Smash Hits was a British teen music magazine that was (mostly) issued fortnightly. On a scale of 1-10, here's how the magazine's reviewers rate albums released in the first half of 1979. Hope you find something new that you missed back in '79.
| Feb 8 issue | ||
| Village People | Crusin' | 7 |
| Barbara Dickson | Sweet Oasis | 6 |
| Public Image | First Edition | 5 |
| Elvis Costello | Armed Forces | 8 |
| Nazareth | No Mean City | 3 |
| The Police | Outlandos D'Amour | 7 |
| Siouxsie & The Banshees | The Scream | 7 |
| Kiki Dee | Stay With Me | 2 |
| Feb 22 issue | ||
| Pointer Sisters | Energy | 6 |
| Alicia Bridges | Alicia Bridges | 5 |
| The Bee Gees | Spirits Having Flown | 3 |
| Various Artists | 20 of Another Kind | 5 |
| Generation X | Valley of the Dolls | 5 |
| Horslips | The Man Who Built America | 8 |
| Herbie Hancock | Feets Don't Fail Me Now | 5 |
| Mar 8 issue | ||
| Marvin Gaye | Here My Dear | 6 |
| Ian Matthews | Stealin' Home | 8 |
| The Skids | Scared to Dance | 9 |
| Joe Jackson | Look Sharp | 7 |
| Odyssey | Hollywood Party Tonight | 5 |
| Phoebe Snow | Against the Grain | 6 |
| UFO | Strangers in the Night | 3 |
| Mar 22 issue | ||
| Roger Chapman | Chappo | 4 |
| The Real Thing | The Force | 6 |
| Gene Chandler | Get Down | 4 |
| Gloria Gaynor | Love Tracks | 4 |
| Chris Redding | Guitar Graffiti | 6 |
| George Harrison | George Harrison | 6 |
| The Stranglers | Live | 4 |
| Squeeze | Cool for Cats | 9 |
| Apr 5 issue | ||
| La Dusseldorf | Viva | 7 |
| Lynsey De Paul | Tigers and Fireflies | 5 |
| Valerie Carter | Wild Child | 7 |
| Jerry Butler | Nothing Says I Love You Like I Love You | 6 |
| Godley and Creme | Music from Consequences | 4 |
| Tom Robinson Band | TRB Two | 8 |
| The Rumour | Frogs, Sprouts, Clogs and Krauts | 8 |
| Apr 19 issue | ||
| Gonzalez | Haven't Stopped Dancin' | 3 |
| Gloria Jones | Windstorm | 3 |
| Isley Brothers | Timeless | 5 |
| Inner Circle | Everything is Great | 6 |
| George Benson | Livin' Inside Your Love | 4 |
| Frankie Miller | Falling in Love | 6 |
| The Members | At The Chelsea Nightclub | 7 |
| Graham Parker & The Rumour | Squeezing Out Sparks | 8 |
| Supertramp | Breakfast in America | 8 |
| May 3 issue | ||
| Cher | Take Me Home | 4 |
| Sister Sledge | We Are Family | 7 |
| Magazine | Second Hand Daylight | 6 |
| Jonathan Richman | Back in Your Life | 6 |
| Blue | Fool's Party | 3 |
| The Babys | Head First | 5 |
| Roxy Music | Manifesto | 8 |
| Brian Eno | Music for Airports | 5 |
| May 17 issue | ||
| Village People | Go West | 5 |
| Fatback Band | Brite Lites/Big City | 5 |
| Sleepy La Beef | Beefy Rockabilly | 5 |
| Freddie 'Fingers' Lee | Freddie 'Fingers' Lee | 5 |
| The Fall | Live at the Witch Trials | 7 |
| Doll by Doll | Remember | 7 |
| Thin Lizzy | Black Rose | 6 |
| The Tubes | Remote Control | 8 |
| Simple Minds | Life in a Day | 8 |
| May 31 issue | ||
| Crown Heights Affair | Dance Lady Dance | 4 |
| Amii Stewart | Amii Stewart | 5 |
| ABBA | Voulez Vous | 6 |
| The Rezillos | Mission Accomplished but the Beat Goes On | 8 |
| The Undertones | The Undertones | 7 |
| Mac Curtis | Rockin' Mother | 6 |
| Golden Earring | Grab It for a Second | 7 |
| David Bowie | Lodger | 6 |
| Ian Dury | Do It Yourself | 9 |
| June 14 issue | ||
| Patrick Juvet | Lady Night | 4 |
| Eruption | Leave a Light | 5 |
| T Rex | Solid Gold | 5 |
| Patti Smith Group | Wave | 5 |
| Status Quo | Just for the Record | 6 |
| Violinski | No Cause for Alarm | 5 |
| Rick Wakeman | Rhapsodies | 4 |
| Judy Tzuke | Welcome to the Cruise | 8 |
| Electric Light Orchestra | Discovery | 8 |
| Tubeway Army | Replicas | 8 |
| June 28 issue | ||
| Linda Clifford | Let Me Be Your Woman | 7 |
| Heatwave | Hot Property | 7 |
| Telex | Looking for San Tropez | 6 |
| Devo | Duty Now for the Future | 6 |
| Wings | Back to the Egg | 6 |
| Gerry Rafferty | Night Owl | 7 |
| Joe Egan | Out of Nowhere | 7 |
| The Cure | Three Imaginary Boys | 8 |
| The Ramones | It's Alive | 8 |
h/t to Brian McCloskey over at Like Punk Never Happened
My first question was "who assigned the ratings?" which necessitated clicking through and reading each issue.
ReplyDeleteLiked a lot of the album and single ads from the scans.
Ninety minutes later, all questions answered, I returned to this page and mentally halved all the ratings to get 5 star scale equivalent, which is more manageable to me after decades of starred and letter-graded ratings.
It's hard being me.