Prospective nostalgia.

It seems that so much in the world outside of music is depressing just now, as it was in much of the 1970s and the early 1980s. While my blog and I have recently been much exercised with a rather obsessive yet varied interest in American music, both new and now also not so new, anyone watching the 'I've Just Listened To...' list might have detected a heavy-rock influence creeping in from time to time. That is the case but it certainly doesn't mark a radical change in direction anymore than the inclusion of folk or pop.
Put quite simply, following some discussions with friends, it seemed to be time for a retrospective of some, perhaps lesser known, albums that for whatever reason we loved back then. They will certainly not all date from that era - some will certainly be older, others will be far more recent, and we don't even necessarily agree an them but and the first few should be here for your perusal by the end of this week!

To start with albums that almost everyone is well aware of would, I think, seem quite pointless. On another note, a week or two back a US court ruling decided that the reselling of 'promo copies' was not illegal and the bits of text, part of the track-list, are merely fortuitous extras...

Promos have been around for years and so here is one on 12" vinyl...

While rock indubitably has its fair share of true icons - and we might not even agree about them - I'm going to start with a wilfully iconoclastic approach; the things that now matter most were possibly lesser known even in their time.

Hell Hath No Fury - Rock Goddess, 1983 (AMLX 68560)

Both these images actually belong to the same album and it is, therefore, as good a place to start as any.