Prince - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (Paisley Park, 1987)

More exquisite lo-fi funk genius from his purple period.

I've listened to 'Sign Of The Times' a lot recently after not touching it for years. It's by no means a perfect album but it's a great use of the double album, taking risks, experimenting, throwing in some sure-fire hits and sprawling out over four sides of vinyl.

'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' is a cute slice of lo-fi, skeletal funk. It's whimsical (obviously) and funny and playful.

Prince recounts a tale of a liaison with Dorothy Parker who is somehow waiting tables in a late night diner from beyond the grace. They exchange what contemporary youth would call 'banter' and she makes a pass at him. Of course.

With lyrics like "I needed someone with a quicker wit than mine. Dorothy was fast" it's just Prince at his absolute peak.

Download Prince - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (lo-fi funk, mp3) (Divshare)

The The - Sweet Bird Of Truth (12" Mix) (Epic, 1987)

Groundbreaking global political commentary.

It's hard to believe this is now 25 years old - not just from the point of view of how much time has passed but how relevant Matt Johnson's commentary on global politics and religion remains today.

'Sweet Bird Of Truth' is a brooding, desperate plea for absolution from a GI in action over the Gulf Of Arabia as "all the planet's little wars start joining hands".

Released as a single from the equally brooding and political 'Infected' album, this version stretches the menace out to eight minutes with pilot-to-control dialogue (requesting authorisation to use Napalm) and dubbed out sections highlighting the clanking, relentless moodiness.

Download The The - Sweet Bird Of Truth (12" Mix) (Epic, mp3 download, 1987) (Divshare)

Cud - You Sexy Thing (Peel Session) (1987)

Lumpy seduction.

The Cud Band were something of an enigma, dealing around this time in a dragging, lumpy indie funk. They were soon to blossom into a period of gently whimsical, progressive lightness on the 'When In Rome, Kill Me' album. Possibly as they learnt to play their instruments.

Sounding like Stump's trendy younger brothers, they blarted out this Peel Session Hot Chocolate cover with only a passing nod to notions of tuning and timekeeping, spiralling into the sort of faster-faster-faster coda beloved of garage indie bands everywhere. Nice with it, though.

Download Cud - You Sexy Thing (Peel Session) (1987) (Divshare)

The Smiths - I Keep Mine Hidden (Rough Trade, 1987)

Smiths rarity from late on.

Morrissey in Swingalonga Moz mode, frollicking down Carnaby Street with his girlfriends Sandie Shaw, Cilla Black and Twiggy.

A breezy b-side from near the end of the band. Johnny, of course, was secretly dreaming of doing stuff like this.

Download The Smiths - I Keep Mine Hidden (Rough Trade, indie mp3, The Smiths mp3)

Thomas Lang - Sons Of (Jacques Brel cover) (Epic, 1987)

Delicious, baroque Jacques Brel cover.

Thomas Lang's 'Scallywag Jaz' is a truly a piece of buried treasure. An album of midnight blue jazz ballads and torch songs, wracked with loss and longing. The acceptable face of fretless bass and just perfect.

'Sons Of' was a b-side to much-re-re-released single 'The Happy Man' which was as close to a breakthrough as Thomas Lang was to have unfortunately. The poise of the Jacques Brel original is perfectly rendered on voice, piano and strings.

As graceful and captivating as Anna Pavlova dancing to the sound of a music box. Made out of lace. On ice.

Download Thomas Lang - Sons Of (Thomas Lang mp3s, Jazz, Jacques Brel cover) (Box.net)

Steinski and the Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On (NME, 1987)

Utter genius cut'n'paste business from 1987.

This came on a covermount 7" with the NME in 1987 and I was utterly obsessed with it for years, vowing to top it if only I could get a better high-speed-dubbing-tape-to-tape machine.

I never did.

Pretty much unreleasable due to the sheer number of samples (Prince and Queen, for starters), it's a mash-up of the shooting of JFK. The utter mundanity of "the motorcade sped on" commentary lends it a surreal edge, especially given the level of repetition.

A completely seminal piece of early plunderphonics.

Download Steinski and the Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On (NME, 1987, Plunderphonics mp3)

The Durutti Column - Arpeggiator (Factory, 1987)

Filmic, epic beauty from 1987 Durutti Column album.

I think it was actually the sleeve - which is truly beautiful - and the label that persuaded me to buy this album. My awe of Factory told me that I should probably like The Durutti Column but it was a long time before I tried some.

'Arpeggiator' was the first thing I heard - the opening track of the album - a Windham Hill ambience drifting across the urgent, staccato drum machine and, of course, guitar arpeggios.

Poised and correct for the most part, cello cutting an austere shape across the track, it builds until a distorted, disruptive bass-y guitar comes in, tripping off skysoaring guitar.

Beautiful like a desolate moor in the snow.

Download The Durutti Column 'Arpeggiator' (Factory, alternative, Durutti Column mp3) (Rapidshare)

The Smiths 'Girlfriend In A Coma (Demo)' (1987)

Notable for Johnny Marr's reggae-inflected guitar. Looser than the eventual studio version but still breezy.

Nice demo showing a relaxed, almost slap-dash  run-through with the lyric yet to be finalised.

Johnny Marr is either being playful in the aftermath of Morrissey's "reggae is vile" outburst, trying to wind Morrissey up in the final days of the band or just mucking about as he skanks out the guitar part.

The demo version begins with a sombre bass and drum crunch before Marr's shimmering sunsplash guitar ushers in Morrissey's vocal. The rhythm section is a little leaden so it's presumably a very early take. Fascinating though.

Download The Smiths 'Girlfriend In A Coma (Demo)' (indie mp3) (Rapidshare)

The Mighty Lemon Drops 'Hear Me Call' (Sounds Cover-Mount, 1987)

Proper, spindly, Paisley-shirted indie from the late 80s.

Rickenbackers set to 'shrill', production budget set to 'little or none', ambition the size of Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

Wonderful piece of yearning, Echo and the Bunnymen-indebted indie before the word became almost meaningless. Ironically, one of the very first wave of indie bands to be signed to major and struggle to break through due to credibility issues. They would have sold no more records but been much more well-regarded if they'd been on Creation.

Reminiscent of The Primitives and the epic Scouse rock of The Icicle Works, 'Hear Me Call' is a rush of enthusiasm and a good tune.

Download The Mighty Lemon Drops 'Hear Me Call' (indie mp3) (Mediafire)

Sly & Robbie 'Boops (Here To Go)' (4th&Broadway/Island Records, 1987)

The go-to rhythm section for dub-Reggae unleash their own tech-dub beast.

Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare have some track record, playing on an alleged 200,000 tracks in their four-decade career. They've played for Lee Perry and his Upsetters, Bunny Lee, Jimmy Cliff, Horace Andy, Peter Tosh as well as producing Culture's seminal 'Two Culture's Clash'. And then there's Grace Jones' 'Slave To The Rhythm' and her Jamaican excursions.

Producer by Bill Laswell of Material is no slouch either, being responsible for a strain of modern, gleaming dub. The mash-up of the two entities resulted in 'Boops (Here To Go)' with vocals by Shinehead.

'Boops' is a spectular piece of dub collage, sadly now most renowned for providing sample and inspiration for Robbie Williams' 'Rude Box'. Forget about that, though, and immerse yourself in its collision of influences.

Download Sly & Robbie 'Boops (Here To Go)' (dub, reggae, future pop, alternative mp3 download) (Mediafire)

MARRS 'Pump Up The Volume (Bonus Beats)' (4AD/4th&Broadway, 1987)

The epitome of indie-dance crossover?

It always surprises people to learn that 'Pump Up The Volume' was released on 4AD - home of Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Throwing Muses, The Wolfgang Press...

However, MARRS was basically two of their acts - Colourbox and AR Kane - coming together into what turned out to be a very successful, but ultimately unhappy, marriage.

To be honest this is more like a remix with the vocal samples removed than just the beats. However, it does strip the track back to the sleek, precision-tooled undercarriage and let's it build, giving the drums and that statuesque bassline the chance to take centre stage.

Download MARRS 'Pump Up The Volume (Bonus Beats)' (indie dance crossover, samples, 4AD mp3) (Mediafire)

Download MARRS 'Anitina (the first time I see she dance)' (indie dance crossover mp3) (Box)

Throwing Muses 'America (She Can't Say No) (Original Demo Version)' (4AD, 1987)

Early version of debut album track from the bewitching Throwing Muses.

More goodies from the Underground tape following the Sonic Youth live cut. This time it's a demo version of some idiosyncratic early Throwing Muses from the tape that got them a deal with 4AD.

Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly weave intricate vocal and guitar patterns over clattering but restrained drumming and an ascending/descending bassline. Something about it sounds like Kristin Hersh is singing backwards. I know that sounds weird.

Download Throwing Muses 'America (She Can't Say No) (Original Demo Version)' (indie alternative rock mp3, Mediafire)

Or download the whole of the 'Rhythm + Noise' tape from Archive: Live + Rare mp3s.

Sonic Youth '(I Got A) Catholic Block (Live)' (Underground magazine, 1987)

Exclusive live take of the 'Sister' track.

By the time they got to the 'Sister' album Sonic Youth's sound was beginning to embrace less sturm and drang and more of a focused, song-based approach.

'(I Got A) Catholic Block' is still an edgy snarl but you can see how they got from here to the crystalline soundworld of 'Daydream Nation'. You can see why they were in the process of inspiring a generation of alternative rockers to free their minds - bands like The God Machine, Swervedriver and, of course, My Bloody Valentine.

'Catholic Block' seems to somehow shift and blur while at the same time being pretty direct. It builds up a dizzying intensity, heavy rhythms and arcs of scraping guitar and the type of rhythmic breakdown that they would perfect on 'Teenage Riot'.

Download Sonic Youth '(I Got A) Catholic Block (Live)' (alternative rock mp3, Mediafire)

Or download the whole of the 'Rhythm + Noise' tape from Archive: Live + Rare mp3s.

A. R. Kane 'Lolita' (4AD, 1987)

Whimsical, breathy dreampop with a Cocteau Twins flourish.

Utterly gorgeous stuff from A.R. Kane. A drifting, blissed out, palliative wash of proto-Shoegaze delight which briefly bursts into a chorus of Cocteau Twins-esque fireworks.

Perhaps unsurprising they get the sound spot-on as the EP was produced by Robin Guthrie.

Gorgeous though.

Download A.R.Kane 'Lolita' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Microdisney 'Singer's Hampstead Home' (Virgin, 1987) (download)

Cathal Coughlan's scabrous songwriting wrapped in big eighties alt pop guise.

I've never heard much by Microdisney, despite being quite a fan of the first few Fatima Mansions albums. I chanced across this 12" in a charity shop and have grown to love its 'King Of Rock'n'Roll' production - massive, reverb-drenched snare beats et al.

Sometimes you wonder what a song would sound like underneath all the production - this is one of them. It starts off unadorned, acoustic guitar and some lovely arpeggiated electric guitar and Cathal Coughlan's rich vocal.

The lyric seems to be a dig at the detached (no pun intended) world of George Michael or some such eighties megastar. A quick Google suggests it might actually have been aimed at Boy George.

Anyway, it features some excellent guitar work, almost Sarah-ish in its spindly melodic webs. It's a real grower too, ripe for a more organic cover version.

Download Microdisney 'Singer's Hampstead Home' (mp3) (Mediafire)

The Lilac Time 'Black Velvet' (Swordfish, 1987) (mp3)

I was thinking that there should be some kind of poll or competition to decide the most under-rated bands or artists of all-time. I then realised that such a poll would immediately undermine their under-rated status and thought better of the whole affair.

Which brings me to the wonders of The Lilac Time. Not obscurant or avant garde, not ground-breaking either. But, my word, what a canon of gorgeous songs and moods, and all for so little reward - critical or otherwise. I certainly think that the likes of The Leisure Society owe a debt to the band.

Stephen Duffy formed The Lilac Time after falling out of love with the pop merry-go-round. After three major label albums (and what is probably the first Balearic-influenced, post-E album, 'Dr. Calculus') in the shadow of 'Kiss Me' - a not insignificant hit - he decamped to the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire with his brother and a couple of likeminded musicians and crafted The Lilac Time's self-titled debut album. It was released independently by Birmingham record shop Swordfish (it's still standing I think - haven't been there for a year or two though).

'Black Velvet' opens the album not with a bang but with a hungover whisper, a hymn to the intoxicating powers of Guinness and Champagne. It shimmers into being in a haze of acordion and acoustic guitar, soothing and gently massaging your soul, recalling the indiscretions of the night before. Sublime.

Download The Lilac Time 'Black Velvet (Swordfish Album Version)' (mp3) (Mediafire)

David Sylvian Blue Of Noon mp3 (Virgin, 1987)

A most supple and sumptuous jazz instrumental from David Sylvian's sublimely morose 'Let The Happiness In' 12".

An inspired selection of players - including Ryuichi Sakamoto on mellifluous piano and Steve Jansen on gently caressed drums - create a gently meandering flow of subtle melody with intermittent torrents of cascading bass, drums and piano.

'Blue Of Noon' is Sylvian's most overtly jazz outing and, to my mind, reveals his passion for the Brit Jazz of the late 60s (Michael Garrick, Don Rendell/Ian Carr and, of course, Stan Tracey) as well as a point of cross-over with the ECM aesthetic.

Not sure what David Sylvian did on this track or whether it was meant have a vocal or why it's not been included in any Sylvian reissue. However, a high quality David Sylvian Blue Of Noon mp3 is a much sought-after gem.

Simply amazing though.

Download David Sylvian Blue Of Noon mp3 (alternative, jazz, mp3 download)