Four on the Floor – 1980.

Queen – The Game.     8/10.

I will be honest I didn’t care for this album when it was released, I was stuck in the old ways, but over the years it has grown on me like fungus, there are still tracks that I don’t care for, but the tracks that I really like are great, lets start with the stinkers,  Coming Soon and Save me, Live save me works but it sounds flat on the album and coming soon sounds like a b side , or something that should have ended up on a Roger Taylor solo album, then there’s the singles Play the game nearly as bad as the first two songs mentioned, another one bites the dust , its got a groove and I do like a groove, and crazy little thing called what’s not to like its short its simple with a cracking guitar solo, then we get to the meat of the album, Dragon attack  just sticks to you like glue and live it was even better, sail a way sweet sister a simple Brian May ballad that could have appeared on any of their previous albums, Don’t try suicide Freddie having fun in a kind of accapela style which simply won’t let you go, Rock It this is not the best version but it’s still great, there’s a couple of versions with a full Freddie Vocal and one with a full Roger vocal, they spliced, Roger writes this kind of song in his sleep and he’s damn good at it, and the last track need your loving tonight John Deacon writing a simple rock song that actually works, he didn’t write many but he never wrote a bad song, I’m glad I stuck with it over the years its not as good as any of the first seven studio albums but it holds its ground.

Stiff Little Fingers – Nobody’s heroes.     8/10.

I loved this band when they came out this second album is the start of the polishing of their sound, still it had a nice bit of rawness to it and there’s only one track I don’t care for and that’s Bloody Dub, there’s nothing wrong with the track, but it’s the only song that I would skip and the track after goes just a little too long I like it, but a shorter version would have made me happy the track in question Doesn’t make it all right I think was written by Jerry Dammers of the Specials, good song but way too long for me, this was how I liked my punk in 1980!

Peter Gabriel – 3 (melt).    9.5/10.

At this moment in time, I wasn’t a huge fan of his the first couple of albums they were a tad eclectic for me, I was soon to learn the error of my ways as soon as I heard Intruder, I was hooked all of the songs the lyrics kind of grab you by the ear and demand that you listen to them, to try and understand the nuances of them, it was this album that turned me into wanting to be a lyricist, to be a writer of some sort,  there was always a number of different meanings and I just found it to be clever and so bloody different, there’s not a bad track on the album so why not a perfect ten, well the track Start the short instrumental is simply that a short interlude, now I wasn’t expecting a twelve minute epic with blazing guitar solos, maybe it was just that an interlude so that you could gather your senses before the onslaught of ideas that was to follow, I still can’t decide whether Intruder or Family Snapshot is my favourite song, the latter lyric is so devastating, I wont spoil it for you, but there are two stories over lapping and the end verse is just a plot twist of gargantuan proportions I love this and his fourth album but then I drifted from his catalogue as he went more poppy, I still listened but this album shook me to my foundations!

Ted Nugent – Scream Dream.      9/10.

I know I will get some stick for this one but this to me was the last great Ted Nugent album, its still my favourite, I rarely play it now as he has turned into a cartoon character, its his life he can do what he wants to, but its not for me anymore, he chased glory instead of sticking to his guns, some of this is so raw it would make a Motorhead song sound  like Journey (honest) Flesh and blood was the single from the album and its like a bloody big train just running you over over and over again, there’s the outrageous Wango Tango still his best moment the ZZ Top inspired Terminus Eldorado and who does not like the ballad (not) of Violent Love, he never matched the heights after this again, he came close with Crave man, but then he became the overlord, he always had great singers on his first albums with Ted only singing a couple, after Scream Dream he sang everything and the quality suffered he can still do it live as I have seen him a number of times in this country and the good old USofA  but the cartoon has destroyed the master that he was.