Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1984 - (page 198)

Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Wow, that line is my shocker read for the day! "Challenge accepted?" ;-)

I too need some time to think of my tunes, and a fantastic write-up as well, especially on the Springsteen songs. OB1 won't be the only one searching the hemispheres either, though the amount of songs are a bit limited.
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I just took on the conventional wisdom that his earlier albums were not very good, but A Biography wasn't bad at all.
 
RobMCFC said:
I'm listening to A Biography by JM - it's not bad. A far cry from his 80s work but that version of "I Need A Lover" is superb. I think the version I knew must have been a single edit so it's good to hear the full version.

EDIT: Just noticed the shorter version is at the end of the album.
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He’s one of those artists whose work progressed and matured with each album release, I particularly like his next 2 after this one ,John Cougar and Nothin Matters and What If it Did.
 
RobMCFC said:
Blue Moon Rock Evolution – 1978

There was lots of stuff going on in 1978 that the 10-year-old me was not aware of at the time, but although I wasn’t specifically watching the news this year, world events started to seep into the consciousness: -
  • The oil tanker, Amoco Cadiz, ran aground on the coast of Brittany causing a huge oil spill that was headline news.
  • Just down the road from me in Oldham, Louise Brown became the world's first test tube baby.
  • It was the year of three popes due to the death of two of them, with Polish Pope John Paul II becoming the first non-Italian pope since 1523.
  • President Jimmy Carter hosted the Camp David peace summit in Maryland, finally achieving a peace agreement between Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat.
  • In domestic football, Ipswich won the cup and Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest won the second part of an unlikely treble: promotion from the second division in 1977 was followed by the league title in 1978 (plus a bonus League Cup), and we all know what followed the next year.
  • City had a good run in the UEFA Cup, beating Twente Enschede, Standard Liège and AC Milan, eventually losing in the quarter-finals to Borussia Mönchengladbach the following spring.

However, this was a landmark year for me. Long before I had any interest in music, there were two huge events that set the tone for the next few years:-

Star Wars

We all know that Star Wars is synonymous with 1977, but those queues around English blocks didn’t start until December 27th 1977, seven months after the film opened in the US. Like many others, I only got to see it in 1978 as part of a friend’s birthday get together in March. To say that I was bowled over was an understatement. I had enjoyed going to the cinema before, but Star Wars was entertainment on another level and cinema afterwards was always a major event to look forward to, especially with all of those fabulous George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films of the era.

The 1978 World Cup

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The World Cup in Argentina was my first World Cup. I can remember believing the hype about Ally’s Army being capable of bringing the World Cup back home and despite being English, bought a Scotland replica top ready for the big event. I remember being gutted when Scotland were whipped by Peru in their opening match and then stumbled to a draw against Iran.

But other heroes were rising – names such as Paulo Rossi, Hans Krankl, Zico, and Mario Kempes all became indelibly imprinted in my mind (and useful for many years of Subbuteo team sheets). None more so than the brilliant Dutch team who, despite being without the talismanic Johann Cruyff, produced superb players such as Ruud Krol, Rob Rensenbrink, Johann Neeskens and scorer of long-range goals extraordinaire, Arie Haan.



Sadly, the Netherlands fell at the last hurdle to an inspired Argentina, playing in front of their own fans in a ticker-tape strewn River Plate Stadium for a memorable final that went to extra time.

This first experience sparked the fires of a lifelong love of the World Cup.

TV & Film

Before we get onto the music, it’s worth mentioning five classic TV shows that premiered in 1978:
  • Dallas
  • Grange Hill
  • Battlestar Galactica
  • Diff’rent Strokes (“whachu talkin’’bout, Willis?”)
  • Mork & Mindy (“shazbat, Na-Nu Na-Nu”).
When invited to take a seat at his audition, then then-unknown Robin Williams sat on his head and as a result was cast on the spot.

View attachment 165654

One small detail that I always loved about Diff’rent Strokes was the oft-mentioned but never seen on screen schoolyard bully, The Gooch. This was a brilliant example of the “less-is-more” villain. This name served as one of the inspirations for the villain in my debut novel, Monkey Arkwright. It’s sad to think that two of the show’s stars died relatively young: Dano Plato aged in 34 in 1999 and Gary Coleman aged 42 in 2010.

The major films of the year all went on to become classics in their genre: Grease, Halloween, Superman, The Deer Hunter and Midnight Express.

Music

Apologies to fans of disco or punk; my focus is on other areas, and I’ll leave the good people of this thread to fill in the blanks.

"Prove It All Night" – Bruce Springsteen

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With Darkness of the Edge of Town, Springsteen moved away from Born to Run’s wall-of-sound production. A legal dispute with his former manager left him unable to record for a year and the Springsteen that emerged had written songs that were perhaps more aligned with his state of mind at the time. Gone were the dreamers hoping to escape town for something better, instead replaced by down-on-their-luck characters who haunted the songs on Darkness.

Now some folks are born into a good life
And other folks get it anyway, anyhow
Well now I lost my money and I lost my wife
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now

It’s worth noting that E-Street band guitarist Steve Van Zandt hated the final mix, saying the final record contained some of Springsteen's "best and most important songs", but suffered from "terrible production”.

I think he’s right on both counts; the original CD of Darkness on the Edge of Town that I bought in the early 90s sounded incredibly flat compared to the versions of some of the songs I’d grown to love on the Live 75/85 box set. This is something that the 2010 Darkness boxset goes a long way to addressing.

Speaking of boxsets, the multitude of songs included on 1998’s Tracks and the 2010 remaster of Darkness show how incredibly productive these studio sessions were.

As for containing some of Springsteen's "best and most important songs", you can’t argue with that either. “Badlands”, “Racing in the Street”, “The Promised Land”, “Prove it All Night” and the title track all hit the mark and have gone on to be concert staples over nearly 50 years of shows.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is Springsteen’s best album, and it’s in my top 5 all-time records.


"Because the Night" – Patti Smith

How do you get two Springsteen songs from the same album recording sessions onto one playlist? Answer, include “Because the Night”.

The song was recorded on the first day of the Darkness sessions, though the lyrics only consisted of the song title and some mumbling. After struggling with the song for almost four months, Springsteen agreed to hand the song over to Patti Smith, who was recording the album Easter in the same studio, the Record Plant in New York, with Springsteen’s engineer, Jimmy Iovine, producing.

Iovine brought Smith the last recording by Springsteen, from September 27, 1977. Smith added her own lyrics, recorded it, and scored her biggest hit single.


"Baker Street" – Gerry Rafferty

Gerry Rafferty was having contractual problems, and like Springsteen, was unable to release any material because of legal disputes surrounding the breakup of his old band, Stealers Wheel, in 1975. "Baker Street" was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City, but his first album after the resolution of legal problems.

"Baker Street" features a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff by the session musician Raphael Ravenscroft, played as a break between verses. Billboard described it as "the most recognizable sax riff in pop music history".

It is said to have been responsible for a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and television advertising. The song was cited by guitarist Slash in 1987 as an influence on his guitar solo in "Sweet Child O' Mine".

"Werewolves of London" - Warren Zevon

This song, featured on Warren Zevon’s third album, Excitable Boy, had both an interesting genesis and recording session. The idea came from Phil Everly, who having watched the 1935 film, Werewolf of London, suggested to Zevon that he adapt the title for a song and dance craze. Zevon wrote the song in 15 minutes, along with his band members LeRoy P.Marinelli and Waddy Wachtel.

Having seen the lyrics, it was Jackson Browne who first performed the song in concert and famed producer, T Bone Burnett actually performed it on the first leg of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder review tour.

When it came to the recording, it took seven different band configurations, 59 takes, yet it was the 2nd take that was selected for the final mix!

In addition to Zevon, there are three other musicians on the track: Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac, and co-writer Waddy Wachtel. Wachtel has an incredible list of credits to his name (check out his Wikipedia page), and also played the acoustic guitar player on stage when the ship capsizes in The Poseidon Adventure.


"Pump it Up" - Elvis Costello

From Elvis Costello’s second album, This Year’s Model, “Pump It Up” was intended as a commentary on the Stiffs Live Tour, which Costello had participated in. Musically, Costello admits that the song "obviously took more than a little bit from 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'."

"Das Model" - Kraftwerk

From the album Mensch-Maschine (known in international versions as The Man-Machine), this single hit number one in the UK. Even 10-year-olds like me who weren’t into music at this stage remember this song.

"The Trees" – Rush

Continuing a great run of Rush albums was Hemispheres. I’m 99.99% sure that @OB1 will come in with his favourite from this album, but I like the shorter form song here represented by “The Trees”. A song written by drummer/lyricist Neil Peart after he saw a cartoon picture of trees carrying on like fools, the lyrics tell a short story of a conflict between the maple and oak trees in a forest – the maples want more sunlight, but the oaks are too tall.

Ultimately, “the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe and saw.”

To finish the playlist, three significant acts who released their debuts in 1978.

"Runnin' With The Devil" - Van Halen

From Van Halen’s debut album, one of their best-known songs. An interesting bass line and some terrific solos from Eddie.

"Run by Night" - Midnight Oil

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I couldn’t let 1978 pass by without marking the debut album of one of my favourite bands. I know that Midnight Oil are loved almost as much as Rush on these forums . “Run By Night” is the best track from Midnight Oil’s eponymous album. There would be much better to come, of course, but this is a sprightly little number.


"The Man with the Child in His Eyes" - Kate Bush

Also releasing a debut album this year was Kate Bush. The Kick Inside contained a couple of singles that, once again, even a 10-year-old with no interest in music couldn’t fail to hear at the time.

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Love 'The Trees' one of the best of Rush.
Running with the Devil.....favourite band (Before Spammy ruined them) and awesome track, although 'Eruption' shaped Rock music for years to come.
Midnight Oil....2nd favourite band. 'Powderworks' my pick off the 'blue meanie' ......but 100x better live!
 
Out on blue 6 said:
Johnny Rotten went back to being John Lyndon and formed this band with the great Keith Levene and Jah Wobble and released their debut First Issue.

Public Image Limited - Public Image
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It would be fair to say Lyndon had better success recruiting a musically unschooled mate as a bassist the second time around. Well at least for a couple of albums.

Every now and then I have the urge to nominate Jah Wobble's Take Me To God on the album thread.
 
OB1 said:
Another fine write-up, Rob.

I have quite a few comments to make but they will have to wait until after work.

I will also have to have a good hard think about which four tracks to pick.
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I'm not going to say 1978 was the best year of my life but it was, mostly, a lot of fun. Upper 6th; A-Levels; first term at Uni, during which I basically gave up drinking alcohol; only 20 gigs but some of the best support bands in there (Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Magnum, Japan); great summer holiday.

Van Halen remain the best support band I have ever seen. I love Black Sabbath and saw them twice around A-Level time, once with and once without VH but VH really did blow them away. I think I've only ever genuinely seen the support act upstage the headliner twice - the other time was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers supporting Nils Lofgren at the Apollo.

I already owned the VH debut. Now I'm not going to say its the greatest debut album of all time but I cannot think of a better one, some in the same bracket maybe but not better. I was truly astounded by that first album, from the first notes of the opener that Rob has chosen for the playlist to the end of the record the band were on fire.

"Runnin' With The Devil" is my favourite track on the album. The riff is a monster. And then it's followed by one of those tracks that changed rock 'n' roll for ever: "Eruption". To hear that in 1978 for the first time was a WTF moment.
A word for the production by Ted Templeman, who keeps it simple and captures the power of a young band were about to change Rock N Roll and become superstars.

Going back to Nils Lofgren, his guitar solo during "Because the Night" in Springsteen's live shows has been one of the highlights of Bruce's gigs for a good few years now and has made the song a staple for the E-Street Band. It's a song that I have loved since Patti Smith's single was released.

Another song that I adore is Warren Zevon's Sweet Home Alabama rip off "Werewolves of London". What a band he had play on that. Waddy is a top axe man; I’ve seen him live a few times with Stevie Nicks. Excitable Boy also features my second favourite Zevon song Lawyers, Guns & Money, which not even among the 21 songs I am trying to pick four from – ’78 is another year that I own over 100 albums from, so I am spoilt for choice.

Moving away briefly from music, I also didn’t see Star Wars until 1978 and although it was not the first event movie I went to, it was one that had huge impact and influence on my interests: for a time, I got hugely into SFX movies and had a large collection of film mags, many of which covered Sc-fi, Fantasy and Horror movies and their effects, some in great detail. My abiding memory though of the first time I saw it, aside from overall wonder and delight, was my then girlfriend almost collapsing in a fit of delirious giggles at the first sight of the Jawas.

There was some classic TV in 1978. Robin Williams fast became my favourite comedic actor.
 
This soundtrack has sold 30 million copies worldwide and although it's not as good as Saturday Night Fever it's still got a couple of good tunes on it.
The wife still watches this everytime it's on so for something different for the list.
Written by Barry Gibb and sung by Frankie Valli
From the film of the same name

Grease - Grease
 
southamptonblue said:
Love 'The Trees' one of the best of Rush.
Running with the Devil.....favourite band (Before Spammy ruined them) and awesome track, although 'Eruption' shaped Rock music for years to come.
Midnight Oil....2nd favourite band. 'Powderworks' my pick off the 'blue meanie' ......but 100x better live!
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"Powderworks" would have been my 2nd pick from the album.
 
Great write up @RobMCFC and some great nominations already!

The Robots by Kraftwerk is also a classic and I can't imagine how this would've sounded back then. It still sounds incredible today. Making completely electronic music was decades ahead of its time and these songs were trailblazing at the time.

Le Freak by Chic is a disco classic and timeless. Whilst a lot of disco can be throwaway, that blend of funk, soul, disco and guitar takes some beating.

Is This Love by Bob Marley reflects the rise of reggae and is such a beautiful song. Also Uptown Top Ranking by Donna and Althea is a reggae classic and I love it's amateurish style!
 
OB1 said:
I'm not going to say 1978 was the best year of my life but it was, mostly, a lot of fun. Upper 6th; A-Levels; first term at Uni, during which I basically gave up drinking alcohol; only 20 gigs but some of the best support bands in there (Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Magnum, Japan); great summer holiday.

Van Halen remain the best support band I have ever seen. I love Black Sabbath and saw them twice around A-Level time, once with and once without VH but VH really did blow them away. I think I've only ever genuinely seen the support act upstage the headliner twice - the other time was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers supporting Nils Lofgren at the Apollo.

I already owned the VH debut. Now I'm not going to say its the greatest debut album of all time but I cannot think of a better one, some in the same bracket maybe but not better. I was truly astounded by that first album, from the first notes of the opener that Rob has chosen for the playlist to the end of the record the band were on fire.

"Runnin' With The Devil" is my favourite track on the album. The riff is a monster. And then it's followed by one of those tracks that changed rock 'n' roll for ever: "Eruption". To hear that in 1978 for the first time was a WTF moment.
A word for the production by Ted Templeman, who keeps it simple and captures the power of a young band were about to change Rock N Roll and become superstars.

Going back to Nils Lofgren, his guitar solo during "Because the Night" in Springsteen's live shows has been one of the highlights of Bruce's gigs for a good few years now and has made the song a staple for the E-Street Band. It's a song that I have loved since Patti Smith's single was released.

Another song that I adore is Warren Zevon's Sweet Home Alabama rip off "Werewolves of London". What a band he had play on that. Waddy is a top axe man; I’ve seen him live a few times with Stevie Nicks. Excitable Boy also features my second favourite Zevon song Lawyers, Guns & Money, which not even among the 21 songs I am trying to pick four from – ’78 is another year that I own over 100 albums from, so I am spoilt for choice.

Moving away briefly from music, I also didn’t see Star Wars until 1978 and although it was not the first event movie I went to, it was one that had huge impact and influence on my interests: for a time, I got hugely into SFX movies and had a large collection of film mags, many of which covered Sc-fi, Fantasy and Horror movies and their effects, some in great detail. My abiding memory though of the first time I saw it, aside from overall wonder and delight, was my then girlfriend almost collapsing in a fit of delirious giggles at the first sight of the Jawas.

There was some classic TV in 1978. Robin Williams fast became my favourite comedic actor.
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Unless you lived in that there London no-one saw Star Wars until 78.
 
BimboBob said:
Unless you lived in that there London no-one saw Star Wars until 78.
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3 times minimum in 1977, but who's counting? ;-)

Just finished Andor streaming and that and Rogue One might be up there with SW: A New Hope, maybe exceeding. The backstory to the original movie was something I didn't realize I was missing, until I did.

Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O'Reilly, and the whole cast can take a bow on that.
 
My first two will be guitar-driven tunes, one by a debut band from a city and region where I'll be down the road from in less than a month, and another artist who's recording studio was down the road from me in Yorklyn, DE back in 1978.

And while I too enjoy the first VH album, I think I'll leave that for OB1, with a great story of seeing them live as opener. I can only imagine seeing them back then in their beginnings. 1982 for my first concert ever to see them would have to wait for me...

The first artist had their debut album released this year, and in the early 80's was one of my favourites to listen to. My second will be about "Guitar George, he knows all the chords", but not the one from the song. The one song in the song was about George Young and Harry Vanda, who were guitarists in the band The Easybeats, who we already heard with "Friday on My Mind" back in 1966. George Young is Angus Young’s older brother, and Harry and George helped get AC/DC recorded, to tie all this back together.

Their first hit from their great debut album in 1978, from Newcastle via London (it wasn't just Sting's original band this year who debuted)...

Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits

Down the road from me at that time, this blues rocker released his second album that year which consisted of only cover material of old blues classics with a harder guitar edge. No original material found on this album. This album was a huge hit and the songs were all over Philly radio given the local connection. It also helped this artist's appeal to bring back a deep classic and fun sound that was missing by the late 1970's by breathing new life into these former hits. The album title track payed homage to Hank Williams while the Bo Diddley cover of "Who Do You Love?" also was a big radio hit. But my favourite off the album was this Chuck Berry classic that we haven't yet heard here. This version benefited from a speedier guitar pace and some well delivered vocals that we used to always sing along to on the school bus:

I met a German girl in England who was goin' to school in France
Said we danced the Mississippi at an Alpha Kappa dance

It Wasn't Me - George Thorogood & The (Delaware) Destroyers
 
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Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
My first two will be guitar-driven tunes, one by a debut band from a city and region where I'll be down the road from in less than a month, and another artist who's recording studio was down the road from me in Yorklyn, DE back in 1978.

And while I too enjoy the first VH album, I think I'll leave that for OB1, with a great story of seeing them live as opener. I can only imagine seeing them back then in their beginnings. 1982 for my first concert ever to see them would have to wait for me...

The first artist had their debut album released this year, and in the early 80's was one of my favourites to listen to. My second will be about "Guitar George, he knows all the chords", but not the one from the song. The one song in the song was about George Young and Harry Vanda, who were guitarists in the band The Easybeats, who we already heard with "Friday on My Mind" back in 1966. George Young is Angus Young’s older brother, and Harry and George helped get AC/DC recorded, to tie all this back together.

Their first hit from their great debut album in 1978, from Newcastle via London (it wasn't just Sting's original band this year who debuted)...

Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits

Down the road from me at that time, this blues rocker released his second album that year which consisted of only cover material of old blues classics with a harder guitar edge. No original material found on this album. This album was a huge hit and the songs were all over Philly radio given the local connection. It also helped this artist's appeal to bring back a deep classic and fun sound that was missing by the late 1970's by breathing new life into these former hits. The album title track payed homage to Hank Williams while the Bo Diddley cover of "Who Do You Love?" also was a big radio hit. But my favourite off the album was this Chuck Berry classic that we haven't yet heard here. This version benefited from a speedier guitar pace and some well delivered vocals that we used to always sing along to on the school bus:

I met a German girl in England who was goin' to school in France
Said we danced the Mississippi at an Alpha Kappa dance

It Wasn't Me - George Thorogood & The (Delaware) Destroyers
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"Sultans of Swing" just missed out on my initial list of ten.
 
RobMCFC said:
"Sultans of Swing" just missed out on my initial list of ten.
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I think when at Uni (Nottingham) I had (or maybe was offered) tickets for Dire Straits in Sheffield but, for reasons that I don’t recall, I couldn’t go. I think several years later there was a Wembley Arena gig I was supposed to be going to of theirs and that fell through too. Did eventually see them when they reformed but thought I was fated not to. I’ve only missed a handful of gigs in my lifetime.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
3 times minimum in 1977, but who's counting? ;-)

Just finished Andor streaming and that and Rogue One might be up there with SW: A New Hope, maybe exceeding. The backstory to the original movie was something I didn't realize I was missing, until I did.

Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O'Reilly, and the whole cast can take a bow on that.
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Andor is very good…
 
OB1 said:
Andor is very good…
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My medication sometimes leaves me feeling tired at the end of the day, so my TV series watching has been impacted these last 15 months. I want to get stuck into Andor S2 but keep putting it off :)

It's been so long since S1 that I probably need to rewatch that first.
 
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RobMCFC said:
My medication sometimes leaves me feeling tired at the end of the day, so my TV series watching has been impacted these last 15 months. I want to get stuck into Andor S2 but keep putting it off :)

It's been so long since S1 that I probably need to rewatch that first.
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My son did the 15 min recap and I rewatched S1 given it had been 2+ years.

After the questions of "who is that?" or "why are they there?", I said "you need more than that recap after all."

I highly recommend a rewatch. It had been too long that is was simply needed. Rewatching Rogue One right after Andor S2 was another bonus that paid off even more too given it had been years since I watched that too. Seeing Andy Serkis again with all that dialog with Diego Luna was another bonus the recap was never going to get.

Some great tunes thus far, was surprised to see "Sultans of Swing" still on the menu, especially given a debut band. I'll thank you for that too.
 
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