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Song of the Day #6,493: ‘Get it Right the First Time’ – Billy Joel

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1977…

#2 – The Stranger – Billy Joel

I recently played today’s SOTD for my wife and she said she’d never heard it before. How could that be, I asked, when she’s a big Billy Joel fan and this is the eighth of nine tracks on The Stranger, arguably the greatest Billy Joel album?

It turns out she didn’t know the ninth song, ‘Everybody Has a Dream,’ either.

We realized that she never really listened to The Stranger as an album, despite being completely familiar with its first seven tracks.

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Song of the Day #6,492: ‘Miracle Man’ – Elvis Costello

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1977…

#3 – My Aim is True – Elvis Costello

Earlier this week I selected the Talking Heads’ debut album for this list, and today I’m featuring a debut album by an artist I love even more: Elvis Costello. Imagine getting your first taste of both of those acts in the same year!

I wrote about My Aim is True almost 16 years ago as part of my Costello Weekends series, and I think it’s been long enough that I can repurpose a few of those paragraphs here.

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Song of the Day #6,491: ‘The Road’ – Jackson Browne

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1977…

#4 – Running on Empty – Jackson Browne

I did a Jackson Browne deep dive five years ago that gave me a strong appreciation for the man’s work. But even after digging into 14 studio albums, it was hard to find anything that compares to the one I already loved: Running on Empty.

This is a concept album about life on the road that was recorded on the road — in front of live audiences, on a tour bus, in hotel rooms and backstage rehearsal spaces. It captures the lazy haze of that vagabond existence and drips with the sweat of hard-working musicians and their supporting crews.

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Song of the Day #6,490: ‘Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town’ – Talking Heads

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1977…

#5 – Talking Heads: 77 – Talking Heads

This is the first of two debut albums in my top five, making 1977 not just a great year for music overall but a great year for the introduction of important new artists.

I can only imagine what it was like to hear Talking Heads for the first time in 1977. Here was a band of former art school students blending punk, new wave, and world music in songs with provocative lyrics and a lead singer whose clipped, chirping vocals were simultaneously funny and unnerving (but sometimes surprisingly sweet).

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Song of the Day #6,489: ‘Kiss’ – Prince and the Revolution

Austrian artist Falco owned the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of April 12, 1986, with ‘Rock Me Amadeus,’ one of only nine non-English songs to top the chart.

At #2 was Prince with his iconic hit ‘Kiss,’ which would reach #1 the following week and stay there for two weeks. ‘Kiss’ is the third of five chart-topping hits for Prince, all released between 1984 and 1991.

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