The Last Resort, says it all, really.
Haha. Get the party started! 
Not an Eagles fan then, Spitty? 
A classic misinterpretation Floydy, the Last Resort, the epitome of a social observation, wrapped up in a beautiful melody.
I’m still saying there’ s a Blondie album in there somewhere - Parallel Lines.
I’ll guess that there is a Queen album somewhere in there. And maybe another Meatloaf one.
Sorry mate. Both bands appeared earlier but no more from them.
After vast preparation, I have the next five albums for you today taking us to the Top 15, which will begin at the weekend (hopefully). I think we’re gonna get this done sooner than expected guys…
No.20: “The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking” by Roger Waters (1984)
The original draft of The Pros And Cons Of Hitch-Hiking was one of two unfinished albums which Roger Waters handed to the rest of Pink Floyd following Animals and its subsequent tour in 1978 in the view of working on the pieces and come up the next Floyd record. He asked Mssrs. Gilmour, Mason and Wright to choose either this album or something called “The Wall”. The band unanimously selected The Wall as the album they should begin work on – which was probably the right thing to do. Plus, there wasn’t much life left in the Floyd anyway following The Wall, as the band split (or went their separate ways unofficially) following The Final Cut in 1983, virtually a Waters solo album in all but name anyway.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Pros & Cons though, it’s a stunning piece of work but definitely works best as a Roger Waters solo album; I couldn’t imagine the subject matter and the way the album pans out as a Pink Floyd record. In the event, it’s a masterful album by Waters. It’s the story of a family (with the man in a ‘crisis’) taking a road trip in their car and the man getting fed up with it all and leaving them to carry on alone. He finds all sorts of things going on along his new journey: A beautiful girl hitch hiking, a lift in a truck, some wild and crazy dreams and the usual nightmarish visions that Roger Waters takes the listener on. It’s really well put together and the sound effects are superb. Eric Clapton was brought in to substitute for David Gilmour’s guitar licks.
I still play this album a lot and it sounds great full blast in the car.
Sleeve image:
Videos:
Full album (audio):
Personnel:
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, tape effects, lead vocals
• Eric Clapton – lead guitar, backing vocals, Roland guitar synthesizer
• Ray Cooper – percussion
• Andy Newmark – drums, percussion
• David Sanborn – saxophone
• Michael Kamen – piano
• Andy Bown – Hammond organ, 12-string guitar
• Madeline Bell, Katie Kissoon, Doreen Chanter – backing vocals
• Raphael Ravenscroft, Kevin Flanagan, Vic Sullivan – horns
• The National Philharmonic Orchestra, Conducted and Arranged by Michael Kamen
No.19: “A Song For All Seasons” by Renaissance (1978)
Way back in this list we spoke about Renaissance and their later incarnation with female lead singer, Annie Haslam (a replacement for the electrocuted Keith Relf), and mentioned the wonderful ‘fluke’ prog rock 1978 single Northern Lights’ and I mentioned we would see the band again. Your wait is over. Symphonic-progressive band Renaissance were well-known in prog rock circles for many years since the late 1960’s and released virtually an album each year since then but they were not as commercial as their contemporaries such as Yes, Genesis or even King Crimson and those albums didn’t sell. An appearance on Top Of The Pops featuring Annie in a long, flowing white dress with that amazing choir girl type voice of hers on the Top 10 single ‘Northern Lights’ gave the band a brief 5-minute slice of fame however, and they provided us with this album of such majestic beauty entitled ‘A Song For All Seasons’. I bought it on cassette sometime in the mid-1980s and played it to death, thereafter buying all the other albums on CD.
It’s a stunning record with some lovely melodic flourishes which for me is encapsulated in the second song on the album that blew me away when I first heard it: ‘The Day Of The Dreamer’, a 10-minute epic featuring the band plus a 95-piece orchestra and Haslam’s towering vocals singing gorgeously over all of it. Below is that song, plus some others from the album. This record is another reason why I think so highly of The Alan parsons Project, I just love the sound of a rock band backed by an orchestra in full flow. The full album is posted for you below in audio format too. Play it LOUD!
Sleeve image:
Videos:
Full album (audio):
Bonus: Annie Haslam live in concert (Philadelphia, 1997):
Renaissance - Azure D’or (No.388)
Annie Haslam – Annie In Wonderland (No.880)
No.18: “Love Over Gold” by Dire Straits (1982)
After three highly commended and superbly executed albums, Mark Knopfler’s distinctive style of guitar picking suddenly took a new and strange twist in the shape of ‘Private Investigations’, the six-minute single (seven on the album) which took the charts by storm in the summer of 1982. I can imagine now the looks of sheer horror on record company executive’s faces when he handed that one over to them as the pick for the new single. But whether or not it proved them wrong, the track climbed to No.2 in the UK chart and a new chapter in Dire Straits’ career had begun; the cool and classy sound, totally at odds with the pure synth-pop of the ‘new romantic’ scene which was in full flow elsewhere. ‘Private Investigations’ is a masterpiece. It’s one of those very, very rare one-off songs that is totally unique in its sound and style….and great anticipation was held for the forthcoming album entitled Love Over Gold, which appeared in the autumn.
The late dance smouldering noir of the title track, the humously-sung rather scatty ‘Industrial Disease’, the lengthy and wonderful finale of ‘It Never Rains’. But we have one missing from these five songs that we haven’t spoken about.
The first track on this dark and deep album was a 14 ½-minute epic which outshone all Dire Straits recordings past and in their future. A song which dealt with basically, the story of life itself evolved. That song is Telegraph Road and it’s a masterpiece. To highlight this song more than I can merely do, I’ve reprinted the lyrics below with the studio version, followed by a live rendition in the following post.
I saw this band at Bridlington Spa on this tour and was blown away. Even Mark Knopfler wouldn’t go home when the roadies were disassembling the stage. He simply played until his microphone was removed to that lovely song from the film Local Hero: Going Home. Forget all about Brothers In Arms, this album is Dire Straits’ greatest triumph.
Sleeve image:
Videos:
Smashing album Floydy, my personal best by him.mI* cant remember when i saw Renaissance, early seventies i think.
Telegraph Road – videos (film, live), lyrics:
Personnel:
• Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitar
• Hal Lindes – guitar
• Alan Clark – synthesizers, piano, organ
• John Illsley – bass
• Pick Withers – drums
Produced by Mark Knopfler
Heh heh heh…
No.17: “Parallel Lines” by Blondie (1978)
And here it is, it was always gonna be high up in here. The second album I ever bought (or rather won in a Look-In magazine crossword competition!), Parallel Lines is just a brilliant slice of perfect pop music all the way through its 12 compact songs.
The iconic sleeve with its black and white striped design. Five boys in suits and the hands-on-hips pure white dress image of a defiant Debbie Harry. The edgy new-wave of ‘Picture This’, ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ and ‘One Way Or Another’. The 60’s bubblegum pop of Buddy Holly’s ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’ and ‘Pretty Baby’, the smouldering guitar (courtesy of Robert Fripp) on a rare ballad ‘Fade Away And Radiate’. But then came the cutesy teenage love song ‘Sunday Girl’ and the song which really threw Blondie into the megastar division – the Chic-styled new-wave disco classic ‘Heart Of Glass’. And of course, there’s Debbie.
What more could you want from a full-on pop album this side of Abba?
Sleeve image, other images:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Blondie_-_Parallel_Lines.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Blondie_-_Heart_Of_Glass_(UK).jpg/220px-Blondie_-_Heart_Of_Glass_(UK).jpg
Videos:
Track listing:
- “Hanging on the Telephone”
- “One Way or Another”
- “Picture This”
- “Fade Away and Radiate”
- “Pretty Baby”
- “I Know but I Don’t Know”
- “11:59”
- “Will Anything Happen?”
- “Sunday Girl”
- “Heart of Glass”
- “I’m Gonna Love You Too” (Buddy Holly cover)
- “Just Go Away”
No.16: “Revolver” by The Beatles (1966)
The highest-placed Beatles album in my list is Revolver, a 1960’s gem of a record in every sense of the word. There’s not a bad song on the album (ignoring the nursery rhyme nonsense of ‘Yellow Submarine) with from its pure pop of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Good Day Sunshine’ to the sunny and summery ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ right up to the revolutionary psychedelic whirl of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’…where the hell did they get that incredible song from?! And the two highpoints for me are Paul’s ballads ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ and ‘For No One’. Just beautiful love songs.
The Beatles had played their final show at Shea Stadium and concentrated on making real, mature music from this album in discarding most of the boy band pop they were previously known for. It worked a treat and the fans loved it even more. John, Paul, George and Ringo were never better than this.
I’ll do what I can with videos.
Sleeve image:
Videos:
(Paul McCartney solo)
(studio take)
Documentary:
Oh alright then, just for my granddaughter…
Track listing:
Side one
- “Taxman”
- “Eleanor Rigby”
- “I’m Only Sleeping”
- “Love You To”
- “Here, There and Everywhere”
- “Yellow Submarine”
- “She Said She Said”
Side two - “Good Day Sunshine”
- “And Your Bird Can Sing”
- “For No One”
- “Doctor Robert”
- “I Want to Tell You”
- “Got to Get You into My Life”
- “Tomorrow Never Knows”
The Beatles in Floydy’s Top 1000:
16-Revolver-1966
22-Sgt. Pepper’s ‘Lonely Hearts’ Club Band-1967
29-Abbey Road-1969
42-Rubber Soul-1965
73-A Hard Day’s Night-1964
91-Please Please Me-1963
95-Magical Mystery Tour-1967
136-With The Beatles-1963
146-Help!-1965
173-Love-2006
222-The Beatles (‘White Album’)-1968
238-Beatles For Sale-1964
402-Let It Be-1970
There will be five albums over the weekend and we should begin the Top 10 early next week. Stay tuned 