Album Nerds

Don and Dude keep the “I Love the 80s” tour rolling into 1983, a year when cable TV, mail‑order music clubs, and early MTV helped R&B and pop polish their hooks without sanding off all the emotional rough edges. One of us brings a married‑duo soul record that turns relationship conflict into sophisti‑funk therapy, while the other counters with a technicolor, hook‑stuffed debut that reframes punky, downtown weirdness as mass‑appeal pop. Together, the albums show how 1983’s R&B and pop could be slick, vulnerable, and chart‑ready, but still tangled up in money, heartbreak, and the messy work of becoming yourself.
The Albums
Womack & Womack – Love Wars (1983) On their debut as a duo, Cecil and Linda Womack fold family gospel roots, Sam Cooke’s shadow, and veteran songwriting chops into a lean early‑80s R&B set that treats love like an ongoing negotiation instead of a fairy tale. Built around supple basslines, tight James Gadson grooves, and restrained synths, the record plays like a living‑room soul soap opera where arguments, red flags, and reconciliations all get equal airtime. Tracks like “Love Wars,” “Baby I’m Scared of You,” and their quietly devastating cover of “Angie” push past easy romance into fear, honesty, and hard‑won optimism, sketching a relationship cycle that feels lived‑in rather than idealized. Produced by Stewart Levine with an A‑team of L.A. session players, the album’s space, subtlety, and emotional candor would later be heard as a bridge toward neo‑soul and more adult‑minded R&B.
Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual (1983) Cyndi Lauper’s solo debut explodes out of the speakers as a neon‑bright mix of pop‑rock, new wave, and downtown art‑kid attitude, turning a batch of covers and co‑writes into an unmistakably personal statement. From the cynical, melodica‑laced opener “Money Changes Everything” through the feminist rallying cry of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and the tender, slow‑motion reassurance of “Time After Time,” she proves she can be funny, strange, and devastatingly vulnerable—sometimes in the same song. Rick Chertoff’s production leans on jangly guitars, stacked harmonies, and sharp synth hooks, but always keeps Lauper’s elastic, technically fierce voice at the center. The result is an album that made history with four Top‑Five singles and still plays like a manifesto for unapologetic individuality in pop.
Diggin’ Albums
Home Front – Watch It Die (2025) Edmonton’s Home Front push their self‑described “bootwave” further on Watch It Die, fusing 80s‑inflected synths, post‑punk grit, and anthemic choruses into songs about getting by when everything feels like it’s fraying at the edges.
The Twilight Sad – It’s the Long Goodbye (2026) On their sixth LP, The Twilight Sad stretch their dense, noise‑tinted indie rock into a reflective, slow‑burning set about loss, endings, and hanging on, wrapping James Graham’s thick‑accented confessions in towering guitars and electronics that feel both crushing and oddly comforting.
Flickerstick – Superluminal (2025) Reuniting after more than two decades, Flickerstick return with Superluminal, an 11‑track set of cinematic alt‑rock that folds their early‑2000s melodic instincts into grown‑up songs about time, aging, and the strange vertigo of getting a second act.
Def Leppard – Pyromania (1983) Pyromania finds Def Leppard and producer Mutt Lange perfecting the gleaming, radio‑ready side of hard rock, stacking harmonized choruses and surgically precise riffs into arena anthems like “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Foolin’” that defined what big‑budget 80s rock would sound like.
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“You’ll find many of the truths that we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi

Don and Dude continue the “I Love the 80s” tour with a stop in 1982, a year when rock still ruled the charts even as the culture splintered into cable TV excess, recession anxiety, and neon‑lit moral ambiguity. One host brings a haunted, lo‑fi folk song cycle from Bruce Springsteen that strips away arena gloss to stare down American failure, while the other counters with Brian Eno’s fog‑shrouded ambient landscapes, where memory, geography, and unease blur into one continuous sound world. Together, the records trace how 1982 stretched rock from bombastic stadium anthems to cassette‑recorded confessions and experimental soundscapes that felt more like places than songs.
The Albums
Brian Eno – Ambient 4: On Land (1982) A dark, place‑obsessed ambient record, Ambient 4: On Land finds Eno retreating from pop structures into immersive soundscapes built from drones, treated instruments, and environmental textures. Working largely alone with tape composting and field‑recording‑like sounds, he reconstructs half‑remembered English coastal and marshland environments so the listener feels inside foggy, unstable “memory spaces” rather than listening to background music. The album pushes ambient away from soothing wallpaper toward quietly unsettling figurative music that would shape film scores, dark ambient, and textural rock for decades.
Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska (1982) Recorded at home on a four‑track cassette, Nebraska strips Springsteen down to voice, guitar, and harmonica for ten stark story‑songs about killers, drifters, laid‑off workers, and families coming apart on the American margins. Intended as demos for the E Street Band, the tapes were released essentially as‑is because their raw immediacy captured a moral and emotional weight the studio could not, turning lo‑fi hiss and dead room sound into part of the storytelling. Long viewed as one of his bravest works, the album reframes the early‑80s landscape as recession‑era noir, where debts “no honest man can pay” blur the line between crime, survival, and faith.
Diggin’ Albums
Alter Bridge – Alter Bridge (2026) Hard‑rock veterans Alter Bridge deliver towering riffs and soaring melodies that refine the heavy, emotionally charged sound they have been sharpening for two decades.
Toto – Toto IV (1982) Studio‑honed pop rock at its most polished, Toto IV marries big hooks and meticulous production on songs that helped define early‑80s radio sleekness.
Butch Dains – “Amelia” (2025) Retro‑minded singer Butch Dains leans into gentle, 50s‑inspired pop that matches his “always clean never nasty or mean” ethos
Peter Gabriel – “Been Undone” (o, Dark‑Side Mix) (2026) The lead track from Gabriel’s forthcoming album o turns a mid‑90s idea into a quietly luminous meditation on all the ways a life can come apart, carried by subtle grooves and harmonium‑like warmth.
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"There is some Eighties music that is just timeless, and some that is so dated it’s embarrassing.” - Grace Jones

Don and Dude continue the “I Love the 80s” journey with a trip to 1981, a year when economic anxiety and political tension coexisted with malls, arcades, and cable TV escapism. Country and Pop both learned how to look and sound modern. One host brings a polished, harmony‑driven Country blockbuster from Alabama, while the other counters with a nervy, hook‑stuffed New Wave debut from Men at Work, tracing how crossover production, global pop, and quirky storytelling reshaped early‑’80s radio.
The Albums
Alabama – Feels So Right (1981) A smooth, harmony‑rich Country set that blends traditional instrumentation with Southern rock and soft‑rock polish, Feels So Right finds Alabama sanding down honky‑tonk grit into warm, radio‑ready crossover anthems. Built on Randy Owen’s conversational vocals, tight three‑part harmonies, and clean electric arrangements, the record moves from intimate ballads to dark Hollywood cautionary tales, sketching how early‑’80s country stepped confidently into the pop mainstream without losing its storytelling roots.
Men at Work – Business as Usual (1981) An off‑kilter, endlessly catchy debut, Business as Usual fuses New Wave, reggae‑rock, and pop hooks into anxious, witty songs about paranoia, identity, and global culture, all filtered through an unmistakably Australian lens. Colin Hay’s nervy vocals, Greg Ham’s iconic sax and flute lines, and the band’s elastic grooves turn tales of door‑knocking strangers, daydreaming kids, and Vegemite‑fueled wanderers into one of the defining pop documents of the early ’80s.
Diggin’ Albums
Ours – Rocket’s Red Glare (2025) The long‑running alt‑rock project from Jimmy Gnecco returns with a cinematic, emotionally charged set that pairs soaring vocals and guitar crunch with themes of love, loss, and resilience. Rocket’s Red Glare channels late‑’90s melodrama into a mature, widescreen sound that feels tailor‑made for headphones and midnight drives.
Red Rider – As Far As Siam (1981) Canadian rockers Red Rider deliver melodic, thoughtful heartland rock on this 1981 LP, balancing straight‑ahead riffs with introspective writing. Anchored by “Lunatic Fringe,” the album became a staple of AOR radio and helped cement Tom Cochrane’s reputation as a songwriter with both punch and atmosphere.
NITE – NITE (2025) Dallas twins Kyle and Myles Mendes push their darkwave/synthpop project into a sleek, shadowy new chapter on this self‑titled release, blending post‑punk guitars, electronic pulse, and emotive hooks. The record dives into pain, obsession, and alienation over nocturnal beats and synths, landing somewhere between dancefloor melancholy and bedroom confession.
Ashes and Diamonds – Are Forever (2025) A supergroup of post‑punk and alt veterans, Daniel Ash, Bruce Smith, and Paul Spencer Denman, craft a moody, cinematic collage of glam, dark pop, and experimental electronics on Are Forever. Recorded after a page‑one restart, the album leans into Hollywood decadence, identity crises, and existential drift, its clipped‑headline lyrics and atmospheric production feeling like a neon‑lit fever dream for aging club kids.
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“We’ll never fully understand the 80s until we admit they were equal parts escape fantasy and quiet panic—and the best records let both feelings live in the same song.” – Cameron Crowe

Don and Dude kick off a new year and a new series with the first “I Love the 80s” episode, zeroing in on 1980 as a hinge point between the shaggy experimentation of the 1970s and the sleeker, high-gloss sound that would define the decade. One host brings a Rock pick and the other counters with an R&B gem, sketching how guitars, grooves, and studio polish collided at the dawn of the 80s.
The Albums
George Benson – Give Me the Night (1980) A sleek, radio-ready fusion of jazz, R&B, funk, and sophisticated pop that marks Benson’s full crossover from respected jazz guitarist to smooth pop-soul star. Working with producer Quincy Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton, Benson wraps fluid guitar lines and intimate vocals around tight grooves, warm keys, and sparkling horns, creating a nocturnal soundtrack to city nightlife that helped shape early-80s quiet storm and smooth jazz.
Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden (1980) A raw, fast, and street-level debut that helped launch the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, blending galloping bass lines, twin-guitar harmonies, and gritty, punk-leaning vocals. Recorded with minimal studio gloss, the album captures a young band playing loud and lean in smoke-filled pubs, turning dark urban tales, horror imagery, and medieval menace into a combustible new blueprint for 80s metal.
Diggin’ Albums
Geese – Getting Killed (2025) A chaotic, inventive Brooklyn art-rock record produced by Kenny Beats, jumping from nervous, mathy rhythms to soulful swells and surreal lyrics, highlighting how adventurous guitar music still thrives in the streaming era.
Prince – Dirty Mind (1980) A pivotal early statement from Prince that fuses stripped-down funk, new wave, and dance with provocatively frank lyrics, its raw, minimalist sound foreshadowing where 80s pop and R&B were headed.
Donovan – what’s a girl (2025) A long-shelved early-90s project finally released to celebrate Donovan’s 60th anniversary, blending Gaelic romance, orchestral folk, grunge-leaning pop, and spoken poetry into a late-career “lost album” that reconnects him to his 60s roots.
Cameron Crowe – The Uncool: A Memoir (2025) A long-awaited memoir tracing Crowe’s teenage years as a rock journalist on the road with bands like Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, and David Bowie, revisiting the real-life stories that inspired Almost Famous while digging deeper into his family life and writing voice.
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“We are in a golden age of music. There will be a time when technology becomes so advanced that we’ll rely on it to make music rather than raw talent, and music will lose its soul.” - Freddy Mercury

Don and Dude return to close out the year with the Favorite Albums of 2025 episode, spotlighting two records that prove front-to-back albums still matter in the age of algorithm playlists. The conversation leans into storytelling, production choices, and why these releases rose above a crowded field of new music.
The albums:
Sam Fender – People Watching (2025) A cinematic heartland rock statement from the North Shields songwriter, filled with big choruses, sax-laced arrangements, and character-driven songs about working-class life, mental health, and the tension between staying rooted and needing to escape. The record traces everyday scenes in pubs and streets, turning quiet moments of anxiety, friendship, and grief into festival-sized anthems that still feel grounded and human.
Carter Faith – Cherry Valley (2025) A warm, analog-leaning country debut that builds a whole emotional world around the idea of “Cherry Valley,” a dreamlike place between memory and reality where love, ambition, heartbreak, and self-discovery collide. Mixing classic country storytelling, 1960s pop shimmer, honky-tonk attitude, and cinematic strings, Faith moves from nostalgic longing to barbed humor to hard-won hope over the course of the album.
Other Favorites:
Curtis Harding – Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt (2025) A semi-concept soul journey where Harding’s “Captain Curt” persona drifts through emotional, physical, and spiritual landscapes, blending classic soul, funk, psychedelic rock, and cinematic pop. Built around analog warmth, live-band grooves, and vintage synths, the record turns movement and transition into a cohesive meditation on resilience and connection.
Mammoth WVH – The End (2025) Wolfgang Van Halen’s third Mammoth album, recorded with a more live, organic approach, pairs hard rock heft with melodic hooks and reflective lyrics about identity, anxiety, and finding hope in a “doomsday” age. Clocking in at a tight 39 minutes, it sharpens the project’s post-grunge and modern rock blend into something lean, emotional, and arena-ready.
Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling (2025) An intimate indie rock concept album circling queer romance, long-term commitment, and the fear that something beautiful cannot last yet somehow still feels like forever. With lush arrangements, strings, keys, and subtle electronics wrapped around Dacus’s steady voice and detailed storytelling, it expands her sound while keeping the focus on devotion, doubt, and time.
Sparks – Mad! (2025) A late-career art-pop jolt from the Mael brothers that leans into their most playful, surreal instincts, full of rapid-fire lyrics, character sketches, and flamboyant synth-pop turns. Equal parts witty, theatrical, and precise, the album showcases Sparks’ enduring knack for arch humor and tightly constructed, eccentric pop songs.
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“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account” - Oscar Wilde
Happy New Year!