Ron Banks - Truly Bad

Ron Banks was a member of the Detroit R&B group the Dramatics from its formation in 1962 until his death in 2010. After a dozen albums with the group, he decided to put out his first and only solo album entitled Truly Bad which spent eight weeks on the US Billboard R&B chart in 1984, peaking at number 62. Today we will give this one a listen to mark its thirtieth anniversary.

Dolly Parton - The Great Pretender

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of The Great Pretender, the twenty-sixth studio album from Dolly Parton. The collection of cover tunes went to number 73 on the US Billboard Album chart, number 69 on the Canadian Album chart, number 9 on the Swedish chart and number 7 on the US Billboard Country charts back in 1984.

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Armed Forces

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Sunday.

Today (January 5th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Armed Forces, the third studio album from Elvis Costello and the first to officially credit the Attractions on the cover. This 1979 release charted at number 13 in the Netherlands, number 12 in Norway, number 11 in Sweden, number 10 on the US Billboard Album chart, number 9 in Australia and New Zealand, number 8 in Canada, and number 2 in the UK.

Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith

Today (January 4th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Defenders of the Faith, the ninth studio album from the British heavy metal Judas Priest. This Platinum selling album from 1984 went to number 21 in Germany, number 19 in the UK, number 18 on the US Billboard Album chart (it spent thirty-seven weeks total on the chart), number 17 in Canada and Norway, number 12 in Switzerland, number 9 in Denmark, number 5 in Finland, and number 2 in Austria and Sweden.

The Deele - Street Beat

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Street Beat, the debut album from the Deele. This Cincinnati, OH, based band was made up of Darnell Bristol (vocals), Stanley Burke (guitar and keyboards), Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds (keyboards, guitar and vocals), Carlos Greene (vocals), Antonio “L.A.” Reid (drums) and Kevin Roberson (bass). The record went to number 78 on the US Billboard Album chart and number 9 on the Billboard R&B chart.

Alabama - Roll On

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Roll On, the fifth studio album from country artists Alabama. This multi-Platinum selling 1984 release went to number 37 in Canada, number 21 on the US Billboard Album chart, and number 1 on the US Billboard Country chart.

Real Life - Heartland

Welcome to 2014, the year Martin’s View takes a detailed focus at the music of 1984 as well as the occasional album from 1979. It is all for this year’s round of anniversary albums.

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Heartland, the debut release from the Australian band Real Life. The roster included David Sterry (vocals and guitar), Richard Zatorski (violin and keyboards), Alan Johnson (bass) and Danny Simcic (drums).