Why is Human Switchboard’s Who’s Landing in My Hangar? on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
Early ‘80s new wave-meets-garage rock with fantastic keyboards.
What does Human Switchboard’s Who’s Landing in My Hangar? mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
The Velvet Underground gets mentioned a lot with relation to Human Switchboard, and that makes sense, particularly given singer Rob Pfeifer’s similar vocal stylings as the Velvet’s Lou Reed. However, the new wave-meets-garage rock with fantastic keyboards sound reminds me of one my favorite bands that almost no one has ever heard of: Cheepskates.
In the wrong hands, this style of keyboards – bouncy, carnivalesque, lots of arpeggios – can come off as cheesy, lame, the stuff of a third rate amusement park or ice cream truck that rings that proverbial bell all the way home. But Human Switchboard leverages it with garage-y guitar and rhythm section and new wave-y vocals and it all works incredibly well.
Check it on “(I Used to) Believe in You.”
The formula arguably works even better when the vocals are handed over to keyboardist Myrna Marcarian, as on “I Can Walk Alone.”
The title track leans a little more into early ‘80s power pop, which is not quite as effective but still fun.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to Human Switchboard’s Who’s Landing in My Hangar?
Here’s a little Cheepskates preview, with “Run Better Run.” Are the lyrics a little stalker-y? Well… perhaps, but the song is flat out great.
Some stats & info about Human Switchboard – Who’s Landing in My Hangar?
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock, Punk, Punk Rock, Post-Punk, New Wave, Garage Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Who’s Landing in My Hangar? released? 1981
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #961 out of 1,000
Human Switchboard’s Who’s Landing in My Hangar? on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.