VA - 1986 - Sounds From True Stories

This soundtrack to the Talking Heads film True Stories was the second release in a planned trilogy, the last of which -- the film's actors covering the Talking Heads songs from the album -- never surfaced. Fortunately, this second volume did, a selection of background music and non-David Byrne tunes written for the film. Of the Byrne-penned selections, only a few borrow from Heads songs, and the original compositions, perched somewhere between Penguin Cafe Orchestra and a general Americana feel, are pleasant. Meredith Monk's "Road Song" does Byrne one better in this department, and Carl Finch's incredibly silly "Mall Muzak" suite pokes cockeyed fun. The only proper songs here are Terry Allen's "Cocktail Desperado" and Steve Jordan's Tex-Mex "Soy de Texas," both romping good fun.

1 Cocktail Desperado
2 Road Song
3 Freeway Son
4 Brownie's Theme
5 Mall Muzak
6 Dinner Music
7 Disco Hits
8 City of Steel
9 Love Theme from "True Storeis"
10 Festa Para Um Rei Negro
11 Buster's Theme
12 Soy de Tejas
13 I Love Metal Buildings
14 Glass Operator

¡Aquí!

D'Arby, Terence Trent - 1987 - Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent d'Arby is a strong debut by this young singer, who wrote virtually every note, played a multitude of instruments, and claimed that this was the most important album since the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. Hits included "If You Let Me Stay," "Dance Little Sister," "Sign Your Name," and the number one "Wishing Well." His first album is a curious mixture of old and new styles. Although the production is quite modern, d'Arby shows his roots in the work of older artists, borrowing a page or two from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, while James Brown appears to have had the strongest influence on d'Arby's stage presence.

		1		If You All Get to Heaven	DArby	5:17
		2		If You Let Me Stay	DArby	3:14
		3		Wishing Well	DArby, Oliver	3:30
		4		I'll Never Turn My Back on You (Father's Words)	DArby	3:37
		5		Dance Little Sister	DArby	3:55
		6		Seven More Days	DArby	4:34
		7		Let's Go Forward	DArby	5:32
		8		Rain	DArby	2:58
		9		Sign Your Name	DArby	4:37
		10		As Yet Untitled	DArby	5:33
		11		Who's Lovin' You	Robinson	4:24

¡Aquí!

Prince - 1982 - 1999

With Dirty Mind, Prince had established a wild fusion of funk, rock, new wave, and soul that signaled he was an original, maverick talent, but it failed to win him a large audience. After delivering the sound-alike album, Controversy, Prince revamped his sound and delivered the double album 1999. Where his earlier albums had been a fusion of organic and electronic sounds, 1999 was constructed almost entirely on synthesizers by Prince himself. Naturally, the effect was slightly more mechanical and robotic than his previous work and strongly recalled the electro-funk experiments of several underground funk and hip-hop artists at the time. Prince had also constructed an album dominated by computer funk, but he didn't simply rely on the extended instrumental grooves to carry the album -- he didn't have to when his songwriting was improving by leaps and bounds. The first side of the record contained all of the hit singles, and, unsurprisingly, they were the ones that contained the least amount of electronics. "1999" parties to the apocalypse with a P-Funk groove much tighter than anything George Clinton ever did, "Little Red Corvette" is pure pop, and "Delirious" takes rockabilly riffs into the computer age. After that opening salvo, all the rules go out the window -- "Let's Pretend We're Married" is a salacious extended lust letter, "Free" is an elegiac anthem, "All the Critics Love U in New York" is a vicious attack at hipsters, and "Lady Cab Driver," with its notorious bridge, is the culmination of all of his sexual fantasies. Sure, Prince stretches out a bit too much over the course of 1999, but the result is a stunning display of raw talent, not wallowing indulgence.

		1		1999	Prince	06:15
		2		Little Red Corvette	Prince	05:03
		3		Delirious	Prince	04:00
		4		Let's Pretend We're Married	Prince	07:21
		5		D.M.S.R.	Prince	08:17
		6		Automatic	Prince	09:28
		7		Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)	Prince	04:02
		8		Free	Prince	05:08
		9		Lady Cab Driver	Prince	08:19
		10		All the Critics Love U in New York	Prince	05:59
		11		International Lover	Prince	06:37

¡Aquí!

EMF - 1992 - Unexplained EP

As a precursor to the surprisingly abrasive Stigma, this stopgap EP already showed EMF displaying a musical courage not often seen in ostensibly one-hit wonders. Gone are the Madchester-friendly dance-pop loops; instead, a harsh propellant of strangulated guitars and munched-up beats toss back the storm windows with a criminally underrated force of will. Some may adhere to the wall of snake-charming sirens in "Getting Through," but the heart of EMF circa 1992 is in the hot-baked "Search and Destroy" that shoves a kitchen knife down your gullet with a more frenzied, vicious precision than even the Stooges had imagined. Kid you not. Well, maybe a little.

		1		Getting Through	Dench	4:19
		2		Far from Me	EMF	3:13
		3		The Same	Atkin, Dench	3:56
		4		Search and Destroy	Osterberg, Pop, Williamson	3:51

¡Aquí!

Mc Laren, Malcolm - 1983 - Duck Rock

An amazingly eclectic collection of world music mixed with urban hip-hop, featuring the dance hit "Buffalo Gals."

		1		Obatalá	Horn, McLaren	3:39
		2		Buffalo Gals	Dudley, Horn, McLaren	3:40
		3		Double Dutch	Horn, McLaren	4:03
		4		Merengue	Horn, McLaren	3:30
		5		Punk It Up	Horn, McLaren	3:49
		6		Legba	Horn, McLaren	3:40
		7		Jive My Baby	Horn, McLaren	3:34
		8		Song for Chango	Horn, McLaren	2:49
		9		Soweto	Horn, McLaren	3:51
		10		World's Famous	Dudley, McLaren	1:42
		11		Duck for the Oyster	Horn, McLaren	2:50

¡Aquí!