Some more albums of 1975 I listened to:
- Atlantic Crossing by Rod Stewart (nr 42 on the overall BEA top chart of 1975): there's not only Sailing and I Don't Wanna Talk about It on this album but also the other tracks are quite good and this goes as well for the rockers (Stone Cold Sober) as for the slows but sailing remains the best. One of the better solo alums of Rod Stewart.
- Scheherazade And Other Stories by Renaissance nr 43) : only four tracks (although the last one is a suite) on this very pastoral but yet very majestic album and although it doesn't have a real highlight I liked it overall. After a bit of doubt I decided to include it in my personal top chart also because I think it might be a grower.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Various Artists (nr 44): I don't have any connection at all with the movie and like most soundtracks there are good pieces combined by very bad ones and in conclusion that the latter ones win.
- Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow by Rainbow (nr 45): this is the first album of Ritchie Blackmore after he left Deep Purple and in which he teamed up with Ronny James Dio as the singer. In general Rainbow is a good combination of the two where they both succeed at reining in the bad sides of each other and I really like the epic songs of the band. On this first album there are none of those to be found yet although I like Man On The Silver Mountain and Catch The Rainbow. The overall quality of the record is not as good as these two tracks but I like Rainbow enough to include also this album in my personal top chart.
The next album to listen to is Venus And Mars by Wings.
This is my last contribution of albums of 1975 I listened to:
- Venus And Mars by Wings (nr 48 on the overall BEA top chart of 1975): This must be one of the worst Wings/Paul McCartney albums I know: Listen To What The Man Said is one of these great McCartney songs I already knew but the rest is completely forgettable.
- Voyage Of The Acolyte by Steve Hackett (nr 49 and the last album with an overall BEA rank of better than 2500): This is a very good example of the type of prog I don't like: no real songs and a lot of noodling.
And this completes my investigation into albums of 1975. This must be the most fruitful year I already covered. At the start of this I had 10 albums in my personal top chart of 1975 and after this 27 albums with one album even entering at the top 3 spot, ie Face The Music by ELO. It's also a year where I agree a lot with the BEA canon. I have in my top chart only one album outside the overall BEA top 2500: On The Level by Status Quo; and I have 7 BEA top 7 of the year albums in personal top chart. In short: a great year in rock music for me.
This is my final list with at at the start the overall BEA rank and after that the BEA year rank and my personal rank before and after this listening session.
BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before To My Rank after
12 Wish You Were Here By Pink Floyd 1 - 1 To 1
2452 Siren By Roxy Music 47 - 2 To 2
1931 Face The Music By Electric Light Orchestra 35 - To listen To 3
1098 Zuma By Neil Young And Crazy Horse 18 - 3 To 4
6801 On The Level By Status Quo 109 - 4 To 5
2141 Coney Island Baby By Lou Reed 39 - To listen To 6
428 Tonight's The Night By Neil Young 8 - To listen To 7
2325 Atlantic Crossing By Rod Stewart 42 - To listen To 8
1752 The Who By Numbers By The Who 33 - To listen To 9
171 Horses By Patti Smith 6 - To listen To 10
70 A Night At The Opera By Queen 4 - To listen To 11
2272 Still Crazy After All These Years By Paul Simon 41 - To listen To 12
1936 One Of These Nights By Eagles 36 - 6 To 13
44 Born To Run By Bruce Springsteen 3 - 5 To 14
1288 High Voltage By AC/DC 21 - To listen To 15
773 Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy By Elton John 12 - To listen To 16
2409 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow By Rainbow 45 - To listen To 17
876 Sabotage By Black Sabbath 14 - 7 To 18
2152 Crisis? What Crisis? By Supertramp 40 - To listen To 19
938 Fleetwood Mac (1975) By Fleetwood Mac 15 - To listen To 20
1005 Katy Lied By Steely Dan 16 - To listen To 21
2343 Scheherazade And Other Stories By Renaissance 43 - To listen To 22
81 Physical Graffiti By Led Zeppelin 5 - 8 To 23
1637 Welcome To My Nightmare By Alice Cooper 31 - To listen To 24
1560 Music Inspired By The Snow Goose By Camel 29 - To listen To 25
33 Blood On The Tracks By Bob Dylan 2 - 9 To 26
1133 Young Americans By David Bowie 19 - 10 To 27
510 Toys In The Attic By Aerosmith 9 - To listen To A No
690 Mothership Connection By Parliament 10 - To listen To A No
696 The Köln Concert By Keith Jarrett 11 - To listen To A No
788 The Basement Tapes By Bob Dylan & The Band 13 - To listen To A No
1023 The Hissing Of Summer Lawns By Joni Mitchell 17 - To listen To A No
1280 Red Headed Stranger By Willie Nelson 20 - To listen To A No
1306 Ommadawn By Mike Oldfield 22 - To listen To A No
1348 Expensive Shit By Fela Kuti & Africa 70 24 - To listen To A No
1358 One Size Fits All By Frank Zappa 25 - To listen To A No
1475 Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquieme Saison By Harmonium 26 - To listen To A No
1627 Godbluff By Van Der Graaf Generator 30 - To listen To A No
1835 Fly By Night By Rush 34 - To listen To A No
2030 Marcus Garvey By Burning Spear 37 - To listen To A No
2051 Nighthawks At The Diner By Tom Waits 38 - To listen To A No
2389 The Rocky Horror Picture Show By Various Artists 44 - To listen To A No
2462 Venus And Mars By Wings 48 - To listen To A No
2492 Voyage Of The Acolyte By Steve Hackett 49 - To listen To A No
I will again skip 5 years so this means that the next year I will listen to will be 1980.
And this is my first contribution of 1980 albums I will listen to which are ranked 2500 or better overall. I have a feeling I already know a lot of the albums of this year but this is the list with at the start the overall BEA rank and after that the BEA year rank and my personal rank (or to listen) before this listening session:
BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before
49 Remain In Light By Talking Heads 1 - 1
63 Closer By Joy Division 2 - 6
93 Back In Black By AC/DC 3 - Partly listened
290 Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables By Dead Kennedys 4 - To listen
398 Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) By David Bowie 5 - 24
417 The River By Bruce Springsteen 6 - 16
470 Peter Gabriel III By Peter Gabriel 7 - To listen
570 Pretenders By The Pretenders 8 - 10
613 Sandinista! By The Clash 9 - 5
620 Making Movies By Dire Straits 10 - 2
647 Seventeen Seconds By The Cure 11 - 18
659 Permanent Waves By Rush 12 - Already listened
662 Crazy Rhythms By The Feelies 13 - 21
693 Heaven And Hell By Black Sabbath 14 - To listen
727 Boy By U2 15 - 12
821 Ace Of Spades By Motörhead 16 - 3
833 Get Happy!! By Elvis Costello & The Attractions 17 - 13
936 Dirty Mind By Prince 18 - To listen
951 Zenyatta Mondatta By The Police 19 - 15
972 Sound Affects By The Jam 20 - To listen
987 Los Angeles By X 21 - To listen
1040 Blizzard Of Ozz By Ozzy Osbourne 22 - Partly Listened
1109 Gaucho By Steely Dan 23 - 9
1152 The Game By Queen 24 - To listen
1173 Duke By Genesis 25 - To listen
1191 Colossal Youth By Young Marble Giants 26 - Already listened
1193 Uprising By Bob Marley And The Wailers 27 - To listen
1213 In The Flat Field By Bauhaus 28 - To listen
1251 Searching For The Young Soul Rebels By Dexys Midnight Runners 29 - 25
1289 Iron Maiden By Iron Maiden 30 - 17
1373 Kings Of The Wild Frontier By Adam And The Ants 31 - To listen
1376 I Just Can't Stop It By The Beat 32 - To listen
1382 Underwater Moonlight By The Soft Boys 33 - 19
1402 Boys Don't Cry By The Cure 34 - To listen
1424 Heartattack And Vine By Tom Waits 35 - To listen
1449 British Steel By Judas Priest 36 - To listen
1455 Glass Houses By Billy Joel 37 - To listen
1457 Never For Ever By Kate Bush 38 - To listen
1493 Double Fantasy By John Lennon & Yoko Ono 39 - To listen
1647 The Turn Of A Friendly Card By The Alan Parsons Project 40 - To listen
1722 Crocodiles By Echo & The Bunnymen 41 - To listen
1817 Black Sea By XTC 42 - To listen
1949 Kaleidoscope By Siouxsie And The Banshees 43 - 11
2052 Jeopardy By The Sound 44 - To listen
2142 Killing Joke By Killing Joke 45 - To listen
2181 Super Trouper By ABBA 46 - To listen
2228 Empty Glass By Pete Townshend 47 - To listen
2300 Doc At The Radar Station By Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band 48 - To listen
2415 Vienna By Ultravox 49 - To listen
2420 Signing Off By UB40 50 - To listen
And I have already listened to the first albums in the list:
- Back In Black by AC/DC (nr 3 in the overall top chart of 1980): This is the first AC/DC album after the death of Bon Scott. Although I liked him better than the new singer Brian Johnson, this is again a killer album with killer songs like Hells Bells, Shoot To Thrill, You Shook Me All Night Long and the title track.
- Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys (nr 5): California Uber Alles is one of the best punk songs ever and I'm also a big fan of Holiday in Cambodia but the rest of this album also have the pointiest and rowdiest punk songs you can imagine. I also especially liked the first track Kill The Poor but otherwise there is no bad song to be found on this album: a classic punk album that can stand next to the best British punk albums.
- Peter Gabriel III by Peter Gabriel (nr 7): I'm not a big fan of Genesis but I very much like the first Peter Gabriel albums after he left Genesis. Games Without Frontiers is an absolute highlight in his career and I also very much like Biko and most of the other tracks on this album.
The next album of 1980 to listen to is Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath.
The second contributions of 1980 albums I listened to:
- Heaven And Hell by Black Sabbath (nr 14 on the overall BEA Top chart of 1980): to me this is more a Dio record than a Black Sabbath record. Although the bass of Geezer Butler and Guitar of Tony Iommi are still very much recognisable they are playing much faster which makes this album not really Sabbath anymore. Nevertheless there are three outstanding tracks on this album: Neon Knights, Heaven and Hell and Die Young so still an excellent record.
- Dirty Mind by Prince (nr 18): I very much like When You were Mine, the rest of the album is not the best Prince to me.
- Sound Affects by The Jam (nr 20): on this album they are a bit starting to leave their original punk sound on tracks like Start and That's Entertainment pointing to later Jam and Style Council albums but as a whole this album still rocks like the good old Jam I like.
The next album to listen to is Los Angeles by X, a band I don't really know.
And here I am again with some more contributions of albums of 1980 I listened to:
- Los Angeles by X (nr 21 on the overall BEA top chart of 1980): I thought this would again be one of Californian punk bands I don't really like but this is actually very good: just fun energetic punk rock: nothing more, nothing less.
- Blizzard Of Ozz by Ozzy Osbourne (22): I already had the first Ozzyless Sabbath in this year and now this is Ozzy solo but he's not alone: there's also a blizzard called Randy Rhoads with some very good guitar playing. Also Ozzy himself is in good form and the songs are not bad either so definitely an album I like and better than Heaven and Hell.
- The Game by Queen (nr 24): Queen is more and more diverging from their original sound on this album but not yet in the bad bombast to follow in next album. Save Me and Play the Game are nearly over the top but not quite yet and Another One Bites the Dust is just a good song.
- Duke by Genesis (nr 25): 1980 also seems to be year of competing band members: after Sabbath and Ozzy here is Genesis and Gabriel and again the main guy going solo wins. Genesis is just back at its old noodling added with the bad singing of Phil Collins. There's also a hit on this albu: Turn It On Again but that's not much better. Sorry not my cup of tea.
The next album to listen to is Uprising by Bob Marley and The Wailers.
1980 albums continued:
- Uprising by Bob Marley And The Wailers (nr 26 on the overall BEA top chart of 1980): The best known tracks on this album are also the best full stop: Coming In From The Cold, Could You Be Loved and Redemption Song. The rest is in my opinion a bit mediocre and in any case not living up to the high standards of the best three. However as these make the album I'll include it in my personal top chart of 1980.
- In The Flat Field by Bauhaus (nr 28 ): I'll start by saying that in my opinion Dark Entries has to be part of this album although it doesn't appear on the official release. This song and the title track are the standouts with God In An Alcove, Spy In The Cab, St Vitus Dance and Stigmata Martyr as good runners-up. The importance of this band and of this album cannot be overstated.
- Kings Of The Wild Frontier by Adam And The Ants (nr 31): Ant Music and to a lesser degree the title song were fantastic singles and they still sound good but the rest of the album is simply too little inspired to really appeal. The overall appeal of the album is less than average.
- I Just Can't Stop It by The Beat (nr 32): this band was one of the frontrunners in the revival of the ska music at the start of the eighties and this albums is just filled with hits or songs that should have been one: the highlights are the two first songs on the album.
- Heartattack And Vine by Tom Waits (nr 35): I'm a sucker for the piano ballads of Tom Waits and Ruby's Arms is one of the absolute highlights and next to Martha (not on this album) one of my favorite songs ever. There are some more of those ballads on this album and even the more typical Tom Waits more gritty songs sound great. Overall definitely an album to put in my overall top chart of the year.
The next album to listen to is British Steel by Judas Priest.
More (many) 1980 albums:
- British Steel by Judas Priest (nr 36 on the overall BEA top chart of 1980): I'm not a big lover of Judas Priest but I do like this one, also because I know it partly from my youth. There's two very know stadium rockers on this album, Breaking The Law, which hasn't lost its thriving and driving force over the year, and Living After Midnight which is completely the opposite and which lost completely its original appeal. But I was very much surprised pleasantly by another hard rocker: Steeler and also the Rage and Rapid Fire are not bad which makes this album good enough to include it in my personal top chart of 1980.
- Glass Houses by Billy Joel (nr 37): I still like It's Still Rock 'n Roll to me although with the other tracks (ex All For Leyna), I didn't really have the rock 'n roll feeling although it's meant to be a somewhat harder rocking album for Billy Joel but I think he's better in ballads.
- Never For Ever by Kate Bush (nr 38 ): There's a very good hit trio on this album: Babooshka, Army Dreamers and Breathing which are amongst the best Kate Bush Songs. The rest of the album is not up to this high standard but still overall a welcome addition to my personal top chart.
- Double Fantasy by John Lennon & Yoko Ono (nr 39): this was a near miss: the Yoko songs are not really interesting and many of the John songs either but Starting Over, Watching The Wheels and Woman save this album and make it worthy to be in my top chart. But still not the best Lennon album I know.
- The Turn Of A Friendly Card by The Alan Parsons Project (nr 40): twice the title song and twice the best tracks on this overall a bit mediocre and mellow album (but not up to the Tilly standards in my opinion).
- Crocodiles by Echo & The Bunnymen (nr 41): the first album of this band I really like but not their best yet although especially Rescue but also many other tracks still make this a more than average album. And to be complete, to me Do It Clean and Read it in Books should be an essential part of this album if not just by the very funny comment I read that it was left out of the original British issue because the managing director of Warner Brothers thought they contained obscenities and were included on the cassette and US versions.
- Black Sea by XTC (nr 42): General and Majors appears on this album and that alone should be enough to make this album a hit but without one exception also the other tracks here are very good. One of their best.
- Jeopardy by The Sound (nr 44): Heartland is one of their best songs and I also really like Heyday. Overall this first album of theirs is very solid and good one.
- Killing Joke by Killing Joke (nr 45): also a first album and a bit similar although much more approaching a cold front is this one with also many good tracks like Complication and Primitive.
- Super Trouper by ABBA (nr 46): in my youth people like me wouldn't even dare to admit they liked Abba so I didn't. But that has changed a lot and now I think that their beautiful harmonies together with those wonderfully written songs make Abba songs like honey but from the best bees. And the honey on this album is somewhat bitter because it refers a lot to broken relations which gives an additional lemon flavour to the honey. There are many hits on this album but without exception all the other tracks are examples of their craftsmanship. Maybe just a remark: the three last tracks on the list on BEA are not really part of the original album and are also a bit mediocre compared to the rest of the album.
- Empty Glass by Pete Townshend (nr 47): I like Let My Love Open The Door if not because I used to like it in my youth but the rest of the album din't hit a chord in my opinion so I will not include it in my top chart.
- Doc At The Radar Station by Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band (nr 48 ): to me this is the Captain Beefheart album which best reflects the weirdness of the man while still sticking to good songs (even better than on Trout Mask Replica). I especially like Hothead but the overall vibe of the album really connected with me.
Nearly at the end of my listening session to 1980 albums of which again I nearly liked them all. The next album I will listen to is Vienna by Ultravox of which the title song is still an absolute classic to me. But could take a while because tomorrow I'm leaving for a long weekend to Achill Island on the Irish west coast.
More (many) 1980 albums:
- British Steel by Judas Priest (nr 36 on the overall BEA top chart of 1980): I'm not a big lover of Judas Priest but I do like this one, also because I know it partly from my youth. There's two very know stadium rockers on this album, Breaking The Law, which hasn't lost its thriving and driving force over the year, and Living After Midnight which is completely the opposite and which lost completely its original appeal. But I was very much surprised pleasantly by another hard rocker: Steeler and also the Rage and Rapid Fire are not bad which makes this album good enough to include it in my personal top chart of 1980.
Yeah, totally agree! The whole album's really good EXCEPT for Living After Midnight. 🤣
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