Someone asked me if I was reviewing things instead of just listening and publishing lists, and this is an experiment in how I might start doing that: I listen to too many albums to do in-depth (or even brief) reviews of them all, but I could do brief themed write-ups. This post is specifically about Boston-based groups - future themes within the 1979 category could include disco (and/or non-disco groups like ELO and Kiss attempting to cross over), punk (The Damned, The Clash, Ramones, The Germs), rock opera (Pink Floyd's The Wall vs. Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage could be fun), and live albums (Ramones' It's Alive and Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Rust Never Sleeps).
The Cars – Candy O
Classic rock stations and Greatest Hits albums largely seem
to favor the self-titled debut over anything else; This has a few standards (“Let’s
Go”, “It’s All I Can Do”, sometimes the title track), but seems to be more of a
“fan favorite” album. I attribute this to the fact that the debut was perfectly
balanced between the new wave and “arena rock” aesthetics, but Candy O tips the balance ever so slightly
more towards new wave and experimental influences. “Shoo Be Doo” even feels
like an homage to Suicide, complete with “Frankie Teardrop”-esque screaming. Despite
this, it’s still a pretty accessible record overall, and probably brought some
more experimental sounds to mainstream rock listeners for the first time.
Aerosmith – Night In
The Ruts
This is Aerosmith’s last album of the 70s and feels like the
end of an era: Joe Perry temporarily left the group shortly after the album was
completed, and it’s chronologically the last thing covered on their first
Greatest Hits album. The songwriting feels just the slightest bit weaker than Toys In The Attic (or even the debut),
and three of the songs are covers. Still, if you enjoy the early Aerosmith
sound, you’re probably going to like about half of this, and “No Suprize” feels
like it should have been the hit instead of “Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand)”.
Infliktors – “Where’d You Get That Cigarette”, The
Neighborhoods – “Prettiest Girl” (45 RPM singles)
These singles make up the first four tracks of 12 Classic 45s, a compilation of singles
originally released on Boston-based label Ace Of Hearts Records. These tracks
are a good showcase of what more “underground” Boston rock was like at the
time; not quite punk, not quite garage rock, not quite power pop, but somewhere
in the middle of the Venn diagram. Infliktors were closer to punk/garage rock
in terms of attitude, while Neighborhoods have the rough production (and, in “No
Place Like Home”, the only track of the first four with a “punk” tempo to it),
but feel like a power pop band at heart.
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