Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation (1977)

This is one of those albums that if you don't already have, it will most likely get you a serious palm-to-face transaction from yours truly. You don't have to be a punk aficionado to appreciate it, I'd actually liken it to something closer to New Wave; if it's punk then it's Art Punk; kind of like Television without the intricately woven guitar work- although Robert Quine does kick some serious ass on here.

Richard Hell is the reason for The Sex Pistols, he's the reason for the whole punk movement in general- he's had more to do with the early formation of what "punk" was in 1970's New York City. A brief look at his bio and one can see his imprint is on a little bit of everything; his resume reads like this- formed Neon Boys in '69 with childhood friend Tom Verlaine, the two would later start seminal band Television; being one of the first "rock" bands to play CBGB; would hang out with Patti Smith (both helping her to kick start her music career); would then leave Television and start a band with ex-New York Dolls Jerry Nolan and thee Johnny Thunders (called The Heartbreakers); eventually starting The Voidoids (with guitarists Quine and Ivan Julian and drummer Marc Bell) and the rest, they say, is history.

This is the 1990 CD re-issue with a Leonard Cohen cover (I'm Your Man) and a version of All The Way, a song popularized by Frank Sinatra in 1957. You can anonymously listen to this album so I don't laugh at you for not already having it.

Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation (1977; Sire Records)

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (1981)

Take Brian Eno's penchant for electronic experimentation and David Byrne's Afro-beat leanings and what you have is one of the more innovative records of the early '80s, it wasn't the first commercial music album to feature sampling, but it is considered landmark in its achievements. When asked if he invented sampling, Eno said in an interview:

"No, there was already a history of it. People such as (Can's) Holger Czukay had made experiments using IBM Dictaphones and short-wave radios and so on. The difference was, I suppose, that I decided to make it the lead vocal on the album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts..."

(from Q Magazine, July 2001)

So there you go, an album that's both funky and ground-breaking. This is the 1990 re-issue, and missing from it is the track "Qu'ran" which was considered offensive to Muslims because it used real samples of recitations of the Islamic holy book, recorded in an Algerian mosque. In its place is the B-side to single The Jezebel Spirit, titled Very, Very Hungry.

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (1981; Sire Records)

Ride - Nowhere (1990)

I like Ride's Nowhere a lot more than I like My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. There, I said it, and it felt good to get that off my chest. To my ears, it's just a more enjoyable, more tuneful record. That's it. We can argue about it, but I'm pretty sure neither of us are gonna budge. Cool?

Anyway; you can call it shoegaze, you can call it psychedelic revival, dream pop, '90s alt-rock, you can call it whatever you want. I call it all those, but mostly I call it one of the best records of that decade. It's also hopelessly British, and that's why I love this sort of stuff from the Old Country.

So listen to it. Then get back to me so we can talk about it...

Ride - Nowhere (1990; Sire Records)