Mink DeVille makes Rolling Stone's list of the Top 5 Albums of 1980

Mink DeVille : This Must Be The Night

[Purchase]

At the end of 1980 when Rolling Stone critics came up with their list of the 5 best albums of the year there were the usual suspects: The Clash's London Calling, Bruce Springsteen's The River, Talking Heads Remain in Light, Captain Beefheart's Doc at the Radar Station and one more album that time has since forgotten, Mink DeVille's Le Chat Bleu.

 Recorded in Paris with Elvis Presley's former rhythm section, and with some songs co-written by the legendary Doc Pomus ("Save the Last Dance For Me","Can't Get Used to Losing You") Le Chat Bleu combines standard rockers like "This Must Be The Night", "Savoir Faire" and "Lipstick Traces with melodramatic cabaret songs like fan favorite "Heaven Stood Still". Deville says the music of Edith Piaf was one of the reasons he chose to record to Paris. 

The album went well over budget. Capitol Records had no idea how to market the Le Chat Bleu so the record company delayed its American release. "It says something about the state of the American record business—something pathetic and depressing—that Willy DeVille's finest album fell on deaf ears at Capitol," wrote Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone in his review of the album that year.

Rolling Stone 1980 - Critics Best Album 

 • London Calling - The Clash 

 Runners Up 

 • The River - Bruce Springsteen 

• Remain In Light - Talking Heads 

• Doc At The Radar Station - Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band 

• Le Chat Bleu - Mink De Ville 

 Best Single 

 Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division 

 Runners-up 

• Emotional Rescue - Rolling Stones 

• Stop Your Sobbing - The Pretenders 

• Call Me - Blondie 

• The Breaks - Kurtis Blow 

 READERS Best Album 

 • The River - Bruce Springsteen 

 Runners-up 

 • The Wall - Pink Floyd 

• London Calling - The Clash 

• Empty Glass - Pete Townsend 

• Back In Black - AC/DC 

• Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones 

 Best Single 

 • Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen 

 Runners-up 

 • Another One Bites The Dust - Queen 

• Call Me - Blondie 

• Real Love - Doobie Brothers 

• Turning Japanese - The Vapors