Released two years after the 1980 death of John Bonham, Coda tied up most of the loose ends Led Zeppelin left hanging: it officially issued a bunch of tracks circulating on bootleg and it fulfilled their obligation to Atlantic Records…

Gary Brooker wrote music and lyrics for all the songs on his second album and acted as his own producer, resulting in perhaps his most personal statement as an artist. Unlike No More Fear Of Flying, on which he sometimes just seemed to be the singer on his own record, here Brooker delivered his songs with feeling, enabling him to overcome the star power of his backup musicians, who included Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Phil Collins. This was partly because Brooker no longer felt the need to separate himself from The Procol Harum sound that was so much a part of his natural musical identity. Brooker's lyrics weren't as philosophical as longtime writing partner Keith Reid's, but they could be just as intriguingly oblique.

1981's The Elder was such a bomb worldwide that Kiss' record company outside the U.S., Casablanca/Phonogram, demanded that the band immediately assemble another greatest-hits package to prove to their befuddled fans that they were still a heavy metal group, not experimental prog rockers. Since a greatest-hits set was issued just four years prior in the form of the double LP Double Platinum, the band decided to include four brand-new tracks along with some hits, under the title of Killers (a single album).

"I'm The One" is an album by Roberta Flack released in May 1982 which reached #59 on the album chart in Billboard whose R&B album chart afforded the album a #16 peak. The Burt Bacharach/Carole Bayer Sager-produced "Making Love", which appeared in the film of the same name and in the spring of 1982 had afforded Flack her final solo Top 40 hit (#13 on the Billboard Hot 100), was included on the I'm the One album along with eight new tracks co-produced by William Eaton, Ralph MacDonald, William Salter and Flack herself. The track "I'm the One," given parallel single release with the album, peaked at #42 on the Hot 100 where it marked Flack's final solo appearance, although she'd return to the Hot 100 in 1983 with the duets "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" (#16) and "You're Looking Like Love to Me" (#58) (both with Peabo Bryson) and again in 1991 with "Set the Night to Music" (with Maxi Priest/ #6). A third single from the I'm the One album: "In the Name of Love", reached #24 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Mark E Smith and The Fall are currently having their back catalogue reassessed by Cherry Red Records. The latest in what looks like a long line of forthcoming releases is ‘1982’. Featuring 2 acclaimed albums, a clutch of session tracks and 2 live albums plus a fresh 4,000 word essay by Daryl Easlea, this collection is a majestically compiled dive into the vaults of this much lauded band…

"Friends in Love" is Dionne Warwick's 3rd studio album for the Arista label. It was recorded during the winter of 1981-1982 and was released that spring on April 14, 1982. The LP was originally issued as number AL 9585 in the Arista Catalog. The album rose to #87 on the Billboard album chart, selling approximately 200,000 US copies. Songs on the album include the title track, a duet with singer Johnny Mathis, which made the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #38, in addition to charting on the Billboard R&B and adult contemporary charts at #22 and #5, respectively. A follow-up single, "For You", peaked at #14 on the Adult Contemporary chart. This album also contains the Cynthia Weil / Barry Mann song "Never Gonna Let You Go", which would become a hit the following year for Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes.

Flesh + Blood suggested that Roxy Music were at the end of the line, but they regrouped and recorded the lovely Avalon, one of their finest albums. Certainly, the lush, elegant soundscapes of Avalon are far removed from the edgy avant-pop of their early records, yet it represents another landmark in their career. With its stylish, romantic washes of synthesizers and Bryan Ferry's elegant, seductive croon, Avalon simultaneously functioned as sophisticated make-out music for yuppies and as the maturation of synth pop…

Elton John was the biggest pop star of the '70s, grabbing headlines and generating hits throughout the world. As it turned out, this was merely the first act in a remarkable career that kept him at the top of the charts for over 25 years. He charted a Top 40 hit single every year between 1970 and 1996, a sign that he knew how to both change with the times and mold the times to fit him. Initially marketed as a singer/songwriter, John soon revealed he could craft Beatlesque pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. He could dip into soul, disco, and country, as well as classic pop balladry and even progressive rock. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, dynamic charisma, and flamboyant stage shows, became his calling cards and many of his songs became contemporary pop standards.

Anybody who was a little dismayed by the pop inclinations of The Game would have been totally distressed by Queen's 1982 follow-up, Hot Space, an unabashed pop and dance album. The band that once proudly proclaimed not to use synthesizers on their albums has suddenly, dramatically reversed course, devoting the entire first side of the album to robotic, new wave dance-pop, all driven by drum machines and colored by keyboards, with Brian May's guitar coming in as flavor only on occasion…

Shuttered Room is the debut studio album by British new wave band The Fixx, released in 1982. It contains the group's debut single, "Stand or Fall", which hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Album Rock Tracks as well as #79 on the Hot 100. Its follow-up single was "Red Skies". Both songs were aided by popular MTV music videos.

Extraterrestrial Live is the 1982 live album by Blue Öyster Cult. It was recorded throughout the Fire Of Unknown Origin and features then-new songs ("Burnin' For You", "Joan Crawford", "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars") plus valued chestnuts ("Godzilla", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"), and a guest appearance from The Doors' Robbie Krieger in a cover of "Roadhouse Blues." This was released most likely in 1989 or 1990 on Columbia.

Another quality L&R Records production that has been saved by a reissue on Evidence Music. Originally recorded in 1982, Chicago's Young Blues Generation features the raw, frantic work of guitarist Lurrie Bell and harp blower Billy Branch, who remain the closest the blues scene has to a modern-day Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. Back in 1982, Bell and Branch were still carving out a sound of their own - an amalgam of Rice Miller, the West Side guitar slingers (namely Guy and Magic Sam), and the funkier Stax and Hi Records hitmakers. This album consists entirely of reworked blues and R&B covers, each one drawn out by lengthy, tag-team soloing - sometimes derivative, but more often wildly inspired and unpredictable…

"H₂O" is the 11th studio album by American pop music duo Hall & Oates. The album was released on October 4, 1982, by RCA Records. It featured three Top 10 US singles, one being "Maneater", which was the biggest hit of their career, spending four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album title is a play on the chemical formula for water, where "H" is for Hall and "O" is for Oates. "H₂O" is certified double Platinum by the RIAA with sales of over two million copies.

When Joshua Rifkin began recording Bach vocal works to demonstrate his one-singer-per-part thesis, he started not with the lightly scored early cantatas but rather with the Holy of Holies–the B-Minor Mass. (Don't accuse the man of starting small.) Predictably, outrage ensued: detractors far outnumbered supporters at the time (though this seems to be gradually changing). Musicology or not, Rifkin's approach works. Bach's florid vocal parts are far more negotiable for soloists than for chorus; period instruments never overwhelm the voices. Certainly the standard of baroque- instrument playing, particularly brass, has improved since 1980; but Rifkin's instrumentalists, especially woodwinds, are quite listenable.

This is the first of Irish guitar virtuoso Gary Moore's true heavy metal albums. Boasting a crisp, aggressive sound, Corridors of Power kicks off with the foot-stomping "Don't Take Me for a Loser," delivers the token power ballad in "Always Gonna Love You," and floors the gas pedal on "Rockin' Every Night." However, the album's climax has to be the epic "End of the World," with it's two-minute long guitar solo intro and vocals courtesy of Cream's Jack Bruce.