taking sides: 1979 vs 1980

II was a lazy reworking of I, with too many covers and only a couple of classic songs. WACF is 85% genius - everybody wants some, romeo's delight, fools, loss of control, take your whisky home...great from start to finish.

score one for 1980.

But then London Calling released in the USA in 1980 - the Rolling Stones album of the decade and reveal the group as newly melodics discovered purveyors.

Hence 1980: WIN (as generally is case with eighties versus seventies :)

And Jane from Occupied Europe beats A Trip to Marineville.

1980 wins.

1979 (armed forces) wins.

Remain in Light hands down for me over Fear of Music.

1980 (ace) wins

1980 wins

Duty Now for the Future (1979) vs. Freedom of Choice (1980)

Ummm... Shit. This ain't easy. See, I wanna say Duty Now, mostly 'cuz "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" is fuggin' rad, but there's a lotta boring crap on there, too.

And though I miss the gtrs on Freedom of Choice, it's just such a baddass record. "Girl U Want", "Freedom of Choice", "Whip It", "GATES OF STEEL". I mean, shit.

1980 wins again.

Flying in the face of popular opinion I dare say, but it's 1979 by a country mile on this one for me.

1979: Slow Train Coming
1980: Saved

1979 wins

Funkadelic's Uncle Jam Wants You + Parliament's Gloryhallastoopid (both '79) vs. Parliament's Trombipulation (1980)

Even without the unfair deck-stacking and cross-band comparisons, 1979 wins this one hands down. Gloryhallystoopid may be kinda lame, but Trombipulation just flat-out sucks. And Uncle Jam rules all.

Hooray for the 70s.

1979 WINS

Serving 190 Proof( 1979) vs. Back to the Barrooms and The Way I Am (1980). This glorious battle of alcoholic disintegration is nearly too close to call. You could argue that the best tracks from the 1980 albums trump the 1979 classic, but 190 Proof has "Footlights," "Red Bandana," "My Own Kind of Hat," and "Got Lonely Too Early This Morning." Factor in the awesome album cover = 1979 wins.

1980 wins in a landslide.

You serious? There's Pink Pussycat, Wiggly World, Clockout, Blockhead, The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprize and Smart Patrol/Mr DNA which are all stellar. Excluding Timing X and the Corporate Anthem, the rest is as good as most of Freedom of Choice. "Girl U Want" is the exact point when the band started to decline - their first conventional love song and with a bass line lifted straight from Motown. I'd say 1979 wins here.

...and I choose 1979 on this one!

Anyways, Pere Ubu, New Picnic Time vs. The Art Of Walking represents the art guys wresting control from the rock guys. So, 1979 WINS...tho I don't know if I really believe that

Eath Wind & Fire: I Am > Faces. '79 wins again.

1980 wins, but a tough choice. Either album is great.

Neil Young

1979: Rust Never Sleeps, Live Rust
1980: Hawks and Doves

1979 takes this one easily.

I'm sure there's plenty of room for disagreement on the Devo thing (hell, most day's I'd have picked Duty Now myself). But the thread format don't allow it, and I piped up first. Spilt milk.

***

Marcello and NickB raise the following questions, but don't answer them:

Talking Heads: Fear Of Music (1979) vs Remain In Light (1980)
AC/DC: Highway To Hell (1979) vs Back In Black (1980)
Siouxsie: Join Hands (1979) vs. Kaleidoscope (1980)

1979 wins the Talking Heads battle...
... And 1980 wins the AC/DC battle.
One point for each.

As for Siouxsie, I have no friggin' idea. Someone needs to step up.

Reproduction by a nose, though if we were to go for the expanded cd editions, which we're not, it would probably switch back to Travelogue. So, 1979 in this case.

Very very close, Risque has the classics ("Good Times," "My Forbidden Lover," "My Feet Keep Dancin'") but Real People is solider, and its bitterness is every bit as suggestive of its time as Risque's hedonism is of its.

By an extremely slim margin, 1980

Manifesto's creamy post-disco grooves suit the increasingly plush contours of Ferry's voice, although the inconsistent songwriting of the second half augurs the fagged-out synth textures of F+B. Despite three great singles, F+B's title track exposes the sinister predatory instincts Ferry once hid behind camp and synth farts.

The '79 one by a considerable margin

ME ME ME; Hotter Than July is very good but JTtSLoP is still massively underrated, with its long-form invention of world music, its funk jamz, and its Third Stream ambientism. Plus: each LP was perfumed!

Now, if you was to ask me about High Voltage, Let There Be Rock, hell, even Dirty Deeds...

also Cheap Trick: Budokan and Dream Police vs. All Shook Up. Not a fair fight. 1979 in a bloodbath.

I agree Roy but do not sleep on All Shook Up, so good, so weird

-- zebedee (zebede...), January 25th, 2007. (zebedee)

never heard HtJ but i loooooove secret life of plants

IMO, Kaleidoscope is better by a considerable amount -- mark it down for 1980.

I almost wrote these down;Live is worth buying for the unhinged version of "Not That Funny."

The Jam: Setting Sons vs Sound Affects
1979 wins.

The Damned: Machine Gun Etiquette vs The Black Album
1980 wins, but not an easy decision.

1980 FTW

1980 TAKES IT

Electric chair vs. gas chamber.

I'll go with 1980, if only to avoid "Dr. Music".

YOU TELL ME

Iron Maiden: Soundhouse Tapes vs. Iron Maiden
1980 again. "Charlotte the Harlot"!

But which wins?!?

i realize the rules of the thread make this result final and unchallengeable, but i am tossing my red flag onto the field in protest anyway. sound affects is their masterpiece.

1979's Manifesto.

is it possible graham parker was the most overrated artist in pop history?

20 Jazz Funk Greats vs. Heathen Earth, a bunch of live recs and Throbbing Gristle's Greatest Hits.

Unfair? Perhaps, but 1979 takes it anyway.

Dynasty vs. Unmasked

Shit from 1979 beats dogshit from 1980.

Take Heart vs. Juice

Fukkin' duh. 1979.

BAN ME NOW.

Pity Nobody's Heroes doesn't have the single version of Gotta Get Away on it, but it'd be Inflammable Material anyway!

I'm sad about Machine Gun Etiquette :(

MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION NO ONE WINS

Not obvious, but I vote 1979

Still hearing Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978) all the time but no new material released vs. The River

I still vote 1979

[nothing] vs. The Pretenders

one of the best debuts ever a big plus for 1980

1979 September Morn. Has the mighty title track, and yes, 'Stagger Lee.'
1980 The Jazz Singer. Has Hello Again, America, and the omnipotent 'Love On The Rocks' (please seek out Varla Jean Merman's adoring cover version).

1980 wins!

PS has there been a thread for The Cars 'Hello Again' vs. Neil Diamond 'Hello Again?'

http://christmas.echonest.com/sources/1979.mp3

and the same for 1980, #100 to #1

http://christmas.echonest.com/sources/1980.mp3

And you'd be right! The tally is running at a crushing 44 for 1979 against a mere 30 for 1980. Actually make that 31; no one chose between Unknown Pleasures and Closer, so I vote for the latter.

Commercially, it seems like a draw to me idk

Linton Kwesi Johnson
Forces of Victory (1979) vs. Bass Culture (1980)

I had led myself to believe that the sparser sound of Bass Culture was the real stuff, but on actual re-inspection the incredibly lush sound of Forces of Victory gives it the clear edge. I have reinstated it as one of the favourite albums of my lifetime.

Japan: Quiet Life (1979) vs Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980). Both records are vital to their development, but I think I'd take Quiet Life because:

- the band (especially Rob Dean) has a little more presence
- "Fall in Love With Me" and "Halloween" retain a certain rock energy that they would soon abandon
- the elegance of the string arrangements on "In-Vogue" and "The Other Side of Life"
- "All Tomorrow's Parties" is my favourite version of the song
- weakest song ("Alien") is better than on Gentlemen Take Polaroids ("Ain't That Peculiar")

Neither year is a favourite of mine, but if I had to choose, 1979 would edge out its successor thanks to Unknown Pleasures and Metal Box.

Simple Minds: Life in a Day and Real to Real Cacophony (1979) vs Empires and Dance (1980).

Although their debut album is hapless Xeroxing of Roxy Music and Magazine, 1979 takes it just for the leap in quality and scope of Real to Real Cacophony. Empires and Dance is good but mostly a blueprint for their 1981 albums.

Gary Numan: Replicas vs Pleasure Principle. Very tough call but I'll take Replicas. 1979 WINS

These were both released in 1979, so obviously 1979 wins, duh. The real scrap is between The Pleasure Principle and Telekon. The Pleasure Principle is the better album (although it might not have been if We Are Glass and I Die: You Die had been included on Telekon) so 1979 wins again.

Swell Maps: A Trip to Marineville (1979) vs ... in Jane from Occupied Europe (1980).

Neither record is going to win prizes for consistency, but there's a little more sense of purpose and ability to carry out their ambitions in the later record; 1980 wins!

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Nice Guys (1979) vs Full Force (1980).

Their first studio album since 1973's Fanfare for the Warriors and their first for ECM vs its sequel. I tend to favor the music the AEOC made between 1969-74 over everything after, but these records are both good, if more normal-person-friendly than their earlier work. I gotta give it to Full Force, though, because "Charlie M" is an incredible tribute to Mingus that's pure knee-dee-in-the-mud blues, while "Ja," from Nice Guys, is an extremely ill-advised attempt at what I can only describe as "free reggae."

XTC - Drums And Wires (79) vs Black Sea (80). Very tough call but I feel like the clarity of vision of "Black Sea" overtakes the still-remaining punkiness of "Drums And Wires".

Yes, some of the noisy/abrasive stuff on Drums and Wires feels rote after the previous two albums.

The Fall - Witch Trials / Dragnet (79) vs. Totale's Turns / Grotesque (80).

Great as Dragnet is, I'll take '80...

"20 Jazz Funk Greats" vs. "Heathen Earth". Don't make me choose. "Drums and Wires" over "Black Sea" every time.

Sparks

1979: No. 1 in Heaven
1980: Terminal Jive

hmmm.....

Parliament: Gloryhallastoopid (1979) over Trombipulation (1980)
Bootsy: This Boot Is Made For Fonk-N (1979) over Ultra Wave (1980).

No Funkadelic album in 1980, so 1979 wins by a walkover.

Peter Hammill: pH7 (1979) vs. A Black Box (1980). 1980 wins.
Blondie: Eat to the Beat (1979) vs. AutoAmerican (1980). 1979 wins.

Neither record is going to win prizes for consistency

Marineville is pretty consistent imo

there's a little more sense of purpose... in the later record;

there's not enough goofing off on the later record

The Only Ones: Even Serpents Shine (1979) vs Baby’s Got a Gun (1980).
1979 wins.

The Soft Boys: A Can of Bees (1979) vs. Underwater Moonlight (1980).
1980 wins.

The Residents: Eskimo (1979) vs. Commercial Album (1980).
1979 wins.

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1979) vs. Closer (1980).
1980 wins.

The Pop Group: Y (1979) vs. For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? (1980).
1980 wins.

Kevin Coyne: Babble (with Dagmar Krause) (1979) vs. Sanity Stomp (1980).
1980 wins.

This may bend the rules:
Rockpile’s “Seconds of Pleasure” (1980) vs Nick Lowe’s “Labour of Lust” and/or Dave Edmunds’ “Repeat When Necessary” (1979).
1979 wins.

Sister Sledge: We Are Family ('79) vs. Love Somebody Today ('80): WAF is great and has the hits, obviously, but I prefer the lush longing of LST. 1980.

YMO: Solid State Survivor ('79) vs. X∞Multiplies ('80): Assuming we're contrasting the original Japanese releases, decidedly 1979.

Patrice Rushen: Pizzazz ('79) vs. Posh ('80): Both excellent but Pizzazz has "I've Been Looking For You" and thus wins. 1979.

“I’ve Been Looking For You” = “Haven’t You Heard” surely?

anyway, happy to be reminded of these two Rushen albums

Talking Heads: Fear Of Music (1979) vs Remain In Light (1980) .... 1979 wins the Talking Heads battle

wut

The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys vs 17 Seconds.
Flying in the face of popular opinion I dare say, but it's 1979 by a country mile on this one for me.
wrong on a scale I can’t process