Love and Rockets “Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)“ and “Kundalini Express” from Express, released 35 years ago today, September 15th, 1986. Beggars Banquet. Express is one of my favorite albums from the 80′s, combining the best of industrial dance, post-punk, goth and neo-psychadelia sounds, and these two singles are among my top tracks from the LP.

“Kundalini Express” was the first single from Express; it’s also my all-time favorite song Love and Rockets song: lyrically clever with a train-chugging industrial dance beat. The 12″ single has two non-album tracks on the b-side: the rich and darkly swirling “Lucifer Sam” and the gothy-industrial “Holiday on the Moon.”

“Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)” is also excellent. It was the second single from Express (there was one more single: “All in My Mind” which charted at #49 on the US rock chart). The 12″ has two versions of “Yin and Yang” – Side A’s the “remix” (it’s longer) and Side B the single/album version. Both high energy breakneck speed. Side B also has the industrial-goes-goth-goes-free-jazz instrumental “Angels and Devils.”

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The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” from “The Queen Is Dead” released 35 years ago today, June 16th, 1986. One of the greatest songs from the greatest album ever, one that shaped my teen years and defined the summer of ‘86. The 12″ single promo of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” has the song on both sides; it was released prior to The Queen Is Dead (and matches the cover of the LP exactly, just more faded) but the actual radio single wasn’t released until ‘92 when it hit #25 in the UK, years after The Smiths had broken up. The song is considered one of The Smiths best: NME ranks it as the 12th greatest song of all-time. The ‘92 single cover differs significantly from the promo copy:

Back to The Queen is Dead! The album made it to #2 on the UK charts and #70 in the US. After the intro clip of uber-British chant “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty,” the album launches into the rollicking title track “The Queen Is Dead” and from there only grows with lyrical and musical perfection. My absolute favorite is “Frankly Mr. Shankly” – when Johnny Marr launches into his dense signature jangle at the 0:39 point I get, to this day, literal shivers. “Cemetry Gates” is another favorite, bouncing along to lyrics that decry plagiarism while invoking a blend of a (dreaded) sunny day and the dark sorrow of a cemetery in a way that is so only-Morrissey (who else can include lyrics like “ere long done do does did, words which could only be your own, you then produce the text from whence was ripped some dizzy whore, 1804″?). “Bigmouth Strikes Again” is utter brilliance. And no one does despondency as beautifully as Morrissey: “I Know It’s Over,” “Never Had No One Ever” and the epic “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” were all part of the soundtrack my teenage angst and heartbreak but also to a glorious time of my youth, with all its ridiculousness, pettiness, beauty and fun.

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