The 1980s changed the game of music. The technology for making records was better. CDs sounded better than cassette tapes (though vinyl still sounds better than both). And record companies seemed OK with taking more chances on new artists and selling them to a mass audience.
Because of that, listeners had a lot more to choose from, of course, and allowed musical artists to not be so afraid to be different. This wouldn't last long, sadly.
But the three albums that follow were gems of the musical landscape that was full of great stuff. They still sound as good today as they did then. These should be a part of your record collection.
Fishbone - Truth and Soul (1988)
For those who might not have heard Fishbone, describing their music isn't so simple. And it's not because the band doesn't sound good. The challenge is trying to sum up in a couple of sentences exactly what to tell the person about to embark on the journey that is Fishbone, especially early Fishbone. Maybe just let them to Truth and Soul and figure out for themselves.
Fishbone was heavily influenced by many types of music such as ska, reggae, punk, soul, and hard rock. But they didn't just use these influences and turn them into a general Fishbone sound. The band wants to create songs in all those subgenres and that is exactly what they do on Truth and Soul and each song is better for it. On this the band's second album, the difference between the debut record and this one is that Fishbone is lyrically more expansive.
Truth and Soul wants you to feel how angry the band is about a government trying to control all things people do but only to help the few on "Subliminal Fascism." On "Ma and Pa" the band talks about a family falling apart. And then there's Fishbone's cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead" which is an excellent hard rock song that some might not even realize is a cover as Fishbone make it their own.
Los Lobos - By the Light of the Moon (1987)
By the Light of the Moon is in some way two different albums in one. The leading songwriters for the band, David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas, seemed to approach their individual songs on the band's third full-length LP from opposite directions. Hidalgo wrote more reflective songs while Rosas wrote slightly more sonically bombastic material. While Hidalgo wrote tracks like "One Time One Night," Rosas was creating "Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes."
But while the album almost seems a bit disjointed at times because of the two approaches, the band is, of course, the same for whoever is writing the tracks. And that's why this album, and Los Lobos, should belong in your collection. The instrumentalists play extremely well off of each other no matter the subgenre the song might belong to.
It's also probably not inconsequential that the same year the band was recording this album, they were also recording tracks for the La Bamba soundtrack. While the band still held on to their previous musical themes, La Bamba's more guitar-driven music may have bled into By the Light of the Moon highlighting more traditional Latin instruments as much. It would be interesting to hear what a remix of this album would be with the accordina playing more of a part as it did on the band's previous two albums.
There is one stark difference between By the Light of the Moon and La Bamba, however, and that is the lyrical themes. By the Light of the Moon is a look into being a minority in Ronald Reagan's America and how not all are truly equal. The words are really what makes this album so fantastic. The listener gets a clear picture of the people populating the tracks and wants to reach out and help them.
Terence Trent D'Arby - Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby (1987)
For those who weren't around when ...Hardline first came out, there was a lot of hype that Terence Trent D'Arby was going to be a mixture between Prince and Michael Jackson but maybe even bigger. That never turned out to be the case, but then D'Arby's debut attempt was still a very worthy listen. Influenced by soul but with the attitude of heavy metal, ...Hardline may be the greatest debut album by an artist who would never come close to reaching that kind of success again.
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The album received mass appeal nearly everywhere. It reached number 1 in the UK, the US, and Australia. Singles "Wishing Well, "If You Let Me Stay," and "Sign Your Name" all peaked in the top-ten. For all that people were promised about how glorious the LP would be, it appeared to deliver. And yet, it also seemed to unique.
...Hardline just didn't sound like anything else on the radio. While D'Arby was from New York City and the record was more R&B than anything else, there felt as if there was also something British about it all. In fact, D'Arby won the Brit award for Breakthrough International Act in 1988 as well as the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. But calling this just an R&B record isn't correct.
Through it all, D'Arby sang and performed with the confidence of someone who had been a success for 30 years, not just one. He was the embodiment of swagger and confidence. And this likely helped sell the record but might have turned some people off as well. There was no way in the 1980s without social media and the artist having the ability to constantly be in your space that D'Arby's level of hubris was sustainable. Luckily, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby is timeless and still worth your multiple listens.