WHEN DOVES CRY* is an anagram of “cd shows venery” with an extra “S”… and released in 1984…
CRATER
I’ll try to come up with my own to post soon.
OK here goes…first time, so be gentle… 
Grim passion is achieved. (8)
With only one vital flaw…(fixed):
Grim passion in confusion is achieved. (8)
Close! “they say”/“I’ve heard”/“on the radio” means homonym
MISS + TREES said aloud sort of = Mysteries (depending on your pronunciation!)
REALIZED
Anagram of dire zeal
×××××
Park and/or one Greek First Lady (7)
Oops, how embarrassing. Sorry! Glad you were able to figure it out anyway. I’ll clean it up for the book version.
Park and/or one Greek First Lady (7) --PANDORA (P. and or A).
xxxxx
A survey regarding a midwestern state got Prince over his vanity (9)
APOLLONIA
A+POLL+ON+IA
×××××
Copperhead snake hunter and McKellen empty a really big lake. (7, 3)
Copperhead snake hunter and McKellen empty a really big lake. (7, 3)
CASPIAN SEA (C is the “head” of copper, ASP = snake, Hunter and McKellen = IANS empty = E, a = A)
Jogger grabbing a rest (9)
Walker’s color wrench without spelling “ballad” (6, 4)
REMAINDER
REMI-A-NDER
×××××
Model is in favor of baby buggy? Yep (9)
PROTOTYPE (In favor of = PRO, baby=TOT, “buggy yep” = anag YPE)
Wild river to the Caspian after turning brown (7)
PURPLE RAIN
PURPLE (-SP)RAIN
×××××
Pitching ace, king was her mistake (7)
NATURAL
NAT (reverse) + URAL
xxxxx
J. Grumby, he is one who passes over (7)
“First People Wearing Sneakers” is title taken by Hindus in 1900 (9)
“First Person Wearing Sneakers” is title taken by Buddhist in 1889 (9)
_ R _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Started keeping upper floor like a garden trellis (8) [SPOILER BOX your answer!]
Pitching ace, king was her mistake (7)
J. Grumby, he is one who passes over (7)
Skipper.
“First People Wearing Sneakers” is title taken by Hindus in 1900 (9)
“First Person Wearing Sneakers” is title taken by Buddhist in 1889 (9)
_ R _ _ _ _ _ _ _
OK, spill!! This is killing me. 
I started from the newest cryptic and wanted to work my way backwards. I found a link to download the puzzle as a PDF, and printed it so I could take it with me to work on it. Did the same with the previous cryptic. Now I want to do the one before that and I can’t find a link to get the PDF, and the link to print the puzzle only brings up the solution.
Did the WSJ change their site recently, or am I not getting the same page that I was before?
Would it help you to know:
“First Pacifican Wearing Sneakers” is title taken by Polynesian in 1945 (9)
Or how about:
“First Prude Wearing Sneakers” is title taken by Victorian in 1928 (9)