Great Rock Albums of 1979: Kansas- Monolith

When you have put out two very successful albums in a row, like Kansas did with "Leftoverature" and "Point of Know Return," it isn't easy going for the hat trick. After refamiliarising myself with their 1979 offering, "Monolith," I have to conclude that it might not quite match the previous two albums, but it's a great album nonetheless. It did take me back to that year where I used to listen to it with my friend who was a big Kansas fan and I remember how good this album was. I  never in agreement with the clown from Rolling Stone who claimed that Kansas were trying to be an American version of The Moody Blues or Emerson Lake and Palmer. Kansas have always been unique with their sound and I have always appreciated that.
When I hear the harder rock song "How My Soul Cries Out For You," I am in total disagreement with the above comment from Rolling Stone, not that I have ever paid much attention to them anyway. While none of the tracks are on a level with the classics "Carry On My Wayward Son" or "Dust in the Wind," "Monolith" features many good tracks in its own right, including the one already mentioned. I have always loved their use of the violin and Robby Steinhardt is very good at his craft and this definitely shows on the intro to "Angels Have Fallen," which is a cool classic Kansas track in its own right. The entire track seems to follow in the vein of these songs and what you get is a good solid album that you must listen to with full attentiveness because you never know when they spring another surprise on you with the changes in the songs.

Track Listing:

1. On the Other Side

2. People of the South Wind

3. Angels Have Fallen

4. How My Soul Cries Out for You

5. A Glimpse of Home

6. Away From You

7. Stay Out of Trouble

8. Reason to Be

Kansas

Phil Ehart- drums

David Hope- bass

Kerry Livgren- guitar, keyboards

Robby Steinhardt- violin, vocals

Steve Walsh- vocals, keyboards

Rich Williams- guitar

There is no doubt that many will have their own favourite track on this album, especially the single "People of the South Wind." Whatever your fave, it is assured that "Monolith" is a great album from a band that brought its own unique style to rock back in the late 70s.

Next post: Soundtrack to The Warriors

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Great Rock Albums of 1979: Bad Company- Desolation Angels

I earnestly believe that back in 1979, the dam couldn't have begun to burst without this offering from the unsung founding fathers of metal. As I have previously stated in the archives, probably to the point you're bored of hearing it, throughout t he 70s, Bad Company quietly enthralled many with a steady string of great albums and songs and it seems only fitting that they closed out their dominance of the decade with this fantastic album, "Desolation Angels."

Usually, I'm quite skeptical when the first track of an album is the big hit single on the album and I was the same way when I first saw that "Rock And Roll Fantasy" was the opening track on the album. Because I first bought that single on 45 and it is a great single, my skepticism grew when the second track was the B-side of the 45, "Crazy Circles." This always leads me to believe that the rest of the album is going to be all filler with mediocre songs at best. Tell you what, when I heard the album in full, I was never in my life glad to be so wrong. There are many killer tracks on "Desolation Angels." "From great air guitar playing songs like "Rhythm Machine" and "Evil Wind," as well as the singles "Rock and Roll Fantasy" and "Gone Gone Gone" to the more acoustic ballads, like "She Brings Me Love," this album shows why Bad Company were the great force in rock in the 70s.

Track Listing:

1. Rock And Roll Fantasy

2. Crazy Circles

3. Gone Gone Gone

4. Evil Wind

5. Early in the Morning

6. Lonely for Your Love

7. Oh Atlanta

8. Take The Time

9. Rhythm Machine

10. She Wants Your Love

Bad Company

Paul Rogers- vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, synthesisers

Mick Ralphs- guitar, keyboards

Simon Kirke- drums

Boz Burrell- bass

Bad Company albums have all had that easy, feel good, sit outside in the summer with a beer while you listen to it appeal while maintaining their unique hard rock edge. "Desolation Angels" is no different and is classed as one of their best. Therefore, with the Olympics now happening in the summer months, take your portable CD player or MP3  and go out into the garden and have a listen to an album that made 1979. Also remember to take a portable TV so you can watch the beach volleyball.

Next post: Kansas- Monolith

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Great Rock Albums of 1979: George Harrison- George Harrison

For the more astute, I did say that this post would be George Harrison's "Somewhere in England" album, however, as I began refreshing my knowledge in order to write this post, I discovered that that album wasn't released until 1981. The album released in 1979, was the one named after him, George Harrison. I apologise for getting my rock facts wrong on this one and I will visit the "Somewhere in England album when I get to 1981.
When I was posting my "Great Rock Albums of the 70s" chapter, I had great internal debate on whether or not I should visit the George Harrison album "331/3." I decided not to as the album was a real mellow out album although it does contain my all time favourite Harrison song, "Crackerbox Palace." "George Harrison" is a little less mellow and in no way a hard rock album. I decided to include it because of the history of that time. See, in 1979 rock music was fighting off the disco invasion and some notable rock musicians, some whose albums I've included here, were experimenting with the whole disco thing. This album wasn't disco and that was good enough for me. Furthermore and I'm going to say something that some Beatles fans may think blasphemous, musically George was my favourite Beatle. I'm not taking anything away from Lennon and McCartney, they are true geniuses, but I've always liked songs like "Here Comes the Sun," "Something" and my fave, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
Anyway, enough of the history lesson, (sorry once a teacher always a teacher) let's get on to the subject of this album. "George Harrison" by the person of the same name is a good soft rock album. It begins with an introductory guitar solo from the legendary Eric Clapton on the first track, "Love Comes to Everyone" and carries through the album with a feel good factor throughout. There's the top single "Blow Away" which, for those who take the singles charts seriously, made it  to number 14 in the US and 39 in the UK. The song "Faster" has a bit more of a rock feel to it, especially as it begins with motor racing sound effects.

Track Listing:

1. Love Comes to Everyone

2. Not Guilty

3. Here Comes the Moon

4. Soft Hearted Hanna

5. Blow Away

6. Faster

7. Dark Sweet Lady

8. Your Love is Forever

9. Soft Touch

10. If You Believe

George Harrison- vocals, guitars

Andy Newmark- drums

Willie Weeks- bass

Neil Larsen- keyboards, minimoog

Ray Cooper- percussion

Steve Winwood- polymoog

Emil Richards- marimba

Gayle Richards- harp

Eric Clapton- guitar intro

Gary Wright- oberheim

"George Harrison" for me was common ground for me and my then disco/plastic pop loving girlfriend at the time. Still it's a good album to "mellow out" to. One I listen to on a lazy summer day, like today and shows why I've always said that Harrison's work has always been underrated when compared to the other Beatles.

Next post: Bad Company- Desolation Angels

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Great Rock Albums of 1970: ELO- Discovery

This album has been dubbed "Disco Very" by some and the phrase was actually first coined by band member Richard Tandy. However, I never really considered this to be a disco album.  I don't doubt that singles like "Shine a Little Love" probably got played a lot in discos across the world, especially that there were other notable rock stars crossing over into disco, most likely for the big bucks. Some, like The Rolling Stones with "Some Girls" and Rod Stewart with "Do You Think I'm Sexy" were quite blatant about it. Still, back in 1979, I would have much rather listened to that ELO song than either of those two or the disco tune that was popular at the time, Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell."
"Discovery" was a departure for ELO in other ways as well. It was the first album not to feature its famous string trio with the violin and two cellos because Jeff Lynne had considered them superfluous to requirements. I often wonder if this was not a mistake as although this is a good album, it's  not as good as the previous album "Out of the Blue." Nonetheless, the album does contain a really cool rock sounding song, "Don't Bring Me Down," which is among my favourite ELO songs.

Track Listing

1. Shine a Little Love

2. Confusion

3. Need Her Love

4. The Diary of Horace Wimp

5. Last Train to London

6. Midnight Blue

7. On the Run

8. Wishing

9. Don't Bring Me Down

ELO

Jeff Lynne- vocals, guitar, piano, synthesiser

Bev Bevan- drums, percussion

Richard Tandy- piano, synthesiser, clavinet, electric piano

Kelly Groucutt- bass, vocals

It has been said that "Discovery" was a departure from a formula that had worked very well for ELO in the past. I won't be dragged into that debate, but I will say that it isn't as good as the previous album. It is still a good album nevertheless with some good tracks, definitely still a good listen after all these years.

Next Post: George Harrison

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Great Rock Albums of 1979: Frank Zappa- Sheik Yorbouti

It may have been down to the success of "Zappa in New York," but whatever the case, in 1979, Frank Zappa put out another live album in the form of "Sheik Yerbouti." This turned out to be Zappa's most commercially successful album and I am not surprised at this. As was the case with his previous live album, Zappa has always been brilliant live, just ask anyone who has seen him and while a live album can't actually truly capture the same feeling as actually being there, this one comes pretty close.
"Sheik Yerbouti" was the first album made after Zappa parted with Warner Bros records and set up his own label, Zappa Records. Not being under the constraints of a corporate record company definitely paid dividends for him with this album. He was free to record what he wanted, even if some prudes out there thought he was being too risque. As a result, many of the songs not only push the boundaries, they shatter them. I still remember the shock/horror I had when I first heard the track, "Bobby Brown," which is about a man who becomes homosexual. However, after the intial shock, I laughed my rear end off through it. It was the same with "Dancin Fool," a song that takes the piss out of the 70s disco scene and "Jewish Princess" landed him in some hot water, but if you don't take it seriously, the song is a great laugh. "Sheik Yerbouti" has some of my favourite Zappa tunes on it.

Track Listing:

1. I Have Been in You

2. Flakes

3. Broken Hearts are for Assholes

4. I'm So Cute

5. Jones Crusher

6. Whatever Happened to All the Fun in the World

7. Rat Tomago

8. Wait a Minute

9. Bobby Brown

10. Rubber Shirt

11. The Sheik Yerbouti Tango

12. Baby Snakes

13. Trying to Grow a Chin

14. City of Tiny Lites

15. Dancin' Fool

16. Jewish Princess

17. Wild Love

18. Yo Mama

Frank Zappa- lead guitar, lead vocals, arranging, composer

Adrian Belew- rhythm guitar, vocals

Patrick O'Hearn- bass, vocals

Terry Bozio- drums, vocals

Ed Mann- percussion, vocals

Tommy Mars- keyboards, backing vocals

Andre Lewis- keyboards, backing vocals

Peter Wolf- keyboards

David Ocker- clarinet

Napolean Murphy Brock- backing vocals

Randy Thornton- backing vocals

"Sheik Yerbouti" not only marked a major turning point in Frank Zappa's career, it proved that, given the freedom, he could make music fun. It's another reason why listening to Zappa was practically a requirement at my high school.

 

Next post: ELO- Discovery

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