The Top Fifteen Albums of 1985

Continuing our journey through the 5s, we've reached 1985 a year that gave us so many stone cold classics. By 1985 the 80s as we know it was truly in the swing of things, with everyone embracing the wonders of the synthesizer no matter their genre, but what sets the best music from this year apart is that more often than not the songwriting transcends the "dated" trappings of the day and has lasted regardless of production style. In 1975 was the year of the auteur, 1985 was the year of branching out, with many of these arts using the building blocks of their earlier projects to try something new with their sound, and more often than not succeeding with flying colors. Without further adieu, let's count down the Top Fifteen Albums of 1985.

#15 Rock a Little - Stevie Nicks (45 minutes, Pop-Rock / Singer-Songwriter)

On her third album sans Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks picks up right where The Wild Heart left off in 1983. She delivered another set of synth-rockers and warm, acoustic ballads that let her show off her crooning, inviting vocals and marvelous way with lyrical imagery.  The big, blockbuster pop-rock hits are of the same style as her best hit, “Stand Back”, with both the kindhearted “Talk to Me” and the Tina Turner-styled rocker “I Can’t Wait” sounding like absolute smashes, but it’s the gentler moments here where Nicks is at her best, delivering soft, warm folk songs that could and should’ve been populating the 80s Mac albums, which tended to lack these sorts of soft ballads.  While her voice has faded a bit due to extreme drug use, the fragility actually makes some of the tracks feel even more intimate than they otherwise would. This is best seen on the gorgeous “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You” which feels like she’s singing to you in your own living room.  This is her last truly good album from front to back, before devolving into a greatest hits performer for the rest of the decade.  A last hurrah for Stevie Nicks the solo hitmaker, and warm heart of the mid-80s.

Choice Cuts: "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?" "Talk to Me" "I Can't Wait"

#14 Who's Zoomin' Who - Aretha Franklin (47 minutes, R&B / Pop)

I’ve heard it said that no decade was kinder to its veteran artists than the 80s were to the 60s pioneers, and while not every comeback was accompanied by good music, Aretha’s grand return to the pop charts certainly was.  Aretha Franklin has a voice that could sing the phonebook and I’d still want to listen, but she’s at her best when there’s a competent song she has to interpret, and for the first time in a while, Aretha has been provided a solid batches of songs, mostly 80s pop trifles and adult contemporary ballads with an R&B flair.  While only a couple songs here, on their own, would be remarkable, Aretha is able to turn them into stone cold classics, or at least something worthy of a good listen.  While Aretha has always had her way with a quiet storm ballad, the best moments here are the big, brassy pop songs, which she transforms into R&B rock anthems, specifically the roaring “Freeway of Love”, which sees her testifying her heart out over a man with some real tight jeans and a handful of car as sex metaphors that are quite silly, but Aretha sells them as only she can.  The guest stars on display are befitting of a grand comeback, with Clarence Clemons, Annie Lennox and Peter Wolf of The J Geils Band all contributing, but Aretha’s the star here.  Her attitude and charm is what sells this, along with her generational vocals, playing the older, wiser version of herself that doesn’t take any shit and is often the player, not the played in these romantic dalliances.  Is it on the level of her 60s masterpieces, no?  But is it still a ton of fun?  Absolutely.

Choice Cuts: "Who's Zoomin' Who" "Freeway of Love" "Another Night"

#13 Little Creatures - Talking Heads (38 minutes, New Wave / Pop-Rock)

Talking Heads were coming off of their biggest album yet, the incredibly funky Speaking in Tongues and their career-defining live concert film Stop Making Sense, and it seemed like the only way to go was down. However, on sixth album, they do deliver a more subdued album, but by no means is it a weak one. The less frenetic sound of the record fits group at this stage in their career, having become elder statesmen of the new wave scene they helped create a decade ago at CBGB’s.  David Byrne and company have decided to move away from funk entirely, likely knowing they did all they could do with the genre on their last two projects, and instead they deliver their version of an Americana record, reflected through their quirky new wave tendencies.  There are all new textures for the band to play with, including zydeco accordions, country twang-drenched steel guitars and washboards and even a horn section.  The band fits well within these new elements, retaining their quirky sense of groove all while Bryne is able to deliver his signature vocals and offbeat lyrics, writing about girls who can fly above their boring neighborhoods and how exciting it is to hang out with literal babies.  This makes the album sound weird, and it is, but that’s Talking Heads for you; unapologetically weird.  While this may not be my go-to project in their discography, it’s never a dull listen, and the closer “Road to Nowhere”, can make a case for being the group’s greatest song, or at least their last indisputably classic track.

Choice Cuts: "Road to Nowhere" "And She Was" "The Lady Don't Mind"

#12 Meat Is Murder - The Smiths (39 minutes, Indie Rock / Post-Punk)

The Smiths had about as good as a year as any band can have in 1984. They dropped their debut album, an instant classic of indie rock replete with excellent jangle-pop riffs and witty lyrics from acerbic and melancholic front-man Morrisey, then dropped a series of even better singles, collected on the excellent compilation Hatful of Hollow.  The quartet were on a hot streak, and their sophomore album wouldn’t do anything to halt that momentum, but it did signal a shift in the band’s signature sound, moving away from the jangle-pop goodness of their debut and becoming a more somber, thoughtful group with this project. Lyrically, Morrissey has a lot to say about the societal ills of the day, sometimes as witty as ever, and other times with a bit more of a blunt, rough edge.  This album is ostensibly the group’s message record, delivering their own treatises on the corporal punishment in the British school system, bullying, domestic abuse, and most famously veganism, and while some of the lyrics are more blunt than usual, the group’s musicianship makes up for it in spades, with Johnny Marr’s riffs being as infectious as ever, but oftentimes giving the spotlight over to the rhythm section, who are the stars of their album with Andy Rourke’s rubber-band bass lines giving this album a funkier touch than others in The Smiths’ catalog.  There are a few signature character pieces, that feel like a true continuation of the lads last album with their hilarious, clever jabs at the ordinary person, but there’s a rage here that feels more palpable than their other albums, it’s a righteousness that makes this a particularly vital project.  The album’s greatest moment is its gentlest, the quiet ballad “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore”, which sees the group move away from humor and craft a genuinely earnest song about the effects of adolescent bullying.  It’s that soul that makes The Smiths stand out from their peers.  While Morrissey’s reputation may have been tanked by years of hateful rhetoric, in the 80s he was there to console every weird kid who found their way to the alternative scene, and it’s that Morrissey that I want to eulogize.  And I’d call this their weakest album, doesn’t that say something about how good these guys are?

Choice Cuts: "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" "Barbarism Begins at Home" "Nowhere Fast" "The Headmaster Ritual"

#11 Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston (46 minutes, Soul / Dance-Pop)

Sometimes an artist needs time to grow and mature before they put out a certified classic, while others burst onto the scene, setting a ridiculously high bar they never quite clear for the rest of their career.  In the case of Whitney Houston, she did neither, her first album isn’t quite a classic, but it is a game-changer. Not many debut albums can boast three number one hits, all three of which show a different side of Whitney’s artistry.  These tracks form the heart of the album, the smooth, seductive ballad “Saving All My Love for You”, which lets Whitney indulge her softer registers, the gripping and emotive power ballad “The Greatest Love of All”, a showcase for Whitney’s powerhouse belt and command of a lyric, and best of all the joyous dance-pop bliss of “How Will I Know”, which is a perfect pop song and would foreshadow a decade and change of danceable pop goodness.  Outside of these three stunners, the album is no slouch, placing an emphasis on the sultry, adult contemporary leaning R&B ballads, where Whitney’s once in a generation vocal chops shine, but the best moments are the more up-tempo danceable cuts that pave the way for her even stronger sophomore album.  This doesn’t really break new ground, but with a voice as rich and powerful as Whitney’s it doesn’t have to, she could sing the phonebook for all I care.  The birth of a legend, who would only continue to improve with time, and better production behind her.

Choice Cuts: "Saving All My Love for You" "How Will I Know" "You Give Good Love" "The Greatest Love of All"

#10 Be Yourself Tonight - Eurythmics (43 minutes, Pop-Rock / R&B)

The Eurythmics were never content to be just another synth-pop act, and that was evident from their first album, but here they truly shed their synth-pop roots all together and go in an entirely new direction, forsaking glacial soundscapes for the hot and heavy sounds of American R&B and rock.  This album is if nothing else a fantastic showcase for Annie Lennox’s voice, which always brought a warmth to even the iciest of the Eurythmics’ earlier synth-pop, but here is able to truly shine as a soulful belter letting loose on every song like she was signed to Stax in the late 60s.  She still has all the precision and command of her voice, so she doesn’t wail on every song, sometimes delivering a more nuanced, soft performance on a few of the ballads, but the best moments see her giving her all in both her growled lower register and her airy soprano range.  While Annie Lennox is the star, the instrumental maestro Dave Stewart provides her with some cracking instrumentals, which sport a funkier backbeat than anyone was expecting and his own rocking guitar licks, which make this far and away the Eurythmics’ most muscular project.  While the ballads are as solid as ever, many of the best moments are the vampier rock songs, which are the most fun pieces in their entire catalog, especially the classic “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”, a feminist anthem that sees Annie Lennox go toe to toe with R&B legend Aretha Franklin, and keep up admirably.  While their last two albums might be more influential, this is the project of theirs I return to most often, cause it’s just a blast.  Who doesn’t love some wholly unexpected sweet soul music.

Choice Cuts: "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" "There Must Be An Angel (Playing with My Heart)" "Would I Lie to You?" "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)"

#9 Promise - Sade (54 minutes, R&B / Jazz-Pop)

Sade’s sophomore album is the natural evolution for the group after their gorgeous debut platter, the smooth as silk Diamond Life, which was an excellent fusion of jazz instrumentation and sensibilities with more classically R&B and sophisti-pop songwriting, underpinned by Sade Adu’s peerless vocals.  This record takes a few more risks in its compositions, moving away from the debut’s traditional verse/chorus/bridge structure to create even jazzier songs, with extended instrumental sections highlighting the band’s talented soloists, namely Stuart Matthewman whose saxophone work on this album is second to none, adding to the record’s signature smoky nightclub energy.  Sade herself also leans into the album’s jazzier palette with her vocals becoming lighter and more like another instrument in the combo as opposed to always taking the lead.  The record’s songwriting isn't quite as sharp as the debut, but what it lacks in hooks it makes up for with Sade Adu’s improved lyricism which is deeply poetic, writing mature and nuanced ballads of lost love, longing and resentment, best of all being the opening torch song, “Is It a Crime” which shows her pen at its most emotive.  Sade’s desire to tackle taboo subjects is still alive and well, writing nuanced pieces on mixed race relationships, unwed motherhood and prostitution with her empathetic lyrical style.  This record may not hook you in immediately, but I find with every listen it rises in my estimation, truly the grower of the Sade catalog.

Choice Cuts: "Is It a Crime?" "The Sweetest Taboo" "Never as Good as the First Time" "Tar Baby"

#8 Tim - The Replacements (36 minutes, Punk Rock / Power Pop)

The Replacements are an unassuming part of rock history.  Like all great punk bands, they sounded like they were on the verge of collapse at all times, and on this album, they were, with it being their final project to feature the talents of their razor-sharp guitarist Bob Stinson, whose spitfire riffs are the key to this album's brilliance, which rocks harder than any of their other classic projects.  Where their previous album, Let It Be, was the perfect distillation of the classic Replacements sound, this project takes it in new directions, both making their rockers heavier than ever, turning their garage rock sound and amplifying it to blockbuster proportions in comparison, and allowing their bleeding heart ballads to be even more intimate and chilling than ever due to their stronger production.  Lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg always seemed at odds with being a rock star, he was much happier behind the scenes, on this album he allows himself to at least sound like one, delivering the hard-edged rockers like his 70s classic rock heroes, belting it out with fervor as he sings anthems of wasted youth and failed romance, and extolling the virtues of alt-rock radio stations.  While the rockers are good fun, the best moments, as always with the band, are the somber, wounded ballads which see Westerberg’s lyrics reach a new peak of vulnerability.  The two strongest tracks, “Swingin’ Party” and “Here Comes a Regular” are stunning in their honesty, writing about crippling social anxiety, suicidal ideation and the loneliness of alcholism with a real humanity.  The vocal performances elevate the lyrics further, with Westerberg’s world-weary, beaten down growl sounding as if he’s lived every word.  Like all great Replacements records, it’s as funny as it is harrowing.  They’re a punk band with real soul, and if I could only have one of their records, I’d pick this one every time.

Choice Cuts: "Here Comes a Regular" "Swingin' Party" "Bastards of Young" "Left of the Dial"

#7 The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting (41 minutes, Jazz-Pop)

What would you expect Sting, the virtuosic songwriter and bass player from The Police, who can be considered one of, if not the greatest band to come out of the new wave boom, to do for his first ever solo album?  After listening to the five Police albums, my first thought would never have been a heavily jazz-influenced sophisti-pop album, but that’s what he delivered.  I’m not sure I ever would have guessed Sting’s first steps into solo stardom would be accompanied by smooth saxophone solos from jazz legend Branford Marsalis, but isn’t that what makes him such an enigma.  You never know his next move.  The brilliance of this album though is that while he heavily incorporates the sounds of jazz on the record, with the instrumentation feeling cloaked in a nocturnal haze, sounding like a particularly hip cocktail bar in places, he still writes his signature literary pop songs.  No one else would possibly write songs about child labor, the struggles of coal mining or a torch song about a reluctant vampire.  These are singular songs, but Sting delivers them with such charm, wit and commitment that they are uniquely captivating, with his soft, calming vocals gliding over the instrumentals.  There are a few more traditional offerings here, with both the opener and closer being excellent pop-rock songs with a dash of U2 bombast, and even a stab at straight up reggae, but far and away, the smoky jazz ballads are the best moments here, and are a sound I wish Sting used more often in his solo career, because while he made stronger solo outings, I return to this one the most, cause I haven’t found anything else like it, by anyone.

Choice Cuts: "Moon Over Bourbon Street" "Fortress Around Your Heart" "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" "Consider Me Gone"

#6 Low-Life - New Order (40 minutes, Synth-Pop / Post-Punk)

On their third album, New Order finally shed the long, looming shadow of their previous band, the chilly post-punk outfit Joy Division, and became a true hit-making force in their own right.  While 1983’s Power, Corruption & Lies hinted at this direction, there was still a lingering Joy Division quality to many of the songs with their elegiac and morose ballads, offsetting the more interesting and more upbeat synth-pop, and on this album the group is able to fully deliver on the promise of that album’s strongest moments, a synth-pop fantasia with a strong rock influence in its songwriting.  These are rock songs at their core, but instead of dressing them in guitars and drums, we get layers of dreamy synths, punchy keys and sequenced drum loops to craft a song that is emotionally compelling but able to get even the shiest wallflowers to tap their feet and bob their head along with the beat.  While many deem dance music as mindless (a fact I repute every chance I get), I’ve rarely found any synth-pop that has this record’s sheer depth of feeling, with the lyrics still holding onto the melancholia of Joy Division, but this time there is a hopefulness that permeates many of the tracks here, whether the narrator finds love in “The Perfect Kiss” or is able to return to his family in “Love Vigilantes”.  The weak link here is Bernard Sumner on the vocals, whose amateurish voice has a charm and innocence to it, but a stronger singer would certainly elevate the material, the strongest segments here are usually the instrumental passages.  Other than the subpar vocals, this album is practically spotless, blending jangly guitar riffs with glorious dreamy synth pop in all settings, from jaunty rockers to groovy dance numbers and even soft, nocturnal ballads.  New Order would deliver other classics, but this ranks at the top of their discography because this is the perfect blend of their past as post-punk trailblazers and their future as house innovators.  As beautiful as synth pop gets.

Choice Cuts: "The Perfect Kiss" "Subculture" "Love Vigilantes" "Elegia"

#5 The Head on the Door - The Cure (42 minutes, Post-Punk / Alt-Pop)

It’s a miracle that The Cure were able to reemerge after their first string of albums, and even more than that, come back stronger than ever, delivering a truly spectacular indie pop record.  After the blistering post-punk tour-de-force that was 1982’s Pornography, the band flamed out and saw lead singer and songwriter Robert Smith defect to fellow post-punkers Siouxsie and the Banshees for a time, before returning to the fold with the psychedelic experimentation of The Top, which aside from a few choice singles was a bit of a mess.  It seemed like the band was in decline, but surprisingly, Smith and company returned in 1985 with their most focused project yet, this set of sharply written indie pop songs, drenched in a melancholia and a nocturnal atmosphere that was The Cure's bread and butter.  After honing his skills on a series of successful non-album singles, Robert Smith pivoted the band away from sprawling soundscapes and epic dirges, at least for one album, to deliver a pop-adjacent album that seems to take a few cues from their newfound melancholic contemporaries The Smiths.  Where this record differs from Morrissey and company is in its ambitions, Robert Smith was never satisfied to make the same song twice, so all ten of these songs are wildly different interpretations of gothic pop rock, with distinct embellishments like a juicy saxophone riff on “A Night Like This”, hand clap percussion on the anxiety-ridden love song “Close to Me”, Japanese-inspired strings on “Kyoto Song” and flamenco guitars on “The Blood”.  These choices might make this sound like a disjointed mess, but it’s all held together by the group’s masterful musicianship and Robert Smith’s languid, deeply emotive vocals which lend each track a sense of sadness, even on the upbeat love songs, which pulse with a sense of longing.  Lyrically, Smith is close to his peak, drenching the songs in evocative imagery and sharply witty turns of phrase, with a newfound levity and silliness that would mark a new chapter in the band’s story.  The Cure would never again make an album this overtly pop friendly, returning to a mix of indie pop and goth rock epics on their next project, but it ranks among The Cure’s best, because there’s nothing else like it in their catalog.  A great Cure album for the uninitiated to start with.

Choice Cuts: "Close to Me" "In Between Days" "A Night Like This" "Kyoto Song"

#4 Around the World in a Day - Prince & The Revolution (42 minutes, Psychedelic Pop / Funk-Rock)

Following up an album like Purple Rain is a truly impossible task, because anything would feel like a let down after that 100 out of 10 album, so Prince, very smartly chose to pivot hard away from the blockbuster pop meets rock meets R&B of that smash, and swerves into much less chart-friendly territory.  Inspired by the music tastes of his close Revolution collaborators, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, Prince decides to dive deep into the world of psychedelic rock and soul music, creating an album that blends the sharp songcraft and cleverly risque lyrics that were his bread and butter with a sound straight out of 1968.  Like all the best psychedelic music, the songs feel expansive and beautiful, like a trip through a tye-dye wonderland, and Prince’s imagery laden lyrics help flesh out this musical universe and help you picture it, particularly in the dazzling “Paisley Park”.  This is far from just a pure throwback record though, despite all the hippy-dippy psychedelic texturing, this is still a signature Prince project with his lyrics, as poetic and evocative as ever, exploring the realms of gripping heartbreak, the vacuousness of the celebrity lifestyle and his ever-present struggle between the pleasures of the flesh and his devotion to a higher power.  These songs are weighty and challenging in their subject matter, but as he does best, he makes them easily digestible due to their brilliant arrangements, blending his gorgeous high tenor with fuzzy guitars, swirling synth keyboards and sweeping orchestral moments, atop the signature funky rhythm section that underpins all his best songs.  Many people call this his psychedelic album, but that’s just one musical flavor on display here, mainly on the A-side, there are also moments of fragile chamber pop, boisterous funk-rock and even his first stab as a gospel-inflected rock ballad.  He doesn’t abandon funk in the least here, just moving away from the synthesizer and into a jazzier flavor, with punchy horns and a touch of strings, leading the way for the orchestral tinges on Parade and the retro-futuristic funk of Sign ‘o’ the Times.  Interestingly enough, this is really a transition album for Prince, moving away from his signature sound he pioneered for the first half of the decade, into the more sprawling experimental nature of his late 80s classics, and usually transitional records are awkward, but this feels as if it was what Prince had been mastering for the past decade.  As a one off genre experiment, it just makes me wish we had more of this style, but if nine songs is all we get, he made sure they are truly spectacular.  A classic that sometimes gets overshadowed by its iconic bookends.

Choice Cuts: "Raspberry Beret" "Paisley Park" "Pop Life" "America"

#3 No Jacket Required - Phil Collins (46 minutes, Pop-Rock)

Phil Collins is the kind of pop star we don’t really have anymore, and that’s really a shame, because judging based on this record, he was one of the 80s best and brightest when it came to laying down catchy, memorable pop rock goodness. While Phil’s first two solo albums still had some similarities to Genesis in their more rock-oriented sections, here Phil goes for the full-on pop star jugular, crafting an album more modeled after Thriller or Purple Rain than Duke or Abacab.  The album is likely best known for the synth-funk opus “Sussudio”, a nonsensical slice of pop goodness that skyrocketed him to new levels of fame, and while it’s a certified dancefloor classic, it’s also perhaps the album’s weakest song.  How many albums can you point to and say its biggest hit is its weakest track (which is still quite good)?  The record is mainly split into three categories.  First are the dance floor ready synth-funk tracks, which benefit greatly from the use of the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section who give the tracks a real R&B flair many of his contemporaries lacked.  Second are the smooth, plush adult contemporary ballads which see Phil’s vocals at their peak, delivering a real earnestness and warmth that was rare in a sea of soppy, samey ballads of the era.  Thirdly, and best of all, are the more rock-oriented tracks which see Phil, and his songwriting partner and guitarist Darryl Stuermer delivering some great AOR riffs which would pave the way for the newer, poppier sound of Genesis’ next project Invisible Touch.  The album’s strongest moments are undoubtedly when these categories intersect and give us the archetypal Phil Collins sound, like the hard driving dance-rocker “Don’t Lose My Number” and the rock ballads “Inside Out” and “Take Me Home” which see Phil shaping the sound that would help define the rest of the 80s pop-rock crossovers.  Phil is able to be the best kind of pop star, one who can be entirely silly, best seen in his great music videos for the album, and also one who can be thoughtful, writing songs about the numbing effect of the 24 hour news cycle, the bitterness of divorce and even a song from the perspective of the narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  This is the exact kind of pop album that doesn’t get made anymore, and that’s a damn shame.  The world could certainly use more Phil Collins.

Choice Cuts: "Take Me Home" "Don't Lose My Number" "Inside Out" "Sussudio" "I Don't Wanna Know"

#2 Songs from the Big Chair - Tears for Fears (43 minutes, New Wave / Pop-Rock)

It can be a gamble when a band best known for their intimacy tries to make a full screen, blockbuster kind of album, sometimes it falls flat on its face, but in the case of British new wavers Tears for Fears, they crafted one of the greatest albums, pop or not, of the entire decade.  The duo’s first album, The Hurting, was a decidedly small-scale affair, a quiet, disaffected synth pop record exploring the duo’s myriad childhood traumas in a stark, but hook-laden manner.  It was an icy, unsettling record, but everything about their sophomore album is warm, welcoming and massive in scope.  These songs aren’t mere pop trifles, they are epics of the genre, sprawling and bombastic, built for stadiums of fans to shout along with.  The genius of the duo is their ability to create anthemic rock songs and give them a distinct pop sheen, using immaculate hooks to make these monster songs into radio favorites.  The vocal melodies soar due to the soulful voice of Roland Orzabal and the softer baritone of Curt Smith, crafting lines that are made for singalongs, while the lyrics are as abstract and heady as ever, writing about primal scream therapy, the plight of the working class and atheism but in the most accessible way.  Not all good pop music has to be intellectual, but this record proves that sometimes the smartest songs are truly the best.  Not every song is a six plus minute art-rock epic, the fragile sophisti-pop ballads do a great job of spotlighting the duo’s beautiful vocals and who can forget “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, which some critics consider the best pop song ever written, and it’s impossible to find fault in a song so expertly constructed with its enigmatic lyric, peerless chorus hook and flawless blend of synth and guitar.  For a pop album, the artfulness on display is truly second to none, and they lose none of their desire to experiment, with extended instrumental breaks with languid jazzy saxophones, clattering synth lines and angular guitar solos, even including hints of world music influence.  The album’s crowning achievement is its sense of scale, and in the 80s, the name of the game was bigger is better, and in creating the year’s biggest sounding album, Tears for Fears came out on top.  Truly a masterpiece of wide screen pop spectacle that I never tire of exploring.

Choice Cuts: "Head Over Heels" "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" "Shout" "The Working Hour" "Listen"

#1 Hounds of Love - Kate Bush (47 minutes, Art-Pop)

Some artists have an otherworldly quality to them, a mystique, a mysticism or just a vibe that they couldn’t possibly be an earthly being due to their immense talent or sheer unparalleled artistry.  Genuine auteurs like David Bowie, Prince or André 3000, and I’d argue that Kate Bush belongs near the top of that list, and this album shows that more than any other in her catalog.  From her debut record, Kate has always been a quirky, one of a kind singer and songwriter, tackling the absurd and unusual in beautiful, poetic terms with her crystalline high soprano, but this album takes her usual approach but with a focus and sharpness unlike anything else she’s done before.  Where her first four albums felt sprawling and chaotic, this project is of one mind and one voice, taking the listener on a singular journey through a soundscape of icy synths, swooning rhythms and crackling heavy drums all while guided by her ferociously dynamic voice.  This is an album of two halves, with the A-side compiling a series of five perfect art-pop songs which stand on their own powerfully and the B-side featuring a suite or song cycle about the gripping hallucinations of a person freezing to death after a shipwreck before being miraculously found on the album’s triumphant last song.  The album is very much a love letter to the Fairlight CMI synthesizer, adding textural layers to every song here and unlike other 80s synth records, this one doesn’t sound like its aged a day, in fact it still has a sheen of futurism due to her mastery of the instrument, creating the perfect chilly sound palette for each song.  The coldness of the arrangements, typically just synth, bass and pulse pounding drums with the occasional string arrangement is beautifully offset by her warm, inviting voice which keens and soars across every song, accompanied by herself on backing vocals, weaving tapestries of the human voice which provide a great balance to the album that the best synth dominated records have.  Kate's greatest strength has always been how expressive her vocals are and on this album they reach a new peak of dramatic, emotive quality acting each song as if she was a movie star.  Every song has an epic bent, building on powerful choruses and emotionally charged bridges, you never want these songs to end, especially the brilliant opener “Running Up That Hill”, which is about as perfect as a song can get.  Lyrically, Bush has never been more focused and evocative, writing with her signature poetic obliqueness in places, but also allowing us into her world more than ever with blunt but powerful lyrics about the challenges of being a woman while also writing her classic narrative story songs inspired by classic literature full of romanticism and the naive innocence no one else could ever capture quite as vividly.  The sense of scope this album has is truly second to none, with the A-Side feeling as widescreen and cinematic as possible, with the songs pummeling you with their propulsive hooks and ambition, which is offset by the staggering intimacy of the B-Side’s Ninth Wave suite which feels as if you are eavesdropping on the narrator’s innermost thoughts as she whispers her way through the softest moments amid the wild experimentation of the musical backdrops.  This album epitomizes everything that made Kate Bush a truly unparalleled auteur of pop music, and an album that never fails to engage me on every emotional level, which is what all great art does.  A masterpiece and the best album from a year of great ones.

Choice Cuts: "Cloudbusting" "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" "The Big Sky" "Hounds of Love" "Hello Earth"

And that's all folks, those are my 15 favorite albums of 1985. Give these albums a round of applause, cause forty years on they are still absolute classics. The Best of 1995 is coming soon. Let me know below if there's anything you think I missed, or any thoughts of your own on these brilliant projects!

Happy listening!