Rod Stewart “Camouflage”
In the summer of 1984, Rod Stewart released “Camouflage,” a lightweight, occasionally fun, occasionally terrible and mostly disposable pop album. 1984 was also the year that Miami Vice debuted on TV. Looking back, it seems impossible that these two events were unrelated “Camouflage” sounds like a chipper soundtrack to “Miami Vice,” complete with lite intrigue, the pastel sex appeal, the white suit, the synths, the mechanical beats.
Lou Reed “The Blue Mask”
Most every Lou Reed solo album can sound like a middle age album. Even during his twenties and thirties, he seemed closer to death than most. But in 1982, the year he got sober, turned forty and released “The Blue Mask.” He fully surrendered to middle age. He sang about his house. His motorcycle. His average life. His wife (a lot). He reveled in it. He considered it. He adored it. And, thankfully, he also feared it.
Paul McCartney “Flowers in the Dirt”
1989’s “Flowers in the Dirt” was supported by Paul McCartney’s first tour since Wings and had a lot of press around it. It features four songs co-written with Elvis Costello. It was all there in the sticker on the cover of the album “a return to form”. All signs point towards creative rebirth. What could go wrong?
Bruce Springsteen “Human Touch”
In 1992 that after a five year absence, Bruce returned with two separate albums. He was an artist adrift, cast away from his bandmates, married for the second time, happy at last, but separated from his muse. On, “Human Touch”, we hear an exhausted attempt to keep going as a rocker, and on “Lucky Town”, we get an uneven breakthrough to the way forward. We are going to examine the former. Why? To honor the struggle.
Eric Clapton “Journeyman”
Is Eric Clapton god, as Londoners of the 60s claimed? Is he the world’s greatest guitarist? Is he a good songwriter? Can he even sing? Honestly, I have no clue. Without question, though, his most underrated talent is his fashion sense. In 1989, Clapton wore tortoise shell glasses and carried himself like the love child of Sting and Indiana Jones. Shit, he looked good. And I don’t mean “cool.” I mean “good.” BMW advertisement good. 1989 was also the year Clapton released his eleventh solo album, “Journeyman.”
Van Morrison “A Sense of Wonder”
Aside from a short divorce-inspired break between 1974’s “Veedon Fleece” and 1977’s “A Period of Transition,” Van Morrison had been plowing out an album a year since 1965. But, by 1984, on “A Sense of Wonder” we find Van noodling in instrumentals, snoozing through transcendental musings, and making professional Soul songs that try to access the Mystic through the back door of a synthesizer.
Tom Verlaine “The Wonder”
Following an increasingly sporadic period, in 1990 Tom Verlaine released his sixth solo album, “The Wonder.” The album is not commercially available anymore. Actually, it’s not clear that Tom Verlaine wanted the album to be released in the first place. The sound of this album could be described as “thin” or “cold” in the way that New Wave sounds when it veers into Adult Contemporary. Plus, Tom’s spoken word delivery could easily be mistaken for terrible rap. He also started wearing berets a lot around this time.