Robert Christgau: Consumer Guide Index by Release Year: 1981

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Consumer Guide Index by Release Year: 1981

Listing for 279 records from 1981 (selected by release date), sorted by grade.

A+	X: *Wild Gift* [Slash]
A	King Sunny Ade: *The Message* [Sunny Alade] Elvis Costello and the Attractions: *Trust* [Columbia] Ian Dury & the Blockheads: *Juke Box Dury* [Stiff] The English Beat: *Wha'ppen?* [Sire] Funky 4 + 1: *"That's the Joint"* [Sugarhill 12-inch] Gang of Four: *Another Day/Another Dollar* [Warner Bros. EP] Gang of Four: *Solid Gold* [Warner Bros.] Taana Gardner: *"Heartbeat"* [West End 12-inch] Al Green: *Higher Plane* [Myrrh] Human Switchboard: *Who's Landing in My Hangar?* [Faulty Products] David Murray: *Ming* [Black Saint] The Psychedelic Furs: *Talk Talk Talk* [Columbia] The Specials: *Ghost Town/Why?/Friday Night Saturday Morning* [Chrysalis EP] Gary Stewart: *Greatest Hits* [RCA Victor] *Greatest Rap Hits Vol. 2* [Sugarhill] *Phases of the Moon: Traditional Chinese Music* [Columbia]
A-	John Anderson: 2 [Warner Bros.] Afrika Bambaataa/Zulu Nation/Cosmic Force: *"Zulu Nation Throw Down"* [Paul Winley 12-inch] B-52's: *Party Mix* [Warner Bros.] Black Flag: *Damaged* [SST] Black Uhuru: *Red* [Mango] The Blasters: *The Blasters* [Slash] Blondie: *The Best of Blondie* [Chrysalis] James Booker: *New Orleans Piano Wizard, Live!* [Rounder] David Byrne: *Songs From the Broadway Production of "The Catherine Wheel"* [Sire] Chic: *Take It Off* [Atlantic] The Clash: *Sandinista!* [Epic] Johnny Copeland: *Copeland Special* [Rounder] The dB's: *Stands for Decibels* [I.R.S.] The DeBarges: *The DeBarges* [Gordy] DNA: *A Taste of DNA* [American Clavé EP] Dave Edmunds: *The Best of Dave Edmunds* [Swan Song] Aretha Franklin: *Love All the Hurt Away* [Arista] Funkadelic: *The Electric Spanking of War Babies* [Warner Bros.] Marvin Gaye: *In Our Lifetime* [Tamla] Z.Z. Hill: *Down Home* [Malaco] Gregory Isaacs: *Best of Gregory Isaacs Volume 2* [GG] Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society: *Nasty* [Moers] Rick James: *Street Songs* [Gordy] Joan Jett: *Bad Reputation* [Boardwalk] David Johansen: *Here Comes the Night* [Blue Sky] Joy Division: *Closer* [Factory] Kid Creole and the Coconuts: *Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places* [Sire/ZE] Linx: *Intuition* [Chrysalis] LPJE: *Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1980* [Latin Percussion Ventures, Inc.] Teena Marie: *It Must Be Magic* [Gordy] Yoko Ono: *Season of Glass* [Geffen] Penguin Cafe Orchestra: *Penguin Cafe Orchestra* [Editions EG] Elvis Presley: *This Is Elvis* [RCA Victor] Prince: *Controversy* [Warner Bros.] Ramones: *Pleasant Dreams* [Sire] Red Crayola with Art & Language: *Kangaroo?* [Rough Trade] The Rolling Stones: *Tattoo You* [Rolling Stones] Shalamar: *Go for It* [Solar] Shoes: *Tongue Twister* [Elektra] Sir Douglas Quintet: *Border Wave* [Takoma] Slave: *Show Time* [Cotillion] Sly and Robbie: *Sly and Robbie Present Taxi* [Mango] Phoebe Snow: *The Best of Phoebe Snow* [Columbia] Stampfel & Weber: *Going Nowhere Fast* [Rounder] Tom Tom Club: *Tom Tom Club* [Sire] The Treacherous Three: *"The Body Rock"* [Enjoy 12-inch] UB40: *Present Arms* [DEP International] Tom Verlaine: *Dreamtime* [Warner Bros.] Bunny Wailer: *Tribute* [Solomonic] Muddy Waters: *King Bee* [Blue Sky] *C81* [NME/Rough Tapes] *The "King" Kong Compilation* [Mango] *Let Them Eat Jellybeans! 17 Extracts from America's Darker Side* [Virus] *Sound d'Afrique* [Mango]
B+	Au Pairs: *Playing With a Different Sex* [Human] Lester Bangs and the Delinquents: *Jook Savages on the Brazos* [Live Wire] Basement 5: *1965-1980* [Antilles] Big Youth: *Some Great Big Youth* [Heartbeat] Kurtis Blow: *Deuce* [Mercury] Bohannon: *Alive* [Phase II] Bow Wow Wow: *See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah! City All Over, Go Ape Crazy* [RCA Victor] James Brown: *Nonstop!* [Polydor] Lindsay Buckingham: *Law and Order* [Asylum] Bebe Buell: *Covers Girl* [Rhino EP] John Cale: *Honi Soit* [A&M] Rosanne Cash: *Seven Year Ache* [Columbia] Change: *Miracles* [Atlantic] Alex Chilton: *Bach's Bottom* [Line] CH 3: *CH 3* [Posh Boy EP] Bruce Cockburn: *Resume* [Millennium] Albert Collins: *Frozen Alive!* [Alligator] Earth, Wind & Fire: *Raise!* [Columbia] 8 Eyed Spy: *Live* [ROIR] Joe Ely: *Musta Notta Gotta Lotta* [South Coast] Marianne Faithfull: *Dangerous Acquaintances* [Island] Fela: *Black President* [Arista] Richard "Dimples" Fields: *Dimples* [Boardwalk] The Flesh Eaters: *A Minute to Pray a Second to Die* [Ruby] Fleshtones: *Roman Gods* [I.R.S.] Free Expression: *"Chill-Out!"* [Vanguard 12-inch] The J. Geils Band: *Freeze-Frame* [EMI America] The Go-Go's: *Beauty and the Beat* [I.R.S.] Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: *"The Birthday Party"* [Sugarhill 12-inch] Grateful Dead: *Reckoning* [Arista] Al Green: *Tokyo . . . Live!* [Cream] Buddy Guy: *Stone Crazy!* [Alligator] Pearl Harbour: *Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too* [Warner Bros.] Hüsker Dü: *Land Speed Record* [New Alliance] The Incredible Fly: *"Want the Body"/"The Incredible Fly"* [Superfly 12-inch] Gregory Isaacs: *More Gregory* [Mango] Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society: *Eye on You* [About Time] The Jacksons: *Live* [Epic] Garland Jeffreys: *Escape Artist* [Epic] Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: *I Love Rock 'n' Roll* [Boardwalk] George Jones: *Still the Same Ole Me* [Epic] B.B. King: *There Must Be a Better World Somewhere* [MCA] Kleeer: *License to Dream* [Atlantic] Stacy Lattisaw: *With You* [Cotillion] David Lindley: *El Rayo-X* [Asylum] The Lounge Lizards: *The Lounge Lizards* [Editions EG] Lene Lovich: *New Toy* [Stiff/Epic EP] Luxury: *#1 EP* [Angry Young EP] The Lyres: *AHS-1005* [Ace of Hearts EP] Material: *Temporary Music* [Celluloid] Prince Nico Mbarga and Rocafil Jazz: *Sweet Mother* [Rounder] The Meadows: *The Meadows* [Radio] Mighty Diamonds: *Reggae Street* [Shanachie] Mission of Burma: *Signals, Calls and Marches* [Ace of Hearts EP] Mofungo: *End of the World* [(unlabeled)] Motorhead: *No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith* [Mercury] Willie Nelson: *Somewhere Over the Rainbow* [Columbia] Willie Nelson: *Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits (and Some That Will Be)* [Columbia] New Order: *Movement* [Factory] New Order: *1981-1982* [Factus] Ted Nugent: *Great Gonzos: The Best of Ted Nugent* [Epic] Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio: *A Woman Needs Love* [Arista] Dolly Parton: *9 to 5 and Odd Jobs* [RCA Victor] Pere Ubu: *Ubu Live: Volume 1: 390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo* [Rough Trade] Esther Phillips: *Good Black Is Hard to Crack* [Mercury] Pink Floyd: *A Collection of Great Dance Songs* [Columbia] The Pistons: *Flight 581* [Twin/Tone] The Police: *Ghost in the Machine* [A&M] Pretenders: *Extended Play* [Sire EP] Pretenders: *Pretenders II* [Sire] The Replacements: *Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash* [Twin/Tone] Smokey Robinson: *Being With You* [Tamla] Romeo Void: *Never Say Never* [415 EP] Gil Scott-Heron: *Reflections* [Arista] Siouxsie and the Banshees: *Once Upon a Time/The Singles* [PVC] Ricky Skaggs: *Waitin' for the Sun to Shine* [Epic] Soft Cell: *Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret* [Sire] Squeeze: *East Side Story* [A&M] George Strait: *Strait Country* [MCA] The Strikers: *"Body Music"* [Prelude 12-inch] Billy Swan: *I'm Into Lovin' You* [Epic] Tantra: *The Double Album* [Importe/12] The Time: *The Time* [Warner Bros.] James Blood Ulmer: *Are You Glad to Be in America?* [Artists House] James Blood Ulmer: *Free Lancing* [Columbia] The Undertones: *Positive Touch* [Harvest] The Unknowns: *Dream Sequence* [Sire EP] Luther Vandross: *Never Too Much* [Epic] Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne: *Get to the Heart* [Green Linnet] Colin Walcott/Don Cherry/Nana Vasconcelos: *Codona 2* [ECM] Barry White: *Barry White's Greatest Hits, Volume 2* [20th Century-Fox] The Who: *Face Dances* [Warner Bros.] Neil Young & Crazy Horse: *Reactor* [Reprise] ZZ Top: *El Loco* [Warner Bros.] *Bowling Balls II* [Clone] *A Christmas Record* [ZE] *Concerts for the People of Kampuchea* [Atlantic] *The Future Looks Bright* [Posh Boy] *I.R.S. Greatest Hits Vols. 2 & 3* [I.R.S.] *Propeller* [Propeller] *The Secret Policeman's Ball* [Island] *Seize the Beat (Dance Ze Dance)* [ZE/Island]
B	John Anderson: *I Just Came Home to Count the Memories* [Warner Bros.] Sugar Blue: *Cross Roads* [Europa] The Brains: *Electronic Eden* [Mercury] Glenn Branca: *The Ascension* [99] The Cars: *Shake It Up* [Elektra] Guy Clark: *The South Coast of Texas* [Warner Bros.] The Cramps: *Psychedelic Jungle* [I.R.S.] Peter Dayton: *Love at 1st Sight* [ShooBop EP] Devo: *New Traditionalists* [Warner Bros.] The Doobie Brothers: *Best of the Doobies Volume II* [Warner Bros.] Dave Edmunds: *Twangin* [Swan Song] The Embarrassment: *The Embarrassment EP* [Cynykyl EP] The Equators: *Hot* [Stiff] The Fall: *Grotesque (After the Gramme)* [Rough Trade] The Fall: *Slates* [Rough Trade EP] Robert Fripp: *The League of Gentlemen* [Polydor] Dee Dee Sharp Gamble: *Dee Dee* [Philadelphia International] The Gun Club: *Fire of Love* [Ruby] Merle Haggard: *Big City* [Epic] Half Japanese: *Loud* [Armageddon] Jon Hassell: *Dream Theory in Malaya* [Editions EG] Billy Idol: *Don't Stop* [Chrysalis EP] Joe Jackson: *Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive* [A&M] The Jam: *The Jam* [Polydor EP] Garland Jeffreys: *Rock & Roll Adult* [Epic] Killing Joke: *What's This For . . . !* [Editions EG] King Crimson: *Discipline* [Warner Bros./E.G.] Kraftwerk: *Computer World* [Warner Bros.] Denise LaSalle and Satisfaction: *Guaranteed* [MCA] Meat Puppets: *Meat Puppets* [SST EP] Medium Medium: *The Glitterhouse* [Cachalot] The Steve Miller Band: *Circle of Love* [Capitol] Minutemen: *The Punch Line* [SST EP] The Morwells: *The Best of the Morwells* [Nighthawk] Pablo Moses: *Pave the Way* [Mango] Maria Muldaur: *Gospel Nights* [Takoma] Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: *Hard Promises* [Backstreet] Quarterflash: *Quarterflash* [Geffen] Romeo Void: *It's a Condition* [415] Diana Ross: *All the Great Hits* [Motown] The Searchers: *Love's Melodies* [Sire] Edwin Starr: *The Best of Edwin Starr* [20th Century-Fox] Rod Stewart: *Tonight I'm Yours* [Warner Bros.] Sugarhill Gang: *8th Wonder* [Sugarhill] David Thomas and the Pedestrians: *The Sound of the Sand and Other Songs of the Pedestrian* [Rough Trade] Peter Tosh: *Wanted Dread or Alive* [EMI America] Wire: *Document and Eyewitness* [Rough Trade] *Carry On Oi!* [Secret] *Urgh! A Music War* [A&M]
B-	Joan Armatrading: *Walk Under Ladders* [A&M] Champaign: *How About Us* [Columbia] James Chance and the Contortions: *Live in New York* [ROIR] Commodores: *In the Pocket* [Motown] Elvis Costello and the Attractions: *Almost Blue* [Columbia] The Dance: *In Lust* [Statik] Dead Kennedys: *In God We Trust, Inc.* [Faulty Products EP] The Dictators: *The Dictators Live: Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take a Joke* [ROIR] Swamp Dogg: *I'm Not Selling Out/I'm Buying In* [Takoma] Ian Dury: *Lord Upminster* [Polydor] Bob Dylan: *Shot of Love* [Columbia] Robert Fripp: *Let the Power Fall (An Album of Frippertronics)* [Editions EG] Debbie Harry: *KooKoo* [Chrysalis] Human League: *Dare* [A&M] Grace Jones: *Nightclubbing* [Island] Chaka Khan: *What Cha' Gonna Do for Me* [Warner Bros.] Mary McCaslin: *A Life and Time* [Flying Fish] Red Rockers: *Condition Red* [415] Max Romeo: *Holding Out My Love to You* [Shanachie] The Selecter: *Celebrate the Bullet* [Chrysalis] The Sequence: *The Sequence* [Sugarhill] Skyy: *Skyyline* [Salsoul] Frankie Smith: *Children of Tomorrow* [WMOT] U2: *October* [Island] Van Halen: *Fair Warning* [Warner Bros.] Visage: *Visage* [Polydor] Was (Not Was): *Was (Not Was)* [Island] Jesse Winchester: *Talk Memphis* [Bearsville] *San Francisco Blues Festival Vol. 1* [Solid Smoke] *The Decline of Western Civilization* [Slash]
C+	AC/DC: *Dirty Deeds Done Cheap* [Atlantic] Gary U.S. Bonds: *Dedication* [EMI America] Clarence Gatemouth Brown: *Alright Again!* [Rounder] Rodney Crowell: *Rodney Crowell* [Warner Bros.] Depeche Mode: *Speak and Spell* [Sire] Brian Eno/David Byrne: *My Life in the Bush of Ghosts* [Sire] Jerry Harrison: *The Red and the Black* [Sire] Rickie Lee Jones: *Pirates* [Warner Bros.] The Kinks: *Give the People What They Want* [Arista] Loverboy: *Get Lucky* [Columbia] New York Dolls: *Lipstick Killers* [ROIR] Iggy Pop: *Party* [Arista] Public Image Ltd.: *Flowers of Romance* [Warner Bros.] The Rolling Stones: *Sucking in the Seventies* [Rolling Stones] Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: *Nine Tonight* [Capitol] Split Enz: *Waiata* [A&M] *Hicks From the Sticks* [Antilles]
C	AC/DC: *For Those About to Rock We Salute You* [Atlantic] Echo and the Bunnymen: *Heaven Up Here* [Sire] Roberta Flack: *The Best of Roberta Flack* [Atlantic] Ellen Foley: *Spirit of St. Louis* [Epic/Cleveland International] Bob Marley: *Chances Are* [Cotillion] Oingo Boingo: *Only a Lad* [A&M] Spandau Ballet: *Journeys to Glory* [Chrysalis]
C-	Devo: *Devo Live* [Warner Bros. EP] George Harrison: *Somewhere in England* [Dark Horse]
D-	Passage: *Passage* [A&M]

1980

1982