ALBUMS

Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Released in 1977 this LP was a massive hit around the world. The tension of the inter-pair squabbling that was the backdrop to the recording gives the whole LP a fresh, immediate feeling that belies the months invested.  I first heard it in the sitting room of a friend's boyfriend. His estranged wife had taken a lot of the furniture and the walls were orange but who cared - he had a Yamaha 250cc motorbike and a stereo set up that beat anything else I knew of at the time. The title track is my favourite, and Bill Clinton used 'Don't stop thinking about tomorrow' in his election campaign.
The Joshua Tree - U2
Released in 1987, this was one of the first LP's I bought in Sweden. The local radio reviewed it and though I couldn't follow all the DJ said the music grabbed me immediately. It fades in with  what sounds like the beginning of a hymn and then crashes into Bono's pleading. Not satisfied with having plenty of thinly veiled political songs  - about Soweto (Where the Streets have no Name), US involvement abroad (Bullet the blue sky) and political representatives that have disappeared in South America, (Mothers of the Disappeared) Bono and the band also deal with the hopelessness of a drug dependency (Running to Stand Still) and impossible love ( With or Without you). Eno is listed on production credits and gives U2's rawness and passion  a richness and depth  they had previously lacked.
Boys and Girls - Bryan Ferry
Ferry also worked with Eno when they were together in the group Roxy Music, but in 1985 he managed without Brian's help to create a rather short but bitter sweet collection of unrequited-love songs. No smoke in the eyes, but wind in the hair and rhythm in the body. Contributions by Mark Knoppfler, David Gilmour and Nile Rodgers  et al add what they can whilst staying firmly in the tight audio picture of club-life seediness, street walking and  one-night stands.
Ray of Light - Madonna
From the girl who released 'Like a Virgin' before Christmas and didn't have it banned. Collaboration with William Orbit has produced a sort of Jean Michel Jarre/Depeche Mode modern dance record. She wants to appear socially aware (Drowned world)  but though the her needs are the still same as those on Erotica, there seems now to be a hint of desperation and disappointment (Skin), and no hope of real love anymore (Substitute for love). The arrival of her daughter (Little Star) and her own mortality (Mer Girl) also feature heavily. Favourite tracks include 'To have and not to hold' and the 'Power of goodbye'.  Though the mixture of songs and subject matter seems a little strange I find the complete package spellbinding.
The Album - Abba
In the seventies Abba could do no wrong as far as I and thousands of other fans were concerned. 'Arrival', with it's catchy pop songs (including an all time favourite 'Knowing Me, Knowing you') had stayed in the LP charts for months the previous year  and this follow-up once again featured the cream of Swedish pop talent. As well as several big hit singles ('Take a chance on me', with its silly, amusing video, 'The name of the game', with its very boring video and the sugary 'Thank you for the Music') there was also 'Eagle' with its soaring guitar solo, a return to Ulvaeus'  musical roots in 'Move On', the frenetic 'Hole in your soul', the disturbing, poignant 'I wonder' and the rumbling 'I'm a Marionette' which more than just hints at the darker side of the music business. Several of the songs also appeared in Abba - The Movie.
All of this and Nothing  - The Psychedelic Furs
I always thought I'd missed the Furs on their first time round but when I bought this album (which is a greatest hits album in a way although they had none really!) so much was familiar. The Sunday evening Radio One slot must have featured many of the tracks without me realising. 'Pretty in Pink' was the biggest hit in the wake of a John Hughes movie of the same name but there are many more 'one's that got away'. 'Love my way' and 'Ghost in You' (with the wonderful lines 'and here in you my engines die/ I'm in the mood for you / Or running away) are my favourites though its hard to choose as there are so many brilliant songs.
Blah! Blah! Blah! - Iggy Pop David Bowie produced this little packet of vinyl aggression in 1986 prior to his own less brilliant 'Never let me Down'. Despite it's now slightly dated sound, strongish songs and lively production make this an album to blow away cobwebs with. Pop gives us everything - the politics of TV and illiteracy (Blah!Blah!Blah!),  underworld violence (Winners and Losers), simple love (Shades & Fire Girl) and Isolation.
Diva - Annie Lennox
Annie first bounced around on the 'Top of the Pops' stage with the Tourists  to the tune of Dusty Springfield's 'I only want to be with you'. Though the Tourists didn't last, Annie went on to continue a thorough and sometimes harrowing apprenticeship in the Eurythmics, suffered the loss of a baby and then rejoiced in the birth of another. By the time she recorded Diva, there was a lot to tell the world about.
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush  Another 1985 release. Excluding 'The Dreaming' Kate had been quiet for nearly five years after the 'Never for ever' LP and the record industry had all but written her off. Then this came with it's strong singles on one side and in many ways the even stronger second side subtitled the Seventh Wave. The background of English and Irish folk music and literary works combine to provide interesting themes and lyrics with catchy melodies. The production, mainly her own work, gave it a completeness not seen before and seen only rarely since. You can drop into the LP anywhere and want to hear the whole thing. It's telling that the 3 extra tracks on the 1998 CD release are all just as strong - they were apparently left off because of lack of space on the vinyl format.
Gracelands - Paul Simon This arrived in time for Christmas 1986 and, in rented accommodation with only a walkman to listen to it was a breath of fresh air. The title track with its Byrds like jangling and wonderful opening line ('The Mississippi delta was shining like a National guitar') drags you into the the theme of the whole LP - race and repression - but it's done so carefully, with a wry little twist of a smile that you don't really notice. Ladysmith Black Mambasa and South African township jazz found a new world public as the pressure grew on South Africa to release Nelson Mandela and scrap its apartheid laws.
Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega This 1985 album predates all the Alanis Morisette clones that arrived a decade later. Quirky lyrics and acoustic backing tracks provide that Hot/Cold, Sweet/ Sour feeling that stays long after the turntable has ground to a halt. The follow-up 'Solitude Standing' had more hits (including the child abuse song Luka) but this LP is different and has the staying power that many contemporary albums lack.
Oxygene - Jean Michel Jarre. Synthesisers really came into their own in the mid-seventies. Even disco music moved away from the sweeping string arrangements and upped the BPM with their help. More musical than Kraftwerk though only slightly less fringe at the time, there are no lyrics but an obvious theme in the title. The music is both hypnotic and jarring and whilst it struggled on the radio it bursts into life in headphones.
En blekt blondins hjärta - Eva Dahlgren.
One of the few Swedish artists who's is bold enough to do her own non-Abba, non-danceband thing and still be popular. Beautiful lyrics about love, her own position in the world and the fall of the Berlin wall. The hit single 'Vem tänder stjärnorna' (Who lights the stars) is one long steady question mark over life.

Back to Music
Back to Start

Copyright  © Liz Lamb, Ängelholm, Sweden, Jan '99. You are welcome to copy anything original you find here, but as a matter of politeness you should ask first, and cite your source! Thanks!  Last updated Dec 2001