POLLnight Blue: 80s Debut Singles from Lead Singers Who Went Solo

Peter Murphy?

Genesis (featuring Phil Collins)

This one will be Morrissey in a mudslide, I should think. But I have a soft spot for Robert Plant's synthy solo stuff.

Also, the joy of David Lee Roth's solo ep....

Also, if Bob Mould counts then so does the superior:

yeah, "2541" >>>>>>>>>> "see a little light." actually, "2541" >>>>>>>>> everything else either hart or mould has done since.

(though i much prefer the acoustic "2541," from hart's debut 12-inch, to the album version.)

and, yeah, petty definitely seems like a ringer here.

fcc otm. Never got into post-Huskers Mould. Way too slick and self-conscious.

And wasn't "2541" (the EP) released before Workbook?

This one will be Morrissey in a mudslide, I should think.

Maybe somewhere else on the internets, but not here.

you guys

YOU GUYS

midnight blue 4 eva!!!!

(xxp) yup, "2541" came first.

there are some ideas on workbook that i quite like, but as a full album it's trying.

Veg otm

I found a live version...sound is super-shitty so it sounds a little toothless but Lou kills it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjZcc34G4iI

missed the cutoff for the classic rock poll by a matter of weeks!

xp This one's not bad, either:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQbAizfsvrQ

debated several sensible choices, only to realize the list contains 'There's a monster in my pants!'.
Viva Fred!

Workbook got the deluxe treatment earlier this year; it held up splendidly, although, yeah, he grumbles rather portentously and pretentiously for too long.

I <3 midnight blue and there's a lot of worthy stuff itp but only one track that changed the sound of music and that's "in the air tonight" and I'll dither a lot out of affection for other things and then vote for it

it's weird how I feel like I outgrew Mould post-adolescence. whenever I revisit his stuff I really just can't relate to all the endless moaning about his horrible relationships.

xp

whole lotta love for "burning down one side" which sounds so happy to not be a Zep track and sounds so good doing it

on which Phil Collins drums!

I can take or leave most of Mould solo, but I adore Copper Blue.

this sounds picky but I don't count Sugar as solo.

it's weird how I feel like I outgrew Mould post-adolescence. whenever I revisit his stuff I really just can't relate to all the endless moaning about his horrible relationships.

xp

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, July 22, 2014 3:33 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm.

The 1989 promo cassette was packaged in a mock-up of a composition book:
http://eil.com/images/main/Bob+Mould+-+Workbook+-+CASSETTE+ALBUM-221652.jpg

Bob's liner notes for the promo reminded me of his worst late-HD lyrics, something like, "This album shows how we've all grown...how I've grown." Groan.

it's an album that shows how he groans

OMG, I kept thinking, Midnight Blue, wtf is that? So I click on the link and hear the first couple of notes - which of course are not the chorus - and then the chorus comes spilling back to me all at once, for the first time in decades! Awesome. it's like Lou Gramm doing "Man in the Mirror." Has it ever been used over the end credits of a film? Like "Mannequin 2" or something? "About Last Night?"

The verses might be even cooler than the chorus.

Mould solo has been pretty turgid and lame. I once saw him live and solo not too long ago, maybe a decade ago, before he went back to a power trio, and I overheard some guy at the merch booth just really politely telling the person that he's giving up as a fan. It was pretty much "look, I've bought everything Bob has done, every album, every band, and seen him live a dozen times, and good for him, but I'm sorry, I'm just not going to do it anymore." It was super harsh in its calm politeness. Granted, it was during his dance dalliance, but still, I've never seen or heard anything like that. Of course, Mould got better after that - his most recent two are solid - but reclaiming the quality and consistency of the first Sugar album (that and the EP are pretty much the apotheosis of his talents) was too little, too late.

The "Burning Down One Side" video is very gif-able and fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4-nhkqpf8s

For all you lot moaning about his groaning, See A Little Light is pretty light and airy, and if anything a little too much so afaic. The second single off Workbook - Wishing Well - is def one of the keepers for me though.

I remember being excited about Sugar at the time, but ended up walking out four songs into their first Chicago show (I mainly went to see openers Scrawl, anyway). The songs just...sat there. They didn't jump or flail, which is an unfair criticism that made me realize (not that I didn't have some idea prior) that Hart was the other half (or more) of what made Hüsker Dü great.

(but I heard "Helpless" recently and thought it was pretty good)

xxp

hey "See A Little Light is on my short list

I was really into Workbook when it came out and thought See a Little Light was a great, super-catchy single. I listened to it again recently and jeeezus is it repetitive, it had lost its luster.

the thing about Midnight Blue is that the lyrics are aaallmost nonsensical, maybe even kinda dumb in someone else's hands, but Lou sells the shit out of them. It feels so full of ~meaning~ just by virtue of his delivery

also tamborine intro is super classic

dad says son life is simple it's either cherry red or midnight blue

...

cool thx dad (wtf)

but when lou sings it it's like YES OMG MIDNIGHT BLUE OF COURSE

you know guys

Prince could cover "Midnight Blue"

ooh totally

The worst elements of Workbook (overly maudlin) come into focus when considered out of context, but at the time, I'd say it was certainly a risk for Mould to put out a primarily acoustic album, so I'll give him credit for that. Love Heartbreak A Stranger. Mould solo live on the other hand has been practically the same setlist since 1989.

and "Dreaming I Am."

Lou Gramm, "Midnight Blue" (1987)
George Michael, "I Want Your Sex" (1987)
Morrissey, "Suedehead" (1988)
Bob Mould, "See A Little Light" (1989)

one of these

It seems like these albums should be in this conversation too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Bella_Donna_%28album%29.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/LindseyBuckinghamLawandOrderAlbumcover.jpg

Granted, Stevie's first solo single was actually a duet.

ohhhh man if "trouble" was on here i so would vote for it

i was gonna be all WHERE'S EASY LOVER but apparently, despite the BEHOLD A NEW ERA grandiosity of the video, it was actually the first single from philip bailey's second album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk9-NzavCPg

sadly doesn't qualify because she made a solo album named Manhole in the early '70s

(not sad grace slick made an album called manhole in the early '70s, tho)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPG15_P3D8

marty balin's '81 debut single was a top 10 hit

btw video gets Not Safe For Life about 2:45 in

this is a good one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMPStLDUhSA

i loved workbook at the time and maybe love it even still, but I'm not giving mould extra credit for a solid album in a singles poll

woah, just recalled a big one no one's mentioned yet

CRAZY TRAIN

for posterity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRmBD1UnrA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shO8vAqPtKQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqUvNOex8EE

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

see now that's a top ten

lol who voted for Sting?

xposts well, I guess that would a slightly different poll, the "band split up, here's the songs I would rather do"

Any case up, that "Spread" sting song was a one-off whereas the ones on NickB's list were all 'as they wanted to be'

Only one other vote for David Byrne? Sad.

That was me.

You're obviously an astute and refined observer of the audio arts -- any insight on how Lou Gramm's plodding effort got so many votes?

no "Red Guitar" by David Sylvian.. that's the one for me.

any insight on how Lou Gramm's plodding effort got so many votes?

More people though it was the best song.

...that's very helpful...

you're a plodding effort

listen to that song 10 times in a row and give your take on it

it rules

the end

brb gonna plod through it