Yesterday it was the top pick of singles of 1986 and today it's the top albums of 1986. This was the last year that I allowed compilation albums into my top albums. This year I had a soundtrack and two compilations in the list. In 1988 I started a separate section of compilations (greatest hits, soundtracks etc) and did a top ten for them separate from the album section. Looking back at these choices, I think I would change my mind on some of them. In fact some of the top singles from yesterday may have come from better albums than some of these, But this is what I chose then, so I'm sticking with it. I'm choosing the Pretty In Pink soundtrack as the sample cover, because at the time it was an amazing album with not a single bad track on it. Like usual first ten tracks were the original pick and the second ten were added now to round it out to two per album.
Top Pick Albums 1986
Top Pick Albums 1986
01 Public Image Limited - Rise
02 XTC - Dear God
03 Beastie Boys - She's Crafty
04 George Clinton - Do Fries Go With That Shake
05 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
06 The The - Heartland
07 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
08 The Cramps - Can Your Pussy Do the Dog
09 Laurie Anderson - Language Is A Virus
10 Robyn Hitchcock - Eaten By Her Own Dinner
11 The Cramps - What's Inside a Girl
12 The The - Infected
13 Beastie Boys - No Sleep Till Brooklyn
14 XTC - Grass
15 Public Image Limited - Home
16 Robyn Hitchcock - My Favourite Buildings
17 George Clinton - Hey Good Lookin
18 Laurie Anderson - Sharkey's Night
19 Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses
20 New Order - Paradise
Actually very well done, I had some but I had forgotten to check most of your list.
ReplyDeleteBut you, kind man, have forgotten about some of (IMO) biggest blasts from 1986
* BIG BLACK - ATOMIZER *
Chaos UK/Extreme Noise - Earslaughter (check Extreme Noise intro to side 2)
Wire - Snakedrill (should be yesterday's)
Diamanda Galas - The Divine Punishment
Dead Kennedys - Bedtime for Democracy
Various – The House Sound Of Chicago - Chicago Trax
I like Big Black, but didn't discover them until later. Saw Wire live and they were great. I liked Dead Kennedys and Diamanda Galas but they did not make the cut for me at the time. I will have to check out Chaos UK as I don't know them
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRx3Jcp2qmI
ReplyDeleteExtreme Noise side of the split album. I was going to Uni, 1986. Visited the local musicshop. Took out a few "new" albums and put this one on (mostly I put on side 1 first, but this time the E.N.side) and I was blown away by its simple effectiveness. This was energy in music as I had rarely heared.
Excellent list, good times working in NYC, playing Ultimate all over the country, and scouring the Voice and NYT for reviews and shows. I mighta/woulda had The Feelies' album The Good Earth on there along with Sonic Youth's Evol and probably Steve Earle's Guitar Town. The Dream Syndicate's Out of the Grey seems likely to have landed just off the end. I wouldn't now but back then I'd totally have had Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes on there....
ReplyDeleteAll superb albums, really really liked Sonic Youth (albums and in concert) Around Evol I saw them live in NYC. Great show!
DeleteJealous, I saw them - with FIrehose opening - in Santa Cruz, CA - just before Daydream Nation and the west coast punks, hipsters, and hippies were flummoxed. It pissed off the band so they left the stage after 4-5 songs, came back 15 minutes later and played half an hour of Dictators songs, which the crowd loved, before baggin' it. I'd just moved there from NY for grad school and I definitely "wasn't in Kansas anymore." :-)
DeleteI lived in Santa Cruz for a year or two, no place quite like it. Missed that show (at the Catalyst?). I'm not sure if I miss the nightly drum circles in downtown (are they still happening?) but they were kinda fun. I miss seeing the slow motion dude while I was out. Took the whole night to go up and back down the street. Amazing!
DeleteThis would have been 87-88, I was there until 94 and then again 95-6. This was in a small bar/stage out near the Water, Soquel and Morrissey intersection. We lived through the '89 earthquake. This was before tech money and investment properties absolutely ruined the city... highest average rents in the country... for $325/mo each of the four of us lived in a beautiful 1920s Craftsman bungalow on Beach Hill. I'd never go to school there now. Saw a number of shows at the Catalyst... most notably Chris Isaak, twice, and The Beat Nigs... the bouncers were assholes. Best show was a Neil Young with Booker T and the MGs tour warm up at the Auditorium, with Jonathan Richman solo at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center a not that close second.
ReplyDeleteNice! I was over the hill during those years but seeing shows everywhere, of course. Lots of I-Beam shows in the late 80's early 90's.
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