Had It With You: Worst Career Low of 1986

Dylan, without a doubt. Strong contender for the worst album of his career. A real embarrassment.

Hesitated on Press to Play, but when I checked the reviews were pretty bad, so I included it. I'm far from an authority on solo Paul, but I actually like "Press."

Haven't actually listened to Leather Jackets yet, but it is hard to imagine an album by a major artist more embarrassing than Knocked Out Loaded.

Cueing up "Soto's 115th Defense of Dirty Work & Press To Play"...

... and "Landing on Water"

I thought The Discourse has decided that all of Dylan’s canon is now officially considered Good.

OK, I listened to Leather Jackets. It sucks. The answer is still Knocked Out Loaded.

I've only heard two of these records all the way through, and I'd say Dirty Work is a bigger letdown in terms of the Stones than Knocked Out Loaded is for Dylan; at least it has "Brownsville Girl", and I like "Under Your Spell" also.
The first record I flashed on when I saw this thread was Mistrial.

I'd be interested in hearing the defense of 1986 as the greatest year in pop music history, as it was literally the year I turned away from then-current pop and alternative rock toward other sounds: jazz, blues, world music and lots of vintage soul and R&B.

I'd be interested in hearing the defense of 1986 as the greatest year in pop music history

Run-DMC, Raising Hell
Peter Gabriel, So
Big Black, Atomizer
Butthole Surfers, Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Slayer, Reign in Blood
...okay, I may have gotten off track.

Skylarking, Graceland, Master of Puppets, Brotherhood, The Colour of Spring, King of America, Crowded House, The Queen is Dead . . . maybe not the greatest year, but solid.

getting worried that alfred’s been in an accident or something

Landing On Water is a ton of fun, i like a lot of it.

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

from the same era, Everybodys Rockin, Old Ways and Life are all much less interesting

I have to roll my eyes when you guys do this X-year is the greatest year in pop music history and then you name a bunch of good songs from that year. You can name great songs for any year dammit!

I'm quite sure the other four are horrible (Dirty Work, too, going by the two songs I know), but Landing on Water is the only one I've heard, so that. It's horrible.

Are there any 60s/early 70s stars who had a good 80s? Struggling to think of any. I guess people will rep for a few Lou Reed albums from that era, but not me.

Some would say: Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Richard Thompson, Michael Jackson if he counts.

Barbra Streisand

xpost Yeah, I guess you have to say Graceland is a career high, even if it's not particularly my cup of tea. Nonetheless it's striking how the 80s is a missed decade for a lot of that crowd, some of whom went on to do more interesting stuff in the 90s/2000s (Bowie for instance).

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/d1/f6/e3d1f624e681e90ceffa311271bd3103.jpg

Steve Winwood
Robert Palmer! (though Sneakin came out in 74)
Ozzy?
ZZ Top for sure

and I guess ZZ Too weren’t technically “stars” in the early 70s

tina turner

the Dead technically had a good 80s (biggest(?) album and single, big tours)

oh Tina for sure. Cher.

Tina Turner's Private Dancer is pretty great - but there's the toe-curling duet with Bowie to balance it out!

ZZ Top were pretty big in the early '70s--Tres Hombres went Gold on original release.

yep that was what like ‘73?
Heart
Roy Orbison

http://waytofamous.com/files/images/images/don-henley.jpg

Well, yeah.

there he is

Not a fan myself, and I guess he wasn't really a star in the '70s, but Tom Waits.

Stevie Wonder

but at some point it becomes legacy acts who hit a(n admittedly massive) lick or two

eg Philip Bailey, Rod Stewart

Definitely many exceptions to the rule,but I think there are quite a few acts from this generation who have something to say when they're young, and something to say when they're old - but in the middle they are just keeping their hand in and trying to make some money. I mean, Bowie is the paradigm here, but I'm sure there are others - Dylan maybe.

J Geils Band

oooh Yes

J. Geils Band crapped out in ‘85, they didn’t have a totally awesome’80s

Kool & the Gang

This period seems to be the time when most of these artists have strayed their farthest into what is most recognisably ‘80s’; generally, the furthest distance from their signature sound or production, with the fallout being that most return to a more recognisable, ‘rootsier’ sound and image by the very late 80s (to the extent that many are deemed comebacks)

Sparks
Roky Erickson had a couple of great records
Robert Wyatt released “Shipbuilding”

Interesting that some of these artists had a pretty successful early 80s— Mac with Tug of War, Stones with Tattoo You, Elton had some big singles. I don’t know if Infidels was a hit, but it was viewed as a comeback. Dylan was an odd case—entering his canonization phase (box set, closing act at Live Aid) while making some of his worst albums.

getting worried that alfred’s been in an accident or something

― mookieproof,

Traveling!

And you guys are fucking crazy.

Dirty Work is the Stones' last great album, marred by a zealous Lillywhite mix and a few ill-chosen instrumental parts played by sessioneers. Peak Richards-Wood guitar cross talk, peak Richards balladry ("Sleep Tonight"), peak Jagger lyrics.

Marred by the same problems, Press to Play is McCartney creating his own pot-created parallel universe. Not as many peaks as Dirty Work, but "Stranglehold," "Good Times/Feel the Sun," and, my god, the utterly daft "Press" (check out those Linda backup vocals) are marvelous.

Tina Turner's Private Dancer is pretty great - but there's the toe-curling duet with Bowie to balance it out!

― Zelda Zonk, Thursday

That's on the live album.

And, yeah, 1986 was a pretty great pop year by my reckoning.

The first record I flashed on when I saw this thread was Mistrial.

Almost included this, but then I saw that the reviews were actually pretty decent.

and it's not a bad Lou Reed record

"The Original Wrapper" is OK.

"Tell It To Your Heart," "I Remember You," too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

anyone calling press to play a nadir never listened to off the ground

otm

Leather Jackets is quite obviously the worst piece of shit: a disgraceful full frontal assault on one's frontal lobe, an example of an artist, reeling from addiction, using instinct and craft, he thinks, to get him through contractual obligation.

Check out our listening thread: Mama Can't Buy You Love: The Official ILM Track-By-Track ELTON JOHN 1978-1988 Listening Thread

What about Joni? Dog Eat Dog or Wild Things Run Fast?

82 and 85, respectively.

(those are nowhere near as bad as some of the ones in this poll tho. hoo boy, alfred really otm.)

“Good Friends” on Dog Eat Dog isn’t bad.

The former has the haunting "Chinese Café / Unchained Melody" too.

WTRF bores me more than DED

I heard both Dog Eat Dog and Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm when I was a teenager, it took a couple of decades for me to hear the depths in some of the songs. Of course, there's a lot of sonic garishness on those records too.

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

TBH I haven’t heard Leather Jackets or Landing on Water. Can’t recall a thing about Knocked Out Loaded, but I do recall Press to Play being better than its reputation, and Dirty Work is actually a pretty good ugly rock & roll record marred by some below-average songwriting (but sonically it’s kind of a hoot).

The Landing On Water track posted above is the first song I've heard from it, despite being a big Neil fan. Those drums sound so weird! What's the deal with that? Are they just mixed too loud and recorded badly?