Saturday, March 5, 2022

• Anna von Hausswolff, All Thoughts Fly
• The Dead C, Palisades 7″
• The Dead C, Live Empire Tavern
• The Dead C, Live Dead See
• The Verlaines, Some Disenchanted Evening
• MX-80 Sound, Big Hits
• T. Rex, 20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection
• Sparks, Balls
• Eurythmics, Revenge
• What Holds the Flames Together: Matts Arnberg Recordings of Instrumental Swedish Village Music, 1948–51 (disc 1)

I rushed to the record store to buy Revenge (1986) when it came out. I’d loved Be Yourself Tonight (1985) despite the band’s style change from synthpop to rock/soul. But rarely has a band ever lost their creative inspiration so completely from one album to the next. It isn’t because of stylistic missteps; the songs simply aren’t much good. Gave it another spin today to see if I was wrong back then. I wasn’t.