Another banner year for albums. Pure pop to punk to new wave to classic rock - you can’t really make a bad choice here. To tip my hand, I agree with their pick for #1.
Elvis Costello, despite some stiff competition - that’s a near perfect album.
I voted for Jesus of Cool.
Not on the list for some reason: Who Are You.
I voted for Zevon. But there were about five different albums I considered.
I’m sure I could find many 1978 albums I liked better than anything on this list, with minimal effort… but I voted for The Cars.
I only really like two Springsteen albums in their entirety (and bits from lots of others), and Darkness is one of them. It’s a wonderful album, so gets my vote from this list.
This list doesn’t seem to have either Parallel Lines or The Man-Machine on it for some reason though.
I’m afraid I can’t say I’ve ever heard any of these albums all the way through, so I cannot in good conscience vote here.
Albums from 1978 I have heard and would nominate include the above-mentioned “Who Are You”?, “Some Enchanted Evening” by Blue Öyster Cult, “Hemispheres” by Rush, and my personal favorite of the year, “Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds”, which has to rate as one of the greatest rock operas of all time.
Ian Dury it is.
This year, the critics got the best album absolutely right. Declan Patrick MacManus it is. (Talking Heads would be a very close second place, and Warren Zevon would be a very, very close third.)
Oh, wow. These are difficult. Rather than try to objectively decide which is the best record, I’m going to go with the one I listen to the most of all these, and that’s The Clash’s Give 'Em Enough Rope.
Several good choices here. I went with Warren Zevon.
Yeah, this is starting to hit my sweet spot for rock music. Chairs Missing would be my vote. But there’s also The Police’s Outlandos d’Amour, The Jam’s All Mod Cons, Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers, Cheap Trick’s Heaven Tonight. Solid year for rock.
ETA: Oh, and how can I forget, X-Ray Spex Germ Free Adolescents. ETA2: Oh, and damn, two Pere Ubu albums: The Modern Dance and Dub Housing. What a year indeed!
Holy shit this is ridiculous. Each of the following was the favorite album at some point in time:
- Elvis Costello: This Year’s Model
- The Rolling Stones: Some Girls
- The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope
- Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings and Food
- Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
- Brian Eno: Before and After Science
Elvis Costello I suppose…
Pere Ubu, Cheap Trick and Wire (and Blondie and The Who) all made the list, just not the top 15. I figured when I started these polls 15 choices would be more than enough, even though it will end up leaving great albums off.
Great list. It hurts to vote against Beefheart, and it’ll probably be my only chance, but I had to pick Nick Lowe.
It won’t be your only chance, so you can feel happy with casting your vote for Nick.
Brian Eno by far for me. One of my desert island discs.
Bruce Springsteen: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Such an evocative title by the way. But I guess you could say the same of More Songs About Buildings and Food…
Yeah, I really don’t want to vote because of such a great list, but I will go with Some Girls simply because I listen to it the most. Their last great album - Tattoo You is decent, but it’s not close to SG.
I couldn’t decide between Zevon and Springateen, so I voted for Captain Beefheart. This is the year I started listening to our local AOR station. I still mourn the death of that format.