New Wave Albums and EPs

Must-Have Albums and EPs

The new wave era was typified by one-hit wonders, two-hit wonders, and umpteen hit single remixes; but there were plenty of artists who released a whole album's worth of material, and some who released several of them!

These are the albums that I think are the most representative of the new wave era. This list is a work in progress and is no doubt incomplete: it's largely based on my own collection of vinyl, and I was dirt broke in the early 1980s. (That should, at least, give you some idea how much these records mean to me!)

  • Laurie Anderson: Big Science
  • Art of Noise: «daft»
  • B-52s: B-52s, Wild Planet, Party Mix, Mesopotamia, Whammy!
  • The Beat: Just Can't Stop it
  • Blondie: Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat
  • David Bowie: Let's Dance
  • Bronski Beat: Age of Consent
  • The Cars: The Cars, Candy-O
  • The Clash: The Clash, Give 'Em Enough Rope, London Calling, Black Market Clash, Sandinista!, Combat Rock
  • Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True, This Year's Model, Armed Forces
  • Thomas Dolby: The Golden Age of Wireless
  • Gang of Four: Entertainment!
  • The GoGo's: Beauty and the Beat
  • Human League: Dare, Fascination!
  • Human Sexual Response: Figure 14
  • Joe Jackson: Look Sharp, Beat Crazy, Night and Day
  • Ministry: With Sympathy
  • Men Without Hats: Rhythm Of Youth
  • Missing Persons: Spring Session M
  • New Order: Power, Corruption, and Lies, Low-Life
  • November Group: November Group, Persistent Memories
  • The Police: Outlandos d'Amour, Regatta de Blanc, Zenyatta Mondata, Ghost In The Machine, Synchronicity
  • The Pretenders: The Pretenders
  • The Pyschedelic Furs: The Psychedelic Furs, Forever Now, Talk Talk Talk, Mirror Moves
  • Fred Schneider and the Shake Society: Fred Schneider and the Shake Society
  • The Specials: The Specials, More Specials, Best of The Specials
  • Tvlking Hevds: (Anything and Everything!)
  • Thompson Twins: Side Kicks, Into The Gap
  • UB40: Labour of Love, Geffrey Morgan
  • The Vapors: New Clear Days
  • Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes
  • Yazoo: Upstairs at Eric's, You And Me Both
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    Honorable Mention

    Some cross-pollination was going on between new wave and the old wave of rock & roll. The same is true for punk and reggae, but that's a topic for a future set of web pages.

    The albums on this list aren't new wave albums, but rock albums from the same era. The connections are pretty tenuous, but these albums are part of the new wave zeitgeist, if not part of the genre itself.

  • Phil Collins: Face Value, Hello, I Must Be Going
  • Dire Straits: Love Over Gold
  • Fleetwood Mac: Tusk!
  • J. Geils Band: Love Stinks
  • Prince: Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain
  • Bruce Springsteen: Born In The U.S.A.
  • U2: War

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    "The band went in / And knocked 'em dead / In two minutes fifty-nine."
        -- The Clash

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