Click on the image below to open a pdf file of the "Rock Short Takes" album reviews from Musician magazine's August 1981 issue. Artists include Joe Walsh, Van Halen, New Musik, and The Moody Blues.
Showing posts with label Van Halen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Van Halen. Show all posts
Saturday, July 24, 2021
Rock Short Takes, August 1981
Click on the image below to open a pdf file of the "Rock Short Takes" album reviews from Musician magazine's August 1981 issue. Artists include Joe Walsh, Van Halen, New Musik, and The Moody Blues.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Monday, January 6, 2020
List of Billboard #1 Rock Albums of 1984
| Week Ending | Track | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| January 7 | 90125 | Yes |
| January 14 | ||
| January 21 | Genesis | Genesis |
| January 28 | ||
| February 4 | 1984 | Van Halen |
| February 11 | ||
| February 18 | ||
| February 25 | ||
| March 3 | ||
| March 10 | ||
| March 17 | ||
| March 24 | ||
| March 31 | ||
| April 7 | Against All Odds | Soundtrack |
| April 14 | Heartbeat City | The Cars |
| April 21 | ||
| April 28 | ||
| May 5 | ||
| May 12 | ||
| May 19 | ||
| May 26 | ||
| June 2 | ||
| June 9 | ||
| June 16 | Born in the U.S.A. | Bruce Springsteen |
| June 23 | ||
| June 30 | Heartbeat City | The Cars |
| July 7 | Born in the U.S.A. | Bruce Springsteen |
| July 14 | ||
| July 21 | Heartbeat City | The Cars |
| July 28 | Born in the U.S.A. | Bruce Springsteen |
| August 4 | Heartbeat City | The Cars |
| August 11 | ||
| August 18 | ||
| August 25 | ||
| September 1 | ||
| September 8 | Born in the U.S.A. | Bruce Springsteen |
| Chart discontinued | ||
Blog post #850
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Counting down my Top 79 of '79: Singles #43 - 27
A breakdown of my top singles from 1979
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
R&B
|
Disco
|
|
43
|
"Send One Your Love"
|
Stevie Wonder
|
4
|
1
|
5
| |
42
|
"Street Life"
|
Crusaders
|
36
|
17
|
75
|
|
41
|
"Video Killed the Radio Star"
|
Buggles
|
40
| |||
40
|
"Shake Your Groove Thing"
|
Peaches & Herb
|
5
|
4
|
2
|
|
39
|
"Beautiful Girls"
|
Van Halen
|
84
| |||
38
|
"Big Shot"
|
Billy Joel
|
14
| |||
37
|
"Makin' It"
|
David Naughton
|
5
|
48
|
11
|
|
36
|
"I Want You Tonight"
|
Pablo Cruise
|
19
| |||
35
|
"Good Times Roll"
|
The Cars
|
41
|
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
R&B
|
Disco
|
|
34
|
"Getting Closer"
|
Wings
|
20
| |||
33
|
"No More Tears (Enough is Enough)"
|
Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand
|
1
|
7
|
20
|
1
|
32
|
"Hold the Line"
|
Toto
| 5 | |||
31
|
"Dim All the Lights"
|
Donna Summer
|
2
|
44
|
13
|
54
|
30
|
"Goodbye Stranger"
|
Supertramp
|
15
|
32
| ||
29
|
"Goodnight Tonight"
| Wings |
5
|
30
| ||
28
|
"Chuck E.'s in Love"
|
Rickie Lee Jones
|
4
|
20
| ||
27
|
"Love is the Answer"
|
England Dan & John Ford Coley
|
10
|
1
|
All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts. These are my personal top 79 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1979. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-1999, I started with the 475 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1979. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 105 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 79 are presented here, in order.
Monday, April 8, 2019
Counting down my Top 79 of '79: Singles #79 - 62
A breakdown of my top singles from 1979
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
R&B
|
Disco
|
|
79
|
"Lady"
|
Little River Band
|
10
|
7
| ||
78
|
"Highway to Hell"
|
AC/DC
|
47
| |||
77
|
"Dance the Night Away"
|
Van Halen
|
15
| |||
76
|
"Hot Stuff"
|
Donna Summer
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
|
75
|
"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)"
|
Rupert Holmes
|
1
|
8
| ||
74
|
"Let's Go"
|
The Cars
|
14
| |||
73
|
"Heaven Knows"
|
Donna Summer with Brooklyn Dreams
|
4
|
17
|
10
| |
72
|
"Suspicions"
|
Eddie Rabbitt
|
13
|
9
| ||
71
|
"In the Stone"
|
Earth, Wind & Fire
|
58
|
23
|
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
R&B
|
Disco
|
|
70
|
"I Will Survive"
|
Gloria Gaynor
|
1
|
9
|
4
|
1
|
69
|
"(not just) Knee Deep"
|
Funkadelic
|
77
|
1
|
43
|
|
68
|
"Driver's Seat"
|
Sniff 'n' The Tears
| 15 | |||
67
|
"Sad Eyes"
|
Robert John
|
1
|
10
| ||
66
|
"Still"
|
The Commodores
|
1
|
6
|
1
| |
65
|
"You Can't Change That"
| Raydio |
9
|
25
|
3
| |
64
|
"Ships"
|
Barry Manilow
|
9
|
4
| ||
63
|
"The Gambler"
|
Kenny Rogers
|
16
|
3
| ||
62
|
"One Way or Another"
|
Blondie
|
24
|
All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts. These are my personal top 79 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1979. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-1999, I started with the 475 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1979. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 105 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 79 are presented here, in order.
Friday, November 9, 2018
AT40, May 26, 1984 [Part 3 of 4]
I'm breaking down the AT40 show of May 26, 1984 track by track. For an a look at #40-31, click here, for #30-21 click here.
#20: "It's a Miracle" by Culture Club. Guest host Charlie Van Dyke quotes Boy George as saying that Roy Hay is really the leader of the group. (Odd, because when I saw the group a few months ago, they were billed as "Boy George and Culture Club" and yes, they played this song.) This is one of the group's better singles; it peaked at #13 in only 8 weeks in the Top 40.
"A listener wants to know: what male artist and what female artist who started out on the country chart went on to have the greatest success on the pop chart? Well, the top man was a star from Tupelo, Mississippi and the top woman is a superstar from Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Details coming up."
#19: "Self Control" by Laura Branigan. Branigan's music never did much for me, but I seem to be in minority as this tune would work its way up to #4 by the end of June.
Charlie gives us the answers to the above listener questions: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton.
#18: "Borderline" by Madonna. Charlie introduces this song by mentioning there are 7 solo female artists in today's countdown: Christine McVie, Tracey UIlman, Laura Branigan, Irene Cara, Cyndi Lauper, Deniece Williams, and Madonna. And there ain't no Madonna like '80s Madonna. Great tune - my favorite from Madonna's self-titled debut album. It peaked at #10.
#17: "Dancing in the Sheets" by Shalamar. The third song in today's countdown taken from the Footloose soundtrack album. This is a catchy tune that sounds terribly dated with its synths and drum machine. But it's not as if I'm going to let that keep from dancing right now. It's almost like I'm at the High Spot Drive-In:
This single is peaking here at #17.
Charlie teases that an upcoming song is recorded by an artist that lives in "a certain part of Los Angeles" then plays an excerpt from Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl."
"Every week, American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world on great radio stations like:"
#16: "I'll Wait" by Van Halen. Of the four singles released from the 1984 album, this is my least favorite. I like my VH with more guitar riffs. Nonetheless, this tune spent ten weeks on AT40, peaking slightly higher at #13.
#15: "Love Somebody" by Rick Springfield. Springfield lives in the San Fernando Valley and they need show content, so Charlie offers up information about the area and we treated to an excerpt from Bing Crosby's 1944 song, "San Fernando Valley." "Love Somebody" is one of Springfield's better singles, but one we rarely hear these days. It had peaked at #5 a few weeks earlier.
#14: "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel. At #14 for the third week in a row. This doo-wop tribute is one of the top four or five cuts on An Innocent Man and I still know every word and am egotistical enough to mistakenly believe I know all the vocal harmonies as well. I had seen Joel perform the song live the previous month.
and bought one of the ugliest sleeveless concert tees ever produced (yes, I wore it in public):
Anyhoo, "The Longest Time" would peak here at #14.
Charlie states: "Music historians usually identify 'New Wave' as having originated in England, but the first New Wave act to hit our Top 40 weren't British at all - they were Americans: a band out of Boston. Details, and their current hit, are coming up."
#13: "The Heart of Rock 'N' Roll" by Huey Lewis & The News. "The whole album has a clear, crisp sound and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost." -Patrick Bateman. I like it just fine, but the video hasn't aged well:
"The cheese is strong with this one." That may be, but this single would be one of 12 Top 10 hits for Huey and the boys.
Guest host Charlie Van Dyke claims The Cars are the first New Wave act to hit the Top 40 and plays an excerpt from "Just What I Needed" (#27, 1978). And I'm OK with The Cars getting that designation.
#12: "You Might Think" by The Cars. I wasn't a fan of this single nor its award-winning stalker video. But I dubbed a friend's copy of the LP, loved "Hello Again" and "Magic" and would just listen to those two tracks over and over; they're still two of my favorite Cars songs. But this tune would become one of the band's bigger hits; it had peaked at #7 earlier in May.
#11: "Head Over Heels" by The Go-Go's. While Beauty and the Beat is my favorite Go-Go's album, this is easily my favorite Go-Go's single and it's not even close (and the whole Talk Show album tends to be underrated).
--end of hour three--
 |
| Billboard, May 26, 1984, p. 60 |
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
19 of '78: Top 19 albums of 1978
| 19 | Heart to Heart | David Sanborn |
| 18 | Living in the U.S.A. | Linda Ronstadt |
| 17 | Some Girls | The Rolling Stones |
| 16 | Thank God It's Friday | Soundtrack |
| 15 | Nightwatch | Kenny Loggins |
| 14 | More Songs About Buildings and Food | Talking Heads |
| 13 | City to City | Gerry Rafferty |
| 12 | Don't Look Back | Boston |
| 11 | Outlandos D'Amour | The Police |
 | Minute by Minute The Doobie Brothers Warner Bros. BSK 3193 Produced by: Ted Templeman |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 1 | 2 |
 |
| Billboard, December 12, 1978, p. 76 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | AC |
| What a Fool Believes | 1 | 22 |
| Minute by Minute | 14 | 13 |
| Dependin' on You | 25 | 37 |
Top 3 Tracks
"What a Fool Believes"
"Minute by Minute"
"Dependin' on You"
On the cover photo, Michael McDonald doesn't look too happy to be here, but we're glad he showed up. Rumor has it that the band was understandably frustrated after this album was completed and were ready to call it quits. Then sales took off and, not surprisingly, they decide to stick it out a little longer. Can't blame them.
The group's most commercially successful album, Minute By Minute was nominated for Album of the Year (losing to Billy Joel's 52nd Street) and singles from the album won four Grammy awards:
The group's most commercially successful album, Minute By Minute was nominated for Album of the Year (losing to Billy Joel's 52nd Street) and singles from the album won four Grammy awards:
- Record of the Year (What A Fool Believes)
- Song of the Year (What A Fool Believes)
- Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocals (What A Fool Believes)
- Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus (Minute By Minute)
 | C'est Chic Chic Atlantic SD 19209 Produced by: Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 4 | 8 |
 |
| Billboard, November 25, 1978, p. 100 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | AC | Dance | R&B |
| Le Freak | 1 | 48 | 1 | 1 |
| I Want Your Love | 7 | 9 | 1 | 5 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Le Freak"
"I Want Your Love"
"Happy Man"
It's easy to ridicule disco music, but its also incredibly easy to dance to. And where I grew up in the late '70s, there weren't a lot of other genres of music being played on the radio. I'm not complaining because I think Nile Rodgers and the late Bernard Edwards are/were musical geniuses. Put Edwards' bass lines up against any in the history of funk and you'd be hard pressed to find any better. Take away the strings and the hand claps and you'd hardly be able to date this music.
Reminds me very much of my seventh grade. We actually learned disco dancing in PE. Now that's a curriculum I can fully support.
Reminds me very much of my seventh grade. We actually learned disco dancing in PE. Now that's a curriculum I can fully support.
 | Pat Metheny Group Pat Metheny Group ECM 1114 Produced by: Manfred Eicher |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 123 | 149 |
 |
| Cash Box, August 5, 1978, p. 39 |
| U.S. charted singles: |
| none |
Top 3 Tracks
"Phase Dance"
"San Lorenzo"
"Lone Jack"
To be honest, I wasn't listening to this album in 1978. And it's a good thing because I wouldn't have understood it (not completely sure I understand it today). But once I discovered Metheny around 1983, I quickly found this "oldie" and have enjoyed it ever since.
 | Spyro Gyra Spyro Gyra Amherst 1014 Produced by: Jay Beckenstein & Richard Calandra |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 99 | 89 |
 |
| Cash Box, April 29, 1978, p. 34 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | AC |
| Shaker Song | 90 | 16 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Shaker Song"
"Cascade"
"Mead"
The group's debut album; they've released almost 30 albums since. They hadn't quite found their Latin-meets-smooth-jazz sound yet, so this is admittedly a fairly uneven affair. We're treated to not only the smooth jazz sound that would define the band's later releases, the group also gives us a healthy dose of fusion in the style of Weather Report. There are a couple of tunes that never seem to get where they're going. Still, this is a good listen, not just for SG completists.
.jpg) | Grease Various Artists RSO 2-4002 Produced by: Various |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 1 | 1 |
 |
| Record World, May 6, 1978, p. 1 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | AC | Country |
| Grease | 1 | 13 | |
| You're the One that I Want | 1 | 23 | |
| Summer Nights | 5 | 21 | |
| Hopelessly Devoted to You | 3 | 7 | 20 |
| Greased Lightnin' | 47 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Hopelessly Devoted to You"
"Grease"
"You're the One that I Want"
My wife loves this movie; of course that means I love it, too. So I'm quite familiar with both the movie and it's soundtrack. Plus, I'll never pass up a chance to see and hear Olivia Newton-John ("Tell me about it, stud."). The soundtrack is a mixed bag of '50s sounding roots rock, typical show tunes, and '70s soft rock. Still, taken as a whole, it's been a part of my life so the variety is actually a positive. The soundtrack album has shipped more than 40 million copies, so if you don't own a copy, you probably know someone who does.
Pro tip: if you are at any social event where middle aged women are present, put on this album and you'll hear screams of delight followed by singing and, if you're lucky, bad recreations of scenes from the movie.
Pro tip: if you are at any social event where middle aged women are present, put on this album and you'll hear screams of delight followed by singing and, if you're lucky, bad recreations of scenes from the movie.
 | FM Various Artists MCA 2-12000 Produced by: Various |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 5 | 5 |
 |
| Record World, April 22, 1978, p. 1 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 |
| FM (No Static at All) | 22 |
Top 3 Tracks
"FM"
"Your Smiling Face"
"Lido Shuffle"
In seventh grade ('78-'79), I befriended two brothers who lived down the street: one my age, one a year older. Those boys introduced me to "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," the FM Soundtrack, and the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. I can't thank them enough. Our favorite track to play when we got together after school was James Taylor's "Your Smiling Face" probably because it's catchy as hell and easy to sing along with. Since then, however, I've come to prefer the title track from Steely Dan. Although I have a copy of the movie, I haven't watched it in a while because, honestly, it's substandard. But the soundtrack is killer. This blog featured the movie and soundtrack in a 2015 post; please click here for that post.
 | Even Now Barry Manilow A&M 4164 Produced by: Barry Manilow & Ron Dante |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 3 | 2 |
 |
| Billboard, February 18, 1978, p. 72 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | AC | Dance |
| Can't Smile Without You | 3 | 1 | |
| Even Now | 19 | 1 | |
| Copacabana (At the Copa) | 8 | 6 | 15 |
| Somewhere in the Night | 9 | 4 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Copacabana (At the Copa)"
"Can't Smile Without You"
"Even Now"
If this wasn't the first album I ever purchased with my allowance money, it was certainly one of the first. I fell in love with Copacabana after hearing it on a TV variety show about the time Can't Smile Without You was on top of the charts. It's Manilow at the height of his powers: corny but catchy songs and I love it and I listened to the crap out of it for months on end. I don't know if I really like all these tunes or if they just bring back good memories and I listen for nostalgia's sake.
 | The Cars The Cars Elektra 6E-135 Produced by: Roy Thomas Baker |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 18 | 19 |
 |
| Record World, June 17, 1978, p. 22 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 |
| Just What I Needed | 27 |
| My Best Friend's Girl | 35 |
| Good Times Roll | 41 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Good Times Roll"
"You're All I've Got Tonight"
"Just What I Needed"
I usually use this album's release date (June 6, 1978) as the birthdate of what we now call "'80s music." And for good reason: this was rock music, but not quite rock music. Or maybe I'd just never heard New Wave music before The Cars. There's something different about it. Regardless, Ric Ocasek can write a hooks and this album is full of them. There's also Ocasek's quirky voice singing sarcastic lyrics that would appeal to any teenager. A fantastic debut album with almost every song a winner. According to the liner notes of the aforementioned greatest hits set, guitarist Elliot Easton said, "We used to joke that the first album should be called The Cars Greatest Hits."
In retrospect, it's hard to believe the singles weren't bigger hits and that radio favorites Don't Cha Stop, You're All I've Got Tonight, and/or Bye Bye Love weren't released as singles. Rolling Stone placed this album #284 in the latest incarnation of their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list and at #16 in their list of "The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time." I'm good with both those rankings (not that they asked me).
In retrospect, it's hard to believe the singles weren't bigger hits and that radio favorites Don't Cha Stop, You're All I've Got Tonight, and/or Bye Bye Love weren't released as singles. Rolling Stone placed this album #284 in the latest incarnation of their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list and at #16 in their list of "The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time." I'm good with both those rankings (not that they asked me).
 | Van Halen Van Halen Warner Bros. 3075 Produced by: Ted Templeman |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 19 | 16 |
 |
| Cash Box, February 25, 1978, p. 16 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 |
| You Really Got Me | 36 |
| Runnin' with the Devil | 84 |
Top 3 Tracks
"Eruption/You Really Got Me"
"Runnin' with the Devil"
"Jamie's Cryin'"
On a Saturday evening, many years ago, I was riding home on a school bus that had taken the high school French Club to The Texas Renaissance Festival, a drive that took over two hours. 35 years later, I like nothing about that previous sentence: French Club, Renaissance Festival, high school, two hour bus ride, etc. However, on that bus ride someone played a cassette copy of this album on their boom box. Just this album for the entire return trip. I had heard most of the tunes before, but after hearing the complete album 3 times through, I wasn't tired of it at all - I loved it! So I decided then and there that I needed my own copy. I set out the next day in search of vinyl or cassette (I wasn't picky), but faced insurmountable obstacles: nobody carried 5 year old albums, small town, blue laws! I eventually got my copy for a penny from Columbia House and wore that sucker out. Not a stinker until 9 or 10 cuts in. My favorite VH song is "Panama" but this is easily my favorite VH album.
 | 52nd Street Billy Joel Columbia 35609 Produced by: Phil Ramone |
U.S. Album Chart Peaks
| Billboard | Cash Box |
| 1 | 1 |
 |
| Billboard, October 21, 1978, p. 84 |
| U.S. charted singles: | Hot 100 | AC |
| My Life | 3 | 2 |
| Big Shot | 14 | |
| Honesty | 24 | 9 |
Top 3 Tracks
"My Life"
"Rosalinda's Eyes"
"Big Shot"
That Billy Joel was able to produce such a consistent album within a year of this breakthrough LP, The Stranger, shows that he finally figured out the formula that worked for him. Along with Glass Houses, this album is one of two Joel albums I can easily listen to from start to finish. Even though Joel would continue his success into the late '80s, the music on this album represents the part of his career when he was consistently at his best. All nine tracks are good. The only one I'm tempted to skip is Honesty, not because it's a bad song, but because it was so overplayed back in '79. I bought this LP on a Friday and knew all the lyrics by Sunday. That's all I did all day Saturday was listen to the record over and over.
These are my personal top 19 albums released in 1978. 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 40 years
- Overall quality of the album
References:
- Billboard magazine chart information is available from the Billboard website, the American Radio History archives, Google Books, or any of the wonderful Record Research books.
- The Cash Box chart information was taken from The Cash Box Album Charts, 1976-1985 (1987).
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