An excellent choice for the year. I'll throw my hat into the 'best Smiths album' ring - Hatful of Hollow. Yes, it was a compilation of singles, b-sides and radio sessions but my goodness - what a compilation! It was my first Smiths album, so maybe I'm a bit biased.
I'll take "Hatful" over the S/T debut album most days...I know they don't fully overlap track-wise, but the session takes on "Hatful" are just livelier and better-sounding, I reckon. "First album" syndrome is definitely a thing, and in this impressionable period of my life that I'm covering right now, there's probably going to be a bit more of that...and probably at the expense of some "big" albums of the period. Trying to keep it honest, though, so will be sticking to my guns and readying myself for some flak! Cheers, D
Kiss me, I loved that album when it came out, a prelude to the earth shattering disintegration 2 years later Strangeways is a great choice, loved your review of it. A true classic album.
Yeah, I think "Kiss Me" gets a bit overlooked because of Disintegration. It's a lighter record, sure, but as the culmination of that mid 80s "pop" period they had, it holds up really well. Cheers, D
This would have been my first year of high school. I already was listening to New Order and Depeche mode at this point, having been introduced to them by a family friend. But this is when I truly started buying my own music and making regular trips to the little record store in the neighboring college town.. The Lion and the Cobra was one of those early purchases, along with the Violent Femmes. BY the end of the year I would find my way to the Cure. I only knew Why Can't I Be You. I didn't know what to expect playing the full album for the first time, but The Kiss just blew me away. Fight would become a kind of a personal anthem against the constant bullying as I evolved from the nerdy middle schooler into the gothy/punk kid over the next year or so. The friends I made in HS band would introduce me to REM and the Church. Tapes would be traded. While 88 was really the more pivotal year for me, the final months end of 87 certainly was me taking those first steps into a wider musical journey. Thanks for doing these videos. As I approach 51 in a couple weeks it's nice to reminisce a bit.
1987 was transitional for me. The first half culminating in A levels which closed out school years and youth. The second starting “adult” life at Uni which re-shaped my musical tastes longer term. I was definitely later than you coming to the Smiths and the likes of REM, but I got there eventually. Is there an album I associate with this year more than any other? No. Not even The Joshua Tree, my last dance with U2. It gets an honourable mention alongside Sign ‘O’ the Times.
I was born in 1971 and 1987 was about the time that I started digging deeper into music instead of what the radio force fed me. I have never been able to get into The Smiths other than a couple of songs but I know they were extremely influential and I do love Johnny Marr's guitar playing.... it is Morrissey I just couldn't stomach for long listens. U2 and REM were my gateway drugs in 1987 that made me demand more from my music at the time if I am honest.
Yeah, definitely a transition year for me, too...alongside this LP, I was listening to The Joshua Tree, Tunnel Of Love, Solitude Standing, Kiss Me x3...so a mix of "big" acts, and stuff that was on the fringes but still picking up mainstream radio/TV play. Hearing The John Peel Show cracked that whole paradigm wide open, and I was discovering a wealth of new stuff week-by-week. The Smiths were, I guess, the biggest (and most widely available!) of the Peel-supported indie crossover acts in the UK back then, hence this being the one I chose for '87. Morrissey's mix of humour and misery was pretty much all its own thing at the time, and I liked his lyrics a lot...he's become utterly monstrous to me now, for non-musical reasons, but his post-Smiths stuff is patchy at best, and parodic at worst. Marr's still cool, though. Cheers, D
Can't argue with that choice. I've overplayed the queen is dead, so this album tends to be the one that I reach for first nowadays. The production is fantastic. They really were a fantastic band.
Such a close call between them for me. Agree that Stephen Street worked some magic on "Strangeways", and he's always been very vocal about how "together" the band seemed during the recording sessions. Still sucks that it was the management tensions, Marr just buckling under the pressure of dealing with the non-musical side of the band, that finally did for them. This record sounds like they still had an awful lot of gas in the tank, creatively speaking. Cheers, D
vSpy v Spy with their AO modified TV version were a real ear opener for me in 1987 and opened my journey into that other music, in another sphere (indie rock, post-punk, post-hardcore and a lot more)🌟 Ps I am enjoying your back catalog on Amrep listening to the cd of Chokebore at this moment.
I'm a bit of a 'Queen is Dead' purist myself but I do think The Smiths is one of those bands where a persons favourite tends to be whatever album you heard first, of course the first Smiths album I heard was the 'Queen is Dead' lol
I think "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" was the first single of theirs that made me sit up and take notice, but it wasn't until '87...Shoplifters, Sheila...that I "got them" enough to go out and buy an honest-to-goodness album. Think I picked up "The World Won't Listen" shortly after "Strangeways", which sealed it, and opened up the whole Smiths "thing" for me. Cheers, D
Thanks. I think last week's choice will be pretty much the last contentious one. My listening habits changed massively this year, and the main problem going forward with these videos will be whittling my list down to a single album per year. '88 and '89 are utter carnage, and I'm still wavering on both years! D
Forget Sonic Youth, Wedding Present, The Fall and other great guitar bands, but the biggest highlight of 1987 for me which Peel played was Salma & Sabina Sing The Hits Of Abba In Hindi !! Now that is worth listening. What next, a Ukrainian language cover of a Smiths song. Wait, there is one, the Ukrainians (a Wedding Present offshoot) did a cover of the Smiths Batyar (Bigmouth Strikes Again). Dear to say, possibly better than the original version !!
Hah! The colour gives it away on the monitor. I like Strangeways too as an album. I prefer the compilations to the albums. I'm intrigued by the Newport band - will have to give it a listen, if possible. BTW, you should make Spotify playlists of tracks or something similar if you don't already. I think '87, I was still into hip-hop, psb, and some of the incoming dance records that blew up in the UK. I had the opportunity to listen to some of the big guitar players, such as Vai and Satriani due to my sister's boyf at the time, which I guess was interesting. Back in those days when you had to import vinyl too! Funny to think about things like that now.
It was really tough to disguise the cover of this one...if you know it, then the colour palette is a dead giveaway! Listening back, The Abs are pretty generic pop-punk type stuff, but the Session is quite sweet. "Same Mistake Twice" and "Fear Is The Key" were the ones that stuck with me...there's a line in SMT about having "a bowl of freezing custard poured down my grits", and as far as I'm aware "grits" being underpants is (was) an entirely South Wales thing. Link to the session below... ruclips.net/video/Iu2O9qbvYiM/видео.html I do Spotify lists for some videos, but this being an ongoing album-focused thing, I haven't bothered up to this point. Maybe I should! Cheers, D
It's a great album but I never took to it like I did to The Queen Is Dead. 1987 for me involved a lot of grebo, I loved Gaye Bykers On Acid and Pop Will Eat Itself, but my album of the year is Dawnrazor by Fields of the Nephilim, especially the CD which had extra tracks not on the vinyl version. Lazy comparisons with the Sisters of Mercy because of Carl McCoy's deep voice (and his hat) missed the fact that the Morricone flavoured "spaghetti metal" was its own thing. If I remember correctly, internal squabbling meant that the Nephs soon became McCoy plus some other musicians and they never sounded quite like this again.
Grebo was one of those nebulous little sub-genres that seemed to get subsumed into indie-dance and grunge within the space of only a few years. I think you had to be listening in at exactly the right time to "get it", and then it was gone. I guess the more pop-punk bands that followed like Mega City 4, Senseless Things, Carter USM, Neds, or the more dance-centric stuff like EMF and Jesus Jones were things that I picked up on rather than GBOA. The Poppies managed to bridge the whole period pretty well, though. Cheers, D
Also in 1987, the "Australian Bruce Springsteen" (born in Scotland!) Jimmy Barnes released one of his fine(st) albums: Freight Train Heart... Indie it ain't. So for that we can turn to the first proper studio album by the Chills, from neighbouring New Zealand: Brave Words. I think, a charming gem of an album; which contains some stellar songwriting and like a lot of "kiwi bands" feels that little bit more personal, quirky and direct. Or "amateurish" if you will (not) but certainly not glossy, ironic or "professional". Perhaps a bit "underproduced" by cult hero Mayo Thompson... and putting a single + two B-sides in the middle of the track-listing on the CD isn't ideal but it didn't really ruin the XTC albums either.
Been meaning to properly check out the "Brave Words" remaster from last year. My old vinyl copy is a little raggedy, so not sure how much of the muddiness/softness is down to wear and tear, and how much is Mayo's handiwork. Fabulous album, nonetheless! Cheers, D
@@discellany ...where they put the bonus tracks at the end this time, where they belong! Sounds maybe a bit more "trebly" to my ears just by listening on Bandcamp. Haven't bought it either. I find the new "drawn over" artwork somehow a bit creepy. It does say it's remixed. Actually the production never bothered me that much, where I do find Submarine Bells a tad overproduced sounding in places. Then again, how else is a Heavenly Pop Song supposed to sound eh?
An excellent choice for the year. I'll throw my hat into the 'best Smiths album' ring - Hatful of Hollow. Yes, it was a compilation of singles, b-sides and radio sessions but my goodness - what a compilation! It was my first Smiths album, so maybe I'm a bit biased.
I'll take "Hatful" over the S/T debut album most days...I know they don't fully overlap track-wise, but the session takes on "Hatful" are just livelier and better-sounding, I reckon. "First album" syndrome is definitely a thing, and in this impressionable period of my life that I'm covering right now, there's probably going to be a bit more of that...and probably at the expense of some "big" albums of the period. Trying to keep it honest, though, so will be sticking to my guns and readying myself for some flak! Cheers, D
Kiss me, I loved that album when it came out, a prelude to the earth shattering disintegration 2 years later
Strangeways is a great choice, loved your review of it. A true classic album.
Yeah, I think "Kiss Me" gets a bit overlooked because of Disintegration. It's a lighter record, sure, but as the culmination of that mid 80s "pop" period they had, it holds up really well. Cheers, D
This would have been my first year of high school. I already was listening to New Order and Depeche mode at this point, having been introduced to them by a family friend. But this is when I truly started buying my own music and making regular trips to the little record store in the neighboring college town.. The Lion and the Cobra was one of those early purchases, along with the Violent Femmes.
BY the end of the year I would find my way to the Cure. I only knew Why Can't I Be You. I didn't know what to expect playing the full album for the first time, but The Kiss just blew me away. Fight would become a kind of a personal anthem against the constant bullying as I evolved from the nerdy middle schooler into the gothy/punk kid over the next year or so.
The friends I made in HS band would introduce me to REM and the Church. Tapes would be traded. While 88 was really the more pivotal year for me, the final months end of 87 certainly was me taking those first steps into a wider musical journey.
Thanks for doing these videos. As I approach 51 in a couple weeks it's nice to reminisce a bit.
Another great episode in the series. Love it. Keep it up.
1987 was transitional for me. The first half culminating in A levels which closed out school years and youth.
The second starting “adult” life at Uni which re-shaped my musical tastes longer term.
I was definitely later than you coming to the Smiths and the likes of REM, but I got there eventually.
Is there an album I associate with this year more than any other? No. Not even The Joshua Tree, my last dance with U2. It gets an honourable mention alongside Sign ‘O’ the Times.
I was born in 1971 and 1987 was about the time that I started digging deeper into music instead of what the radio force fed me. I have never been able to get into The Smiths other than a couple of songs but I know they were extremely influential and I do love Johnny Marr's guitar playing.... it is Morrissey I just couldn't stomach for long listens. U2 and REM were my gateway drugs in 1987 that made me demand more from my music at the time if I am honest.
Yeah, definitely a transition year for me, too...alongside this LP, I was listening to The Joshua Tree, Tunnel Of Love, Solitude Standing, Kiss Me x3...so a mix of "big" acts, and stuff that was on the fringes but still picking up mainstream radio/TV play. Hearing The John Peel Show cracked that whole paradigm wide open, and I was discovering a wealth of new stuff week-by-week. The Smiths were, I guess, the biggest (and most widely available!) of the Peel-supported indie crossover acts in the UK back then, hence this being the one I chose for '87. Morrissey's mix of humour and misery was pretty much all its own thing at the time, and I liked his lyrics a lot...he's become utterly monstrous to me now, for non-musical reasons, but his post-Smiths stuff is patchy at best, and parodic at worst. Marr's still cool, though. Cheers, D
Can't argue with that choice. I've overplayed the queen is dead, so this album tends to be the one that I reach for first nowadays. The production is fantastic. They really were a fantastic band.
Such a close call between them for me. Agree that Stephen Street worked some magic on "Strangeways", and he's always been very vocal about how "together" the band seemed during the recording sessions. Still sucks that it was the management tensions, Marr just buckling under the pressure of dealing with the non-musical side of the band, that finally did for them. This record sounds like they still had an awful lot of gas in the tank, creatively speaking. Cheers, D
vSpy v Spy with their AO modified TV version were a real ear opener for me in 1987 and opened my journey into that other music, in another sphere (indie rock, post-punk, post-hardcore and a lot more)🌟
Ps I am enjoying your back catalog on Amrep listening to the cd of Chokebore at this moment.
Glad you're finding some gems in the AmRep catalog. So much stuff in there that looks very unlikely to ever get a reissue! Cheers, D
I'm a bit of a 'Queen is Dead' purist myself but I do think The Smiths is one of those bands where a persons favourite tends to be whatever album you heard first, of course the first Smiths album I heard was the 'Queen is Dead' lol
I think "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" was the first single of theirs that made me sit up and take notice, but it wasn't until '87...Shoplifters, Sheila...that I "got them" enough to go out and buy an honest-to-goodness album. Think I picked up "The World Won't Listen" shortly after "Strangeways", which sealed it, and opened up the whole Smiths "thing" for me. Cheers, D
Another great review of an album that unlike the artist of last week are very near and dear to me.
Thanks. I think last week's choice will be pretty much the last contentious one. My listening habits changed massively this year, and the main problem going forward with these videos will be whittling my list down to a single album per year. '88 and '89 are utter carnage, and I'm still wavering on both years! D
Forget Sonic Youth, Wedding Present, The Fall and other great guitar bands, but the biggest highlight of 1987 for me which Peel played was Salma & Sabina Sing The Hits Of Abba In Hindi !! Now that is worth listening. What next, a Ukrainian language cover of a Smiths song. Wait, there is one, the Ukrainians (a Wedding Present offshoot) did a cover of the Smiths Batyar (Bigmouth Strikes Again). Dear to say, possibly better than the original version !!
Hah! The colour gives it away on the monitor. I like Strangeways too as an album. I prefer the compilations to the albums. I'm intrigued by the Newport band - will have to give it a listen, if possible. BTW, you should make Spotify playlists of tracks or something similar if you don't already. I think '87, I was still into hip-hop, psb, and some of the incoming dance records that blew up in the UK. I had the opportunity to listen to some of the big guitar players, such as Vai and Satriani due to my sister's boyf at the time, which I guess was interesting. Back in those days when you had to import vinyl too! Funny to think about things like that now.
It was really tough to disguise the cover of this one...if you know it, then the colour palette is a dead giveaway! Listening back, The Abs are pretty generic pop-punk type stuff, but the Session is quite sweet. "Same Mistake Twice" and "Fear Is The Key" were the ones that stuck with me...there's a line in SMT about having "a bowl of freezing custard poured down my grits", and as far as I'm aware "grits" being underpants is (was) an entirely South Wales thing. Link to the session below...
ruclips.net/video/Iu2O9qbvYiM/видео.html
I do Spotify lists for some videos, but this being an ongoing album-focused thing, I haven't bothered up to this point. Maybe I should! Cheers, D
It's a great album but I never took to it like I did to The Queen Is Dead. 1987 for me involved a lot of grebo, I loved Gaye Bykers On Acid and Pop Will Eat Itself, but my album of the year is Dawnrazor by Fields of the Nephilim, especially the CD which had extra tracks not on the vinyl version. Lazy comparisons with the Sisters of Mercy because of Carl McCoy's deep voice (and his hat) missed the fact that the Morricone flavoured "spaghetti metal" was its own thing. If I remember correctly, internal squabbling meant that the Nephs soon became McCoy plus some other musicians and they never sounded quite like this again.
Grebo was one of those nebulous little sub-genres that seemed to get subsumed into indie-dance and grunge within the space of only a few years. I think you had to be listening in at exactly the right time to "get it", and then it was gone. I guess the more pop-punk bands that followed like Mega City 4, Senseless Things, Carter USM, Neds, or the more dance-centric stuff like EMF and Jesus Jones were things that I picked up on rather than GBOA. The Poppies managed to bridge the whole period pretty well, though. Cheers, D
Also in 1987, the "Australian Bruce Springsteen" (born in Scotland!) Jimmy Barnes released one of his fine(st) albums: Freight Train Heart... Indie it ain't. So for that we can turn to the first proper studio album by the Chills, from neighbouring New Zealand: Brave Words. I think, a charming gem of an album; which contains some stellar songwriting and like a lot of "kiwi bands" feels that little bit more personal, quirky and direct. Or "amateurish" if you will (not) but certainly not glossy, ironic or "professional". Perhaps a bit "underproduced" by cult hero Mayo Thompson... and putting a single + two B-sides in the middle of the track-listing on the CD isn't ideal but it didn't really ruin the XTC albums either.
Been meaning to properly check out the "Brave Words" remaster from last year. My old vinyl copy is a little raggedy, so not sure how much of the muddiness/softness is down to wear and tear, and how much is Mayo's handiwork. Fabulous album, nonetheless! Cheers, D
@@discellany ...where they put the bonus tracks at the end this time, where they belong! Sounds maybe a bit more "trebly" to my ears just by listening on Bandcamp. Haven't bought it either. I find the new "drawn over" artwork somehow a bit creepy. It does say it's remixed.
Actually the production never bothered me that much, where I do find Submarine Bells a tad overproduced sounding in places.
Then again, how else is a Heavenly Pop Song supposed to sound eh?