The 49 Americans - E Pluribus Unum (1980)

  

Today we have a wonderful little LP courtesy of the prolific David Toop along with, presumably, 48 others bright individuals. Coy, catchy pop with a marked intellectual slant. Think amateurism meets academia; progressive twee if you will. The first half of the album is composed of a dozen lovely vignettes while the latter half is, well, a pop-opera about a dragon terrorizing some faraway kingdom. If that doesn't convince you to give this album a shot nothing will.

We should be more ideal ideally
Oh yes we should of course should
We should be ideal ideally
So we wouldn't have to pretend

The Past Seven Days - Raindance / So Many Others... (1981)

Classic classic 4AD stuff. Groovy, dark, mellow(dramatic), all the hallmarks of a great 4AD single. I wish I could tell you more about this band but there's just about no info about them on the internet. The only other songs they've ever recorded were on a cassette compilation titled A Bucket of Sleet, which, unfortunately, is also nowhere to be found online.

I drink my poison this time
No explosion this time
And it slows you down
And it slows you down