40 year old albums

[Jah Womble]

Yep. It all started to go pear-shaped from Elephant's Graveyard onward.

That said, House On Fire was played loads on college radio when I was in New York during the summer of 1982.

Maybe WOM knows (or has heard) that one?

[Satchmo Distel]

"Like Clockwork" was the first one I remember seeing on TV at the time ("Swap Shop" probably). I have no memory of "Diamond Smiles." Although "Banana Republic" made #3, it was a much more sombre record than their previous ones and that might have contribute to the second single from the album being a flop.

[Jah Womble]

Diamond Smiles was a poor choice of follow-up to the pair of number ones that had placed them briefly at pop’s top table - reflected by its relatively-poor chart showing. (Someone’s Looking At You wasn’t a lot better IMO, but at least had a more obvious hook.)

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

1979 was fertile ground for a 17 year old with nothing else to spend his wages on. Nothing cutting edge on my list of purchases.

Breakfast In America
Lodger
Off The Wall
Armed Forces
I Am
Risque
Setting Sons
Fine Art Of Surfacing
Regatta De Blanc
Bad Girls
Candy-O
Live(X Cert)
Cheap Trick At Budokan/Dream Police
Feel No Fret
Cool For Cats
Replicas
Rod Stewart Hits Vol 1
New York London Paris Munich
The Long Run

I own other albums from that year but these were genuine purchases at that time

[slackster]

I was 18 then, so not surprisingly many of may favourite albums are from 1979. Add 154 by Wire, and they are all on Jah’s list. And a good year for dance music too - though that was mostly singles and the 12 inch jazz funk scene I was into. Great dance music LPs without too much filler are few & far between.

[Bored Of Education]

I assume you mean apart from I Don’t Like Mondays? I always assumed that was their real smash, based on its massive chart success in the UK.

Yes, sorry, thought that was apparent.

True enough I expect, though I'd argue there's no need for the inverted commas Bored, they were (nearly – I've never heard of When The Night Comes) all legitimate UK hits at the time. 9 consecutive top-20s:

Looking After Number One – #11
Mary of the Fourth Form – #15
She's So Modern – #12
Like Clockwork – #6
Rat Trap – #1
I Don't Like Mondays – #1
Diamond Smiles – #13
Someone's Looking At You – #4
Banana Republic – #3

I stand corrected. I would have thought that all apart from "...Mondays" and "Rat Trap" were outside the Top Ten. Can't believe they had two number ones.

[Jah Womble]

In terms of singles acts, I think that only ABBA, Blondie and The Police were bigger in the UK at the end of the decade.

Success was far more fleeting for Geldof and co, however. (Ditto Gary Numan, who’d also had two number ones during 1979.)

[Satchmo Distel]

Geldof simply didn't write enough good songs compared to ABBA, Blondie and The Police, and he tended to overthink the process, not being a gifted songwriter. Blondie had more miles on the road; The Police had better, more innovative musicians. ABBA were obviously the most important and fruitful pop act of that period (9 No. 1's). Geldof was also simply not likable as a person (similar to Costello and, er, Morrissey).

[Sits]

Banana Republic wasn’t worth #3.

I had enough time the other day to listen to the first few tracks of A Tonic for the Troops. Haven’t felt the need to finish it since. Geldof was a lot more strident than I remember.

[Sporting]

Geldof simply didn't write enough good songs compared to ABBA, Blondie and The Police, and he tended to overthink the process, not being a gifted songwriter.

Not sure what overthinking songwriting means in practical terms.

[Satchmo Distel]

A good original idea or melody is tinkered with so much that it loses what made it good in its first draft. Or it feels like the writer had to concentrate really hard on each phrase, or that it was written in order to seem clever rather than expressing a true thought or emotion.

[Jah Womble]

I kind of know what that means - and in this instance at least, agree with it.

Geldof was indeed too obsessed with being a wise-ass at that point. (Worked for him for a while, obviously.)

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

I always thought Rat Trap was a reworking of Joey's On The Street again from their debut album. My favourite track by them.

[WOM]

Maybe WOM knows (or has heard) that one?

Hard no, there. Just gave it a whirl. Doesn't surprise me, though. I ran with a weirdo music crowd all through high school, and I know who the Japan fans and the Joy Division fans and the Smiths fans were. I don't remember a Boomtown Rats fan in the lot. Nor much mention of them beyond (TMW)IDLM.

[Jah Womble]

Oh no, absolutely. The baton - if they’d ever truly held it - had been passed on well before 1982.

I only mentioned it because of that one ‘anomaly’.

[tuckwat]

London Calling released 40 years ago today and to celebrate London Underground have got buskers performing around the combine covering songs from the album such as "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Train in Vain.

[ale]

Did the 40 year list earlier. And have realised since that purchases like Mekons and Punishment Of Luxury werent on it. London Calling was. And why not. The Clash. Magnificent lead single. Cover iconic even then. But was disappointed at time of first hearing and still not warmed to it at such a remove. Looking back at the 1979 lists and the way music was developing the album seems an anomaly-released at time of Metal Box for example. Yet it still the album by which they are measured by.

[Satchmo Distel]

It's a little apples v oranges because 'Metal Box' was aggressively non-commercial and discordant, especially with John's incoherent vocals, whereas 'London Calling' was more of a New Wave album, trying to expand the mainstream by blending reggae and funk into attractive, listenable post-punk tunes whilst remaining lyrically radical. They're both great and highly influential: 'Metal Box' influenced tons of Peel bands whilst 'London Calling' is probably the highest point of New Wave, but done by a band that had been defined as punk.