An Ear For An Era: 1980

Hey it's the decade that made me! And lots of people. And lots of odd choices.

1980 specifically though, had some hardcore punk rock, some innovative uses of different genres by punk rock outsiders (including much ska from the UK), more super fun party rap, and some cheesy stuff by lots of people.

So let's go in that order.

The Cramps' first actual album Songs The Lord Taught Us is such a great introduction to not giving a damn. Sloppy, ugly, and yet fun and original and pure energy. Zombie Dance, I'm Cramped, Sunglasses After Dark, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, it's all just like lightning. Lightning that zapped a corpse, reanimating it. And continued to zap it, making it dance. Zapping at its feet. You know?

Dead Kennedys on the other hand did give a damn. They gave a lot of a damn. Their actual debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is one of the most fiercely political, satirical, pissed off albums I own. In high school a guy that was oh so punk rock had a Dead Kennedys jacket he wore all the time and that was around the time I got into punk rock. This was an intimidating introduction to the real stuff. Singing about killing children? Ok that one is obviously satirical, playing on parents' fears of these punk rock fiends, but lynching the landlord and chemical warfare? There is some real anger in here and a lot of information about where said anger comes from.

Dead Kennedys "When Ya Get Drafted"

Other great punk bands had songs that I only have one song from. One of my favorites is Stiff Little Fingers' "Tin Solders," a song later covered by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This era is going to prove to be hugely influential on mid 90s punk, of course. I also got excited to get my first song by The Ex, a super amazing Dutch punk band that has been evolving since then and still blows my mind with every passing release. They were pretty standard punk rock back in 1980, but were already showing their restlessness with the limitations that they would soon destroy.

The Ex "The Sky Is Blue Again"

Now time to kind of detour into post punk. Joy Division was really starting to get interesting and then Ian Curtis died. This is going to be a theme here. Great bands that showed endless promise get cut short by a tragedy. The only album of theirs I have (other than the singles collection) is Closer. The world may associate the band with the oft-covered "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (not of this album but of this year) but something about the driving beat of this song really gets me going, the emptiness created by the echo, it's everything the good side of the 80s comes from. Rest in peace Mr. Curtis.

Joy Division "Twenty Four Hours"

Am I going to post a video for everything? Not sure yet. Either that or I just mention my favorite or most noteworthy track off each album I talk about here.

How about The Clash?? Sandinista! is quite the undertaking. It just keeps going! And it goes dub on several occasions! Part of me agrees with some of the critics of that time saying it would have made for a great single-disc album. But no, they had to go triple! Of course my favorite tracks are the more classically Clash sounding ones (the ska punk of London Calling, the few straightforward punk rock tracks). I applaud their ambition, and the ambition of anyone who sits down and listens to this whole thing front to back. Check out "Washington Bullets" for a great political song in the vein of London Calling or "Police on My Back" for the most early Clash sounding song. Oh whatever, I'm going to post that one. It was quite invigorating when it came up because I'd gotten exhausted (it's right at the halfway point in the experience) and it's a shot of energy and catchiness and not dub.

The Clash "Police On My Back"

Not quite as ambitious but still ambitious was Elvis Costello & The Attractions' Get Happy!! 20 tracks that were all jammed to fit on one single record! Lots of songs under 2 minutes but he didn't go in the direction of punk rock (that would have been quite interesting). It was more influenced by the 60s and soul and the simplicity of Buddy Holly and yet lots of diversity. "Motel Matches" is the most ballady song and probably my favorite. "New Amsterdam" introduces one of my favorite styles of Elvis Costello song (a certain type of folky one he would revisit on King of America). "Human Touch" is ska.

Speaking of Elvis Costello and ska, did you know he produced the The Specials' self-titled debut? Did you know I had it labeled as 1980 but it seemed to have come out in 1980? Damnit!  This is the big one  when it comes to the two tone era. It epitomizes the unity and the black and white checkers and has tons of classic tracks. But I missed my chance to talk about it (that's how this works, right?). I only have one song from the 1980 follow-up More Specials, but I like it a lot. It's a cover of an old song but I always want to play it at parties.

The Specials "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)"

What other ska was there, you ask? Well, one of my favorite ska records is The English Beat's I Just Can't Stop It. It's very 80s. It's a mix of different styles of ska and covers lots of other influences like rock & roll and soul. It's almost as much a new wave record as it is a ska record. Covers of songs like "Tears of a Clown" and "Can't Get Used to Losing You" bring in the soul in a way that makes it so intimate and then "Ranking Full Stop" is a full on party song.

I saw The English Beat live in concert once as an 80s throwback lineup with A Flock of Seagulls and Devo. This is about Devo, not A Flock of Seagulls. I think I overlook Freedom of Choice because of the overplayed curse that is "Whip It." Aside from that song it's a really great album, one of their best even. And anything for a chance to post another Devo music video!

Devo "Freedom of Choice"

Now let's change to hip hop a bit. Just for a quick paragraph. After this blog series' introduction to the genre last time with "Rapper's Delight" we already have a bit of an explosion. I've long had Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" as a representative old hip hop song in my collection. It used to bore me because of how long and repetitive it was. But in context with this other stuff it's more enjoyable. Afrika Bambaataa Nation funk it up very awesomely on "Zulu Nation Throwdown," and I'll probably have more on Afrika Bambaataa soon. But surprisingly (?) my favorite 1980 hip hop came from a collection called The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983. They were apparently partying pretty hard in Connecticut and making their own hip hop innovations. Rappermatical 5 had a great jam called "Party People," The Outlaw Four had a pretty silly song called "Million Dollar Legs," and someone named Mr. Magic had this super awesome party time song. Listening to it I can kind of picture the role of the MC...he's not the star here, he's letting the DJ do his thing for this mostly instrumental track, and peppering it with some rhymes.

Mr. Magic "Potential 1980"

Now to the kinda cheesy part of things. Not that hip hop wasn't cheesy. But for a while there I was listening to all this stuff wondering if 1980 was the cheesiest year for music. One Queen album wasn't particularly cheesy but I don't know where else to put it. The Game is one of their better albums with classics like "Another One Bites The Dust," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," and the title track. But they also had another album from 1980: The Flash Gordon soundtrack! It includes lots of little snippets of dialog from the movie and it seems to be such a splendidly campy affair. And the electric guitar playing the wedding march is just so inspired and cheesy I hope someone I know someday walks down the aisle to that song. At least a grocery aisle. I hope they play that song at the grocery store.

But for real, 1980 was full of cheesy cheese by people like Diana Ross ("I'm Coming Out"), Leon Huff (Here to Create Music is a super 80s sounding soul album...it's pretty good but pretty cheesy too), Hall & Oates (enough said), Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (I really miss late 60s Roberta Flack), and surprisingly enough John Lennon. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm just comparing 1980 John Lennon to early 70s John Lennon. Or even the Beatle. My opinion may be skewed because this is the last I have before he died, but this cheesiness comes more from him being happy with his life, at peace, or that's what I like to imagine. He was killed way before his time was up, but the songs I have of his from 1980 all kind of show him at peace. A love song for his kid, for crying out loud. But he really spells it out in this song and I think it's the perfect last word from him (except some posthumous stuff came out in 1984 and then those "new" Beatles songs in the 90s).

"I just had to let it go..."

John Lennon "Watching The Wheels"

Etc stuff:

• Bowie was still being awesome. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) is a good harder rockin' side of the chameleon.
• Emmylou Harris' Roses in the Snow shows that she was still in her prime, and includes a nice cover of Simon & Garfunkel and a song with Johnny Cash.
• Judas Priest made their way into the rotation with "Breaking The Law." I don't have to tell you how awesome it was when that came up.
• I may have been sorely missing Black Sabbath as I went through the 70s but this is the 80s so now we've got solo Ozzy and the jam "Crazy Train." That's almost as good, right?
• What I like about The Romantics' "What I Like About You" is how well it captures the 60s in the 80s. I used to think it was an old Kinks song!
• Even Rush was getting into the ska thing as there was a brief ska section in "The Spirit of Radio." Talk about undercover s.k.a.!
• Only one Tom Waits song off Heartattack And Vine. But "Jersey Girl" is a very lovely song.
• Apparently a highly influential year on Skankin' Pickle as well. Their final album (not out until the 90s, don't worry) was half cover songs and many of them were from this year: Bad Manners' "Special Brew," Devo's "Gates of Steel," Oingo Boingo's "Violent Love." Those would all have been good choices of songs to play.
• I forgot to put Talking Heads in here! Remain In Light is the album with their signature song (as far as I'm concerned) "Once in a Lifetime." 

On The Next Installment Time Following This...

Reagan means rock & roll got better...thanks Reagan! For what it's worth! Angry music rules 1981 (AC/DC, The Birthday Party, Black Flag, The Cramps, Minor Threat, ), and more hip hop (Afrika Bambaataa continues, "Cuzz Band" and others from that Connecticut compilation keep it going in CT), New Wave is obviously just getting warmed up (Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, The Human League), Elvis Costello goes country, and cool indie outsider Daniel Johnston gets started.

But before I get to that it'll be a while. I just procured the complete (Freddy Mercury era) Queen discography and I have some backlog to listen through (i.e. pretty much everything they recorded in the 70s). So you might not hear from me in a while. Cheers! And thanks Andrew!

An Ear For An Era: 1978

You're going to have to bear with me. I usually try to write these as quickly as I can after I finish listening to something, so I remember the thoughts I had, what I'd wanted to write, etc. But in this case I was trying to get done before a vacation, successfully finished listening to 1978 the night before, but had to pack and such and could not find time during the vacation to write it out. You know, I was busy exploring castles and cliffs, visiting whiskey distilleries and seeing the beauty of the world in general. Ireland is beautiful. I hope I can remember enough to make this a good write-up for you.

1978 was the year my older sister came from. It also featured music. A continuation of 1977 really, with expanding landscapes of punk and new wave and crappy rock and disco as well. I would also like to mention that to this point I have been including videos that are usually fan-created photo montages or whatever to the songs. Music videos were a thing now though, and the majority of the videos I've posted in this entry are actual music videos. So enjoy those!

We'll start with the fairly corporate. I didn't like Queen's (singles) output of 1977 but 1978 had three of my favorite songs of theirs. "Don't Stop Me Now" used to get me pumped up (I'd listen to it before going out when in college. Vinyl.) and then was used in Shaun of the Dead to great effect so now it makes me visualize that scene. "Bicycle Race" is my historical favorite Queen song. "Fat Bottomed Girls" is the companion piece to that.

I think this is the end of the line (for this project) for the Rolling Stones.  Some Girls was a decent album, I quite like "Beast of Burden" and "Lies." But I always just kind of think of this album as the one with "Miss You," their attempt at disco.

So while corporate rock dinosaurs were resorting to cheap ploys at relevance like disco songs, the exciting, envelope-pushing new bands like Blondie were innovating with their use of disparate genres like disco. But before I get to that, they had TWO albums out this year. Plastic Letters kind of makes me think of how much fun it would have been to see them in these days at CBGB. Deborah Harry bringing tons of attitude, the band going all over the place with jazz tunes and punk rock. And then Parallel Lines just took it further. The classic pop stylings, robotic rhythms, and yes, disco, that the band is best known for.  And a Buddy Holly cover! I like this album a lot. Here is of one of my favorite styles Blondie did, the sunny pop song.

Blondie "Picture This"

And of course I have to move on to the other big CBGB band, The Ramones. Road to Ruin is kind of their last "classic" album. After this I have a lesser album from 1983 and some various singles (and a live show from '95). They continued their blitz with fast hard songs, including the hit "I Wanna Be Sedated" but some of the songs remind me of that Blondie track above. A little bit slower, while keeping the trademark catchiness they so owned. Here is probably the most blatant version of that. I wonder if the punks were as pissed about this as they were about "Heart of Glass."

Ramones "Needles and Pins"

You know what punk band wasn't slowing down: Buzzcocks! I have Operators Manual, a collection of early singles, and the bulk of it is from 1978. Of all the 1978 examples I have, I feel like the Buzzcocks were the most like the coming-up-generation-of-punk, the focus on playing short fast songs. But the way they did it was still catchy like the Ramones. I get songs like "Noise Annoys," "What Do I Get," "Ever Fallen In Love," and "Fast Cars" stuck in my head all the time.

And The Greatest Punk Band Scratch That The Greatest Band The Clash had an album too, the somewhat unsung Give 'Em Enough Rope. It gets overlooked for not being their debut or their greatest album (London Calling) or their most experimental (Sandinista!) or their most popular (Combat Rock). But I kind of like that about this one. It's got the same energy level as their debut, is still primarily focused on punk over experiments, but it has just enough of that special edge to be interesting. It's the album that sounds like The Clash but has not been overplayed (by me at least).

OK how about new wave though? Devo made their debut with Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Now this is punk. Completely outside the realm of what rock and roll should be expected to do, yet it's rocking. More of those robot rhythms. Completely deconstructing a rock & roll classic ("(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"), turning everything into machines including the act of prayer. The idea of this band was de-evolution. In that mindset this is the band at its most evolved. And it has to be their best album (we'll see if I take that back next time they come up here!). I've heard people talk about "nerd rock," and crediting Buddy Holly with starting that. I don't think that's accurate. Buddy Holly was super cool, he just wore glasses. Devo gave the nerds something they could understand. In a way that I think had been overlooked by the rock & roll machine up until now. The middle track is the most quintessential Devo song, the most rhythmic, and the one that includes the album title. Please note that the version below is not the one from the album (it's much slower) but this video is so amazing I have to share it. Devo was also streets ahead in regards to music videos.

Devo "Jocko Homo"

You know who else was nerdy? They Might Be Giants. Of course, they weren't around quite yet but The Residents probably were an influence on them...

The Residents "Constantinople"

Elvis Costello is still my favorite artist. Not too nerdy despite the glasses. This year he put out This Year's Model, which showed a shift towards more fast-and-loose rock and roll. The Attractions probably had a lot to do with that. But classics like "Pump It Up" and "Radio Radio" kind of define this early era of his career and they are just full of energy and spit. I also have the live album Live At The El Mocambo, which was a recent release BUT it's a performance from 1978 so I include it here. I mention that because it demonstrates the power of Elvis Costello & The Attractions as a force of nature, rolling through tracks with reckless abandon. I'm not sure if this live video is specifically The El Mocambo but it has the same energy.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Lipstick Vogue" (Live)

I feel a little bad for Nick Lowe. Sure, he's great and has continued his music career to this day so he has to be doing just fine, but I always just think of him as the lesser version of Elvis Costello. He produced a bunch of his records, he wrote "Peace Love & Understanding," and he put out new wavy records not too different from those of Elvis Costello's. They just don't hit the same highs for me. Jesus of Cool comes the closest though. He went a somewhat more pop route (the American title for this record was Pure Pop For Now People, which I think is an appropriate title), while undercutting everything with a cynical edge.

I don't know where else to talk about Tom Waits. Blue Valentine is yet another step toward his more experimental side, but it could still be considered part of the early period of his career. Dominated by the same coolness, jazz, and his distinctive vocals that continue to work toward what we now know. "Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis" is odd in that I have it on my Christmas music playlist but the song really has nothing to do with Christmas. Just a sad tale. I have one song from his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine and then my next Tom Waits album is Swordfishtrombones so...this is going to be the most "normal" he'll be. Next time I write about him it'll be absolutely gushing though.

Is that good enough? I think so.

Other stuff to say something about:

• I like "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty because of The Simpsons.
• Rick James, dude! I dig the song "You And I."
• I have but one early track by The Mekons, who are still going strong. This was when they were still straightforward punk..."Never Been In A Riot"
• Journey served as a fascinating way to see the terribleness that was going on in the mainstream at this time. Why do I keep it on my hard drive though?
• Willie Nelson put his trademark style on standards with the quite enjoyable Stardust.
• Marvin Gaye started emo? Maybe not, but Here My Dear is definitely a precursor to the oversharing overpresent in that genre. Unsurprisingly my favorite parts of the album are the less personal parts, such as "A Funky Space Reincarnation," which is a cool take on Mothership-style funk.
• The Cars' self-titled album to me felt like the start of the 80s. I associate them so closely with the 80s that it was weird hearing them come up, even though I also associate Devo with the 80s. The beginning of the (long drawn out) end for new wave?
• Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy is a good enjoyable album.

On The Next Installment...

The end of the 70s as we know it! I will have made it! What treasures do the rest of the 70s hold for me? How about London Calling?? Yeah. What else could I possibly need? Maybe The Cure?? The Cramps? Dead Kennedys (already!?)? Armed Forces is one of those consensus-favorite Elvis Costello albums so I'll have words about that one. Gang of Four! Michael Jackson's Off The Wall!?! And Pink Floyd's The Wall?? Weird I didn't know those were the same year! And Prince! And Talking Heads' Fear of Music. Lots of giant albums to look forward to here. Mostly London Calling though.

An Ear For An Era: 1975

OK that's better. No shortage in great music here. Music was really moving forward in most every genre, from the fringes of outlaw country to the New York underground. Let's just get started.

Patti Smith made her triumphant debut with Horses. She kind of gets pulled into discussions of the origins of punk rock. I'm not sure how accurate that is with all her sprawling experimental jams, but the attitude was certainly forming. I read her book Just Kids recently and she was living THE New York lifestyle at this time, and it is all very apparent from the opening of "Gloria," the opening track. "Jesus died for someone's sins but not mine..." she immediately expressed an entirely original voice, something quite different from everything else out around that time. Rebellion, newness.

Of course, the original New York rebel Lou Reed had to push things forward more than anyone else (possibly in all of "pop" music history) with his middle finger of an album Metal Machine Music. There's not much I can say about this that hasn't been said but I have to take a side...right? Let's just say that the ways it influenced countless experimental rock bands of the Sonic Youth variety justifies anything negative you can say about it. Yes, it's rough to listen to. It gets old after one track, let alone all four. I couldn't focus on the music while it played, I just let it be my background for an hour. But the last 2-3 minutes of side 4? It became apparent how important the record is. There is a pulsating rhythm that starts to rise out of the fuzz and it sounds like the opening to a truly epic jazz rock freakout. To push things out you have to create new boundaries. Lou Reed re-defined what rock music could sound like by creating something that was really vague about its genre. It's not the best thing to listen to in a sitting. But thanks to Metal Machine Music, we have post rock, we have noise rock, we have everyone from Sonic Youth to The Jesus And Mary Chain that may not have otherwise existed.

There's not really a good way to transition from this, but I've been a lifelong fan of Queen. I own the pre-1975 albums on vinyl but my digital collection only has stuff from the greatest hits collections. But I do digitally own A Night At The Opera, which might be their best album. I have lots of stories about the two big hits off the album, so that's how I'll talk about this. Once I was making a computer game starring my childhood dog Ringo. When you go downstairs (where my room as well as my brother's) I had the background music change to a midi version of "You're My Best Friend." Which was silly, but it's the only thing about that game that I remember and the song always makes me think of Ringo. It makes me smile. And now it also reminds me of Shaun of the Dead because it's featured over the end credits. Ok and Bohemian Rhapsody. So much to say about this song! The wikipedia page for it is one of my favorite uses of wikipedia, as it breaks down the song and analyzes every part of it. Pretty great. I used to think the song was "Bohemian Rap City" and I thought it was so cool. This was when the song was re-released as a single due to its inclusion in the Wayne's World soundtrack (and being the centerpoint of the greatest scene of the movie). I also did karaoke of this song once. It was me and the other quietest person at the party and we decided to go for it. We were both super shy but we just went for it. I can't not sing along with that song. I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment. And for the hell of it, here's another song that'd be considered more of a "deep cut." It shows how truly creative the band is (not that Bohemian Rap City ever fails to do that itself) and there is a pretty amazing vocal workout in the center of this song that reminds me of that Nilsson song I said reminds me of of Montreal. "Now I know...Now I know...Now I know...Now I know..."

Queen "The Prophet's Song"

Hey, Pink Floyd! Wish You Were Here is a quite brilliant album. The "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" bookends that dominate the album are a pretty beautiful tribute to Syd Barrett, while the title track "Wish You Were Here" is heartbreaking. The other songs are an attack on the music industry, so that's pretty awesome too.

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is probably one of Elton John's best albums. The hit song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is great, but I am really into "(Gotta Get) A Meal Ticket" and the closer "Curtains." My mom is a big fan of Elton's. I am less so but albums like this make me respect her opinion on the matter.

Hey, the first Bruce Springsteen in my collection! Born To Run is nowhere near his first album. But this one was pretty huge. I think he's kind of responsible for musical self-importance. If that's the best way to express it. Hell, I sometimes like musical self-importance. But it involves artists like The Arcade Fire and The Killers taking a cue from Springsteen with certain chord progressions to make a song and its lyrics "seem" important. The vocal delivery, the urgency. It doesn't always feel earned but there it is, intensely singing about this or that. Epic at 3 1/2 minutes. Not enough build. Not accusing Springsteen of this, but it seems like some artists take the inspiration and take the shortcut to the emotional punch. Of course, album closer "Jungleland" is quite earned (and owned by sax player Clarence Clemons, rest in peace).

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, "Jungleland"

And I got to hear the "return" of Bob Dylan with his classic Blood On The Tracks. I like this one a lot, it takes Dylan's usual style of storytelling and makes it much more personal, much more immediate.

Speaking of storytelling, Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger is quite the concept album. Sadness, murder, travel. Denver. And lots of instrumental breaks. The way it's put together kind of works against my general definition of a country album. Country opera maybe? Willie pullin' a Who? Sure.

I only have the one song by him from this year (thanks to the Crazy Heart soundtrack) but Waylon Jennings' "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" seems like it must have been a rallying cry for the outlaw country movement, as mainstream country got worse and worse. It really is saying something that my introduction to Emmylou Harris was "Hank And Lefty," a song about what she was raised on. Declaring her as on the right side of country music history.

That was a bonus track from the re-release of Pieces of the Sky. This angelic voice is now upon us. My favorite of all country voices, Emmylou Harris could break my heart singing the dictionary. But instead she'll break my heart singing about her dead fried Gram Parsons (on the brilliant, and one of her most if not her most successful song "Boulder to Birmingham"). There were also many Beatles covers (Elton John, David Bowie) but the best of the bunch was her take on "For No One." She actually had two albums come out in '75 with Elite Hotel following closely in Pieces of the Sky's wake. Elite Hotel was a bit more upbeat in general with a cover of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" and a song about Vegas. My favorite song on this album (even though I think I slightly prefer Pieces of the Sky) was "Till I Gain Control Again." Seems to be similarly arranged to "Boulder to Birmingham" but this Rodney Crowell composition is refreshing (in that I haven't heard it nearly as many times) and one of the top heartbreaking moments of Harris' long career:

Emmylou Harris "Till I Gain Control Again"

Other Highlights Worth Mentioning:

• Frankie Valli's chameleon quality of blending in with the popular music of the day reached its logical conclusion, as the 50s pop star put out "Swearin' to God," a 9+ minute disco opus.
• Also a sign of the pending upending of music rising out of New York? The first demos from Blondie have come up. Including a very early version of "Heart of Glass" referred to "Once I Had A Love (The Disco Song)." It's funny, that song was considered by many to be a moment they sold out, but it was one of their first songs, before they even released a record. It's funny how people get associated with their environments so much that the supposed "values" of said movement are assumed to apply to everyone. Blondie had nothing against disco, even though punk rock was thought to be the antithesis of disco.
• Blowfly's "Aries (If Eating You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right)" is quite the dirty song. I actually saw him perform once, opening for Nashville Pussy. Who else? I think I downloaded this track because I'm an aries. I don't particularly like it (especially the hateful homophobia involved in the song).
• I think the 1975 singles of James Brown are the last in my collection. That's sad. I was quite enjoying those. But it just shows that we are moving along quickly. Funk is about to give way to full disco times. I really liked "Thank You For Lettin' Me Be Myself, And You Be Yours." Total funk and an awesome trombone solo.
• Neil Young's Zuma (with Crazy Horse) showcases his rocking out skills. Which are great. But I still prefer his quieter moments.
• Tom Waits' Nighthawks At The Diner is a very intimate performance, a live performance from a studio. It'd be great to be in that crowd. 
• Lloyd Brevett & The Skatalites' African Roots is an awesome instrumental ska album. Seems to be years after their heyday, particularly since it features Lloyd Brevett instead of Tommy McCook, and this was reggae time in Jamaica, but this is old school ska through and through.
• Led Zeppelin are back for the last time! Physical Graffiti is a nice double album, meaning it has some degree of experimentation filling out the 80+ minutes. But I'm still mostly into "Kashmir." 
• Young Americans is a very catchy David Bowie album. Kind of disco even? Particularly non-album track "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)."

On The Next Installment...

We get deeper into this emerging underground/punk rock movement. An actual Blondie album! The Modern Lovers! More Patti Smith! And it's official...we have launched. THE RAMONES. Also...funk's not dead if Parliament has anything to do with it. Or Stevie Wonder! Also Fleetwood Mac, The Runaways, more Tom Waits (always welcome), and (a little bit) more! It looks like I don't have a ton but the bit I have looks like it counts.