ITT: /mu/ in 1978
ah 1978, the year NO good albums were released. a real oddity
WTF? I hate the Bee Gees now!
>>131832172>t. hasn't been enlightened by ornette coleman's body meta yetpleb
rock is saved
FUCK DISCO
>>131832153>inb4 Christgau review spam
whatever happened to John Lennon anyway? nobody's heard from him in the last three years.
Alright, let's do this.
how many more years are you guys gonna keep doing this?
Despite the title this isn't completely disgusting and "Bicycle Race" is even kind of cute. Worth 10ccs--now stick a spoke or a pump in their ass. C+
>>131832229i'm not sure, i'm not gay enough to follow the life of a musician who made 3 chord pop for teen girls. have you tried asking your local gay bar?
>>131832209Those synthesizers sure are neat huh?
>>131832193their comeback three years ago was cute, but now it's just starting to wear on me and that's putting it very very mildly
>>131832337lol Queen sux XD
Time to stop already, guys.
One thing you can say about a funk group that scores a number one hit as sappy as "Three Times a Lady"--they ain't as funky as they used to be. C
>>131832387how about not starting to begin with?
>>1318321720/10Debut albums:XTCPere UbuKate BushBuzzcocksThe RezillosDEVOSiouxsie and the BansheesTubeway ArmyOther releases:Bootsy? Player of the YearThis Year's Model - Elvis CostelloAdventure - Television
>>131832263wtf i want to shoot my friend and then myself now
>>131832489Van Halen S/T, Stained Class, etc.
This'll be the last one, we promise.
>>131832172Not factualhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-t6hyYOvcs
I've admired their forward motion and facile riffs, so it is my sad duty to report that they've degenerated into the usual exhibitionism. Type song: "Lookin' Out For No. 1", a phrase that's become as much of a byword for the late '70s as "Let's all come together" was for the late '60s. C
>>131832221^This.
>>131832566For some reason Warners wants us to know that this is the biggest bar band in the San Fernando Valley. That is an understatement--all new bands start as bar bands unless they're Boston. The term "bar band" becomes honorific when the music belongs in a bar. This music belongs on an aircraft carrier. C
>>131832566Do the kids today even understand?https://youtu.be/fVuNiRk5irQ?si=k831t7nS235RNwa0&t=241
If this isn't Kiss for college kids, then it's Meat Loaf for college kids who are too sophisticated to like Meat Loaf. Aside from music per se, the Kiss connection is in their cartoonishness--Devo's robot moves create distance, a margin of safety, the way Kiss's makeup does. But the Meat Loaf connection is deeper, because this is real midnight-movie stuff--the antihumanist sci-fi silliness, the reveling in decay, the thrill of being in a cult that could attract millions and still seem like a cult, since 200 million others will never even get curious. (It's no surprise to be told that a lot of their ideas come from Eraserhead, but who wants to go see Eraserhead to make sure?) What makes this group worthy of attention at all--and now we're back with Kiss, though at a more complex level--is the catchy, comical, herky-jerky rock and roll they've devised out of the same old basic materials. In small doses it's as good as novelty music ever gets, and there isn't a really bad cut on this album. But it leads nowhere. B+
>>131832844what does any of this gibberish even mean?
>>131832562Unsurprisingly, it's more disco like last year's album was and she even discovers funk. This is her most driving stuff since the early 60s and it was the last serious major label release she ever did. Not a bad way to go out on.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXyR63AKwUY
This lady meanwhile finally gets some drive for the first time ever after I guess discovering that Debbie Harry was a better exemplar than the Carpenters.
I WANNA SEE KATE'S BUSH
these Apple guys really want me to buy a computer, even saw their ad in Playboy but tf can i do with a computer? get back to me when i can actually look at Playboy centerfolds on one.
Q: Wanna know why Starcastle are heavying it up? A: They want to go platinum just like Styx. Fortunately, they haven't yet gotten around to the cathedral organ. C-
>>131833049ok this is accurate. Styx do indeed suck dick.
YOU GOT ME LOOKIN' AT THAT HEAVEN IN YOUR EYESI WAS CHASIN' YOUR DIRECTIONI WAS TELLIN' YOU NO LIESAND I WAS LOVIN' YOU
>>131833292>>131833235>>131832671YEEEEHAWWWW
Mr. Carter, I am disappoint and should not have voted for you.
Like any great group, this one is always topping itself. Album four alternates definitive high-speed rockers--"I Wanted Everything," "I'm Against It," and "She's the One" are as good as any they've ever done--with more candidly lyrical slow ones that rank with the oldie, "Needles and Pins," as compositions. The lyrics of "I Just Want to Have Something to Do" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" test the barrier between their Queens-geek personas and their real lives as professional musicians without a hint of rocky-road bullshit. Only the "Bad Brain" (a title) theme seems repetitious--personally, I'm glad it's fading. But the guitar breaks bring tears to my personal eyes, and I await Gary Stewart's version of "Questioningly." A
>>131833513this got blasted in Rolling Stone when Greil Marcus thought they sold out to the Foreigner audience and the Ramones should be a best-kept secret for cool people like himself.
>>131832428isn't that song actually about having a threesome?
I love rock-and-roll so much that I find myself getting off on "Hot-Blooded", a typical piece of nookie-hating cock-rock based around a riff-verse-chorus change that's (gah!) second-generation Bad Company. Other than that there's nothing here to threaten their status as world's dullest band. Inspirational verse: "She backhanded me/'Cross my face." C-
Most of James's albums suffer from radical unevenness; this one is marred by its consistency. Producer Jerry Wexler's song choices are as tastefully imaginative as his arrangements, but James has never had much midrange, and her versions of (good) material from such luminaries as Kiki Dee, the Eagles, and Alice Cooper are inferior to the originals. She doesn't get much out of "Piece of My Heart," either. That said, I'll admit to enjoying side two--opening with a jaunty "Lovesick Blues" and touching base at gospel (Dorothy Love Coates), soul (Allen Toussaint), and r&b (revamping her own "I'd Rather Go Blind"). But it's still a little boring. Which means it's not the real Etta. B
>>131833723>that "Wow, can't believe I'm 40" look
>>131833698>>131833568>>131832844>>131832263>>131832566Sure is a lot of white boy rockslop in here.
I've liked this woman on record with Neil Young and on stage with Commander Cody, but her solo debut is the worst kind of backup-chick garbage, pure El Lay from its folk-pop production to its Sam Cooke desecration and J.D. Souther capper. Even the jumping Marvin Gaye remake fits the pattern--Angelenos in need of a little mobility always import it from Detroit. C−
Side one is everything this band is supposed to be--seven fresh, clever, evanescent songs, each with its own hip twist. Whether Deborah Harry is claiming that using telepathy to win at poker is "really not cheating" or executing a siren call for the electric age (the bell she imitates sounds like it belongs on a squad car), her vocals are on top and out front, a pop-rock delight. But side two bombs, except for "Kidnapper" and a couple of refrains, and the singing gets lost in the mud. Me, I'd buy it for side one. But I'm not sure about you. B+
>>131833910accurate. this is indeed shit. worthless skank who fucked and sucked Neil Young.
Sigh.
BABY COME BACKANY KIND OF FOOL COULD SEETHERE WAS SOMETHING IN EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUAND I JUST CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU
That NL cover of "You Send Me" was bad enough, this lady also proceeds to mangle the Chiffons by turning them into loungeslop.
>>131834044that's a tribute to Fats Waller rather than Fats Domino, not that that would be any better. besides, she already ruined "The Boll Weevil" back in the day.
Promised Land," "Badlands," and "Adam Raised a Cain" are models of how an unsophisticated genre can illuminate a mature, full-bodied philosophical insight. Lyrically and vocally, they move from casual to incantatory modes with breathtaking subtlety, jolting ordinary details into meaning. But many of the other songs remain local-color pieces, and at least two--"Something in the Night" and "Streets of Fire"--are overwrought, soggy, all but unlistenable. An important minor artist or a rather flawed and inconsistent major one. B+
>>131834180>and at least two--"Something in the Night" and "Streets of Fire"--are overwrought, soggy, all but unlistenableBruce oversings too much?
>>131834173Could still be worse, at least she finally gave up on contemporary pop for good.
>>131834293it's been five years since anyone cared about these guys? sorry we have Judas Priest now.
Here the Heads become a quintet in an ideal producer-artist collaboration--Eno contributes/interferes just enough. Not only does his synthesized lyricism provide flow and continuity, it also makes the passive, unpretentious technological mysticism he shares with the band real in the aural world. In fact, there is so much beautiful music (and so much funky music) on this album that I'll take no more complaints about David Byrne's voice. Every one of these eleven songs is a positive pleasure, and on every one the tension between Byrne's compulsive flights and the sinuous rock bottom of the music is the focus. I have more doubts than ever about Byrne's post-hippie work-ethic positivism--on one new song, he uses the phrase "wasting precious time" and means it--but if it goes with music this eccentric and compelling I'm damn sure going to hear him out. A
One of my favorite guilty pleasure albums, it's too bad nobody talks about this album since it's so different from the type of music they pivoted to later on
>>131834293>when they put synths on the album and Iommi started wearing disco clothesInto the trash it goes.
The Stones' best album since Exile on Main Street is also their easiest since Let It Bleed or before. They haven't gone for a knockdown uptempo classic, a "Brown Sugar" or "Jumping Jack Flash"--just straight rock and roll unencumbered by horn sections or Billy Preston. Even Jagger takes a relatively direct approach, and if he retains any credibility for you after six years of dicking around, there should be no agonizing over whether you like this record, no waiting for tunes to kick in. Lyrically, there are some bad moments--especially on the title cut, which is too fucking indirect to suit me--but in general the abrasiveness seems personal, earned, unposed, and the vulnerability more genuine than ever. Also, the band is a real good one--especially the drummer. A
>During the first few months of '78, a record six spots on the Billboard Top 10 were occupied by a song performed by the Gibb brothers.[3]
>abandoning prog a day late and a dollar short
>>131834397he loves sucking this bands dick
>>131834397"Miss You", best "Northeast in summertime" anthem ever.
>>131833854Can it, Jamal
>>131834384Great album you're missing out
Because your humble servant is attacked by name on what is ostensibly a comedy record, several of my colleagues have rushed in with Don Rickles analogies but that's not fair--Lenny Bruce is the real comparison. Thing is, I don't play my comedy albums, not even my real Lenny Bruce ones, as much as I do Rock 'n Roll Animal. There are several Lou Reed concerts I'd love to check out again, such as The Palladium 11/5/76 and Bottom Line 5/11/77, but this isn't either of those, I'm sorry. And I'd like to thank Lou for pronouncing my name right. C
>>131833854>EVH>rockslopstfu
...
>>131833854We posted that Commodores and the Etta James album, you happy?
Catchy, sexy, danceable pop of undeniable craft, at least on side one. But as we all know, they could be doing a lot better. B
>>131832337Fat Bottomed Girls rocks pretty hard until you realize he's not actually talking about girls.
>>131834457>>131834588Best prog sellout album of 1978
Billy Joel is a lot like Elton John and Leo Sayer in that he has the same knack for omnivorous hummability. But when Elton is (was) good he balanced out the smarm with camp. Billy on the other hand sounds as if he wants you to actually believe the words he's singing. Yuck. B-
>>131834457fortunately there's just one album left before they call it quits
>>131832387Its kinda funny that Paul and Gene got Beth-sniped again, only this time it was Ace. Yes I know its a cover but its arguably more popular than the og and the only thing anyone remembers from the solos.
>>131832387KISS fatigue was setting in by this point. Van Halen were definitely the cool new thing in heavy rock this year and KISS had kind of passed their sell date.
>>131834697Billy Joel sucks ass, bro.
One of those records that is diminished by the printed lyrics that are its reason for being. Musically, Gabriel combines with producer Robert Fripp for alert art-rock that gets down around atonality rather than jumping into the astral-noodle soup, with Roy Bittan's romantic flourishes as welcome as "D.I.Y.," a hard-rock landmark in a hard-rock year. But even though it makes you sit up when it comes on the radio, it's basically program music, designed to support words as elitist (and programmatic) as the social commentary Gabriel used to essay in his Genesis days. Remember the immortal words of Chuck Berry: beware of middlebrows bearing electric guitars. B−
Do it, James! Do it for all of us!
I know Lou worked his ass off on this one, but he worked his ass off on Berlin, too--like so many of his contemporaries, maybe he should stop trying to create masterpieces. After being annoyed for the longest time, I eventually warmed to "I Wanna Be Black", which treats racism as a stupid joke and gets away with it. But the production is muddled and the self-consciousness self-serving. B-
McCartney's lyricism is so capricious, so given to inanity and icky-poo, that only at its very best--"With a Little Luck" and the affectionate goof on "Famous Groupies"--does it come on strong. But from its slices of life to its romantic reassurances this is nowhere near as feckless as the Old Band on the Run claque claims--even on the one about the fairy who'll invite us to tea Linda adds a few harmonies that are as charming as they're meant to be. And at the very least you have to be impressed by how steadfastly Paul has resisted supersessions--he's been loyal to his group, which has now recorded longer than the Beatles. B
>>131835527nottu dissu shittu again.jpg
Somewhat disappointing sales over the years have convinced Trower to push the vocals of singer/second banana James Dewar up front where you actually hear them. Yuck. C-
>>131835527No one cares about 60s Zayn's shitty children's songs about fairies.
Does the title mean she'd rather drown than get hit by a truck in the MOR? Or that she's changing horses midrecord from Joe Brooks (get the pun?) to Brooks (get it now?) Arthur? Arthur's side offers classy material (this year Allee Willis, maybe next Janis Ian!), while Joe's is junk almost as jingly as "You Light Up My Life." I prefer Joe's. I'd also prefer to get hit by a truck. D+
Maybe the title smash doesn't deserve to end up a one-shot--Tyler's songwriters, Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, show a gift for the Nashvillian pain-of-love lyric. But if there's another hit hidden away on this album, it's gonna bore us all stiff inside of two weeks. C
>>131832209I don't mind you hangin' outAnd talkin' in your sleepIt doesn't matter where you've beenAs long as it was deepYEAH
>>131835850she dropped Scott/Wolfe afterwards as she thought they were making her too country. unfortunately she then thought Jim Steinman was actually a good idea.
>>131835527boring shite
>>131835850thank you for not posting the terrible, terrible US cover art
>>131833513>with more candidly lyrical slow ones that rank with the oldie, "Needles and Pins,"Jackie's old classic rides again.
Hippies were rainbow extremists; punks are romantics of black-and-white. Hippies forced warmth; punks cultivate cool. Hippies kidded themselves about free love; punks pretend that s&m is our condition. As symbols of protest, swastikas are no less fatuous than flowers. So it's not surprising that Siouxsie Sioux, punks' exemplary fan-turned-artist, should prove every bit as pretentious as model-turned-rocker Grace Slick or film-student manqué Jim Morrison. Nor is it surprising that while the spirit is still upon her she should come up with a tunefully atonal, modestly sensationalistic album. B+
>>131835993When they were actually a rock band instead of corny goth pop.
You can tell these guys are from Atlanta--it says so right in the name. So why do they sound like lazy Eagles? Why have they concocted a title that is the rock and roll equivalent of "cocktail jazz"? And when are they going to change their name officially to ARS, as in AWB? C
Carly generally makes marriage seem both more boring and more nasty than I've found it to be, but not on this album, where matrimony is abandoned for more adolescent subjects. Even the two please-don't-cheat-oh-hubby songs--the better (and nastier) of them written by Carly's hubby--can be interpreted by her younger fans as please-don't-cheat-oh-boyfriend. In a way, this is too bad--if Carly were to come up with an interesting song about marriage, someone less conventional musically than Carly & Arif might cover it and give Carola and me something new to sing along to. John and Yoko, where are you now that we need you? C+
Inveterate rock and rollers learn to find charm in boastful, secretly girl-shy adolescents, but boozy-voiced misogynists in their late thirties are a straight drag. This divorcé sounds overripe, too in love with his own self-generated misery to break through the leaden tempos that oppress his melodies, devoid not just of humor but of lightness--unless, that is, he intends his Neil Diamond masquerade as a joke. Because he's too shrewd to put his heart into genuine corn, and because his idea of a tricky arrangement is to add horns or chicks to simplistic verse-and-chorus abcb structures, a joke is what it is. But since he still commands remnants of authority, the joke is sour indeed. C+
Each time I concentrate I can make out some new detail in Daltrey's singing or in Townshend's guitar or in Entwistle's bass guitar. Not in Keith Moon's drumming, though, and I still don't relate to the synthesizer. But I never learn anything new and this is not my idea of fun rock-and-roll. It should be one or the other, if not both. B
>>131835330>experiences a slight guilt trip over TNP
Well, she did call the last one Sweet Passion, and if she calls the next one Transcendent Glory it won't bring the spirit back. C+
