These are my 2 choices for 1972 albums (and nothing Belgian interesting enough this year):
An album I own:
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Argus by Wishbone Ash
This is still a very fine album by Wishbone with some very good twin guitar playing but it's the only album of them I know so I'll have to find about them more. They're even releasing a new album this year.
An album on my wishlist: the closest to Belgium I could come up with was a Dutch album:
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Only Parrots, Frogs And Angels by Barry Hay
A solo album by the singer of The Golden Earring, a year before they released their greatest hits, the fantastic and epic Radar Love. But this solo album sucks...completely.
Ordinary Man by Ozzy Osbourne
Not a bad album from this old geezer on which he cooperates with about everyone going from Slash to Elton John and even ends up making a November Rain like epic in the title track. A fairly good album.
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Surrender Your Poppy Field by Guided By Voices
And another album by the über prolificness. This album has no bad song on it and in this way is very consistent but there are also no real highlights than on his masterpieces.
And the first real highlight of the year:
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Random Desire by Greg Dulli
An album that can be measured against the best standards of Afghan Wigs and that's saying a lot. He uses about every instrument in the book: piano in The Tide (one of the highlights) and Scorpio, the violin on It Falls Apart and A Ghost and brass instruments on Lockless and it all sounds as a unity while he goes from beautiful ballads (another highlight is Marry Me) to his usual screamers. But the best track is the opener Pantomima. As I said the best album of the year so far.
An album I own: again the closes thing to Belgium is Germany and another Krautrock album:
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Faust IV by Faust
It's experimental but also maybe the first noise album: I like it and it goes from the 27th to 26th rank of my best 1973 albums.
An album on my wishlist:
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Je Moest Eens Weten Hoe Gelukkig Ik Was by Raymond Van Het Groenewoud
Up to now all Belgian albums I chose were in English but Belgium is a country with three languages but not English. My mother tongue is Flemish (which compares to Dutch as American English to English English) and Raymond Van Het Groenewoud is one of the best solo artists who sings in Flemish.
He's turning 70 this year and is celebrated with a three episode documentary around him and he also has released a new album this year.
I must admit I also mainly know him from his greatest hits (of which he has many in Belgium) so this is a good opportunity to find out more about his regular albums (although I know most of the songs).
This is his first album and it's clear that he's still searching his way: there's some very standard even mediocre blues and rock songs and also his ballads (which he does best) are still not yet what he would become later.
I will recommend many albums and tracks of the man later which in my opinion can be appreciated (even loved) by non-Belgium ears but I'll be frank, I won't recommend anything from this album but it still earns the 34th rank in my 1973 top chart.
Here are my choices for 1974 (again not a trace of anything Belgian):
First an album in my collection:
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Eldorado, A Symphony By The Electric Light Orchestra by Electric Light Orchestra
One of my favorite and most consistently good albums of this wonderful band. Of course they're at their height of their pompousness but that's not what I call it: it's a magnificent use of classical elements in their music and the music sometimes soars to incredible heights and reaches its quintessence in the last track however short it is. And there's even a hit on it: Can't Get It Out Of my Head. I upped the scores of a few tracks I appreciated less before so the album rises from the 4th the 2nd place of 1974.
An album on my wishlist:
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There's The Rub by Wishbone Ash
I like Argus so wanted to discover more by Wishbone Ash but although this one is harder it is also much less inspired. I'll try some others.
An album from my collection (nothing to do with Belgium):
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Siren by Roxy Music
This album contains one masterpiece (Both Ends Burning) and one near masterpiece (Love Is The Drug remains a killer song).
I thought I would like some of the other tracks more after a renewed listen but no, they remain very good songs but not extraordinary. So this album still nestles itself comfortably at the fourth rank of my year chart.
And a Belgian album from my wishlist:
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Ik Doe Niet Mee by Raymond Van Het Groenewoud
And again Raymond I already introduced earlier. This is his second and first really good album mainly because it contains two Belgian classics:
- Bierfeesten (Als Ik Dit Maar Heb) (loosely translated as beer festivals (if I only have that)). This is one of his classic slow songs which maybe suffers a bit of over orchestration but still is very good. As you could expect it's about the life on the road of an artist but has to be tolerant to people drinking and puking without paying much attention: a popular theme in his work
- Gelukkig Zijn: about searching for happiness
And two other Flemish hits which are just that but are quite fun: Mijn Schoolgaande jeugd (about his school life) and Ik Wil De Grootste Zijn (I want to be (and have) the greatest: is just what it's supposed to be but quite funny even if you don't understand a word he sings.
The other tracks are not bad but are nothing extraordinary and this album becomes the 19th ranked of 1975.
Dragon by Dragon (BE)
In only discovered the prog Belgian classic recently but needed to relisten to it and it's still a bit in-between and I even think I still overrate it a bit but it does feel a bit clumsy. But nevertheless at the 25th rank of 1976.
An album from my wishlist:
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Rock And Roll Heart by Lou Reed
Widely acclaimed to be not his best album it's still very enjoyable and it's not a coincidence that the three tracks which also appear on his Between Thoughts and Expression (because hand-picked by himself) are also the best tracks on the album: the title track, Vicious Circle and Temporary Thing. Enters my 1976 top chart at rank 14.
Marquee Moon by Television
And why not pick the best album of the year unfortunately ranked second unto now but after listening to it again also the "weaker" tracks are the work of a genius so I upped quite a bit of the scores while still finding that Marquee Moon is one of the best songs ever with Torn Curtain as the near perfect song (that wailing guitar near the end just does it for me). So again at the first rank both of the year and of the decade and this classic of course takes an important place on my overall top albums and moves from the 35th to the 20th rank.
An album from my wishlist:
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Nooit Meer Drinken by Raymond Van Het Groenewoud
I promise, in the following years there will be a lot more competition from other artists but this is again a RVHG album as he is sometimes also called in Belgium. Some of his classic ballads (Bij Elkaar/With Each Other, Winterochtend/Winter Morning, Nooit Meer Drinken/Never drink again and mainly Danielle) and some of his more tongue-in-cheek songs but the most important one remains his ultimate rock song Meisjes/Girls (they make you crazy mister).
There's many more albums after this but there's only one important one with one of the best songs ever on it but that's for much later...
1978 was the year punk broke in Belgium (we're always a bit later with everything) and the two main flag bearers of that new style were Plastic Bertrand and The Kids.
I suppose many of you know that main hit by Plastic Bertrand: Ca Plane Pour Moi. But the guy was fake and didn't even sing his own songs and for that reason I don't even think of listening to the album he released in 1978 (and on which he didn't sing either).
So why not be a bit stubborn and choose the two albums The Kids released in 1978 which I own both so no album from my wishlist. The Kids were a band with roots in the working class Antwerp and headed by the Ludo Mariman, a real frontman.
First album I already own:
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The Kids by The Kids
The production quality of their first album is not really top notch but the energy just radiates here with fantastic pointy punk anthems like This Is Rock 'n Roll, Baby That's Alright, Fascist Cops and Money Is All I Need. The rest of the album is just ok but all the tracks have the same punk vibe. If you're into raw energetic music, listen to this album. And it rises from the 32nd to the 13th rank in my 1978 chart.
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Naughty Kids by The Kids
Their second album of the same year was not so good as their first because the energy was already a little bit fading (who needs another song about the monarchy when the Sex Pistols have done that much better) except for that one Belgium punk anthem Rock Over Belgium. Especially live this song is just a bomb of pure energy and the best punk song coming out of Belgium and on of the best worldwide. Also Naughty Boy is not bad. And the album rises from the 34th to the 21st rank of the year.
Love your review of that Venom album. Agree with a lot of it. They lose a lot the Motorhead influence for their second album Black Metal on which they really establish their own sound.
And album I own and why not choose a last The Kids album:
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Living In The 20th Century by The Kids
And for a good reason because it also contains a real punk classic nobody know but everybody who likes punk should now: Do You Wanna Know. This is a Youtube film of a live version:
Although the rest of the album is a bit more poppy than their former albums, there are still some good punk rock songs to be found here like Something Better To Do and Here They Come. The album ends up at the 28th rank (I had erroneously put in my 1980 chart before).
An album on my wishlist:
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Heresie by Univers Zero
I was curious about this band/album I had never heard of before because it is viewed as one of the frontrunners of the RIO movement. I was also curious to know what that was but it seems to be Rock In Opposition of which also the UK Henry Cow was a part. In all you can define the album as a very dark horror movie with classical influences. The album contains three long tracks which interesting enough but not enough to keep my attention long enough.
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