1001 Albums: 0360 - 0369, It's Still '76, And It Sucks!

The run had to end sometime. After a few posts of nearly non-stop greatness, the list has petered out into mid 70's hell. 1976 ends with a whimper folks. The high light is "The Ramones", but it's a bit of a meh still since I'm such a big fan of the band already. Hell, I'm wearing my Ramones converse as I type this! Anyway, here's how it fizzles out. Bleh! I should also probably mention that many of these were listened too while I was sick with my annual cold and flu, so I'm probably being extra miserable instead of my usual snarky.


0360 Aerosmith – Rocks - Huh! Aerosmith show up again? It's more of the same, this one has "Back In the Saddle." That's about all I got on this one. Just not a very memorable album.


0361 Parliament – Mothership Connection - I really liked this one! It's a more dance-y album compared to "Maggot Brain", and just a ton-o-funk-fun!


0362 Penguin Café Orchestra – Music from the Penguin Café - I did not like this one! It's kind of a classical music sounding jazz thing, and it's problem was this. I would start to like it, then it would get a little too jazzy and I'd find it annoying. So this one too is a big pass.


0363 Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygene - A friend asked me if I had this album, and I was all pleased to say that I did! Then I listened to it and hated it. I really hated it. It's boring ambient music. Stupid ambient music. God damn did I hate this, and now I hate my asshole friend for getting me all excited.


0364 Ramones – Ramones (1st Album) - This is the silver lining to this batch of records. The Ramones first album is perfect in every way. I've also loved it for a long time, so it's sad that this is the high light.


0365 Fela Kuti – Zombie - Not a rock concept album sadly, but a funky jazz album. Not a very good one either.


0366 Peter Tosh – Legalize It - The title track is about marijuana in case you were wondering. So this album does nothing to try to sway you into thinking there is more to the reggae lifestyle then smoking blunts. That said, I actually prefer Tosh to all the Bob Marley that has been showing up on this list. The music is a bit more bouncy, I don't know, it just works.


0367 Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life - This is a shock since I was positive when reviewing all those other Stevie Wonder albums that I already listened to this on this list! Anyways, it's still too long in my opinion, and hit and miss. I'm just not a fan of this type of sophisticated R&B. I like fast and loose soul music.


0368 Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive - This one is just fucking stupid. How it got to be so iconic is beyond me. Actually, I do know why. Frampton uses a "Talk Box" on a couple of tracks, and that was hot shit in the seventies and music clods ate it up. Aside from the talk box, all that you will find here is pedestrian white rock and blues performed by a mediocre guitarist. It's a giant bore, the acoustic part of the set is absolutely terrible. The cover art even looks idiotic (though not as bad as the follow up "I'm In You", look it up...), like he's going to come in your face any second... fuck this record and Peter Frampton. The asshole.


0369 Brian Eno – Before & After Science - I was dreading this since I didn't care for the ambient last album Eno put out on this list. So it was a nice surprise to see him return to more proper songs and what not. Not nice enough for me to be impressed though.

Actually, to be fair, that Parliament album was pretty sweet too. And Brina Eno is actually from 1977, so maybe that's a sign that the next batch of albums will be better. 1977 means The Clash and some punk faves should be showing up. Let's hold thumbs shall we?