It Bites – The Big Lad In The Windmill Audio Cassette

When I first heard talk of the ‘eighties band It Bites in 1986, the associated phrase ‘prog rock’ prompted me to steer as great a distance clear as I could. I was one of the kids who’d fully supported all attempts by the punk and new wave movement to completely wipe ‘70s prog rock off the map of musical history. I couldn’t stand endlessly long songs, self-indulgent guitar and drum solos, or technique for the sake of technique, and since those were the features I associated with prog rock, any band billed into that category would be a band for me to avoid.

The Style Council – Home & Abroad Audio Cassette

What a fantastic album this was. The Style Council was the natural progression for Paul Weller after the split of The Jam at the end of 1982, shedding the punk rock feel, but retaining much else of what The Jam had encompassed in their final phase. The Jam’s Beat Surrender, for example, is easy to imagine as a Style Council track, just as The Style Council’s Walls Come Tumbling Down (featured on this album), is easy to imagine as a Jam track.

Huey Lewis and The News – Fore (1986) Audio Cassette

Huey Lewis and the News were a band whose records I never would have envisaged myself buying. I practically used to vomit in the early ‘eighties when someone even mentioned middle of the road melodic rock, and in general I wouldn’t even accept products with a golf connection if I was being paid endurance money. But by the middle of the decade, the airwaves were flooded with the tones of Huey Lewis & the News. Song after song, I’d be thinking: “Oh, that’s pretty good”, and when I heard Hip To Be Square, I nearly bought the single. I probably would have done too, had I not found out that it was on this album – Fore! And once the fullness the album’s content became apparent to me, I couldn’t resist it.