Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1976…
#3 – Station to Station – David Bowie
It turns out I’ve done deep dives on quite a few artists who released albums in 1976. And I’m going to cover most of those records in a single post in a week or so.
But one of those deep dive albums stood out enough to warrant placement in this top five, and that’s David Bowie’s Station to Station.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1976…
#4 – Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder
Like Hotel California, this is a classic album with which I don’t fully vibe. But I certainly appreciate it more than that one.
Stevie Wonder’s double album is his top-selling and most critically-acclaimed work, a Grammy Album of the Year winner that is certified Diamond in the U.S. It’s a sprawling showcase of Wonder’s talents as a writer and performer, combing R&B, soul, jazz, and pop sounds in a 17-track suite.
It’s been nearly six months since my last installment of the Decades series, wherein I feature notable albums from the years 1970 through 2009.
So far I’ve covered the first six years of each of those decades, so I’m more than halfway there. Over the next few weeks, I’ll set my sights on the year 1976.
As usual, I’ll count down my own favorite albums from the year before turning to ones I don’t know well or at all.
The Supremes’ ‘Stop! In the Name of Love‘ rules the Billboard Hot 100 the week of March 23, 1965. Right behind it was ‘Can’t You Heat My Heartbeat’ by Herman’s Hermits.
This was the British group’s first appearance in the top ten (and only their third single). Nine of their next eleven releases would repeat the feat, including two that reached #1 (‘Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter’ and ‘I’m Henry VIII, I Am’).
Throwing back to the week of March 22, 1955, we find Bill Hayes atop the Billboard chart with ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett.’ This novelty folk song was written by George Bruns (not Burns) and Thomas W. Blackburn for the show Disneyland (which was later retitled The Wonderful World of Disney).
Three versions of the song hit the charts around the same time, including one by Fess Parker that was #6 this week and one by Tennessee Ernie Ford that reached the top ten the following week. But it was this version by actor/singer Hayes that did the best, reaching #1 and holding the top spot for a month.
Meet Me In Montauk 