Perfect Sounds: the 1984 Box Set: The Cover

18.05.2011

The Cover

A CD sleeve is usually around 12 by 12 cm (approximately 5'' by 5''). This cover has not been scaled to that size (nor is it completely rectangular, to be honest), 'though if you download the image, you should be able to scale it down in any photoshop program. Click the pic for a large version.

The artists depicted on the cover are, clockwise from the top: Laurie Anderson, Jimmy Lyons with Paul Murphy and William Parker in the background, Prince, Linton Kwesi Johnson with the Dub Band, Bruce Springsteen, The Go-Betweens, Run-D.M.C., Minutemen.

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About the 1984 Box Set

Introduction:

This project started as a continuation of an article I wrote in celebration of the 25th anniversary of 1984, the year in music, a few years back. Having grown tired of the narrative spouted and repeated by far too many that the '80s was a decade to forget, I set about trying to nuance the view of history a bit. The 80's wasn't all about the stock market, pastel colored clothes, and MTV. It was also about workers' rights protests, Vans shoes and black jeans, and not least a whole spectrum of musical expressions many of which can stand up the the best from any decade.

So, why 1984? Well in part, this choice might seem haphazard, as so much great music was released throughout the decade. However, over the years I've spent listening to, collecting and writing about music, I came to discover that a solid number of records I have come love were released in 1984: Minutemen's Double Nickels On the Dime, Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, Linton Kwesi Johnson's Making History, The Replacement's Let It Be, King Sunny Ade's Aura, Bruce Springsteen's Born In the USA and Laurie Anderson's United States Live could all conceivably end up on a "100 favorite records"-list -- and a good few of those almost certainly in the top quarter to boot -- while Jimmy Lyons Quintet’s Wee Sneezawee, Run-DMC's debut, The Go-Betweens' Spring Hill Fair, plus albums by The Fall, the dB's and others could all be contenders for a top 200 spot. And those are only select few of the many good releases from 1984.

So, I chose 1984 as a doorway in order to re-examine the musical output of the 1980's. It started with the aforementioned article, and continues with this multi-volume mp3 "Box Set", which is the result of me mining my own record collection, as well as surveying numerous resources off- and online, for great music from the year 1984.

About the tracks:

I have tried as far as possible to pick music that was released in 1984 only, either on an album or as a single. In some cases, a track may have been released as a single in the year before, but also on the album in 1984, in which case I have accepted them. If a song appeared on an album in '83, but was released as a single the following year, I have not included them. You may disagree with this method, but that's the routh I have decided to take. I have consulted numerous resources in order to make sure I have the correct year of release. In many cases, the year of release/publishing is printed on the records' sleeves, in other cases, they are not, or they have only printed the year the recording has been re-issued. I have nonetheless checked with record guides and discographies, both printed and web based.

One area has been a bit more difficult to survey: jazz. Many jazz discographies, and even some listings at AllMusic.com, list the year the album was recorded rather than the year it was issued. Again, in the cases where I own a physical copy of the album, I have gone with the year printed on the sleeves. If I only have a digital version of an album, discogs.com and RateYourMusic.com, among others, have been helpful with providing year of release. This process took a lot of time, and some good records were eventually cut because they were clearly or most likely released the year before or after even if they appear with the year 1984 on some lists (e.g. James Blood Ulmer's excellent Odyssey from '83, Butch Morris' Current Trends in Racism ... from'85, while Henry Threadgill released two albums -- one excellent and one very good -- either side of '84 that were cut, 'though his music is represented on the box with the inclusion of a track from Air's underrated Live at Montreal Int'l Jazz Festival). In some instances, jazz or other, I could not find a decisive answer, and so they were included as released in 1984 on the basis of lack of evidence to the contrary.

I have only chosen music I like. Like the title says, it is "A Personal Journey In Music". Choosing the final picks hasn't only been easy. I wanted to include songs from some of my favorite records, like those mentioned above. Great albums naturally have many great songs, so the choices have been made either to try and fit the artist, the album and/or the song into a context, or sometimes the pick was made according to my mood at the time. In a few cases, I'll admit the choice may even have been made entirely on a whim. Other selections are stand-out tracks and choice cuts from very good records, or even from just plain OK albums. There are also a good deal of songs lifted off singles here, often the A side but in some cases a B side.

About the discs:

I believe that music expresses, implicitly or explicitly, attitudes, values, emotions and thoughts in ways that transcend genres. To put it another way, the attitudes, values, emotions and thoughts I may find interesting and artistically pleasing cannot be boxed into one genre category. With that in mind, the discs here are not necessarily put together with genres in mind. Some are grouped together because they share sentiments and/or ideas, others may share similarities in sound, instrumentation and/or have historical connections. Others yet may have geographical connections. Although the music put out by the artists included in the box set may fit onto several of the discs, I have adhered to a strict "one song per artist" rule.

A document with additional info for each track are included in the zip files for each disc. I've also tried to copy and paste them into the "comments" section for the individual tracks in iTunes and Songbird, but some of that info got lost due to limited character space in iTunes. The release info is taken from the original 1984 release as long as I've been able to find it, and the credits are for the entire release unless otherwise noted. I've tried to be as thorough as possible, but some mistakes may have occurred, facts, spelling or otherwise.

I've tried arrange make mp3-"discs" so that each would fit on an actual CD. Because there is a lot of good music to get through, some discs may have multiple volumes. The titles of the discs may seem arbitrary, or even plain goofy, but I have just tried to play around a bit.

About the sound quality:

Most of these tracks have been ripped from CDs or good quality LPs from my own collection. Some are good quality mp3 or FLAC converted downloads. Others are hard to find releases I have downloaded from various blogs and web sites, and would have to settle for what sound quality they could provide. I have attempted, with what little mixing know how I have, to make to best out of the files I have. The files have been encoded in VBR using Switch for Mac in an attempt to achieve the best quality to size ratio.

Buy music!:

Much of the music included here is available on artists' original albums (CDs or otherwise), or on Best Of- or Singles collections. In some cases, they may be available as downloads only through various sites (try eMusic.com, for example). I strongly urge you to buy the music if you hear something you like. I'll be happy to provide information and links to helpful, good quality and trust worthy retailers, web-based or otherwise, upon request. For out of print material, try Gemm.com or drop me an e-mail, and I may be able to help out.

Enjoy!

Feeback: perfectsounds.chrismonsen [at] gmail.com

The 1984 Box Set:

18.05.2011

The Cover

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