1979 saw the Album Decade climax with epic aplomb by the towering triumphs of the cross-generational elite: the Bee Gees, The Boomtown Rats, Brand X, Camel, City Boy, The Clash, Cliff Richard, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Fleetwood Mac, Gary Numan, Graham Parker, The Jam, Jethro Tull, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Magazine, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Marianne Faithful, Mike Oldfield, Peter Hammill, Pink Floyd, The Police, Public Image Limited, Renaissance, Squeeze, Sparks, Steve Hackett, The Stranglers, Supertramp, Thin Lizzy, UK, Wire, XTC.
Sounds ran streamlined (Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club, Charlie Dore, Dollar, Judie Tzuke, The Korgis, Lenny Zakatek, M, Violinski), staccato (Adam & the Ants, Cowboys International, The Cure, Essential Logic, Fingerprintz, Madness, The Slits, The Specials), spastic (Fashion, Fischer-Z, Prag Vec, Punishment of Luxury, Red Noise, Simple Minds, Snakefinger, Toyah Willcox) and sturdy (Interview, Joe Jackson, Live Wire, The Planets, Runner, The Skids, The Soft Boys, Voyager), while virtuosos mesmerized (Bruford, Chorale, Cozy Powell, Sky) and techies hypnotized (Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, Thomas Leer & Robert Rental, Vice Versa).
Francophones varied angelicism (Avaric, Brèche, Charles Kaczynski, Desaunay, La Saga De Ragnar Lodbrock), atmospherics (Flamen Dialis, Hydravion, Oniris, Pascal Languirand, Zed) and angularity (Armande Altai, Art Zoyd, Bedjabetch, Bregent, Eskaton, Ma Banlieue Flasque, Orion, Pataphonie, Surya, Vortex), as loftiness united Spain (Alameda, Bloque, Crack, Errobi, Fragua, Leño, Lisker, Medina Azahara, Mezquita, Tabletom), Germany (Anyone’s Daughter, Cyklus, Electric Sun, Flaming Bess, Ivory, Lift, McOil, Neuschwanstein, Serene, Tibet), Scandinavia (Atlas, Dimmornas Bro, Miklagard, Ragnarok, Sukellusvene) and the Balkans (Aerodrom, Igra Staklenih Perli, Leb i Sol, Shtourtsite, Zartong).
North Americans came on robust (Airborne, Bullseye, Gamma, Harlequin, New England), rhythmic (Gap Band, Nytro, Parlet, Sun, Sister Sledge) and regal (Aviary, Nightwinds, October, Relayer, Easter Island), whilst musing strophic (Angela Bofill, Carolyne Mas, The Manhattan Transfer, Pages, Robert Byrne) and edging dissonant (Devo, James Chance, The Reds, Tin Huey, Wazmo Nariz).
Creative currents crossed from Cape Horn to Kanazawa, with myriad gems springing from South America (Angela Ro Ro, Lô Borges, Tantor, Tempano, Zé Ramalho) and Japan (Casiopea, Chakra, P-Model, Shingetsu, Yellow Magic Orchestra). At the point of the curve, Oceania swelled to the widest degree (Billy Thorpe, Flash & the Pan, Mi-Sex, Quasar, The Reels, Steve Kipner).
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