According to this snapshot, 1986 was very much a record of two sides. On the first side, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg do their best to breathe life into the old nag of traditional songform. In different ways they're taking it back to the pub. Elvis does what I guess you'd call pub rock (produced by Nick Lowe, once more) — and listening to this isn't going to bring me any closer to buying one of his records any closer. I always imagined I'd become a fan in the end, but perhaps not. Billy Bragg sounds like he's leaning up against the old Joanna, a pint of mild in hand.
The second side is an ocean and a million miles away. I don't know if Mantronix and Miles Davis are gutting traditional songform, reinvigorating it, or just ignoring it. I'm not crazy about either of the tracks, but they're intriguing enough to make me want to hear more. Or else I'm just attracted to their otherness.
The photo is an update, five years on, from first NME cover EP to feature on this site. Since then my Dual 505 turntable has played almost every record in my collection. It's done this without grumble or glitch (top right of the picture you can see the evidence of the last stylus change, as recorded two and a half years ago). In the next week or two it will be 30 years old.
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