Artists starting with B

Disorderly Conduct

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Billy Synth and The Turn-Ups, “Disorderly Conduct” (Tragik, 1983)
A fine example of the kind of kitchen-sink genre-mashing that “punk,” “new wave” etc. underwent in odd corners of middle America. This is basic greaser rock’n’roll that makes you think they would have sounded like J. Geils or Tom Petty a few years earlier, but here it’s snottier, more hard-edged and angular, with weird keyboard space-noises disrupting things from time to time for no apparent reason.
Try A/1, A/4, A/5
7/29/14

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Beauty And Ruin

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Bob Mould, “Beauty And Ruin” (Merge, 2014)
Hadn’t paid attention to the dude for years, but that may have been my mistake. Either that or his dad’s death put fire in his veins, because this raging thunderball of Midwestern melancholy rocks like (dare it be said?) Hüsker Dü itself, and harder than their last couple albums.
Try 1, 2
10/4/14

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Knocked Out Loaded

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Bob Dylan, “Knocked Out Loaded” (Columbia, 1986)
Dylan’s ‘80s stuff is often reviled for reasons that I actually find exciting—he was kind of lost, trying to find his way in a mainstream rock scene full of synths, spandex and shoulder-pads, and so there’s a loose, anything-goes desperation to the rootsy L.A.-studio-cat rock stylings here, a merrily mythic shaggy-dog quality that rides the creaky guitars-dobros-‘n’-such ensemble through ramshackle frontier streets, and clear off into the wild blue yonder. Fun stuff, especially 2/1; 1/3 is also good.
2/18/18

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Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid

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Bob Dylan, “Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid” (Columbia, 1973)
Soundtrack with a lot of mythic/atmospheric slow sunset strumming, which I quite like, and of course one of the guy’s Major Anthems, if you demand that from him.
Try 1/ 1, 2/ 2
7/11/18

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Her Greatest Hits

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Belinda Carlisle, “Her Greatest Hits” (MCA, 1993; originally released 1985-1992)
The ex-Go-Go’s frontlady came back fast with music that represented the absolute cream of big-time ‘80s studio pop. Carlisle’s lush, incandescent, immaculate voice purrs, swoons, and soars through songs the best of which have a near-cinematic sweep.
Try 1, 7, 8. 10
4/30/12

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The Peel Sessions

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Bratmobile, “The Peel Sessions” (Dutch East India Trading, 1904)
Bratmobile were way ahead of their time. With their combination of surf/rockabilly hooks, K-derived naïve playground stomp, and raw, skinny/grainy sound, they’d be huge today. Still, their confrontational, take-it-or-leave-it attack was pure Riot Grrrl, and given that their lyrics were among the most relentlessly profane in punk-rock history, it’s nice to have all FCC clean! Versions of some of their best songs, and in their sharpest, hardest-hitting performances ever.
Try 1, 4
4/4/11

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Blouse

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Blouse, “Blouse” (Captured Tracks, 2011)
More early-‘80s-Brit revisionism from Captured Tracks, this is somewhat reminiscent of mid-period Siouxsie in its femme-voxed gloomisms, but more abstract. It has a tendency to wander off into odd soundscapes that I find quite pleasing.
Try A/3, A/5, B/4
1/6/12

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Body/Head

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Body/Head, “Body/Head” (Matador, 2013)
Kim Gordon’s first solo project since the simultaneous dissolution of her band and her marriage is the first Sonic Youth-related project since the mid-‘80s to have that sense of wild menace and possibility that kind of faded during SY’s long years of maturity/domestic bliss. Atonal and devoid of verse-chorus-verse familiarity, this long, rhythmically taut guitar-storm draws its structure from Kim’s personal drama, manifested here as an exorcism and the purest, most primal blues.
Try 1, 9
1/23/14

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The Search

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Bold, “The Search” (Revelation, 2011; original recording 1985-9)
Among the very best of straight-edge HC’s late ‘80s Third Wave. Not as frenetically compressed as Youth of Today, but more expansive and adventurous, as bold as their name promised. Their driving, ever-reaching guitars and drums created music that sounded like the spiritual quest their lyrics awkwardly described, and rocked like a house on fire, too.
Try 10, 13, 14, 20, 22, 32
10/13/11

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Realm Of Chaos

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Bolt Thrower, “Realm Of Chaos” (Earache, 1989)
A concept album about the end of life on Earth as we know it, from the most heavy-metalloid of Earache’s first wave of grindcore titans. Rhythms range from a stuttering crunch (picture a garbage truck trying to pulp a stack of motorcycles and a Port-O-Potty) to all-out assault velocity. Guitars are a chrome-plated mid-range roar, dense and immense. I find this compulsively listenable.
All great; 2 and 4 are representative.

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