Colour by Numbers
Artist: Culture Club
Community Score: 7.50

Colour by Numbers was Culture Club's most successful album, and, undoubtedly, one of the most popular albums from the 1980s. Scoring no less than four U.S. hit singles (and five overseas), this set dominated the charts for a full year, both in the United States and in Europe. The songs were infectious, the videos were all over MTV, and the band... Read More

Creatures of Leisure
Artist: Mental as Anything
Community Score: 10.00

Following up their biggest album yet, the Mentals rose to the occasion on this, their fourth full-length release. Though it may seem to be the little brother to 1981's Cats and Dogs, Creatures of Leisure is actually an even better album than it's predecessor. With producers Bruce Brown and Russell Dunlop again spinning the knobs, the Mentals... Read More

Too-Rye-Ay
Artist: Dexys Midnight Runners
Community Score: 6.15

For one brief moment, Dexy's exploded into America's consciousness -- and what a song to do it with! "Come on Eileen" combines ramalama rock & roll, soul delivery, and Celtic/country flavor into a perfect musical fusion and an irresistible U.K. and U.S. number one hit. Both the song and its video were such hits that years later, ska/punk band... Read More

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
Artist: Dexys Midnight Runners
Community Score: 10.00

The crackling stations being switched on the radio and the gang shout followed by the spoken injunction to "burn it down" sound like they should be starting off a Sham 69 record. Then "Burn It Down" actually starts, with its horn section, Hammond organ and Kevin Rowland's utterly unconventional soul vocals. The cult of Dexy's, and this album in... Read More

Vienna
Artist: Ultravox
Community Score: 7.88

With the departure of vocalist John Foxx and guitarist Robin Simon behind them, Vienna kicked off Ultravox's second phase with former Rich Kids vocalist Midge Ure at the helm. Trading Foxx's glam rock stance for Ure's aristocratic delivery, Vienna recasts the band as a melodramatic synth pop chamber ensemble with most of the group doubling on... Read More

The Hurting
Artist: Tears for Fears
Community Score: 8.28

The Hurting would have been a daring debut for a pop-oriented band in any era, but it was an unexpected success in England in 1983, mostly by virtue of its makers' ability to package an unpleasant subject -- the psychologically wretched family histories of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith -- in an attractive and sellable musical format. Not that... Read More

Error in the System
Artist: Peter Schilling
Zenyatta Mondatta
Artist: The Police
Community Score: 8.00

The stage was set for the Police to become one of the biggest acts of the '80s, and the band delivered with the 1980 classic Zenyatta Mondatta. The album proved to be the trio's second straight number one album in the U.K., while peaking at number three in the U.S. Arguably the best Police album, Zenyatta contains perhaps the quintessential new... Read More

Little Robbers
Artist: The Motels
Community Score: 7.00
Spring Session M
Artist: Missing Persons
Community Score: 9.55

Although it got lost in a flood of new romantic/new hairstyle dross at the start of the 80s, there is far more substance to Missing Persons' debut proper than the likes of A Flock of Seagulls or Classix Nouveau could ever hope to muster. Sure, there were cheesy synthesizers aplenty and a slick production which threatened to strangle the band's... Read More

Beat Crazy
Artist: Joe Jackson

Before exploring jump blues and early R&B on 1981's Jumpin' Jive and later jazz and Latin styles on 1982's Night and Day, Joe Jackson expanded his power pop and punk m.o. with this, his reggae-tinged third album. Jackson sticks with the short songs and punk feel of his first two releases, but strategically adds rocksteady and jazz elements here... Read More

Reach the Beach
Artist: The Fixx
Community Score: 7.54

Reach the Beach is a significant step forward from the Fixx's debut album, Shuttered Room, simply because the band can now craft immediately accessible, incessantly catchy pop/rock melodies. "One Thing Leads to Another" has a big, ringing guitar hook hammered home by the dance beat, while "Saved by Zero" and "The Sign of Fire" are cool, robotic... Read More

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Artist: Eurythmics
Community Score: 7.43

The Eurythmics' breakthrough album is a deft mix of electronic thrills, new wave chills, and sultry R&B, the latter supplied by Annie Lennox's warm tenor. Pretty much relying on themselves, Lennox and Dave Stewart slip past the music's usual coldness and into a territory all their own. It can be smug (the new wave here is served with a side of... Read More

Singles 45's and Under
Artist: Squeeze
Community Score: 8.00

Above all, Squeeze were a great singles act -- among the finest of the era -- and Singles 45's and Under offers proof of that fact, giving a chronological survey of their biggest hits from their early, pre-breakup period. Most of the songs can be found on the actual albums, aside from the slightly different single version of "Goodbye Girl" and... Read More