Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

It would overstate things to say that 1976 was a great year for music, the release of a few absolute classics notwithstanding, but it was a satisfying year. So here are my 20 favourite albums of the year.

Some undeniable classics feature here: Boz Scaggs’ majestic Silk Degrees, Frampton Comes Alive! (though its inclusion here may be due mostly to happy memories) and Hotel California (which just scraped in).

The obvious standout is Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life, an explosion of creativity that even four sides couldn’t contain, so he added an EP to the package.

On Turnstiles, Billy Joel started to find his voice. It features my (nominal) favourite song by him — Summer, Highland Falls — as well as the superb New York State Of Mind. Joel wasn’t entirely satisfied with the album, though. When he put together his live album Songs In The Attic in 1981 — Joel described it as an exercise in improving recordings he wasn’t happy with — he included half of Turnstiles’ eight tracks. All four were vastly improved, but Turnstiles remains a very good album.

Some of the albums here are only half good. Take Rod Stewart’s A Night On The Town: Side 1 is Rod at his balladeering, lascivious finest; on Side 2 he rocks out. I don’t even know whether Side 2 is good or not. The sensational slow Rod is all I need to hear.

I have the same feeling about Bob Seger — I prefer the night moves ballads to the old-time rock and roll. The latter can be entertaining; Night Moves closes on a good rockin’ note with Mary Lou, but if I listen to the album, I might edit the playlist down to the slow jams.

With my love for South African jazz-funk, there are two exponents of the genre represented here. Remember District Six — a reference to an area of Cape Town that was being ethnically cleansed and razed at the time — was a project by local jazz legends Monty Weber, Sammy Hartman and Lionel Beukes. The album also included contributions by fellow jazz greats Basil “Manenberg” Coetzee, Winston “Nkunku” Ngozi and Errol Dyers. The album is now a rarity. Coetzee also appears on Pacific Express’ Black Fire, alongside more jazz legends, including Robbie Jansen, Chris Schilder and singer Zayn Adams. The great guitar solo on the featured track is by Issy Ariefdien.

A more recent discovery is Brazilian soul singer Cassiano, a pioneer of Brazil’s rich soul scene. Sadly, he suffered serious respiratory problems in the late 1970s, resulting in the loss of part of his lungs. Besides making it difficult to continue performing, his already troubled relationship with the record industry deteriorated further. He released his last album in 1990 and died in 2021.

Finally, one may argue whether Blondie’s debut album belongs here. It was first released in December 1976, when it made little impression, before being re-released in September 1977 to much better effect. I’ve decided to hold it over for 1977.

Another dating conundrum is AC/DC. The international release of High Voltage came in 1976, but it comprised tracks from the band’s two 1975 Australian albums, High Voltage and T.N.T.. I could have chosen AC/DC’s proper 1976 release, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but that is a rather patchy effort (though the bluesy Ride On is a favourite of mine), whereas the international High Voltage release is packed with gems.

So which 1976 LPs didn’t make my cut? Those under consideration included This Is Niecy by Deniece Williams, the Ramones’ eponymous debut, Jackson Browne’s The Pretender and Marvin Gaye’s I Want You. After compiling this, I regretted dumping Deniece, so a track from her album is included as a bonus track.

I also considered Al Stewart’s Year Of The Cat, Queen’s A Day At The Races, Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak and Wings’ Wings At The Speed Of Sound. All of them contain some great tracks, but I never really connected with any of them.

Other acclaimed releases from 1976 that miss out because I don’t know them well enough include David Bowie’s Station To Station, Joni Mitchell’s Hejira (though I love Coyote), Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygène, and the eponymous debuts by Boston and Joan Armatrading.

As for the track selection, I’ve varied things a bit between the obvious, well-known tracks and deep cuts. I might like Dancing Queen better than the featured This Is Me (which was also the b-side of Dancing Queen; and in Japan the A-side to Money Money Money on the B-side), but it’s not really necessary to feature that mega hit. Likewise, say, Hotel California or Breezing. Above all, all of these are songs I enjoy hearing when I play this collection.

The sequencing does not imply any ranking of albums. If it did, Stevie Wonder’s Another Star would open the playlist. If I was forced to keep only three albums from this lot, it would be those by Stevie, Boz Scaggs and Warren Zevon.

This mix covers 50 years ago; the 20 albums of 1986 (or 40 years ago) featured earlier this year.

So, what are your albums of 1976?

1. AC/DC – It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll) (High Voltage)
2. Steely Dan – The Fez (The Royal Scam)
3. Warren Zevon – Mohammed’s Radio (Warren Zevon)
4. Rod Stewart – Fool For You (A Night On The Town)
5. Al Jarreau – Rainbow In Your Eyes (Glow)
6. Aretha Franklin – Something He Can Feel (Sparkle)
7. George Benson – This Masquerade (Breezin’)
8. Billy Joel – Summer, Highland Falls (Turnstiles)
9. Bob Dylan – Sara (Desire)
10. Eagles – Try And Love Again (Hotel California)
11. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Main Street (Night Moves)
12. Cassiano – Coleção (Cuban Soul)
13. Monty Weber & Friends – Love Song (Remember District Six)
14. Pacific Express – Love Your Baby Right (Black Fire)
15. Stevie Wonder – Another Star (Songs In The Key Of Life)
16. Earth, Wind & Fire – On Your Face (Spirit)
17. Diana Ross – I Thought It Took A Little Time (Diana Ross)
18. Boz Scaggs – What Can I Say (Silk Degrees)
19. Peter Frampton – Show Me The Way (Frampton Comes Alive!)
20. Abba – That’s Me (Arrival)

GET IT!

Previous Albums of the Year mixes:
1971 Vol. 1
1971 Vol. 2
1972
1973
1974
1975
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986

More Albums of the Year
More CD-R Mixes