Fear Of Music
Talking Heads
1979
Fear Of Music was the first album that hinted at David Byrne’s wild ambition. Up until then, he had seemed content to work within a very specific vein of thin, neurotic, twitchy New Wave. But all that was about to change. With Fear Of Music came new explorations of rhythm (“I Zimbra”), lyrics (“Air” and “Animals”) and sound (the dramatically Eno-influenced “Drugs”). The Heads’ music was expanding at a rapid rate, with more keyboards and exotic percussion creeping into the mix. Fear Of Music is a far cry from the simplistic, stripped-down nervousness the Heads were playing only two years earlier.
#19
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
David Bowie
1972
David Bowie had already started making a name for himself by 1972. His Hunky Dory album was a success and it was looking like Bowie was going to fit nicely into the singer-songwriter mold, albeit with a few more quirks and (space?) oddities. Ziggy Stardust flipped that whole idea on its head. This is the album that finally made the world understand what a consummate actor and performer David Bowie is. Loosely structured around a vague story about an alien who crashes to Earth and becomes a rock star, the album galvanized the glam rock movement and lifted Bowie up as the strangest pop idol this side of Lou Reed. Thankfully, Bowie didn’t get too tied down with the whole “glam rock” thing, but Ziggy Stardust is still one of the most enduring masterpieces in his entire body of work.
#18
Tonight’s The Night
Neil Young
1975
Tonight’s The Night could very well be the most wonderfully flawed piece of music ever created. After the deaths of both roadie Bruce Berry and Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, Neil Young decided to gather all his surviving friends into the studio, get incredibly fucked up and record a drunken Irish wake of an album. Neil doesn’t even try to keep up appearances for the recording, talking to other musicians while he’s playing and generally not caring about whether he’s singing in the right key or not. People bump into microphones, screw up notes and generally just muck about. But the tapes just keep rolling and every tiny flaw and error is captured, creating a testament to one of the most emotionally harrowing periods of Neil Young’s life. The end result is so intense, Neil’s record label didn’t even want to release it. Eventually, they caved in and thus unleashed a great work upon the world.
#17
Drums And Wires
XTC
1979
Many bands don’t survive when founding members leave. But some bands, like XTC, use the opportunity to explore new horizons and Drums And Wires is the sound of a band suddenly realizing their full potential. With keyboardist Barry Andrews’ departure, XTC were suddenly at a loss for a quality keyboard player. So they didn’t even try, instead opting to add second guitarist Dave Gregory, who promptly gave their music some much needed oomph and awesomeness. Meanwhile, the band’s two primary songwriters worked overtime, with Andy Partridge staking his claim as the British David Byrne (god, do we need such a thing?) and bassist Colin Moulding writing wonderfully catchy mockeries of English culture. Funny how these things work, sometimes…
#16
Countdown To Ecstasy
Steely Dan
1973
In my ongoing quest to defend Steely Dan to the ends of the earth, I have discussed the merits of many of their albums. However, my greatest praise will always be reserved for their second album, Countdown To Ecstasy. Driven by the duel guitar heroics of Denny Dias and future Doobie Brother Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Countdown is nothing less than a great, fiery rock album. Coupled with Donald Fagen’s piercing wit, attention to detail and unending sarcasm, the album is explosive. The saber-toothed guitar solo on “The Boston Rag” mocks every person who wants to throw the term “jazz-rock” at the Dan’s music, while the beautiful “Razor Boy” provides some nice balance. Plus, how can you not love an album that ends with a song about nuclear holocaust? “If I stay indoors…I might live ‘til Saturday.”
#15
For Your Pleasure
Roxy Music
1973
“There’s a new sensation!” announces Bryan Ferry at the beginning of this album and, sure enough, For Your Pleasure introduced so many new elements to music that ripples of its influence are felt all the way from synth-pop to the Smiths. Very few albums have ever approached For Your Pleasure’s unique melding of wry, English camp with no-holds-barred sonic experimentation. The two “Brians” (Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno) lead their band through eight tracks that are like nothing the world had ever heard prior to this album. From the hilarious (“But badgers couldn’t compensate at twice the price for just another night with the boys,” says Ferry on “Editions Of You”) to the downright frightening (the ominous ode to a sex doll that is “In Every Dream Home A Heartache”), For Your Pleasure is a wild album full of unmatched brilliance.
#14
London Calling
The Clash
1979
Aside from the title track, there’s basically no reason to call this album punk rock. For their third album, the Clash assembled a sprawling, expansive collection of songs that encompassed a multitude of different styles. But what they loose in terms of raucousness they more than make up for with a tremendous sense of maturity and a brilliant, scattershot vision of life in London. While the style from song to song seems almost completely unpredictable, you can always depend on London Calling to deliver great melodies, insightful lyrics and tremendous enthusiasm, no matter what the band members are singing about. Even incredibly short, seemingly filler tracks (“Koka Kola”, “I’m Not Down”) seem to have a very purposeful place on the album. There were many double albums released in the 70s. London Calling is the best of the lot.
#13
Entertainment!
Gang Of Four
1979
With a furious work ethic and some deep-seated leftist political views, Gang Of Four debuted with the jagged Entertainment!, an album of vicious, angular fury that made most of their contemporaries in punk bands look like immature, ignorant idiots. With Andy Gill sounding like he’s being electrocuted by his guitar, rather than actually playing it, the songs on Entertainment! are sharp as metal and full of staccato clattering and trebly guitar shocks. Meanwhile, Jon King chants subversive lyrics, comparing relationships to business deals and crying that “love will get you like a case of anthrax and that is something that I don’t want to catch.” Fueled by tribal drum rhythms and Dave Allen’s thunderous bass playing, Entertainment! is Gang Of Four’s great manifesto of intent.
#12
Trans-Europe Express
Kraftwerk
1977
Trans-Europe Express is an album that could only have been made in Germany. Sleek, precise and so icy cold that you almost shiver when you listen to it, it is the apex of the entire krautrock scene and Kraftwerk’s unquestionable masterpiece. It’s also one of the most influential albums in history, sowing the seeds for virtually all forms of electronic music that followed in its wake. Created by four young German men, whose self-professed goal was to eliminate as many acoustic elements from their music as possible, Trans-Europe Express is the closest you can come to music recorded by robots.
#11
Pink Flag
Wire
1977
This album may have twenty-one tracks, but it rockets past in a blindingly fast thirty-five minutes. In 1977, lots of punk songs were short, but twenty-eight-second songs? Ridiculous, right? Not for Wire. Coming out of English art schools, the four members of Wire saw punk rock not as an opportunity to vent half-formed teenage feelings of rebellion, but as a wonderful new toy for them to apply modern artistic principles to. What emerged from all that was Pink Flag, a zany, surreal response to punk rock, informed by minimalism and abstract expressionism as much as by the Ramones.
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