Spokane Spokesman-Review, January 5, 1980

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My, my, hey hey...

Rock and roll can never die


Robert Hilburn / Los Angeles Times

Lots happened in pop music in 1979. Elvis Costello made the Top 10. Elton John went to Russia. Randy Newman recorded an album called Born Again and Bob Dylan was born again.

Despite the saturation of disco on radio early in 1979, the big story of the last 12 months was the triumph of rock 'n' roll — urgent rock 'n' roll, not the imitation stuff we've had to endure for much of the 1970s.

Veterans like Dylan, Newman and Stevie Wonder continued to do quality work, but the emphasis was on change. Four of the top six positions on the following list of the year's best albums went to musicians who helped shape the current rock resurgence. And they are no longer just media favorites.

Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Talking Heads and Tom Petty have been applauded by critics for three years, but they didn't achieve commercial breakthroughs until 1979. And they weren't alone.

Blondie, Dire Straits, Cheap Trick and the Knack also reached the Top 10.

Even more encouraging than the commercial recovery of rock was the large number of outstanding new bands. The newcomers were so impressive that a Top 10 list restricted to them would be quite respectable. Among the nominees: James White-Chance, the Undertones, the Beat, the Motels, B-52s, Stiff Little Fingers, The Knack, The Cramps, the Police. Away from rock, the folkish Roches and pop-blues-leaning Lauren Wood also impressed.

But the news in 1979 wasn't all good. The pop scene suffered from an unusually large number of disappointing works.

These artistic sags included Paul McCartney's empty Back to the Egg, David Bowie's vacant Lodger, Elton John's ill-advised Victim of Love, Emmylou Harris' conservative Blue Kentucky Girl, Patti Smith's hollow Wave, Queen's greedy Live Killers, the Allman Brothers' stale Enlightened Rogues and the ELO's formula-worn Discovery.

Here are the year's 10 best LPs:

1. Elvis Costello's Armed Forces (Columbia JC 35709) — At the start of 1979, I thought Bruce Springsteen was untouchable as the champion of rock. The only others to enter the field with such exhilarating force in the 1970s were David Bowie and Johnny Rotten, and both seem sidetracked at this point in their careers. Bowie has become so self-conscious artistically that he has lost touch with his own vision, while Rotten is having a hard time sorting out a post-Sex Pistols direction.

Springsteen's strength is that he understands what he wants to do in rock. His blend of Presley dynamics as Dylan inspiration weds rock's most powerful forces. The weakness in his approach is that, for all its majesty, it tends to summarize more than step forward.

Don't misunderstand me. Springsteen's "Born to Run" is as potent an anthem as Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" or Presley's "Blue Suede Shoes," but Springsteen's expositions are limited by his own idealism. His faith is so unshakeable that even the most grueling episodes turn out to be uplifting songs.

Costello isn't hampered by such limits. Springsteen may tell us that "it's hard to be a saint in the city," but he usually ends up as a saint. That's the way he wants the world to be. He believes in rock as salvation; have faith and you will succeed. Costello's not so sure. He'd probably like to believe in saints, but he's not sure they exist and refuses to take anyone's word for it.

Because of that, Costello battles with demons, internal and external, in his songs. That's why his music comes across as so angry. Costello is not without humor or compassion, but the conflict between his own idealism and the corruption around him causes his tunes to have taut, explosive edges.

It's only fitting that Costello's third and most combative album be titled Armed Forces. The ideas and sounds rip through speakers with such a machine-gun ferocity that you feel at times you're in the middle of an emotional battlefield. The targets in this album range from forces that strip individualism to personal selfishness, and Costello slashes at them with the fury associated with such classic '60s figures as the Who. I'm not ready to rank Costello ahead of Springsteen, but I'm now looking forward to their next albums with equal enthusiasm.

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The Spokesman-Review, January 5, 1980


Robert Hilburn includes Armed Forces in the 10 best LPs of 1979.

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