I Have Never Heard These Records That People Voted For In The Village Voice's Old Pazz & Jop Product Report

Rob Stoner
Is this the dude who played on the Dylan records?

http://www.amazon.com/Street-Gangland-Rhythms-Improvisations-Trouble/dp/B000S5ACUU

What a weird-ass record. Tracks such as "One Boy Playing Three Sets of Bongo Drums with His Hand and One Drum Stick" and "I Want Some Food".

July 2, 1979:

The Pink Chunk "Louie Louie" (Monster Wax single) (Bangs: 10)
Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic (Obscure import) (Bangs: 10)
Mike Douglas: "Happy Birthday Jesus" (Image single) (Bangs: 8)
Sydney Joe Qualls So Sexy (20th Century) (Emerson: 1)
Rosebud: "Have A Cigar" (Warner Bros. disco disc) (Holden: 5)
Elvis Costello 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong (Slipped Disc) (Marcus: 5)
Humans "I Live In The City" (Beat single) (Marcus: 5)
Johnny Shines Too Wet to Plow (Blue Labor) (Morthland: 7)
Roy Loney and the Phantom Movers Out After Dark (Solid Smoke) (Morthland: 3)
The Atlantics Big City Rock (MCA) (Morthland: 3)
Tommy McLain Backwoods Bayou Adventure (Starflite) (Morthland: 2; Ward: 2)
Carillo Street Of Dreams (Atlantic) (Robins:2)
Billie Joe Spears Love Ain't Gonna Wait For Us (UA) (Ward: 5)

Yup, that's the same Stoner. I recently googled the phrase "beat like a cop" and the two main instances I found were Stoner complaining about Ian Wallace having one on some Dylan tour and Sinatra telling Dino he had one.

dome was two dudes from Wire farting around in the studio and they made three albums that people like to put on lists.

"Billy Mura's Supersonic Guitars Supersonics In Flight (RCA)"

this is great. sounds like it looks.

Date unknown (for this one, I just have a Xerox)

Sick Dick And the Volkswagons 6-24-78 (unreleased concert tape) (Bangs: 10)
Sonny Fisher and the Rocking Boys Texas Rockabilly (Ace import) (Marcus: 8)
Keith Richards "The Harder They Come" (Rolling Stones single) (Marcus: 7)
Tracy Nelson Homemade Songs (Flying Fish) (Marcus: 3)
U.S. Ape "You're In My Car"/"Hell On the West Side" (U.S. Ape) (Meisel: 5)
Charles Brown and Johnny Moore's Three Blazers Sunny Road (Route 66 import) (Miller: 5)
Egberto Gismonti Sol Do Meio Dia (ECM) (Robins: 7)
Good Rats Birth Comes To Us All (Passport) (Robins: 2)
Quazar (Arista) (Ward: 5)
Werewolves Ship Of Fools (RCA) (Ward: 3)
The ADC Band Long Stroke (Cotillon) (Ward: -4)
Charlie Rich The Fool Strikes Again (United Artists) (Ward: -4)

I assume the U.S. Ape one is a single, but it is not actually designated as such in the product report.

Jan 31, 1977 (for a bunch of these, they forgot to list labels. Maybe the Voice was paying for a copy department in those days. Assuming they are now):

Black California (Arista) (Bangs: 7)
Larry Coryell The Lion and the Ram (Bangs: 2)
Arizona Dranes Barrelhouse Piano with Sanctified Songs 1926-1928 (Herwin) (Marcus: 8)
Jerry Jaye Honky Tonk Women Love Red Neck Men (Hi) (Miller: 5)
Marshall Chapman Me, I'm Feelin' Free (Morthland: 7)
Streetwalkers Red Card (Shapiro: 7)
Bobby Womack Home Is Where the Heart Is (Shapiro: 3)
Doug Jernigan Roadside Rag (Flying Fish) (Ward: 5)
Indigo (Ward: -2)

WASN'T paying for a copy department, I mean.

you don't have that quazar album? p-funk thing. i like that adc band album a bunch. really rocking and funky disco action. that tracy nelson album is okay.

Sick Dick were kind of a conceptual noise rock band based out of Columbia College in the late 70s. I think D Miller of Borbetomagus was involved.

http://cgi.ebay.com/LARRY-CORYELL:-The-Lion-and-the-Ram---M-1976-LP_W0QQitemZ370017235821QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0801261112a40295

my dad has that larry coryell album if anyone wants to borrow it.

poor larry coryell. he never really had a hit or a really popular band (except for that guitar trio album, i guess), and you get the impression that he's really not cool with that.

Oct 18, 1976

Jah Lion Columbia Colly (Island) (Bangs: 7)
Brigati Lost in the Wilderness (Elektra) (Emerson: 3)
Jesse Winchester Let The Rough Side Drag (Bearsville) (Emerson: 2)
Steeyle Span Rocket Cottage (Chrysalis) (Emerson: 1)
American Flyer (United Artists) (Holden: 3)
Manhattan Transfer Coming Out (Atlantic) (Holden: 3)
Orleans Walking and Dreaming (Asylum) (Holden: 1)
Harmonica Frank Floyd Blues That Made the Rooster Dance (Barrelhouse) (Marcus: 7)
Joseph Byrd Yankee Transdoodle (Takoma) (Marcus: 5)
Harmonica Frank Floyd (Adelphi) (Marcus: 3)
Kenny Burrell/John Coltrane (Prestige) (Meisel: 10)
L.A. Express (Epic) (Meisel: 1)
Tavares Sky-High! (Capitol) (Miller: 7)
Willie Tee Anticipation (United Artists) (Morthland: 8)
Ry Cooder Chicken Skin Music (Reprise) (Miller: 8; Morthland: 5; Ward: 10)
Robert Palmer Some People Do What They Like (Island) (Shapiro: 3)
Hot Chocolate Man To Man (Big Tree) (Shapiro: 2)
Tower of Power Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now (Columbia) (Shapiro: 1)

Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic (Obscure import) (Bangs: 10)

I forgot what this sounds like, but I'm pretty sure I like it. Minimalist ambient classic! by reputation. I think that was Eno's record label?

x-post

kenny burrell/john coltrane is nice straight ahead stuff, haven't heard it for a long time.

Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic (Obscure import)

This is a great record, a symphony recording of the song supposedly played by the orchestra on the Titanic as the ship went down. The recording starts getting all underwatery as it goes on. The effect is cool and it's weirdly touching. This is available on CD with "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet," which is a tape loop of a street tramp singing part of a hymn (really beautiful) while Bryars has an orchestra slowly add instrumention. Incredibly sad and lovely. I made the mistake of listening to it alone on Christmas Eve after everyone had gone to sleep. A big mistake!

Yeah, Obscure was Eno's label. "Jesus' Blood" was also released in a different (but equally great) rerecording, with Tom Waits harmonizing with the tramp's recording at the coda. Both versions are crucial.

"poor larry coryell. he never really had a hit or a really popular band (except for that guitar trio album, i guess), and you get the impression that he's really not cool with that."

at least he's sober! man, i grew up on non-stop coryell and sometimes i wasn't cool with it! but i dig him. it's just that dad was a fanatic.

Jah Lion Columbia Colly (Island)

A Lee Perry Black Ark-era production from roots deejay Jah Lloyd (renamed by Perry.) It's a pretty great record, with lots of rhythms you'll know from Junior Murvin et al. Not up there with Perry's productions of the Congos or Murvin or Max Romeo or all the Upsetters "Ape" albums . . . but still cool.

I didn't like the Tom Waits version (but then I don't like Tom Waits), but the original really is good. I only have a cassette copy, which means I can't listen to it.

x-post

I remember Larry Coryell's name, but I forget what he sounded liked, except that he was some kind of hyper-chopped jazz fusion guitarist, or something.

Alphabet Rock (TeeVee) (Bangs: 10; Ward: 7)

I think this was a compilation of old 50's/60's rock & roll hits with nonsense syllables for words, like "Papa Oom Mow Mow" or "Surfin' Bird" (I'm guessing, I don't have the record here with me). This was sold via TV commercials (although I don't recall seeing this in Chicago, where I live). For a made-for-TV oldies compilation, this sure did get a lot of mainstream attention (I remember seeing reviews of this album in Us and Creem). Just saw it in a used shop the other day...

Billy Mura's Supersonic Guitars Supersonics In Flight (RCA) (Bangs: 10)

Billy Mure (not Mura) was still making records by 1980? And if it's a compilation, was there an audience for something like this back then? (I could see it happening NOW, but not in 1980.) Mure was a studio guitarist who made several albums of middle-of-the-road instrumentals in the sixties. Like Al Caiola, sometimes Mure would come dead close to rock & roll, like on "Fireworks" (from the RCA album of the same name, which is sheer background music otherwise).

Rob Stoner Patriotic Duty (MCA) (Ward: 3)

Really good neo-rockabilly, not quite as self-conscious as Robert Gordon. Wonder where he is today, and if he still does rockabilly at all.

I recommend this album featuring Larry Coryell.

Billy Mure (not Mura) was still making records by 1980?

Maybe or maybe not, but apparently you could actually get away with voting for older releases in this product report thing -- Pretty much, you could vote for whatever you wanted. (Bangs did it fairly often, and so did some of the other guys. One month, somebody gives all ten votes to Mingus albums.)

The Atlantics Big City Rock (MCA)

Remember a while back when Xhuxk (Chuck) started a thread on late '70s/early '80s major label power-pop and new wave, with bands like the Kings, Cretones, Pezband, Sue Saad & the Next, etc.? Well, the Atlantics (from Boston) were right in that vein. I like this elpee. This was one of the last albums to come out on ABC before they were bought out by MCA; the LP came out on both labels during the changeover.

I think I saw the Good Rats mentioned up thread. I think they were a Long Island bar band that were always being hyped (but not often actually being played) on New York area radio. Their lead singer was Pepe somebody (but not the Pepe from Alive and Kicking.) Often mentioned in the same breath as The Shirts or Goldie and the Gingerbreads.

Billy Mure (not Mura) was still making records by 1980?

Maybe or maybe not, but apparently you could actually get away with voting for older releases in this product report thing -- Pretty much, you could vote for whatever you wanted. (Bangs did it fairly often, and so did some of the other guys. One month, somebody gives all ten votes to Mingus albums.)

Reading old rock mags of the time, you could sometimes get away with REVIEWING older releases as well - Creem did this a shitload of times.

I think I saw the Good Rats mentioned up thread. I think they were a Long Island bar band that were always being hyped (but not often actually being played) on New York area radio. Their lead singer was Pepe somebody

Peppi Marchello, and by all accounts the band is still going! Marchello is the sole original member, and the Rats have been around so long that his son is - or was? - in the band, too!

Harmonica Frank Floyd Blues That Made the Rooster Dance (Barrelhouse) (Marcus: 7)

Harmonica Frank Floyd (Adelphi) (Marcus: 3)

Floyd was a white Memphis country musician who could pass for a black blues singer easily (ca. the 1950's). His older 45's on Sun and other labels fooled blues collectors into thinking he was African-American for years. He was still gigging in the '70s - I've never heard the Barrelhouse album, but I do have the Adelphi elpee. If crude country blues is your meat, this is a good one to get.

I never heard him, but I certainly read about him in Mystery Train.

xp Well, he gets a whole chapter in Mystery Train! I've heard maybe three early '50s singles by him ("The Great Medical Menagerist," "Rockin Chair Daddy," one other one -- "Swamp Heat" maybe?) as parts of vinyl compilations here and there, but never a whole album. I've always wanted to, though. Those singles are even crazier than Hasil Adkins!

Street And Gangland Rhythms: Beats And Improvisations By Six Boys In Trouble (Folkways) (Bangs: 10)

This is a fantastic LP, and on the more collectible end of the Folkways spectrum.

Joseph Byrd Yankee Transdoodle (Takoma) (Marcus: 5)
Boring moog record by the United States of America guy

Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic (Obscure import) (Bangs: 10)

Awesomeness deluxe; no need to repeat what extroverted dee said upthread, but I'd like to throw in that I listened to it today BEFORE i saw this thread.

I'm pretty sure Good Rats got played a lot, for some reason, on my college radio station in Missouri, but I wasn't really paying close attention at the time. I've bought a couple $1 bin LPs by them since (which were okay, though not great.) But not the one above.

I really really really want to hear Street And Gangland Rhythms: Beats And Improvisations By Six Boys In Trouble now. I saw some place on line that was calling it a hip-hop album! From 1959!!

Kenny Burrell/John Coltrane (Prestige)

one of the first jazz albums I bought, a double LP reissue (I think) of some mellow 50s sides. "why was I born"

Most of the Good Rats' stuff I've heard, I can take or leave, but really the one to get is the first one, a self-titled 1969 LP on Kapp that bridges the gap between Nuggets garage and the metallic stoner rock we were discussing way over on another thread.

Feb 28, 1977 (almost no labels listed)

Shirley Alston with the Flamingos, the Drifters, Shep and the Limelights, the 5 Satins, the Belmonts, Danny and the Juniors, Herman's Hermits, and La La Brooks (Prodigal) (Marcus: 2)
Rahsan Roland Kirk Kirkatron (Meisel: 5)
Tompall Glazer and his Outlaw Band (Morthland: 2)
Leon Redbone Double Time (Morthland: 2)
Steve Hillage :L (Robins: 5)
Gary Wright The Light of Smiles (Robins: 3; Shapiro: 3; Ward: -3)
Leon Redbone Be Bop N' Holla (Shapiro: 5)
Locust Playgue (Annuit Coeptis) (Shapiro: 3)
Racing Cars Downtown Tonight (Shapiro: 1)
James Talley Blackjack Choir (Ward: 1)
Split Enz (Ward: -3)
George McRae Diamond Touch (Ward: -3)

judging from the amazon clips, that streets & gangland rhythms record sounds interesting but kinda unlistenable?

Leon Redbone Be Bop N' Holla

Printer's error - actually it was Andy Fairweather-Low who had an album under this title that year.

The Good Rats used to get some love here. Tasty is their defining moment and was probably the most popular LP. It should still be in print on CD.

Streetwalkers were a Chappo and Whitney band, one step on from Family. Red Card was very arty, very hard, rock.

Werewolves' Ship of Fools was a power pop record. Not a bad one, either.

Roy Loney and The Phantom Movers' Out After Dark was Loney's standard fulfillment of rock-a-billy and greaser rock moves, his progression after leaving the the Flamin' Groovies who, around the same time, had gone to England to be on UK Sire.

Steve Hillage's L was classic FM radio guitar rock, heaving toward Pink Floyd and doing Hillage's psychedelic thing. Had a couple covers on it, Hurdy Gurdy Man or Atlantis being one. Not a bad record if you liked Hillage and Khan's Space Shanty.

Coryell was good in his early days with Chico Hamilton.

The Burrell/Coltrane record is great - I might have disproportionate affection for it because it was one of the first jazz albums I owned, but I really like it.

Jerry Jaye Honky Tonk Women Love Red Neck Men (Hi)

Never heard this album, but in 1967, Jaye had an out-of-nowhere hit with a blazing rockabilly version of Fats Domino's "My Girl Josephine," which, as you can guess, had nothing in common with anything else in that psych-crazy year. Here, the world was being shook by psychedelia, soul music was coming on strong, then out of left field here's some white guy from down south doing Fats Domino covers (as you can hear on the eventual Josephine album). Kind of like a Greaser's Last Stand.

Going by that title, I'm assuming he'd become a full-on country singer by then.

good rats were ubiquitous in connecticut when i was growing up. along with nrbq, twisted sister, max creek, and doors cover band crystal ship. not comparing all those, just that ONE of them was playing in a club in CT somewhere almost every night for what seemed like decades.

was it NRBQ or NRG? I remember Good Rats, Twisted Sister, Crystal Ship and NRG (who I believe were another cover band of some sort). They were all playing at a club in Rosalyn, Long Island...either My Mother's Place or My Father's Place...vague memory...never heard any of them on the radio at that time (TS didn't have a record out yet...and when they finally did I don't remember the NY stations playing them until years later...) Never heard of Max Creek...another cover band? or original?

Arizona Dranes Barrelhouse Piano with Sanctified Songs 1926-1928 (Herwin) (Marcus: 8)

Dranes rocked the 88s for The Lord in Texas. She had a scratchy, proto-Little Richard voice.

Rosebud: "Have A Cigar" (Warner Bros. disco disc) (Holden: 5)

Sleepwalking disco cover of Pink Floyd song.

Johnny Shines Too Wet to Plow (Blue Labor) (Morthland: 7)

http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=697&name=Johnny+Shines

Orleans Walking and Dreaming (Asylum) (Holden: 1)

This is the one with the notorious cover of a shirtless Orleans caressing one another. I've never heard it. Prolly works better as a refrigerator magnet anyway.

Hot Chocolate Man To Man (Big Tree) (Shapiro: 2)

2 points?? That's nuts! Fabulous hard-discoin' rock-pop.

Sick Dick And the Volkswagons 6-24-78 (unreleased concert tape) (Bangs: 10)

Looks like they started life as a fictional band in The Crying of Lot 49 with their song "I Want To Kiss Your Feet."

Mike Douglas: "Happy Birthday Jesus" (Image single) (Bangs: 8)

A joke? You can hear it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXuMnWqkkOk

Andy Fairweather Low Mega-Shebang (Warner Bros.) (Emerson: 3)

Jaye had an out-of-nowhere hit with a blazing rockabilly version of Fats Domino's "My Girl Josephine,"

VERY oddly, Low covers this on the album above (as "Hello Josephine").

Mega-Shebang was supposedly his last album until 2006 or so. But a dude who owned a record store in Milwaukee told me that he came across several unreleased albums by Low in the early 1980s (as promos or test pressings or bootlegs? I dunno). Has anyone heard of these?

And have the DFA crew discovered "Night Time DJuke-ing" yet?

dome was two dudes from Wire farting around in the studio and they made three albums that people like to put on lists.

-- scott seward, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 10:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

you say that like it's a bad thing!

Because it was. Bad might be slightly too strong, though.

His world fell down:

Shirley Alston with the Flamingos, the Drifters, Shep and the Limelights, the 5 Satins, the Belmonts, Danny and the Juniors, Herman's Hermits, and La La Brooks (Prodigal) (Marcus: 2)

"Native New Yorker" slams on the breaks of any disco comp (e.g. Rhino's Disco Queens: The '70s). That's cuz it's really TV theme music and even in that realm, it pales beside the likes of Good Times or Wonder Woman. If "Native New Yorker" is disco, then so is, oh I don't know, the theme from The Greatest American Hero (forget the actual title - "Believe or not I'm walking on air" blech!). (And both songs might be disco in some time/space continuum not my own.)

I actually thought of T.S. Monk while writing that (yes, Linzer was behind both). But greatest single of all-time or not, "Bon Bon Vie" doesn't disco all that much. "Candidate for Love" does and it's bad as is everything else I've ever heard by them.

August Darnell Inc. >>>>>>>> Odyssey (even the dancier hits I mentioned which you should still use up and wear out).

it's really TV theme music

At it's best.

Yeah, really -- up there with the Mary Tyler Moore theme, at least! (Did That Girl have a theme song?) Sounds disco enough to me, but then I'm no purist. And sure, I don't doubt Darnell's career beats Odyssey's career; he just hardly ever came up with any individual songs that good. (He was better, I think, when he was less in conceptual eclectic world-music auteur mode. Best and least reigned-in Kid Creole LP is Off The Coast Of Me, which kinda just sounds like goofing around; best Kid Creole single probably their version of "There But For The Grace Of God Go I," from his Machine days.) (Best Darnell-related album might be Cory Daye's Cory and Me, produced by, uh, Sandy Linzer.)

(I mean, Off The Coast Of Me is eclectic in its world rhythms; it's just not weighed down by the feeling he's trying to say something "important." And he hadn't forgotten disco should have fun hooks; after that, to me, the tempos seem to slow down and stodge up to accomodate his alleged deep thinking.)

Did That Girl have a theme song?

Yep!

This was the sixties, it ain't like now where the opening credits are only on for a second before the show kicks in...

Diamonds, Daisies, Snowflakes,
That Girl
Chestnuts, Rainbows, Springtime...
Is That Girl
She's tinsel on a tree...
She's everything that every girl should be!
Sable, Popcorn, White Wine,
That Girl
Gingham, Bluebirds, Broadway...
Is That Girl
She's mine alone, but luckily for you...
If you find a girl to love,
Only one girl to love,
Then she'll be That Girl too...
That Girl!

Thank God the theme was instrumental for the first few seasons it was on the air!

May 5, 1980

Robert Fripp God Save The Queen/Under Heavy Manners (Polydor) (Bangs: 3)
Wreckless Eric Big Smash (Stiff/Epic) (Emerson: 5; Big Smash: 3)
Cretones Thin Red Line (Planet) (Emerson: -1)
Willie Nile (Arista) (Holden: 2; Robins: 5)
Ijahman Are We A Warrior (Mango) (Marcus: 8)
Thumbs (Ramona) (Marcus: 5)
Link Wray Live At the Paradiso (Visa) (Marcus: -3)
Sorrows Teenage Heartbreak (Pavillion) (Marcus: -1)
Urban Verbs (Warner Bros.) (Miller: -3)
Amos Milburn and his Chickenshackers Just One More Drink (Route 66 import) (Morhtland: 8)
Going Back To New Orleans (Specialty import) (Morthland: 7)
The Neon Boys "That's All I Know (Right Now)"/"Love Comes In Spurts" (Shake single) (Morthland: 5)
Juke Jumpers With Jim Colegrove Border Radio (Amazing) (Morthland: 5)
David Roter "I Think I Slept With Jackie Kennedy Last Night" (Unknown Tongue single) (Morthland: 5)
Bobby Mitchell and the Toppers I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday (Mr. R&B import) (Morthland: 5)
BeeJays "My Boyfriend's Back" (Club 86 single) (Shapiro: 10)
Jona Lewie "Hallelujah Europa" (Stiff/Epic single) (Shapiro: 7)
Club Ska '67 (Island import) (Ward: 7)
Dexy's Midnight Runners "Dance Stance" (Oddball Productions single) (Ward: 5)
Tourists Reality Effect (Epic) (Ward: 2)
Tommy Tutone (Columbia) (Ward: -4)

Obviously I know who most if not all of the new wavers above are; just don't think I've ever listened to those particular records (at least not all the way through.)

(And I may have heard the Neon Boys single, if those version were collected on a Richard Hell collection sometime, which is possible. I've just never actually held a Neon Boys record in my hand per se'.)

Also wondering if the Juke Jumpers' Border Radio has anything to do with the Blasters song of the same name...

Wreckless Eric Big Smash (Stiff/Epic) (Emerson: 5; Big Smash: 3)

Oops, that should say "Shapiro: 3", not what's there, obviously. (Wasn't Big Smash an American compilation of a couple British albums, or vice versa? Oddly, I don't think I ever really explored Wreckless Eric beyond a couple excellent singles, though I have no idea why I wouldn't have.)

those Neon Boys songs were indeed on a later reissue along with the R. Hell songs "Don't Die" and "Time". then Overground reissued it again with "High Heeled Wheels". Essential stuff if you like Verlaine and Hell.

I also like that Fripp LP, but it is very mellow loop-based guitar stuff.

I used to have that Link Wray live LP. It's serviceable, not an embarrassment, but I'd sooner stick with the earlier sides.

The Cretones = pure power-pop goodness. These guys caught a lot of flak for backing up Linda Ronstadt on her alleged new wave album, Mad Love, but when the songs are as good as "Everybody's Mad At Katherine," I can overlook that. "Real Love" was the track that got major airplay on FM radio, and when I saw them on American Bandstand, that was the song they lipsynbched.

I don't have the Bobby Mitchell, but I do have a similar CD comp on Night Train (assuming it's all or most of the same songs). Classic NOLA rhythm & blues you can't go wrong with.

Tourists Reality Effect (Epic) (Ward: 2)

Power pop about as distinctive as, oh, Quincy from Dave and Annie before they formed Eurythmics thank gawd.

Club Ska '67 (Island import) (Ward: 7)

Features "Guns of Navarone" and "Shanty Town" but also great lesser-knowns like Baba Brooks hoping he doesn't get shot in "Guns Fever" and Justin Hines' "Push Up Rub Up." And Rita Marley does "Pied Piper."

Not the Pazz & Jop Product report, but actual old Top 10 Pazz & Jop ballots printed in the Voice...

1978

James Wells True Love Is My Destiny (AVI, Vince Aletti)
Chick Corea Secret Agent (Polydor, Pablo Guzman)
Wendy Waldman Strange Company (Warner Bros, Stephen Holden)
D.J. Rogers Love Brought Me Back (Columbia, David Jackson)
21st Century Singers Sunday Night Fever (Creed, David Jackson)
Peabo Bryson Reaching For The Sky (Capitol, David Jackson)
Johnny Shines Too Wet To Plow (Blue Labor, Greil Marcus)
Steve Gibbons Band Down In The Bunker (Polydor, Dave Marsh)
Jack Clement All I Want To Do In Life (Elektra, John Morthland)
Delbert McClinton Second Wind (Capricorn, John Morthland)
Happy The Man Crafty Hands (Arista, Jon Pareles)
Bonnie Koloc Wild And Recluse (Epic, Tom Smucker)
The Gospel Keynotes Gospel Fire (Nashboro, Tom Smucker)
Conjunto Libre Time Calidad (Salsoul, Roger Trilling)
Majestic Dub (Joe Gibbs import, Roger Trilling)
Michael Mantler Movies (Watt, Roger Trilling)
Milton Nascimento Millagre Dos Peixas (Odeon import, Roger Trilling)

1979

Carrie Lucas "Dance With You" (Solar single, Brian Chin)
Black Ivory "Mainline" (Buddah single, Brian Chin)
Bread And Roses (Fantasy, David Jackson)
Brenda Russell (Horizon, Reggie Matthews)
Heath Brothers In Motion (Columbia, Reggie Matthews)
McCoy Tyner Together (Milestone, Reggie Matthews)
Jeff Lorber Water Sign (Arisa, Reggie Matthews)
George Benson Live Inside Your Love (Warner Bros., Marie Moore)
Stephanie Mills What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin' (20th Century Fox, Marie Moore)
The Boston Bootleg (Varulven, Dougs Simmons)
Arlo Guthrie Outlasting The Blues (Warner Bros., Tom Smucker)

1980

Cameron "Get It Off" (Salsoul single, Brian Chin)
Gayle Adams "Your Love Is A Life Saver" (Prelude single, Brian Chin)
Gene Chandler "Does She Have A Friend?" (20th Century Fox single, Brian Chin)
Anemic Boyfriends "Guys Are Not Proud" (Red Sweater single, Greil Marcus)
Laraaji Ambient #3 Day Of Radiance (Editions EG, Jon Pareles)
The Dance Dance For Your Dinner (ON import EP, Jon Pareles)
The Method Actors "This Is It" (Armageddon import single, Jon Pareles)
Jack DeJohnette Special Edition (ECM, Andy Schwartz)

1981

The Isley Brothers "The Real Deal" (T-Neck single, Carol Cooper)
Barry White "Change" (Unlimited Gold single, Carol Cooper)
Bunny Wailer Tribute (Solomonic import, Greil Marcus)
Jive Five Featuring Eugene Pitt Here We Are! (Ambient Sound, Greil Marcus)
Bettye Lavette Tell Me A Lie (Motown, Dave Marsh)
Trouble Funk Straight Up Funk Go Go Style (JAMTU, John Morthland)
Live Convention '81: Bee-Bop's #1 Cut Creators (Disco-O-Wax, John Morthland)
David Lasley Missin' 20 Grand (EMI America, Kit Rachlis)
Aswad New Chapter In Dub (Mango, Greg Tate)

1982

Clark Sisters "You Brought Me The Sunshine" (Westbound single, Carol Cooper)
Monyaka "Reggaematic Funk" (Easy Street single, Carol Cooper)
The Rakes "Street Justice" (Profile single, Carol Cooper)
Stanley Clarke & George Duke "Heroes" (Epic single, Carol Cooper)
Cool It Reba Money Fall Out Of The Sky (Hannibal EP, Ed Ward)
84 Rooms (Rackit EP, Ed Ward)
Batacumbele En Aquellos Tiempos (Tierazo, Pablo Guzman)
Third World All The Way Strong (Columbia, Pablo Guzman)
Slickee Boys "When I Go To The Beach" (Twin/Tone single, Iran Kaplan)
Ken Parker "My Whole World Is Falling Down" (Studio 1 single, Greil Marcus)
Rip Rig & Panic Attitude (Virgin import, Jim McDonald)
Big Al Downing Big Al Downing (Team, Ron Wynn)
Dinah Washington Slick Chick On The Mellow Side (EmArcy, Ron Wynn)
Albert Collins Don't Lose Your Cool (Alligator, Ron Wynn)
Jeffrey Osborne Stay With Me Tonight (A&M, Ron Wynn)
Happy In The Service Of The Lord (High Water, Ron Wynn)

Actually those were 1982 and 1983. This is 1981:

Suburbs Credit In Heaven (Twin/Tone, Tom Carson)
Propellor Product (Propellor EP, Tom Carson)
Zounds Curse Of The Zounds (Rough Trade import, John Foster)
Furors Juke Box Album (Hit Man, John Foster)
Eugene Chadbourne There'll Be No Tears Tonight (Parachute, John Foster)
C.W. Vrtacek Victory Through Grace (Leisure Time, John Foster)
Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly Live In New Orleans (Capitol, Nelson George)
Curtis Mayfield Love Is The Place (Boardwalk, Nelson George)
Mike and Brenda Sutton "We'll Make It" (Sam single, Roger Glass)
Rita Marley "Sin Sin" (Tuff Gong import single, Roger Glass)
Cyclones "You're So Cool"/"RSVP" (Little Ricky single, Ira Kaplan)
Vic Goddard and Subway Sect "Stop That Girl" (Oddball import single, Ira Kaplan)
Skeletons "Trans Am"/"Tell Her I'm Gone" (Rorrowed single, Ira Kaplan)
Passions "I'm In Love With A German Film Star" (Polydor import single, Kristine McKenna)
S.O.A. No Policy (Dischord EP, Doug Simmons)
Unknowns Dream Sequence (Sire EP, Doug Simmons)
Exploited "Dead Cities" (Secret import single, Tim Sommer)
The Gas "Ignore Me" (Polydor import single, Tim Sommer)
Secret Affair "Dance Master"/"Do You Know (I Spy import single, Tim Sommer)
APB "Chain Reaction" (Oily single, Tim Sommer)

1984

Damaris "Some Weird Sin" (Columbia single, Brian Chin)
Joyce Kennedy & Jeffrey Osbourne "The Last Time I Made Love" (A&M single, Brian Chin)
Some Weird Sin Some Weird Sin (Headbutt, Steve Kiviat)
Party Boys Party Boys (I.P.R., Steve Kiviat)
Love Tractor Till The Cows Come Home (DB EP, RJ Smith)
Philip Bailey Chinese Wall (Columbia, Gerrie E. Summers)
Textones Midnight Mission (A&M, Ken Tucker)
The Time "Tricky" (Warner Bros. single, Don Waller)

(The bizarre Some Weird Sin coincidence, especially, has always been completely mysterious to me.)

Johnny Shines Too Wet To Plow (Blue Labor, Greil Marcus)

robt johnson-style delta blues. not my bag but good as such.

Jack DeJohnette Special Edition (ECM, Andy Schwartz)

hits a sweet spot between a/g loft-jazz jamming & glacial ECM chamber-jazz

Cool It Reba Money Fall Out Of The Sky (Hannibal EP, Ed Ward)

greil marcus repped for this too but I thought it mediocre and a harbinger of boring 80s amerindie rock

Suburbs Credit In Heaven (Twin/Tone, Tom Carson)

the tin huey of minneapolis! well hey.

Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly Live In New Orleans (Capitol, Nelson George)

supper-club soul but the up-tempo jams are good.

Curtis Mayfield Love Is The Place (Boardwalk, Nelson George

curtis in a mellow mood. nowhere near his best work. but not bad, I played it a lot in 82.

APB "Chain Reaction" (Oily single, Tim Sommer)

watered-down gang of four. i met these guys one night at a hot-dog stand around 4AM.

Love Tractor Till The Cows Come Home (DB EP, RJ Smith)

their best work. slinky instrumental jams and golden cover of k-werk's neon lights.

Philip Bailey Chinese Wall (Columbia, Gerrie E. Summers)

fantastic album, produced by nile rodgers. check his version of "welcome to the club" a disco classic

STOP THE PRESSES (archaic term)

I was writing about Phil Bailey's excellent 1986 album Inside Out...Chinese Wall is the one w/Easy Lover and Phil "Fucking" Collins. sorry.

I love "Easy Lover"! (Fake-Foreigner early '80s hard rock r&b, like Shalamar's "Dead Giveaway" or Kool and the Gang's "Misled.") Have never heard the rest of that album, though.

1985:

System The Pleasure Seekers (Mirage, Nelson George)
Full Force (Columbia, Nelson George)
Bill Withers Watching You, Watching Me (Columbia, Nelson George)
Mick Jagger "Lucky In Love" (Columbia single, James Hunter)
Fool For Love (MCA, Rosemary Passantino)
Shockabilly Shockabilly Heaven (Fundamental, Richard Gehr)
Kip Hanraham Vertical's Currency (American Clave, Richard Gehr)

1986

Saints "Just Like Fire Would" (Mushroom import single, Jack Rabid)
Chameleons "Tears" (Geffen import single, Jack Rabid)
That Petrol Emotion "Natural Kind Of Joy" (Rough Trade import single, Jack Rabid)
Flag Of Convenience "New House" (MCM import single, Jack Rabid)
Alpaca Brothers Legless (Flying Nun import EP, Andrea 'Enthal)
The Mighty Ballistics High Power Here Come The Blues (Criminal Damage import EP, Andrea 'Enthal)
Grey Matter Take It Back (Dischord EP, Andrea 'Enthal)
The Lizard Train Thirteen Hour Daydream (Greasy Pop import EP, Andrea 'Enthal)
Wayne Shorter Atlantis (Columbia, Vernon Reid)
Steve Coleman and the Five Elements On The Edge Of Tomorrow (JMT import, Vernon Reid)
Fiesta Caliente Con Globestyle Records (Globestyle, RJ Smith)
Paul Laurence Haven't You Heard? (Capitol, Nelson George)
Full Force Get Bust 1 Time (Columbia, Nelson George)
Moving Targets Burning In Water (Taang, Gerard Cosloy)
The Ex Pockherrie (Pockabilly, Gerard Cosloy)
Blind Boy Grunt & The Hawks The Basement Tapes Vol. 1 (Surprise, Jeff Nesin)
Blind Boy Grunt & The Hawks The Basment Tapes Vol. 2 (Surprise, Jeff Nesin)
Ini Kamoze Pirate (Mango, Amy Wachtel)
Freddie McGregor All In The Same Boat (RAS, Amy Wachtel)
Burning Spear People Of The World (Slash, Amy Wachtel)
Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat (Cypress, Ariel Swartley)
Ruby Turner Women Hold Up Half The Sky (Jive, Ariel Swartley)
Willy Chirino Zarabanda (CBS, Ariel Swartley)
Volcano Suns "Greasy Spine" (Homestead single, Doug Simmons)
Green On Red No Free Lunch (Mercury EP, Doug Simmons)
Microdisney The Clock Came Down The Stairs (Big Time, Nick Burton)

Plus a bunch of records voted for by somebody named Chuck Eddy that I haven't heard in a couple decades, but I'll leave those out.

Mick Jagger "Lucky In Love" (Columbia single, James Hunter)

Surprised you never heard this; it was pretty ubiquitous during the summer of '86. Crap song off She's The Boss, accentuated all of Jagger's worst vocal characteristics -- and didn't miss one.

Well, if I heard it, I wasn't paying attention, or it just went in one ear and out the other. (Plus that's the summer I got out of the Army, so maybe I was letting my hair grow over my ears, who knows.)

It's actually possible I heard a couple of those indie singles I listed too (Volcano Suns, That Petrol Emotion, Chameleons, etc), or maybe that Joyce Kennedy/Jeffrey Osbourne duet a few posts up, but not so much that they ever left any impression.

i like Too Wet to Plow a lot. don't think i've heard any of the other items you listed, aside from the TPE track (??).

Carrie Lucas "Dance With You" (Solar single, Brian Chin)

Charming disco. Sampled by Armand Van Helden in '99.

Michael Mantler "Movies" (1978) = Mantler, Coryell, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow and sounds like what you'd expect with them at that time.

Green on Red "No Free Lunch" (1986) = Cowpop EP. Not entirely far from some of Camper Van Beethoven's earlier country-esque stoff. Worth a listen.

Microdisney "The Clock Comes Down The Stairs" (1986) = One great Smiths-esque song called Horses Overboard. The rest not bad. Fey, English, etc.

"Horse Overboard"

Wayne Shorter Atlantis (Columbia, Vernon Reid)

I remember this one; I listened to it a lot back then. Haven't heard it in probably fifteen years. Mostly Shorter burying his compositional skills in tepid jazz-funk, but "The Three Marias" is a terrific tune.

That Roy Loney record has "Neat Petite", which I love (x3). It's the only song I listen to on that record anymore, though, so maybe the rest ain't so hot. But that song rules, so cheggitout.

Not Village Voice and not Pazz & Jop, but the year-end Fusion magazine poll from 1972, which was very possibly the biggest official U.S. critics' poll that year, since Pazz & Jop took 1972 and 1973 off. (35 voters total; top 4 albums: Exile, Ziggy Stardust, Blue Oyster Cult, All The Young Dudes; top 5 singles: Move "Do Ya," Mott "All The Young Dudes," Raspberries "Go All The Way" Raspberries "I Wanna Be With You," Derek + Dominoes "Layla").

Spring (United Artists, #13 album) -- not sure I ever even heard of this before, but then I have never been much of a Brian Wilson obsessive
Brinsley Schwarz Nervous On The Road (United Artists, #14 album)
Peter Frampton Wind Of Change (A&M, #19 album)
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Striking It Rich (Blue Thumb, #25 album)
Jesse Winchester 3rd Down, 110 To Go (Bearsville, #30 album)
Bobby Charles (Bearsville, #34 album)
Gary Glitter Glitter (Bell, #35 album)
Ry Cooder Into The Purple Valley (Reprise, #39 album)
Pagliaro "Some Sing Some Dance" (Pye, #6 single -- "from Canada, near as we can tell," the essay says)
Shirley Collins & the Albion County Band No Roses (import, Ken Barnes's ballot)
Steeleye Span Below The Salt (Chrysalis, Ken Barnes)
John Entwistle Whistle Rhymes (Decca, Les Daniels)
Bonzos Let's Make Up (Les Daniels)
Long John Silver (Grunt, Les Daniels)
The Wackers Montreal Session Tapes (Ben Edmonds)

J.J. Cale Naturally (Shelter, Charlie Gillett's ballot)
The Coasters "Shoppin' For Clothes" (Gillett's singles ballot)
Tim Buckley "Move With Me" (Gillett's singles ballot)
King Biscuit Boy Gooduns (Paramount, I.C. Lotz)
Johnny Rivers "Rockin' Pneumonia" (The Mad Peck's singles ballot)
Hot Poop Does Their Own Stuff! (Hot Poop, R. Meltzer)
Robert Charlebois Charlebois (Barclay, Meltzer)
Kim Fowley I'm Bad (Cap, Meltzer)
Parakeet Training Record (Hartz Mountain, Meltzer)
Dorsey Burnett Here & Now (Cap, Gene Sculatti)
Marcus Hook Roll Band "Natural Man" (Greg Shaw's singles ballot)
Patto Roll Em Smoke Em (Island, Jon Tiven)
Hoodoo Rhythm Devils Barbecue Of Deville (Blue Thumb, Nick Tosches)
Hoodoo Rhythm Devils "Eating In Kansas City" (Tosches' singles ballot)
Charley Pride "All His Children" (Tosches' singles ballot)
The School People's Music (Ed Ward -- title and artist might be the other way around actually)
The Bunch Rock On (A&M, Ed Ward)
Andy Zwerling "Snow Beach" (Ed Ward's singles ballot)

Fusion was just rock and folk and guitar pop I guess

you've never heard the gary glitter album?

i actually just tweeted about that parakeet training record.

xp Also looks like only white males might've been allowed to vote in their poll! (And Mike Saunders tells me Creem contributors weren't, which may or may not be true.)

Actually, though, some jazz and soul did finish in the results: Carla Bley & Paul Haines #10, Best Of Otis Redding #22, Ann Peebles #28, Johnny Nash #33, Ornette #36, Weather Report #38. And Bob Blumenthal's Top 10 was all jazz LPs (some of which I probably also have never heard, but I was too lazy to list them.)

I don't know if I've ever heard any Gary Glitter album that wasn't a compilation! Weird, huh?

weird list. to say the least. the only "official" "classic" on those two lists would be no roses. though patto rises in crit estimation every year. but slowly and only among troo nerds. the bobby charles record has been "rediscovered" by slacker types who work in brooklyn record stores.

but those are just the ones you haven't heard. probably more normal stuff on the overall list.

John Entwistle Whistle Rhymes (Decca, Les Daniels)

This is simultaneously, and bewilderingly, more fully-realized and worse than Smash Your Head Against The Wall.

Yeah, the main list is more what you'd expect, though sometimes harder rock than you might guess (see top 4 I listed above -- Nuggets actually tied with Randy Newman Sail Away for #5. Bowie's at #8, too, with Hunky Dory. #15 through #17 goes J. Geils Full House--Slade Alive--Sparks!)

But I have never seen an issue of Fusion, I don't think, so I don't know how quirky these picks would've been in relation to 1972 critics in general.

Fwiw, I have a copy of Canary Training Record, which is a 6-song 7-inch EP also on Hartz Mountain from I don't know when (incl. "Mexican Dance" and "Pizzicato Polka"_. but I never knew there was also a parakeet one. Also own the quadruple 10-inch flexidisc National Geographic Society Guide To Bird Sounds, but now I am just bragging. I even got all the way through it, once.

Spring (United Artists, #13 album) -- not sure I ever even heard of this before, but then I have never been much of a Brian Wilson obsessive

this album is great. Beach Boys songs sung by their wives (well, Brian's wives)

Spring (United Artists, #13 album) -- not sure I ever even heard of this before, but then I have never been much of a Brian Wilson obsessive

this album is great. Brian Wilson's wife and her sisters, doing 70s style-Beach Boys arranged stuff, with a couple very strange moments

er xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqUPW21yH8c&feature=related

I don't love the whole Spring album, but "Sweet Mountain" (above) is truly great.

The Johnny Rivers "Rockin' Pneumonia" was a big hit and surely the most well-known version of that song.

still trying to get into shaggy post-60's letdown bummer johnny rivers but it doesn't click with me as much as dion or my pal tim hardin. or a lot of other 50's and 60's dudes letting their hair down. and he put out a lot of stuff too. have been digging those bob darin albums lately though.

the village voice's old pazz & jop product report is like the pre-internet version of ILM or a blog - rockcrits gettin all list-y

*doddering old guy revelation*

Wow, maybe Tim is right -- looks like Rivers' "Rockin' Pneumonia" got to #6 in Billboard (so I must have heard it some time, right?), where Huey "Piano" Smith's 1957 original had only gotten to #52. I never would have guessed that, in a million years.