The Best Records Of The May 1978 Charts

Eclectic Sounds Dominate The May 1978 Album Charts

May 1978; a time when rock was king, but music was begining to change.

With the benefit of hindsight, one can detect the beginning of the end of the classic rock era occurring sometime towards the end of the 1970s. The album charts of May 1978 were nothing if not eclectic. They featured many different genres of music including disco, reggae, pop, easy listening and even some rock music.

In the USA there were attempts to have different charts which reflected various types of music but here, in the UK, there was just the one generic chart. In May 1978, the dominant musical sound was that of disco with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album occupying the No. 1 slot that summer from the end of April until early September. In fact, a cursory glance of the album charts in May 1978 turns up some pretty bland fare such as Wings, Abba, Genesis, Kate Bush, Billy Joel and Gerry Rafferty of “Baker Street” fame.

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac was released back in February 1977 and spent a total of 477 weeks in the album charts. It hovered around the bottom of the top 10 in May 1978 and is still the classic example of soft rock with 11 perfectly crafted songs that have stood the test of time. The album chronicles the tempestuous personal relationships of the band members.

If you are looking for real rock of the hard variety, then Rainbow’s Long Live Rock & Roll will not disappoint. This album was released in April 1978 and spent 3 months on the charts entering at No 16 on 29 April and getting as high as No 7. This was their third album and the last with Ronnie James Dio on vocals.  The album contains the classic Rainbow track ‘Long Live Rock and Roll’.

A truly great album that should be in everyone’s collection is New Boots and Panties by Ian Dury. This album first entered the charts in October 1977 where it was to spend 90 weeks yet never got any higher than No 5. Dury had been on the music scene for a long time before he hit gold with his first solo album. In May 1978, it was still in the top 20. I cannot think of any artist who has come up with such an original collection of songs for their first album. Dury was to have even more success with the follow-up LP Do It Yourself which got to No 2 in 1979 but he never again captured the humour, energy and enthusiasm which goes through every track on New Panties.

But what about punk? Unfortunately, it was burning itself out by 1978 with the breakup of the Sex Pistols.  The May 1978 chart offered the Buzzcocks’ Another Music in a Different Kitchen which spent 11 weeks in the charts but only reached No 15. Other bands in the charts that month with a punk heritage include Blondie with their first album Plastic Letters, Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model and Television’s Adventure- the follow up to the incredible Marquee Moon album. My punk choice would be Patti Smith with Easter. This was the follow-up to her first non-charting album Horses which had some really exciting tracks including Gloria and Land. Easter does have some memorable tracks especially ‘Because the Night’ and ‘Space Monkey’.  Easter got to No 12 in May 1978 and was her most successful album.

Punk may have dented people’s enthusiasm for prog rock but one genre-defying band that featured in the May ’78 charts were Jethro Tull with Heavy Horses. This critically acclaimed record only got to No 20 and remained in the charts for 10 weeks. This was their 13^th chart album. Other rock albums in the May 1978 chart include Meatloaf with his epic Bat out of Hell which entered the charts in March 1978 and was to remain there for 9 years but never got any higher than No 9. You can also find ELO’s Out of the Blue which spent two years in the charts.

My personal pick of the pops for May 1978 has got to be The Rutles, a band formed for the 1978 spoof television documentary All You Need is Cash. This is a gem of a record containing 14 perfectly crafted pastiches of Beatles songs (20 on the CD re-issue). The songs were all written by Neil Innes who had been in the comedy/trad jazz band The Bonzos. The songs are not parodies or tributes but may be heard to contain elements from at least one Beatles song in each track. In fact, The Rutles ended up paying half of their royalties to the Beatles as the songs were judged to be too close to the originals. Whenever I first hear this record I always think that it must be the original until you realise that you cannot quite place the song. The Rutles album spent 12 weeks on the charts in 1978 but only made the No 10 slot.

The Carouser’s May 1978 revisionist top 10 album chart

Actual chart positions (Official UK Charts Company) on 7 May 1978 are in brackets

1. The Rutles – The Rutles (13)
2. Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties (19)
3. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (14)
4. Patti Smith – Easter (26)
5. Rainbow – Long Live Rock & Roll (9)
6. Jethro Tull – Heavy Horses (20)
7. Buzzcocks – Another Music in a Different Kitchen (40)
8. Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model 21)
9. Blondie – Plastic Letters (25)
10. Television – Adventure (33)