"Al Naafiysh (The Soul)" is my main. I love how layered it sounds while still being so stark and allowing you to hear every part so clearly. It's like a sampler of everything that rules about Electro.
The Specials have good intentions, but it's like listening to a Tumblr post from early 2017 to me. Meanwhile, the pressing issue of sucker MCs barely gets any attention these days.
"Play At Your Own Risk" is so dense and layered, it really sounds like something that should have been released on a later greatest hits record with a parenthetical title like "('89 Mix)". Hard to think it came out the same year as "Planet Rock".
Love the combination of smooth R&B voice on pure reggae on "Night Nurse", but so far "Stool Pigeon" is my favourite new find of the poll. Feels like it could stand in as a summary of so much of the poll, between the funk and the early rap vocal delivery.
Gotta vote for Aretha as one of my bonuses, love how sleek and minimalist it is. Any other group, "Nuclear War" would have been i. I just can't hear "Sexual Healing" with fresh ears, and I always have trouble with Stevie, even when he's tearing the joint down, it's always at least a little corny.
I probably would have loved this more if I'd heard it when I was younger and didn't know as much post-punk as I do now, but it's still very good, and particularly interesting for its airless, nearly-goth production.
I didn't expect how exactly like Elvis Costello this would sound. Luckily for me it's the power-pop Costello I like, not the rockabilly-reggae-soul-R&B genre exercise stuff that turns me off of Costello.
Hashim- Al-Naafiysh (The Soul) (1983) Aretha Franklin- Jump To It (1982) Rockers Revenge- Walking On Sunshine (1983) Billy Ocean- Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) (1984) Starpoint- Object Of My Desire (1985)
