|
User
Reviews 30
Approval 99%
Soundoffs 262
News Articles 5
Band Edits + Tags 11
Album Edits 158
Album Ratings 2794
Objectivity 71%
Last Active 12-19-18 7:20 pm
Joined 06-11-12
Review Comments 2,975
| Fave 1986 Albums
out of a whopping 29 albums | | 11 |  | Jeff Lorber
Private Passion
Honorable Mention
Super funky jazz album that splits itself between relaxing tropical-adjacent vibes and smooth passionate love songs from someone that sounds like Tina Turner and uhhh some other guy, but they work really well together! Split between instrumentals and non-instrumentals. Good stuff! | | 10 |  | Madonna
True Blue
True Blue’s first 7 tracks are hit after hit after hit. In those 7 tracks are four hits including the massive opening pair of Papa Don’t Preach and Open Your Heart. La Isla Bonita introduces us to the Madonna that appreciates latin influence, and Live To Tell is a triumphant heartfelt ballad that keeps me at attention. Also in there is True Blue (a throwback to 60s pop and doo-wop), Where’s The Party (an upbeat 80s tune that just falls on the side of enjoyable), and the underrated White Heat, a tough and groovy cut that feels domineering. Ignore the last two phoned-in cheesy tracks and its a great 7 song album!! | | 9 |  | Pet Shop Boys
Please
An incredible Side A packed with its 4 singles (highlights: the brooding West End Girls and the saccharine Love Comes Quickly) and a great opener. Side B loses a little steam, but Violence and the sweet closer Why Can’t We Live Together? Keep everything together. | | 8 |  | Teena Marie
Emerald City
An album that introduces itself via Bootsy Collins 1) can’t be that bad 2) HAS to be a nastily funky affair. Emerald City as an opener is odd, guitar lines scant and a bassy-synth puttering about. There’s a lot of empty space there but it lets us get familiar with Miss Teena’s voice very well! Any ‘oddness’ is made moot by track 3 - Lips To Find You - starting off a 4 track run of sensual, groovy, fun funk and r&b. Awesome record! | | 7 |  | Megadeth
Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
All machismo, intense flames and brutal riffage. It’s got flair, it’s consistent in its pace, and its great for a headbanging sesh. Just don’t know what a cover of I Ain’t Superstitious is doing on here. | | 6 |  | Big Country
The Seer
A slight drop off in quality from the joie de vivre of The Crossing and Steeltown, but it’s still an excellent album. The opening trio each have massive choruses, Kate Bush even joining Stuart on the title track. The band is accused of ‘going commercial’ here, but it’s not all that dull - One Great Thing and I Walk The Hill still feel rooted in their celtic sound, as do the closing pair of tracks. A well-rounded album before their strange two album nadir. | | 5 |  | 'Til Tuesday
Welcome Home
Aimee Mann’s songwriting isn’t just coming up close - it’s perfect. Welcome Home sets up the simple fact that ‘Til Tuesday rides real high on Aimee’s lyrical and vocal prowess. It’s the actual instrumentation that brings this down a tad on its Side B. Regardless, its first five tracks are all really good and it’s a quality project throughout. | | 4 |  | Talk Talk
The Colour Of Spring
A gorgeous, strange experience full of soothing sonic environments and a concerning amount of repeated affirmations. This is an inbetween point for talk talk, the album before their two full blown post rock works, but after their more straight forward synthpop offerings. It shows, with a majority of the tracks coming off as extended pop music in the best possible way. Things are constantly changing and growing sonically, with lyrics caught between the tail-end of a relationship and self-improvement mantras (through gritted teeth?). Solid vocals, solid drumming, solid melodies. | | 3 |  | Peter Gabriel
So
Slow, ethereal and smooth, so goes Peter Gabriels first non-self-titled work. Two stellar powerful ballads in Mercy Street + Don’t Give Up (featuring Kate bush) and the towering, thunderous choruses of Red Rain and In Your Eyes. Flirts with 80s schmaltz on Sledgehammer and Big Time, but it’s so layered and lush that cheesy synths could never bring them down. | | 2 |  | Iron Maiden
Somewhere In Time
Kickass. Riffs for days. I really don’t know what else to say - half of this album belongs on a greatest hits CD and the other half comes damn close. Crazy opener, insane B-Side. | | 1 |  | Big Black
Atomizer
I think this might’ve been the originator of every stylistic quirk I enjoy in noisy aggressive rock. So many unique wails and squelches all made with guitars, somehow?? Kerosene is insane. Passing Complexion is insane. All of this is absolutely fucking nuts. | |
brickhed
11.23.25 | yeah i remember when 1 blew my 14 year old mind who only knew hardcore and glam metal
to this day steve albini's gutair work is still a bit of a mystery, how the hell does he get that scrap metal gutair tone? I heard it was mostly harmonics and metal picks but there's gotta be more | SuzyC
11.25.25 | Plenty of these ranked well for me back in 1986 when I was 17, then turned 18. A few of them still do, especially the listed albums by Big Country, Pet Shop Boys and Megadeth. Oh yeah, and Iron Maiden, too. | chemicalmarriage
11.25.25 | Dang Suzy I was born this year, you're an elder |
|
