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1978 zxyxz 77: OK, here are some I'd like to add: The Boomtown Rats - A Tonic for the Troops Great quirky New Wave and mainstream rock side by side. Slated to have been the first British (technically Irish) New Wave band to "do it" in the States, now just wiped off the pages of history. Tragic. Tubeway Army - First Album Gary Numan's debut. Punky pomp guitars duel with nascent, noisy synths. Original and excellent. Lene Lovich - Stateless Great quirky New Wave by this flamboyant female. Deaf School - English Boys, Working Girls Their first two LP's were highly energetic neo-Music Hall masterpieces driven by three vocalists, including crooner Enrico Cadillac and torch song diva Bette Bright, and the immortal songwiting of master tunesmith Clive Langer. This, their third album, moves them stylistically between Blondie and the Clash, whilst retaining the grand Spector=ish wall of sound production and melodrama. Certain events of the last year are depicted in the lyrics. "What a Week" deals with New Yorks intense Summer of '77, while "Ronny Zamora" is self explanitory. Penetration - Moving Targets One of the greatest British Punk releases, bringing a new degree of class, sophistication, refinement, and virtuosity to bear upon the idiom. The songs are grand and fantastic. The Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites Two fine albums from this commercially viable pop Punk band. While they blazed the singles charts with single after terrific single, select album cuts like "Sixteen" and "Moving Away from the Pulsebeat" showed a more progressive side. Synergy - Chords Beautiful, hypnotic, ominous and ethereal electronic music. Jean Michael Jarre - Equinoxe Same as above on side one, whilst the flip is jaunty instrumental synth pop. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside Lilting debut by this amazing symphonic pop songstress. Tiny Dancer: Standouts for me ... well, the whole darn thing! I'm a big Kate fan, I could go on for days about this gorgeous debut album. Suffice it to say it contains her first two hits, "Wuthering Heights" and "The Man With The Child In His Eyes", the ultra sexy "Feel It" and the final disturbingly lovely title track. I'm pretty sure her fabulous second album, Lionheart with "Wow" and "Hammer Horror" came out this year as well. And seeing as we don't cover 1980 here, I'm going to cheat and add Never For Ever with the marvelous "All We Ever Look For", "The Infant Kiss", "Night Scented Stock" (an amazing vocal track of multi-Kates singing together, incredible!), "Army Dreamers" and "Breathing", two of her biggest hits. *sigh* If only she'd get off her duff and record more. Renaissance - A Song for All Seasons Their best album yet, where they manage to reconcile rock with their more elaborate Symphonic aspirations. "Opening Out/ Day of the Dreamer" and the title track are fantastic epics, "Back Home Once Again" is fantasic pop, and "Northern Lights" was a well deserved hit. Anthony Phillips - Wise After the Event Wonderfully soft, ornate, symphonic ballads. Gentle Giant - Giant for a Day The best of their overlooked pop phase (last three albums) where they left behind their eclectic, inventive Prog approach for more straight forward songwriting to court New Wavers (as on the title track) and the AOR crowd, as well as some ballads and a brief flash of their former selves, "Spooky Boogie". 10cc - Bloody Tourists One of their best, featuring slick, sophisticated, artful, refined and sometimes quirky pop gems. "Reds in My Bed" is one of the most perfect songs I've ever heard. Al Stewart - Time Passages Wonderful album from this folkie turned Symphonic pop singer-songwiter. Alan Parsons Project - Pyramid Everything it should be and more. "Shadow of a Lonely Man" is one of the era's most beautiful ballads. Kayak - Phantom of the Night More streamlined than prior releases, but excellent pop nonetheless. Horslips - The Man Who Built America Irish Celtic rock with the emphasis on rock! A fine follow up to 1976-77 masterpieces Book of Invasions ( A Celtic Symphony) and Aliens. City Boy - Book Early "Dangerous Ground"- one of the all time greatest epic power rock ballads. The rest (which sees the former 10cc/ Queen styled unit turn more towards the US AOR market) is hit and miss, though "The World Loves a Dancer" and "Cigarettes" are exciting rockers. Hello Sailor - Pacifica Amour New Zealand's equivalent to the above two bands. Their second, last, and best. Little River Band - Sleeper Catcher Perfectly in their element on tracks like "Shut Down, Turn Off", "Fall From Paradise". "Lady", "Sanity's Side" and the best song, "One for the Road". Cafe Jacques - International ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES! This Scottish trio strikes a balance between the UK Symphonic pop of 10cc and Metro and the US West Coast studio pop of Steely Dan, as well as the Little River Band. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is as good as a song can ever be, period. This engaging, laid back catharsis proceeds, then punks up on the last two tracks. Phil Collins guests. Duncan Browne - The Wild Places After one outstanding album with Metro, he goes it alone on this similarly styled LP of Roxy Music meets Al Stewart elegance. Doctors of Madness - Sons of Survival Punkish looking, latter day Glam Rockers (of the Roxy/ Harley variety) whose first two LP's (both 1976) heavily influenced the first Ultravox LP. Now they've Punked up more, but retain the violin frenzied intensity of before. Peter Hammill - The Future Now With Van Der Graaf gone, Hammill is solo once and for all, and this was the best work yet from this art, pop, avant garde visionary. Skewed ballads cast his noted theatrical delivery to a new age, while his trade mark beat box experiments would, years later, come to be known as Jungle. Godley and Creme - L A masterpiece of Zappa influenced Zolo pop, taken to a higher intellectual plain amid the vagarity and abstraction. Doodling xylophones abound. Jade Warrior - Way of the Sun Beautifully grand, instrumental New Age Symphonic Progressive. Their best. Mike Oldfield - Incantations 80 minutes of hypnotically complex sound and melody. Phil Manzanera - K Scope While not quite superlative, any record where he invites Godley and Creme and Split Enz alumni is worth a visit. Steve Hackett - Please Don't Touch Proving again that he's a much better writer than Genesis gave him credit for. Brand X - Masques British masters of hard edge Prog fusion turn out dazzlingly complex, virtuoso pieces, but also have a soft side with the gorgeous "Black Moon". National Health - - S/T - Of Queues and Cures The ultimate in melodic, harmonic, and metrically complex, thinking man's Progressive Rock. UK - UK Prog super group. Part pre-digested pleasure, others an electronic fusion frontier. FM - Black Noise Compelling Canadian AOR Prog with clean modern synth layers of the Numan school, soon to effect fellow countrymen Rush on Signals. Mandalaband - The Eye of Wendor One of the last great masterpieces of the classic British Symphonic Progressive genre. Gerry Rafferty - City to City A lucky one for this Scottish studio pop genius. Walter Egan - Not Shy Perhaps the year's finest one hit wonder for the neo-50's stroll of "Magnet and Steel", this LA studio pop platter provides some surprizingly darker turns in "Hot Summer Nights" and the virtually ominous "Just the Wanting" Tarney and Spencer - Three's a Crowd Master tunesmith/ multi instrumentalist Alan Tarney (soon absorbed by Cliff Richard and Leo Sayer) reveals a more personal side that echoes less the clean commercial style he provided for others and more a laid back studio pop sound resembling Pablo Cruise and Firefall. Cliff Richard - Green Light Great despite being the most patchy release of his second golden age. The title track (the single) isn't great, but "Under Lock and Key" and "Free My Soul" sure are, while his cover of Murray Head's "Never Even Thought" surpasses the original. Machiavel - Mechanical Moonbeams Amazing Belgian AOR/ Prog. The Shirts - The Shirts One of America's four greatest major label New Wave bands, most akin to a US version of Penetration, but even artier. Gloria Mundi - I Individual Abrasively theatrical Prog/ Punk fusion out of England including saxist CC. of "Hiroshima Mon Amour" (Ultravox) immortality. Giorgio Moroder - Midnight Express (soundtrack) So So Euro disco and compelling abient tracks topped off by the hypnotically sexy title theme. Rikki and the Last Days of Earth - 4 Minute Warning Great lost proto synth Punk. Theatrical, arty and terrific. Scritti Polliti - Skank Bloc Balogna Brilliantly skewed vision on this EP. Did for guitars what the Human League's Dignity of Labour would do for synthesizers. Tuxedomoon - No Tears San Francisco's finest New Wave band took an utmost European, forward flung approach on this indie EP encompassing Synth Punk, warped Synth Pop, and post modern cabaret. The Normal - "Warm Leatherette"/"T.V. OD" No run down of 1978 is complete without a mention of this pioneering techno industrial single. Zammla Mammaz Manna - The Mystery of Popular Music I don't feel I'm going out on a limb when I call this masterfully quirky Swedish folk Prog the greatest Continental release of 1978. Henry Cow - Western Culture I used to like this best, now I gravitate towards their earlier stuff. Avant Chamber Prog that's punked in places. 1970/ 1971/ 1972/ 1973/ 1974 1975/ 1976/ 1977/ 1978/ 1979 
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