On the album, Bruford had been joined by some well known musicians, at least when it comes to prog circles. Allan Holdsworth, former guitarist of, among others, Gong and U.K. was a full member and Eddie Jobson of U.K. appeared as a guest musician. The enjoyable instrumental piece called Forever Until Sunday was a big favorite of mine, and it still sounds pretty cool. Doesn't it? The track is a somehow perfect combination of symphonic progressive rock and jazz fusion. Jobson plays the violin.
Another album that came out in June managed to amaze me in its entirety, instead of containing only one great track. It was the leader of King Crimson himself, Robert Fripp who stunned me with his best ever album release outside his band, called Exposure. It is one of those very rare album length recordings where every single song is either good or great. Nothing mediocre has slipped through quality control into the final product.
The thing the stuns most about Exposure is its variety of styles. Breathless, embedded above, is an impeccable, guitar driven hard rock instrumental reminiscent of King Crimson's Red. Yet it is all alone on the album: there is no other track like it, just like there is nothing else as gentle as Mary or as wild as Disengage. I think the only recurring style was "Frippertronics" that Fripp was experimenting with at the time: three out of 17 tracks doesn't however make this very repetitive. There are multiple styles and Fripp succeeds with everything. Perfection.
I have not yet mentioned the mellow, religious British proggers Barclay James Harvest, who had been active since the late sixties and were by 1979 already past their prime. Their 15 July release of Eyes of the Universe hardly makes prog history and is overall significantly weaker than several of their previous albums. But once again, there is that one song. The best song they ever recorded. Play to the World was my soundtrack when summer started to wane. This kind of masterwork just leaves you speechless.
Exactly one month later, on 15 August, one of the greatest rock bands of the seventies Led Zeppelin released their new album In Through the Out Door. Like Barclay James Harvest, they were by this time already past their prime, but were nonetheless still able to create a recording that I enjoyed much, much more than, say, Houses of the Holy. The opening track In the Evening had a brilliantly ominous introduction, but the true masterwork was the over 10-minute long Carouselambra, which I recommend you seek out.
Following the relatively quiet summer, nothing worth mentioning came out in September. Finally, Tony Banks, the keyboardist of prog giant Genesis, took initiative and released his solo album A Curious Feeling on 8 October. I liked it quite a lot, although I must admit that it had a pretty silly storyline and sounded a bit wimpy overall. In spite of this, there were several strong songs on it, like The Lie, For a While and In the Dark, not to mention the opening instrumental From the Undertow. A stunning piano piece, it became a favorite of mine during the darkening autumn.
Only four days later, on 12 October, American supergroup Fleetwood Mac released a new double album called Tusk. It must have been quite challenging, perhaps even intimidating, to release a follow-up to their megahit Rumours that had came out two years earlier. For the most part, Tusk didn't interest me much but there were some individual brilliant moments on it that are definitely worth mentioning. First, I liked the album's title track for much the same reason as I did Led Zeppelin's In the Evening: because it had a brilliantly ominous introduction. And just like with Led Zeppelin, the song itself was perfectly fine as well once it really got under way.
And, exactly like In Through the Out Door, Tusk included one classic song as well. I immediately recognized Sara for what it was: the finest pop song of the year. Fleetwood Mac were to release one more album during the eighties that I would not only like but consider their best. But overall, their prime time was in the late sixties and seventies, and this is where it ended. Also, there would be one good album in the 2000's which we will discuss, I don't know, maybe a year and a half from now.
October was concluded with yet another fine album release by Camel. The group had been a relatively challenging prog rock band only a few years earlier but were now fast approaching mainstream with their new, melody driven collection of rock / pop songs that sounded very much like their previous two efforts Rain Dances (1977) and Breathless (1978).
I Can See Your House from Here, out on 29 October, was arguably the strongest of these three. Progressive rock seemed like a faint memory, but songwriting on this album was exceptionally good, so it didn't really matter that the end result didn't arrive in a particularly challenging format. I could embed one of several brilliant songs or instrumentals below; let's choose Eye of the Storm, written by Happy the Man's Kit Watkins who had at this point joined Camel.
Then, at last, it was 30 November and one of the most influential recordings of its time was released. The Wall by Pink Floyd was a double album and a landmark, giving this formerly "difficult" group a newly strengthened appeal to mainstream audiences all over the world. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 was soon playing on the radio all the time and it sounded almost like one of the disco hits of the time. Who could have anticipated that?!
Yet this isn't to belittle the achievement of the British proggers. The Wall remains a masterful combination of genuine art and high commercial value. The band's songwriting was as strong as ever, and even though they now became a huge success with more commercial music than ever before, they were anything but selling out. In a different time, The Dark Side of the Moon had already become a phenomenon six and a half years earlier. Had it been released now, it might not have been as big a success, but The Wall was its perfect update that fit the current times.
In a way, I suppose The Wall also marks the last "happy" recording for the band. Looking back, it seems like Roger Waters had already taken over full creative control on Animals (1977). Nobody seemed to mind even now, but this would be the last album that all of Pink Floyd was happy to make. Also, it closed their golden era. The eighties would have to introduce new masterful music makers as nearly all of the prog giants' best times were behind by the time the said decade arrived.
And that's it, folks, this blog is now done with the seventies - the heyday of progressive rock, and the best decade in music ever. In the next blog entry, we will enter the eighties; a new and a very different era. The golden age of progressive rock is now forever gone, and the fan of that genre must seek solace elsewhere.
There were several brilliant albums released in 1979. Top five, listed below, was easy to compile but extremely difficult to rank. All of the albums on it are absolutely brilliant. Having given this a lot of consideration, I finally awarded the number one spot to Exposure by Robert Fripp. It is by far the most evenly great of the five albums listed below; an endless flow of invention. Danger Money by U.K. is a close second, leaving the best known and by far most influential The Wall by Pink Floyd to third place.
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Robert Fripp: Exposure
Steve Hackett: Spectral Mornings
The Tubes: Remote Control
U.K: Danger Money
UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
Barclay James Harvest: Play to the World
Bruford: Forever Until Sunday
Camel: Eye of the Storm
Dixie Dregs: Punk Sandwich
Led Zeppelin: Carouselambra
Peter Baumann: Meridian Moorland
Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb
Steve Hackett: Lost Time in Cordoba
Steve Hackett: The Virgin and the Gypsy
Tom Robinson Band: Bully for You
Tony Banks: For a While
Tony Banks: From the Undertow
The Tubes: Telecide
U.K: Danger Money
U.K: Rendezvous 6:02
U.K: Carrying No Cross
Best albums of the year, 1967 to 1979:
1967: Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968: -
1969: Procol Harum: A Salty Dog
1970: Genesis: Trespass
1971: Genesis: Nursery Cryme
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge
1975: Electric Light Orchestra: Face the Music
1976: Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: And Then There Were Three
1979: Robert Fripp: Exposure
Best short tracks (under 12 minutes):
1967: Pink Floyd: Bike
1968: Pink Floyd: Julia Dream
1969: Pink Floyd: Cirrus Minor
1970: The Beatles: The Long and Winding Road
1971: Genesis: The Fountain of Salmacis
1972: Gentle Giant: Schooldays
1973: John Cale: Paris 1919
1974: Mike Oldfield: Mike Oldfield's Single
1975: The Tubes: Up from the Deep
1976: Gong: Chandra
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: Down and Out
1979: Barclay James Harvest: Play to the World
Best long tracks (12 minutes or over):
1970: King Crimson: Lizard
1971: Van der Graaf Generator: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1
1974: King Crimson: Starless
1975: Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn, Part 1
1976: -
1977: Yes: Awaken
1978: Popol Vuh: Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts
1979: U.K: Carrying No Cross
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