C30, C60, C90, GO!

A little weekend archeology turned up my cassette collection, and over the course of the next week or so I'm going to list the albums that to date I have not upgraded to digital (CD or download).

Soundtrack, Sid & Nancy
You might have guessed that I didn't buy this for the four Pray For Rain tracks, nor for Joe Strummer's Love Kills (which is pretty excellent), nor for John Cale's She Never Took No For An Answer (which is likewise). Rather, The Pogues were the draw-- a couple of instrumentals and Cait doing Haunted, which Shane redid in more lugubrious fashion with Sinead O'Connor on his solo debut. Too bad this stuff and the Straight to Hell soundtrack pieces didn't make it onto the recent Pogues' reissues...

XTC, Waxworks
I lost them as the 80s wore on (did Dear God suck or what?), but wearing this one out was a giggle.

Black Flag, Damaged
Desperate for daddy love, and not afraid to skronk about it. TV Party was fun, and Rise About was good and anthemic. The rest was risible noise...

Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures
Black, and white.

Joy Division, Closer
White, and black.

Camper Van Beethoven, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
One of the few of the 80s indie crop whose major-label debut (that would be this) outstripped their cred-building early efforts. In the back of my mind, I've been thinking of Neutral Milk Hotel as a less-well-adjusted version of CVB, and now I realize that both “Sweetheart” and “Aeroplane” have instrumentals titled The Fool...

R.E.M., Chronic Town
The sound of coalescing sound.