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Around the time the last Thanksgiving turkey leg is gnawed to the bone, the pop fanatic turns to the most exciting task of the Christmas season — composing his top 10 list of the year.
In compiling my very own roster, I noticed several things. First, though there was an impressive number of fine albums released this year, few of them begged to be on the list. Secondly, it was a rotten year for singer-songwriters; Dylan and Jackson Browne didn't release albums, Van Morrison's was disappointing, we'd heard most of Paul Simon's before and Joni Mitchell's late entry doesn't sound like an immediate monster. As for R&B/funk, much of it tended to be disco, which isn't for me, and the premiere bands — Earth, Wind & Fire, the Commodores, Parliament, Marvin Gaye — didn't break through with anything truly new. Stevie Wonder, predictably, rode on the momentum of last year's Songs In the Key of Life.
As is the case for many pop writers, the New Wave has become something of an obsession with me. But while 4 of my 10 entries fall under the bulging New Wave umbrella, it is significant that they're all debut albums. Which speaks not only of the musical value of the new rockers, but also for their burgeoning creative future.
Finally, while I'm going to take the liberty of including a few runners-up, let me make this perfectly clear: According to the time they've logged on my overworked turntable, these are the top 10 pop albums of 1977.
1. Rumours, Fleetwood Mac. Seven million (and counting) Americans could be wrong, but with Rumours, they're right on the mark. Mass rock at its absolute best, with songs reflecting straight-forward intelligence played with professional but resolutely emotional polish. Spearheaded by the sublimely sensual Christine McVie, Stevie "rock 'n' roll crush" Nicks (her "Dreams" gets my vote for hit single of the year), and pure-bred California rocker Lindsey Buckingham, Mac features three top writers and singers. And with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, they've got the best rhythm section this side of the Stones.
2. My Aim Is True, Elvis Costello. Though the performances on this album are necessarily ragged — after all, Costello was a computer programmer up until the time this album was recorded — the songs on this debut make him an instant heavy. Costello's tunes rock with the insistence of someone who has just found God in an electric guitar, and his words ring with a biting but witty intelligence that is irresistible. My Aim is True shows Costello to be the best songwriter of the New Wave.
3. Ghost Writer, Garland Jeffreys. The songs on this album are as multi-hued as the black, white and Spanish elements that run through Jeffreys' blood. "Cool Down Boy," which moves deftly from rock to reggae and back again, epitomizes the influences that he has digested to come up with this marvelous album. Equally at ease with the Stones-like rocker "Wild in the Streets" and the sensually urbane "New York Skyline," Jeffreys covers his ambitious turf with consummate ease.
4. Talking Heads '77, Talking Heads. The most pop-oriented of New York's New Wave, Talking Heads play a quirky repertoire of tunes defined by writer/singer David Byrne's intellectually-confused urbanity. From the French lines in "Psycho Killer" to the witty use of buildings as symbols of romantic security in "Don't Worry About the Government," Byrne's songs are ripe with musical and lyrical invention.
5. Marquee Moon, Television. Along with Talking Heads, Television represents the best of New York rock. With influences ranging from the Doors to the Butterfield Blues band, Television's spindly music is stone-hard to the core without being bludgeoning. Tom Verlaine's properly cryptic lyrics add mystery to his vulnerable vocal delivery, making Television's bare-boned rock sound particularly spooky after midnight.
6. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols. Surprisingly enough, this debut lives up the media foreplay that preceded it. Of course, with masterfully angry singles like "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen," it could hardly miss. The best of all the hard-core punk bands, the Pistols scream as loud as a Saturday night special with their Who-derived rock moves and lyrics that effectively paint Britain's "blank generation."
7. Monkey Island, Geils. The comeback album of the year, in which the Geils band slays the boogie monster with refreshing musical abandon. Featuring songs such as the reggae-influenced title cut and the wonderfully sprightly' "You're the Only One," the Geils band fully realizes a potential which had laid dormant for years. More effectively than the Stones' Black and Blue, Monkey Island finds Geils mining their blues and R&B roots to create a masterful rock album.
8. Rough Mix, Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane. In this year of punk, this resolutely low-key collaboration between the Who's seminal guitarist and former Small Face Ronnie Lane is particularly welcome. Yes, punk rockers can grow old gracefully, and if the New Wave produces one performer as important as Townshend, it will be a resounding success. Songs like "Keep Me Turning" and "Heart to Hang Onto" effectively equate the creative strains of a musician to the emotional strains of a romantic, thereby enlightening two of rock's primary drives. Charlie Watts' drumming on "My Baby Gives it Away" makes it sound like a cross between the Stones and the Who.
9. Heroes, David Bowie. The second of a three-part concept, Heroes makes the earlier Low (also released in 1977) sound tentative and low-key. With the help of Brian Eno's synthesizers and Robert Fripp's guitar, Bowie joins his spacy rock inclinations with his recent funky moves to create a most compelling work. The title tune is a red-hot monster, with the thundering beat emphasizing the steely detachment of Bowie's vocals and instrumental colorings. Uncompromising and intelligent, this is the year's best example of British art-rock.
10. Aja, Steely Dan. Steely Dan has gotten so smooth that they sometimes seem to slip by without making an impact. But two songs in particular, "Aja" and "Deacon Blues," will bring me back to this album long after FM radio has tired of it. The enigma of Steely Dan lies between the professional detachment that informs their playing and the personification of the be-bopper that they conjure in "Deacon Blues." Their importance lies in the fact that they still have us trying to pin them down.
In alphabetical order by artist, these are the albums that might have replaced Aja for number 10: Spectres, Blue Oyster Cult; In Color, Cheap Trick; Get It, Dave Edmunds; Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel; Beauty on a Back Street, Hall & Oates; Sleepwalker, The Kinks; Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd; Little Criminals, Randy Newman; Stick to Me, Graham Parker and the Rumour; Down Two Then Left, Boz Scaggs.
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