Best Album on My Favourite Albums of......1979!!

Rolling Stone 1979 Critics

Album

• Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young

Single Of The Year

• Tusk - Fleetwood Mac

Melody Maker End Of Year Critic Lists - 1979

Albums

1. Fear Of Music - Talking Heads
2. Bop Till You Drop - Ry Cooder
3. Entertainment - Gang Of Four
4. Forces Of Victory - Linton Kwesi Johnson
5. Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young
6. The Undertones - The Undertones
7. Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
8. I Am - Earth, Wind & Fire
9. Metal Box - PIL
10. London Calling - The Clash
11. The Original Sin - Cowboys International
12. Squeezing Out Sparks - Graham Parker
13. We Are Family - Sister Sledge
14. Armed Forces - Elvis Costello
15. Tom Verlaine - Tom Verlaine
16. 154 - Wire
17. Drums And Wires - XTC
18. Exposure - Robert Fripp
19. Rock On - Raydio
20. Bad Girls - Donna Summer

Single Of The Year

• Public Image Limited - Death Disco

Most critics were on board with punk, though boundaries have shifted since. Elvis Costello's vitrol got him called punk. There was a year or more lag for a lot of those NME records getting issued in the States, Metal Box becoming Second Edition. Mid-eighties, when I started buying these records, Slits, Wire, The Fall were all still hard to find. Urgh A Music War is a pretty good example of the New Wave acts that were promoted and distributed more thoroughly in the US.

https://www.discogs.com/Various-URGH-A-Music-War/release/1104550

btw found a person on ilx who is a graham parker fan. He's a former ilxor from way back in the early days.

tough one. went with Throbbing Gristle.

do you know what Throbbing Gristle is Yorkshire slang for?

I wouldn't call myself a Graham Parker *fan* exactly but Squeezing Out Sparks is a decent pub rock LP

Was that because so much of 'punk' was UK centric and not available in the US or were they just too old and 60s hangovers looking for music like they had as a youth?

― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy)

i don't know what the hell was wrong with american critics in the '70s, i was three, and i'm a little grumpy about it because complaining about their utterly tepid and anodyne tastes makes me sound like fucking lj or something, i try to be a live and let live person, but jesus fucking christ their list looks like the shit the grammy voters come up with.

"60's hangover" gets closest to the vibe imo, it is very distinct and I mostly blame Dave Marsh

yes. also agree about the lag in US availability of a lot of the UK albums

this IS The B-52's, but in absence of that Joy Division.

this was the very first year i did the acclaimed series, which i ended up doing over five summers and then singles in the fall. what happened when i did the 1979 one is that the B-52's won. i did not know the B-52's at that time and knew that if it won a poll on ILM that it must be a special album. flash forward to 2018 and here i am doing the B-52's artist poll for ILM which Karl Malone ended up having to finish for me. i will never forget my reaction on the winning of the poll and being introduced to a band that i now love with all my heart. all thanks to ILM and why i love this place.

Acclaimed Music Top 25 from 1979 poll

15 The B-52's - The B-52's 12
1 The Clash - London Calling 11
2 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures 10
3 Michael Jackson - Off the Wall 10
14 Chic - Risqué 8
9 Talking Heads - Fear of Music 8
4 Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps 7
22 Wire 154 6

There was a CD compilation of Graham Parker and the Rumour from about 20 years ago called You Can't Be Too Strong that collected everything you'd ever need to hear by them. It's well written and executed pub rock but I always found his voice was like nails on chalkboard. At the time, I couldn't understand what critics saw in him, especially because they were ignoring that Van Morrison was still in peak form.

No love on this board for Doll by Doll, who released two superb albums in 79, Remember and Gypsy Blood. They were a vicious live act too.

There was something in the air then. Every week there was a new album that left your jaw on the floor. Even acts like the Slits and Joy Division, who could come across so unfocussed and sloppy live, would startle you with releases as good as Cut and Unknown Pleasures. I voted for Entertainment, GO4 were pretty special that year.

"There was something in the air then. Every week there was a new album that left your jaw on the floor. Even acts like the Slits and Joy Division, who could come across so unfocussed and sloppy live, would startle you with releases as good as Cut and Unknown Pleasures. I voted for Entertainment, GO4 were pretty special that year."

love this post

aw shucks

I think my first exposure to Gang of Four was "I Love a Man In a Uniform" in 1982, I looked but couldn't find Entertainment! for the longest time after that

GO4 feels predictable after reading thread but was immed at top for me. london calling is jan 80 in my mind tho i wouldnt hear it til later when i begged a classmate to tape it for me

I still reckon Tusk will win, its ILM

even with the typo

20 Jazz Funk Greats. It's one of the most urgent and beautiful records I've ever heard.

Is there a tribute act based in the NW England, called Fleetwood Manc?

Tubeway Army is on the list but 1979 was also the year that Gary Numan went solo. The Pleasure Principle isn't the best album of the year but it's better than a couple on that list.

Went solo in name only. Tubeway Army was as much of a solo project as anything he did under his own name.

Except Tubeway army carried on without him, under a slightly modified name

Er, no they didn't.

"slightly modified"?

https://www.discogs.com/artist/45761-Dramatis

Numan's backing band circa '81 formed Dramatis after Numan announced his "retirement", but none of its members were on Tubeway Army or Replicas. Paul Gardiner (who was) continued to work with Numan on 'Stormtrooper in Drag' etc. and Jess Lidyard (the drummer on those records) featured on Dance. None of the members of Dramatis had any legal claim to the name Tubeway Army.

In fact, Denis Haines was only ever on Telekon. Payne, Bell and Sharpley would be back with Numan on Warriors etc.

If I had voted anywhere in '79, think it would have gone something like this, based on the ones I heard then---didn't yet know XTC, Slits, Tom Verlaine's s/t, or Metal Box ever (though did get Second Edition eventually) and remember best---10 points each:
1. Entertainment!- Gang of Four
2. Rust Never Sleeps- Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
4. Into the Music- Van Morrison
5. Entertainment - Gang Of Four
6. The B-52- The B-52s
7. Do It Yourself - Ian Dury
8. London Calling - The Clash
9. Squeezing Out Sparks - Graham Parker
10. The Raincoats- The Raincoats

Also didn't hear Bad Girls and Risque 'til later, though would have been a source of my Singles list.

don't think I heard The Raincoats' first album until a reissue in the early '90s, or The Slits' first album until even later

Re Tubeway whatever..

I'm sure I saw it at the time, but can't remember it and can't find it now.

Put it into the unconfirmed pile, then.

Wait, I didn't hear Dury right then, did I? Can't swear---make it Blondie, Eat To The Beat, I know I played the hell out of that for most of the year. Regarding glaring omissions, late entries etc,, the Voice used to make allowances for "year of impact" (on the voter, not nec. the charts), so that may be why Entertainment! didn't show up on the 1979 P&J (says here release date was Sept. 25).

there were so many great albums from 1978-1981

I remember in 1980 or 81 visiting my sister and her older boyfriend in Austin and being driven out into the middle of nowhere - seemed like it took hours - into some vast desert landscape to visit a friend of theirs. Drums and Wires was blasting from the stereo. I was such an odd disconnect and I fell in love with it instantly

*It was

also remember the Rickie Lee Jones album being a favorite at the time, and I got to meet her!

I never got into XTC either but you probably realised that by now

i could probably do a poll like this for a few years of the '80s but the record selection would be way stupider

there were so many great albums from 1978-1981

Agreed, an embarrassing amount of great music!

Michael B is taking over for the 80s series of polls
xp

oh good he's got good taste

its ilm though, he wont please everyone. However it's cool to be able to check out albums you have never heard that people mention so all's good.

agree, you posted a lot of reggae I didn't know and want to follow up on

I did? I hardly know any and everyone pointed that out to me. I need to hear more for sure.

I do regret forgetting about augustus pablo - king tubby meets rockers uptown because Ive had that cd twenty years and i dunno how i forgot it in my list of (76 i think?)

the 1980s are ILMers most beloved decade so no way was I taking that on. Dont fancy the ire of 80s pop, hair metal, synthpop fans etc :D

xp was thinking of the Keith Hudson specifically

Sure there will be plenty of people to vote for This Heat or Wire so I went with Dragnet. Remarkably little that strikes me in your list. The Raincoats sure.

Some favorites
Black Uhuru - Showcase
Bob Marley - Survival
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Forces of Victory
Barrington Levy - Englishman
Johnny Osbourne - Truths and Rights
lot of reggae actually (Words of Wisdom, Wild Suspense)
XTC - Drums and Wire
The Only Ones - Even Serpents Shine
Camarón de la Isla - La leyenda del tiempo
The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
Van Morrison - Into the Music (iirc)
YMO - Solid State Survivor

here were so many great albums from 1978-1981

I remember in 1980 or 81 visiting my sister and her older boyfriend in Austin and being driven out into the middle of nowhere - seemed like it took hours - into some vast desert landscape to visit a friend of theirs. Drums and Wires was blasting from the stereo. I was such an odd disconnect and I fell in love with it instantly

― Dan S, Saturday, April 6, 2019 7:01 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*It was

― Dan S Now that you mention it, I can totally imagine the disconnected combination and balancing act! Well "totally" as I can without your actual experience. ILX always needs this kind of testimony (I j mainly just remember several of my Top Ten in certain rooms, or sometimes out on the street, blasting through windows and sometimes walls [cheapo offcampus housing]---especially The B-52s),

also remember the Rickie Lee Jones album being a favorite at the time, and I got to meet her!

― Dan S Cool, please tell us about that! She made several good albums now and then; the last I heard was her trip hop excursion, Ghosty Head. Also some good club shows have floated by on YouTube, like the one from Sweden where she's wearing a top hat, another nice day at the office.

I met her briefly through a friend when she was living in SF in 1982. I was awestruck and could barely manage a "hello." She seemed like a kind person