As I predicted last weekend, a Melodic Randomiser Unspooled post is the easiest way to fulfill my daily blogging duties on a Saturday, so join with me in enjoying some more nostalgic musical treasures from the boxes of cassettes under the stairs.
Today we have another eclectic selection that spans the decade when music was going through a paradigm shift, due to the increasing use of electronically created music. Everyone from prog rock stalwarts to ex-punks were experimenting with the huge range and variety of music that could be achieved using synthesizers, incorporating exciting new textures and sounds into their existing oeuvre, enabling them to stay relevant in this brave new world of musical exploration.
The first of today’s cryptic triptych is from one of those prog bands who narrowly avoided being eclipsed by the new wave of cutting edge electronic bands by embracing new sounds into a back catalogue already rife with elaborate synthesizer noodling; Yes.
Drama was released as the decade began and was the album when production genius and keyboard whiz Trevor Horn came onboard, after founder member Rick Wakeman departed the band, blending their trademark flamboyant style with shinier production and a sleeker, more modern sound.
And here you can enjoy the full album in all its dramatic glory.
Then we have a band who grew from the ashes of proto-goth punks, Bauhaus and honed their sound into a mellower, more melodic style as Love and Rockets and this is their Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven album, released slap bang in the middle of the ’80s.
Here is The Dog-end of a Day Gone By.
Lastly and not at all leastly, one of the pioneers of UK electronic music in ’80s, Depeche Mode, who were making sparse, bleepy pop when Yes released Drama but by 1990 had matured into an edgy and decidedly darker band, Violator being a massive critical and commercial success for them, beginning a debauched and reckless few years during which frontman Dave Gahan actually died twice.
This is their huge worldwide hit, Enjoy the Silence.
Well I don’t know about you, but that certainly brought back some memories.
Tune in for this month’s final edition of Melodic Randomiser Unspooled next weekend.
There’s a bonus post coming up later, so watch out for that and I’ll see you tomorrow for SoCS and whatever I think of to do on my day off.
Cheerio.
