Upon Reflection
| Billboard 200: | - |
| CashBox 200: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Edges of Illusion" |
To be honest, I didn't discover this work until 2015, but it's haunted me ever since.
Allmusic: "an atmospheric solo set"
Greg Smaha
| Billboard 200: | - |
| CashBox 200: | - |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Sunshine" |
Another late find, this smooth, adult-oriented disco yacht album was recorded in the US, but released only in France.
Rickie Lee Jones
| Billboard 200: | 3 |
| CashBox 200: | 3 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Chuck E.'s in Love" (#4) "Young Blood" (#40) |
| Top track: | "Chuck E.'s in Love" |
Chuck E was all over the radio that summer and I loved the funky groove. And then I picked up a copy of the album it was jazzier than I thought. I wasn't ready for that in '79, but I sure am now.
Allmusic: "simultaneously sounds like a synthesis of many familiar styles and like nothing that anybody's ever done before"
The Muppet Movie
| Billboard 200: | 32 |
| CashBox 200: | 39 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Rainbow Connection" (#25) |
| Top track: | "Can You Picture That?" |
I was a 13 year old kid who never missed an episode of The Muppet Show. This soundtrack provided more than a few tunes for us to use in speech and drama class for record pantomime (lip syncing) assignments. I have no idea what useful skills are learned in such assignments. Moving right along...
Allmusic: "There are a few mediocre moments, but most of [Paul] Williams and [Kenny] Ascher's songs are better than the movie itself."
Hot
| Billboard 200: | 188 |
| CashBox 200: | 175 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Topa-Topa Woman" |
There's not much to recommend on this mixed bag, but when the album brings back memories of high school, none of that matters. Nostalgia trumps quality.
Allmusic: "'ol MF just doesn't sound good."
The Specials
| Billboard 200: | 84 |
| CashBox 200: | 67 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Too Much Too Young" |
This classic disc is up here at 45 for two reasons: 1) I didn't hear the whole album until this millennium, and 2) I can only take ska in small doses. It's highly acclaimed albums like these that I always feel I should listen to more often than I do.
Allmusic: "A perfect moment in time captured on vinyl forever"
Future Street
| Billboard 200: | - |
| CashBox 200: | 183 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Who's Right Who's Wrong" |
The best Pages album was yet to come, but with guests like Kenny Loggins, Jerry Hey, and Michael Brecker, this brief adult-oriented effort has more than a few good cuts.
Allmusic
Street Beat
| Billboard 200: | 162 |
| CashBox 200: | 130 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Street Beat" |
(Mostly) instrumental funk-pop that boasts many familiar names: Buzzy Feiten, Hugh McCracken, Jimmy Haslip, Jeff Porcaro, Don Grusin, Neil Larsen, and Ralph McDonald. Not to mention a cut from the movie "Americathon."
Allmusic
Paradise
| Billboard 200: | 24 |
| CashBox 200: | 33 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | none |
| Top track: | "Tell Me About It Now" |
The most successful Grover album was yet to come, but this one, his debut on Elektra, gives hints of what he was working towards. To be honest, I could do without the electric violin, which knocked this album down a few notches.
Allmusic: "a decent but not overly memorable effort."
Candy-O
| Billboard 200: | 3 |
| CashBox 200: | 3 |
| Top 40 pop singles: | "Let's Go" (#14) |
| Top track: | "Let's Go" |
No sophomore slump here. When you've got a classic debut album, that's hard to follow up. So while there are hooks and a fantastic opening track here, there's just not as many hooks available throughout. In their place, understandably, there's filler. But they stuck to their formula and, for the most part, it works again.
Allmusic: "it may be one of the best second albums ever made"
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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