The Best Albums of 1979

 

 

THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1979

Here’s my sixth musical retrospective on the best albums released, by year. My previous “Best Albums” lists covered 1976, 1977, 1975, 1978, 1974 (in that order).

Summation: 1979 was an astounding year for rock, one of the best ever. This was highly unexpected given that R&B/Soul dominated so much of the mid-1970s, combined with the mass popularity of disco. Pop music was about to experience a seismic shift into New Wave and other variations, as well as the birth of MTV, which would soon steamroll over the entire musical landscape. So, to see how many great rock albums were released that year was a surprise. Some may call this the last great year for traditional rock.

First, I’ll list the albums that deserve consideration but didn’t make my top-20:

“Get the Knack” ….. The Knack

– Debut studio album by L.A band The Knack is absolute rubbish (ala “My Sharona”). But I’ll acknowledge the great story behind it since “Get the Knack” was recorded in just two weeks at a cost of only $18,000 (which was nothing compared to most albums at the time, and became one of the fastest-selling recordings of the decade). For credibility sake, I’m willing to list music and a band I personally didn’t like.

“Night in the Ruts” ….. Aerosmith

– Everything by Aerosmith is interesting, but this was one of their weakest albums. Internal division and rampant drug use hurt what could have been a much better album.

“Candy-O” ….. The Cars

– I had internal issues leaving this one off because it continues self-titled, “The Cars” excellent debut release the year earlier and unique sound, heavy on synthesizers mixed with guitar riffs. Very good album, but not quite as compelling as some truly great albums on my list. Confession–college girlfriend was a Cars fanatic, so she heavily influenced what I liked at the time.

“Pretenders” ….. The Pretenders

– I loved this band with front-woman Chrissie Hynde throughout the 80s, and this is their first album. It began getting radio play in late 1979, but I’ll include in the 1980 releases (to clear up any misunderstanding why it’s not on my 1979 list).

“Van Halen II” ….. Van Halen

– This was a certain smash best-seller which sounds identical to the group’s debut just a year earlier. I don’t grade this collection as strongly as other rock albums that made my list, but I can see why some would insist it belongs on any “Best” rankings.

“Sings Kristofferson” ….. Willie Nelson

– The ultimate compliment for any musical artist would be to have someone of the stature of Willie Nelson (a huge crossover success by this time) to release an entire album of songs written by that artist. Nelson paid tribute to one of the greatest American songwriters of the era with this album packed with memorable tunes, filtered through his own interpretation and style. Could easily be in the top-20, depending on one’s musical preferences.

“Oceans of Fantasy” ….. Boney M

– I noted in another yearly write-up how huge Boney M was at this time, especially in Europe. This was a huge album, with lots of fun songs (one of my wife’s favorites–I admit to being influenced here). I can’t place it in my top-20 but it can’t be ignored, either.

“Voulez-Vous” .…. ABBA

– This is another smashing international success, so huge worldwide that the Swedish pop quartet went back into the studio and re-cut multiple alternative recordings and did them in Spanish for the Latin-American market (it dominated South America, in addition to Europe). The quirky song “Chiquitita” was the biggest hit, but the entire album holds up very well and foreshadows the enduring popularity of their music that came later on (musicals, movies, etc.).

“Desolation Angels” ….. Bad Company

– I was a junior in high school and I absolutely wore this album out on my turntable. I loved all of Bad Company’s recordings, but this was shut out because there’s just too many great rock recordings above it.

“In the Heat of the Night” ….. Pat Benatar

– Pat Benetar’s second album, “Crimes of Passion” is one of the best of 1980. This debut prequel is very good, but not yet at the level she’d reach the following year when every girl in my school who wasn’t copying Stevie Nicks was trying to be Pat Benatar with the spiked hair and great rock-ribbed voice.

A Note about Richard Clayderman:

– Starting in the late 70’s, the internationally-revered French pianist/composer released several hit albums over the nest 20 years (which were massively successful). Incredibly, he did three albums in 1979 alone — Rêveries, Lettre à Ma Mère, and Medley Concerto. Collectively, this output would rank in the top-20 if it were a combined triple-album, so let me give him his due here.

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Now, on to my Top-20:

20. “Live Rust” ….. Neil Young

– Recorded during Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s “Rust Never Sleeps” American tour, is a double-album loaded with outstanding live recordings of many of his best-known songs, plus new material. Great energy on this album sometimes driven by the audiences spill over enthusiasm, which I played over and over for years in college and beyond.

19. “Spirits Having Flown” ….. Bee Gees

– The Bee Gees had an insurmountable challenge to follow up their massively-successful “Saturday Night Live” soundtrack, and given expectations were so high, many recordings were delayed. But then this album was finally released and the hits kept coming. The Bee Gees unbroken run of six US chart-toppers in just a one-year period and equalled a feat shared only by Elvis Presley and the Beatles. I don’t think this album is nearly as good as their previous releases, but it’s still solid and the sales figures don’t lie.

18. “The Rose” ….. Bette Midler

– Here’s another massively-successful album with multiple hit singles. Midler is clearly at the top of her game here. She could pull off a raunchy, bluesy Janis Joplin impersonation (few if any female artist could do that, let alone would even attempt it), but also soothe the soul as a tearful balladeer for more traditional audiences. Who doesn’t love, I mean love fucking Bette Midler? Oh wait, that came out wrong. This album shows her great vocal range and personal charisma.

17. “Blondes Have More Fun” ….. Rod Stewart

– Rod Stewart belted out one of the greatest raspy, rock voices of all-time (anyone listening instantly knew that voice). So, to see him transition from that classic rock persona and successfully pull off a more dance-driven disco-friendly beat is quite an accomplishment. Imagine, a rocker being played inside disco clubs–which is exactly what happened with this album. “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” was the smash #1 from these sessions. Stewart’s fan base of rock purists didn’t like this album, but I think it shows extraordinary versatility and adoptability. Odd Prediction: If Jim Morrison (The Doors) had lived, he’d have done this first (before Stewart).

16. “Cheap Trick at Budokan” ….. Cheap Trick

– I previous wrote that this is one of my favorite albums of the year, which was actually recorded in Osaka (Japan) because those recordings were deemed more technically crisp. About five years later, I saw Cheap Trick live in Dallas in a tiny alt. club with only about 100 seats, and they did this lineup of songs, which is one of the most incredible musical moments I’ve ever witnessed (being like 20 feet away from the band playing in a basement bar, with brick walls, echoing their thunderous sound). Call me biased. Guilty.

15. “Damn the Torpedoes” …… Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

– Widely regarded as one of Petty’s best albums, “Damn the Torpedoes” ranked number 231 on Rolling Stone’s list of best 500. It spawned four hit singles, including “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.” It would have easily been a top-10 album on my list but had the misfortune of being released at the same time as timeless masterpieces.

14. “In Through the Out Door” ….. Led Zeppelin

– Anything by Led Zeppelin is a virtual automatic inclusion. Yet, this is a seriously traumatic departure-from-normalcy final album from the original four band members — as drummer John Bonham died shortly after its release. Most hardcore Zep fans didn’t like this album (I still remember gathering with a group of 17-year-olds who all pooled our money listening for the first time and we were aghast). Jimmy Page’s contributions were minimal and Bonham was a mess, which allowed John Paul Jones to step in with Robert Plant who wrote most of the content, which was heavily driven by synthesizers. I think it shows a very different side of the band, certainly a softer more balladesque collection, including “All My Love.” It would rank higher, but contains only seven songs. We need more for it to rank among the most revered Led Zeppelin recordings.

13. “The B-52’s” ….. The B-52s

– New Wave band the B-52s was the perfect party band for the upcoming ’80s decade with their colorful costumes, throwback beehive hairdos, catchy rhythms and guitar riffs, kitschy sometimes ridiculous lyrics, and celebration atmosphere. This is a wonderful debut album, praised by many critics at the time as obviously commercial, but still clever and innovative. Few albums (or groups) can pull that off, one reason this album clearly belongs among an excellent year of releases.

12. “Rise” ….. Herb Albert

– Is “Rise” really superior to the albums ranked lower, or those that didn’t make my list? Perhaps not, so it’s a fair criticism to ask why this is listed so high. But also consider the instrumental title track “Rise” which was a nearly 8-minute single that was played in discos and bridged every taste of music, becoming a smash hit worldwide. This album also contains what was to be the trumpet-blasting 1980 Olympic theme song (before the USA withdrew from the Moscow games), later used as an intro for the World Cup. “Rise” was one of the first pop albums to use the new digital recording technology. It was groundbreaking, contains many styles of music, crossed barriers, and stands up as well today as back then — which checks every box as a top-20 inclusion.

11. “We Are Family” ….. Sister Sledge

– The title single may have been the top song of the year, as it was blasted out everywhere — even sports teams (recall the Pittsburgh teams using this song in their championship seasons). However, the entire album is also just as enjoyable. Many may be surprised to learn this was the best-selling album of 1979–which really says something when you look at this list. So, it was immensely popular, included powerful hit songs, and was also critically-acclaimed. Let’s place it at #11.

10. “Christopher Cross” ….. Christopher Cross

– Cross might be the Shakespearean tragedy of the era given what happened to him within a relatively short time frame. This debut album packed with soft-pop ballads (which was later called “yacht music”) was a smash success — it won multiple Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Given its massive success, the fact Cross didn’t release another album for four years foretells the earthquake about to happen in the music business. MTV was on the horizon and Cross’s frumpy image and link with “adult contemporary” didn’t translate well into music-television and pop hit videos. After winning an Oscar a short-time later for “Arthur,” his popularity declined almost immediately. He opened for popular rock bands, and was sometimes booed off the stage. Cross never came close again to the success of this first album, which is a shame. Nonetheless, this record deserves praise and remembrance.

9. “Reggatta de Blanc” ….. The Police

– Confession…huge Police fan here. I’ve seen them more times than any other act/artist if we include Police/Sting as a coupling (8, by my count). This was the Police’s second group album, which launched two big hits, “Message in a Bottle” and “Walking on the Moon.” Labelled as “White reggae fusion” at the time, this album solidified a genre later copied by UB40, Men at Work, and others. My observation: Interesting comparison to be made here in contrast to Christopher Cross (see above)….The Police, three blond young guys from England would make a number of memorable videos to accompany their singles (from albums), which contributed tremendously to their global success. Other artists may have written great music, but didn’t have “the look.”

8. “Tusk” ….. Fleetwood Mac

– This is the point in my rankings where arguably any of the top-8 could be a #1. All albums from this point forward are brilliant. Fleetwood Mac fans got a wonderful bonus surprise with this double album loaded with radio-friendly music, but still remained deeply introspective and meaningful. Interesting facts include this starting out as an experimental set of recordings, and the project ballooned to a whopping $1.4 production budget–then the most-expensive album ever made, and that didn’t include the coke. Incredibly, despite the extra disc, sales dropped from 10 million for “Rumours” to just 4 million on this album, oddly making it a commercial “disappointment.” The backstories surrounding this album are legendary (read them if you’re into rock history). The perfect critique was Rolling Stone’s review, which included this description: “The experimental nature of the album (makes it) comparable to the Beatles’ “White Album” in that “Tusk is less a collection of finished songs than a mosaic of pop-rock fragments by individual performers.” That’s pretty damned impressive praise, right there.

7. “Of the Wall” ….. Michael Jackson

– Michael Jackson was about to become the worldwide music earthquake of the 1980s, and this is his early tremor. We all remembered The Jackson 5 from years earlier, and this was Jackson’s first real album as a grown up. The cover showed Jackson in a tuxedo like going to a life’s graduation (which this sorta’ was), and the music reflects the power of his voice, raw talent, boundless energy, and great awareness of what pop music culture wanted to hear. It’s a tragedy what happened to Jackson later on, and if you want to know the artist he might have been without losing control of his life as a living icon then listen to this album all the way through sometime. I was a rocker back then, but I still borrowed this album from somebody and remembering being blown away from the first moment I listened. That opinion as not changed.

6. “Breakfast in America” ….. Supertramp

– Why didn’t Supertramp become the next big rock gods? All the pieces were in place with this album, fronted by lead vocalist Rick Davies. Supertramp initially broke through in 1974, yet didn’t really hit the big time until this album became an unexpected surprise hit. “The Logical Song” turned into the anthem of the summer on rock stations everywhere, and overall this album contained four hit singles.

5. “London Calling” ….. The Clash

– Many argue this album should be #1, and it’s hard to disagree except for other great recordings that year. I wasn’t into the Clash even with their great primal energy, but they released a masterpiece here that stands decades later as one of the most influential recordings of all time. Interestingly, it was released a double-album first in the UK, rare at the time for punk rockers. Even though it’s classified in the punk genre, that’t not quite accurate given the wide range of styles including reggae, rockabilly, New Orleans-spiked R&B, pop, lounge-infused jazz, and hard rock. What stands out apart from the music are the lyrics, initially London-centric but also with references to historical and cultural pop events. Unlike other punk recordings which often frightened the mainstream (which was kinda’ the point), this album showed punk could also be fun. Multiple critics rank this as the best double album since the Rolling Stones’ classic “Exile on Main Street” from 1972.

4. “Bad Girls” ….. Donna Summer

– This is another powerhouse double-album. Many call it the greatest dico album of all time, and it’s hard to disagree. Absolutely loaded with 72 minutes across four discs of original material, incredibly the songs aren’t repetitive in the least, showin a wide variety of beats and sounds and moods, shattering the criticism that disco was “too one-dimensional.” Rolling Stone was even over-the-top with its praise, ranking this album at #23 all time. Donna Summer’s album spawned six huge hits, including chart-toppers “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls.” When we think of albums that defined the times and the culture, this stands as a landmark. Summer wasn’t just the “Queen of Disco” anymore. With this, she was The Queen. That label was about to crash and burn, however. Disco began to face significant sociopolitical (some say racist) backlash from the American record-buying public. US radio stations, wanting a return to more rock-oriented material, began banning disco.

3. “The Long Run” ….. The Eagles

– It took three years for the Eagles to release an acceptable follow-up to the blockbuster hit “Hotel California” (1976) and this album — appropriately titled “The Long Run” — was well worth the wait. Originally intended as a double-album, the group scaled back what could have been a much-heavier collection of recordings (especially given the band included multiple songwriters who all became successful solo artists). There were deep cracks within the band by these sessions culminating in the infamous onstage infighting during a concert during this album tour, but the songwriting remains purely glorious Eagles. Given the Eagles’ remarkable staying power, this album has grown in stature. Like many groups, it becomes impossible to surpass or even meet previous success but when measured as a whole over expansive time, it’s a gem. Any other group would be so lucky to have a release like this one, which much like ABBA, Bee Gees, and others that same year found themselves faced with insurmountable expectations.

2. “Highway to Hell” ….. AC/DC

– When we think of masterpieces of hard rock, this is the musical-political-cultural flash point of raw power and rebellious energy, laced with astonishing vocals, hypnotic guitar work, and thundering percussion. And it comes out of Australia of all places! It’s a flawless album of the genre, probably second only to “Back in Black” in the now-sacred AC/DC album canon. “Highway to Hell” became a counterculture anthem for multi-generations staying with us to this day, but was racy then for its scandalous satire of religion. Indeed, religious fundamentalists cited this album and the title track as “proof” of satanic conspiracies and the liberal music industry as part of devil worship. This album is everything rock n’ roll originated from — rebellion, unconventional ideas, raw energy in the form of musical excellence, and a huge middle finger to the establishment. This was the last recording to feature frontman Bon Scott, who died months after this release. I defy anyone to listen to this album now and not feel the same power 46 years later as the time many of us first heard it.

1. The Wall ….. Pink Floyd

– I could almost cut and paste the AC/DC description and insert it here for the bold counterculture themes expressed in Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” So, why is this my #1. I’ll explain: (a) this is a political statement at a time when NO MUSIC was political. Unlike the ’60s and all the political messaging, the ’70s was the decade of hedonism. Yet, Pink Floyd defies the cultural norms and releases that mesmerizing chant “We don’t need no ed-uuuu-cayyy-shun” on this album. (b) commercial success….with over 30 million copies sold, it is the second-best-selling Pink Floyd album behind “The Dark Side of the Moon” (1973) and the best-selling double album of all time. (c) oh, how many movies were made AFTER the release of an album? Yes, a story and musical surrealist film was created based on this release…..and some years later, the music was featured in the commercials for innovative Steve Jobs’ Apple products, which kinda’ says everything. Conclusion: This is a powerhouse year of rock music, but “The Wall” is a surprisingly easy pick for me. Personal Note: I interviewed Bob Ezrin once (thanks Lisa Tenner) who produced this album. Seriously, can you imagine the back stories! I should post the transcript of that conversation sometime.

Song of the Year: The 8-minute long “Another Brick in the Wall” sometimes called “Part 2.” Easy pick for its endurance, which I predict will be one of those symphonic moments played into the next century. “We Are Family” might be the most timepiece-oriented song of the year, but I’ll go with Pink Floyd.