It's like someone resurrected Zombie Malcolm and re-installed him as manager.

There are a lot of great 1978 albums that haven't been mentioned yet, but I guess there's no hurry since these threads tend to stay up a while.

Here's one:

Magazine - Real Life

I do like the Buzzcocks albums mentioned earlier, but I like Magazine's debut so much more.

Some Youtube indulgence:

Here's a few to keep the list rolling


Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings And Food
Not my favorite of theirs but this band in general grows on me every year.


Adverts - Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts
One of those bands to point to when you want to talk about how new wave and punk were a lot more synonymous before one genre went mainstream and one genre went underground. According to AMG, the album was supposed to have "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" included but was dropped due to space considerations. Picking up the reissue though will fix this.


Tubeway Army - Tubeway Army
Most people prefer this one because it's the one before Gary Numan got totally robotic and synthy. I love 'em both though. The songwriting on this is still cool. Simultaneously dark and poppy. The live set tacked on to the reissue is terrible, unfortunately.

Love that album. '78 was a really good year for reggae.

Also:




Marcia Griffiths - Naturally
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken in Town
Culture - Two Sevens Clash

Good Year for Live Albums. These are also '78

+1 on all of these:



Probably my favorite thing not yet mentioned:



Steve Forbert - Alive on Arrival

Good call on Songs You Know By Heart. What's the skinny on that Forbert album?

It's actually pretty great, energetic, singer/songwriter fare. "Goin' Down To Laurel" and "Steve Forbert's Midsummer Night's Toast" were so good they got him straddled with the new Dylan tag. He never managed to follow up the album with anything that came close to it - and the very next album's unctious hit "Romeo's Tune" completely torpedoed his cred - but there aren't many debuts that are as all around enjoyable as Alive on Arrival.

How could I forget:


The Police - Outlandos d'Amour

A handful more that haven't been mentioned but should be. (Apologies if they were mentioned, and I missed them.)


Wire - Chairs Missing
Not my favorite of Wire's original trio of albums, but I know it is for a lot of people. This is definitely an interesting transition from Pink Flag into 154 although I prefer either extreme. There's a great balance struck here, though, and it's without question an excellent, essential record.


No New York
Everybody knows what this is and why it's "important" but I'd bet a lot fewer really care about it or really like it. I do like most of it, the James Chance stuff, of course, being the best. The DNA stuff is arguably their best recorded output, and I enjoy the Mars songs as well. It's the Lydia Lunch stuff that I'm not so crazy about, but they're an important part of the comp. I don't really find that they detract from the whole which I think really is deserving of its exalted status.


Brian Eno - Music for Airports
Another "important" record that may not be enjoyed as much as it's admired, I really do dig this record a lot. I mean, it's beatiful and soothing and sets a great atmosphere. Exactly what it's supposed to do.


The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
Am I really the one posting this? This thread's been up nearly a week and none of the usual suspects mentioned it? Granted, it's "Stones, Inc.", but it's a great record anyway you slice it. It's a pop record, essentially, but it's an excellent one.


Neil Young - Comes a Time
Probably considered one of his lesser '70s albums, but it's a highly likable and endearing record and still near the top of his catalog. I'd probably rather listen to it than After the Goldrush, to be honest, but that's just me.


Michael Rother - Sterntaler
This is Rother's second post-Neu! solo album, and like all of his first three, it features Jaki Liebezeit of Can on drums and is pretty New-Age-y. In spite of the cheese factor, though, I enjoy all three of those records a great deal, this one maybe most of all.

Before all of his early to mid-eighties pap, there was this.
Subsequent CD versions have inexplicably laid aside the scorching Lennon opener Gimme Some Truth.


Ready, Steady, Go.....

Damn, loads of good stuff in this year. Really like that Generation X album as well as that Police album, both of which were kind of tarnished for many by less impressive subsequent work. But I still enjoy the hell out of those records.

Was gonna do as others here have and list all the already mentioned stuff I like a ton, but that list takes in more of this thread than makes it practical to bother with.

ah, yes...sir william broad

and i don't know that i'd necessarily write off all solo idol as pap - a few gems to be had there (though overplayed gems, yes)

More favs from '78:






Guy Clark - S/T - Just another good Guy Clark Album. Don Everley & Rodney Crowell sing backup on this one.

Emmylou Harris - Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town - Not her best but it deserves more attention than it gets. Her voice sounds great and it's not the usual mix of GP covers.

Levon Helm - S/T - Not his best either but still pretty good. Donald "Duck" Donn produced it and it features a mix of MG's and Muscle Shoals regulars playing behind him.

Eddie Hinton - Very Extremely Dangerous - Good blue eyed soul featuring the Muscle Shoals regulars

Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear - I assume most here know the story behind this divorce album.

John Prine - Bruised Orange - one of my favorite Prine albums

Penetration - Moving Targets - probably the best 70's punk band that no one talks about.

Adele Sebastian - Desert Fairy Princess - Excellent Spirtual Jazz that probably only I care about here.

Album of the year...there isn't a weak track here. Bonus points if you already knew about the Springsteen cameo.

Here's some others that probably haven't found their way into too many obner libraries:



Erically recorded.



Midge Ure pre-Ultravox, Glenn Matlock post-Pistols. The title cut is arguably the single of the year...the rest of the album suffered from some horrendous production/engineering at the hands of Mick Ronson, but the song writing is top notch.





Two albums that year...much more funk and guitar-driven than what you'd expect if all you know is "Gentlemen Take Polaroids".





Another band with two solid efforts that always seem to get lost in the 1977/1978 shuffle...the debut might just be the best "pop punk" record ever.



Three wonderful albums, and then they devolved into Big Country and The Armoury Show.



Greedy Aussies kept this to themselves and foisted AC-DC on the rest of the world.



Anyone catch Kid Strange's role in Inkheart?

That 999 has been along time favorite of mine, but none of their other albums have measured up for me. Maybe I missed one. After that one, what else is as good?

Nobody..."Concrete" is a top notch album...probably top five in terms of play-time for me in high school. "Face To Face" is decent but not great...much quieter, but "Vicous Circle" is a tremendous song.

Yes!
Underrated and overlooked.

(And that Lennon cover is better than the original IMO.)

Seems like a good spot to put this: "'78", from the new Michael Monroe reckid Sensory Overdrive, with a band that includes his Hanoi Rocks mates plus Ginger from the Wildhearts.

I actually think I have a copy of that one. I need to go back and re-listen. I think this may be a case where I just listened so much to the debut and liked it so much, I never gave other ones a fair chance. I'll go spin that one soon and see if perhaps it clicks better nowadays...haven't pulled it out in ages.