The RUNAWAYS Debut Album

Original released on LP Mercury SRM 1-1090

(US, June 1976)

When the Runaways debuted in 1976 with this self-titled LP, aggressive female rockers were the exception instead of the rule. Women had no problem becoming folk-rockers, singer/songwriters or Top 40 icons, but female artists who had more in common with Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith than Joni Mitchell were hardly the norm. With this album, the Runaways made it crystal clear that women (or specifically, adolescent girls) were more than capable of playing intense, forceful hard rock that went directly for the jugular. Lusty classics like "Cherry Bomb" and "You Drive Me Wild" made no attempt to conceal the fact that teenage girls could be every bit as sexual as the guys - a message that both men and women found intimidating. And on "Is It Day or Night," Cherie Currie sings about life in the fast lane with every bit as much conviction as Axl Rose would 11 years later. Currie and Joan Jett are equally riveting, and a 17-year-old Lita Ford was already an impressive guitarist. This LP was far from a commercial hit in the U.S., where timid rock radio programmers simply didn't know what to make of the Runaways. But interestingly, it did earn the band a strong following in the major rock market of Japan. (Alex Henderson in AllMusic)

The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT Debut Album

Original released on LP Charisma CDS 4003

(UK 1976, May 1)

"Tales of Mystery and Imagination" is an extremely mesmerizing aural journey through some of Edgar Allan Poe's most renowned works. With the use of synthesizers, drums, guitar, and even a glockenspiel, Parsons' shivering effects make way for an eerie excursion into Poe's well-known classics. The EMI vocoder is used throughout "The Raven" with the Westminster City School Boys Choir mixed in to add a distinct flair to its chamber-like sound. Parsons' expertise surrounds this album, from the slyness that prevails in "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather" to the bodeful thumping of the drums that imitate a heartbeat on "The Tell-Tale Heart." "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a lengthy but dazzling array of musicianship that keeps the album's persona intact, while enabling the listener to submerge into its frightening atmosphere. With vocalists Terry Sylvester, John Miles, and Eric Woolfson stretched across each track, this variety of different singing styles adds color and design to the album's air. Without any underlying theme to be pondered upon, Alan Parsons instead paints a vivid picture of one of the most alluring literary figures in history by musically reciting his most famous works in expert fashion. (Mike DeGagne in AllMusic)

CARRIE OST

Original released on LP United Artists UA-LA716-H 

(US, 1976)

(VER COMENTÁRIO SOBRE O FILME AQUI)

RAY THOMAS: "Hopes, Wishes & Dreams"

Original released on LP Threshold THS 17

(UK, 1976)

There is certain kind of music which just... sounds good. "In Your Song", which opens this 1976 album, is almost disco, but even without Justin Hayward and John Lodge as collaborators, it manages to sound so much like The Moody Blues that a person who likes their 1970s material feels at home. Naturally, the following tracks are even more like the Moodies – possibly excluding "One Night Stand" (which was a single) and "Keep on Searching" that have soulful female background vocals and attempt to rock. But those (especially the former) are very nice songs as well. Now and then Ray Thomas slips closer to average, for example, "Friends", "Didn't I" and "Migration" aren't amongst most memorable tunes on earth. But "Carousel" and "The Last Dream" are very impressive again. It is interesting that "In Your Song" was actually penned by Nicky James who has co-written the rest of the tracks as well, excluding "The Last Dream." At this point I have no much idea about who Nicky James was and what his own albums were like, but "Hopes, Wishes & Dreams" sounds like Ray Thomas. The improvement in this record is, I think, due to Nicky James - Ray Thomas' songwriting partner on both releases- contributing material that better caters to Thomas' vocal/musical style. Also, the orchestration is a bit more smoothly integrated with the band, where before it was a bit heavy-handed and over the top. I consider this a pinnacle of the Moodies' hiatus-period solo albums - better than "Blue Jays", even. (in RateYourMusic)

Ray Thomas' second solo album isn't as ambitious as its predecessor, but it is overall a more pleasing release, sounding more in line with his lighter work as a member of the Moody Blues, as well as taking some unexpected stylistic turns. In place of the lush orchestrations and oversized arrangements that characterized parts of his earlier album, "From Mighty Oaks", the sound here is closer to the early-'70s Moody Blues, with guitarists John James and John Jones getting lots of room to shine. Additionally, Thomas is in excellent voice throughout - indeed, the singing here is perhaps the best of his career, supported at times by his own overdubbing as well as Helen Chappelle, Barry St. John, Liza Strike, Nicky James, John James, and John Jones. He also offers a generally lighter touch as a composer - the songs are honest and heartfelt though mostly (with the notable exception of the closer, "The Last Dream") not self-consciously profound or serious. "Keep on Searching" is a personal confessional that's also a piece of broad, brassy good-time music with a great beat, displaying elements of soul, while "Carousel" is a seemingly silly, lighthearted throwaway number with some serious statements buried amid its swirling keyboards (courtesy of Mike Moran). And the relatively reflective "In Your Song," "Migration," and "We Need Love" might have easily passed muster on a Moody Blues album, which is what most of the people buying this album at the time would have been looking for in the first place. Most of the songs are collaborations between Thomas and his longtime friend Nicky James, who also sings and plays percussion here. This is also one of the best-sounding records to come from the Moody Blues' orbit, and is proof of the value of the time they put into building Threshold Studios. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

J.J. CALE: "Troubadour"

Original released on LP Shelter SRL-52002

(US, 1976)

Producer Audie Ashworth introduced some different instruments, notably vibes and what sound like horns (although none are credited), for a slightly altered sound on "Troubadour". But J.J. Cale's albums are so steeped in his introspective style that they become interchangeable. If you like one of them, chances are you'll want to have them all. This one is notable for introducing "Cocaine," which Eric Clapton covered on his "Slowhand" album a year later. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

PATTI SMITH GROUP: "Radio Ethiopia"

Original released on LP Arista ALB6-8379

(US 1976, October 22)

After the success of "Horses", Patti Smith had something to prove to reviewers and to the industry, and "Radio Ethiopia" aimed at both. Producer Jack Douglas gave "the Patti Smith Group," as it was now billed, a hard rock sound, notably on the side-opening "Ask the Angels" and "Pumping (My Heart)," songs that seemed aimed at album-oriented rock radio. But the title track was a ten-minute guitar extravaganza that pushed the group's deliberate primitivism closer to amateurish thrashing. Elsewhere, Smith repeated the reggae excursions and vocal overlaying that had paced "Horses" on "Ain't It Strange" and "Poppies," but these efforts were less effective than they had been the first time around, perhaps because they were less inspired, perhaps because they were more familiar. A schizophrenic album in which the many elements that had worked so well together on "Horses" now seemed jarringly incompatible. With "Radio Ethiopia" Smith and her band encountered the same development problem the punks would - as they learned their craft and competence set in, they lost some of the unself-consciousness that had made their music so appealing. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

BOB DYLAN: "Desire"

Original released on LP Columbia PC 33893

(US 1976, January 16)

If "Blood on the Tracks" was an unapologetically intimate affair, "Desire" is unwieldy and messy, the deliberate work of a collective. And while Bob Dylan directly addresses his crumbling relationship with his wife, Sara, on the final track, "Desire" is hardly as personal as its predecessor, finding Dylan returning to topical songwriting and folk tales for the core of the record. It's all over the map, as far as songwriting goes, and so is it musically, capturing Dylan at the beginning of the Rolling Thunder Revue era, which was more notable for its chaos than its music. And, so it's only fitting that "Desire" fits that description as well, as it careens between surging folk-rock, Mideastern dirges, skipping pop, and epic narratives. It's little surprise that "Desire" doesn't quite gel, yet it retains its own character - really, there's no other place where Dylan tried as many different styles, as many weird detours, as he does here. And, there's something to be said for its rambling, sprawling character, which has a charm of its own. Even so, the record would have been assisted by a more consistent set of songs; there are some masterpieces here, though: "Hurricane" is the best-known, but the effervescent "Mozambique" is Dylan at his breeziest, "Sara" at his most nakedly emotional, and "Isis" is one of his very best songs of the '70s, a hypnotic, contemporized spin on a classic fable. This may not add up to a masterpiece, but it does result in one of his most fascinating records of the '70s and '80s - more intriguing, lyrically and musically, than most of his latter-day affairs. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

DAVID BOWIE: "Station To Station"

Original released on LP RCA Victor APL 1327

(UK 1976, January 23)

Taking the detached plastic soul of "Young Americans" to an elegant, robotic extreme, "Station to Station" is a transitional album that creates its own distinctive style. Abandoning any pretense of being a soulman, yet keeping rhythmic elements of soul, David Bowie positions himself as a cold, clinical crooner and explores a variety of styles. Everything from epic ballads and disco to synthesized avant pop is present on "Station to Station", but what ties it together is Bowie's cocaine-induced paranoia and detached musical persona. At its heart, "Station to Station" is an avant-garde art-rock album, most explicitly on "TVC 15" and the epic sprawl of the title track, but also on the cool crooning of "Wild Is the Wind" and "Word on a Wing," as well as the disco stylings of "Golden Years." It's not an easy album to warm to, but its epic structure and clinical sound were an impressive, individualistic achievement, as well as a style that would prove enormously influential on post-punk. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

Wow, this is really good. Much of it was intended as the soundtrack to "The Man Who Fell To Earth", but the music wasn't actually used. It was the first record to feature Bowie's late-70s, Carlos Alomar-dominated band, and his last gold record for a while. Practically every song got airplay - the proto-industrial "TVC15," the romantic, irresistable disco number "Stay," the lengthy "return of the Thin White Duke" title track, and the Top Ten hit "Golden Years." Alomar and Slick smoke, the rhythm section is mega-funky, the chord progressions are mind-boggling, and Bowie affects a cool, slightly dissonant vocal style that grabs your attention. With only a half-dozen numbers and most of them plodding on past five minutes, some of it drags (the semi-acoustic ballad "Wild is the Wind"); but the high points make it a must-have for Bowie fans. The bonus tracks are contemporaneous live versions of "Stay," with just-filling-in-for-the-tour lead guitarist Stacey Heydon funking explosively, and "Word on a Wing." (Wilson Alroy in AllMusic)

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS Debut Album

Original released on LP Shelter SRL 52006

(US 1976, November 9)

At the time Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' debut was released in 1976, they were fresh enough to almost be considered punk. They weren't as reckless or visionary as the Ramones, but they shared a similar love for pure '60s rock and, for the Heartbreakers, that meant embracing the Byrds as much as the Stones. And that's pretty much what this album is - tuneful jangle balanced by a tough garage swagger. At times, the attitude and the sound override the songwriting, but that's alright, since the slight songs ("Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll," to pick a random example) are still infused with spirit and an appealing surface. Petty & the Heartbreakers feel underground on this album, at least to the extent that power pop was underground in 1976; with Dwight Twilley providing backing vocals for "Strangered in the Night," the similarities between the two bands (adherence to pop hooks and melodies, love of guitars) become apparent. Petty wound up eclipsing Twilley because he rocked harder, something that's evident throughout this record. Take the closer "American Girl" - it's a Byrds song by any other name, but he pushed the Heartbreakers to treat it as a rock & roll song, not as something delicate. There are times where the album starts to drift, especially on the second side, but the highlights - "Rockin' Around (With You)," "Hometown Blues," "The Wild One, Forever," the AOR staples "Breakdown" and "American Girl" - still illustrate how refreshing Petty & the Heartbreakers sounded in 1976. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

LED ZEPPELIN: "Presence"

Original released on LP Swan Song SSK 59402

(UK 1976, March 31)

"Presence" is the seventh studio album by Led Zeppelin, released by Swan Song Records on 31 March 1976. The cover, inside sleeve and back of the album features various images of people with a black obelisk-shaped object. Inside the album sleeve, the item is referred to simply as "The Object" aka "The Obelisk". It was intended to represent the "force and presence" of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page explained: «There was no working title for the album. The record-jacket designer said 'When I think of the group, I always think of power and force. There's a definite presence there.' That was it. He wanted to call it 'Obelisk'. To me, it was more important what was behind the obelisk. The cover is very tongue-in-cheek, to be quite honest. Sort of a joke on [the film] 2001 A Space Odyessy. I think it's quite amusing.» Jimmy Page made the decision to record the album after Robert Plant sustained serious injuries from a car accident on the Greek island of Rhodes on 5 August 1975, which forced the band to cancel a proposed world tour that was due to commence on 23 August. At this point, Led Zeppelin were arguably at the height of their popularity. When he was taken to a Greek hospital after the accident, Plant recalled: «I was lying there in some pain trying to get cockroaches off the bed and the guy next to me, this drunken soldier, started singing "The Ocean" from "Houses of the Holy".» The background used in the cover photograph is of an artificial marina that was installed inside London's Earl's Court Arena for the annual Earl's Court Boat Show that was held in the winter of 1974–75. This was the same venue where the band played a series of concerts a few months after the boat show, in May 1975. In 1977 Hipgnosis and George Hardie were nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package. (in Discogs)

Created at a time of intense turmoil for Led Zeppelin - they scrapped a planned international tour in the wake of Robert Plant's car accident in Greece in August 1975 - "Presence" is a strange, misshapen beast of a record that pulls upon its own tension. With Plant somewhat on the sidelines - he recorded many of the vocals while in a wheelchair - Jimmy Page reasserted himself as the primary creative force in the band, helping steer "Presence" toward a guitar-heavy complexity, perched halfway between a return to roots and unfettered prog. This dichotomy means it feels like "Presence" sprawls as wildly as "Physical Graffiti" even though it's half its length: the four epics tend to overshadow the trio of lean rockers that really do hark back to the Chess boogie and rockabilly that informed Zeppelin's earliest work. Each of these three - "Royal Orleans," "Candy Store Rock," "Hots on for Nowhere" - plays as snappily as the throwaways on the second half of "Physical Graffiti", containing a sexy insouciance; the band almost seems to shrug off how catchy Page's riffs and how thick the grooves of John Bonham and John Paul Jones actually are. No matter how much fun this triptych is, they're lost underneath the shadow of "Achilles Last Stand," a ten-minute exercise in self-styled moody majesty and the turgid blues crawl of closer "Tea for One." In between, there are two unalloyed masterpieces that channel all of the pain of the period into cinematic drama: a molten blues called "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "For Your Life," as sharp, cinematic, and pained as Zeppelin ever were. Added together, "Presence" winds up as something less than the sum of its parts but its imbalance also means that it's a record worth revisiting; it seems different upon each revisit and is always compelling. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)