2008年 Nov 30日 Sunday, 21:55
Black Sabbath / Heaven and Hell / Heaven and Hell (4) / Apr 1980
sablespecter's Album of the Year for 1980* (RDF: 100%)
Just as Sabbath's first album scored a perfect 100%, the first one with Ronnie James Dio does the same! It's amazing to me that this album was able to come together at all, let alone becoming one of the greatest albums of the entire Sabbath catalog and in all of heavy metal. After the firing of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler's divorce, and Bill Ward being so heavily inebriated that he doesn't even recall the recording of the album, it was a first test of the iron will of Tony Iommi that held it together, a will that would keep hloding it together during the unsteady 80s (for better and often for worse). Geoff Nicholls also makes his first appearance, and has been with them ever since.
This particular track is Dio's all-time favorite composition from any era, solo or from and any band that he has been in. I think it nicely sums up his outlook on life generally, and you can see one or more elements of this song in almost any song that he has written (even if you look between all the fantasy imagery of his solo work). Of course, best heard live, when it gets stretched out with solos etc. and even spliced with other songs, as done nicely on Live Evil.
And yet, not my favorite track from the album, which will be revealed some other time.
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Rounding out the Top Five of 1980 (in order of descending RDF):
Def Leppard: On Through the Night (100% RDF): Two 100% RDF albums in a single year? Sure! Must have been a common occurrence during the 80s, right? Nope. Did it ever happen again? Maybe (stay tuned)! My third album from the Lepps, only picked up after I bought the next two in early '83, which was probably pretty common at least here in the States. I can't explain why I like every track on this album. Partly because it's a variety of styles, and perhaps partly because of the warm production of Colonel Tom. And definitely because of the playing of Pete Willis. It doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves, possibly because the band have practically disowned it. Why? They need to rediscover some of this formula.
Iron Maiden: Iron Maiden (89% RDF - calculated from the nine-track U.S. release): Also a third album to enter my collection, purchased after the next two. I had no idea who they were when this was released. Did anybody? Certainly no one stateside. Yet it's one of the greatest debuts ever. Not entirely pure metal - too much punk attitude and dirty riffs à la Motörhead to be just that. And yet they set themselves apart from other punk-influenced NWOBHM brethren with a couple of the most arresting, melodic, polished departures from expectations that you could find on an album like this with "Remember Tomorrow" and "Strange World" (the latter still one of my all-time Maiden favorites). Establishes from the start that the future will be interesting, deep, and exciting.
Van Halen: Women and Children First (87.5% RDF): More back-to-basic raw sound of the debut album, less pop that the second, and the reason why I like so much of this. It ain't all a big party; there's a dark side to this life. Well, the 70s are over…welcome to the 80s.
AC/DC: Back in Black (80% RDF): Probably considered the "Album of 1980" at least in the heavy metal circle. And the #2 to MJ's Thriller. Despite the fact that I can't listen to Track Number Seven now after so much overplay, it is a damn good album and features three of my Top 5 AC/DC tracks ("Shoot To Thrill," "Let Me Put My Love into You," "Have A Drink On Me"). I wonder how far they would have gotten with Brian Johnson had this not been as successful as it turned out to be. I'm glad it did, because I'm one of the minority (?) that prefers the Johnson-era songs over the Bon Scott-era songs.
Honorable Mentions (in not-entirely-correct alphabetical order by band/artist name):
Angel Witch: Angel Witch
Blue Öyster Cult: Cultösaurus Erectus
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Diamond Head: Lightning to the Nations
Journey: Departure
Judas Priest: British Steel
Krokus: Metal Rendez-vous
Michael Stanley Band: Heartland
Motörhead: Ace of Spades
Ozzy Osbourne: Blizzard of Ozz
Rush: Permanent Waves
Saxon: Wheels of Steel and Strong Arm of the Law
Scorpions: Animal Magnetism
The Alan Parsons Project: The Turn of A Friendly Card
The Pretenders: The Pretenders
Whitesnake: Ready An' Willing
Is your favorite album from 1980 on this list? Are there any others you would add?
\m/ (ò_ó) \m/
*So if y'all have been wondering where I went for the past 2+ weeks…sorry - especially those of you that may be frustrated when I do that since I used to be so damn timely - but by now you should know that when I vanish I'm usually up to something. And then you might have remembered, oh yeah, he said he was going to post the AotY Awards for the 1980s sometime in November.
The Eighties! Holy crap, covering this decade is difficult. Not because it's hard to announce the ten AotY Awards from this decade, but because (as usual) I just can't keep it simple and stop there. I have to do things the hard way and cover the all the other favorites from each year, too! Lookit at that list…so many good albums in the 80s! I could easily expand to a Top 10 for each year, but that's even farther than I want to go, since this should really be about the personal top selection for each year, and the rest just for context. But keep on reading…all of these will eventually be covered in more detail in their own right…someday!