Over the Top
| Billboard 200: | - |
| CashBox 200: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Over the Top" |
Cozy Powell was the drummer for groups such as Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Whitesnake and other groups I don't listen to. So why this album? One evening when we were in high school, my friend Jim played me the cheesy title track. Incorporating themes form Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, "Over The Top" certainly lives up to its name. Intrigued, I borrowed the album and was not only introduced to the concept of a drummer having a solo album, I was also introduced to instrumental rock music (which eventually got me to Jeff Beck, so that's a good thing). There's a lot of quality playing by everyone involved in this disc, featuring people like Beck, Jack Bruce, and David Sancious.
Allmusic
Carmel
| Billboard 200: | 56 |
| CashBox 200: | 58 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Paintings" |
Sample was at the peak of his creative powers here, both writing and performing. And he'll appear again later on this list.
Allmusic: "a high point among his solo recordings."
The Pleasure Principle
| Billboard 200: | 16 |
| CashBox 200: | 33 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Cars" (#9) |
| Top track: | "Cars" |
Like much of the electronic genre, this music is all very simple and repetitive, but that doesn't mean it's not catchy. And I just can't resist the early analog Moog synth sounds. Does it sound dated? Absolutely. Does it matter? Not in the least.
Allmusic: "not a single weak moment on the disc"
Reggatta De Blanc
| Billboard 200: | 25 |
| CashBox 200: | 26 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Message in a Bottle" |
Coming into their own, this was not the US hit they'd hoped for, but there's only two skippable cuts on the whole album.
Allmusic: "much more polished production-wise and fully developed from a songwriting standpoint"
Fear of Music
Talking Heads
| Billboard 200: | 21 |
| CashBox 200: | 30 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Life During Wartime" |
I love this thing - the quirkiness, Eno's production, the grittiness, the white-boy funk, the cautionary realism, the music-noir. These days, I'm enjoying this album more than I ever have before.
Allmusic: "It's an uneven, transitional album, though its better songs are as good as any Talking Heads ever did."
Musique Mecanique
The Carla Bley Band
| Billboard 200: | - |
| CashBox 200: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "A440" |
Three ECM albums on the list? I might have been more of a music geek that I've thought. Avant garde big band fusion meets melodic free jazz - the sort of music you'd hear on a late night show on public radio.
Allmusic: "Carla Bley's tentet performs some of her most colorful themes on this often-humorous and generally stimulating set"
Heart String
| Billboard 200: | 49 |
| CashBox 200: | 46 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Heart String" |
This was probably the first Earl Klugh album I ever purchased. Love it. 7 of the 8 tracks written by Klugh himself. I wouldn't skip any.
Allmusic: "A very beautiful and warm recording"
Back to the Egg
| Billboard 200: | 8 |
| CashBox 200: | 7 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Getting Closer" (#20) "Arrow Through Me" (#29) |
| Top track: | "Arrow Through Me" |
Yeah, it's not that great of an album, but I like both those singles. I like 'em a lot. I won't confess to ever using Napster, but if I had, "Arrow Through Me" might or might not have been one of the first songs downloaded. Hypothetically.
Allmusic: "the true problem is the songs, which have no spark whatsoever."
Livin' Inside Your Love
| Billboard 200: | 7 |
| CashBox 200: | 6 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Love Ballad" (#18) |
| Top track: | "Livin' Inside Your Love" |
Just the right balance between vocal tracks and instrumentals. And George can deliver the goods either way.
Allmusic: "Benson comes up with some tasty stuff "
A Night at Studio 54
Various Artists
| Billboard 200: | 21 |
| CashBox 200: | 29 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | numerous |
| Top track: | side two |
"The ultimate disco sampler" - Robert Christgau. 'Nuff said.
Allmusic
These are my personal top 50 albums released in 1979. The following criteria was used on a very slippery sliding scale:
- How often I enjoyed the album at the time of release
- How often I've enjoyed the album over the past 30+ years
- Overall quality of the album
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