# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album 1977 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862 "2014-11-17T16:59:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/1 "2014-11-17T16:59:13Z")
Punk’s in full effect on the critics’ poll this year, joined by some classic mainstream rock, some soul, and even a jazz album. Another tough choice, but it will be really interesting to see what gets the most votes - I have my suspicions, but I feel like it could go any number of ways. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/2 "2014-11-17T17:38:38Z")
Oh, God, Marquee Moon, definitely. I mean, there’s some great stuff up there, but that album is all-time top 10 for me. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/3 "2014-11-17T17:56:57Z")
Another good year, but it has to be Marquee Moon, one of my all-time favourites. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/4 "2014-11-17T18:26:19Z")
Man, I have to choose between _Rocket to Russia_, _Marquee Moon_, and _Talking Heads '77_? Ok, _Marquee Moon_ it is, then. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/5 "2014-11-17T18:29:50Z")
**Sex Pistols** : _Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols_ In nostalgic memory of my teenage punk(ish) years… ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/6 "2014-11-17T18:36:59Z")
I gotta go with the Talking Heads album, but if ties were allowed, it’d be the Pistols, Television, and the Heads in a three way tie, with This Year’s Model making a strong case to expand it to a four way tie. Amazing year for releases. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/7 "2014-11-17T19:51:03Z")
The Jackson Browne and Randy Newman albums must’ve just made it under the wire; I associate them both with the summer of 1978. _Little Criminals_ is the album with “Short People,” right? Anyway, I’ve got to go with Elvis. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/8 "2014-11-17T20:42:46Z")
Easy choice this year, as I think _Rumours_ is the best album that will appear on any of these lists, regardless of year. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/9 "2014-11-17T22:49:15Z")
Television, Talking Heads, and… _Ornette Coleman_? Anyway, went with Television. \*Rumours \*is of course terrific, but the purpose of this poll is to expand the boundaries of the music scene a bit…but I don’t mind that \*Rumours \*is winning the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/10 "2014-11-17T22:57:59Z")
Cheap Trick. Nothing beats that album. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/11 "2014-11-17T23:09:26Z")
Oh now, this is ridiculous…it’s Marquee Moon for me, but I’m having to say no to some mighty fine albums. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/12 "2014-11-17T23:21:21Z")
Some good choices on this one - the Pistols, the Ramones, Fleetwood Mac, and Pete & Ronnie all made albums I almost voted for. Rough Mix was my runner-up, though in the end I couldn’t vote for it because, as far as Pete’s solo albums go, it’s kinda humdrum (it’s no _White City_, that’s for sure), though “Keep Me Turning” is a personal favorite of mine - I don’t think anyone has ever written a song about _Judgment Day_ and made it sound that mellow and reassuring. In the end I voted for Running On Empty, primarily because the core conceit of the album (a “live” album consisting entirely of songs not previously released on a studio album, some recorded in hotel rooms or on the tour bus, arranged as a concept piece about life on the road) is unique and well-executed, and because its bookends, the title track and “The Load-Out/Stay”, are both truly classic additions to the American songbook. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/13 "2014-11-17T23:24:37Z")
Elvis ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/14 "2014-11-18T01:20:46Z")
Tough. But another one for _Marquee Moon_. Neither Elvis nor Talking Heads were quite at their peak yet. The Ramones probably were, but I gave them some love last time. _Aja_ was masterfully done, but just a little too slick. Sex Pistols historically important, but just a little too amateurish. _Rumors_ and _Running on Empty_ deserve their nod, but despite being a semi-regular Californian the laid-back “California sound” can’t take this one ( and I prefer pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac anyway ). But a good list with plenty of worthy contenders. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1977/704862/15 "2014-11-20T01:30:07Z")
Talking Heads, easily. It’s not my favorite album from them (that would be _Remain in Light_), but the Heads are nearly always, um, head and shoulders above their competition.