And that's why 10@10 is so damn disappointing these days.
dischead, what would be your requests for '76? I'm curious...
It's fairly easy to cherry-pick a good set from any year. For a year like 1976 it's more difficult to do
that every other month... but that's not my problem today.
Somewhat paradoxically, 1976 saw the release of three of my all-time favorite albums, so I'll start
there.
801 Live (Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, et. al.) is one of the top rock albums. Their cover of TNK
(Tomorrow Never Knows) would be a great TOTHC. Other good choices for the set include
East of Asteroid, Diamond Head, Sombre Reptiles, and Rongwrong. Annalisa played Baby's On Fire
from this album.
Go! (Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, Klaus Schulze, and Al Di Meola)
I'd avoid the space rock interludes and pick either Crossing the Line or Winner/Loser, two of the
strongest Winwood vocal tracks.
ETA: These two tracks were included in the 1995 Winwood compilation
The Finer Things.
To which I would also add Man Of Leo and Ghost Machine.
Hejira is my favorite Joni Mitchell work, so either Song for Sharon, Furry Sings the Blues, A Strange
Boy, or Refuge of the Roads. Annalisa has played Coyote.
Since Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life sparked this discussion, I'd pick one of Knocks Me
Off My Feet, Summer Soft, or Ordinary Pain.
I'm a fan of the Dan, and while The Fez has been overplayed on 10@10, neither Kid Charlemagne
or Haitian Divorce have reached that point yet, and I really like them both. Green Earrings would
be a bustout though, so I'd probably go with it instead.
It's been a while since I've heard Jeff Beck's Wired, and I can't connect the song names with
specific tunes, but I'm sure one of the tracks would work. Annalisa has played Led Boots.
I think the '70s are the Golden Age of Funk, so let's go right to the mothership for Parliment's Do
That Stuff or maybe I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body).
More funk: I don't have Johnny Guitar Watson's Ain't That a Bitch, but I'll bet there's a great track
there.
Disco was also on the rise in 1976, but I'm not familiar enough with the genre to pick something
really good from that year. No problem -- how about Frank Zappa's Disco Boy?
To make ten, I might go with something from Bob Marley's Rastaman Vibration, or perhaps some
light R&B with George Benson's Breezin', which was a big hit.
(Apart from 801's TNK as a TOTHC, I'm not necessarily suggesting this song order.)
