Hall & Oates 'H2O'

Hall & Oates 'H2O'
1982 release. 80s synth rock/pop. A big one for these guys, largely due to the single 'Maneater.' Includes two other singles: 'One on One' and 'Family Man.' Any 80s music dweebs like yours truly should own a copy of this on some format. This LP, and the Voices and Private Eyes LPs are all good albums, but as H & O are a radio hits band whose career was really singles-driven, their full-lengths will be a bit spotty with a few weak cuts here and there. This one's no exception to that. This has some great tracks on it, though. Favorites: 'Maneater,' 'Open All Night,' and 'Go Solo.'

Hoagy Carmichael 'The Stardust Road'

Hoagy Carmichael - The Stardust Road
1982 MCA Records compilation LP. Thrift store find from Sandy, UT. Solo piano w/ vocal, and backing jazz accompaniment on most tracks. Music for cocktails, or you can listen while giving yourself a good shave to fill the house with an old school barbershop feel, as I did this morning. The recordings featured here are from 1939 to 1951, although he wrote many of these songs in the late 20s. Hoagy was a jazz pianist and composer active from 1918 to 1981, although it seems the majority of his output was pre-50s. Favorites: 'Star Dust,' 'Rockin' Chair,' and 'Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief.'

Depeche Mode 'Catching Up with Depeche Mode'

Depeche Mode 'Catching Up with Depeche Mode'
Found at a local vinyl shop, for $4. Score! Early compilation featuring 13 tracks from their first 5 years - released in 1985. It's amazing to hear how upbeat and poppy their very earliest work was, like 'I Just Can't Get Enough' and 'New Life.' You can really plot out the progression of their sound through this collection. This came out the year before the Black Celebration LP, which is one of my faves. This is a great comp and includes a few of their best. Recommended. Favorites here: 'Fly on the Windscreen,' 'Blasphemous Rumours,' and 'Shake the Disease.' 'Fly on the Windscreen' may be my favorite D.M. track of all time, especially in this earlier version. I'm torn between that and 'Behind the Wheel.' Anyway, they're both brilliant.

Toto 'Fahrenheit'

Toto 'Fahrenheit'
When these guys go for their brand of radio-directed rock, it's just an awful thing, but some of their more R&B-inspired slow-burners are enjoyable. The bouncy nature of the majority of the instrumentation, the inspirational lyrics, the overproduction, the corny vocal stylings (which are comparable to Kenny Loggins, if not worse), all leave me apprehensive to recommend this to anyone in 2013. I maintain a nostalgic reverence for some of the tracks, which somehow always grants tunes we'd otherwise find abhorrent a free-pass. In this instance I may not be a trustworthy source. Fahrenheit is a guilty pleasure for me. I have memories of my father owning and playing it at home, and hearing Toto on the radio regularly as a youth. It was ground into my impressionable child brain. There are some repulsive tracks here, but some legitimately good ones too. These are the goodies: 'Without Your Love,' 'I'll Be Over You,' and the very MJ-influenced 'Somewhere Tonight.'

Duran Duran 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger'

Duran Duran 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger'
1983 release - DD's 3rd full-length. Savers thrift store find (Utah). I found this and the Arena live album (which includes my personal favorite track of theirs' 'The Chauffeur'), both in near-perfect condition on the same day. As a huge Duran Duran fan, I was absurdly pleased. This is one of my favorite LPs by Duran Duran. It includes some of their absolute best: 'The Reflex,' 'New Moon on Monday,' and the brilliant 'Union of the Snake,' as well as a few good minor cuts: 'Of Crime and Passion' and 'The Seventh Stranger.' 80s classic.

Roxy Music 'Avalon'

Roxy Music - Avalon
Avalon, the mystical Isle from tales of Arthuriana, first introduced in Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain, is an appropriate title for Londoners Roxy Music's 8th (and final) LP. It's tough to think of a better final album title for a British act, because Avalon is where the slain King Arthur's body is taken to heal after his grand battle with Mordred, leaving his people with hope that he will one day return, and along with him, his grand idealized Arthurian era. The album is smooth as silk. I got into Roxy Music via Bryan Ferry's solo work, which I love. Roxy Music's later efforts have a similar sound to his solo work. Their earlier stuff not so much, but I've grown to really enjoy it as well. Great album. Released upon the world in May of 1982, the same month and year of my unveiling (birth). Favorites: 'The Space Between,' 'While My Heart is Still Beating,' and 'True to Life.'