I'll add one of the greatest of all live albums, by an unsung band let alone its criminally underrated guitar maestro front man (Bill Nelson), Be Bop Deluxe and Live in the Air Age.
I don’t own a whole slew of unsungs from ‘77 but I’m totally on board with Gabriel’s debut. Aside from the memorable Solsbury Hill, those other tunes always went unnoticed. They were gems in their own way. And I must give a shout out to “ Pink Flag. “ Although I’m more into Wire’s industrial side, their ‘77 debut was loaded with numerous, short but sweet rockers. It’s really grown on me over the years.
Good stuff Tom. As far as The Damned, I think Music for Pleasure, also released in '77 is more deserving of the "unsung" status. Most Damned fans I know regard the debut as "classic" album status. Music for Pleasure is not talked about so much, but I think it's got a lot of great tracks.
Cheap Trick's debut has been in my regular rotation since I saw them live in 1977. I've seen them three times since then and they always deliver. Simple Dreams may be my favorite Linda Ronstadt album because of the great song selections delivered as only she can. Rough Mix is is a hidden gem that more people need to discover. I need to hear the Iggy Pop and James Williamson album I've never heard it. A great list.
That first Cheap Trick record is still my favorite, very raw, rockin', and almost a punk rock edge to it. Also, Will To Love might be my favorite Neil Young song. Very atmospheric and trippy sounding. I guess he recorded his acoustic and vocal at home in front of his fireplace, hence the pops and crackles from the fire. He was so excited he called his engineer and immediately headed for the studio to put overdubs and effects on it. Can't ever go wrong with The Jam!! I love every record they made, with Setting Sons and Sound Affects being my favorites. Great episode!
Dennis Wilson Pacific Ocean Blue, Television, Ornette Coleman - Dancing in Your Head, Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation, Brian Eno - Before and After Science, Larry Coryell - Philip Catherine - Twin-House, Joe Pass - Virtuoso #2, Bill Evans - Quintessence. Love your list!
Saw the Dammed in 1976, when punk was in its infancy, they had an amazing sound/energy and knew that punk rock was going to change music and was about to take off, completely new audiences and fashions etc. Gulp, No Sex Pistols or Stranglers? My favourite Micheal Franks album is Burchfield Nines from 1978, such a cool album!
Tom!, great call with Ian Dury, Rough Mix, "Baltimore", "Jolly Coppers...", Randy is so good!. Love The Jam too. Would only add, "Show Some Emotion", by Joan Armatrading. Take care.
I had that Cheap Trick album as a kid, but I had the advantage in that my cousin used to see them at house parties in Rockford. The Congos got some accolades around the time of the nice Blood & Fire reissue in the 90s, but now I feel like they're sort of forgotten again. Now that there was a Broadway musical on Fela the awareness is better than ever for him, but still needs to make more lists. The Saints and Radio Birdman are relatively underappreciated compared to more celebrated British punk. 1. The Congos - Heart Of The Congos 2. Fela Kuti - Zombie 3. The Saints - (I’m) Stranded 4. Radio Birdman - Radios Appear 5. Brian Eno - Before And After Science 6. Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation 7. The Stranglers - IV Rattus Norvegicus 8. George Faith - To Be A Lover 9. Horace Andy - In The Light 10. Dead Boys - Young, Loud And Snotty 11. Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick 12. Heartbreakers - L.A.M.F. 13. Vibrators - Pure Mania 14. Michael Rother - Flammende Herzen 15. Freddie McKay - The Best Of Freddy McKay 16. Ultravox - Ha! Ha! Ha! 17. Chrome - Alien Soundtracks 18. Bob Andy - Lots Of Love & I 19. Rico - Wareika Dub 20. Metro - Metro
Outstanding list. My two favorite unsungs are Monkey Island by the temporarily re-branded Geils - a solid album all the way through and, along with 1973’s Bloodshot, one of their all time best, and “Indian Summer” - the last album by Poco as a post-Richie Furay quartet (Timothy B. Schmidt and George Grantham’s last album) - Donald Fagen plays on the mesmerizing title track, and there is terrific work by Paul Cotton and Rusty Young throughout the album. I love “Simple Dreams,” I love Linda Rondstadt and I love Warren Zevon, but I always thought the subtle ways Linda Rondstadt changed the lyrics in “Carmelita” subverted and obscured some of the raw desperation in Warren Zevon’s original. Still, it is so clear that Linda Rondstadt recognized great songwriting and her interpretations, in any genre, are always rewarding.
I need to listen to Indian Summer again. It’s been years. I love the Richie Furay Poco period the best, but the Timothy B. Schmidt era had some gems like Rose Of Cimmaron. Great album.
Good to see the Kinks, Neil Young, Peter Gabrial and Cheap Trick among your picks, but I'm positively tickled to see Rough Mix, one of my all time fav albums and possibly the greatest one-offs in rock history.
I have Neil Young’s American Stars ‘N’ Bars LP. It is a great LP. I like the track “Bite The Bullet” track on it, as well as “Like A Hurricane,” which I heard a lot on FM rock radio back in the day.
great video tom. supertramp even in the quietest moments, elp works volume 1, weather report heavy weather. brothers johnson, strawberry letter 23. did you check out the judee sill unreleased album yet?
A few tracks. Sounds pretty damn good. I wonder if they’ll re-release that album? I saw the documentary over the weekend. Really well done. Great unseen photos, footage and interviews.
Rough Mix was a good catch! Sleepwalker and Linda, too! It was an odd year, marked by Big Releases, the wave of the future, and not a lot of good new stuff. The first year I noticed things were off. They'd been like that, in '72, and kinda in '74, but '75 and '76 had been good. We sold the record store at the end of '74, so it looked like things would go one like they had, better, bigger, and more, but rock 'n' roll is a crap shoot on the good days, and big albums, like Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, and Paul McCartney sucked a lot of juice out of the pipeline. New bands had to find ways of being noticed. The first option was Punk, but that attracted all the losers who'd been hanging around. New Wave offered more interesting options, but Hair Bands, and Arena Rock, spelled doom for Rock, as they took Entertainment into the stratosphere. In the 'Eighties, Imax came along, digital recording began to change the studio, but also unleashed countless CDs filled with half-finished drivel. The world moved into the Computer Age, and rock 'n' roll was the lingua franca, but the players were aging, because new acts weren't being brought along. The record companies had chased profits so hard, they'd run them off. Everybody wanted to be a star, but nobody wanted to make the effort. Music was further changed by auto-tuning and the internet, until, à la Andy Warhol, everyone WAS famous, for fifteen minutes, before someone else took their place.
That first Cheap Trick album…. Just listened to it again after some decades. It’s dark. Darrrrk. Sinister. Creepy. And heavy. I don’t think they could have achieved the massive popularity gained if they had continued in this vein. This one is a statement.
77 what a year ; Rattus Norvegicus , Saturday Night Fever and Songs from the Wood This year had some of best example of every genre . So happy to see Ian Dury and Rough Mix , 2 last vinyl albums i picked up Johanna is my favorite Iggy Song Im going to throw out Stick to Me by Graham Parker Why oh Why do I find all of his albums in bargain bins ? Graham is as good as Elvis and Bruce combined Shout out to Andy Serkis who did amazing job playing Ian Dury in Biopic : Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
Not bad, I scored 6 out of 10, and I really should have had the Randy Newman and Linda Ronstadt. What can I say, I was carried away by other interests at the time: Punk, Power Pop, and Prog. That Ian Dury is still one of my all-time faves, not a weak track on it -- the bonus tracks are singles B-sides, and I was snapping up the singles. There was a wonderful record store in Berkeley that stocked lots of imports (including 45s), Rather Ripped Records (you can see it on the cover of Greg Kihn's first record, and that's someone who should be on this list). Aquarius Records in San Francisco was almost as good. '77 was a fantastic year -- I turned 21, went to a ton of shows, got drunk a lot, bought a bookstore, and finally got a regular girlfriend. Oh, and the Dictators and Ramones live together at Winterland (the Dictators' half of that show is all over RU-vid). THERE'S a record that should be be on this list: the 'Tators' Manifest Destiny, way better than Cheap Trick.
Hello. Agree with you on all of your choices from 1977. Great music. A group that out out some good music was the band Suicide. Very bizarre music. The whole album has to be listened to in full. There is on youtube a clip of them performing the song Ghostrider from the album. Check it out if you like. I liked the Damned that year and also the Stranglers. It was a great year for music. I was 17 years young.
My goodness those bonus cuts on New Boots And Panties - on an already great album. Cheap Trick's 1st is my favorite of theirs. '77 truly was a glorious year in music. Cool vid!
If you have The Damned and The Jam as unsung then The Saints (I'm) Stranded has to be there too. And Eater's debut and The Drones Further Temptations---now those are really "unsung"
Great topic...My high school band did "He's A Whore" off of that first Cheap Trick album... "Rough Mix"was mis promoted...If they had used the phrase "Americana" back then, or roots rock, more people would have bought it....
Well Tom, now I'm certain you've been "raiding" my record collection. How about adding Graham Parker: "Stick to Me".....when the vampires bite? I know it's not his best but, he never sold out like Elvis Costello and I'll have to wait 'til 1978 to start "going crazy" over XTC.
I tired of N Young songs that are really only excuses for f..... (TOO) long solos. I prefer his songwriting than his extended solos. Tim + I agree on N Y 1970s songs + albums. Since 2012 I have liked NY less: preachy tirades. P Pill is a waste. Walk Like a Giant, e.g. Americana sucks. As I have said before: My favs include Prairie Wind, Sleeps....Angels, Harvest Moon. I am more for his back catalog.
Pretty good, but where the hell are the Stranglers? They released two of their best albums in 1977. I'll bet you neglected them in 1978 and 1979 as well. Shame on you! (I'm still a fan of your videos, so don't take this too seriously.) But NO Stranglers is hard to swallow!
The Crusaders, Free As The Wind; Bryan Ferry, In Your Mind; 801, Now Listen! ; Cafe Jaques, Round Back; Joan Armatrading, Show Some Emotion; Jean-Luc Ponty, Egnimatic Ocean; Jethro Tull, Songs From The Woods; Emmylou Harris, Luxury Liner; Dan Fogelberg, Netherlands, Godley & Cream, L; 10cc, Deceptive Bends; Steve Hillage, Motivation Radio. Higher quality IMHO.
