Nice one with Mick Ronson I thought the guy was greatly underrated by the public but a god in the eyes of the big artists. I guess thats what happens when you stay in the background like he did.
His music knew no bounds and like you say he mixed with all levels of musicians.
Elton Johns Madman Across The Water was one of my favs, where he had a major input.
Would Bowie have ever been as big as he was without Ronson in those early days.?
Billy Porter. I’d Give Anything To See, Don’t Look Down a few more of my favs.
A fantastic guitarist, and coincidentally last night I was talking to a chap who knew him very well indeed and was even wearing a Mick Ronson t shirt. He had some stories to tell us:cool:
That’s right Ffosse, great album. On checking again, it was 1974 and is in my list a bit later on 
Back with a few more…
No.771: “New York” by Lou Reed (1989)
There was always something a bit seedy and murky about Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. The originator of sex and sweat in those dodgy ‘underground’ clubs of New York City in the 1960’s and the accompanying tales they told of their inhabitants.
This late 80’s album carried on with those very personal observations, full of off the wall characters and what they got up to. All in all though, it’s a recognition of Lou Reed’s fine songwriting talents.
No.770: “Approved By The Motors” by The Motors (1978)
Two sleeves for this album? Yes, and it’s apparently because the one featuring the four faces of the band members was putting people off buying the album on the grounds that they were too ugly! So the alternative sleeve replaced it. Whatever the reason, it didn’t make any difference to the music therin. It included a favourite of mine ‘Forget About You’ and this perennial classic, ‘Airport’:
Oh what the hell, let’s have my fave track as well:
No.769: “Non Stop Erotic Cabaret” by Soft Cell (1981)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Soft_Cell_-_Non-Stop_Erotic_Cabaret_album_cover.jpg
Marc Almond and Dave Ball with their own synth take on the ‘New Romantics-Electronic’ scene of the early 80’s. Included tainted Love of course and this glorious ballad:
No.768: “True” by Spandau Ballet (1981)
Lumping this one in with Soft Cell from the same era.
Don’t worry, we’ll soon get back to the classic rock.
No.767: “Feline” by The Stranglers (1982)
The Stranglers are one of the most consistently professional bands left over from the punk era. Still recording today and touring continuously, they are always a great live act.
Feline didn’t include any big hits, but this live version of the lead track is typical of the high quality of the album.
No.766: “A Secret Wish” by Propaganda (1985)
After the marvellous production of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Trevor Horn turned his talents to this German band. Their debut album was a conceptual work and featured the big pop hit single ‘Duel’ and this earlier song ‘Dr. Mabuse’. If you can find this on 12" vinyl, it sounds absolutely superb.
A couple of albums now with a Talking heads connection…
No.765: “Tom Tom Club” by Tom Tom Club (1981)
Branching out from the success of Talking Heads, husband and wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth explored their drum and bass talents with this funky, wacky spin-off. Includes the catchy (but irritating) single ‘Wordy Rappinghood’ and this more seriously-minded tribute to funk legends James Brown and Bootsy Collins amongst others.
No.764: “My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts” by Brian Eno & David Bryne (1981)
…So while Chris & Tina were doing their own solo project, king Talking Head, David Byrne teamed up with electronic pioneering genius Brian Eno for this equally madcap and funky project of his own. Here’s The Jezebel Spirit.
There’s a lot of albums from the early 80’s at the moment…it’s purely coincidental and the next release will make up for this anomaly.
No.763: “Pacific Ocean Blue” by Dennis Wilson (1977)
A big surprise when it was released being the first Beach Boy to go it alone, and a drummer at that, Dennis Wilson suffered the cruel irony of being the only member of that band to actually surf but drowned in 1981 doing it. This is a classic release, full of great harmonies and laid-back music and to make up for the glut of 80’s albums in my previous posts, you can have the full album for being patient.
No.762: “I’m Your Man” by Leonard Cohen (1988)
Love him, dislike him or just misunderstand him, Laughing Len wrote some classic songs in his six decades as a songwriter. I’m Your Man came out in '88 and brought back something of a resurgence for his fortunes and a renewed quality to his lyricism. First we take Manhattan and then we take L.A…
Final offering from me today.
No.761: “McCartney” by Paul McCartney (1970)
Fist solo release after quitting The Beatles in which McCartney found some inner peace writing far away from it all on the Isle of Mull. Quiet and confident, the album explored his love for Linda mostly, as typical in this original version of a song later re-recorded with Wings:
Thanks for reading as always, your comments are always welcome
I dunno why Paul’s first solo LP’s had such a frosty reception,they were both pretty good.Although his first Wings effort was a bit of a stinker.
It’s probably people who still wanted more Beatles music and found it hard to adapt to a new change of style. Happens with most bands I think.
I can’t remember which was the first Wings album, but I do like Paul & Linda’s ‘Ram’. That is featured later
I always believed McCartney was in a change mode trying out different things which is why there was a little unrest in the camp. Then he released Band On The Run with Laine and it was a hit. At the end of the day I always believed that McCartney never really reached the dizzy heights he achieved with Lennon and when Lennon was murderered in 80 I think he just stopped trying and excepted he was loaded and only needed to turn up for special events.
I’d agree with that, Longfellow. Good point about the solo records, they were a hit and miss affair. There were exceptions (1982’s ‘Tug Of War’ for example) but some of the others were pretty dire ('86’s ‘Press To Play’ is terrible).
I like your note about wheeling him out for special events - he was of the legendary status to see that he always went on last and what was the featured song? Why, it was ‘Let It Be’. Always. And it still is.
Some favourites of mine, Airport by the Motors and The stranglers, No more heroes has always been the best for me personally.
Interesting that the Motors were considered too ugly for their album cover. 
Bit of a bummer that isn’t it.
I guess LD that not everyone can be born as pretty as us…