First an album I already own/know:
Bat Out Of Hell (1977) by Meat Loaf
In the year where punk was breaking through there was this album and there is no other album like it. It's completely over the top and therefore maybe to be viewed as a guilty pleasure but it's one of the best albums ever made. Why: because every track is some kind of a mini-opera with of course Paradise By The Dashboard Light as the ultimate proof, a track I know by heart. But the best example of that is the title track, a song that goes in a different direction by every heartbeat but nevertheless a gem. Heaven Can Wait as cheesy a slow as you can imagine but it completely works and is one of those other great songs of the album while maybe only For Crying Out Loud crosses the line of cheesiness. A classic album with maybe not so much Meat Loaf as the main character here but the producer and songwriter Jim Steinman. This album climbs from the 16th to the 5th rank of the year.
And an album from my wishlist:
Hurt (1977) by Chris Spedding
Chris Spedding is most know for accompaying other artists both on albums and live but sometimes he released a solo album of which this one which has a bit of a punk spirit. If you listen attentively you can hear Chrissie Hynde on backing vocals on Lone Rider. Not everything is very good here but on some tracks like Silver Bullet he shows some fine songwriting and he surely can play guitar. So an album good enough to enter my year chart at the 42nd rank.
First an album I already own/know:
At Budokan (1978) by Cheap Trick
I have this general rule that I try to have only regular albums in my year chart so I try to avoid greatest hits and live albums. But sometimes I really have to like for this live album which is mainly taken from their second album In Color with one track from their third album Heave Tonight (Surrender) but the versions of the best tracks on these albums simply don't have the sound quality and grit of the versions on this live album. And on top of that: the regular albums sold something but they really hit the charts with the live album and not only with the album but also with singles of which of course I Want You To Want Me. The only hit missing here is Dream Police which was the main track of the fourth album. So I just have to include this live album in my charts (and it rises from the 50th to the 32nd rank on my 1978 year chart) which means I don't include the regular albums: maybe later I will change my mind.
Btw: the other big example maybe would be Peter Frampton Comes Alive which is still on my wishlist but I nevertheless know rather well. And I'm really doubting to do the same thing with Live In Tokyo (not at the Budokan) from the Scorpions, one of my overall favorite live albums which has all the definitive versions of my favorite tracks of them which are all a hundred times better than the original versions on the regular albums and covers their best period (I hate what they did after that with disasters like Still Loving You and Winds Of Change).
And an album from my wishlist:
Rose Tattoo (1978) by Rose Tattoo
This is a typical band which I have heard about a lot but not heard a lot of. I always thought they were more in the region of metal but they are also described as a punk band although in my opinion they sound more like AC/DC than like a punk rock band although they certainly seems to have the attitude.And I must I liked this first album of theirs more than I thought I would. Especially the last track with the weird title Astra Wally is very good and very energetic but in fact most of them are. The album immediately starts at the 26th rank of the year.
Btw: the other big example maybe would be Peter Frampton Comes Alive which is still on my wishlist but I nevertheless know rather well. And I'm really doubting to do the same thing with Live In Tokyo (not at the Budokan) from the Scorpions, one of my overall favorite live albums which has all the definitive versions of my favorite tracks of them which are all a hundred times better than the original versions on the regular albums and covers their best period (I hate what they did after that with disasters like Still Loving You and Winds Of Change).
When I was researching/fact-checking my (again, fully-annotated) Favorite Live Albums chart a few months ago, I learned that Cheap Trick at Budokan (currently ranked at #46) wasn't actually recorded at Budokan either, it was recorded in Osaka and they simply lied about it.
To quote myself:
Myself wrote:
Live albums have always been popular, and many have been big sellers too, but there was something about the ones released in the mid- to late-70s that made them seem unusually... BIG. There was "Frampton Comes Alive," "KISS Alive II," "Stage," "The David Johansen Group Live"... and of course, this album, "Cheap Trick at Budokan." Recently it was revealed (by the album's sound engineer) that the recording used for this album was actually from their show in Osaka, not the one at the Budokan in Toyko. Obviously nobody would have bought an album called "Cheap Trick in Osaka," since that would have been silly, but the shows were all recorded around the same time, so no harm done. And while I personally thought the sound quality on this LP was a downgrade from their studio stuff, that didn't stop it from becoming Cheap Trick's best-selling album ever, going triple-platinum at a time when platinum credit cards hadn't even been invented yet.
My theory is that the technology for making really good live albums only started to become available in the early 1970s, so when the first BIG live albums came out (Deep Purple's Made in Japan, The Who's Live at Leeds, the Rolling Stones' Get Your Ya-Yas Out, etc.), they were both a novelty and a means to impress people — many fans bought them because they wanted to find out if their home stereos could sound "as good as a real concert hall." So being the slavish bandwagoneers they were, all the labels started insisting that bands start making high-quality live recordings, and it just became a matter of recording budget and luck as to whether or not any given band's live album would end up sounding as good as (or better than) their studio albums.
When I was researching/fact-checking my (again, fully-annotated) Favorite Live Albums chart a few months ago, I learned that Cheap Trick at Budokan (currently ranked at #46) wasn't actually recorded at Budokan either, it was recorded in Osaka and they simply lied about it.
To quote myself:My theory is that the technology for making really good live albums only started to become available in the early 1970s, so when the first BIG live albums came out (Deep Purple's Made in Japan, The Who's Live at Leeds, the Rolling Stones' Get Your Ya-Yas Out, etc.), they were both a novelty and a means to impress people — many fans bought them because they wanted to find out if their home stereos could sound "as good as a real concert hall." So being the slavish bandwagoneers they were, all the labels started insisting that bands start making high-quality live recordings, and it just became a matter of recording budget and luck as to whether or not any given band's live album would end up sounding as good as (or better than) their studio albums.
good point thx. And the original sound quality of this live album was not that good but was much. better in the remastered version of 2015.
First an album I already own/know:
Discovery (1979) by Electric Light Orchestra
The disco album of ELO although for me it's just another highlight in the ELO discography with Confusion and especially Don't Bring Me Down and Shine A Little Love. Some more disco tracks are maybe not so good but overall very good and it moves up from the 27th to the 20th rank of the year.
And an album from my wishlist:
Present Tense (1979) by Shoes
A powerpop bad with nothing extraordinary but just OK and enters my year chart at the 40th rank.
First an album I already own/know:
Wild Planet (1980) by The B-52's
The B-52's have one classic album (their first) and one very good album, this one. The classics here are Dirty Back Road and especially Private Idaho but overall this album still has the positive vibe which also their self-titled album had and even a song with a strange title like Quiche Lorraine has something good. So it climbs from the 11th to the 7th rank of the year.
And an album from my wishlist:
Growing Up In Public (1980) by Lou Reed
Lou Reed has released bad experimental albums but this one even doesn't even have a lot of spirit/experiment with plainly stupid songs like The Power Of Positive Drinking and the self-referential Smiles to completely prove that point. The only tracks saving this album are end loaded. Teach The Gifted Children is OK and Think It Over is one of those great laid-back songs Lou Reed can do so well. But both tracks feature on Between Thoughts And Expression so you don't need this album to check this out. So it's with a bit of reluctance that I do include this album in my year chart at the 71st rank.
First an album I already own/know:
Discovery (1979) by Electric Light Orchestra
The disco album of ELO although for me it's just another highlight in the ELO discography with Confusion and especially Don't Bring Me Down and Shine A Little Love. Some more disco tracks are maybe not so good but overall very good and it moves up from the 27th to the 20th rank of the year.
And an album from my wishlist:
Present Tense (1979) by Shoes
A powerpop bad with nothing extraordinary but just OK and enters my year chart at the 40th rank.
Two albums of 1981 I listened to (and one of 1980):
First an album I already own/know and in fact the two first solo albums of Ozzy Osbourne:
Blizzard Of Ozz (1980) by Ozzy Osbourne Diary Of A Madman (1981) by Ozzy Osbourne
The first is for me his best solo album and still connects with the BS albums. There are some really great and inspired tracks here like I Don't Know, Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley so all in all a very good album which climbs from the 34th to the 12th rank of 1980. And much better than the Sabbath album of that year, Mob Rules, which finds itself only at the 50th rank of 1980.
What a difference with the follow-up album of 1981 of which nearly all the tracks sound dull and uninspired. And I have that with every single track of this album. Not bad but there's something that makes it less than actually good. What a change compared to the previous one but it still moves up from the 46th to the 35th rank of 1981.
And an album from my wishlist:
Never Too Late (1981) by Status Quo
I fairly like this album I didn't know yet. Of course this is really the end of their good period and it was the last album with drummer John Coghlan but I'm a sucker for this band and I just can't help falling for their relentless boogie they showed again on many of these tracks like Don't Stop Me Now and also including a hard rocking version of Carol. No wonder it enters my year chart of 1981 at the 26th rank.
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