Urban75 Album of the Year - 1978

[Spandex]

Surely some contest...

 

[ska invita]

The Disco scene doesnt translate to LP's but fun to look at and be aware of
This link has got US Dance number 1s, but click on the week to dip into the dance chart proper.... Loads of classics
1978 Archive | Billboard

just flicking through some tunes from that .... wow there was so much landfill disco about ...i know the Disco Sucks thing was dodgy but there was an awful lot of disco that sucked

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Was East of the River Nile released in '77 or '78?

I love that album and remember it being nominated last year. Discogs has it as '78 but most other places have it as '77.

Anyone got the definitive answer?

I usually go by Discogs but will have a rummage later and see.

Missed your excellent post ska invita

 

[belboid]

Was East of the River Nile released in '77 or '78?

I love that album and remember it being nominated last year. Discogs has it as '78 but most other places have it as '77.

Anyone got the definitive answer?

As previously discussed, the 2002 reissue was a 25th anniversary edition. I’m not allowing it, I’m afraid.


E2a: AND you put it #5 in your ‘77 list
E2a,a: no you didn’t

 

[ska invita]

not be dismissive but much as I love Parliament and Funkadelic I find all the albums bitty, and some tracks that sound a bit flat on the LP I bet were great fun on stage

 

[planetgeli]

For your consideration...

Dread Beat An' Blood - Poet And The Roots (LKJ + Dennis Bovel)
Provervbial Reggae - Galdiators
Handsworth Revolution - Steel Pulse
Best Dressed Chicken - Alimantado
Kaya + Babylon By Bus - Bob Marley
Marcus Children - Burning Spear
Visions of Dennis Brown
Return of the Super Ape - Lee Perry
Roast Fish and Collie Weed + corn Bread - Lee Perry
Cool Ruler Gregory Isaacs
Cry TUff Dub Expereince - Prince Far I
Message From the King - Prince Far I
Baldhead Bridge - Culture
Africa Stand Alone - Culture
Bush Doctor - Peter Tosh
Isaiah First Prophet of Old - Big Youth
Tappa Zukie ‎– International
Ijahman ‎– Haile I Hymn
Israel Vibration ‎– The Same Song
Zap Pow - Zap Pow
Hugh Mundell ‎– Africa Must Be Free By 1983
Matumbi ‎– Seven Seals
Bunny Lee King of Dub
Augustus Pablo ‎– East Of The River Nile
Joe Gibbs & The Professionals ‎– African Dub All-Mighty - Chapter 3
Burning Spear ‎– Social Living

Those Burning Spear albums are the same albums under different names aren’t they?

 

[ska invita]

Those Burning Spear albums are the same albums under different names aren’t they?

Yes!

 

[klang]

what a year for reggae!

 

[Griff]

Black & White - The Stranglers (with Walk on By as a free single)

Germ Free Adolescence - X-Ray Spex

That's Life - Sham 69

Bought all three in '78 when I was 11/12 years old.

 

[ska invita]

what a year for reggae!

1978 to me means Channel One...Supposedly (if i ran the search properly on discogs) these were all recorded at Channel One and came out in 78 as albums

Ray I - Rasta Revival
Al Campbell - Mr Music Man
Creation Rebel - Close Encounters Of The Third World
The Morwells - Crab Race
Gregory Isaac* - Slum In Dub
Linval Thompson - Love Is The Question
Jimmy London - Welcome To My World
Delroy Wilson - Lovers' Rock
The Mighty Maytones* - Boat To Zion
https://www.discogs.com/Junior-English-Naturally-High/master/912516
https://www.discogs.com/Linval-Thompson-Rocking-Vibration/release/799096
https://www.discogs.com/The-Mighty-Maytone-Boat-To-Zion/release/7305122
https://www.discogs.com/The-Revolutionaries-Reaction-In-Dub/release/896159
https://www.discogs.com/Clint-Eastwood-Death-In-The-Arena/master/165541
https://www.discogs.com/Ranking-Trevor-Trinity-Three-Piece-Chicken-Chips/master/1162234

 

[klang]

disregarding that I wouldn't want to limit my reggae fanship to C1, their 78 output is verging on the scary side...

incidentally, Israel Vibrations Same Song and Gladiator's Proverbial Reggae were the first Reggae albums I ever bought, both released in my birth year.

 

[Spandex]

just flicking through some tunes from that .... wow there was so much landfill disco about ...i know the Disco Sucks thing was dodgy but there was an awful lot of disco that sucked

It's hard to overestimate how big disco got in the wake of Saturday Night Fever. And once disco went mainstream all hell broke loose.

1978 gave the world the Sesame Street disco album:

And disco versions of Mozart:

Humanity had to wait til 79 for disco versions of Hebrew standards:

Yeah, there was some terrible disco around at the end of the 70s

 

[rutabowa]

I used to go on a theory when going through a load of 2nd hand records that anything released in 1978 would be awesome, not sure it ever failed me. Lots of them were 7"s of course

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Spandex i bet that Sesame Street one has its moments tho - I need to check that out.

belboid thanks for the Nile adjudication. I may have had that in my 77 list tbh!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Augustus Pab-No - East of the River Denial

 

[Spandex]

War of the worlds is an all-time classic and will definitely be in my top ten.

I decided to check it out for the first time in decades and you know what? Horsell Common & The Heat Ray is fucking amazing

 

[Kaka Tim]

amazed that this has not been mentioned -

and also



and also -

and then there's

 

[Spandex]

Years ago, I downloaded a Ghanaian Highlife album off the Awesome Tapes for Africa website. The only information was that it's by A B Crensil. I've loved that album ever since but never really known much about it.

Looking through releases from 1978 it turns out to be Party Time in Hollywood by Sweet Talks

The 16 minte long opening track is great: Ye Wo Adze Oye

Now I know what it is I can set about finding a less fuzzy copy

 

[Casual Observer]

Any Jesse Hector fans on here? This is much better than the clobber and haircuts would suggest. Tamer than the mighty Crushed Butler but great all the same.

 

[Indeliblelink]

Not sure they'll make my list but I've got a soft spot for these two, rather cheesy but fun, concept space disco LPs.

Disco's answer to Marlene Dietrich - Amanda Lear "Sweet revenge"

Dee D. Jackson - Cosmic curves

 

[andysays]

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds can fuck right off, frankly

 

[Casual Observer]

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds can fuck right off, frankly

Was listening to that just yesterday. No compilations allowed though. To me, the James Chance and DNA tracks sound better than anything they did on their own records.

 

[andysays]

Was listening to that just yesterday. No compilations allowed though. To me, the James Chance and DNA tracks sound better than anything they did on their own records.

I thought the 'no comps' rules related to compilations of previously released material. The music on No New York was all recorded specifically for release on that record.

Maybe belboid can adjudicate...

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds can still fuck off, though

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I would argue that it should be Yes New York.

 

[killer b]

No new York is an incredible album, who's incredibleness has no bearing whatsoever on the quality of Jeff Wayne's war of the worlds (Also incredible)

 

[Sprocket.]

amazed that this has not been mentioned -

and also



and also -

and then there's

Got all three in my collection, two copies of Parallel Lines, one is a picture disc. Wrapped in bubble wrap at the moment!

 

[Sprocket.]

One of my most played from 78, Gary Tibbs’ bass and John Elliss’ guitar still sound great!
I’d be playing it now but I need a new pre-amp.

 

[marty21]

Just finished mine , will post it after the result. The 12/13 year old me was all over the place musically tbf

 

[petee]

also this incredible minimalist album by David Behrman

i own that. it was about 1976 i started getting into avant-garde and i have a good few discs from that time.

 

[Lurdan]

The rate your music list is much less rockist: Top Albums of 1978 - Rate Your Music

Cheers for that link. Well I've got to page 6...

Alternative TV also, who played an awesome set last night including "Splitting in Two" and "Action Time Vision" which are both on their 1978 LP.

Good call.

I think my 'problem' with 1978 is that I really wasn't on board with mainstream 'album' culture that year. I was buying albums but not many were albums of current music and few of the exceptions were of the 'year end' poll type. Unpacking that a bit, it reflected the fact that 1978 wasn't a vintage year in terms of album releases IMO, but also that for me, as for many other people, music provided the soundtrack to my discontents, which included my discontents with music culture itself.

However it also reflected how I used a lot of records. Looking through the first few pages of that link killer b provided I came across the Yellow Magic Orchestra album. Never actually heard it but I had the single release of Firecracker from it, which I rather liked. I intend to give the album a listen, but I know already why I wasn't tempted to buy it at the time. The single gave me everything I needed.

It's something that's true for a lot of disco and punk. In the case of Alternative TV I owned the album but I mainly played their singles, indeed I'd kind of forgotten there was an album. I listened to it again just now and well, let's just say that I like the idea that there was an Alternative TV album more than I like the album itself. I suspect I will feel much the same about the Buzzcocks and Penetration both of whom I loved live and as singles artists. There were lots of albums where I only played the tracks I liked - they might just as well have been singles.

Anyhow back to trawling the lists...

Oh, and I found one cracker so far from that year - despite the laughably awful cover.