Great Rock Albums of 1978: Queen- New of the World

Yes, this is another abum, which was actually released in 1977, but "News of theWorld" by Queen was one of the albums that made my spring in 1978. The hit singles "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions" spear headed Queen's push for rock and roll dominance in the early months of that year. Both songs were used as a motivation for my high school basketball team when it want to the South Jersey final. Unfortunately, they lost that game, but those songs still were true rock anthems.

I have always liked the sound of Queen and this album was one of the reasons. The operatic harmonies were groundbreaking at the time and I'm not just talking about "Bohemian Rhapsody." Furthermore, as I said before, Brian May is truly up their with the guitar playing elite. However, the problem I had with Queen back in 78 and 79 was Freddie Mercury and my own homophobic views. The fact that I know I wasn't the only one who had them doesn't justify it at all. My fears of being branded gay kept me from openly saying that I liked Queen's music. I'm just glad I have become much more open minded in my adult years and can truly appreciate what a great band Queen are and what a great album "News of the World" was. In the spring of 1978, Queen surely were the champions of the rock world.

Track Listing:

1. We Will Rock You

2. We Are the Champions

3. Sheer Heart Attack

4. All Dead All Dead

5. Spread Your Wings

6. Fight From the Inside

7. Get Down Make Love

8. Sleeping on the Sidewalk

9 Who Needs You

10. It's Late

11. My Melancholy Blues

Queen

Freddie Mercury- lead vocals, piano, percussion, cowbell

Brian May- electric and accoustic guitars, lead vocals on "All Dead All Dead" and "Sleeping on the Sidewalk," backing vocals

Roger Taylor- durms, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Sheer Heart Attack" and "Fight From the Inside"

John Deacon- bass, accoustic guitar, Spanish guitar

The best thing to say about this album is that it triumphed in spite of homophobia. Not only the hits, but other great tracks like "Get Down, Make Love" and "Sheer Heart Attack" make this album such a great classic. Queen are another act that has stood the test of time and have given us great rock memories.

To prove I'm completely over my homophobia, here's a picture of Freddie Mercury in his body stocking, which in 1978, I thought was very gay.

 Next post: Frank Zappa- Zappa in New York

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Great Rock Albums of 1978: Styx- Pieces of Eight

It is not very common that when an artist puts out a great album, they follow it up with another great album. There are many examples where this has come close, but usually one album is usually slightly better than the other. But this is exactly what Styx accomplished in 1977 and 78. In 1977, they put out the iconic album "The Grand Illusion," which I talked about a couple of months ago in a previous post. A year later, they followed it up with the release of "Pieces of Eight," which is another iconic album equally as brilliant as the first.

Like its predecessor, "Pieces of Eight" has some great hard rocking tunes like "Renegade" and "Great White Hope" as well as some more progressive rock tracks like "I'm OK," "Sing for the Day" and "The Message" and then combine both elements in tracks like "Blue Collar Man." Of course the other tracks are strong too and takes this album out of the shadow of "The Grand Illusion" and put it on an equal standing with it.

Track Listing:

1. Great White Hope

2. I'm OK

3.Sing for the Day

4. The Message

5. Lords of the Ring

6. Blue Collar Man

7. Queen of Spades

8. Renegade

9 Pieces of Eight

10. Aku Aku

Styx:

Dennis DeYoung- keyboads, synthesisers, pipe organ, vocals

James Young- guitars, vocals

Tommy Shaw- guitars, mandolin, vocals

Chuck Panozzo- bass, vocals

John Panozzo- drums, vocals

With "Pieces of Eight," Styx accomplished what many acts have never been able to do. That is follow a great album up with another. It all takes me back to the time when this album defied the disco craze and gave us some great music to listen to.

Next post: Queen- News of the World

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Great Rock Albums of 1978: Heart- Dog and Butterfly

"Dog and Butterfly" was the late 1978 follow up to "Magazine" which Heart re-released earlier that year and in my opinion was better than the earlier album. In fact, many people cite this album as their favourite Heart album, although I, personally, am not so sure. It would be a tough choice between "Dog and Butterfly" and "Dreamboat Annie." Needless to say, it is an album that shows Heart at their best.

This album is classic Heart through and through. Classic rocking tracks like the single "Straight On" form the foundation. Then there's the soft ballad and title track, "Dog and Butterfly" with its mesmerising accoustic guitar. I was convinced that back in 1978, only Heart could make a ballad sound this good. To final it out, there's the track "Mistral Wind," which begins like a ballad with accoustic guitars, only to come in with some very good rock.

Track Listing:

1. Cook With Fire

2. High Time

3. Hijinx

4. Straight On

5. Dog and Butterfly

6. Lighter Touch

7. Nada One

8. Mistral Wind

Heart

Ann Wilson- lead vocals, violin, guitar

Nancy Wilson- guitar, piano, vocals

Michael DeRosier- drums

Howard Leese- guitar, keyboards

Roger Fisher- guitar, steel guitar

Steve Fossen- bass

Rich Keefer- synthesiser, vocals

Heart were one of the most commercially successful hard rock bands back in the late 70s. Albums like "Dog and Butterfly" bear testimony to this.

Next post: Styx- Pieces of Eight

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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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