazz-funk rabbit hole and now I'm on a Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes kick.

Roger Corman Appreciation Night -- Not of This Earth (1957) Corman was hugely prolific during the period where he worked for American-International Pictures, churning out 9 films in 1957 and another 9 in 1958. The pick of the crop was this highly entertaining sci-fi horror film about an alien visitor to Earth who constantly requires blood transfusions to survive. Shot on a shoe-string budget with plenty of dodgy day-for-night shots, Corman excels at maintaining a tight narrative focus. Paul Birch is eerily convincing as the alien visitor, who uses mental telepathy to control his victims' minds and has piercing eyes that burn right through a man's skull. The film is not without sympathy for Birch's character, whose home world appears to have been devastated by nuclear war, but ultimately there are allusions made to emotionless, foreign invaders and there's no prizes for guessing where they came from in the 1950s. The film is tightly focused until the end, and there is a terrific climax and resolution, which is another reason why this is a cut above the typical B-films of the era. Great stuff.

Jokic vs. Gobert was vintage Dream/Robinson.

Bill Nelson's Chimera... this was an outstanding new romantic synthpop record. May be one of my favorite records of the year, EP or otherwise. Yukihiro Takahashi of Yellow Magic Orchestra collaborated with Nelson on several of the tracks and at times this feels like an extension of the Naughty Boys record I loved so much. Great record. The Human League's Fascination! -- speaking of New Romantics, it's The Human League. The Human League were under immense pressure from their record label to produce a follow up to their Dare album and released this EP as a stop gap measure. It's a credible effort. I prefer the tracks where Phil Oakey sings lead vocals and the girls do backup vocals, but I can see how the alternating vocalists may be appealing to others. Fall of Saigon's Fall of Saigon... I have mixed feelings about minimal synth. I can enjoy it as background music if I'm in a relaxed enough mood, but if I want to put on a record and get a hit of something, it doesn't really do the trick. This was another group with alternating male and female vocalists. The pair produced quite different sounding tracks. I preferred the female vocalist, whose tracks were built around haunting melodies. The male vocalist's tracks were closer to art pop. Children's Hour's Flesh... this was a Kiwi post-punk and whose members went on to form The Headless Chickens, a band I'm much more familiar with having watched a lot of Kiwi music TV in the 90s. Not a bad record this. Outside of the Dunedin sound, this was one of the most interesting records to come out in NZ in 1983. Mecht Mensch's Acceptance... low fi hardcore record. Some pretty intense thrashing. They slow things down at times before lashing out again. I quite liked the vocals on this.

Subhumans' Time Flies... But Aeroplanes Crash... I liked this better than the previous Subhumans EP. A bit more variety. They even try to stretch their talents with a piano number. Let's Active's Afoot... if there's one thing I've learned from this crazy, stupid project of mine it's that I'm a fussy listener when it comes to jangle pop. I absolutely love jangle pop. At least I thought I did. Apparently, I don't have much time for second tier jangle pop. I can imagine more loyal fans of the genre getting more out of this EP than I did. Let's Active were Mitch Easter's band. Easter did production on R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning albums and was gunning for a similar sound. He gets there at times, but vocally he's no Michael Stipe. The Alarm's The Alarm... The Alarm do this interesting Bob Dylan meets punk & new wave thing on this EP that they didn't really do their debut LP, which was more of a Big Music record. Interesting is always good. Armored Saint's Armored Saint... some people claim that this group was America's answer to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. If that's the case, it's a pretty half-arsed answer. The guitar work is good, and they have a good rhythm section, but they were never getting anywhere with the vocals. IIRC, the lead singer went on to sing for Anthrax. Savage Grace's The Dominatress... another LA metal band trying to copy the European sound. Sexy album cover notwithstanding, this is a fairly weak imitation of Euro metal. The vocals are better than Armored Saint, but when you consider what other groups were doing in different parts of America, they probably would have been better off trying to do their own thing. The Body Electric's Presentation and Reality... another forgotten New Zealand record. This was Wellington group trying to go full tit with a new wave, post-punk, synth pop sound. Not bad, but personally when I listen to a New Zealand record I want to hear something Kiwi from it, not some dude trying to sound like he's on Top of the Pops. Overkill's Power in Black... Overkill are one of my favorite metal bands from the 80s. This EP was a demo. It sounds like a demo, especially under headphones, but the energy is there. L.S.D.'s Destroy... perhaps not the best hardcore EP to come out of Japan, but I liked the barreling sound. It actually reminded me of Japanese speed metal. The Style Council's À Paris... I've got to admit that Long Hot Summer is growing on me as a single. The rest of the EP is decent as well. If their debut LP had been a bit stronger they might have weathered some of the criticism better. Or perhaps not since Weller as a God in many people's eyes.

H-Bomb's Coup de métal... this EP kicks ass. H-Bomb didn't record a ton of stuff before broke up, but this EP and their 1984 Attaque LP are some blistering French metal. This gets my highest recommendation if you're even slightly interested in metal from '83. The Sisters of Mercy's The Reptile House E.P. -- goth rock is distinctly not my thing, but I can listen to it. This EP, however, was slow. Really slow. United Mutation's Fugitive Family... it always used to amuse me how metal bands came up with their names. It was like they scribbled down a bunch of badass words and drew them from a hat. Now I'm thinking that hardcore band names may be even more amusing. Then again, based on some of these guys' lifestyles some of these names may not be a joke. This is a pretty cool hardcore record that is notable for its vocals. The grunting sounds close to Sakevi from G.I.S.M. Not sure if that was an influence. Amebix's No Sanctuary... these guys would go on to become crust punk legends. Here, they were just starting out. Sounds a bit like early Killing Joke. Mindless Sinners' Master of Evil... Mindless Sinners were a short-lived Swiss group that played fairly typical Euro metal. Worth checking out if you're on a Diamond Head kick and feel like unearthing a largely forgotten band with a similar sound. 3 Teens Kill 4's No Motive... quirky record from New York City's No Wave scene. The band only released this single EP. Very artsy, for want of a better word. Having read some Hip Hop Family Tree recently it's impossible not to notice the hip hop influence. Discharge's Warning: Her Majesty's Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health EP... there's no beating around the bush with this EP title. There's also a lovely drawing of Mrs. Thatcher on the cover. Their fans see this as a drop-off from their previous material, and they would continue to drop further, but I liked this well enough. It's slower and has more of a metal sound, but I'm ok with that. The Nurse's Nurse... all-girl Japanese hardcore band. Like you're gonna resist. It's fairly catchy as you can imagine. Worth checking out if you like Shonen Knife or the 5.6.7.8's. Adrenalin O.D.'s Let's Barbeque... very suburban sounding hardcore record. I don't know if really was a bunch of neighborhood teenagers jamming together but that's the aesthetic. Vixen's Made in Hawaii... how could beautiful, serene Hawaii produce this pulsating speed metal record? Wasn't a big fan of the female vocalist, but the guitar sound was awesome. Gotham City's Black Writs... decent Swedish metal, but the vocalist had no chops. Wretched's In nome del loro potere tutto è stato fatto... Christ almighty, you have to be brave to listen to this one. It felt like a pair of arms were climbing out of the speakers and shaking me senseless. The Nits' Kilo... this band keeps confusing me. I love some of the singles I've heard from them, but it doesn't seem to come together on their records. At least not for me. Francesco De Gregori's La donna cannone... nice change of pace. Basically, Italian singer-songwriter doing contemporary folk. Nice break from all the hardcore EPs from '83. The Embarassment's Death Travels West... okay, now here's a bit of a discovery for me. And I really mean for me as others like Robert Christgau have championed this short-lived group. Really upbeat, enjoyable post-punk record. Probably owes more to the late 70s than being a true 1983 record, but it made me want to listen to the rest of the group's output. The discovery of the week.

Antidote's Thou Shall Not Kill... pretty cool New York hardcore album. Manages to be angry but rhythmic at the same time. New York had an amazing music scene in 1983 and this is a nice little slice of what the punks were up to. The Scientists' Blood Red River.. Punk blues EP from Australia. Sounds like they could have opened for The Birthday Party. Pretty cool. Deep Wound's Deep Wound... decent little thrashcore EP from the guys who'd go onto form Dinosaur Jr. Big Black's Bulldozer... I can't remember if I've listened to much Big Black, but this was the EP where they found their footing. Lyrically, the songs aren't as controversial as the records that followed. It's really the guitar sound that they begin to develop here. Art of Noise's Into Battle With the Art of Noise... this is an early sample-based electronic EP that is pretty much off the hook. Dudes going crazy with the technology in 1983. Jag Panzer's Jag Panzer... also known as Tyrants, this is honest to goodness US Power Metal. Has my full respect. Cause for Alarm's Cause for Alarm... another New York hardcore record. I quite like the New York sound. It's fast and furious, but music you can head bang to if so inclined. Say Yes to Apes' Who's That... this is a New Zealand record I had no idea existed. The front man is the actor Kevin Smith, who played Ares in Xena and Hercules. I met him when I was a teenager. I'd been jumped by a bunch of guys and they'd bottled me, and I met Smith in a gas station. I was bleeding from the top of my head and asked him for a lift home. He declined. He couldn't really sing but it was a post-punk record so that didn't matter much. Had no idea he was in a band in the early 80s. Tall Dwarfs' Canned Music... this is a group with a much bigger rep in New Zealand as they were a key figure in the Dunedin sound. Plenty of weird loops and random samples. These guys were inventing indie rock in the most isolated corner of the world. Good stuff.

SS Decontrol's Get it Away... messy hardcore EP. Just the way I like it. Dezerter's Ku przyszłości... Polish punk EP. Very cool. RYM says it's a hardcore record but it was fairly rhythmic. YDI's A Place in the Sun... angry hardcore EP with terrible production. That either adds to the aesthetic or destroys it. YMMV. Fang's Landshark! This sounded closer to noise rock than hardcore, imo, due to the slower tempo and humorous lyrics. Not bad. Death SS' Evil metal... early Italian effort at doom metal. Actually kind of amazing that this is from 1983. This sounds like it comes from a later point in metal history. Death Cult's Death Cult... The Southern Death Cult begin morphing into the Cult with this EP. This marks the tail end of their post-punk gothic rock phase. It's an interesting peek into a band in transition and a pretty good EP with improved production and musicianship. Naked Raygun's Basement Screams... This was okay. I was expecting it to be more clever based on the name of the band and the EP (something along the lines of The Misfits, I guess), but it was an interesting mix of punk rock styles. Gai's Damaging Noise... there's hardcore, and then there's Japanese hardcore. The vocalist sounds like a rabid dog on this. This will give you nightmares. The Long Ryders' 10-5-60... The Long Ryders were a Paisley Underground group who did a Country Rock thing. It's kind of weird to hear country music coming out of Los Angeles, but they were committed to it. MDC's Multi-Death Corporations... thrashy anarcho-punk. No prizes for guessing who they were going after. Pretty Maids' Pretty Maids... interesting debut EP from this Danish metal group. This is very much straight metal but enjoyable. Sonic-Youth's Kill Yr. Idols... this is a companion piece to Sonic Youth's Confusion as Sex LP from the same year. Slow, brooding noise rock. It's hard to imagine that these guys would become one of the biggest alt rock bands of the late 80s-early 90s from listening to this. Subhumans' Evolution... this isn't bad, but as with a lot of UK82 stuff, the vocals bother me. I know it's meant to be working class punk rock, but the accent is grating. Los Lobos' ..And a Time to Dance... this okay. I imagine they would have been a fun band to see live. Front 242's Endless Riddance... fun Belgian minimal synth EP. They don't make music like this anymore. Thomas Dolby's Blinded by Science... I have zero attachment to She Blinded Me With Science. It's not one of my jams. But I was interested in the rest of Dolby's output on this EP. It turns out that he was quite a decent songsmith. Certainly deserving of a bigger rep.

Respect to Hubie Brown for calling a game at 90 years old.

My daughter and I have been watching Frieren: Beyond Journey's End recently. It starts off slow, and was difficult for my daughter to understand at first, but we gradually began enjoying it. Last night, we started watching what must have been a new arc in the manga, and holy crap was it exciting. We ended up binge watching a bunch of episodes in a row. Kudos to everyone involved for holding back for so long, then dialing it up to 11.

Allan Holdsworth's Road Games... this was interesting as you don't tend to find a lot of jazz EPs. Holdsworth was a British prog musician who was a devotee of advanced music theory. This sounded more like a prog record to me than jazz, but there were fusion elements. Golpes Bajos' Golpes Bajos... a nice little slice of Spanish new wave pop. This band went on to release a pair of solid albums in '84 and '85. Ostrogoth's Full Moon's Eyes... old school Belgian metal. You can't really go wrong with this. Speedy power metal. Poison Idea's Pick Your King E.P... this is the debut EP from Portland hardcore band Poison Idea. There were a shit ton of hardcore EPs released in 1983. That's a glorious thing for the hardcore enthusiast, but it makes it difficult to stand out from other hardcore bands. I haven't heard any other releases from this group. I liked what I heard here, but there was an element of it sounding like the same song over and over again. Koro's Koro... now we're talking. This EP is like six minutes long and was bootlegged multiple times before getting an official release. The band released this one EP before breaking up, but man, 1983, Koro wuz here. D.R.I.'s Dirty Rotten EP... man, what a racket! This is the beginning of D.R.I and one of the first thrashcore releases. Y'know, when you think of 80s nostalgia, you think of Stranger Things and the like, but this record makes me imagine a bunch of teenage hardcore fans getting their hands on early thrash metal and freaking out. Trisomie 21's Le Repos des enfants heureux... and now for a total change of pace, here's a French coldwave EP. Very mechanical but strangely enchanting. Anti-Clmex (EP)... I don't feel comfortable typing the title of this EP. You can look it up if you're interested. That's no judgment on the record, though. It's 8 minutes of ripping D-Beats and musically I like it better than a lot of hardcore EPs from '83. The Particles' I Luv Trumpet... The Particles were an Australian group, though you couldn't really tell from listening to them. They grew out of the Australian punk scene of the late 70s. In the post-punk era, they gleefully described themselves as bubblegum pop. This was a post-punk twee pop offering with, you guessed it, horns. Highly recommended if you like indy twee pop. Ratt's Ratt... the haters gonna hate, hate, hate. Give me Ratt or give me death.

They were a fun team to watch during the final two months.

Sortilège's Sortilège... this was the debut EP of arguably the greatest French metal band of the 80s. They'd follow it up with their blistering debut album, Métamorphose, the following year. I have a real fondness for European metal, but whereas it makes sense for the Nordic countries to produce metal albums, France isn't the first country that springs to mind when it comes to metal. When I think of French music, the first thing that comes to mind is Jacques Brel. But these guys were good. They burnt out reasonably quickly, though. Warlord's Deliver Us... I'm not a huge power metal fan. I'll listen to it, and there are some bands whose discographies I'll rip through, but I'd much rather listen to other types of metal. That said, this EP and the following year's LP, And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun..., are a decent one-two punch. Another band that broke up too soon. Minutemen's Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat... One of my favorite EPs from 1983. I think I said it before, but I think I like this better than their LP from the same year. Not that the album is a bad record, it's just that this EP has a fantastic raw sound to it. Queensrÿche's Queensrÿche... I've never been big on Queensryche. I've tried on several occasions to get into their music, but I'm not a huge fan of mixing prog with metal, and I don't like to think too much when I'm listening to music. If you like high concept metal albums, they're worth listening too. Husker Du's Metal Circus... another great EP from '83. Another EP that I think is better than the band's LP from the same year. This was the bridge between that record and Zen Arcade, a record which launched the band into another stratosphere. Minor Threat's Out of Step... this was Minor Threat's third, and final, EP. Some say it's their worst, but is there really a bad Minor Threat record? I don't think so. Cocteau Twins' Sunburst and Snowblind... pretty music, but it still sounds like they're singing underwater. The Cure's The Walk... I'm not sure this is all that different from the Japanese Whispers compilation album that came out in '83. 1983 was a transition year for the Cure. There were rumors that they'd broken up or were going to. Instead, they changed music styles. The music they released in '83 was the first step towards that change. Hello, synthesizers. Butthole Surfers' Butthole Surfers... I always get put off by this band's name, but man was this some noisy ass shit. Very cool! The Style Council's Introducing the Style Council... I love The Jam. I don't hate The Style Council. I just think the type of music that made was done better by other people. This does have a couple of good songs on it, but like I said, I've heard better blue-eyed-soul. Gun Club's Death Party... welcome to the party, Gun Club. After releasing two great LPs, the gave us this little gem. Man do I love punk blues. I think I'm gonna crawl down a punk blues rabbit hole after listening to this.

Split Enz' Conflicting Emotions... Split Enz created some of New Zealand's finest pop songs, but they were nearing the end here. There was very little about this album that was musically interesting. Some OK songs but barely enough material to stitch together an album. Tim Finn's Escapade... Tim Finn was never as good on his own as he was working with Spit Enz and Crowded House. I hope he isn't reading this, but he simply isn't as good as his brother. Daniel Johnston's Yip/Jump Music... Yet another album from Daniel Johnston. The tunes here weren't as catchy as on other albums, but you have to admire how amazingly prolific this guy was. This is generally more of a positive album than his more tortured stuff. Topics covered include Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Beatles, King Kong, and Danny Rapp of Danny and the Juniors fame. Tony Rice's Church Street Blues... this is meant to be progressive bluegrass. I don't know enough about bluegrass to tell you what makes this "progressive." I assume it borrows elements from other forms of music. It's a nice record, though. Mari Wilson's Showpeople... this was interesting. Mari Wilson was a British pop and jazz singer who did a retro throwback thing with a 60s beehive. It seems like she's taking the piss at first, but it ends up being a genuine homage to the era. She does a mean cover of Cry Me a River. James Booker's Classified... this was a fun album. You don't hear a lot of New Orlean Blues from 1983, but this was the real deal. The highlight is an incredible cover of King of the Road. The Henchmen's We've Come to Play! DIY New Zealand punk rock. Terrible sound quality, but fun to hear what a group of West Aucklanders were trying to do out of a garage in 1983. Liquid Liquid's Optimo... This dance punk EP is most notable for the song Cavern, which Melle Mel stole the bassline from for White Lines. That led to lawsuits and Sugar Hill Records filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying Liquid Liquid the money they were due. I believe they did get some money from the song when Duran Duran covered it years later. Anyway, the EP is really good. Well worth your time. This Mortal Coil's This Mortal Coil... This EP foreshadows the band's debut LP from the following year, and features one of the creepier album covers of 1983, intentionally or otherwise. There's never really a mood, time or place that makes me turn on some dream pop, but I can understand people who love the ethereal nature of it. And it was definitely a new style that was emerging, so that's always interesting. So, by all means, check it out. Anthony Davis' Hemispheres... this was an avant-garde jazz record, but not an overly challenging one. Of course, you have to be in the mood to listen to something like this since it's not exactly background music, but it wasn't as messed up as some avant-garde jazz can get. Naked Spots Dance's Falling... for the past week or so, I've been discovering forgotten New Zealand records that aren't that well known in NZ. Mostly, because they're DIY efforts, I assume. It's kind of neat to hear what folks were getting up to back home. This is pretty cool post-punk record with female vocals. Held its own, I thought.

So many odds and ends... Slime's Alle gegen Alle... this delivers exactly what it promises -- angry, rebellious German punk. No reinventing the wheel. Fehlfarben's Glut und Asche... these guys are usually described as a German Gang of Four. Funky German post-punk with an upbeat new wave groove. I had fun. Pictures' Pictures... this album is so weird. It's a side project of two members of Freeez. Now I love Freeez, and I think I.O.U is one of the best singles of 1983, but this shit is weird. It's an art pop collection of children's songs and some of them are downright creepy. Mostly, I think they're messing around with the new technology at the time, but it sounds like a nightmare at times. Axe's Nemesis... this album is amusing. The cover looks like a heavy metal record, but it's actually a Southern hard rock album. I wonder how many kids blew their allowance on this. Von Zamla's No Make Up! This was some sort of super group formed by members of the Swedish prog band, Samla Mammas Mana. It was part of the Rock in Opposition movement of the late 70s where a group of prog bands hit back against the music industry which they claimed refused to recognize their music and instead was solely interested in profit and commercialism. I don't have a dog in that fight, but fwiw, it's a decent prog album. Michael Franks' Passionfruit... how did I end up listening to this? This is sophisticated jazz pop. Straight easy-listening. There is no way I would gravitate towards this in a record store, but it's interesting to me that it has its fans. I guess people discovered this kind of stuff on the radio. Builders' Beatin Hearts... Wait, these guys are from New Zealand? All right then. I still don't need spoken word post-punk in my life even if it's an accent I immediately recognize. Binder Quintet's Binder Quintet Featuring John Tchicai... Hungarian avant-garde jazz, y'know, for when you're in the mood for some. Actually, it's pretty good. M·B=Maurizio Bianchi's The Plain Truth... Noisy, droning dark ambient music. Not my thing. The Boomerang Jazz Ensemble's The Boomerang Jazz Ensemble... Soviet jazz from Kazakhstan. Interesting. It's a mix of jazz fusion, free jazz and spiritual jazz. If you're like me, you were probably unaware that there were musicians playing this kind of jazz in the Soviet Union at the time, which makes this quite the gem.

Forgive me, I'm almost done with this... The Chameleons' Script of the Bridge... I would not argue with anyone who said this was the best album of 1983 and that The Chameleons were the best post-punk band in music at the time. I don't think too many people would see The Chameleons are tremendously underrated despite their influence on the Manchester music scene, but that small pocket from '83-86 has me gushing the same way people used to do over The Stone Roses. This is their best album, though. Talking Heads' Speaking n Tongues... this would be a lot of people's pick for the best album of 1983, and I would not argue with them. This record is phenomenal. That moment when Burning Down the House kicks in still makes me jump. And the music is so freaking good. I'm not sure that people realize what an amazing synth funk record this is. This album is so good that an instrumental version would have been just as good. The Stop Making Sense film is awesome. David Byrne is awesome. Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette's Standards, Vol.1... I haven't listened to a lot of Keith Jarrett. Mainly just a record or two when doing best of the decade polls, but that's neither here nor there since he's not doing his own material here. This is an album full of standards (duh) with some unique takes on some oldies. Nice record. Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus' Love Thy Neighbour… this is a trippy, psychedelic roots reggae album that features a heavy mix by Lee "Scratch" Perry. Almost dub. If you're familiar with Black Ark Studios and Perry's innovative production techniques, this is, I believe the second Black Ark record and definitely notable for its sound. Joe McPhee Po's Oleo... I'm a big fan of Joe McPhee's early 70s records but never ventured past that point. This is pure avant-garde free jazz. It feels like you're getting attacked at times instead of hearing a melody, which can be challenging, but if you're in the mood to concentrate on the music you're listening to, it's not too bad. The Birthday Party's The Bad Seed and Mutiny! The Birthday Party didn't release an LP in 1983, but they did realize a pair of EPs. I'm fairly sure if they had realized an LP in '83 that it would be on many people's top 10 list simply because Nick Cave has a similar following to Tom Waits and this is some seriously dark Nick Cave. I sometimes wonder where it was all coming from, but then again Australia can be a pretty isolated place.