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Good morning. Operating Theatre was a lesser known Irish music-theater company founded by composer Roger Doyle and performer Olwen Fouéré. A B-side off their obscure single ‘Queen Of No Heart’ has recently been covered by Caroline Polachek. ‘Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth’ is a synthpop gem; the single was released on U2’s Mother Records in 1986. Enjoy and have a great week.
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Having separately spawned two proto-house classics – J.M Silk’s ‘Music is the Key’ and Jessie Saunders’ ‘On and On’ – Farley Jackmaster Funk and Saunders then collaborated on this touchstone tune. ‘Love Can’t Turn Around’ is an evolution of the Isaac Hayes 1975 track ‘I Can’t Turn Around’, and if them credentials weren’t enough already, they only went and secured the unique vocals of the Darryl Pandy. Have a great weekend.
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Session percussionist Mack/Mac Carey was a regular player for go-go music heroes Trouble Funk. In 1985, he busted loose with his own anthem, ‘The Art Of Drums’, which would be sampled by other DJs to cut up their sets. The instrumental version is a great blend of live go-go and zappy electro. The single release also featured rap version delivered by Joe Smooth.
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When I listen to Chris Rea’s ‘Josephine‘ and William Pitt’s ‘City Lights’, I am transported to what I can only assume is a Balearic open air club in 1986. Pitt’s narration on the latter reminds me of Vincent Price’s turn on Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, which makes the song even more kitsch. The British, U.S.-born singer-songwriter lived in Paris during the 1980s, where he was discovered by music producer Pascal Wüthrich. Wüthrich a trouvé un one-hit wonder.
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With its echoes of Lou Reed and the VU, the groove of ‘Slipping (Into Something)’ was the crowning glory of The Feelies’ 1986 LP The Good Earth. R.E.M.’s guitarist Peter Buck co-produced the album. So why has this track only had 7,000 YouTube views in the seven years since the band published it? A damn crime.
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A midweek guilty pleasure… “Come on baby, dry your eyes/Wipe your tears/Never like to see you cry/Won’t you please forgive me…” By 1986, The Human League were very past their prime. However, the arrival of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis brought some interest. On the back of their success with Janet Jackson and the SOS Band, Jam and Lewis threw themselves into the collaboration. The result was a disaster… founding member Adrian Wright left the the band on their return to the UK and the subsequent album Crash was very average. But rising from these ashes was ‘Human’, which became their second and final #1 single in the U.S. after ‘Don’t You Want Me’ – thereby bookending their run as a band.
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Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’ featured on a favourite movie soundtrack of mine; namely Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (2000). As with so much of the music in that film, you can only see it rather than find it on the soundtrack release. My favourite film soundtrack is from around about the same time, but of a very different musical era. Closer to my own coming-of-age discography, Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People (2002) features the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy In The UK‘, the Buzzcocks ‘Ever Fallen In Love‘, A Guy Called Gerald’s ‘Voodoo Ray‘, 808 State’s ‘Pacific State 202‘, New Order’s ‘Blue Monday‘, Happy Mondays’ ‘Hallelujah‘ and Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart‘. Not a bad list, hey… and to it I now add Marshall Jefferson’s seminal ‘Move Your Body’. The Chicago house pioneer was the first to use piano in a house track and the genre would never look back.
I caught up with some good friends last night and we got talking about the sounds of 1986. I now know that some will disagree strongly, but my take on the best of that year is as follows… a gift from me on the best day of the year:
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Honourable mentions also go to: Desireless for ‘Voyage Voyage‘; R.E.M. for ‘Fall On Me’; Dinosaur L for ‘Go Bang! #5 (Francois K Mix)’; Nitro Deluxe for ‘Let’s Get Brutal‘; Steve Winwood for ‘Higher Love’; Metallica for ‘Master Of Puppets’; Spacemen 3 for ‘Losing Touch With My Mind’; Depeche Mode for ‘Stripped’; Run-DMC for ‘Walk This Way’; and Crowded House for ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over‘.
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After the break up of Split Enz, Neil Finn and drummer Paul Hester founded Crowded House. The band’s debut album was released in 1986 and on it was this classic slice of 1980s pop music. A lot has been said of The Beatles’ influence on the song-writing of Neil Finn, but on ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, it is there for everyone to hear. The simple melody and the organ solo are clear references to the best that the 1960s had to offer, but the Hey-now-hey-now anthem is pure Crowded House.
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Raising Hell was the touchstone album for hip hop in 1986. ‘Walk This Way’ may have dominated the radio waves, but its opening track reminds most me of the impact that Run-D.M.C. had at that time. With its discerning sample of Bob James’s ‘Take Me to the Mardi Gras‘, ‘Peter Piper’ radiated with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels’ lyricism, Rick Rubin’s production and Jam Master Jay’s turntablism. They were the sh*t in 1986.
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The other album that defined 1986 – particularly in retrospect – is The The’s standout Infected. The title track kicks of the album with David Palmer’s drums, swiftly followed by Dan Brown hammering an electric bass and Matt Johnson doing his thing on vocals. The main chorus “Infect me with your love” is a lyric that has added poignancy today, but carried a message about HIV, so very much on people’s minds in the 1980s.
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Good morning folks! This was the defining sound of 1986 to these ears. ‘Rhymin’ & Stealin’’ kicked off the Beastie Boys’ debut album Licensed to Ill. “Most illingest be-boy – I got that feeling/ ‘Cause I am most ill and I’m rhymin’ and stealin’/ Ali Baba and the forty thieves/ Ali Baba and the forty thieves…”. Have a great week.
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From one Mr Johnson to another… although never released as a single, the song ‘Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)’ triggers my memories of an album that speaks of the 1980s like few others. It follows the opening title track of the 1986 long player infected.
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Even if DJ Pierre’s ‘Acid Trax’ was the first track to christen the genre, the Space Side mix of Sleezy D and pal Marshall Jefferson’s ‘I’ve Lost Control’ was the first acid house track on vinyl. The combination of Roland TB-303 over TR-808 beats was intense.
Samuelsounds 