Peak post-punk, peak rock-influenced-by-post-punk, 1980 represents another P&J apex. At least a dozen of the best category are culminations, unsurpassed debuts, and miracles of sleekness and rhythmic smarts.
I won’t say much because the albums speak for themselves. Listening to Bill Callahan’s Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest and his delight that he married a Good Woman, though, I thought, “Fucking John Lennon.”
Meh
Van Morrison – Common One
Pete Townshend – Empty Glass
Sound, Solid
Stevie Wonder – Hotter than July
Rockpile – Seconds of Pleasure
John Lennon/Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy
Smokey Robinson – Warm Thoughts
Squeeze – Argybargy
Dire Straits- Making Movies
Good to Great
Public Image Ltd – Second Edition
Talking Heads – Remain in Light
The English Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It
Prince – Dirty Mind
The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
Pretenders – Pretenders
The Clash – London Calling
Steely Dan – Gaucho
Joy Division – Closer
Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (Melt)
Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Get Happy!!
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Doc at the Radar Station
The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue
Gang Of Four – Entertainment!
X – Los Angeles
David Bowie – Scary Monsters
Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth
Bruce Springsteen – The River
The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta
The Jury’s Out
T-Bone Burnett –Truth Decay
Humanizing The Vacuum 