1984: September to December

On 1 September, David Bowie released his follow-up to the disappointing Let's Dance that had come out a couple of years earlier. His new album Tonight was not particularly memorable either, but it did contain two songs that immediately stood out. One of them was an enjoyable pop song called Blue Jean. The other was an instant classic called Loving the Alien.

This masterful song opens the album in a longer version that runs over seven minutes. In this case the additions are quite unnecessary. The shorter version heard on the official music video, embedded above, is by far the better one of these two. It seemed that Bowie had once again managed to recapture his inspiration for songwriting, and when it came to the lyrics, he actually had something to say.

However, as successful as these two songs were, the listener was still left with a sense of uncertainty considering that these two were the only really good songs on the new album. This feeling was to prove well founded a little later: Bowie's next album was going to be, at least according to many a fan's opinion, an all time low. It would be released some three years later and we will most certainly skip it. Which means that this is where we need to say goodbye to Mr. Bowie for nearly a decade.

When discussing the release of Ammonia Avenue early this same year, I already mentioned that the Alan Parsons Project was having an exceptionally productive phase in their career. Their next album Vulture Culture (a silly name, yes, but please bear with me) was recorded between May and July, so I suppose it must have come out some time in early autumn. Let's place it here then and listen to yet another beautiful, classic if perhaps a bit overlooked song in their discography.

The Same Old Sun, embedded above, is my number one favorite song from the group this year; even better than the excellent title track of Ammonia Avenue. By this point, it looked like the Alan Parsons Project could do no wrong, and I was expecting them to inevitably become the Electric Light Orchestra of the eighties. This was not to be. Following Vulture Culture, they went on to release only two more studio albums, neither of which was memorable in any way. So, with this beautiful song, we bid them farewell.

Meanwhile, the recording career of Depeche Mode was gathering speed. On 24 September, they released their fourth studio album Some Great Reward which, even though it still didn't feel like the group had hit the bull's eye, contained some masterful tunes. This is best exemplified by the horrendously sombre closing track Blashphemous Rumours, one of the bleakest and most pessimistic songs of the decade.

Most of the rest of the album was nowhere near the level that this absolutely stunning masterpiece achieved. Another single release Master and Servant sounded even downright ludicrous, and on the whole I felt that Some Great Reward was a small step backwards when compared to Construction Time Again. But there was no need to worry: only a couple of years later they would go on to release their true masterpiece that would really kick off their golden era.

I have never been a fan of U2, but the title track of their fourth studio album The Unforgettable Fire, out on 1 October, never fails to astonish. One of the absolute best melody driven rock tracks of the early eighties, it sounds almost as boring as U2 usually does, but in this case it doesn't matter: exceptionally strong songwriting overcomes that weakness easily. Perhaps this has something to do with my old favorite Brian Eno and a new talent (for me) Daniel Lanois who had now taken care of producing duties for U2 for the first time.

Two weeks later, on 15 October, a surprising success arrived in record stores. Julian Lennon, son of John, released a solo album that contained a couple of good songs and, more importantly, one unforgettable masterpiece. The title track of Valotte immediately electrified me: there has always been something about a man playing a piano and singing about the difficulty of human relationships that has affected me... John Cale's Close Watch - the 1982 version - immediately comes to mind as another fitting example.

An interesting piece of trivia about the video embedded above is that it was directed by legendary American film director Sam Peckinpah. The promotional videos that were made to accompany the songs picked from Valotte as single releases were to become his last filmed works before he died on 28 December of this same year. No over the top bloodletting in slow motion this time, but a peaceful and harmonious way to bring a great career to its closing.

Some time in November, it was time for the French electronic music composer Jean-Michel Jarre to release his first new album in over three years. For him, it marked an end to pure electronica: he expanded his soundscapes to contain world music, sound effects and even occasional vocal passages. By far the greatest masterpiece on the album is its opening track Ethnicolor, embedded below. You will be able to hear Laurie Anderson's voice among others.

Less synthesizers, more sampling and natural analog sounds. It sounded like Jarre's music had started evolving. Even though this track is eleven seconds shy of twelve minutes, we will now simply bend the rule and name it the best long track of the year. Otherwise we would have to award Mike Oldfield for the third year in a row, for The Lake which is excellent but hardly breaks any new ground. Ethnicolor is unique also on the album it opens: nothing else on it really feels like much of anything, following an opening this strong.

Finally, December brings us the most impressive opening to a major motion picture in a long time - when it comes to the music on the soundtrack. Even more surprising is its source. The American megastar pop group Toto was hardly interesting to me when it came to the kind of music they usually made. But when composing the soundtrack for David Lynch's flawed science fiction epic Dune, they displayed surprising talent, as can be heard from its opening below. The main title has been composed by David Paich - too bad he never chose to pursue a film composer's career.

Not only is this a fine piece of film music; Toto also succeeded in writing a couple of other memorable tracks to go with the film, such as the romantic last tracks Take My Hand and Final Dream.

Brian Eno also appeared on the Dune soundtrack. He composed such an immensely beautiful instrumental track that I have to embed it here as well, to finally bring our discussion of 1984 to its beautiful end. Please enjoy Prophecy Theme below. It is yet another collaboration between Eno, Daniel Lanois and Roger Eno, like last year's Apollo, and would probably have fit that collection equally well.

There were lots of unmissable tracks recorded this year, but only one real candidate to win Album of the year. All of the other great songs seemed to come from albums whose other tracks didn't live up to them. Grace Under Pressure is either good or great, beginning to end, and gives the Canadian power trio their second win in only three years.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Rush: Grace Under Pressure

UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
The Alan Parsons Project: Ammonia Avenue
The Alan Parsons Project: The Same Old Sun
Brian Eno: Prophecy Theme
Chicago: Hard Habit to Break
Chicago: Remember the Feeling
Dalbello: Gonna Get Close to You
David Bowie: Loving the Alien
David Gilmour: Near the End
David Gilmour: You Know I'm Right
Dead Can Dance: In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated
Deep Purple: Perfect Strangers
Deep Purple: Under the Gun
Depeche Mode: Blasphemous Rumours
Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor
John Cale: Caribbean Sunset
Julian Lennon: Valotte
Laurie Anderson: Blue Lagoon
Public Image Ltd: The Order of Death
Rush: Afterimage
Rush: Between the Wheels
Toto: Main Title from Dune
U2: The Unforgettable Fire
Ultravox: Dancing With Tears in My Eyes

Best albums of the year, 1967 to 1984:

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
1980: Talking Heads: Remain in Light
1981: Camel: Nude
1982: Rush: Signals
1983: Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon
1984: Rush: Grace Under Pressure

Best short tracks (under approx. 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
1980: Saga: Don't Be Late
1981: John Foxx: The Garden
1982: Laurie Anderson: O Superman (For Massenet)
1983: Brian Eno: An Ending (Ascent)
1984: Laurie Anderson: Blue Lagoon

Best long tracks (Approx. 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
1980: Mike Rutherford: Smallcreep's Day
1981: -
1982: Mike Oldfield: Taurus II
1983: Mike Oldfield: Crises
1984: Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor

Summer of 1984

In the previous blog entry I mentioned that Laurie Anderson's incredible Blue Lagoon would be getting a run for its money, regardless of how invincible it had originally seemed when it came to winning the title of Best short track of the year. Well, here it is. A very close competitor. I don't know exactly when the album Caribbean Sunset by John Cale came out but I specifically remember listening to it in the summer, so let's guess June and discuss it now.

On the whole, Caribbean Sunset was not a particularly strong album. Even the front cover looked like Cale had aped Kauko Röyhkä's Onnenpäivä (1983) and was ready to begin resting on his laurels. But there was one exception: the absolutely masterful title track that Cale had put together in collaboration with my old favorite Brian Eno. It was unbelievable. You can pretty much forget about the rest of the album and listen to Caribbean Sunset the song only. The piano sequence at the end is perhaps the most stunning musical moment of the year.

When listening to the track embedded above, you can safely skip the first four minutes and 17 seconds. For some reason the title track is not available in YouTube without Model Beirut Recital that precedes it on the album. This is probably because it is hard to cut these two apart. Following the explosive sound effect that closes the former song, we segue seamlessly into the latter. Total bliss ensues.

At the height of midsummer, on 25 June Mike Oldfield closed his short period of renewed inspiration with Discovery which, although a pretty decent album, already displayed a new declining trend that was getting steeper. Discovery wasn't as good as Crises and it most certainly wasn't as good as Five Miles Out, but on the other hand there were no major failures on this new release either. What we had was a good if not great collection of songs that was pleasant to listen to but hardly made music history.

Discovery's highlights include songs like Tricks of the Light, Saved by a Bell and To France, the last of which has been embedded above. Even the album's long track, the 12-minute The Lake is definitely worth a listen. But this is where it all ends. Following this album, Mike Oldfield has not made a single good album and even his individual good tracks have been few and far between. We will nonetheless still be mentioning him a few times, whenever appropriate.

2 July saw the release of The Last in Line by Dio. The heavy metal group's new album was a one trick pony in much the same way as Holy Diver had been, but once again I couldn't help liking one particular song which this time was the title track. I was working my third consecutive summer at my all time favorite summer job, had bought my very first VCR only one week earlier, and remember taping this particular video, embedded above, for repeated watching - something I used to do a lot during the next ten to twelve years.

Exactly one week later, on 9 July it was time for Public Image Ltd. to succeed in making me understand that they really were a force to be reckoned with. I already mentioned the release of Flowers of Romance earlier: the new album called This is What You Want... This is What You Get was an even more enjoyable collection of slightly zany rock songs than its predecessor, best exemplified by the outstanding The Order of Death embedded below.

At some point during 1984, the female singer who was nicknamed "Canada's Peter Gabriel" released her new album. Whomanfoursays was already Lisa Dalbello's fourth full length studio release - her self titled debut had come out as early as 1977 - but it wasn't until now that I took notice. The single picked from the album called Gonna Get Close to You got plenty of radio play, and a second brilliant song from the same collection was the B side of that very same single: Guilty by Association.

I was never quite sure what the comparison to Peter Gabriel meant. Dalbello, who used only her last name on her music releases, had a very strong voice and liked to use it all the way from quiet tones to high pitched screams - something I can't remember Gabriel ever doing. However, she was a talented musician and her next album, due three years later, was going to be even better. Perhaps the comparison came from similar musical style and not the singing.

August arrived, and with it the recorded result of the sensational reformation of classic seventies heavy rock outfit Deep Purple. I mentioned them a couple of times already during that decade, even following singer Ian Gillan's departure when they made the surprisingly strong album Burn. Since then, Deep Purple had released a couple of less interesting albums and finally disbanded, only to have its members form separate groups such as Rainbow.

I remember well that it was a slight surprise at the time that the guys would leave their own pet projects in order to return together. However, it was a very successful return, resulting in Perfect Strangers. It gave me no reason to get excited about everything on it, but admittedly it did contain a couple of the year's best rock songs. The second track Under the Gun immediately comes to mind, but of course the true classic on the album is its title track. Please enjoy its humorous music video below.

And then, I finally get to introduce Dead Can Dance. The immensely talented duo of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry had already released their self titled first album on 27 February. I didn't mention it then because at that point they had yet to find their true voice. The goth influenced rock / pop that they displayed on their debut was in many places interesting but didn't really grab me. That would however change soon enough.

On 17 August, Dead Can Dance put out a four track EP called Garden of the Arcane Delights that began their development towards becoming the single most important art rock outfit of the eighties. I was immediately blown away by one particular track on this new collection, which has been since combined with the ten track debut album to form a fourteen track CD. In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated was an unpolished diamond that became yet another strong contender for Best short track of the year.

What a beautiful way to close this blog entry. At this point, Dead Can Dance still sounded a bit like a guitar rock outfit whose soundscape placed a strong emphasis on treble. Their very special brand of art rock would find its true form on their next full length album, out the following year.

1984: January to May

For the first time in quite a while, a year is best divided into three blog entries to be able to discuss everything worth discussing and avoid overlong entries. This isn't to say that 1984 was a sudden return to the glory days of the seventies, but it was a considerable improvement over the all time low of 1983 when I was hard pressed to be able to name Album of the year at all, and when only eight unmissable tracks were released as opposed to over 20 of earlier years.

I have nothing in my calendar for January, so let's once again begin with an album that was released at an unknown time during this particular year. The video above displays The Europeans performing Acid Rain, one of the best songs on their second full length studio album Recurring Dreams, which also was their last since the group disbanded the following year.

The well written, melody driven pop / rock songs of the British group went largely unnoticed at the time, but prog fans may recognize future Marillion vocalist Steve Hogarth singing on the video above. Acid Rain closes the album; another brilliant song called Don't Give Your Heart to Anybody precedes it and is equally recommendable for checking out.

February got under way with similar melody driven pop / soft rock. On the 7th, The Alan Parsons Project released the follow-up to their 1982 masterwork Eye in the Sky. As was to be expected, the new album Ammonia Avenue had no chance of matching the high expectations set by its predecessor, but by no means was it a failure either. I was particularly impressed by the title track, embedded above. Not only is it a beautiful song but it also has thought provoking lyrics.

At this point, the Alan Parsons Project enjoyed an exceptionally productive phase in their career. They would be releasing a second new studio album at the end of this very same year. And just like Ammonia Avenue, it would also contain one truly beautiful standout song that in my opinion is even better than this one. We will be coming back to it following the next blog entry, when discussing the year end. Both appear to be obvious choices to join the list of unmissable tracks of the year.

One week later, it was Valentine's Day. As if on cue, Laurie Anderson aped the Alan Parsons Project and released her follow-up to the 1982 masterwork Big Science. It was called Mister Heartbreak and even though it didn't quite live up to its predecessor on the whole, it did contain my all time favorite Laurie Anderson song, embedded above, that I felt even surpassed the magnificent O Superman.

Anderson was a close collaborator with Peter Gabriel who also appeared on the album. He did not sing, however, on Blue Lagoon which seemed to have filed an unbelievably strong claim to the title of the best short track of the year already this early in the year. The song is a breathtaking, monumental work of art - how could anything released later surpass it? We'll see how that goes; at least it will be getting one very close competitor a little later in the year.

On 5 March, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour released his second solo album About Face and by so doing most likely disappointed no one. Gilmour's debut had already been an almost impeccable collection of memorable songs, and so was this new album. At the time, I was most impressed by its closing track Near the End, embedded above, but must admit that there are plenty of other great tracks on offer as well. By this point, Gilmour's solo work was much better than Pink Floyd's.

On 12 April, yet another follow-up to a 1982 masterwork came out. The new album by Rush called Grace Under Pressure was initially a turn-off for me. It sounded like the group was trying to reimagine itself as a more techno oriented "modern" outfit with a more accomplished and less rocking sound. Even the group photo on the back cover of the album was distinctly uncool. It was only after repeated listenings that I came to appreciate the strength of the songwriting, perfectly exemplified by Distant Early Warning below.

Considering that the rest of the album was just about as good as this song, Grace Under Pressure gradually grew from initial disappointment to a strong contender to win the Album of the year title - already won by the hard rocking Canadians for the first time only two years earlier.

April also marked the release of the seventh studio album by the British futuristic pop group Ultravox who should finally be mentioned here for the first time. I hadn't been particularly impressed by their career so far, but by now had to admit that their artistic development was extremely rapid. Ultravox would be releasing their absolute masterwork a couple of years later, but already now, the title track of their new album Lament as well as the strangely moving song Dancing With Tears in My Eyes really captured my attention.

On 11 May, one of the less interesting Stephen King film adaptations called Firestarter had its US premiere. At best, the film itself could be called mediocre but its soundtrack contained some genuine highlights. Like last year, Tangerine Dream had once again scored a horror film and succeeded exceptionally well. The main title of the film has been embedded a little further down. Before we get to it, let's make an important statement.

Mid-eighties were the all time greatest period for pure pop music, and this is where it's starting to show. Since virtually no progressive rock of any true significance was made, we might as well touch all bases here and mention some pop classics that easily put to shame what is out there today. One of the first indications of this golden era of pop came out on 14 May and was called Chicago 17. It was as if the seventies jazz rock group had been neutered, yet as a pure pop album this was - and still remains - a landmark.

Regardless of how wimpy Chicago of 1984 may sound, the new album contains not one or two but three undying pop classics that I cannot help but place on the unmissable tracks of the year list. They are called Hard Habit to Break, Remember the Feeling and You're the Inspiration. I am too ashamed to embed them here but please check them out if you're interested in eighties power ballads sung at an exceptionally high pitch.

1983: August to December

On 22 August, a new talent emerged to the music scene that we will be coming back to several times during the next couple of decades. Or, let's take that back, they had actually emerged a couple of years earlier. Construction Time Again was not the first album by Depeche Mode - they had already released two - but it was the first one I noticed after I had heard the single release Everything Counts on the radio several times. The sound of the group had a fresh feel to it; their brand of electronic pop was something that was very much unlike what I had heard and grown to like during the seventies.

In addition to Everything Counts, another single release from the same album was Love in Itself that also became a favorite of mine. Both singles had very cynical lyrics which seemed to be a trade mark of sorts for the group. But, as good as these two songs were, my number one favorite was a much more optimistic song. It closed the album: And Then... has been embedded above.

Next, we will need to skip September altogether and jump directly to 3 October, when Genesis released yet another Phil Collins era album, this time without a separate title. In some ways, Genesis was actually a more tolerable release than Abacab because the pop songs it contained were not quite as bad as they had been on that previous album. And like then, the album once again contained a couple of genuine highlights that were quite good.

The opening track Mama became a moderate hit which seems a little surprising considering its extremely sombre subject matter and uncompromising art rock format. I am embedding the official video above, even though it contains the shortened version of the song. To enjoy Mama in all its power, you should really check out the album version that runs almost a minute and a half longer. The other excellent sequence on the album comprises of two similarly sinister sounding tracks called Home by the Sea (a song) and Second Home by the Sea (an instrumental). If you can, please do check them out as well.

Next, let's discuss a couple of releases that must have come out some time in the autumn but whose exact dates are unknown to me. The first one of them is Finnish. The eccentric sounding rock singer Kauko Röyhkä had already released three albums previously but they had received extremely poor reviews. It has been claimed that Kauko and his group Narttu were planning to quit if their fourth album were to suffer that same fate. For this reason, it only contained songs about love and childhood, and was even named Onnenpäivä (in English, Day of Happiness).

Onnenpäivä was recorded between 1 and 5 August, so it might have come out around October. No more bad reviews were in store: it became a revered modern classic of Finnish rock music. Some of its songs are perhaps a bit weaker, but you can listen to the album easily all the way through without really needing to skip anything. At the time, the single hit Nivelet (Joints) was my first introduction to the album. My initial favorite track Rakkauden valtakunta (Realm of Love) was the most beautifully powerful Finnish love song I had ever heard.

But, looking back, I think the true pinnacle is the title track that closes the album and has been embedded above. Most likely any non-Finnish speaking listener cannot enjoy its full power, which lies in the masterful combination of lyrics and composition. As you can hear, the music itself is very laconic, contradicting the masterfully written lyrics that have immense power. They combine teenage optimism with adult loss and regret in a way few other songs I have heard do.

The first album by Bon Jovi wasn't released until January 1984, but its first single and future opening track Runaway came out already in late 1983. You can say what you want about the group based on their later output: I agree that many of their hits redefine the term banality. But this first single I am always ready to defend. It is one of the absolutely essential straight rock tracks of the entire decade, and even though I am more inclined towards progressive rock, I do not look down on this type of rock and roll. Nor should you.

Next, we move on to November where three interesting albums came out in the space of only five days. The British pop group ABC had enjoyed noticeable success with last year's The Lexicon of Love. Even though it contained admittedly well made pop songs, I always thought the pinnacle of the group's career was the brilliant That Was Then But This is Now that opened their next album Beauty Stab, out on the 14th.

All right then, let's call a spade a spade. All of the 1983 music I have discussed so far has been good, but none of it has been on par with seventies music. Not even close. If it were up to this year's output so far, I wouldn't be able to name Album of the year. Nothing released by this point would have been worthy of that title - for the first time since 1968. But now, almost at the last minute, a new album release came out that was finally good enough to become Album of the year 1983. This took place only one day after ABC's album release: on 15 November.

The album in question has nothing whatsoever to do with prog. The best album of the year is the landmark heavy metal release Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne. In the original release, there is one weak track called Spiders but everything else is simply great. The former Black Sabbath singer succeeds in everything he attempts and manages to surprise me once again by making me enjoy a collection of songs that have absolutely nothing to do with everything I used to believe in. This is the second interesting heavy metal album of the year I referred to when discussing Dio's Holy Diver.

Three more days, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame released his first, and still the best solo album I have heard. Walk into Light came out on 18 November and contained some exceptionally strong songwriting. I will not embed anything here but if you can and want to, please check out songs like Fly by Night, Trains, End Game and Looking for Eden to understand that this album was way, way better than anything that actual Jethro Tull released under that name during the entire decade.

This brings us to the end of 1983 and back to Tangerine Dream that opened our previous blog entry. 16 December marks the premiere of the second feature film by Michael Mann, a horror film called The Keep. You can say what you like about the film itself, but the brilliance of its soundtrack cannot be denied. It wasn't released as a recording until a very long time afterwards but here, embedded below, is the wonderfully ominous main title. Enjoy!

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon

UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
Brian Eno: An Ending (Ascent)
Depeche Mode: And Then...
Genesis: Mama
Kauko Röyhkä: Onnenpäivä
Kauko Röyhkä: Rakkauden valtakunta
Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Brothers and Sisters of Azania
Marillion: Script for a Jester's Tear
Mike Oldfield: Crises

Best albums of the year, 1967 to 1983:

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
1980: Talking Heads: Remain in Light
1981: Camel: Nude
1982: Rush: Signals
1983: Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon

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
1980: Saga: Don't Be Late
1981: John Foxx: The Garden
1982: Laurie Anderson: O Superman (For Massenet)
1983: Brian Eno: An Ending (Ascent)

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
1980: Mike Rutherford: Smallcreep's Day
1981: -
1982: Mike Oldfield: Taurus II
1983: Mike Oldfield: Crises