C81 vs C86

C81 vs C86: a defense of the latter would surely (and appropriately) rest on r-ck-st criteria such as ‘coherence’ and ‘flow’. C81 feels like a tape a knowledgeable friend made for you at semi-random. C86 feels like a ‘real album’. You could also point to the way that C86 has come to define a particular and lasting aesthetic, even a movement - it succeeded in a way that the well-meaning, barely remembered rainbow coalition of C81 simply didn’t.