1)The Jam, In The City: This wasn’t the best punk album of 1977, but it was probably the most fun (since I’m not wild about the Ramones albums from that year.) Yeah, Paul Weller doesn’t have a terribly great singing voice, and the band is obviously derivative as hell (when I first heard it, I cracked that it was nothing more than The Who Sings My Generation updated for 1977, then began reading reviews and found that nearly every review made the exact same comparison without me having read it first–it’s that obvious), but screw it, just have fun. I only revisited “Away From The Numbers,” my second or third favorite song by these guys, but that just means “Art School,” “Slow Down,” “Sounds From The Street,” “Brick And Mortar” and “In The City” sound really fresh again. Bump this up a point from whatever I gave it the first time; I’m going to hear the two and a half Jam albums I didn’t hear the first time around by the end of the year, and relisten to the other three that I did, and now I’m really looking forward to all that. Weren’t these guys the highest charting punk band, anyway?

2)Can, Monster Movie: Not really a lost classic, but if Malcolm Mooney would prove to be a replaceable vocalist (and he’s not the worst choice they could have made, either) at least the rhythm section knew what it was doing from the beginning. “Father Cannot Yell” kicks fucking ass, a great rediscovery, the band could attack from the start, how did I forget this song? “Mary Mary So Contrary” is eerie and snuff-film-y, a trippy song that makes you think about death and horror on the news that you don’t want to think about. “Outside My Door” isn’t a classic but at least it starts nice. Finally, I think I’m going to be a bit merciful to the oft-hated “Yoo Doo Right”–there are times in those 20 minutes where it doesn’t sound like the band is actually getting anywhere (and sometimes they really aren’t) but as background music it’s actually kind of hypnotic; sometimes I let long repetitive crud slide for that reason…y’know, like the obvious influence, “Sister Ray.” I’m going to relisten to Soundtracks and then decide whether or not to do the rest of the Can albums I haven’t heard, which would be everything after 1973, the stuff people don’t talk about. I sure am glad I re-heard the first two songs here…

3)Liz Phair, whitechocolatespaceegg: This runs about neck and neck with Whip-Smart; it’s more consistent than that album, but that album hit significantly higher highs. Neither album strayed too far from the style Liz went for on Exile In Guyville but this one is a little more mainstream and better produced, with 16 songs, about nine or ten of which are memorable. I can’t believe I’d forgotten the powerful title track, the quirky “Uncle Alavarez,” the draggy “Only Son,” surging rockers “Ride” and “What Makes You Happy,” and the eerie, dreamy “Fantasize.” In fact, I hadn’t really remembered any songs from this decent-enough album, but I can’t easily pinpoint why; it’s not like they’re all uniform, or anythng; nor, for that matter, does Liz go for anything obscure or crazily diverse. I don’t have much to say about her lyrics (one song is about a girl who likes getting slapped around by her boyfriend, egghhnn) and it’s true that she was edging into Sheryl Crow territory a bit here. Still, her 90s albums are all better than the next decade she’d go through…

4)Neil Young, Neil Young: At first, I thought I’d really underrated this not-very-discussed 1968 debut album, but it turned out I’d just really forgotten about two wonderful tracks, “The Loner” and the soul-influenced “The Old Laughing Lady.” Very glad to hear those again. The song I’d always loved, and the biggest highlight, remains “I’ve Been Waiting For You,” and I think it would have stuck out even if I’d not heard the David Bowie version first, on one of my favorite Bowie discs. That said, the string instrumentals are boring, “Here We Are In Years” and “If I Could Have Her Tonight” take wistful, dreamy melodies and kind of waste them, and “The Last Trip To Tulsa” would have been sort of a cool elegiac acoustic closer if it were two minutes long, but it’s fucking NINE. I think I could salvage “What Did You Do To My Life?” and “I’ve Loved Her So Long,” but the mopey tone of these songs would be handled better on After The Gold Rush. It was nice to rediscover the three classics, but I can’t bump up the average rating I initially gave this album, and seemingly nobody loves it anwyay.

5)Jethro Tull, Crest Of A Knave: The only really nice thing I can report here is that I couldn’t quite bring myself to hate this album the way you’re supposed to (not as a Metallica fan pissed off at Tull for winning that infamous Grammy, mind you, but just as somebody who generally wants to make fun of Tull for being one of the biggest dinosaur bands ever.) It’s a dinosaur album through and through, sure (and to think, the guys were only around 40 when it was made…but yeah, that was dinosaur back then) but I can’t entirely write all of it off. “Steel Monkey,” for example, has those stupid pulsing synthesizers, but the song does manage a passable melody and a bit of energy to it. I also like “Dogs In The Midwinter,” with this cute organ-flute intro and a cool little bounce after Ian recites the title in the chorus. “Jump Start” and “Farm On The Freeway” are bearable too. So it’s not a complete loss. But the second half of the album is completely boring and unmemorable just like Rock Island would be and it’s also come to my attention not only that Ian thinks “Budapest,” a ten-minute bore more notable for Ian’s leering upskirt-themed lyrics (meshed with a serious, somber melody) than for the music, is the best Jethro Tull song…but also that the band is periodically trying to sound exactly like Dire Straits, and not the MTV Dire Straits, either. Would even Dire Straits fans want to listen to imitation Dire Straits? How boring can you get? (Don’t answer that, if you’ve heard Rock Island.)