Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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The Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll (Almost) Grows Up

A few weeks ago two rock critics were gossiping on the phone, something rock critics do more than ever now that there aren't any press parties. Both were among the many newcomers asked to contribute to the sixth or seventh annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll, and both were awed by this responsibility, as is only mete. One of them, however, was apparently overawed, he--I assume it's a he, since most rock critics are--told my informant he felt like he'd been knighted. A jest, of course, but nevertheless--I mean, I'm obviously not the only one who takes this thing seriously. Every year I am beset by late ballots via special delivery and express mail; messengers and living critics come up to the fifth floor to hand me and my fellow Poobah their lists. And for what? No one is paid, and very few ballots are reprinted. As the poll gets larger the power of any individual to affect the result diminishes. But people actually listen again to dozens of albums, agonize, call long distance to clarify our chronically incomprehensible letter of invitation, all to assure that the tally reflects their deepest convictions. Ain't representative democracy grand?

Representative of what, you might ask, and I admit I could be happier with the answer. This was to be the year the P&JCP grew up; I vowed that in 1979 I'd start tackling the problems of regional and racial spread early. But that vow, like others before it, went down to defeat. Instead I spent two days in mid-December working phones with co-Poobah Tom Carson. Our method was simple--frantic calls to acquaintances all over the country to ascertain who was actually reviewing records where, never mind how well--and its effectiveness scattershot. We did better in Minneapolis than Chicago and lousy indeed through the southeastern and Rocky Mountain states. It doesn't bother me that L.A. and Boston are disproportionately represented, or that New York provided 66 of the 155 critics who responded. Those are the cities where the outlets are, and anyway, this is still a Voice poll--all Riffs contributors who hear a lot of records are included in automatically. But nobody from Nashville or Denver or Omaha or New Orleans was even invited, and this is a good time to mention that any regularly published rock critic with access to most of the important releases who'd like in should write now and I"ll file his or her address. Go knight yourself.

Racial balance proved even more difficult to come by. Our informants were useless, and consultation with black journalists around here yielded few new names. Finally, around New Year's, I resorted to record company publicists specializing in black music, but most of the 30 or so invitations that resulted went out so late that I got only 11 back in time, enough to suss certain patterns but not enough to see them fully realized in the tally. The post office was a big problem in general. A lot of people got our instructions 10 or 12 days after they were mailed, or never, and when no first-class letters were delivered to the paper on deadline day we were forced to postpone the final count for 24 hours. Even so, late ballots kept dribbling in afterwards, including several from black critics and several others from regional punkzines, which were also contacted late. Next year we've got to get organized.

As it was, though, I think the poll ended up pretty much what it should have been in a very enjoyable but critically inconclusive year. Four "r&b" acts (the term is returning to favor) made the album list, expanded this year from 30 to 40 in honor of an enlarged electorate and the curly-headed kid in the third row. More black input would have meant more commanding finishes for all four--crossover queen Donna Summer, comeback prince Michael Jackson, disco pacemakers Chic, and elder statesman Stevie Wonder--as well as for Ashford & Simpson (Stay Free, 44th), probably Dionne Warwick (Dionne, 52nd), and possibly Millie Jackson (Live and Uncensored, 55th). More punkzine input would have helped the nouvelle vague concrete of Pere Ubu, the reggae agitprop of Linton Kwesi Johnson, the maximal minimalism of Philip Glass, and the elderly statesmanship of Iggy Pop, as well as pushing Off White (45th) and/or Buy the Contortions (47th)--James Chance's two albums, which totaled 139 points on a spottily distributed independent label--into the top 40 and perhaps aiding XTC (Drums and Wires, 49th) and Wire (154, 53rd) as well. Both constituencies would have boosted Bob Marley, and either might have gone for the jazz records that got scattered mention: not only the Art Ensemble's Nice Guys, but also Mingus at Antibes (48th)--three Mingus albums totaled 121 points--Air Lore (51st), and Blood Ulmer's (excuse me, I mean James Blood's) Tales of Captain Black (60th). And they would have upped the disco discs and imports on the singles chart.

But especially if allowances are made for Nashville and Denver and Omaha and New Orleans, it's hard to imagine any other album cracking this year's top five: Armed Forces, by last year's overpowering winner, Elvis Costello; Fear of Music, by Talking Heads, up from fifth in 1978; the confusing American version of The Clash, which in its 1977 English edition showed up on a lot of best-of-the-decade lists; Rust Never Sleeps, generally regarded as Neil Young's best album since Tonight's the Night; and this year's model, Squeezing Out Sparks, by Graham Parker & the Rumour, who placed their first two albums at two and four in the 1976 poll but haven't made much noise among the voters since.

The 1978 P&JCP's consensus was, in the immortal words of my editor, a "triumph of the new wave," with 16 of the top 30 albums falling clearly into the category and lots of others on the fringe despite increased participation by suspected conservatives. Not that I considered the triumph unmixed--my punkophile elation was undercut by my natural distrust of hegemony, especially defensive hegemony based on ressentiment. Commercially, after all, Saturday Night Fever and its trentuple platinum was spearheading its own victorious vanguard, and I detected in the sweep some of the racism and homophobia of "disco sucks," then a mere slogan rather than an arrogantly out-of-it prefab "movement." But it did seem that new wave was over the bottom line--that the best artists in the style (or whatever it is and was) were going to make albums for quite a while--and that print media were part of its success. It had always been a truism of the record manufacturers (and of music journalists) that good reviews don't sell enough product to keep anybody but the reviewers in business. But recently it's become apparent that between the prestige they impart and the core audience they generate (especially in the absence of adventurous radio), good reviews do keep good bands, in the immortal words of the Bee Gees, "stayin' alive."

That was last year. Since then, an arrogantly out-of-it prefab industry has taken a nasty fall, with some blame due both trentuple platinum (and the consequent lure of overproduction) and disco (now regarded once again as a cult music with crossover potential). As a consequence, there are rock and roll propagandists who'll tell you that new wave's triumph isn't just artistic--that last year's critical consensus is next year's big thing. As usual, I don't believe it'll happen, and furthermore I don't want anyone else to. I'm delighted that Blondie's Parallel Lines, which finished 25th in the 1978 P&JCP, subsequently achieved the AM airplay and platinum sales its inspired popcraft deserved, and pleased enough that together with, yes, Get the Knack, (86th), it's made it easier for similar bands to record. I even find a good many of the resulting power pop albums fairly likable. But a world of Blondies and Knacks would hardly be rock and roll heaven, and I worry about unreasonable expectations, which after a few foolish bidding wars could make new wave a no-no just like disco. Who needs them? Rock's capital crisis is a drag for would-be Foreigners, but for good bands it's a blessing. What ought to make new wave attractive bizwise isn't mass appeal so much as strong regional roots in an era of prohibitive travel costs and strong simple music in an era of studio parsimony. To hell with superprofits. I'll give you power pop if you'll give me all the independent labels that have come over from Europe this year--I.R.S., ZE, Stiff, a revitalized Mango, a reorganized Virgin. May they prosper modestly, just like such U.S.-based companies as Alligator, Rounder, and Ralph.

In short, I haven't spent years learning how and when to ignore the Hot 100 just so I could get all het up when Blondie makes number one or CBS makes a boo-boo. It was a great year for rock and roll--in a class with 1978, which was the best ever for the hard approach I prefer--because of all the good-to-great new records. Admittedly, it's only over the past month, which I've spent in a continual state of desperate delight catching up with stuff I hadn't found time for, that I've become fully convinced. And I think more of my finds are good than great--I'll probably end up with 50 A or A minus albums from 1979, a few more than last year, but where in 1978 I wished I could squeeze 14 records into my top 10, now I could stop comfortably at seven. My top 10 would be even thinner if I hadn't given up and included jazz records that enriched my rather inchoate rock aesthetic--that spoke to my shifting ideas about rhythm and electric noise, pop and folk, "accessibility." (In other words, I eliminated all jazz in my pure music tradition first asserted by my favorite jazz style, bebop, including Thelonious Monk's Always Know and Ornette Coleman/Charlie Haden's Soapsuds, Soapsuds, which I love, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Nice Guys, which--to my own discredit, I'm sure, since it came in number 29 this year, the first time an acoustic jazz record has ever placed--I never quite got.) Anyway, here's my own list, with Pazz & Jop points appended to the top 10. It's my custom to joke about how permanent the order is, but this year my listening is still in such flux that I won't bother. Believe me, these are damn good albums, and there are others (by Irakere, Midnight Rhythm, the Heartbreakers, David Bowie, maybe Smokey, maybe Toots, maybe Cleanhead, maybe James) waiting in the winds:

1. The Clash (Epic) 18. 2. Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise) 17. 3. Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis) 14. 4. Van Morrison: Into the Music (Warner Bros.) 11. 5. Air: Air Lore (Arista Novus) 11. 6. Graham Parker & the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks (Arista) 9. 8. Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust (Columbia) 5. 7. The B-52s (Warner Bros.) 5. The Roches (Warner Bros.) 5. 10. Arthur Blythe: Lenox Avenue Breakdown (Columbia) 5.

11. Tom Verlaine (Elektra). 12. Donna Summer: Bad Girls (Casablanca). 13. Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Sire). 14. Wreckless Eric: The Whole Wide World (Stiff). 15. The Only Ones: Special View (Epic). 16. Shoes: Present Tense (Elektra). 17. James Monroe H.S. Presents Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes to Washington (Elektra). 18. The Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady (I.R.S.). 19. Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Live Rust (Reprise). 20. Marianne Faithful: Broken English (Island).

21. Linton Kwesi Johnson: Forces of Victory (Mango). 22. Dave Edmunds: Repeat When Necessary (Swan Song). 23. Fashion: Product Perfect (I.R.S.). 24. James Brown: The Original Disco Man (Polydor). 25. Gary Numan & Tubeway Army: Replicas (Atco). 26. Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (Epic). 27. Culture: International Herb (Virgin Internatioal). 28. Chic: Good Times (Atlantic). 29. Millie Jackson: Live and Uncensored (Polydor). 30. Living Chicago Blues Volume 1 (Alligator).

31. Lene Lovich: Stateless (Stiff/Epic). 32. Tom Robinson Band: TRB Two (Harvest). 33. James Blood: Tales of Captain Black (Artists House). 34. Cory Daye: Cory and Me (New York International). 35. Mutiny: Mutiny on the Mamaship (Columbia). 36. Steel Pulse: Tribute to the Martyrs (Mango). 37. Blondie: Eat to the Beat (Chrysalis). 38. Roxy Music: Manifesto (Atlantic). 39. George Jones: My Very Special Guests (Epic). 40. Elvis Costello: Armed Forces (Columbia).

But though record albums dominated rock in the '70s, they've never been the whole story, as both new wave and disco have demonstrated. Somewhat belatedly, the P&JCP has expanded to reflect this: In addition to 10 albums, contributors were asked for unweighted lists of up to 10 singles and three local bands. From disco adepts like Mike Freedberg ("it's impossible to poll disco, or even black slow music, fairly from LPs alone") to r&b oldtimers like Robert Pruter ("my record buying friends have always bought singles and always preferred them to albums"), black music fans were enthusiastic, and so were new wavers, many of whom commented that it was hard to keep their lists to 10. "Rock" people, on the other hand, complained (Noel Coppage of Stereo Review: "I'm too old and elitist for this shit"; Blair Jackson of Bay Area Music: "Aah forget it. I hate most singles"). Since I spend most of my working (and waking) hours listening to albums, I had no trouble containing my list, but the following 10 singles definitely weren't the only ones to make a dent on my life this year:

The Brains: "Money Changes Everything" (Gray Matter); Michael Jackson: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (Epic); the Clash: "1-2 Crush on You" (CBS import); James Brown: "It's Too Funky in Here" (Polydor 12-inch); Sister Sledge: "We Are Family" (Cotillion 12-inch); McFadden & Whitehead: "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" (Philadelphia International 12-inch); Kleenex: "Ain't You" (Rough Trade import); the B-52's: "Rock Lobster"/"52 Girls" (B-52's); the Records: "Starry Eyes" (Virgin); Machine: "There But for the Grace of God Go I" (RCA Victor).

The new category in which I had more trouble limiting my selections was local bands, an appellation that was left vague to find out how the voters would define it. For me, there were two musts: the Feelies, whose avant-garde surf music thrilled me frequently before they withdrew to the big time, and the James "Blood" Ulmer Quartet, whose second set at the Pin Palace May 23 rivaled the Clash at the Palladium for intensity and who also fused me at CBGB and Hurrah. But I passed on the Lounge Lizards and In the Tradition--not to mention Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, whose visit from Austin impressed a lot of people, as we shall see--reluctantly, only so I could pay my respects to Richard Hell's lamented Voidoids.

New York seemed bound to dominate the local band competition--on demographics, if not sheer vitality. And indeed, the winner was predictable, a shoo-in with14 votes: Anya's Bad Boy himself, James Chance, a/k/a James White and the Blacks, a/k/a the Contortions. (This year we're giving out awards with the poll and we're wondering whether James would prefer his across the backs of the thighs.) But after that the New York vote broke up, so that three out-of-town bands scored more mentions than the local second-runner. Most impressive by far was the aforementioned Senor Carrasco, who divided 10 votes between Texas and New York--his band sounds like a speedy synthesis of every Farfisa group that ever tripped over a hook, and you'd better listen up or they'll pass you on the left. After that, with six mentions, came X, from Los Angeles, and Human Sexual Response, from Boston (though as a sexually responsive human I must register my doubts about the latter). New York's Fleshtones strolled in fifth with five. Other strong showings included four votes for New York's Feelies and L.A. Alley Cats, and three for Curtiss A (Minneapolis), the Beat (San Francisco and CBS), Greg Kihn (Berkeley and Beserkley), Robin Lane (Boston and pretty soon now Warners, plus an indie EP that scored on our singles chart), the Lounge Lizards (New York), the Naughty Sweeties (L.A.), the Nervous Eaters (Boston), Prince Charles and the City Beat Band (Boston), the Speedies (New York), Blood Ulmer (New York), and the Zippers (L.A.).

It may say something about local-band consensus or lack of it that although I spent more time seeing groups in clubs in 1979 than ever before, my most unforgettable moment was not provided by Blood Ulmer or the Feelies or even Pere Ubu. It came one frigid night in February when three of us slogged uptown to catch the Only Ones and instead stumbled upon a seething mass of well-kempt youths who were dancing to rock and roll. Mercy day, I said to myself, this ain't no Mudd Club, or CBGB--this is the "rock disco" Hurrah, only it has normal rock and rollers in it. Straight weekend escapists, on leave from Fordham and Farleigh Dickinson and high school, they danced stiffly, except for a few scattered punks, but there they were, shaking ass to Cheap Trick and the Cars and Devo and the Ramones. Suddenly I believed yet again that rock and roll was here to stay.

This wasn't the punk-disco fusion I had posited wistfully at the end of last year's P&JCP roundup, but it was a start--a primitive one, as it turned out. Six months later art-punk and electropop were melding into dance tracks as empty as the most soulless Eurodisco, and if you wanted to step out to Cheap Trick you had to go to Brooklyn, or anyway Heat--suddenly rock discos were all over the place. But by that time the B-52s had proven that they really were "a tacky little dance band from Athens, Georgia"--it was on the dance floor rather than in my living room that they made my top 10--and white people were once again catching up with the black music of an earlier time, in this case James Brown funk. Bizzers began talking about DOR--dance-oriented rock--instead of disco, and a real punk-disco fusion was achieved by two notable records, which oddly enough ended up on top of the first P&JCP singles chart: Ian Dury's "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"/"Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt. 3" and M's "Pop Muzik."

I must now interrupt this program to explain how singles were counted. P&JCP contributors are asked to limit their album choices to domestic releases so as not to split support for the many new albums released in different years on different sides of the Atlantic. But singles are about immediate impact, and critics who care about them usually buy (or trade for) imports. So rules were kept to a minimum, and we got votes for all kinds of stuff--not just EPs and disco discs, which were encouraged, but promos, even album cuts, the latter of which were expressly forbidden (and not counted). Multiple editions, configurations, and mixes presented worse problems. In the end we decided not only to add all versions of a song together, but--as a tribute to the ancient concept of the two-sided single--to combine the votes for two songs that appeared on the same record. This is how Ian Dury beat out Robin Scott (a/k/a M), whose "Pop Muzik" was certainly our song of the year. Not everyone who voted for "Rhythm Stick" or "Cheerful" has even heard the 12-inch that included both songs; some may (foolishly) disapprove of the disco mixes. But it seemed fairest to consolidate all of Dury's votes.

Although singles actually played and possessed by critics would have been preferred, we got a lot of lists of radio favorites. This was fair enough. Both the r&b trend in disco and the popularization of new wave have once again "made the radio fun" (J.D. Considine); 1979 was the year when Donna Summer heated up her stuff and Nick Lowe produced pure pop for real people. But even the best radio stations don't play all the most interesting music, and away from the likes of BCN and PIX it's still hard to hear imports and indies. Which is why the showing of the Brains's privately produced and distributed "Money Changes Everything"--a little too slow for DOR, much too obscure for AOR, and tied for ninth anyway--is doubly significant. And why the Pretenders, who without a U.S. release got more votes than any singles artist except Donna Summer (in addition to "Stop Your Sobbing" and "Kid," "Brass in Pocket" was on seven ballots), can be expected to make considerable noise with their debut album.

I must admit that I found the singles chart more interesting than the generally unexceptionable album selections. That's what's so great about the singles--they're quirky. I especially enjoyed the tie for sixth--"My Sharona," which brightened the radio as surely as Fantastik takes the enamel off your refrigerator, and "Tusk," the weirdest 45 issued by any megagroup since the defeat of George McGovern. I was pleased that Funkadelic, who dipped almost as precipitously as Ian Dury in the album voting (Dury went from 13th to one mention, Funkadelic from 27th to 89th), could score in its long suit. I was glad so many high school intellectuals manque admitted their crush on the grown-up teen schlock of Peaches & Herb. And I found the five-way tie for 22nd laudable in five different directions.

It's worth pointing out that the singles list is hardly a triumph of the new wave. Given the presumed bias of the electorate, it's more of a triumph of disco, with two consciously compromised (and quite enjoyable, don't get me wrong) punk-disco fusions beating out two irresistible examples of the real thing--except, of course, that "Hot Stuff" is as much a conscious compromise as "Pop Muzik." The real new wave triumph goes to the Pretenders, who did it with a Ray Davies song. Hmm. Perhaps after triumph comes growth, consolidation, and some looking around, eh? That's the way the album vote looks to me.

First of all, despite (or maybe because of, as they say) the plethora of new wave albums released in 1979, the number of them in the top 30 is down from 16 to 14--not a big dip, but enough to make room for Michael Jackson and the Art Ensemble. Moreover, even the staunchest new wavers seem to have broadened their listening this year--Donna Summer and to a lesser extent Chic got votes from all over, and it was the hard-core punks who brought Linton Kwesi Johnson home. Also, the new wave grows older. Of the nine debut albums in the top 30 last year, seven were outright new wave, and eight was David Johansen, and a ninth was the Cars (who fell to 61st this year, which may say more about the fickleness of pop fans than the fickleness of the Cars). This year's eight debuts include the Roches, Marianne Faithfull, Rickie Lee Jones, and Linton Kwesi Johnson as well as the B-52s, the Buzzcocks, Lene Lovich, and Joe Jackson (hurray for all the women in that catalogue, by the way--last year we were down to Blondie and Patti Smith). And if the widespread support for Pere Ubu's gruesome, funny, resolutely experimental, subtly hooky Dub Housing is a shot in the arm for the futurists among us, the equally strong showing of Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes is a shot in the mouth.

Petty got this year's Bruce Springsteen Memorial Rock and Roll Verities vote. Damn the Torpedoes is a pretty good record, but a measure of its appeal is that of 18 first-string daily critics, always the conservatives, 12 voted for it. (None, by the way, selected Pere Ubu; one of them, in fact, is reputed to have once--literally--pulled the plug on the band.) Damn the Torpedoes is a breakthrough for Petty because finally the Heartbreakers (his Heartbreakers, this Live at Max's fan should say) are rocking as powerfully as he's writing. But whether Petty has any need to rock out beyond the sheer doing of it--that is, whether he has anything to say--remains shrouded in banality. And in this he establishes himself as the fave rave of those who want good rock and roll that can be forgotten as soon as the record or the concert is over, rock and roll that won't disturb your sleep or your conscience, or your precious bodily rhythms. It's fun in small doses--about three minutes is right--and it beats state-of-the-studio smuggeries like those of Supertramp (tied for 66th) or the Eagles (69th). But if Tom Petty ends up defining rock and roll heaven, then Johnny Rotten will have died in vain.

I don't mean to imply that the 1979 P&JCP is a triumph of let's-boogie revisionism, and a good thing, too. But as a 37-year-old pro, I'll trade insults myself with any ageist putz who claims it's impossible for other aging pros to make exciting rock and roll, and I think that, basically, this happened to be a year when old guarders--from artists like Neil Young and Van Morrison to craftsmen like Ry Cooder and Fleetwood Mac--managed to translate their vitality and courage to vinyl again. Morrison's return was especially auspicious; he shows signs of turning into Ray Charles with lyrics. But the voters pretty much knew it wasn't happening: Old guarders who made tired albums, like Randy Newman, were rewarded in kind (43rd), and those who flubbed altogether, like Joni Mitchell, got theirs (two mentions). And I believe the great El Lay hope of Rickie Lee Jones is a chimera; the same goes for the great post-punk hope of Joe Jackson. There are no stylistic rules; lots and lots of good records are being made; collectively, the critics have a pretty accurate idea of what they are.

And so, upon reflection, I think that Squeezing Out Sparks is an entirely apposite winner. Graham Parker is a genuine transitional artist. Surfacing a little earlier than fellow pub-rock veterans like Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, he never assumed the kind of protective pop irony they've perfected. Though his lyrics are knotty, their passion is palpable--Parker speaks directly. And his music, while a long way from Robbie Robertson, isn't reticent about its blues and country roots. Rhythmically and dramatically he's not above corn, but it would be risky to call him safe--he might spit in your eye. I found that the masterfully hooked-up Squeezing Out Sparks wore thin after a powerful initial impression, but the memory of its craft and commitment stayed with me, and apparently many felt the same. The kind of critics who voted for Rickie Lee Jones or Ry Cooder often picked it number one, but those of us who preferred Neil Young or the Clash (both of which got as many first-place votes) still felt inclined to pay our respects, which is how it amassed its solid margin. If this be compromise, I just might settle for it myself.

The Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll has grown quite a bit since its semi-official quasi-beginning in 1974. Once it was a survey of a few writers I especially respected; now I've never read half the people whose ballots I tabulate. It's based on what may be a naive belief--that people who listen long and hard enough to formulate their opinions on paper have special judgments to make. That assumption is holding up pretty well so far.

Selected Ballots

ADAM BLOCK: Ian Dury & the Blockheads: "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick"/"Reasons to Be Cheerful Pt. 3" (Stiff/Epic 12-inch); Roxy Music: "Dance Away" (Atlantic 12-inch); Records: "Starry Eyes" (Virgin); Nick Lowe: "Cruel to Be Kind" (Columbia); Jacksons: "Blame It on the Boogie" (Epic 12-inch); M: "Pop Muzik" (Sire); Pearl Harbor & the Explosions: "Release It"/"Drivin'" (415); Sister Sledge: "We Are Family" (Atlantic 12-inch); Ray Charles: "Some Enchanted Evening" (Atlantic); James White & the Blacks: "Contort Yourself" (ZE 12-inch).

TOM CARSON: M: "Pop Muzik" (Sire); Lene Lovich: "Lucky Number" (Stiff/Epic); Ian Dury & the Blockheads: "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" (Stiff/Epic); Dave Edmunds: "Girls Talk" (Swan Song); Marianne Faithfull: "Broken English" (Island); Sister Sledge: "We Are Family" (Cotillion); Sid Vicious: "My Way" (Virgin 12-inch import); Talking Heads: "Life During Wartime" (Sire); The Kinks: "Superman" (Arista 12-inch); Anita Ward: "Ring My Bell" (T.K.).

GREIL MARCUS: Essential Logic (Virgin import EP); Brains: "Money Changes Everything" (Gray Matter); Donna Summer: "Hot Stuff" (Casablanca); Pretenders: "Stop Your Sobbing" (Real import); Blue Oyster Cult: "In Thee" (Columbia); Marianne Faithfull: "Broken English"/"Why'd Ya Do It" (Antilles 12-inch); Moon Martin: "Rolene" (Capitol); Foreigner: "Dirty White Boy" (Atlantic); Public Image Ltd.: "Memories" (Virgin import); Delta 5: "Now That You've Gone" (Rough Trade import).

JON PARELES: Brains: "Money Changes Everything" (Gray Matter); Ian Dury & the Blockheads: "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" (Stiff/Epic); Fleetwood Mac: "Tusk" (Warner Bros.); Donna Summer: "Hot Stuff" (Casablanca); Elvis Costello: "My Funny Valentine" (Columbia promo); Gang of Four: "At Home He's a Tourist" (EMI import); Pop Group: "We Are All Prostitutes" (Rough Trade import); Robin Lane & the Chartbusters: "When Things Go Wrong" (Deli Platters); Machine: "There But for the Grace of God Go I" (RCA Victor 12-inch).

GEORGE ARTHUR: Blondie: Eat to the Beat (Chrysalis) 15; Dave Edmunds: Repeat When Necessary (Swan Song) 12; Rickie Lee Jones (Warner Bros.) 12; Lene Lovich: Stateless (Stiff/Epic) 12; Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust (Columbia) 10; Kinks: Low Budge (Arista) 9; Rachel Sweet: Fool Around (Stiff/Columbia) 8; Jerry Lee Lewis (Elektra) 8; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Damn the Torpedoes (Backstreet/MCA) 8; Get the Knack (Capitol) 6.

LESTER BANGS: Van Morrison: Into the Music (Warner Bros.) 25; Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island) 20; The Clash (Epic) 20; Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Sire) 5; Lou Reed: The Bells (Arista) 5; Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Live Rust (Warner Bros.) 5; Charles Mingus: Mingus at Antibes (Atlantic) 5; Miles Davis: Circle in the Round (Columbia) 5; Heartbreakers: Live at Max's Kansas City (Max's Kansas City) 5; Patti Smith Group: Wave (Arista) 5.

BRIAN CHIN (all 12-inch disco discs): Fern Kinney: "Groove Me" (T.K.); Jackie Moore: "This Time Baby" (Columbia); Love De-Luxe: "Here Comes That Sound Again" (Warner Bros.); Don Armando's Second Avenue Rhumba Band: "I"m an Indian Too"/"Deputy of Love" (ZE); Bionic Boogie: "Hot Butterfly" (Polydor); Machine: "There But for the Grace of God Go I" (RCA Victor); Claudja Barry: "Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes" (Chrysalis); Carrie Lucas: "Dance with You" (Solar); Black Ivory: "Mainline" (Buddah).

TOM CARSON: David Bowie: Lodger (RCA Victor) 14; The Clash (Epic) 14; Elvis Costello: Armed Forces (Columbia) 14; Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis) 12; Graham Parker & the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks (Arista) 10; The Roches (Warner Bros.) 9; Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust (Columbia) 8; Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Live Rust (Warner Bros.) 7; Lou Reed: The Bells (Arista) 7; Iggy Pop: New Values (Arista) 6.

DAVID JACKSON: Millie Jackson: Live and Uncensored (Polydor) 15; Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Sire) 10; Art Ensemble of Chicago: Nice Guys (ECM); Steppin' With the World Saxophone Quartet (Black Saint import); Van Morrison: Into the Music (Polydor) 10; Miles Davis: Circle in the Round (Columbia) 10; Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Live Rust (Warner Bros.) 10; Robin Williamson and His Merry Band: A Giant at the Kindling (Flying Fish) 9; James Blood: Tales of Captain Black (Artists House) 8; Bread and Roses (Fantasy) 8.

GREIL MARCUS: Van Morrison: Into the Music (Polydor) 20; Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise) 15; Fleetwood Mac: Tusk (Warner Bros.) 15; Peter Green: In the Skies (Sail) 15; Tonio K: Life in the Foodchain (Full Moon/Epic) 10; Graham Parker & the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks (Arista) 5; David Johansen: In Style (Blue Sky) 5; Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis) 5; Randy Newman: Born Again (Warner Bros.) 5; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Damn the Torpedoes (Backstreet/MCA) 5.

REGGIE MATTHEWS: Brenda Russell (Horizon) 15; Heath Brothers: In Motion (Columbia) 13; Ron Carter: Parade (Milestone) 12; McCoy Tyner: Together (Milestone) 11; Kinks: Low Budget (Arista) 11; Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (Epic) 10; Donna Summer: Bad Girls (Casablanca) 10; Graham Parker & the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks (Arista) 7; Ashford & Simpson: Stay Free (Warner Bros.) 6; Jeff Lorber: Water Sign (Arista) 5.

MARIE MOORE: Stevie Wonder's Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants (Tamla) 10; Chic: Risque (Atlantic) 10; Ashford & Simpson: Stay Free (Warner Bros.) 10; The Crusaders: Street Life (MCA) 10; Cameo: Secret Omen (Chocolate City) 10; George Benson: Live Inside Your Love (Warner Bros.) 10; Dionne Warwick: Dionne (Arista) 10; Stephanie Mills: What Cha Gonna Do with my Lovin? (20th Century Fox) 10; Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (Epic) 10; Commodores: Midnight Magic (Motown) 10.

JON PARELES: Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis) 15; Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Sire) 15; James White and the Blacks: Off White (ZE); Philip Glass/Robert Wilson: Einstein on the Beach (Tomato) 15; Art Bears: Winter Songs (Ralph) 15; David Bowie: Lodger (RCA Victor) 5; XTC: Drums and Wires (Virgin) 5; Police: Regatta de Blanc (A&M) 5; Wire: 154 (Warner Bros.) 5; Tom Verlaine (Elektra) 5.

DOUG SIMMONS: Iggy Pop: New Values (Arista) 25; The Clash (Epic) 15; Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady (I.R.S.) 10; Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis) 10; Linton Kwesi Johnson: Forces of Victory (Mango) 10; Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust (Columbia) 5; Dave Edmunds: Repeat When Necessary (Swan Song) 5; Inmates: First Offence (Polydor) 5; Heartbreakers: Live at Max's Kansas City (Max's Kansas City) 5; The Boston Bootleg (Varulven) 5.

TOM SMUCKER: Gino Soccio: Outline (RFC) 20; Chic: Risque (Atlantic) 20; Tom Robinson Band: TRB2 (Harvest) 14; Merle Haggard: Serving 190 Proof (MCA) 11; Donna Summer: Bad Girls (Casablanca) 8; Tammy Wynette: Just Tammy (Epic) 6; Sylvester: Stars (Fantasy) 6; Shoes: Present Tense (Elektra) 5; Blondie: Eat to the Beat (Chrysalis) 5; Arlo Guthrie: Outlasting the Blues (Warner Bros.) 5.

Village Voice, Jan. 28, 1980


1978 Critics Poll | Dean's List 1980