Tag: new wave

695. The Beat / General Public

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(November 2025) Episode 695 is THE (English) BEAT. One will observe the lack of 80s pop/rock acts in the Project. This is because I spent my teens rejecting music popular with peers while adhering to classic rock orthodoxy. The Beat is an group I didn’t hate, but I didn’t listen to them because others did. Their new wave/ska mixture is very distinctive for its time and place but, as the three Beat albums in the last decade by, separately, Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling show, it does not sound dated. By the time they morphed into GENERAL PUBLIC, the obligatory 80s synths and gated drums were added, which turns me off.

Favourite album: I Just Can’t Stop It

Favourite song: Mirror in the Bathroom

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The three original Beat albums are decent, especially for a certain 80s nostalgia.

281. Wire

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(March 2023) Episode 481 is WIRE. Pink Flag (1977), their minimalist first album, identified them as a punk act, but they were more arthouse than mosh pit. Along with their next two excellent albums, Wire proved quite influential for post-punk and new wave. Except for breaks in the 1980s and 1990s, Wire has had consistent output, constantly self-reinventing among various pop/rock flavors. While admirable, I don’t see myself returning to any of the post-1987 albums, unlike the first three to which I definitely will.

Favourite album: Chairs Missing

Favourite song: Practice Makes Perfect

Favourite later album: Send (2003)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: the first three albums

430. Adam and the Ants

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

Episode 430 is ADAM AND THE ANTS (+ Adam Ant solo).  “Kings of the Wild Frontier” was the one non-classic rock album in my high school collection, and I played it repeatedly to show how “alternative” I was. How lame. But revisiting it four decades later, it still kinda slaps — idiosyncratic new wave with Burundi drums, glam tones and a pirate ethos, and bouncy fun.  The first solo album is OK but you can skip the rest.

Favourite album: Kings of the Wild Frontier

Favourite song: Dog Eat Dog

Favourite solo song: Goody Two Shoes

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: You’re good with Kings of the Wild Frontier and Prince Charming

357. The Slits

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(September 2021) Episode 357 is THE SLITS. Started out as a formative female UK punk band but soon transitioned to a wild-sounding post-punk, new wave sound with a strong dub substrate sung in a Nico* accent.

Favourite album: Cut

Favourite song: Shoplifting

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: An acquired taste, but a must-have if you’re into the UK punk/new wave thing.

* They covered “Femme Fatale” in a live recording, with (German-born) Ari Up pronouncing “clown” as “clonn” just as Nico did.

189. Elvis Costello

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(November 2018) I have completed episode 189 of my “opus project.” This edition: ELVIS COSTELLO. I’ve always enjoyed his popular songs, but I never collected his albums. Arguably the most gifted living songwriter not named McCartney, Dylan or Simon, he is also incredibly prolific (a new release every 16 months over four decades) and diverse (rock, lounge, jazz, country, classical). He best work is in rock, and I find his crooner/lounge pop recordings to be almost unlistenable: ill-suited to his voice and soured by his tendency to melodic wandering.

Favourite album: Armed Forces

Favourite song: Veronica

Compared to expectations: ↓

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Worst album: Kojak Variety

Favourite late-period album: Momofuku

Best collaboration: Wise Up Ghost (with The Roots)

188. The B-52s

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(October 2018) I have completed episode 188 of my “opus project.” This edition: THE B-52s. I bought their first album soon after it came out — one of only two* non-classic rock discs on my shelf . I loved the retro kitsch. But the retro kitsch ran thin fast. Beyond “Roam,” Love Shack,” and “Good Stuff,” most everything after “Rock Lobster” is vacuous.

Favorite album: The B-52s

Favorite song: Planet Claire

Compared to expectations: ↓

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164. Devo

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(April 2018) I have completed episode 164 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: DEVO. As my interest in late-70s New Wave has grown, so has my appreciation of Devo’s first few albums. They’re more than a one-hit wonder, but their sound never really “evolved” (pun intended) from its one-dimensionality. If repetitiveness is proof of concept, they succeeded.

Favorite album: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Favorite song: Uncontrollable Urge

Worst album: Total Devo

Compared to expectations: ↓

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158. Squeeze

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(March 2018) I have completed episode 158 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an band’s full discography. This edition: SQUEEZE. I’ve long been a fan of the clever song-writing of the Difford-Tilbrook collaboration, who created one of the most melodically tuneful outfits from the UK New Wave. The first five albums are great; the 80s and 90s are serviceable but not memorable; the 2015 and 2017 albums are rather catchy.

Favourite album: East Side Story

Favorite song: Is That Love

Most resembles a late-period Paul McCartney album: Cradle to the Grave

Compared to expectations: same

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155. The Jam

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(January 2018) I have completed episode 155 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an band’s full discography. This edition: THE JAM. It is my shame that I dismissed, even mocked, this band back in the day. But as I grew to avidly embrace the mod sounds of the early Who, early Kinks, Small Faces and the Creation, naturally I came to realize how f-ing awesome The Jam were. Oy!

Favorite album: All Mod Cons

Favorite song: In the City

Favorite cover: David Watts

Compared to expectations: same ↑↓

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