Long time, no listen

Over the past couple of weeks, I decided to seek out albums (vinyl only) from my collection that I hadn't listened to in at least 10 years by my best estimate (though it's been much longer for some). I stopped at 10 for now. Here's the list, in order of most enjoyed to least, with a few comments on each. I welcome any discussion or thoughts on any of these albums.

1. Adrian Belew - Twang Bar King
I really enjoyed this. For some reason I remembered it sounding "low fi" but it isn't. It doesn't begin well with a cover of "I'm Down" but it gets much better. (The cover is fine enough, but seems an odd choice to kick off an otherwise very original album.) Stylistically, it's all over the place, but you get all sides of Belew in top form.

2. The Alarm - Strength
Better than I remembered. Strong album. Anthemic, of course, but that's The Alarm. "Knife Edge" is a great opening track and it doesn't let up from there. Guitar work is better and more tasteful than I expected.

3. Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat
Also better than I remembered. Mosquitos was always my go-to, and I do like that better. But this one is almost as good. Some of the song topics are goofy, but I could say the same about the Belew album. "Camouflage" is a really cool song to end the album.

4. Oingo Boingo - Only A Lad
I think I bought this at the same time as Nothing to Fear, which is far superior, so I gave it little attention. But this one is much better than I remembered, especially the second side. The cover of "You Really Got Me" is both horrible and awesome. Overall, even though this album is 40+ years old, it still sounds different and unique.

5. Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis
Of all these albums, this is the one I listened to the most in the past. It's a very accomplished album for sure, I just didn't enjoy it as much now as I thought I would. Maybe my tastes have changed, but this just seems a little too lightweight for what I want to hear right now.

6. Paul Kelly and the Messengers - Under the Sun
Solid album. Not really the style of music I listen to much these days, but good songwriting and playing and enjoyable overall. Not much stands out as exceptional, but no stinkers, either.

7. Tim Finn - Big Canoe
Way overproduced, but some good stuff here. More interesting guitar work than I remembered, but not Finn's finest hour. His voice sounds great, and nice to hear contributions from Phil Judd.

8. Shriekback - Big Night Music
I really tried to get into this album many years ago. I couldn't then, and I still can't. I truly admire what they are doing, and it is definitely unique, but it doesn't grab me. Maybe I'll feel differently in another 10 years.

9. The Style Council - The Cost of Loving
So bad. I'm a huge Weller fan, but this doesn't do it for me. D.C Lee is not a good singer, and she's all over this album. "Right to Go" is an abomination. There are guts of a few good songs here (e.g., "It Doesn't Matter," "Fairy Tales") but not with these arrangements and production.

10. Tom Tom Club - Close to the Bone
Easily the worst of the 10 albums which is saying something after #9. Some interesting things here and there (mainly instrumental bits or rhythms), but an overall unpleasant listen. Nothing worth hearing again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2026 07:51AM by zoo.

It's funny, of your list, the three of these I own on vinyl are all sequential:

5. Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis
6. Paul Kelly and the Messengers - Under the Sun
7. Tim Finn - Big Canoe

Of this batch, the Prefab Sprout is best, and Paul Kelly's is solid. It's not a great Tim Finn record.

zwirnm Wrote:
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> It's funny, of your list, the three of these I own
> on vinyl are all sequential:
>
> 5. Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis
> 6. Paul Kelly and the Messengers - Under the Sun
> 7. Tim Finn - Big Canoe
>
> Of this batch, the Prefab Sprout is best, and Paul
> Kelly's is solid. It's not a great Tim Finn record.

Finn's solo work is spotty. I have his first three on vinyl. If I pick another bunch of albums that I haven't listened to in years, I could add Escapade to the list. The only other Paul Kelly album I have is Gossip. Been a long time for that one as well but my memory is that I like it better.

My two favorites from that list? "Big Night Music" and "Close To The Bone." The latter is my fave rave Tom Tom Club album of them all. I have the Oingo Boingo, Prefab Sprout, and Stan Ridgeway albums as well. Ridgeway's is my favorite of his solo run [I only have about 5] as well. I never had "Twang Bar King" as it never got a US CD release, but I have "Desire Of The Rhino King" compilation.

Post-Punk Monk Wrote:
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> My two favorites from that list? "Big Night Music"
> and "Close To The Bone." The latter is my fave
> rave Tom Tom Club album of them all. I have the
> Oingo Boingo, Prefab Sprout, and Stan Ridgeway
> albums as well. Ridgeway's is my favorite of his
> solo run [I only have about 5] as well.

As a reader of your blog, I know you're a big Shriekback fan. The only other one I own--and which I haven't heard in an equally long time--is Oil and Gold. I should give that one a spin soon. I remember it being very different than Big Night Music.

This is a good idea. Streaming sees me go straight to playlists too often. I'm going to give it a go and report back.

Yeah, I do this occasionally. Popped in ye olde “Hello Nasty” CD a month or so ago and listened to it start-to-finish for the first time in ages. I remember loving it back in the day, but I’d forgotten so much of it. Probably because of another thing I didn’t like about CDs: albums could go LOOONG. Nevertheless, had a blast, as I did with:

“Duty Now For The Future.” Gave it a spin a week or so. Devo at their most unhinged. So good.

Excellent post, Zoo. I should make this a practice myself. Maybe I'll start later this week when I get home. (Currently, I'm spending a couple of days in Las Vegas with my brother, culminating in seeing The B-52's at the Venetian.)

Delvin Wrote:
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> Excellent post, Zoo. I should make this a practice
> myself. Maybe I'll start later this week when I
> get home. (Currently, I'm spending a couple of
> days in Las Vegas with my brother, culminating in
> seeing The B-52's at the Venetian.)

It was fun rediscovering albums. In the case of a few of these, I listened once or twice many years ago, then for some reason never came back. It was like hearing those again for the first time. After I listened to a few, I thought that I should post about it here, so I restricted my listening to artists covered by TP. I could definitely do this again with another 10, which fully intend to do over the next week or so.

I do something similar in my car. I have four cd bookcases, and I grab a cd from each one, trying to be as random as possible. Right now just finished Ween's 'La Cucaracha' (not bad but 'My Own Bare Hands' is easily the worst Ween song and that's saying a lot) and Blur's 'Modern Life is Rubbish' is playing now and My Dad is Dead 'Everyone Loves Wants Honey but Not the Sting' is next.

That Ridgway album was such a departure from Wall of Voodoo and for the best. "Just Drive, She Said" is his best song and "Camouflage" is really good as well (Sabaton does a terrible version of that song). Only a Lad is too one dimensional, the next two albums are much better. I with you on that Shriekback album.

Agreed this is a great post idea. I recently sold all my vinyl, but I think I owned almost all your list…. anything used and cheap with even a faint hint of 80’s new wave got thrown into my vinyl library in the 90s and 2000’s.

I’m especially embarrassed how many I owned but never even listened to… I had the collectors bug. SOMEDAY I’d need to hear Paul Kelly, right?

I know every square inch of Prefab’s ‘two wheels good’, but never connected with ‘Langley park’. Likewise Swoon and Protest Songs… none captured the sense of regret and melancholy I was after. ‘Jordan’ gave me. What I wanted, though.

I recently did this exercise with the Sector 27 album I loved so much in the early 80s (tom Robinson’s new band at the time). Does it hold up? Can’t say it affected me like it did in my teens, but it was a blast to hear it after maybe 20 years neglect.

( I loved that record so much that I had a sports jersey made with number 27 and ‘sector’ where the name should go…. I was no jock, but a proud new wave teen geek).

Okay, here are my first five. As you can tell, I started at the beginning of my collection and simply worked forward.

Laurie Anderson – Home of the Brave
The tracks that feature prominent backing vocalists ("Talk Normal," "Language Is a Virus," "Sharkey's Night") are the most enjoyable ... which says something about Anderson's own vocals, whether Vocoderized or naturalistic. Anderson comes across more as a stand-up comedian than a singer ... but having very recently heard "O Superman" twice in one day, that's what I more or less expected. Adrian Belew lays down his beloved jungle animal sounds with his guitar; the menagerie stands out starkly against the spare synthesizers and drum machines -- much more starkly than his work with Talking Heads, King Crimson or even his own solo recordings. The closing track, "Credit Racket," is an interesting illustration of how a clever synth artist can make an industrial/construction site sound melodic.

The A's
Pretty stock American-style New Wave. Very Eighties, but in all the ways that meant a lot to me back when ... well, back during the Eighties. The review on this web site compares it to the Boomtown Rats; I'd say that's a pretty apt reference point. The instrumental complexity gets ratcheted up on Side Two — jazzier chord changes, twin lead guitars doing harmonized solos, more sophisticated piano runs. Even the song "Teenage Jerkoff" gets this more high-end treatment. And the singer is kinda reminiscent of Bob Geldof. Good stuff, all around.

Beat Rodeo – Staying Out Late with Beat Rodeo
It had been so long since this came off my shelf that the plastic protective outer sleeve crumbled when I took it off the record. On the bright side, the vinyl grooves sound downright flawless, start to finish. More country'ish than I remembered (and more than I usually enjoy hearing), but it's definitely got some pleasing songs on it. Good enough to merit a new plastic protective sleeve before it's returned to its spot on the shelf.

The B-52's – Bouncing Off the Satellites
As much as I adore The B-52's, I honestly couldn't remember the last time I'd listened to this album. In fact, having seen the band eight times since its release, I can't remember ever hearing them perform any songs from this one. (Its protective outer sleeve didn't fall apart, but still.) Tony Mansfield's Fairlight-centric production really is dated; the rhythm tracks seem to lack any groove, robbing the band of its swing. Most of the songs show a decided lack of fun. I mean, whoever wanted Kate and Cindy to sing about doing housework? The one song where they do cut loose, "Wig," just sounds corny, rather than kitschy. And Fred Schneider is sorely under-utilized on this album. If this album had come from almost any other band, it'd land in the sell-or-trade pile. But I know that the band was going through trauma and loss when they recorded it, and their music has meant too much to me for such an easy exit. (And as a postscript, I have to admit that a few of its melodies ended up sticking with me the next day.)

Blue Rodeo – Diamond Mine
I couldn't even remember buying this one, and neither could my wife, although the band's name is familiar to us both. But the songs jumped out at me, offering a rich blend of country, rock and hints of soul, much like The Band (Blue Rodeo's fellow Canadians) or the Bodeans. The performances have a lot of dynamics, certainly compared to most modern rock; many of the songs open with piano interludes or drum fills that convey the sense that the band is vamping before kicking into the song at hand. And the lyrics to the opener, "God and Country," are so shockingly relevant to this time we live in that it could almost pass for a new song. Reading Erik's review of the band on this site, I'll have to keep my eyes open for their other records. (Thanks Erik!)

I agree - Not a great B52s album, but I do love “Wig,” and was pleasantly surprised when the band played it the first time I saw them. So apparently they do play tracks off that album. Well, one song. At least once.

This could be a tricky exercise. Some albums that meant a lot to me as a yoof probably sound rather dated to modern ears. So far as I was concerned in the 80s, run DMC was the greatest, and might always be the greatest of all hip-hop acts. However I would imagine a young person today - and maybe even me nowadays –would think they sound as primitive as caveman banging rocks together.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2026 06:55AM by MrFab.

I'm an outlier. Probably because 'Satellites' got continuous airplay in my dorm sophomore year but I really like that album. 'Nude Beach', 'Detour' and the aforementioned 'Wig' are good songs to my ears. 'Whammy' is another album that gets the short shrift. The first four songs on that album are great (though listening to 'Song For a Future Generation' is bittersweet now).

Diamond Mine is, for me, the hidden gem in Blue Rodeo's early catalog. (I logged off after 5 Days in July, which I found underwhelming.) I saw them on the Lost Together tour at the tiny Antone's in Austin (tiny compared to the arenas they were playing in their native Canada), and the version of the title track that night is the performance I most remember.

I'm in my jazz (and, these days, classical) bubble most of the time, but I was inspired by this thread to pull out some of 90s alt.rock, which is still a big part of my DNA:

Lustre - s/t
A one-off alt.rock guitar band who had their 2.5 seconds of notoriety due to "Nice Overalls" being included on the Empire Records soundtrack. They were dogged by Smashing Pumpkins comparisons, but I hear a lot more Dinosaur Jr., Sugar, and Jawbox than the Pumpkins. Like Jawbox, they were at heart a pop band, but one that didn't want to revert to the usual melodic cliches. Unfortunately, they were on a major label at the tail-end of the alt.rock surge (1996), which meant they were thrown against the wall with little promotion to see if they stuck*. Now it's not even on streaming services. Too bad - this record is really well-written, sounds great, and deserved better.

The Shore - s/t
This came out in the early 'aughts, but might have made a bigger impact had it come out 10, or even 5, years earlier. Yes, it's basically an American clone of the Verve, but the band does it well.

The Verve - A Storm in Heaven
Which reminded me that I hadn't listened to this in a really long time. I'm a casual Verve fan at best, with only this and Urban Hymns on my shelves. Unlike Lustre and the Shore, which I played on CD, I streamed this while cleaning house, unaware that I'd chosen a three-disk anniversary edition. I was not in a position to switch albums when the main body finished, and ended up being pleasantly surprised by how good the B-sides were. I didn't listen to the whole thing, but I plan to in the future.

Vanilla Trainwreck - Sofa Livin' Dreamazine
I remember digging this when it was assigned to me as a writer for Pop Culture Press. The band cited King Crimson as an influence, and I certainly clocked a sublimated prog influence when I heard it. Thirty-five years on, it sounds kinda mild, especially the vocals, but I feel like they walked so bands like Polvo and Chavez could run.

This is also one of those instances where I swore there was a TP entry (which praised the first album but slammed the second, which I didn't hear until many years after it came out), but the site says no. I wonder where I read that?

Clockhammer - Klinefelter
Not to be confused with Clawhammer. A long-forgotten Nashville power trio that got labeled "prog metal," which probably surprised a lot of Dream Theater fans who might have picked it up based on that. There's a lot of prog in their sound for sure, and a lot of postpunk, and maybe a little metal, given Byron Bailey's superdistorted guitar sound, but they were definitely not "prog metal." They made two albums, with a noticeable upward arc in their artistry from one of the other - I wouldn't call Klinefelter (their second) a great record, but a vision was starting to cohere, and I remember being excited for what they would do next. Alas, their label First Warning went under, the rhythm section left, and that was pretty much it. According to Discogs, a third record did come out on the German label Houses in Motion, but even that website doesn't have one for sale.

Bassist Matt Swanson went on to join Lambchop. Drummer Ken Coomer became a member of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco, from whom he was famously fired. He's now a producer and studio owner. Bailey, from what I've gleaned over the years, became a doctor.

After that I went on to Steve Reich, who I'm sure has his fans on this board, but is generally outside the TP scope.

*I've often thought that being a late stage alternative rock band on a major label in the 90s was worse than being one on a small indie label. At least the latter put effort into their bands, instead of just signing them, putting them into lifelong debt, and forgetting about them.

Michael Toland:

I don't know any of these except The Verve. I haven't listened to that album in a long time, either, but Urban Hymns finds itself in the rotation often enough.

I'm not surprised. They were all pretty obscure even then.

Replying to Delvin:

I don't know that I've ever actually heard music from Blue Rodeo or Beat Rodeo, but I do know the band names. I'll need to check them out!

Never heard of The A's--another to check out.

I probably heard that B52's one and didn't like it. Don't really remember.

Only familiar with Laurie Anderson. Not really my cup of tea.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2026 06:25AM by zoo.