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Song of the Day #1,414: ‘Just Another Mystery (Home Demo)’ – Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello has written so many songs that I’m sure not even he can keep up with them.

Indeed, in the liner notes for the reissue of Mighty Like a Rose, he admits that he forgot about this existence of today’s SOTD until it came up in a search of material from the recording sessions.

‘Just Another Mystery’ isn’t among Costello’s finest songs, by any means, but can you imagine creating something as fully realized as this and then just forgetting about it? He probably wrote three equally good songs the same day.

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Song of the Day #1,413: ‘Time’ – Pink Floyd

Best Albums of the 70s – #16
Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd (1973)

Pink Floyd is the quintessential 70s band but for me they will always represent the late 80s. That’s when I, along with my group of high school friends, obsessed over all of their albums the way teenage boys have for 40 years now.

Dark Side of the Moon is the band’s signature album, one that remained on the Billboard charts for a record 741 weeks. Its iconic cover art is familiar even to those who’ve never heard a note. And those who’ve heard it have likely fallen under its spell.

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Song of the Day #1,412: ‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’ – Elvis Costello

Best Albums of the 70s – #17
My Aim is True – Elvis Costello (1977)

Elvis Costello landed three albums on my 80s list, two in the top six. That was definitely his defining decade. But He made a pretty strong impression in the last few years of the 70s as well.

While his second and third albums, This Year’s Model and Armed Forces, won’t appear on this list, they contain some excellent work. But I’m most drawn to Costello’s debut album, My Aim is True, which announced his singular talent through a megaphone.

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Song of the Day #1,411: ‘Zanzibar’ – Billy Joel

Best Albums of the 70s – #18
52nd Street – Billy Joel (1978)

I’ve never understood why Billy Joel gets such a bad rap. Just the other day I happened upon a Slate article titled ‘The Worst Pop Singer Ever: Why, Exactly is Bill Joel So Bad?’

That’s the sort of garbage that only gets written about artists who are beloved by “the masses” and therefore un-hip.

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Song of the Day #1,410: ‘Moonshadow’ – Cat Stevens

Best Albums of the 70s – #19
Teaser and the Firecat – Cat Stevens (1971)

Most of the artists on this 70s list have successfully released music in the decades since. Cat Stevens is an exception. Nine of the 11 albums he released under this name (setting aside his work as Yusuf in the 90s and 00s) came out in the 70s. He couldn’t really belong to any other decade.

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