Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (30th anniversary)

Today (September 30th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Nebraska, the sixth studio album from New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen.

Anyone who gives this album a listen instantly realizes how much of risk the Boss was taking at the time. This record, basically a folk album, sounds completely different than everything else that was gracing the charts in 1982. Where everyone was embracing new sounds, he went old school with one-man, one-guitar. It was an experiment that paid off as critics loved it as did most fans.

Me? Not so much. For my full review of the album, click here.

Gerry Rafferty - Sleepwalking

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Sleepwalking, the fifth studio album by the late singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. The album did marginal in sales, reaching only number 39 on the UK charts. After this release, Rafferty took a six year break from recording.

Rafferty co-produced the album with Christopher Neil, who also did much of the synthesizer and drum machines for the disk.

Dionne Warwick - Heartbreaker

Today (September 28th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Heartbreaker, the twenty-third studio album from Dionne Warwick and her fourth on the Arista label. The producers were Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson and Albhy Galuten, the hit making trio who worked together in 1980 on Barbra Streisand‘s Guilty album. Gibb co-wrote nine of the ten songs, three with Galuten and the other six with his brothers Robin and Maurice.

Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame

Today (September 27th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of A Broken Frame, the second studio album by Depeche Mode. Now a trio (Vince Clarke left the group), the band continued to build on the momentum of their debut album Speak & Spell (click here for my review of it) with this 1982 sophomore release.

Survivor: Philippines (episode 2)

The new season kicked off last week with some famous faces and returning players.

This week, the three tribes face the heavy tropical rains which effect the moods. And some things transpire that lead to someone uttering this week's title "Don't Be Blinded By the Headlights".

Let's get to the recap.

Olivia Newton-John - Physical

Today (September 26th) marks the sixty-fourth birthday of actress and Grammy award-winning singer Olivia Newton-John. Although she spent a good portion of the early part of her career, during the 1970’s, on the country charts, she crossed over into the pop arena by the end of the decade and continued that route in the early 80’s.

Working again with long-time producer John Farrar, Newton-John released Physical in October of 1981. It would go on to become her biggest selling album to date. The multi-Platinum selling record went to number 11 in the UK, number 8 in New Zealand, number 5 in Japan, and number 3 in Canada. In the US, it went to number 32 on the Billboard R&B charts and number 6 in the Billboard Hot 200. It also generated a trio of chart-breaking singles.

The Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now

Following on the heels of their 1980 self-titled debut and the sophomore release Talk Talk Talk (click here and here respectively for my reviews of each of those) the Psychedelic Furs put out their third studio album Forever Now in 1982. Today (September 25th) celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the release of that record.