1987 Revisited

Preamble now shrunk to near-zero. (Translation: I lack the time or energy to justify only mostly liking The Joshua Tree.)

ALBUMS

1. Sign O’ the Times — Prince: The most musically expansive, exuberant album from the most musically gifted artist in all of modern pop, with the depth of perspective and feeling somehow matching the sonic range and command. (If we’re being honest, for the first time. And maybe the last.) In other words, not just his greatest musical tour de force, but also his smartest, funniest and wisest record. My favorite album of 1987? Probably my favorite album of any year.
2. Tunnel of Love — Bruce Springsteen: The antithesis of what people think about when they think about Bruce Springsteen, both coming and going. Not the anthemic rock-and-roll savior/bandleader. Not the Woody Guthrie-esque folk balladeer. Just a grown-ass man thinking hard about love and marriage. Side two is as fine a stretch of music as he’s ever released.
3. Paid in Full — Eric B. & Rakim: The apotheosis of hip-hop’s beat + rhymes foundation.
4. Pleased to Meet Me — The Replacements: Not as impossibly spirited as Let It Be or as perfectly sequenced as Tim, but this completes a three-album peak run in style. It’s got a higher floor than Tim (what’s the worst song here? “Red Red Wine”? “The Ledge”?) and maybe a higher ceiling too: “Can’t Hardly Wait” is even more the band’s great Memphis song than “Alex Chilton.”
5. Document — R.E.M.:  There used to be a early rock-and-soul compilation series called Oldies But Goodies where each album was divided into a “Rockin’” side and “Dreamy” side. That’s kind of the story of R.E.M.’s career, alternating their Rockin’ (Monster, Life’s Rich Pageant) and Dreamy (Murmur, Out of Time) sides. Dreamy is probably their best and truest self, but this is the apex of R.E.M.’s rockin’ side. And I’ve come to think it’s their best album.
6. Soweto Never Sleeps: Classic Female Zulu Jive — Various Artists: Even if you’ve never heard this record and aren’t that familiar with South African pop, this sounds pretty much exactly like what you’d think something dubbed “Classic Female Zulu Jive” would sound like.
7. G-Man — Sonny Rollins: On its own terms, should probably be a little higher, but I’m such a jazz dabbler I don’t feel right putting up there. One of the jazz records I’ve played the most.  
8. Louder Than Bombs — The Smiths: This singles comp, few (any?) of the songs found on studio albums, is probably the most durably pleasurable of the band’s records.
9. By the Light of the Moon — Los Lobos: An unavoidable step back, but still a pretty satisfying sequel to their debut-as-classic How Will the Wolf Survive.
10. Warehouse: Songs and Stories — Husker Du: Too big for hardcore from first contact, their mid-career peaks were both higher and broader, but they go out here as a great guitar-buzz pop band, 20 bracing if never quite indelible tunes rising and falling from a consistent hour-plus-long sea of sound.
11. King’s Record Shop — Rosanne Cash
12. Tallulah — The Go-Betweens
13. The Lonesome Jubilee — John Mellencamp
14. You’re Living All Over Me – Dinosaur Jr.
15. Yo! Bum Rush the Show — Public Enemy
16. Sister — Sonic Youth
17. Rhythm Killers — Sly and Robbie
18. The Joshua Tree — U2
19. Soul Survivor — Al Green
20. The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death — The Housemartins
21. How Ya Like Me Now — Kool Moe Dee
22. Substance — New Order
23. Flash Light — Tom Verlaine
24. Characters — Stevie Wonder
25. Trio — Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

SINGLES

1. “Bring the Noise” — Public Enemy
2. “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” — Prince
3. “Rebel Without a Pause” – Public Enemy
4. “Can’t Hardly Wait” — The Replacements
5. “If I Was Your Girlfriend” — Prince
6. “Right Next Door” — The Robert Cray Band
7. “U Got the Look”/”Housequake” — Prince
8. “I Ain’t No Joke” — Eric B. & Rakim
9. “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” — R.E.M.
10. “How Ya Like Me Now” — Kool Moe Dee
11. “I Know You Got Soul” — Eric B. & Rakim
12. “The One I Love” — R.E.M.
13. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” — Crowded House
14. “Have a Nice Day” — Roxanne Shante
15. “Tunnel of Love” — Bruce Springsteen
16. “Brilliant Disguise” — Bruce Springsteen
17. “Alex Chilton” The Replacements
18. “Livin’ on a Prayer” — Bon Jovi
19. “Sign O’ the Times” – Prince
20. “With or Without You” — U2
21. “Top Billin” – Audio Two
22. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” — U2
23. “La Bamba” — Los Lobos
24. “Casanova” – Levert
25. “Hazy Shake of Winter” — Bangles
26. “Caravan of Love” — The Housemartins
27. “Rent” – Pet Shop Boys
28. “The Way You Make Me Feel” — Michael Jackson
29. “Like the Weather” – 10,000 Maniacs
30. “Raw” – Big Daddy Kane
31. “Skeletons” — Stevie Wonder
32. “Where the Streets Have No Name” – U2
33. “Open Your Heart” — Madonna
34. “Push It” — Salt-n-Pepa
35. “You’re Gonna Get Yours” – Public Enemy
36. “Pump Up the Volume” — M/A/R/R/S
37. “Tramp” — Salt-n-Pepa
38. “Going Way Back” — Just Ice
39. “I Want Your Sex” — George Michael
40. “The Bridge is Over” – BDP

MOVIES

Viva Holly Hunter …

1. Broadcast News
2. Full Metal Jacket
3. Hollywood Shuffle
4. Matewan
5. Sign O the Times
6. Family Viewing
7. Raising Arizona
8. House of Games
9. RoboCop
10. The Big Easy