Now 80s 1980

Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81 is the third live album released by Pink Floyd in 2000. It is a live rendition of The Wall, produced and engineered by James Guthrie, with tracks selected from the August 1980 and June 1981 performances at Earls Court in London. The shows involved the construction of a wall on stage throughout the first half of the show. Once complete, members of the band performed in small openings in, atop, in front of, or even behind the wall. The album artwork featured the life-masks of the four band members in front of a black wall; the masks were worn by the "surrogate band"[4] during the song "In the Flesh". "Goodbye Blue Sky" and parts of "Run Like Hell" were taken from the 17 June 1981 show, the very last performance by the four-man Pink Floyd until the 2005 Live 8 concert.

Jon Anderson's first project following his departure from Yes was to reunite with the equally airy Vangelis for a collaborative effort as Jon and Vangelis. Short Stories actually marks their second collaboration – the first took place on Vangelis' 1975 album, Heaven and Hell, with the track "So Long Ago, So Clear." The pair returns to that song's successful formula of combining Anderson's otherworldly voice with Vangelis' pithy melodies in a few spots on their debut together, notably for the popular single "I Hear You Now" (which recalls Vangelis' "To the Unknown Man") and the middle section of "Far Away in Bagaad." Otherwise, Short Stories favors amorphous arrangements that feature wisps of melody and little more (a style that has its precedent on Yes' Tormato rather than their own solo work to date).

Manfred Mann's 1980 album is a strange mix of topical songwriting, progressive rock, and power pop – from its opening seconds, the Earth Band is pressing serious messages and social commentary on their listenership amid swirling prog rock keyboards and catchy guitar hooks and choruses. The whole package is challenging in ways that should have put them on the cutting edge of rock music at the outset of that decade, but one suspects that Mann and company were too musically adept and sophisticated for their own good – a little dumbing down and maybe a little less musicianship on display would have made them more accessible to the coming MTV generation.

Manfred Mann's 1980 album is a strange mix of topical songwriting, progressive rock, and power pop – from its opening seconds, the Earth Band is pressing serious messages and social commentary on their listenership amid swirling prog rock keyboards and catchy guitar hooks and choruses. The whole package is challenging in ways that should have put them on the cutting edge of rock music at the outset of that decade, but one suspects that Mann and company were too musically adept and sophisticated for their own good – a little dumbing down and maybe a little less musicianship on display would have made them more accessible to the coming MTV generation.