LP #20 Sade – Diamond Life (1985)

Great sound, great voice, great material – what’s not to like? The material wasn’t as consistently strong on their later albums, but this one’s a classic.

 

Interesting note about “Smooth Operator” – the playing time on the back of the CD is listed as 4:16, so when I went looking for it on YouTube, I checked for versions with about that length. Trying three of them, however, I discovered that all of them were missing the great spoken-word intro that is such an essential part of the album version. I finally figured out that the CD listing lied; the album version really runs almost 5 minutes, while 4:16 is the length of the single version that has the intro cut out. Keep this in mind if you ever decide to buy the track from iTunes or Amazon.

 

Favorite tracks:

Smooth Operator

Your Love Is King

Hang On To Your Love

I Will Be Your Friend

Shuffle #49 (March 7, 2015)

New Attitude – Patti LaBelle

Louisiana 1927 – Randy Newman

If Love Was A Train – Michelle Shocked

Man In The Mirror – Michael Jackson

You Better Believe It, Baby – Joe Tex

True Love – Pink

Lonesome Town – Ricky Nelson

Love’s In Need Of Love Today – Stevie Wonder

Maybe I Know – Lesley Gore

LP #21 The Pretenders – Learning To Crawl (1984)

I remember going to a Nats game several years ago with some friends, and the conversation for some reason turned to the subject of female rockers (possibly because the Nats weren’t all that good back then). Can’t remember who all was mentioned – Patti Smith and Joan Jett, I think – but I was pretty vocal in my support for the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde as the best female rocker of all time.

 

This is an opinion I still hold today. Hynde can rock with the best of them (“Middle Of The Road” and “Time The Avenger” being among the best examples here), do scathing social commentary without getting preachy (“My City Was Gone”), and has the voice to do a knockout job on ballads (“Thin Line Between Love And Hate” and “2000 Miles” here, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Windows Of the World” elsewhere). Learning To Crawl throwaways like “Watching The Clothes” would be among the highlights of many other LPs.

 

Favorite tracks:

My City Was Gone

Back On The Chain Gang

Show Me

Thin Line Between Love And Hate

Shuffle #48 (March 2, 2015)

Wooden Ships – Jefferson Airplane

I Believe – The Bachelors

Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts – Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans

Dead And Gone – Gypsy

Hate To Lose Your Lovin’ – Little Feat

Tom Dooley – The Kingston Trio

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson