10 Albums of 1983 That Still Stand Out

We had fun last year reviewing the best of 1982, so let’s hark back to 1983. Toto wins the Grammy for Best Album. Michael Jackson’s Thriller hits the charts at #1 and the trailblazing video airs on MTV. The second US Festival takes place in Southern California. David Crosby is sentenced in Texas to five years on drug and weapons possession charges. Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon” is the biggest hit single of the year. And CDs went on sale for the first time in the U.S.

Putting these best-of lists together is fun and also challenging to narrow it down to 10 and place them in order. Should the criteria be the impact the album had upon release in 1983 or how it has held up 40 years later in 2023? I think it’s a combination. Do some of these albums still resonate with you? Which ones did I overlook?

10. Synchronicity by The Police: The Police’s fifth, final, and most successful album is lighter on the reggae beats and more prominent with the synths. The album is marred by the awful, “Mother,” and the only slightly better “Miss Gradenko;” the songwriting contributions from Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, respectively. But the remainder of the album makes up for it: the seductive pop of “Every Breath You Take,” the evocative “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” the ominous “King of Pain,” the hypnotic “Tea in the Sahara,” and my favorite “Synchronicity II.” “Another suburban family morning, Grandmother screaming at the wall, We have to shout above the din of our Rice Krispies.” Silly? Probably, but an excellent rock song. The one and only time I saw the band was this album’s tour. I remember being very impressed by the power trio. (Police headlined an 80s festival at Fresno City College in September 1983 with The Fixx, Oingo Boingo, and Thompson Twins.)

9. Speaking in Tongues by Talking Heads: Although I continued to buy all the Talking Heads albums, it’s the first three that do it for me. I prefer the arty punk over the world music funk. Speaking in Tongues, their fifth album and first without Brian Eno at the helm, is a quirky fun ride alongside its disjointed lyrics. It starts off with the combustible “Burning Down the House,” their only top-10 hit. “Girlfriend is Better” with its “stop making sense” refrain became the signature of the album’s tour and the Jonathan Demme movie. The album closes with “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody”), a simple exquisite melody about the chances of finding love, “Did I find you, or you find me?”

8. Soul Mining by The The: You can’t put a label on The The’s debut album Soul Mining. It’s happy and groovy while also disillusioned and despondent all within an ambiguous storytelling framework. Matt Johnson was basically a one-man band for his early recordings augmented by some guest musicians, one such appearance on this album particularly stands out. “This is the Day” is happy time, complete with an accordion hook. “The Sinking Feeling” is superb with the guitar and synths interplay accompanied by depressing expressions about the state of Great Britain. The building dance track, “GIANT,” closes the album with a chanty sing along and fitting last line, “How can anyone know me when I don’t even know myself.” For those of you familiar with this album, you know what I’m saving for last…”Uncertain Smile.” First, the guitar reminiscent of Johnson’s friend Johnny Marr (rumors abound that he played on the album uncredited, Pop Transmission could not confirm) and then Jools Holland (Squeeze) comes in on piano. How to describe that extended epic solo? Jamming seems far too mild a word. Rampaging? Thunderous? Great Balls of Fire! One of the songs of the decade.

7. Porcupine by Echo and the Bunnymen: Echo and the Bunnymen’s third album explodes out of the gate with “The Cutter” (“Spare us the cutter!”) and “Back of Love.” Despite adding strings as “suggested” by the record company, it’s still a dark, challenging listen. “Heads Will Roll” roars with Ian McCulloch’s urgent vocals (“What if no one’s calling”) and Will Sergeant’s surging guitar. Porcupine would mark the end of their darker, edgier sound; the next album Ocean Rain is more lavish and orchestral. Porcupine’s sessions were fraught with inner turmoil, but the band got it together and made a raw, sterling statement.

6. Script of the Bridge by Chameleons U.K. (also known as the Chameleons): A criminally underappreciated gem of the 1980s. The band’s pinnacle is probably the first song, “Up the Down Escalator,” on this, their debut album. The powerful, atmospheric guitar along with the passionate vocals of lead singer Mark Burgess (“There must be something wrong boys”) made an imprint on me that remains forty years later. Script of the Bridge is solid all the way through with the simmering guitars of “Don’t Fall,” the emotive synths on “Second Skin,” and the mellow rumble of “Thursday’s Child.” I’ve just now discovered that my original U.S. release LP leaves out four songs from the U.K. version (I’ve got to find those). The band put out a couple more LPs in the mid-80s, but then abruptly disbanded after the death of their manager. A reunion album came out in 2000 and it appears that Burgess is still out there playing music.

5. The Crossing by Big Country: Another triumphant song to open a debut album; “In a Big Country” erupts with its bagpipe-like guitars and memorable singing (“come up screaming!”). Big Country incorporated traditional Scottish music into a twin-guitar attack. The Crossing is one good song after another: the grand “Harvest Home,” the swirling guitars on “Into the Storm,” the moving “Chance,” and “Fields of Fire,” another example of using guitar effects and an E-bow to ring of Scotland. The album was a hit in the U.S. and a staple of college radio. Follow-up efforts failed to connect, however, and the band could never live up to its promise. Seven more albums with lead singer and guitarist Stuart Adamsom before his disappearance and suicide in 2001. (The Buffalo Skinners in 1993 was a respectable return to form.) The remaining band members re-united in 2007 for a new album and tour. Mike Peters of The Alarm joined them in 2011 for a couple years. The Crossing tour in early 1984 at the Cal Poly Gym (opening band, Wire Train, “In a Chamber of Hellos”) was an exhilarating show.

4. More Fun in the New World by X: “It was better before they voted for what’s his name, this was supposed the new world.” This was X announcing that their trail was still blazing. John and Exene exploring the slimy side of L.A. like only they can in “We’re Having So Much Fun.” The rollicking “Make the Music Go Bang,” and the blistering “Devil Doll.” I love Exene telling herself and me, “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts.” The band’s fourth album would mark a transition point: the next album would move away from the rockabilly punk, be without Ray Manzarek as producer, and while Billy Zoom would hang on for Ain’t Love Grand he left upon its release. I remember experiencing the X rush up close and personal at the More Fun in the New World tour, also at the Cal Poly Gym.

3. Power, Corruption & Lies by New Order: New Order’s second album is a leap forward from the debut (Movement) in establishing the band’s identity. Electronics and synthesizers became more prominent. Peter Hook’s sparkling bass kick starts the opening track and career highlight “Age of Consent.” The chorus is a fan favorite in concert: “And I’m not the kind that likes to tell you just what I want to do.” The optimism of “Your Silent Face” evokes a rainbow appearing after a storm. “The Village” is a state of bliss, “Our love is like the flowers, the rain, the sea, and the hours.” The Joy Division darkness is still there in “We All Stand,” the menacing “Ultraviolence,” and the desolation of “Leave Me Alone.”

2. Murmur by R.E.M.: Let’s hear it again for the first song on an album, particularly the debut effort. This time it’s another song that would forever remain one of the bands best, the rocking, fist-pumping “Radio Free Europe.” Murmur is a cohesive effort on the surface and a little murkier down below. The image of the noxious week kudzu on the album cover sends some type of immediate signal and the enigmatic lyrics continue to be a puzzle. There’s a touch of punk (“West of the Fields”), piano ballads (“Perfect Circle”), and shining pop (“Talk About the Passion”). “Pilgrimage,” “Catapult,” and “Sitting Still” are just great rock songs. This wasn’t classic rock, punk, or new wave. There was only one way to describe it: alternative rock, at its exciting inception years before the term would become an overused catch-all phrase.

1. War by U2: U2 was my favorite band for years, but they’ve lost a little luster for me more recently. Maybe their self-righteousness started to wear thin, or like my friend put it once so succinctly, “they try too hard.” But I remember hearing “New Year’s Day” on the car radio for the first time: Adam Clayton’s soaring bass, the Edge’s stripped-down guitar, and Bono’s “All is quiet on New Year’s Day, A world in white gets underway.” War was in your face, musically and thematically. The innocence and spirituality of the first two albums had been replaced by direct political protest. The Edge used less delay and echo resulting in a harsher guitar tone befitting the subject matter. The album opens with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (“And today the millions cry, we eat and drink while tomorrow they die”), an indictment of The Troubles and an immediate indication of a new guiding light for the band. “New Year’s Day” is inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement, and the album title says it all. It’s not all political discourse, the love song “Two Hearts Beat as One” is a sublime rocker. The album closes slowly and beautifully with the psalm “40,” How long to sing this song.”