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God, this is a great album and stunning that it's a debut. 37 minutes and not an ounce of fat on it. Four (arguably five if you want to count "Moving In Stereo"...six if you throw in "Bye Bye Love") are undeniable classics. Ric Ocasek is basically Joey Ramone gone UMASS instead of CBGBs, taking 50s/60s popcraft and twisting it, modernizing it, making it fresh, vital and interesting again. There's all sorts of odd little details that really make this album; weird guitar treatments, unexpected synth textures and tossed-off noodles, handclaps. Roy Thomas Baker ingeniously drops in the Queenous backing harmonies and David Robinson doesn't get nearly enough mention for adding the thump that drives this album from start to finish. Even though The Cars hit their commercial peak in 1984, they never made an album as good from end to end as this one.

There are a couple of times during "The Decline Of Western Civilization", Penelope Spheeris' 1980 documentary on L.A. punk, where you realize that X aren't really like the other bands that made up that scene.

The first is during an interview with Exene Cervenka where Spheeris notices a bouquet of roses behind her and asks Exene where she got them. "The Whiskey sent them." she replied "They like us. They do better business when we play there." Apart from maybe for a funeral, I'm pretty sure that nobody from Black Flag, Circle Jerks or Fear were ever sent flowers from any club owners.

The other comes during a short explanation of the song "We're Desperate" (off second album "Wild Gift"). Exene says "There's going to come a time when we play this song and people are gonna think "sure, they're desperate. I just paid $6 to see this band, they're not desperate"" and then adds almost embarrassedly "There are other ways of being desperate than being poor"

Both examples are telling as it shows that X, even though they were connected to that scene, were not like other prominent L.A. punk bands like Black Flag. They were co-operative. Their approach was more professional, with the punk ethos being less a style and more about making music that was direct and honest. It was obvious that they were taking their careers and the music that they made seriously.

While other bands were pursuing the proto-aggro side of punk with hardcore, X went in the americana direction with revved-up surf, roots and rockabilly riffs. They had much more in common musically with bands like The Blasters and Rank n' File than with the Circle Jerks.

Of all the punk debut albums that were released during that 1980-1982 period, X's "Los Angeles" was easily the most accomplished of the crop. Even though they were slammed for doing something as unpunk as having ex-Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek producing (plus adding keys); he was able to have the band keep that balance between the raw and the cooked.

It also didn't hurt that X had brought a great batch of tunes to the table. All eight originals are keepers, with "Johnny Hit And Run Pauline", "Nausea", The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss" and the title track being standouts. Also, their cover of The Doors' "Soul Kitchen" is better than it has any right to be.

And what can't be disputed is the band's chemistry. Be it Exene and John Doe's harmonizing, Billy Zoom's hyperbilly riffing or DJ Bonebreak's rocksteady drumming; it all fits together perfectly.

Debating whether or not X or this album are "punk" enough is irrelevant, "Los Angeles" is a classic no matter how you slice it.

Of all the bigger arena bands out of the 70s, you'd be hard pressed to find one that carries less critical cache (and coolness) than E.L.O. I mean, how often do you read or hear about people being big fans or recommending re-evaluations of their catalog? How often do people wear their fandom of the band on their sleeve like a band like Queen? I'd say almost never. Not that they were ever at such a level of popularity, but most of music nerd-dom treat them like some shameful little secret. Which is odd really as Jeff Lynne and company were responsible for some of the best art(ish) pop of that decade. Sure, the production and arrangements may tend toward the grandiose and bombastic and Lynne's Beatle (well, mostly McCartney) fetish borders occasionally on plagiarism, but it's all unapologetically dedicated to the lush pop melody.

What I've always liked about E.L.O. is that despite the slightly overblown nature of the band, their output never really feels pretentious. The arrangements seem more celebratory than ostentatious. Eldorado was the first album of theirs that was able to do this from start to finish. While the album isn't reliant on singles ("Can't Get It Out Of My Head" is probably the only track that still gets regular airplay), it's remarkably consistent. It's an album more concerned with its whole than its individual parts. That's probably why I prefer this to "A New World Record", despite the highs on that album being considerably higher. It just feels more coherent.

I doubt a resurgence of E.L.O. appreciation is going to come any time soon, but it wouldn't be the worst thing if this and the following three albums got listened to a little more.

I'm just going to keep this short and sweet.

I am absolutely convinced that the shit that this album receives is fully due to a general hate-on of Frank Black Francis and his handling of the end of The Pixies and not what's actually here. Because this album has pretty well everything you'd want in a Pixies album except for Kim Deal. I didn't understand why people hated it when it was released and I still don't understand it now 20+ years later. Mr. Thompson may be a dick personally, and he may have broken your heart by dismantling your favorite band, but anyone who's a fan of the Pixies not liking this is not liking it out of spite, not because the album is bad. (no, those are all the albums after this one)

This album is Frank Black's fuck you to anyone who thinks that he wasn't the driving brilliance behind The Pixies. This album is for all those people who think that Kim Deal was what made that band (spoiler: she wasn't). All of these songs are as good as anything on "Trompe Le Monde" or "Bossanova" (see how I didn't mention "Surfer Rosa" or "Doolittle"...this album is good, but not that good.) and way more consistent than either of those two albums even with a full hour running time. There's 22 tracks on here. They're all good. Some are great. Two or three are in my top 10 Black/Pixies tracks. The end of "Speedy Marie" still gives me goosebumps.

This is one of those 90s albums that hopefully in time will get the credit it deserves as one of the better indie rock albums of that decade.

And how can you not love that cover?

I've always thought the focus on the reggae, ska and jazzy, beatnik elements of "Beat Crazy" being the primary reason for the lack of its popularity to be a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, Christ, in 1980, if you had anything to do with new wave, punk or post-punk, it was practically a contractual obligation to release something adopting some aspect of black music. I could list a hundred examples here, but from the a-listers "Sandinista!", "Get Happy!!", "Zenyattà Mondatta" and "Remain in Light" were all released that year, not to mention the rise in popularity of Two-Tone bands like Madness or The Specials or bands copping funk like Gang Of Four or A Certain Ratio. If anything, "Beat Crazy" is as natural an expected progression as anything else that was released during that time, so looking at it as some sort of radical departure is nonsense.

And honestly, it's even nowhere near the stylistic departure that would come with its follow-ups "Jumpin' Jive" or "Night And Day". It still very much carries on the edgy power-pop vibe of his first two albums.

No, the reason why "Beat Crazy" is often either forgotten or dismissed is that it ain't got no single. No "I'm The Man", no "Sunday Papers" and definitely no "Is She Really Going Out With Him". As good as a lot of the songs on "Beat Crazy" are, there just wasn't anything to latch on to to sell the album. And this is how "Beat Crazy" ultimately is best consumed, as an album. If you can accept that there are no heady highs to go with its thankful lack of anything resembling a low, then there's no reason not to find "Beat Crazy" a solid listen.

It's a shame that Gary Numan's legacy has, for the most part, been reduced to one song; the "one-hit-wonder" tag clinging to him like shit on the bottom of his shoe. But anyway, anyone who actually was/is paying attention and gave/gives Numan's albums up to say, 1982/3 a listen will realize that he released a lot of good material, even with having to carry around the massive cross that was "Cars".

You'll get arguments among fans about which is the best from the trifecta of "Replica/Pleasure Principle/Telekon" and the choice will really depend on what aspect of Numan you prefer. For better or for worse (well, much much worse as it would turn out) Numan had a need to evolve. For all the talk about Kraftwerk, Numan's biggest influence on "The Pleasure Principle" was obviously David Bowie and you can see it in as much his persona as his music. At this point, Numan was the Thin White Duke via "The Mensch-Maschine". Funk, Soul, and Art-Rock for the android set.

The debt to Bowie here is huge and there are heavy nods to "Station To Station" and "Low" in its experimentalism and re-interpretation of funk/soul/pop structures. Call bullshit if you want, but "Metal", "Films" and "Conversation" all sport meaty funk grooves in their DNA. Really, the thing that keeps this album human is the rhythm section of Cedric Sharpley and Paul Gardiner. The drums especially, just pound. Despite the focus on synths, it's the bass and drums that are the heart of this album.

Actually, songwriting-wise "Cars" is an anomaly. Where everything else channels Bowie's late-70s artiness, "Cars" pulls an "Autobahn" and perverts a 60s pop line for its melodic hook. Total brilliance.

I've always thought that this album deserved more respect and more investment than just its single, but we've always been a culture that tends to use these moments as benchmarks rather than look at the picture as a whole. "The Pleasure Principle" is not an album that serves as a vehicle for "Cars". "Cars" is not its centerpiece or its selling point. I find it kind of unfortunate that an album this consistent and this good gets dismissed or overlooked because of the burden of expectation that comes from one song. For me, this is easily one of my favorite albums from this time.

I always thought of Todd Rundgren as a bit of a genre tourist. But after a bit of thought I realized that being a tourist implies that you have a home to go back to. And the more that I listen to Rundgren's extensive catalog I'm figuring out that that isn't the case with him. No, Rundgren is a genre hobo, a genre transient, an oldtymie genre tramp riding them rails and stopping in whatever town that catches his fancy.

This time it's The Beatles. The cover, obviously, is the first tip-off and from the opening cut "I Just Want To Touch You"s Merseybeat to "Everybody Else Is Wrong"s magical mystery tour, it's all Beatles, all the time. Even though the title might imply it, this isn't parody or satire in the vein of The Rutles. This is a heartfelt "lettre d'amour" to a band he clearly loves. It's played straight, using all the familiar Fab Four touchstones as building blocks. Anyone with a passing knowledge of The Beatles is going to get the references. As far as this kind of thing goes, it's a fun bit of pop and I'm personally thankful that it's not done as a goof as it helps with the replay value.

If someone is looking for something similar to compare it to, this pre-dates XTCs Dukes of Stratosphear by a good 4-5 years, but it's more or less the same kind of deal, with the same sort of quality control in what's in the grooves.

it's hard to talk about a Gary Numan release in 2017 and use words like 'relevant' or 'important'. Like virtually all artists nowadays who had their salad days pre-2000, Numan is oft cited as a pioneer or influence, but it's doubtful that his audience has expanded much as he inches toward his 60th birthday. He has a fanbase that has either stayed with him from the beginning or joined after his stylistic and career re-invention as Trent Reznor's cool uncle in the mid-90s. Numan's transition to Electro-Industrial seemed natural enough considering the android coldness of his personae and his dystopian worldview. And during that time when Nine Inch Nails and the like were enjoying some popularity, it allowed him to expand his market beyond those clinging to the "Replicas/Pleasure Principle/Telekon"-era.

The problem though is that it's now 2017 and Numan's music (not to mention the genre) hasn't evolved much in 20 years. Stylistically he's in a comfort zone using a very predictable palate. All of the ingredients that were found on "Splinter" (and "Jagged" and "Pure" before it); the damp metallic atmospherics, scratchy synth bleats, menacing bursts of industrial guitar, all tempered with a decidedly melodic gloss, are here on "Savage" as well; amounting to a kind of de-sexualized version of NIN.

Thankfully though, Numan's attention to detail, quality control and ear for melody is still intact, which means that even though "Savage" doesn't have any surprises, it's a solid listen front to back and holds up to repeat listens as well. This album also rectifies the minor problem of "Splinter"s lack of an identifiable single with the stellar "My Name Is Ruin", probably Numan's best track since "Dominion Day". If you feel like buying into its post-apocalyptic concept, it's there for you as well, but if not, it's easy enough to ignore.

Anyway, even though I can't imagine "Savage" bringing any new converts and the negligible chance it has getting heard outside of Numan's dedicated base, it's still an album worth recommending.

I'm not sure why Al Jourgensen has the need to disown this album as it's a pretty standard artifact from 1983. I mean, sure, compared to how he and his music would evolve, you would have hoped maybe that his debut would be more Killing Joke than Human League, but you know, it is what it is and should be seen as such.

And as synth-pop it's actually not that bad. Nothing that would have you clamoring for this over classics from that era, but it's not the embarrassment that people try to make it out to be. It's just a 24 year old making 80s club music to attract the kind of girls he was into at the time.

Obviously, his tastes changed.

Not that it will ever happen, but I think that if there was anyone who deserved a critical re-evaluation (or at the very least, a dialing back of the bile), it's Rivers "Alt-Rock Piñata" Cuomo. I've mentioned this before, but I'm still baffled as to why Cuomo has received as much critical contempt during his career as he's had. I've been slowly (and in all honesty, with trepidation) plowing through the Weezer catalog, and to this point have found little evidence to justify the monsoon of shit that the guy's gotten. But whatever it is about him, it definitely rubs people the wrong way.

"Maladroit", like the three albums before it, proudly displays Cuomo's obvious love of 70's rock; from the riff-tastic power pop of Cheap Trick to the glorious cheese of early Van Halen. It's his soundtrack to the romanticizing of summers hanging out in the parking lot, smoking pot, drinking beer and waiting for something to happen; of crushes on girls who don't know you exist, and never will; and the endless (and ultimately pointless) hoping that one day you'll be cool too.

Essentially, there's little that's complicated in Weezer's output, and if you can put aside the awkwardness in Cuomo's personality, there's a lot of good, crunchy alt-rock here to enjoy. Tracks like "Dope Nose" and "Keep Fishin'" are ace, and at roughly 35 minutes, overall it's a pretty fat-free and efficient album.

It's time to put the stick down and give it a fair listen.