ohtani's jacket

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.

I dunno, I'll take 15 & 5 and leading an NBA team to multiple conference finals, back-to-back NBA finals and a title over a lot of guys with better stats. And he didn't just have that impact at the NBA level either. He showed the same leadership in college and at the FIBA World Cup. The Naismith Hall is easy to get into, though. There's no doubt about that. Cornbread must be wondering what else he has to do.

Basketball Reference had him an 84.4% probability, which is 94tth among NBA/ABA leaders. That's higher than a number of players already in the Hall, It's inflated somewhat by his Finals MVP, but was also a 5x All-Star, 3x All-NBA, and 2 x All-Defensive. That's not a bad resume.

I don't think he had any children.

This Ed Piskor thing is messed up.

Takeo Moriyama's East Plants... Moriyama is a Japanese jazz drummer who plays avant-garde jazz. I struggle a bit with anything that's too avant-garde, but there are certain free jazz/spiritual jazz artists whose work I enjoy. This record wasn't too challenging, and I felt it was a fairly engaging jazz record. Echo & The Bunnymen's Porcupine... man, it's been a long time since I've listened to Echo & The Bunnymen. It's a welcome return. This is one of those albums that gets overlooked because it's sandwiched between two of their more popular LPs. A lot of the comments about this record I find to be baffling. It's often described as a "prickly" and difficult listen. That's not my experience. Love the guitarwork and Ian McCulloch's vocal work. Minutemen's What Makes a Man Start Fires? Love the Minutemen, but I think I prefer their EP Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat from this year. This is definitely part of the Minutemen back catalogue you should listen to, though, especially if you've only heard Double Nickels. The Go-Betweens' Before Hollywood... speaking of bands I love, here's one of Australia's greatest bands, The Go-Betweens. This was their breakthrough record. It still has post-punk elements as opposed to being full on jangle pop, but the signature songwriting is there and I adore Grant McLennan's vocals. Miharu Koshi's Tutu... this a Japanese art pop record produced by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame. It's an interesting record as it continues to build on the techno kayo sound while offering up quirky art pop that stands in stark contrast to the standard idol pop of the day. Not all of the songs are winners, but it's interesting to compare this to some of the other idol stuff from '83. Opposition's Intimacy... this is what we like to hear, a post-punk record with a bit of emotion. The closer, In the Heart, was particularly gripping. Mark Stewart + Maffia's Learning to Cope With Cowardice... this was a harsh sounding mix of dub, post-punk and industrial, but it got its message across. Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones... I've never really jumped onto the Tom Waits bandwagon. I've listened to most of his records, and I like and respect them, but I can't imagine a scenario where I'd want to put this on. You can't relax to it. You can't chill to it. You can't dance to it. It's a record you need to pay attention to like watching a film or reading a book. I'm more interested in catchy hooks these days.

Jeff and Jane Hudson's Flesh... pretty energetic minimal synth from this husband and wife duo. I believe this was completely self-produced by the band and a bit of a collector's item on vinyl. TC Matic's Choco... this is an aggressive Belgian new wave album. I can't remember hearing a new wave album this abrasive. The leader singer snarls at the listener like a Belgian Johnny Rotten. It's memorable if nothing else. Charlie Haden's The Ballad of the Fallen... this is almost like a jazz concept album as Haden wanted to make a political record about the fight against oppression and chose to record a bunch of resistance songs. What appeals to me is that Don Cherry plays on the record, which reminds me of the early days of the Ornette Coleman group. Rock Goddess' Rock Goddess... Rock Goddess were an all-female power trio from England. Must have been hard for them to shake the novelty tag, but these girls were legit. Hard rocking metal with a pop sensibility. The lead singer is great. Negative Approach's Tied Down... burly Detroit hardcore. Your mileage is always gonna vary with hardcore as everyone wants different things from it, but personally the vocals here were closer to what I want from a hardcore record. ZZ Top's Eliminator... this is okay. The heavy rotation MTV hits are decent, and it's a brave and successful reinvention for the band, but vocally it doesn't do a lot for me. The Starlin's Mushi... I fucking love this album. If I was only allowed to keep one record from '83 for the rest of my life, this might be it. Quite possibly the best Japanese punk album ever, but that's debatable. Dio's Holy Diver... this record was a big deal at the time. It still feels like a big deal forty years later. The juxtaposition between the metal and non-metal elements are interesting. Having one foot in each camp gives it massive crossover appeal. It's hard for me to take seriously at times, but that's probably because of how bombastic it is. R.E.M.'s Murmur... I could never really figure out whether I like this record or not. I know I'm supposed to, but it's not a record I listen to a lot. I'm a huge jangle pop fan, so I wanna give it another listen soon and concentrate on the music and not Stipe's unintelligible lyrics.

Satan's Court in the Act... if you're a metal band and you call yourselves Satan, you have a lot to live up to. This was part of the transition from NWOBHM to speed metal. It was an exciting time to be a metal fan if you prefer the faster stuff. This may not hit as hard as some of the other metal albums from '83, but it's still freaking good. Being the clueless putz that I am, I didn't realize that these guys are still making records. Wipers' Over the Edge... the Wipers are one of my favorite bands from this era. They did post-punk but with a hardcore edge. The production on this is a bit suss, but it's noisy and I love it. The Fall's Perverted by Language... I'm a Fall fan. If I listen to one of their records, I genuinely go on and listen to their entire discography in a single day. That said, it's kind of hard to stick on a record of theirs at random and enjoy it without being in that zone. So I can't really rate this in relation to the other albums I've been listening to. I hope that made sense. Manilla Road's Crystal Logic... I could do without the spoken word stuff that makes me feel like I'm reading a Conan comic, but this is catchy power metal. It's not as heavy as other metal bands. I figure you'll either love it because it's slightly different or want to put on something else. The The's Soul Mining... it's been donkey's years since I listened to this. This is a fascinating record as the depressing lyrical content doesn't match the catchy new wave sound. You don't hear a lot of depressing new wave music. Sonically. this is beautifully textured. Streets' 1st... call me crazy but I thought this was an enjoyable mix of AOR and hard rock. Better than most AOR you'll hear from '83. Casiopea's Photographs... another great album from the Japanese jazz fusion group Casiopea. If you want to listen to some happy, feel-good music you can't go wrong with this. Kommunity FK's The Vision and the Voice... ooh, I wasn't expecting this to be quite so good. It's a mix of deathrock, punk, garage and metal. I'll take all of that. The Legendary Pink Dots' Curse... this has more of a darkwave sound than the other Dots albums I've heard. That's not really my thing, but as usual there's some interesting synth psychedelia. Real Life's Heartland... this band is famous for their songs Send Me an Angel and Catch Me I'm Falling, and not much else, but I thought the rest of the record was a cracking synthpop effort. Wouldn't have picked it as an Aussie album, mind you. I guess they were trying to appeal to the overseas market. Trance's Power Infusion... If you want some classic Scorpions sounding German metal, then give this a spin. You won't regret it.

Barão Vermelho's Barão Vermelho 2... I'm not sure if I've written about this album before, but it's one that I keep coming back to. It's a Brazilian pop rock group that blend elements of new wave and blues rock into an energetic mix. Really fun album. The Southern Death Cult's The Southern Death Cult... this band would go on to be better known as The Cult. In 1983 they were doing the whole gothic rock, post-punk thing, and doing it better than most to be honest. Silver Mountain's Shakin' Brains... This Swedish metal band wasn't shy about how they wanted to sound. Progressive, neoclassical, call it what you will, they still managed to rock pretty hard. Indochine's Le péril jaune... I'm not a huge fan of bands appropriating other countries' music, but this was a beautiful synthpop record. Axewitch's The Lord of the Flies... Another Swedish metal record but a lot tamer than Silver Mountain. D.Y.S.' Brotherhood... interesting attempt at a crossover album. Not the best hardcore album ever, but I appreciated their efforts. Pierre Barouh's Le Pollen... such a cool album cover. If you enjoy chanson, and why wouldn't you, I highly recommend this record and the artist as well. This was recorded in Japan and includes a lot of techno kayo synthpop elements. Very cool. The Gist's Embrace the Herd... this was a solo effort from Stuart Moxham, the guitarist for Young Marble Giants, a band that has a cult following off the back of one record. This is minimal synth. A lot of it is quirky, but there are some real gems like Love at First Sight. The Proletariat's Soma Holiday... this was a left-wing hardcore band from Boston. Had the clearest vocals of any hardcore record I've heard. At first I was like, "wait, am I meant to be hearing every word the dude sings?" Arc Angel's Arc Angel... cheesy, but sometimes you need that full blown 1983 AOR experience. Youth Brigade's Sound & Fury... such shitty production. Love it! This was a really catchy hardcore record. Boytronic's The Working Model... fun, underrated synthpop record. The opening B-side track, You, made me want to head straight to a 1983 club.

Y.M.O.'s Naughty Boys... God, I love this album. I must have listened to it half a dozen times recently. Y.M.O.'s members took time off to record solo projects. This was a group record they released in the meantime that was more pop oriented than their usual material, but man, what glorious pop music. Slayer's Show No Mercy... not much needs to be said about this album. The only thing that could have been better is if I'd been old enough to save up my lunch money for it. New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies... I don't get too involved in the hype of this album. It's good, but not transcendently great. There were a lot of other good albums from '83, and honestly, I prefer Joy Division, but I will say that New Order is one of the greatest continuations of a band ever. Metallica's Kill 'Em All... there are times when I convince myself that this is my favorite album because of how raw it is and the limited budget they had to work with. Violent Femmes' Violent Femmes... this is an undeniably great album. Blister in the Sun may be overplayed but it's still catchy as f--k, and the rest of the album is just as good. Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind... I wasn't a metal fan growing up and there was a time in my life when I would have rolled my eyes at metalheads debating what the best Iron Maiden record is. One of my best mate's younger brother and his friends used to drive my mate up the wall with their metal talk to the point where he still refuses to listen to any music with guitars in it. Anyway, I got into metal of my own accord and this record was one of my entry points. In another life, this album would have inspired me to learn the guitar so I could play those freaking solos. Mercyful Fate's Melissa... I'm trying to imagine putting this record on for the first time and hearing the opening track. It would have blown my mind. What a searing opener. It's a damn wonder it didn't scorch the record player. Cock Sparrer's Shock Troops... I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I'm not a big fan of Oi! and this is the most Oi! sounding record ever, but it's really good. Perfect working class punk. Accept's Balls to the Wall... I love Accept. There are better metal albums than this from '83 but Accept still kick ass and take names. I didn't realize there are so many people who write them off as a second rate Judas Priest or ACDC. Ingrates! Misifts' Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood... still a fun record. You'd think the novelty of horror punk would wear off after a while, but this record is so fast that it just leaves you revved up. Tatsuro Yamashita's Melodies... Tatsuro Yamashita is the King of City Pop and records like this are the reason why. Really beautiful LP from a master of his genre.

Headpins' Line of Fire... This Canadian group is very much hard rock in the AC/DC mode with scorching vocals from female vocalist, Darby Mills. Worth a listen if AC/DC is your thing. Jan Garbarek Group's Wayfarer... my interest in jazz starts to peter out in the 70s, so I never got too far into genres like ECM Style Jazz. I don't know what to expect from ECM jazz, but this was soft, gentle record that didn't accost the eardrums. Anita Baker's The Songstress... This was Baker's debut album. Lush, smooth production, but not the greatest songwriting. Anita's voice is nice. John Holt's Police in Helicopter... this was some steady roots reggae. Fun album cover. Daily Fauli's Fauli til Dauli... cult underground minimal synth record from Denmark. Pretty weird, but that's the appeal I guess. John Bender's Pop Surgery... another weird minimalist record. This time from Germany. Absolute Body Control's Figures... okay, this one I liked a bit more! This is minimal synth but with more of a twee sound. A much more enjoyable listen. Re-Flex's The Politics of Dancing... pretty catchy new wave/new romantic record. These guys only released one LP otherwise they'd probably be more well known. Spear of Destiny's Grapes of Wrath... I haven't been high on a lot of 1983 post punk, but I genuinely enjoyed this. I liked the fact that it was more up tempo than a lot of their contemporaries, had a great brass section and more melodic vocals. Marillion's Script for a Jester's Tear... this record has never done much for me. A lot of people love it, and more power to them, but it's over produced to my ears. Bacamarte's Depois do fim... this is a pleasant Brazilian prog-rock album that is better than the neo-prog that I've listened to from '83, but that's cheating a bit as it was recorded in 1979 and not released until '83. It's pretty damn good, though. Heavy Load's Stronger Than Evil... hold up, I did not expect this to rock as much as it did. Straight Swedish heavy metal with awesome riffs and great vocal melodies with awesome Swedish accents. Some people might find it a tad gringy as it does veer towards grandiose metal anthems, but I thought it kicked ass.

Eskaton's Fiction... this was a French progressive electronic album that blended elements of jazz, progressive rock and modern classical. It sounds a bit dated in parts like an early family com version of electronic music, but overall it's a good record. Planet P Project's Planet P... this was interesting if for no reason than it was a German band trying to do progressive AOR. It was spearheaded by former Rainbow keyboardist, Tony Carey. They had a decent hit with the song Why Me? which had a trippy music video that was somewhat legendary among late night MTV viewers. Battiato's Orizzonti perduti... Francesco Battiato was a highly regarded Italian artist from the 70s. This was album was viewed as part of a creative decline because he moved toward a new wave/pop sound. Fortunately, we don't listen to that sort of noise around here. The only reservation I have about recommending this is that Battiato is known as an amazing lyricist, and well, if you don't understand Italian that's unfortunate. Death in June's The Guilty Have No Pride... run of the mill post-punk, gothic rock. I am kind of tired of spoken word singing. It's barely singing at all. SSQ's Playback... now this is more like it! This is Stacey Q before she went on to have a solo career. Takes a lot of electronic and synth pop influences and blends them into cool original songs. I liked this a lot. Pink Industry's Low Technology... I have to be in the mood for minimal wave, but I find it fascinating that it exists as a counter point to the trends in music at the time. There are some hauntingly beautiful tracks on this if you give it your time. Conflict's It's Time to See Who's Who... so, I've decided when it comes to early 80s punk I care a lot more about the music than the message. This was very message-oriented. Not bad, but didn't blow my socks off. Pete Shelley's XL1... I hate myself for saying this, but this ain't the Buzzcocks. Spinetta's Mondo di cromo... pleasant Argentinian pop rock. Luis Alberto Spinetta was a hugely important rock musician not only in Argentina but in the Spanish speaking world as Argentine rock led the way for Spanish-language rock. At this stage of his career, Spinetta was moving towards a jazz rock sound that was in opposition to the dominant sounds in Argentine music at the time. Good stuff. U.V. Pop's No Songs Tomorrow... low key post-punk. Not bad, but tends to drone on a bit. Chateaux's Chained and Desperate... this isn't bad. Ebony records doesn't have a great reputation for NWOBHM bands or LPs, but I enjoyed this. Steve Grimitt is on vocals (pre Grim Reaper) and that definitely perks up the ears. Antisect's In Darkness, There Is No Choice... this goes pretty hard but again it hits you over the head with its messages. I would've been all for that as a teenager, but now I just want to switch off and listen to some thrashy guitar work. Nitzer Ebb's Basic Pain Procedure... this was weird. It's basically danceable industrial music but the vocalist is just screaming about random bullshit. One of the weirder LPs I've heard in a while. Dadisi Komolafe's Hassan's Walk... soulful jazz music. Very much inspired by post A Love Supreme John Coltrane. Given I think A Love Supreme is arguably the greatest album of all-time, you know this album will find a home in my collection.

Thin Lizzy's Thunder and Lightning... Thin Lizzy go out swinging with their heaviest album. The injection of Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist, John Sykes, gives this record a steely edge. There was some hope at the time that Sykes would revitalize Thin Lizzy, but as we now it turned to shit for them not long afterward. Still, a hell of a way to go out. Konomi Sasaki's Ninjin... creepy album cover. This is haunting, atmospheric folk pop that grows on you as the record plays. It's very Japanese with the sad existential undertones. Definitely not city pop. Spinetta Jade's Bajo Belgrano... this is an excellent Argentinian jazz-rock record. I would actually go as far to say that if you are a fan of jazz-rock from the late 60s and 70s then this is the lineage you should be following through to the 80s. Aster Aweke's Hagerae... another great record. It's not every day I listen to Ethiopian music, but this was outstanding. Aweke has a beautiful voice. I-Ten's Taking a Cold Look... this was slightly more sophisticated AOR. Very melodic. Mioko Yamaguchi's Moonlight Princess... this is such a nice album. It's basically ambient art pop, taking the influences of Yellow Magic Orchestra and creating a mix of atmospheric synthpop and orchestral arrangements. The impressive thing is how Yamaguchi is able to strike the perfect balance between pop and spacey ambiance. Midori Tanaka's Through the Looking Glass... the power of YouTube. YouTubers constant search for old-school Japanese records led to this out-of-print ambient album being repressed. Ambience isn't my thing, but I acknowledge that this is a fine record. Fikret Kızılok's Zaman Zaman... Turkish chamber folk. Mostly played in minor keys. Kızılok was a pioneer of Anatolian rock. This album represented a switch from political songs to love songs. Very good, I thought. The Astronaut's It's All Done by Mirrors... this was a unique album as it sounded nothing like other punk records from the era. It was absolutely pure folk punk. You don't hear too many punk records with fiddle solos. It shouldn't work as well as it does here, but somehow it's catchy as hell.

Doc coaching the Bucks would be hilarious. Doc, how do you blow a 3-1 lead? Well, Greg, it's quite simple...

Loudness' The Law of Devil's Land... Loudness are probably my favorite Japanese heavy metal group from this era. This was right before their breakout Disillusion album, but it was the album where they made a big leap forward. You can really hear the classic Japanese speed metal sound on this record. Akira Takasaki is the man. Tank's This Means War... this was a solid record. Tank appeared to go down a hard rock route with this LP as opposed to the grandiose heights that Maiden were trying to reach. It's a good record, though I'd be lying if I claimed to really care about the message since every rock band in the world in 1983 had some type of song about war or cold war paranoia. Junko Ohashi's Point Zero... great record! The mix of city pop and synth funk was genius. Junko died in November last year so I felt it was time to fire this up again. She really was a cut above some of her contemporaries in terms of the sophistication of her records. When this odyssey is over, I want to explore her discography further. Roswell Rudd, Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Kent Carter & Han Bennink's Regeneration... I know next to nothing about any of these artists. All I can tell you is that this was a post bop jazz record that was amongst my favorite jazz records from '83. Such a groovy record. Quintal de Clorofila's O mistério dos quintais... psychedelic folk record from Brazil. Pleasant music for the most part. Doji Morita's Wolf Boy... Morita was a darling of the student movement generation. This was her last record before dropping out of the music business. She had a soft, gentle voice full of sincerity. The Japanese folk movement was all but over by 1983, but all of her records are worth listening to from '75 until this final record. Later on, her songs became commercialized and used in television dramas and adverts, which is so often the case in Japan, which is crass but kept her music alive for the next generation. Anvil's Forged in Fire... if you think about the central imagery of heavy "metal" music, this album has a lot to live up to. It's pretty good, though it's more of a guitar/drums album than the total package. The vocals don't really stand up to the great heavy metal records of the year but the music is good. The Romantics' In Heat... at first I was reading to laugh this off, but the more I listened to it, the more I started to think it was actually pretty solid power pop. Won me over by the end. Go Romantics. Pink Industry's Who Told You, You Were Naked? This was surprisingly good. It was moody, minimal post-punk that stood out from the pack thanks to the pleasant vocals of Jayne Casey. This band came from the same Liverpool scene as Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. They never made it big, but their music sounds criminally underrated to me. I really think Casey's vocals make the difference instead of listening to another whiny bloke. Laid Back's ...Keep Smiling... this was a fun slice of synthpop! Even the pop reggae tracks worked for me. High Society Girls is an awesome track. Check it out if you're new wave or synthpop inclined.

Teresa Teng's Dàndàn yōuqíng... Teresa Teng was a Taiwanese singer known as "The Eternal Queen of Asia Pop." She laid the foundations for modern popular Chinese music. This record has songs based on old Chinese poems and incorporates a lot of classical Chinese music, which makes it a huge departure from the rest of 1983 pop music. It sounds a bit old-fashioned (traditional might be a nicer word.) Teng has a beautiful voice, though. Akina Nakamori's Fantasy... another early effort from Japanese pop queen Akina Nakamori. If you close your eyes, you'll be transported right back to 1983 Japan. I particularly liked the upbeat numbers with the horns that sounded like they could be anime opening themes. Congresso's Ha Llegado Carta... this was cool. Some progressive rock from Chile. I'm not overly familiar with Congresso, but it seems they incorporated some ethnic sounds into this record along with a bit of jazz fusion. The instrumental tracks were great. TSA's TSA... this was a Polish hard rock album. One of the better hard rock albums of the year in what was a sorry year for hard rock albums. Chris Rea's Water Signs... apparently, Rea was ready to throw in the towel and quit the music business when this record was released. His label wouldn't fund the record and he had to release it as an album full of demos. The record sold particularly well in Ireland, which led to an extensive tour there that saved Rea's career. The cool thing about the record is that because it's demos Rea plays most of the instruments. I like Rea's voice and enjoyed the non-existent production on the record. Disciplina kičme's Sviđa mi se da ti ne bude prijatno... wow, this packed a punch. This was a bass/drum duo from Belgrade that played extremely noisy post-punk. This kicked ass. Exciter's Heavy Metal Maniac... I really like this speed metal record from Canadian band Exciter. Great album cover as well. There's an interview with the band at the end of the record where talking about Metal with Canadian accents which I find amusing for stupid reasons. The Celibate Rifles' Sideroxylon... The Celibate Rifles is a stupid name for a band. I really dislike that name. It's almost enough to make me not listen to the record. Fortunately I did because this is some kick ass Australian punk music. These guys were still kicking around when I was a teenager, but I have no recollection of them. That won't stop me from declaring them Australia's greatest punk band, though. Tokyo Blade's Tokyo Blade... I never really got why Tokyo Blade called themselves Tokyo Blade. I guess it sounded exotic to a bunch of lads from Salisbury. Anyway, this rules as many of you will already know. It's everything you love about NWOBHM from the scorching riffs to the soaring vocals and guitar solos. Love it. Savatage's Sirens... I'm not a power metal guy by and large, but there are a few bands that I listen to and Savatage are one of them. This album kicks ass. The guitarwork and the vocals are as good as any metal album from '83 and it's probably the creepiest record to boot. Chaos U.K.'s Chaos U.K... okay, this was another version of a harder form of UK82 and UK street punk and it was very, very good. They kept a blistering pace on the best tracks. I'm totally down with this type of UK82.

The Blood's False Gestures for a Devious Public... this is unlike any other UK Oi! or street punk album from '83 as it's mostly punk vocals over the top of metal riffs. Crossover wasn't really a thing yet and crust punk hadn't fully emerged. This seemed like a bunch of dudes who liked a bit of everything from metal to hardcore. I quite liked it. Sounded fresh. EPO's Vitamin E・P・O... City pop record but far from my favorite. It was a bit too idol kayo for my tastes. A lot of people love Eriko Sato though. Maybe I'm too cynical for her nonstop doopy doopy doos. John Terlazzo's Honor Among Thieves...Terlazzo was an American poet who released this Cohen-esque folk album in the early 80s that was rediscovered years later by folks who are into collecting psychedelic folk pop oddities. It's a pretty good record. Definitely recommended if you like folky singer-songwriter stuff and want to branch out past the 60s and 70s. Metgumbnerbone's Ligeliahorn... this is... noise. When would you listen to this? When you're stoned? What prompts people to create this type of noise? Perplexing. Omega Tribe's No Love Lost... this was melodic anarcho-punk. It kind of verged on pop punk at times. The problem was the vocalists. There were two of them, a man and a woman, and it was a serious contest as to who was the more annoying of the two. George Strait's Right or Wrong... now here's something you see a lot in '83: a recommended country album. Most of the country recs from this year are the leftover scraps from the Outlaw Country movement, but this was more of a neo-traditionalist country album and mighty fine if you ask me. Lee Perry's Megaton Dub 1... I've fully immersed myself in dub culture. I will never slander it again. At least not when records like this exist. Kaka de Luxe's Las canciones malditas... how good was the Spanish music scene in 1983? So many fantastic records. This was a garage punk/punk blues record and another cracker from Spain. Muhal Richard Abrams' Rejoicing With the Light... Jesus Christ, what a racket. Most of the jazz from 1983 is avant-garde, which is always hit and miss for me. I'm very much a bop fan when it comes to jazz, though I will branch out and listen to free jazz and jazz fusion from time to time. This was okay but kept blasting me with jarring sounds. That's kind of the point but it doesn't make it pleasant. Platinum Blonde's Standing in the Dark... this Canadian group went an interesting route, mixing New Wave with AOR. Interesting. Snatch's Snatch... this was cool. If you like the Slits or New York Dolls, you should check this out. It's stripped back punk from two American girls who moved to the UK in 1974 and were on the ground during the UK punk explosion. This is a compilation of their recordings, if I'm not mistaken. John Peel was a big fan. Doe Maar's 4 US... this was pop reggae from the Netherlands. Kind of like a Dutch version of Madness or The Police. The record cover was better than the music, IMO. Jane Birkin's Baby Alone in Babylone...Jane Birkin was famous for being the lover of Serge Gainsbourg whom she collaborated with on several records. Gainsbourg continued to write for Birkin even after they broke up. This was the first LP they released after their break up. It's quite soft chanson, but rather haunting at times. Kraut's An Adjustment to Society... this was some barreling hardcore punk from the East Coast. I could barely hear the vocals in the mix but somehow that made it even better.

Snowy White's White Flames... Snowy White was a former member of Thin Lizzy and a backing guitarist for Pink Floyd. This was his solo debut and featured a UK top 10 hit, Bird of Paradise. Loved the mix of Snowy's guitar work and the 80s pop production, but Snowy's vocals aren't the greatest. Some great solos, though. Yellowman's Zungguzungguguzungguzeng... or how I learned to love dub? If there's one genre I've come around on during this 1983 odyssey it's been dub. Couldn't stand it in the beginning, now I find myself involuntarily bopping along to it. The Church's Seance... The Church are one of the finest bands to ever come out of Australia and they're still making records 40 years later in 2023. They're one of those rare bands whose entire discography is worth listening to. This was during their early jangle pop phase and is one of those records that is overlooked at times as it came out right before some of their more critically acclaimed albums, but it's a fantastic LP from a timeless band. Top of the pops. Manowar's Into Glory Ride... this was quite the production. I give these guys credit for this level of heavy metal cosplay. However, for the band that has the Guinness record for the loudest performance, you'd think this would be a little louder. The Mob's Let the Tribe Increase... this was an interesting LP. It was a mix of straight up anarcho-punk and darker post-punk. Pretty bleak. Don't listen to it if you're depressed. The vocals are a bit whiny at times, but I quite liked the guitarwork. Lifetones' For a Reason... this was a post-punk dub record back when every post-punk act in the UK was dabbling in dub. I liked the instrumental tracks more than the whiny Brit on vocals tracks. Saxon's Power and Glory... I love how you can guess a Saxon record by the opening riff. I love Saxon. Who doesn't love Saxon? If there's a perfect bridge between hard rock and metal it may be Saxon. Witchfinder General's Friends of Hell... I lost all my music data when my computer crashed last year, including all the info on metal albums I'd listened to. The good news? I can just listen to them again. Witchfinder General kick ass. They're spiritual heirs to Black Sabbath and put out doom metal records before doom metal grew monstrously heavy. Awesome stuff. Jaguar's Power Games... NWOHBM will always be my first love when it comes to metal even if thrash is my favorite sub-genre. I love me some Jaguar. This was right at the tail end of NWOHBM (sniff), and had a speed metal feel to it. Kick ass. Bi Kyo Ran's Parallax... Bi Kyo Ran are a Japanese prog-rock group that were hugely influenced by King Crimson. They started out as a King Crimson cover band and guitarist Kunio Suma emulated Robert Fripp's guitar sound. Fans of King Crimson will hear the influences here more than I did. For my part, I thought it was engrossing prog.

Clannad's Magical Ring... I mostly know Clannad as being the band that did the Robin (The Hooded Man) theme song for the ITV series I loved so much as a kid, but they'd already gained some fame in the UK for producing the ending theme to a mini-series called Harry's Game, set in Belfast during The Troubles. I was expecting this album to be a bit more folky (and ethereal), but there was a steady dose of 80s pop production. Not bad, but not great either. Anne Clark's Changing Places... fans of Anne Clark tried to convince me that Clark's spoken word was better than most spoken word and that it was poetry. I'm glad they enjoyed it, but I'm not in a hurry to listen to Ms. Clark's other work. Pablo El Enterrador's Pablo "El Enterrador"... this is a prog-rock band from Argentina. Very melodic and accessible prog-rock, I might add. A pleasant record. Barón Rojo's Metalmorfosis... this is a disappointing LP. Volumen brutal is a much better record. This LP sees the band move in more of a commercial hard rock direction and the results are average. Herbie Hancock's Herbie Hancock Quartet... in the same year that Hancock released Future Shock we get this old school post-bop record. I dug this a lot, though people who hate Wynton Marsalis (and there's a lot of them) might shit all over it, but not me. The Soft Boys' Invisible Hits... this was way better than I remember the Soft Boys being. Maybe I've had a breakthrough with neo-psychedelia or perhaps it's an appealing alternative to the dominant 1983 sound. This is a compilation of unreleased tracks. Gets a bit zany at times, but on the whole I enjoyed it. Grim Reaper's See You in Hell... I love Steve Grimmett's vocals on this album! People complain about the production, but I'll see them in heeeeeeeeeell. Moebius' Tonspuren... no, this isn't by the French comic book artist, though it would be cool if it was. This is the Swiss electronic artist, Moebius. I have listened to more beeping noises than I thought possible before starting down this slippery slope of 1983 records. Some of it I've hated and some of it I've enjoyed. This was the enjoyable kind. Happy beeping noises, if you will. Kip Hanrahan's Desire Develops an Edge... love that album title. This is avant-garde jazz (kind of, it's hard to classify really.) It's pretty low key. The vocalist sounds like Nina Simone without Nina Simone's genius.