Bookended by Cats

Friday, November 1, 2024

Friday 80s Flashback for November 1, 2024

[Pleasure Felt] -- I know we have just entered November, but I want to highlight two more releases from October 1984. One is for all of you who need something a bit gentle today, and the other is for everyone else who wants to be a bit raucous.

The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories – Released on October 26, 1984, this was the third album from the UK based band, Felt. It is a wonderful example of jangle pop, and I wish the lone single, "Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow," got more attention. It kind of fell into a void when released in the summer of 1984, and didn't chart at all. This album also has three short, but in my opinion lovely, instrumentals: "Sempiternal Darkness," "Imprint," and "Crucifix Heaven." If you need a gentle and sort of uplifting listen this weekend, give The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories a spin.

Welcome to the Pleasuredome – Released on October 29, 1984, Pleasuredome was Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut album. The English synth-poppers originally issued Pleasuredome as a vinyl double album with some ... controversial ... sleeve art, which you can peruse over here. The record was commercially, but not always critically, successful. The band hit big with two singles – "Relax" and "Two Tribes" – but reviews were mixed at best. Still, it's one of the more fun releases from the 1980s, and "Two Tribes" has, perhaps, even more relevance today.

YouTube playlists for both albums are embedded below. Let us know your fave tracks!

Flashback #1: The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (October 26, 1984)

Flashback #2: Welcome to the Pleasuredome (October 29, 1984)

And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

The Man Who Didn't Know Halloween

Over on my Facebook page, I have been sharing, more or less annually, a holiday post on the night before Halloween – the eve of All Hallows Eve, if you will. I made the first such post on October 24, 2016. Why that date? Well, it was the day after the death of the one and only Jack T. Chick (April 13, 1924 – October 23, 2016). He was the guy who created all those nifty "Chick tracts."

You do remember those illustrated religious tracts, those little evangelizing booklets, don't you? I sure do!

I love how misinformed and over-the-top they were. But, as a comic book fan, I will admit that Chick's drawing style was very accessible, and it definitely lent itself to storytelling – even if that storytelling was uneven and laughable. Perhaps it was the former aspect, the accessible one, that compelled so many Protestant churches to display Chick tracts in their narthices. At least, I certainly recall seeing them in churches during the 1980s.

On one hand, Chick might very well have been "the most widely read theologians in human history" – according to Daniel Raeburn, who said that of Chick in his 1998 booklet, The Imp number two (The Holy War of Jack T Chick). On the other hand, Chick was strongly anti-Catholic, hyper-critical of other faiths, and allegedly running an active hate group (i.e. Chick Publications is categorized under "General Hate" by the SPLC).

Funny that Chick passed in October 2016; I wonder if ol' Jack would have been pleased that he passed so close to his beloved – er, bedeviled – Halloween. He certainly had a thing for the holiday ... and anything he could associate with it.

If you have never read a Chick tract, or if you just want to be reminded of them, jump on over to Paste's "8 Halloween-Themed Chick Tracts to 'Chick Out' This Halloweekend!" (dated October 28, 2016). "Boo!" is #4 on Paste's list. The cover of "Boo!" is this post's lead-in image, and Pages 16-18 of that tract are featured below. And you can read "Boo!" in its entirety at the Chick Publications site, which is *still* very much up and running!

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Plastastic!

As a Plastic Man fan, I just cannot get over how PLASTASTIC this is!

Image: Screenshot of a post I saw on the bird app. The post showcases a comic shop's new ramp, which is painted to look like Plastic Man, a shapeshifting character from DC Comics, has formed himself into a ramp.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Friday 80s Flashback for October 25, 2024

[Still Waking Me Up] -- Say it with me: "Jitterbug!"

Yes, the opening word from "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" had been on the airwaves since May of 1984. But Wham's second studio album, Make It Big, did not hit record stores until October 23, 1984 -- 40 years ago this week!

And the album made good on its title. Make It Big was a huge commercial success. It peaked at #1 in both the US and the UK, and in several other countries. The album also spawned four hit singles: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Careless Whisper," "Freedom," and "Everything She Wants." All four singles peaked within the top five in the UK as well as in the US. Wham embarked on a huge tour to support the album, traveling around the world between December 1984 and April 1985.

Flashback: Make It Big (October 23, 1984)

I'll see you in seven!

Friday, October 18, 2024

Friday 80s Flashback for October 18, 2024

[A Merciful Release] -- I have featured The Durutti Column in a previous Flashback, back on December 17, 2021. That was for their 1981 release, LC. And that album, their second full-length studio release, was a bit more post-punk with some aspirations to dream pop. Their fourth outing, Without Mercy, is our Flashback for this weekend. And while it may still have some elements of the dream pop featured on their prior two releases, Without Mercy is (as Wikipedia describes it) an album-length, two-part instrumental piece.

Recorded over the course of five days, and featuring classical musicians, Without Mercy has a previously recorded but unreleased track titled "Little Mercy" as its foundation and, we are told, it follows the narrative of John Keats' poem "La Belle Dame sans Merci." The entire album is anchored by a repeating and mournful piano riff, and "Without Mercy 1" really feels like a modern classical piece. "Without Mercy 2" features more guitar, as well as electronic percussion, but it still moves along ambitiously like a post-punk chamber orchestra piece.

It's just the thing, I find, for reading and relaxing. Even when the second track picks up its pace, and gets kind of busy, it is still far more reflective than rocking. As far as I can tell, there was no US release, but the album was a moderate commercial success in the UK, peaking at #8 on the UK Independent Albums Chart. And it garnered fairly positive reviews. Vini Reilly, the band's leader and primary songwriter, dislikes the record, calling it "Without Merit" in later interviews. I disagree. Perhaps you will as well.

Most releases of this album featured each of the two long-form movements divided into 12 stanzas. The A side was "Without Mercy 1," and its 12 stanzas were distributed among six individual tracks. Side B, naturally, was "Without Mercy 2," and its 12 stanzas were similarly distributed among individual tracks, but this time it was five tracks. For other countries – such as Japan, Spain, and France – each side of the album was one long, continuous track. And that is the playlist I offer you this week.

Flashback: Without Mercy (October 1, 1984)

I'll see you in seven!

Friday, October 11, 2024

Friday 80s Flashback for October 11, 2024

[Another Four From October 1984] -- Well, guess what? There were so many great, or at least memorable, albums released the first week of October 1984, I decided to feature four more records from that week. And they all seem to have been released on October 1, 1984! Hopefully, at least one is to your liking. This week we have:

Joan Jett: Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth
Chaka Khan: I Feel for You
The Ramones: Too Tough to Die
Philip Bailey: Chinese Wall

Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth – For Joan Jett's third outing with the Blackhearts, and her fourth studio album overall, she pretty much stuck to what she knew, or maybe liked, best. A quarter of the tracks are covers, including "Cherry Bomb," a song she previously recorded with The Runaways. And while this album didn't really have any hit singles, it still managed to peak at #67 on the Billboard 200. I kind of dig "Hold Me," "Long Time," and "Someday."

I Feel for You – This was Chaka Khan's fifth solo album, and she showed she had no trouble keeping up with the times. She embraces high tech production as well as the electro-funk that Prince had popularized. In fact, she takes Prince's 1979 track, "I Feel for You," and updates it for the 1980s, making it a #1 hit. This is a fun album that peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200, her highest charting since 1978.

Too Tough to Die – The eighth studio album from The Ramones may not have been a commercial hit – it was the band's lowest peaking record, never getting past #171 on the Billboard 200 – it was generally well-received. Retrospectively, an AOTY user calls Too Tough to Die the band's "last great album," and AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine agreed, calling it "the best the Ramones had made since the end of the '70s. It was also the last great record they would ever make." At the time, Kurt Loder praised it as "a return to fighting trim." My preferred tracks are "I'm Not Afraid of Life" and "Chasing the Night."

Chinese Wall – Maybe all you know about Philip Bailey is that he was in Earth, Wind and Fire and that he had a huge hit with Phil Collins. And those are true facts. But Bailey has a catalog totaling 11 solo albums. Of these records, Chinese Wall, Bailey's third solo album, was his best performing record. It peaked at #29 on UK Albums, #22 on the US Billboard 200, and #10 on US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, as well as within the top 40 of several charts around the world. Oh, and the mega hit "Easy Lover" is ... easily ... one of my favorite tracks from 1984.

YouTube playlists for all four albums are embedded below. Let us know your fave tracks!

Flashback #1: Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth (October 1, 1984)

Flashback #2: I Feel for You (October 1, 1984)

Flashback #3: Too Tough to Die (October 1, 1984)

Flashback #4: Chinese Wall (October 1, 1984)

I'll see you in seven!

Friday, October 4, 2024

Friday 80s Flashback for October 4, 2024

[Four from Forty Years Ago] -- I'm sorry, but when I looked at the slate of albums released 40 years ago this week, I couldn't settle on just one of them. And it's not like offering multiple albums has become a trend here: This will be only the fourth time I've done it this year ... since July 4. Anyway, I think you'll fully understand, and maybe even agree, that I had to feature all four of these albums for this weekend.

Please note that I cannot list this week's Flashback albums in chronological order because three of them were released on the very same day. So, here is the order in which I have chosen to present them:

This Mortal Coil: It'll End In Tears (October 1, 1984)
Midnight Oil: Red Sails in the Sunset (October 1, 1984)
U2: The Unforgettable Fire (October 1, 1984)
The Replacements: Let It Be (October 2, 1984)

It'll End In Tears – First up, we have It'll End In Tears, the very first album released by This Mortal Coil, which was less a band than a music collective under the direction of 4AD, a British record label. The album features several 4AD artists – including Cocteau Twins, Colourbox, and Dead Can Dance – recording under the auspices of This Mortal Coil. It'll End In Tears did not chart in the US, though it did reach #1 on the UK Independent Albums Chart – and that success probably helped fuel the album's popularity in the states as an import. Pitchfork includes It'll End In Tears on its April 2018 list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums." It also appears on two best of Goth lists: Frank Deserto's 2017 list of essential Goth albums and Spectrum Culture's 2013 13 Best Goth Albums of All Time.

Red Sails in the Sunset – Midnight Oil released their fifth studio album, Red Sails in the Sunset, on October 1, 1984. It was the band's first #1 album in their native Australia, and it charted within the US Billboard 200. The album cover was a chilling "what if?" scenario, as in "What would Sydney Harbour look like after a nuclear strike?" Following on their previous efforts, the lyrical content of Red Sails focused on politics, consumer culture, expanding military, the auspices of nuclear war, and environmental threats. Two singles were released in the US -- "When the Generals Talk" and "Best of Both Worlds" -- but neither of them charted. Musically, there was enough polish (from increased studio wizardry) and the experimental rhythms and textures should have lured in new listeners, particularly from the college radio set. So, what kept the singles grounded? Perhaps it was lead singer Peter Garrett's judgmental tone. However, it was more likely Garrett's lurching and towering presence in the band's music videos. I recall thinking he was pretty cool, but I also recall my friend, Daniels, and I being on the receiving end of our classmates' scorn for liking "that Frankenstein dancing guy." Anyway, Midnight Oil was about three years from breaking huge with Diesel and Dust. And when that album hit, fans finally started digging into Midnight Oil's back catalog to discover this gem. For a blow-by-blow appreciation of Red Sails in the Sunset, check out A Look Back At Midnight Oil's Landmark LP 'Red Sails In The Sunset', posted on the 30th anniversary of the album's release.

The Unforgettable Fire – Dropping on October 1, 1984, The Unforgettable Fire was U2's fourth studio album. Despite not being a fount of hit singles, The Unforgettable Fire was a commercial juggernaut and it received mostly favorable reviews. Looking back over 40 years, The Observer calls this album "U2’s grand artistic leap forward". While Albumism's Andy Healy called it U2's "most ambitious and daring outing." The Unforgettable Fire peaked at #1 and #12 on the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200 respectively, as well as reaching the top 10 in several other countries. And it has been certified Gold or Platinum in seven different countries, including going 3x Platinum in the US. Of the singles, "Pride (In the Name of Love)" was the band's biggest hit at the time, and "Bad" became live favorite.

Let It Be – On October 2, 1984, The Replacements released their third studio album, Let It Be. The album cover features the band sitting on the roof of Bob and Tommy Stinson's mother's house. The record itself was produced by Steve Fjelstad, Peter Jesperson, and Paul Westerberg (The Replacements' lead singer and songwriter) for Twin/Tone Records. But it wasn't like there was an actual producer lurking over the boys, making them sweat each note. The album title, Let It Be, was ripped from the Beatles' record, of course. But it was just their way of saying nothing is sacred; The Beatles "were just a damn fine rock & roll band" (Paul Westerberg, quoted by Rolling Stone). Sacred or not, Let It Be is ranked among the greatest rock albums of the 80s, and Rolling Stone even includes it on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. No doubt, this is more by accident than by some design on the Mats' part.

YouTube playlists for all four albums are embedded below. Let us know your fave tracks from any of these records.

Flashback #1: It'll End In Tears (October 1, 1984)