Field Day
Artist: Marshall Crenshaw
Community Score: 8.00

Following his critically acclaimed 1982 debut and successful single "Someday, Someway," Marshall Crenshaw returned with the following year's greatly anticipated Field Day. Crenshaw doesn't fall prey to the sophomore jinx, delivering nine more brilliantly crafted pop/rock originals and a terrific cover of the Jive Five's "What Time Is It?" Though... Read More

Kids in America
Artist: Kim Wilde
Danseparc
Artist: Martha & the Muffins
Community Score: 7.00

A new label, and the beginnings of a name change. Working with Daniel Lanois again, M + M managed to produce another album full of beautiful, layered sound, not entirely unlike the previous release, This Is the Ice Age. In fact the two releases are good companions. Mark Gane and Martha Johnson, the writers and main creative force behind the... Read More

Complete Madness
Artist: Madness
Community Score: 8.00

The 16-track compilation The Complete Madness compiles all of the group's early singles -- from "The Prince" to "House of Fun" -- and adds a handful of classic album tracks and concert favorites like "In the City," "Bed and Breakfast Man," and "Madness." It's thorough and a thoroughly entertaining collection, encapsulating exactly why Madness... Read More

Presents the Rise & Fall
Artist: Madness

Madness Presents the Rise & Fall marks the band's most mature effort and artistic statement. Completely devoid of their early ska influence, they paint a picture of British life in the spirit of the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. Though it was never released in the U.S., several tracks were later placed on the compilation Madness,... Read More

So Far Away
Artist: The Chords

In later years, the Chords were often cursorily dismissed as little more than Jam copyists, and while there's no denying that the two groups traveled in very similar musical waters, both drawing from the British beat and Northern soul that filled their youths and sending it soaring through the prism of punk, it's there that the comparisons end.... Read More

Built for Speed
Artist: Stray Cats
Community Score: 8.40

In 1982, the unexpected success of the Stray Cats' American debut, Built for Speed, made America aware that rockabilly, previously believed to be extinct, was actually alive and well somewhere in New Jersey (though the evidence had to be taken to England before anyone would notice). Pulling together six songs from the Stray Cats' self-titled... Read More

Frenzy
Artist: Split Enz
Community Score: 10.00

Although often thought of as a transitional album, Frenzy shows the band in top form. Produced in England on a diminished budget, the album showcases pure pop with a hungry edge. "I See Red," added after the initial pressing, became a moderate hit in Australia and New Zealand, allowing the band the financial freedom to follow up with the... Read More

Madness
Artist: Madness
Community Score: 10.00

Madness is a U.S. compilation released to capitalize on the success of "Our House." Aside from handful of earlier singles like "Night Boat to Cairo, " "It Must Be Love, " "Cardiac Arrest," and "House of Fun, " the collection's real focus is on material from the previous year's Madness Present the Rise and Fall, which wasn't released in America.... Read More

One Step Beyond...
Artist: Madness
Community Score: 8.00

It's the sheer exuberance of it all that first smacks listeners straight across the head, that and the pure mayhem that careens wildly from the opening shout to the closing note. A musical roller coaster, a tear through a musical house of mirrors, along the way Madness grab streamers of ska and rocksteady and stuff them gleefully into their... Read More

Enz of an Era
Artist: Split Enz
Community Score: 10.00

A solid collection of the singles from Second Thoughts (1976) to Time and Tide (1982). Although not all of the singles are present, all of the hits from that period are covered. Enz of an Era was originally most notable for inclusion of the rare "Another Great Divide," but it has been superseded by more current (and more easily found)... Read More