Great Rock Albums of 1978: Heart- Magazine

Originally, this ablum by Heart was released in 1977, however, the band wasn't too pleased with the way it sounded so after a court battle, the album was pulled, remixed and re released in 1978 and it is this version that is going to be visited here. The main reason is that the remastered version of "Magazine" sounds like the classic hard rock that Heart were known and loved for in the late 70's.

I have mentioned my AM radio that gave up the ghost, but I did have an antiquated looking AM/FM radio as well. I didn't play it much because the local AM station played better stuff than the local FM station at the time. The FM station played lots of disco tunes. However, when I held that radio in the right position on my knee, I was able to pick up the Philadelphia stations and they were no way disco. It was through this self imposed agony, (my knee would stiffen after an hour of listening to the radio this way) that I first heard the classic rocking Heart jam, "Heartless."

Like I said in my posting for the "Dreamboat Annie" album all those months ago, Ann and Nancy Wilson were the first true rock chicks in the modern sense. They knew how to rock and with the rest of the band behind them, they put out some classic rocking stuff like this album. Each song has the trademark vocals of Ann Wilson (Cheryl Cole isn't worthy to lick her boot soles)with the unique guitar sound that is them. This included the more lighter songs like the title track and the more trippy sounding "Devil Delight."

Track Listing:

1. Heartless

2. Devil Delight

3. Just the Wine

4. Without You

5. Magazine

6. Here Song

7. Mother Earth Blues

8. I Got the Music In Me

Ann Wilson- vocals, flute, keyboards, violin

Nancy Wilson- guitar, piano, vocals

Michael De Rosier- drums

Roger Fisher- guitar, steel guitar

Steve Fossen- bass

Howard Leese- guitar, keyboards, synthesiser, vocals

"Magazine" would be the first of two albums which Heart would release in 1978, the other one will be visited in my next post. It's no wonder with great rock songs from the likes of Heart and others, my antique radios gave up the ghost.

Next post: Heart- Dog and Butterfly

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Great Rock Albums of 1978: Foreigner- Double Vision

I have finally figured out why my AM clock radio finally gave up the ghost in early 1979. It couldn't handle the hard rock coming out of it in the summer of 1978. First, there was the song "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh and on the same night, it belted out "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner. It is obvious now that two such hard rocking tunes were too much for a device that was used to blasting out disco tunes; it probably blew a tube from it all. For me, the summer of 1978, was a good rocking summer and this album was one of the reasons why.

The album "Double Vision," the second album by Foreigner, has been considered by many, me included, as one of their best albums all around. It has a good rocking edge that has you rocking away from the very first song. (It does help that "Hot Blooded" is the first song.) However, the others all follow suit, especially the title track, and make this album the classic that it is.

Track Listing:

1. Hot Blooded

2. Blue Morning

3. You're All I Am

4. Back Where You Belong

5. Love Has Taken Its Toll

6. Double Vision

7. Tramontane

8. I Have Waited All So Long

9. Lonely Children

10. Spellbinder

Foreigner

Dennis Elliot- drums, vocals

Ed Gagliarti- bass, vocals

Lou Gramm- Lead Vocals, percussion

Mick Jones- guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals

Ian McDonald- guitars, keyboards, vocals, reeds

I stand by my assertion that "Double Vision" is the best album by Foreigner. It is a good rocking album that after more than thirty years, has been a solid rock for many great rockers like me.

Next post: Heart- Magazine

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Great Rock Albums of 1978: Rush- Hemispheres

I was warned that this 1978 offering from Rush was a bit weird. Having listened to a good chunk of it on line the other day, I don't know if I would call it weird, however, it does seem that Rush was determined to put out another concept album. "Hemispheres" adheres to Neil Peart's love of fantasy and science fiction and the desire to get it down in music. The result was an album which two of the songs were in excess of nine minutes, (the first track Cygnus X1- Book II, Hemispheres is eighteen minutes) filled with the type of prog rock which Rush was becoming famous for.

There are some people out there who don't like listen to songs that are much more than seven minutes long, let alone an entire album of them. For those of us who don't have a problem with it, this album is great for listening to when you are doing other things. It served that purposer for me the other day. That doesn't mean you can't just sit down and listen to them for the pure sake of doing so. Great when you are on a long drive or just sitting back and listening. "Hemispheres" is a very good album for doing just that. It has the trademark Rush sound which has defined them for over thirty years now.

Track Listings:

1. Cygnus Book X1 Part II, Hemispheres

I.  Prelude

II. Apollo Bringer of Wisdom

III. Dionysus- Bringer of Love

IV. Armageddon, The Battle of Heart and Mind

V. Cygnus- The Bringer of Balance

VI. The Sphere, A Kind of Dream

2. Circumstances

3. The Trees

4. La Villa Strangiato (An Excercise in Self Indulgence)

I. Buenos Nachos Mein Froinds

II. To sleep, perchance to dream

III. Strangatio Theme

IV. A Lerxst in Wonderland

V. Monsters!

VI. The Ghost of Aragon

VII. Danforth and Pape

VIII. The Waltz of the Shreves

IX.  Never turn your back on a Monster

X. Monsters (Reprise)

XI. Strangiato Theme (Reprise)

XII. A Farewell to Things

 RUSH

Geddy Lee- vocals, bass, mini moog, oberheim polyphonic, tarus pedals

Alex Liefson, guitars, guitar synthesiser, mini moog,

Neil Peart- drums, percussion, bells

As far as concept albums go, this one is one of the best. In the following albums, Rush would return to more traditional type album structure, but "Hemispheres" is still a good listen.

Next Post: Foreigner- Double Vision

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Great Rock Albums of 1978: Meatloaf- Bat Out of Hell

This is probably the most commercially successful rock album of 1978, if not one of the most of all time. It is the album that will always be looked upon as Meatloaf's greatest musical achievement. It has been argued that the album was successful on account of it's timing, that it filled a gap in the rock market while disco was still in its hey day. I don't know about that nor would I agree with it if I did. I put the success of "Bat Out of Hell" down to the masterful production and great musicianship that appears on it. The result is seven good songs that withstood the test of time.
I know that I am probably being biased when I say this, but I put the success of this album down to the fact that it was produced by Todd Rundgren. Rundgren saw something in the album which some record companies didn't and insisted in producing it. The result was in the listening and it is most likely why in a 1989 interview, Jim Steinman referred to Todd Rundgren as "the only genius he ever workded with." One thing that he did which was a major contributor was to line up good musicians, which included members of his part time band Utopia.
Singing the praised of the producer and the musicians in no way means that I am in any way taking anything from the artist who appears on the album. Meatloaf has a very versatile voice, one of the most versatile in rock. I can picture him barking away to a thrash metal song and then slowing down to a love ballad the very next. Possibly an argument that they should have put "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" right after the title track to demonstrate my point. Of course, I have to add my all time favourite part on the album, the baseball commentary on the song "Paradise By the Dashboard Light."

Track Listing:

1. Bat Out of Hell

2. You Took The Words Out of My Mouth

3. Heaven Can Wait

4. All Revved Up With No Place To Go

5. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

6. Paradise By the Dashboard Light

7. For Crying Out Loud

• Meat Loaf – lead vocals, backing vocals (track 6), percussion (track 2)
• Todd Rundgren – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4–6), percussion (tracks 1, 2), keyboards (track 1), backing vocals (tracks 1–3, 5, 6)
• Kasim Sulton – bass guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4–7), backing vocals (track 1)
• Roy Bittan – piano, keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 6)
• Steve Margoshes – piano (track 7)
• Cheryl Hardwick – piano (track 7)
• Jim Steinman – keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 6), percussion (tracks 1, 2), "lascivious effects" (track 6), dialogue intro (track 2)
• Roger Powell – synthesizer (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6)
• Edgar Winter – saxophone (tracks 2, 4, 6)
• Max Weinberg – drums (tracks 1, 2, 6)
• John Wilcox – drums (tracks 4, 5, 7)
• Marcia McClain – dialogue intro (track 2)
• Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto – play-by-play (track 6)
• Ellen Foley – featured vocal (track 6), backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6)
• Rory Dodd – backing vocals (all except track 4)
• Gene Orloff – concert master (track 7)
• Members of New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra – orchestra (track 7)

Many years ago, I happened to catch a glimpse of "Pop Idol" (I don't watch that rubbish, honest) and Simon Cowell denied a good singer a shot at the next round becuase he was overweight. Cowell justified this by saying it might work for Pavarotti, but not in the pop world. The comment set my mind racing straight away. If it had been 1978, Simon Cowell would have rejected Meatloaf on the same grounds and we would have been denied this great rock album.

Next post: Rush- Hemispheres

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