You Should Hear This: 1979

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:26 pm

The Best Year.

PopTodd · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:54 pm

Well, first album that comes to mind from '79 is this one:

Perfect pop song after perfect pop song, all with a solidly 50's base underneath it all. It is this album that brought Nick his biggest hit in "Cruel to be Kind", but you would be loathe to find a dud among any of the tunes.

PopTodd · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:01 pm

Speaking of perfect pop, maybe the MOST-perfect power pop song of all time came out on this album in 1979. Even if the rest of the album was a pile of shit, this one would be worth hearing for "Starry Eyes" alone. Thankfully, there are a bunch of other good tunes on there, too. Even if none of the rest of them are "Starry Eyes." It's a band that some argue should have made a bigger splash. I'm not going to argue one way or the other. Only will say that the one song kills me every time.

Stone · **Joined:** Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:27 am **Posts:** 1562

XTC - Drums and Wires

This is easily my favorite XTC album. I like others, but I think they got too serious for their own good at times. The lighthearted, new wave feel, mixed with the great songwriting of D&W, is what sets it apart for me.

nobody · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:33 pm

Yeah, a pretty amazing year with the Clash putting out London Calling, Joy Division with Unknown Pleasures, PIL putting out Metal Box, Buzzcocks with Singles Going Steady, the B-52s debut, Talking Heads: Fear of Music, AC/DC: Highway to Hell, The Specials debut, Off the Wall, the only Michael Jackson solo album I like at all, Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, The Slits: Cut, The Undertones, Marianne Faithfull's Broken English, Gary Numan, Madness, The Damned: Machine Gun Etiquette, Prince's first album, releases by The Germs and The Cramps. Yeah, this was a great fucking year with a ton of albums I still listen to regularly. And I'll throw out a personal favorite that I don't think gets nearly the praise it deserves...

Iggy Pop: New Values
This album is sometime overlooked in Iggy's career, with people either ngoing back to Lust for Life and The Idiot, older Stooges records or maybe a couple later career highlights. But I think he really nailed this one. It does a great job of splitting the difference between his mor epoppy efforts that Bowie had just produced for him and his more raw rock n'n roll with the Stooges. This is probably my favorite and certainly my most listened to Iggy solo album.

Also, "just" a 12" and npot an album. But Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight was massive.

And another sometimes overlooked personal fave...

Throbbing Gristle: 20 Jazz Funk Greats
The songs here are neither jazz nor funk and there are not 20 of them. Still, this is about as accessible as Throbbing Gristle get. Most of the songs here certainly have an edge and experimental noises seep in and out of everything. But, there is some structure to the whole affair, some actual songs, melodies permeating most tracks. I find this the perfect starting place for checking this group out and pretty much the sweet spot in their catalog. The idyllic cover art brings it all together.

PopTodd · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:38 pm

That XTC was 79?
Damn. I thought it was 80 or 81.
Agreed: awesome album. Arguably their best, along with Skylarking, which sounds like an entirely different band, altogether.

Stone · **Joined:** Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:27 am **Posts:** 1562

The Residents - Eskimo

Quite possible the eeriest and strange album I've listened to. It's mostly effects and soundscapes, but still is a very engaging listen. This is one that you really have to listen to to understand what it is and what it's about. Also noteworthy: this marked the first time the members donned the eyeballs.

Stone · **Joined:** Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:27 am **Posts:** 1562

PopTodd Wrote:

That XTC was 79?
Damn. I thought it was 80 or 81.
Agreed: awesome album. Arguably their best, along with Skylarking, which sounds like an entirely different band, altogether.

Yes, sir. I double checked it this time. :rawk:

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:50 pm

Drums and Wires is my favorite XTC, too.

Lots of other favorites of mine have been mentioned as well:
Talking Heads - Fear of Music (their best & best of the year)
PiL - Metal Box
The Slits - Cut
Gary Numan - Replicas AND Pleasure Principle
Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette

...and yeah, The Clash and Joy Division, too.

And that still leaves a lot more.

I'll start with this:

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor

Kraftwerk-like early synth pop. Might seem kind of corny if you don't know what to expect, but it's brilliant stuff. Totally ahead of its time, right along with Gary Numan and, well, Kraftwerk. I've only started listening to them in the past year, but they've been one of my favorite discoveries in a long time.

The actual, official video for the song "Rydeen":

and a live version of "Behind the Mask":

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

It's a year with very high highs but is not quite as deep as many other years from the 70's for me.

I can certainly get behind these that have already been mentioned:

Specials - S/T
XTC - Drums and Wires
Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
Nick Lowe - Labour of Love
B-52's - S/T
Marianne Faithfull - Broken English

I'd add:

The Undertones - S/T

This is as perfect a slice of pop/power pop as you'll find

Van Morrison - Into the Music

Is it his best? Probably not, but it is my favorite VM album.

Lowell George - Thanks I'll Eat Here

Almost as good solo as with Little Feat

Elvis Costello - Armed Forces

Top 3 EC album? probably

Gang of Four - Entertainment

Probably not a top 10 or even top 20 album for me anymore but it's about as good as post punk gets.

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp

I wore this one out on 8 track and cassette

Brides of Funkenstein - Never Buy Texas from a Cowboy

I listen to this almost as much as any Funkadelic or Parliament album and its better than any of the albums than the other Pfunk albums from 1979.

Bob Marley & the Wailers - Survival

My favorite Marley album

Sylvain Sylvain - S/T

Great fun from Dolls Guitars

Terry Allen - Lubbock (on Everything)

Probably his best album.

nobody · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:42 pm

That Sylvain Sylvain album is really fun.

tentoze · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:41 pm

billy g Wrote:

It's a year with very high highs but is not quite as deep as many other years from the 70's for me.

Van Morrison - Into the Music

Is it his best? Probably not, but it is my favorite VM album.

Yes.

Not all that much to like from 1979,although the VM and these 2 are enough to redeem the whole damned year for me:

MontyTheMongoose · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:48 pm

billy g Wrote:

I'd add:

Gang of Four - Entertainment

Probably not a top 10 or even top 20 album for me anymore but it's about as good as post punk gets.

Picked this up at Half-Price Books when I was eighteen, almost nineteen, then had it ganked -- though I was an accessory to the very crime &/or "crime" against me -- by my soon-to-be Nemesis two summers later. The only album I knowingly owned, own, &/or enjoy from '79 -- unless Sandinista! or Back in Black are actually from '79. (Wouldn't put it past me to forget release years.)

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:28 pm

Armed Forces is my favorite EC album.

I love Entertainment!

Look Sharp is great. And yet somehow I don't really like I'm the Man very much at all.

That Graham Parker album is alright.

PopTodd · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:38 pm

Damn, this was a banner year for power pop.

ShamWow! · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:46 pm

Drinky Wrote:

The Best Year.

I concur wholeheartedly.

ShamWow! · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:49 pm

nobody Wrote:

And I'll throw out a personal favorite that I don't think gets nearly the praise it deserves...

Iggy Pop: New Values
This album is sometime overlooked in Iggy's career, with people either ngoing back to Lust for Life and The Idiot, older Stooges records or maybe a couple later career highlights. But I think he really nailed this one. It does a great job of splitting the difference between his mor epoppy efforts that Bowie had just produced for him and his more raw rock n'n roll with the Stooges. This is probably my favorite and certainly my most listened to Iggy solo album.

This was in the Top 10 of my Listmania.

ShamWow! · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:21 pm

Here's some more...

pinehurst · **Joined:** Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:45 am **Posts:** 1526

duckyboy · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:48 pm

DumpJack · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:49 pm

PopTodd · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:34 pm

Only heard this one for the first time a couple of years ago, but it has made its way into my all-time top 20 or so.
The femme folkie thing is not usually my thing, but these songs and this group is so damn wonderful. Produced by Robert Fripp. Quirky, charming, odd, fun, and beautiful all at once. A truly irresistible album.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:21 am

pinehurst Wrote:

Also:

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

Some more:

Larry Jon Wilson - Sojourner
The Cars - Candy O
Joni Mitchell - Mingus
Steve Forbert - Jackrabbit Slim
Caetano Veloso - Cinema Transcendental
Lo Borges - A Via Lactea
Leonard Cohen - Recent Songs
Emmylou Harris - Blue Kentucky Girl

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

Ohg and these too:

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Forces of Victory
Devo - Duty Now for the Future
Tony Allen - No Accomodations for Lagos
Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert

You Should Hear This: 1979

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