Establishment rules O.K.! That’s the message to be drawn from ’85s long playing output!

In a year which has been yawn-inducing rather than epoch-making, it speaks volumes about the state of the art that the year’s best buys were reissues of one sort or another by Echo And The Bunnymen, Velvet Underground and The Doors.

Madness did paint their masterpieces with ‘Mad Not Mad’ – far and away their most accomplished work to date. The Prefab’s ‘Steve McQueen’ proved a wonderfully enigmatic collection – time may show it to be filmsy to boot, but as of now it stands head and shoulders most of the competition.

Kate Bush, Squeeze and Bryan Ferry each made a fine return to form this year while The Style Council’s ‘Favourite Shop’ represents probably Paul Weller’s strongest LP to date. Lloyd Cole consolidated his position as the brightest lone star on the horizon with ‘Easy Pieces’, while old hand George Clinton’s ‘Some Of My Best Jokes Are Friends’ was the year’s premier funk outing.

There’s was little comfort to be taken from activities on the home front over the year. The crop of young Irish hopefuls who promised so much upon singing major deals have singularly failed to deliver the goods. Unless I’m mistaken, we can go back to the nation’s garage bands in our search for The Next Big Thing. It must be out there somewhere…