My Favourite Album(s) Part 2

Continuing a list of some of my favourite albums



Magazine - Real Life
When Howard Devoto left The Buzzcocks we wondered what would become of him and exactly what type of music his new band Magazine would be gracing us with. Enter the first single, 'Shot by Both Sides' and you knew right from the off that they were going to be something special.

'Real Life' I believe is their best work ( the other albums that followed were pretty good also, but I'm always charmed by debut albums). Tracks like 'Motorcade' and especially 'The Light Pours Out Of Me' are utterly brilliant.



Hanoi Rocks - 'All Those Wasted Years'
Live albums are rarely brilliant, and most of them are put out by bands to fulfill contractual duties, so it is a rare thing when a Live project is totally brilliant. Hanoi Rocks' 'All Those Wasted Years' (live at The Marquee Club in December 1983 and released in 1984 just as the Finnish boys were about to unleash their CBS debut 'Two Steps From The Move')is in my mind one of the best live albums ever!

It contains all the classic Hanoi Rocks tunes from their previous four releases and whilst they went on to record other great material this record of a fantastic show it is at the top of the highlights of their career.



The Runaways - 'The Runaways'
I was 13 years old when this album was released. Lead vocalist Cherie Currie was only three years older than me!
Girls in rock was such a rare thing, I mean Suzi Quatro had been doing her thing down at 'Devil Gate Drive' but there were not many others. Whatever people might say about The Runaways one thing we have to remember is that they knew how to play rock and roll. Some people disliked that Kim Fowley "exploited" them but decades on from this Cherie Currie, Lita Ford and John Jett are still making music and it doesn't seem to have harmed them too much.
Their debut was not really a punk rock album. Not sure how they got lumped in with that (two tracks of theirs would appear on the 'New Wave' album that was released in 1977 that also included The Dead Boys, Skyhooks, Talking Heads and Flamin' Groovies) but the did have that attitude and swagger. Albums that followed were probably a lot better than the debut but like The Damned, The Clash, The Ramones albums it was a life changing moment hearing it for the first time.