Top 5 Albums released in 1981

I promise not to swamp you with year based musical lists but this could definitely be a recurring thing for a while. Another Twitter influenced top five based on the excellent @LPGrp monthly theme. A communal record listen which is a great way to discover new music. This weeks' theme was albums released in 1981 for which we were asked to vote for our favourite five.

I figured that was a quick route to a new top five but it turned out 1981 was not a great year for music! I struggled to find five albums I really liked but in the end I was pretty happy with my list. The great and the good of the @LPGrp also showed me there were other interesting albums released that year. The winner was Faith, by The Cure, which I thoroughly enjoyed and has kicked off a bit of a Cure renaissance for me.

Having done 1981 as well as all of the 1990s I can feel the urge to fill the gaps. I'll do my best to space these out if I do.

1. The Gun Club "Fire of Love" - Debut album from Jeffrey Lee Pierce fronted original Garage Punks. The Gun Club are one of those bands I was aware of for some time and left me kicking myself when I eventually found out how good they were. A nod to Japandroids who, thanks to their fantastic cover of For The Love Of Ivy, were the catalyst for me finally making the effort to get hold of this album.

2. Minutemen "The Punch Line" - This is the Minutemen's "full length" debut, though it rattles through all 18 songs in 15 minutes. Originally a trio the band disbanded following the death of D. Boon (guitar & vocals) in a van accident. I saw Mike Watt (bass & vocals) and George Hurley (drums) play as a duo in support of Shellac and was blown away by their intensity. Watt has become one of my favourite bassists too and is currently a member of Iggy & The Stooges touring band.

3. Motörhead "No Sleep Til Hammersmith" - If you only buy one Motörhead album it should probably be this. They're a band who built their reputation on live performance and this comes as close to capturing the experience in your own home.

4. Iron Maiden "Killers" - Have I done top five Maiden albums yet? I don't think I have but I'm pretty sure Killers would do well. It was the second of two albums to feature original vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who has a deeper tone and punkier edge to his voice than Bruce Dickinson. I've a bit of a soft spot for it.

5. The Cramps "Psychedelic Jungle" - It's taken me some time to warm to The Cramps, I blame this largely on being forced to listen to Lux Interior's Purple Knif Show when I wasn't quite ready. However, I recently made the effort, partly due to the Gun Club connection, I found I really liked this debut album.

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