Rainbow - Difficult to Cure

1981

I remember when Can't Happen Here used to be in semi heavy rotation on MTV...these songs are pretty "commercial" and every time I'm about to give up on a song, for being too wimpy, here comes the guitar solo (or keyboard solo) and all of a sudden I'm diggin' it. Into the chorus and I'm like, all smiles. Then the whole process starts over on every song.

Thin Lizzy - Renegade

1981

This album has a really smooth production job and synthesizers and they experiment with song styles as well as a lot of the usual Thin Lizzy sound. The vocals sometimes remind me of ZZ Top. I think one of the guitar players that was new on this and the previous album has a bluesier style that contributes to the ZZ Top vibe. This album has more in common with Night Life than the harder rocking albums Thin Lizzy is known for. I think if you throw out any preconceptions you have of Thin Lizzy this is another good album from them. It's a bit on the lighter side. The fact that Thin Lizzy has so many quality albums would put this towards the bottom of my favorites list but it's still a good listen. 

Motorhead - No Sleep Till Hammersmith

1981

Pretty much most all extreme music be it metal or punk and be traced back to Motorhead. This album sums up their first few records with a live album. More energy and aggression coming across on the live recording.

Venom - Welcome To Hell

1981

On one hand this is a bunch of garbled speedy noise that all sounds the same. Well, that might be your first impression, but the songs here are quite distinct. Fast bombastic murky and evil. Put this next to your early Motorhead and Judas Priest records. It sounds like children trying to cover those bands, but making up their own satirical Satanic lyrics. Songs are surprisingly catchy. One of the earliest albums to mix punk and metal.

Triumph - King Biscuit Flower Hour

Good time rock and roll party metal.

Strong Spinal Tap vibe going on here. I'm finding this strangely tolerable. Enjoyable even. I like the sound quality. Very live and clear. Recorded live in Cleveland 1981.

Double Live Gonzo meets Queensryche.

The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You

Well, I'm surprised to say that this doesn't totally suck. I should warn you though that this album came out when I was in high school. I didn't have it then. I don't remember hearing this whole album, ever. I couple songs remind me of other Stones songs. That's to be expected after you put out 50 albums or so. Start Me Up is on this one. If I hadn't been listening to crazy symphonic Japanese Black Metal for what seemed like 8 continuous hours before listening to this, I might not have enjoyed this quite so much.

"Tattoo You is an album primarily composed of outtakes from previous recording sessions, some dating back a decade, with new vocals and overdubs". - Wikipedia

"It wasn't all outtakes; some of it was old songs. ...I had to write lyrics and melodies. A lot of them didn't have anything, which is why they weren't used at the time - because they weren't complete. They were just bits, or they were from early takes." -Mick Jagger

A good chunk of this is stuff that didn't make it on to Emotional Rescue.

Van Halen - Mean Streets

Dave does his best to whoop it up, but this is Van Halens' darkest and heaviest album. I wish they would have continued in this direction, instead it pretty much starts going down hill after this one.

Raven - Rock Until You Drop

These guys don't get the recognition they deserve. It's Metal like Priest and it's 1981 so it's still got some Rock in there.

Praying Mantis - Time Tells No Lies

Cheese factor is pretty high with these guys shooting for a commercial sound. NWOBHM.

Girlschool - Hit And Run

AC/DC - For Those ABout To Rock...

Very similar to Back In Black but not as good.

Kiss - The Elder

1981

The Wall this is not. Spinal Tap made a concept album and it's called The Elder. A deaf dumb and blind boy may enjoy this record.

"You're a child in a sun dress
Looking at a rainy sky"

Just like Dynasty and Unmasked, if this wasn't a KISS album it probably would be appreciated a bit more. I don't hate this album...it's...interesting.

"Most of the participants in the album's recording admit that it was a major misstep for Kiss. Ezrin, despite what was his recent success with the even more ambitious The Wall, admitted that his judgments concerning Music from "The Elder" were clouded due in large part to a cocaine addiction at the time. Stanley and Simmons admit that they were "delusional" concerning the project, while Frehley has stated that he felt that it wasn't a good idea to begin with." - Wikipedia

Tygers Of Pan Tang - Spellbound

NWOBHM. Sound a bit like early Iron Maiden, but a little more melodic, like Diamondhead maybe. They rock pretty good, but they're aiming for some kind of a hit.

The Cars - Shake It Up

The first Cars album is one of my favorite records ever. Candy-O isn't bad either. This is their fourth album. It's got a few hits your sure to recognize especially if you grew up with MTV. I guess as far as keyboard synth pop from the 80's goes, this is pretty good. Double platinum.