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The Ten Best Albums I.R.S. Records Ever Released, Part One!


From the moment rock & roll was invented - in America - the British have been kicking our red-and-white-striped asses on almost every musical front ever since. Whatever groups you might consider part of "The Best To Ever Walk The Earth", chances are most will be British. 

What do we in America have to proud of, you ask? Not a lot, but every so often, we Americans manage to do something right and when we do, we like to make sure the rest of the world knows about it.

In today's episode of Shit America Got Right, we shine the spotlight on I.R.S. Records, a label that was started by the brother of a Police man and quickly rose from underground to take the mainstream by storm.

One wonders what Miles Copeland would have wound up doing with his life had he not found music to be his calling. Copeland's father was an officer in the CIA, his mother was from British intelligence, and one can only surmise that a lie told in the Copeland house did not go unnoticed. "Nice one, Miles, the addition of plausible ancillary details was a nice touch."

It was Copeland's flair for stretching the truth that had made him a successful promoter for the likes of Wishbone Ash in the '70s, but Copeland saw himself as a svengali of sorts and sought to establish his own record label.

It was at this time that Copeland launched a number of oddly named labels that came and went in rapid succession: New Bristol Records, Deptford Fun City Records (Squeeze), Step Forward (The Fall, Chelsea) and Illegal Records (The Police's first single, "Fall Out"), to name just a few.

Sadly, none of these labels clicked and Miles begrudgingly took over the role of manager for brother Stewart's fledgling punk band The Police. It was this union of bravado and immense talent that would create the perfect combination of chemistry and timing, leading to The Police's aggressive rise up the ranks of the UK music scene before going worldwide.

It was in the midst of this whirlwind that Miles began I.R.S. Records and negotiated terms for the label's marketing and distribution through A&M Records (home of his clients The Police).

Between 1979 and 1996, when the label ceased operation, I.R.S. Records put out a consistently dazzling and often challenging array of artists and releases. What follows is our list of the ten best albums I.R.S. Records ever released, in no particular order because that's just how we roll! Also, we're limiting the list to one release per artists or else R.E.M. would own half of our Top 10.




Wall of Voodoo - Seven Days In Sammystown

After the admittedly fluke success of "Mexican Radio" and a big-money appearance at 1982's US Festival, singer Stan Ridgway left and, in doing so, too half the band with him. With Bruce Moreland returning and new singer Andy Prieboy able to do justice to the Ridgway tunes while introducing a few head-turners of his own, the band set out to create their own musical identity on 1985's Seven Days In Sammystown and largely succeeded. Too bad very few people in the U.S. heard it. First single "Far Side Of Crazy" did go Top 40 in Australia.



Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting

After the initial lo-fi genius of their self-titled debut album and the proper fleshing out of the concept on their bigger-budget follow-up, Free, they definitely had this writer's full attention once they'd announced they were working with producer Chris Tsangerides (Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, and the Lords of the New Church's The Method To Our Madness, also on IRS).

In addition to being the band's most muscular album to date, the growth of Johnette Napolitano as a songwriter between this album and the last is breathtaking. Every song is a cinematic tour de force capable of standing on its own that also happens to contribute to the album's loose conceptual feel. Johnette's touching ballad "Joey" would go on to become their sole Top 20 hit. Plus, it's got two songs written by former Wall of Voodoo members, including Prieboy's "Tomorrow Wendy".

\As a fan of Johnette's harrowing stories of life in L.A. and James Mankey's evocative guitar work, this album shows them at the top of their game.



Go-Go's - Beauty & The Beat

While the chatter at the time was that they were a punk band that could barely play their instruments, one look at the band revealed at least two ringers in their ranks, drummer Gina Schock and bassist Kathy Valentine. Together, they formed an unshakable rhythm section upon which the rest of the band was able to take their unique brand of retro-rock to the masses. Teamed with producer Richard Gottehrer (of "My Boyfriend's back" and "I Want Candy" fame), the resulting album is a near-perfect blast of pop that embraced punk and pop tradition in equal measures and wound up rocketing all the way to #1.



The Alarm - Declaration

After the UK Top 20 success of their third single "68 Guns" in 1983, the pressure was on the band to come up with a full-length album that would deliver on the promise of those early 45's. Many a band has been faced with the prospect of proving themselves with a full album after a massively popular single, but few have delivered the goods as convincingly as The Alarm did on 1984's Declaration.

Even though U2 themselves weren't the musical giants they are now, they were popular enough at the time for many to write off the Alarm as mere copycats, but, if there is one thing that this album proved, The Alarm were marching to their own drum. "Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?", "We Are The Light", "Shout To The Devil", "Howling Wind" and the title cut are all standouts that make this album a must-own.



Three O'Clock - Arrive Without Traveling

Having issued the masterful debut full-length Sixteen Tambourines in 1983, this fan of the band could not have been more giddy upon hearing the news that they'd signed to IRS. I merely presumed the band would continue their fruitful relationship with producer Earle Mankey (he of the original Sparks line-up), but when I dropped the needle on this platter, I could not have been more delightfully surprised by what I heard.

Though the idea of Michael Hedges (The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Bauhaus) as producer remains endlessly perplexing, the results cannot be denied as the band's lo-fi psychedelia is dressed up and out, taking on unexpected dimensions and textures that make this an album quite literally without equal.

Songs like "Girl With The Guitar", "Her Head's Revolving", "Half The Way There" and "Spun Gold" are familiar to the ear on first listen, sounding very much like songs you should already know and love, but delivered in a way that is just slightly askew enough to ward off such sheep that comprise the mainstream. As always, in their rush to embrace Huey Lewis & The News, they miss out on the real gems, like this album.

Their loss.

Check back on Wednesday for PART TWO!

22 Comments

  1. agree on The Alarm and Wall of Voodoo post Stan - but I surely hope that Skafish' first album is in the next part - that is my all-time favorite IRS release by a far length

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  2. The Alarm was better than Big Country, who got the big US hit that seemed to elude The Alarm

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    1. I don't know. I prefer Big Country but love both. Sure was a treat a coupla years ago to see Mike Peters front Big Country

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  3. Nope..Cramps, Fleshtones,Rem ep, Magazine,Let's Active...please check again!

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  4. The Alarm happened to be Bono's favorite band back then. One thing that made them unique was that all four members sang lead vocals on various songs. Further, Dave Sharp turned into an amazing guitarist after years of touring. It's too bad that all four original members couldn't hang in there together. Mike Peters, Eddie MacDonald, Nigel Twist, and Dave Sharp were amazing together!!

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    1. Outta curiosity, what songs did Twist and MacDonald sing lead on?

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    2. Twi$t never sang a lead -- but what made (and makes) this band unique is their close relationship with their fans. They always took lots of time to hang out with those who followed them around and their live concerts always did shame on their recordings. Being their recordings were brilliant that gives the amplitude of the live show! Yes, U2 were tiny boys when the Alarm followed them over from the UK as support, but it didn't take long for the boys to get in their own stride! The best the 80's had to offer in overall captivating performance !!

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  5. No REM, Let's Active, Camper Van Beethoven, Cramps, Squeeze, Fleshtones, Oingo Boingo, Suburban Lawns, The Beat/General Public, or Lords of the New Church, yet you included crap like Concrete Blond and post-Stan Ridgeway Wall of VooDoo?!?!? You only have five more to go, so I doubt you'll make up for the horrible selections above (aside from the Alarm, and the Three O'Clock whose better material was pre-IRS).

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    1. My idiot band opened for Caterwaul in Milwaukee. My god they were bad.

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    2. My idiot band opened for Caterwaul in Milwaukee. My god they were bad.

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    3. This does clearly say - "Tune in next Wednesday for Part 2!" I'm sure REM is at the top of the list! And if you want to go on about Concrete Blonde... of whom Johnnette Napolitano has one of the most brilliant and under-appreciated female vocals EVER, we can step outside! Joey!! <3

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    4. I love the Alarm but Big Country is light years ahead of the Alarm. Their scope of work, musicianship and Stuart’s writing are all top shelf- probably the most underrated band of all time.

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    5. Post Stan WOV is crap? Marx Moreland playing any guitar at all on a track is better than the grating and smarmy little Stanard punk yapping on a song. Talk about a soulless one trick pony and smug little a-hole- Bruce Moreland was spot on describing that little gnat

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  6. Right -- not including Oingo Boingo is certainly a crime against nature.

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  7. I'm listening to Arrive Without Traveling while reading this. Spooky.

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  8. I love the article but your opening statement is dead wrong. The Brits were enthralled with Elvis, Chuck, Buddy, Little Richard and Motown long before they were able to sell it back to us in a slightly different form. They had the upper hand until the dawn of the '70s and they began to run out of steam. Once again, American artists like VU, Iggy, NY Dolls, Heartbreakers, Ramones, Television, and Richard Hell pointed they way forward for savvy shopkeepers like McLaren & Westwood copied copiously. The Brits are excellent marketers and reshapers of ideas, but they depend on the U.S. for source material.

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  9. All modern music genres originated in America: jazz, blues, rock, country, bluegrass, soul, rap, hip-hop, and their variants. File THAT under shit America got right.

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  10. Interesting list, but pretty far from the true stars of I.R.S. records. ANY Beat album (and I'm including the General Public, Dave Wakeling, Ranking Roger and Fine Young Cannibals offshoots with the Beat) is better than every release you listed. Same goes for Squeeze (including Difford & Tilbrook), Berlin, Black Sabbath's debut album and "Paranoid", Mick Jones with Big Audio Dynamite, and of course the seminal I.R.S. band, Oingo Boingo. I'm too tired to keep going, and believe you me, I could keep going!

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  11. Wait a minute... Part 1 AND you don't even start with a Ridgway era Voodoo album and go directly to that horrible Sammystown? Okay, your tastes are established there and I doubt it can get better.

    Dig up the first two IRS greatest hits albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 & 3) to get a schoolin' on their good stuff. Surely a great label with a ton of truly amazing bands and albums to choose from: Sorry the Alarm sound like fake U2 (which isn't something one should want to strive for!) and Concrete Blonde? Both of those were 2nd or 3rd wave stuff that never sounded innovative at the time.

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