 | Dave’s Faves:My Album Collection in 1984 |
By year’s end, this was what my collection looked like. Albums acquired in 1984 are noted with an asterisk.
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First posted 8/31/2021. |
DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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Monday, December 31, 1984
Dave’s Faves: My Album Collection in 1984
NRG’s No Reasons Given released this year
No Reasons Given |
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Released: 1984 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: synth pop/neo-prog rock |
Tracks: Song Title [time]. Click on a song title for lyrics.
Based on don.dream-in-color.net, it appears that KG wrote all of the songs except those marked with an asterisk (*), which were copyrighted by John J. Hubbard. Total Running Time: 43:40 The Players:
Produced by Kevin Gilbert and Jason Hubbard. |
Rating:  2.982 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)
Quotable: “Some of the cheesiest and the proggiest work [Kevin Gilbert’s] ever done” – Dan Britton, RateYourMusic.com |
About the Album: NRG’s sound fit in with the keyboard-heavy new romantic sound of bands like the Human League, Thompson Twins, and Duran Duran. Still, KG’s progressive leanings were already apparent as there were songs that stretched well past the four-minute single time barrier. The band won a San Jose “Best of the Bay” radio station sponsored by KSJO with a three-song demo. “The NRG material, recorded when Gilbert was in his late teens, was never widely commercially released.” DB “This release is very interesting to hear because [it is] far away from [the] mainstream.” UZ “It’s clear that a lot of work went into the tracks, many of which feature multiple keyboard parts, great arranging, and a very wide number of instruments.” DB There are “digital synths galore, but also a lot of great proggy keyboard playing, odd time signatures, and even some lengthy songs.” DB “The main ingredient missing from the songs, though, is the preponderance of hooks.” DB “Many songs here are influenced by Synthie-Pop.” UZ “Morning Light and Watching Me [are] completely typical representatives of the ‘Plastik Pop Rock’ generation…[kind of] Survivor meets Human League…good compositions.” BB Goodman Badman “works, however atmospherically.” BB Meanwhile, Wings of Time “begins almost rocking” BB “with heavy guitar work.” UZ It is “a good, straight Neoprogger [that] delivers an ‘Aha experience,’” getting a taste at the end of Yes’ ‘Heart of the Sunrise.’” BB Mere Image is a “beautiful piano ballad…which would have fit in…easily on [Genesis’] A Trick of the Tail.” BB Welcome to Suburbia “then moves…back into the synth-pop corner, this time with sax and sound effects.” BB Staring into Nothing is “more organic; …a very beautiful, exciting track with good percussion and…very well sung.” BB It is “a great song – but in a better version appearing on The Shaming of the True,” UZ Gilbert’s posthumously released second solo album. Two more versions of the song appear on the Call Me Kai box set released in 2021. Frame by Frame also falls into the “plastic sound…somehow reminding of Elefante’s Kansas.” BB When Strangers Part features “acoustic guitar, good…keyboard and very beautiful singing.” BB Overall, “It seems like Gilbert was still honing his skills as a ‘pop songwriter,’ and the material, though very good, isn’t as immediately appealing as all his other work.” DB “It’s both some of the cheesiest and the proggiest work he’s ever done.” DB Notes: At one point, this album was available as a download via KevinGilbert.com with seven bonus tracks and a different running order:
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First posted 4/2/2008; updated 6/4/2021. |
Steve, Bob & Rich’s Balls released this year
Balls |
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Released: 1984 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: roots rock |
Tracks:
Songs written by Bob Walkenhorst. The Players:
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Rating:  4.200 out of 5.00 (average of 3 ratings)
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About the Album: The three-piece bar band Steve, Bob & Rich formed in 1983. “These Kansas City rockers became an instant favorite throughout the Midwest. Soon fans stood in line to see this trio they described as ‘energetic,’ ‘intense,’ but most importantly ‘fun.’” AZ They self-produced their one and only album, Balls, in 1984. Within months, the trio signed a multi-album contract with Polygram, added drummer Pat Tomek, and became the Rainmakers, who would be hailed by Newdsay as “America’s Great Next Band.” AZ Amazon.com said this about the Rainmakers: “Missouri has long boasted of being the home of two of America’s greatest artists, Mark Twain and Chuck Berry. However, it wasn’t until The Rainmakers thundered into the national music spotlight in 1986, had anyone combined the guitar power of Berry with the social wit of Twain to form a unique brand of Missouri rock n’ roll.” AZ Let My People Go-Go, Nobody Knows, Big Fat Blonde, and Information would all resurface on the Rainmakers’ self-titled debut in 1986, but appear here first in stripped-down versions. Those songs “plus other strong originals capture the band lean, hungry and in all their 3-piece glory.” AZ “The remix and remastering makes it sound as if you are sitting in the room with the band, as most cuts were recorded completely live in the studio…No Rainmakers fan can be without this one!” AZ
Notes: A CD reissue added seven live cuts from 1985: “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Tough Boys,” “Hanging Around,” “Nasty Man,” “Rockin’ All Over the World,” “Let My People Go-Go,” and “Switchblade.” |
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First posted 2/4/2009 updated 6/2/2021. |
Saturday, December 15, 1984
Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” hit #1 in the UK
 | Do They Know It’s ChristmasBand Aid |
Writer(s): Bob Geldof, Midge Ure (see lyrics here) Released: December 3, 1984 Peak: 13 US, 7 CB, 39 GR, 35 A40, 32 AR, 15 UK, 12 CN, 14 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 3.94 UK, 11.7 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 39.3 video, 403.22 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Bob Geldof made his name initially as the frontman of the Boomtown Rats, an Irish punk-pop outfit which got its start in the late ‘70s and found success with a pair of #1 songs on the UK charts with “Rat Trap” and “I Don’t Like Mondays.” However, in his obituary someday, the leading line will reference him as the man who organized Band Aid and Live Aid. Geldof was so moved one night by images from the BBC of “Ethiopians as they trudged for miles in search of food” HL that he felt obligated to do something. He started out collecting money at Boomtown Rats shows HL but wanted to do something on a grander scale. He connected with Midge Ure, the frontman from Ultravox, to pen a song about those suffering in the African famine. He wrote the lyrics in the back seat of a taxi and Midge produced the backing track in his studio. TB To garner even more attention to the cause, however, the pair then tackled their collective rolodexes to round up a Who’s Who of British pop superstars to sing a Christmas charity single as the collective Band Aid. Among the stars enlisted were Bono, Phil Collins, Sting, George Michael, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Status Quo, Paul Weller, Spandau Ballet, Heaven 17, and Kool & the Gang. 36 artists HL gathered at Sarm West Studios in London on November 25, 1984. Geldof implored attendees “to leave your egos outside the studio” HL and, in a wonderful display of unity, “everyone got on with everyone else.” HL They started the recording process by singing the “Feed the world, let them know it’s Christmas time” refrain first as a group. Then individual singers sang the song the entire way through so that Ure, who also produced the song, could splice the best parts together for the final version. WK The whole song was recorded within a 24-hour period. WK Geldof wanted to make sure all the proceeds went straight to the Ethiopians so he in addition to getting the musicians to work for free, he arranged for free studio time, manufacturing, and distribution. The song sold 750,000 in its first week of release in England, making it their fastest-selling single in history at the time. MG It went on to sell more than 3.5 million, making it the best-selling song in Britain until Elton John’s 1997 re-recording of “Candle in the Wind”. WK Combined with the 1985 Live Aid concert, Geldof’s efforts raised £110 million. MG Resources:
First posted 12/15/2011; last updated 4/12/2023. |
Tuesday, December 11, 1984
Leonard Cohen released “Hallelujah”
 | HallelujahLeonard Cohen |
Writer(s): Leonard Cohen (see lyrics here) Released: December 11, 1984 (album cut) First Charted: December 27, 2008 Peak: 59 US, 36 UK, 17 CN, 59 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 269.65 video, 129.26 streaming |
 | HallelujahJeff Buckley |
Released: August 23, 1994 (album cut) First Charted: December 20, 2008 Peak: 2 UK, 70 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK, 3.23 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 293.24 video, 356.38 streaming |
 | HallelujahAlexandra Burke |
Released: December 17, 2008 First Charted: December 27, 2008 Peak: 13 UK, 53 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.38 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 201.88 video, 103.30 streaming |
Awards (Leonard Cohen):Click on award for more details. 
Awards (Jeff Buckley):
Awards (Alexandra Burke):Click on award for more details.
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About the Song:Malcolm Gladwell does a podcast on, as he says, “What happens when genius takes its sweet time to emerge?” RH He mentions economist David Galenson’s theory of creativity which divides art into conceptual innovation, marked by artists who work quickly and have immediate impact, and experimental innovation, in which artists don’t necessarily know what they’re trying to say right away and their influence takes time. RH Gladwell holds up Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song “about a love that has soured and gone stale,” SF as a quintessential example of experimental innovation. Rock critic Alan Light wrote an entire book about the song and said Cohen wrote 50 to 70 verses for the song, working on it for five years. RH It finally emerged on his 1984 album Various Positions and was released in Spain and the Netherlands as a single, SF but it “barely makes a ripple…If you go back to listen to that first ‘Hallelujah,’ the song’s failure makes sense. It’s not there yet.” RH Michael Bartel calls the original version “so hyper-serious that it’s almost satire.” RH Cohen continued tweaking the song live and John Cale, known from the Velvet Underground, saw him perform it and requested the lyrics. Cohen responded with 15 faxed pages. Cale recorded it for the 1991 Leonard Cohen tribute album I’m Your Fan and, according to Light, “cracks the code of ‘Hallelujah.’” RH Cale’s recorded version included lyrics like “I used to live alone before I knew you” and “All I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you” which Cohen had only performed live. WK It’s Cale’s version that Jeff Buckley heard and decides to record. Gladwell called it the “definitive one…a cover of John Cale’s cover…only with Cale’s piano swapped out for a guitar.” RH He said “every subsequent cover – and there have been hundreds – are really covers of Buckley covering Cale covering Cohen.” RH Buckley recorded it for Grace, his only studio album released before his death in 1997. That album achieved gold status in the U.S. in 2002, but the song didn’t even chart until 2006, reaching #7 in Norway. The next year it reached the top 3 in Sweden. In March of 2008 it topped the Billboard digital song chart after Jason Castro performed the song on American Idol. In 2017, The International Observer named Buckley’s version the greatest song of all time. WK Time magazine quoted Buckley’s publisher as saying of the song that it “can be joyous or bittersweet, depending on what part of it you use.” WK The song surfaced again in the 2001 film Shrek. Rufus Wainwright recorded the song as a tribute to Buckley. It was used on the soundtrack and reached #97 on the UK charts. However, it was Cale’s version which was actually used in the film. There were also successful chart versions by k.d. lang, Justin Timberlake, and Alexandra Burke. Lang first recorded “Hallelujah” in 2004, but it was her 2010 version performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 which gave her chart success, reaching #2 in Canada. That same year, Justin Timberlake reached #13 on the U.S. charts with his duet version with Matt Morris. Alexandra Burke won the fifth series television talent competition The X Factor in England and her recording of “Hallelujah” became the top-selling song of 2008, reaching #1 in the UK and selling more than a million copies. It set the European record for most singles sold in a 24-hour period. WK Buckley’s version was given a major boost as a result; it reached #2 in the UK (behind Burke’s version) and #1 in France.
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First posted 9/18/2021; last updated 5/2/2024. |
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