1978

This is the first post in a new series I have come up with in order to get on a more regular writing schedule.  I am going to randomly pick a year between 1974 (the year I was born) and 2010 and list my favorite CDs from that year.  A few rules:  I am sticking to CDs that I actually own.  I am going to exclude any compilations or greatest hits albums (although I won't rule out live albums).  Depending on the year, the list will either be 5 or 10 albums (there will be some years where I have fewer CDs from which to choose, and there is no reason to include discs just to pad the list to 10). 


The first year I selected was 1978 (I used a random number generator).  1978 was a transition year in music, where Punk was fading away and New Wave was rising (all 5 records on the list are New Wave of a sort).

5.) The Police - Outlandos d'Amour

Its really hard to imagine that the Sting of the last 20 years is the same person responsible for the the music of The Police.  I don't know if Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland were much more a part of the success of the band than they are given credit, or if Sting just either lost the touch or completely changed.  At any rate, The Police (along with the band at #3 on this list) were one of the bands that helped bring New Wave to the mainstream by crafting songs that were catchy enough to gain radio airplay.  "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Roxanne" are both mainstays of classic rock stations today.



4.) Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

Talking Heads came up in the NY Punk scene (their first gig was opening for the Ramones at CBGB in 1975), but they never really fit in with the rest of the acts.  While their music had a decided punk sound, it also combined pop, funk, and world music among other sounds.  That helped them to outlast the decline of punk, as a lot of what they were doing in their music was what became New Wave.  More Songs... was their second album, and the first to start getting them noticed.  It is one of those albums that didn't sell all that well when released, but is now considered a classic (it appeared on both Rolling Stone's all-time Top 500 and Pitchfork's Top 100 of the '70s).



3.) The Cars - The Cars

The Cars are another New Wave band that is a constant fixture on classic rock radio rotations today.  However, while they released 6 albums that sold very well (4 of them hit the Billboard Top 10), the majority of the songs for which they are known came from their self-titled first release: "Good Times Roll", "My Best Friend's Girl", Just What I Needed", "You're All I've Got Tonight", "Bye Bye Love", "Moving In Stereo".  Years of use in bad commercials and movie trailers have played out some of these songs, but that doesn't change the fact that that is one hell of a list of singles from a debut release.



2.) Blondie - Parallel Lines

Blondie is another act that started in the Punk scene but wasn't really "Punk".  They were definitely New Wave before people knew what that was.  Parallel Lines was their 3rd album and the one that rocketed them to stardom based on 6 hit singles and the fact that they had a pretty blond lead singer in Debbie Harry who was perfect for the transition popular music was making into a visual medium that started around this time. 



1.) Elvis Costello and the Attractions - This Year's Model

This is Costello's second album and the first with his backing band The Attractions, who would stick with him for his next 9 albums.  Elvis Costello's early music was a mix of New Wave, Punk and Pub Rock.  Pub Rock was the British precursor to Punk - a back to basics approach to music that came about as a reaction to the growing spectacle of Prog and Glam Rock.  Punk took up that bare bones attitude and ran with it, pushing Pub Rock aside, but for a short time it was pretty popular.  Costello took the brash attitude of Pub and Punk rock and melded it with a songwriting ability that few of his contemporaries possessed, resulting in a sound that was in your face and beautiful at the same time.



Note: Today is October 1st, which means its now time for my annual personal Horror Movie Festival/Marathon.  As with last year , what started as a 1 day occurrence (http://oldmanattheshow.blogspot.com/2009/10/october.html) has now transformed into a month-long undertaking, with a day-long marathon at the end.  As a result, most of my blog posts for the next month will be related to horror movies (although the occasional music or TV post may pop up if something inspires me).