Best Albums Of The Year!

The year in question being 1978.

1. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

Kate Bush's first album, and, you know, a friggin' masterpiece, even without the requisite amazement for her being 19 when it was released. Though I don't listen to as much Kate Bush as I used to, and I tend to prefer some of her later albums, this album nonetheless perfectly encapsulates what makes her such an awesome and unique musician. You know, the epic narrative lyrics, soaring vocals, complex arrangements, unashamed romanticism, obscure and not-so-obscure literary references... What's more, though some are better than others, all the songs on the album are really quite top notch, presumably because she wasn't yet so much into the kind of experimentation that increases the variance on her later albums. She also released her second album in 1978, Lionheart, which was unfortunately rushed, and so among her worst.

2. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings And Food

Talking Heads' second album, which I tend to mentally combine with They Might Be Giants' third album, to form "More Songs About Buildings And Flood." Anyway, it's certainly not my favourite Talking Heads album, but still, you know, it's a Talking Heads album. It has its great moments, and is pretty consistently funky, but Take Me To The River is the only really amazing song on the album. Talking Heads are really a band that I feel got distinctly better over time. Incidentally, this was the first Talking Heads album to be produced by Brian Eno. Which brings us to...

3. Eno/Moebius/Roedelius - After The Heat

Yep, I'm a Brian Eno fanboy, but truth be told I actually strongly prefer his rock albums (like, 1974 to 1977) over his ambient stuff. Much as I like the idea of ambient music, and appreciate that someone in the industry is being sufficiently theoretical to ramble on about generative music and all that, I'm nonetheless rarely in the mood to listen intently to ambient music, or in the kind of situation to have it playing in the background. Besides that, I just really, really like Brian Eno's voice, and his lyrics. After The Heat, however, is somewhere between his rock stuff and his ambient stuff. I really don't know how else to describe it. I suspect it tends to make me a bit tense, and I think right now it's giving me a headache. An AWESOME headache! Anyway, for these reasons it beats out the more conceptually awesome Music For Airports, released the same year.

4. Captain Beefheart - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

I have a tragic confession to make: I don't much like Trout Mask Replica. Obviously this means I fail music. But I do quite enjoy Shiny Beast. I like to think of it as Captain Beefheart: Easy Mode. It has its weak moments, and stylistically jumps all over the place (which is kinda the point I suppose), but Beefheart's singing is wonderful, and some tracks are just excellent. Tropical Hot Dog Night is particularly fun.
- Way to like the most accessible song on the album there, Brendan!
- Bah! Enough of your music snobbery, OtherBrendan! Go listen to your precious Xiu Xiu and Animal Collective!

5. Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

Aaah, Warren Zevon... He's like a classier, deader Elton John, one who you don't have to feel slightly embarrassed to like. Naturally, containing both Werewolves Of London and Lawyers, Guns & Money, this could not but be an excellent album. Those two tracks are definitely the highlights, but the rest of the album is very listenable as well, with no real low points, unless you're allergic to soulful ballads. Anyway, I have a terrible weakness for both piano music and harmonies, so that's why this album is here. Also, ROCK ACTION.

Mentions (honourable or otherwise)

Elvis Costello - This Year's Model

I can't help but believe that if I was some kind of theoretically inconceivable perfectly unbiased arbiter of musical quality, then this album would've made my top five... But personally, I find Elvis Costello fairly hit and miss. On this album, (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea is an amazing hit... And there are a few other minor hits, but a few too many misses. Anyway, feel free to consider this #6.

Neil Young - Comes A Time

I would definitely say that I really like folk rock, and I'm also very much inclined to say that I don't much like country music. But then, I often suspect that there's really no strong generic distinction here, and that there's just one genre of music, such that I call instances of it that I enjoy "folk," and instances of it that I dislike "country." Well, here I'm inclined to do this on an intra-album scale. Comes A Time has a few songs that I really enjoy, and a few more that I find extremely annoying. The former are folk, the latter are country.

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel

I actually went out of my way to hear this album for the first time in research for this post... I expected it would make the top 5... But I was pretty disappointed. You might think being disappointed by Peter Gabriel is liking being disappointed by SIDS or something, but I actually really like a lot of his stuff... Just... None of this stuff. I'm inclined to say that Peter Gabriel is just a little bit ahead of his time, and unfortunately that puts this album right in the middle of the 80s.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Jocko Homo is pretty damn good, but I'm generally more of a Freedom Of Choice man. Incidentally, this is another album produced by Brian Eno. What a dude.

The Cars - The Cars

Generic pop crap! No seriously, I really, really liked this album... For about a week.

Japan - Adolescent Sex

I used to really enjoy Adolescent Sex, but then I ceased to be an adolescent got a bit sick of Japan for reasons that still elude me. This led to one of those Furiously Deleting Half Of My David Sylvian Songs moments. I still quite like the song Television though. Like a really angry version of Roxy Music.


(Okay, if you really want my top... 8 of 2008 they'd probably be Fleet Foxes, Hey Ma, Heretic Pride, Trouble In Dreams, Shallow Grave, Dear Science, Exotic Creatures Of The Deep and Arm's Way, in roughly that order.)