Dale

So many great songs here: “Cesspool”, “Take Your Head Off My Shoulder”, “Look Away”, and my absolute favorite “Rain”. They only issued a couple albums/ mini-albums but I think this is their best. Post-Babies, I liked John Strohm’s and Frida Love’s Antenna but Julianna’s solo stuff was top grade.

Blake Babies - Earwig (1989 Mammoth). God I had such a huge crush on Julianna Hatfield. As peers of The Lemonheads (Evan Dando in fact played bass on a few tracks here), Pixies and Throwing Muses, Blake Babies were like the darlings of the bunch, thanks to Julianna’s girlish, sweet voice.

Glad I was able to get a copy of their first album as well, the also drum-less, Drum. This still gives me goosebumps or should I say Goese-bumps. It was only recently I learned how to pronounce Goese as “gazy”.

Hugo Largo - Mettle (1989 Opal). This was one of those haunting art rock records. More art than rock actually. Hailing from New York, with minimalist instrumentation of two bass guitars, a violin, and the ethereal voice of Mimi Goese, Hugo Largo were likely precursors to slowcore and dream pop.

There’s quite a jazzy breeze on select songs here, like “Where In The World” but majority here is just pure pop perfection. My ultra favorite here remains to be the gorgeous “Forever Blue”, with orchestral arrangements by Jimmy Webb.

Swing Out Sister - Kaleidoscope World (1989 Fontana). Corrine Drewery and Andy Connell both loved the likes of Burt Bacharach, Ennio Morricone, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and Nina Simone. With influences like that, it will surely strike a chord, or two with me.

Reading about it, it was supposed to be for Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything but it didn’t materialize. Listening to this again now, “Blue Period” is still my favorite on this record.

The Smithereens - 11 (1989 Enigma). There were some bands I discovered from the early days of NU 107. The Smithereens were one of them. This was released in the PH too so it was accessible. I did like this then, and I kinda like it still. “A Girl Like You” was quite a hit too.

It was difficult to find a copy of How Green Is Your Valley then and he found some tracks on my page. He was very curious to see the PH-issued cassette so I sent him a photo. The album became somewhat of a cult classic and definitely for someone like me who loves The Style Council.

16 Tambourines - How Green Is Your Valley (1989 Arista). I remember meeting Steve Roberts on Multiply because he was trying to find mp3s of his band’s only album at the time. He was making music as a solo act and was about to release a new one when we ended in a chat.

The Innocence Mission - The Innocence Mission (1989 A&M). The Ocean Blue was likely the culprit on how I got into The Innocence Mission. Besides both being from Pennsylvania, they were friends iirc. Anyway, this is a beautiful record, with Karen Peris’ heartbreaking voice front and center.

The Wedding Present - Bizarro (1989 RCA). This was my first Weddoes album. I think I may have encountered them prior to C86 but I don’t recall much. I’ve asked my mom in the US to send me any of their albums she can find. Glad I received this one because it’s a total pop frenzy type of a record.

The Ocean Blue - The Ocean Blue (1989 Sire). This was a very significant album to me. The Ocean Blue’s first album was part of that fading-out/ fading-in between decades. Like it’s kind of new wave, but there’s alternative and college radio elements to it too. It’s a really good mixture.

Pale Saints - Barging Into The Presence Of God (1989 4AD). Those Indie Top 20 cds were a godsend. One of the volumes included “Sight Of You” and I fell in love with it. I in fact fell in love with the band, Pale Saints with each of their releases.

It was an album with a sound in between Friends Again’s Trapped And Unwrapped and Aztec Camera’s Love. Smooth, quite glossy, a little Prefab Sprout-y too. It was one of those that flew under the radar for most people, perhaps because it was too “pop” for them, or whatever. It’s pop sublime to me!

The Painted Word - Lovelife (1989 RCA). Heard this one from the radio, likely on BM 105 but a friend of mine, whom I will call Ethereal John had a copy. The tape was released in the PH and I was able to borrow it from him. We didn’t have any kind of information about the band but we both loved it.

Expanding the sound from The Lilac Time’s self-titled debut, Paradise Circus was all glowing with a set of well-arranged gentle folk pop littered with chamber pop strings, horns, oboes, mixed with accordions, banjos, bazoukis and harmonica.

The Lilac Time - Paradise Circus (1989 Fontana). “She Loves Me” from Some Kind Of Wonderful was quite unforgettable. Disregarding his Duranie roots (heh heh), I warmed up to him due to Because We Love You. But I fell head over heels hard when I heard Paradise Circus.

Listening to it today, each song is unforgettable, deliciously melodic with often funny and sometimes dark and cynical lyrics. And the cover design was somehow representative of the band’s music.

The Beautiful South - Welcome To The Beautiful South (1989 Go! Discs). I was overjoyed when ex-Housemartins Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway came together to present this record to the world. Welcome To The Beautiful South was indeed beautiful from start to finish.

Combining the mini-album Ecstasy and the Strawberry Wine single, this record has echoes of 60’s jangle buried in hazy, fuzzy guitars. By subtracting Dave Conway and adding Bilinda Butcher, you can surely FEEL the shift in direction. And darnit, these songs are magical.

My Bloody Valentine - Ecstasy And Wine (1989 Lazy). So a little after hearing Isn’t Anything, I was also marveling at this collection of My Bloody Valentine’s pre-Creation/ Lazy recordings.

It was a favorite of mine and yeah, I became a fan (until Second Coming that is, heh). I had the I Wanna Be Adored t-shirt and even had a bowl cut. And another reason why I liked hollow-bodied guitars was because of John Squire’s T2S.

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989 Silvertone). At the tail-end of the decade when I was transitioning from high school to college, the music I listened to was also shifting, along with the music landscape, natch. I didn’t know much about Madchester until I bought The Stone Roses’ debut.

The most captivating track here (and served as a silver lining, too) is of course the live track “Ceremony”, that one time Joy Division ever played it as part of the band’s last gig at Birmingham University (although there is another recording of a rehearsal).

Joy Division - Still (1981 Factory). Still was issued a year and a half after Ian Curtis’ death. This record still feels like one of the saddest endings to a band ever. #vinylcollection

…like the Darklands outtakes “Don’t Ever Change” and “Swing”, and a re-recorded version of “Just Out Of Reach”. There are also a couple of crazy covers here: “Who Do You Love” and “Surfin’ USA”. I first encountered “Surfin USA” from a compilation entitled Under The Covers.

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Barbed Wire Kisses (1988 Blanco Y Negro). Some compilations will include rare tracks, which are usually a treat. Like Barbed Wire Kisses for example. This collects The Jesus And Mary Chain’s singles, b-sides and a few rarities…

Depeche Mode - The Singles 81-85 (1985 Mute). I liked Depeche Mode until Music For The Masses. I don’t know but I was on the fence already with Black Celebration. I preferred it when they sounded young and boyish so I guess this collection suited me more than their Singles 86-98 release.

With Siouxsie as the focal point, The Banshees were very visceral and haunting, even at their most melodic.