Between this, their debut album and late 1990, the band released another ten albums (not including one of old and previously unreleased material). All got to the number one spot except two, which gives some indication of the huge popularity and influence of the group.
Throughout this period, the band’s line-up remained unchanged except for the sad demise of drummer John Bonham in 1980. During the recent reunion, Bonham’s son has occupied the drumming stool and a worthy replacement he has proved to be. Other band members are Robert Plant (vocals), John Paul Jones (bass) and the iconic Jimmy Page (lead guitar). The latter and Peter Grant, their notorious manager, produced this eponymous album which was recorded in thirty hours and cost £1,782. It sold about ten million worldwide to much acclaim and the band went from strength to strength. If you are lucky enough to own the first vinyl pressing of this album, it is worth around £500, but most copies of the second pressing are valued at between £25 and £40. Track listing of the album (at 40 minutes duration) is as follows: ‘Good Times Bad Times’ ; ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ ; ‘You Shook Me’ ; ‘Dazed and Confused’ ; ‘Your Time is Gonna Come’ ; ‘Black Mountain Side’ ; ‘Communication Breakdown’ ; ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ ; ‘How Many More Times’.

One of the best known albums ever released, not only for it’s content but also for it’s famous cover. Designed by artist Peter Blake, it featured photographs and cardboard cut-outs of various well-known personalities throughout history, mostly from the world of entertainment. The back of the cover contained all the lyrics. The album was recorded at the Abbey Road studios using a pioneering eight-track recording process, with producer George Martin (sometimes referred to as the ‘fifth Beatle’) at the controls. The thirteen tracks varied widely in their style and content, but all seemed to follow a natural path with nothing out of place, with the results winning two Grammy awards that year. One for Best Album and another for Best Contemporary Album, no mean achievement! Total sales went beyond the eleven million mark worldwide, and the album remained in the UK chart for 148 weeks (marginally under three years!). The track listing is as follows: ‘Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ ; ‘With a Little Help from my Friends’ (a big hit for Joe Cocker), ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ ; ‘Getting Better’ ; ‘Fixing a Hole’ ; She’s Leaving Home’ ; ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr.Kite’ ; ‘Within you, Without you’ ; When I’m Sixty-Four’ ; ‘Lovely Rita’ ; ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’ ; ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (reprise), and finally ‘A Day in the Life’  Still obtainable on the CD format, vinyl copies are harder to come by and more costly in good condition.

Springsteen's first album to appear in the UK charts, but the fact that it only achieved a 17th position seems somewhat surprising now, given the excellent quality of the music. At the time, he was hyped as the new Dylan so possibly serious record buyers were a bit suspicious of this. The title track 'Born to Run' (also released as a single) is full of excitement and energy, set to a thunderous beat which continues pretty much throughout the album. His backing group, the 'E Street Band' (featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone) are on cracking form too. Springsteen is a native of New Jersey, and has a particularly faithfull following in that state, especially at the peak of his career. The track listing on this album is as follows:'Thunder Road' ; 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' ; 'Night' ; 'Backstreets' ; 'Born to Run' ; 'She's the One' ; 'Meetin Across the River' ; and finally 'Jungleland' All the songs were written by Springsteen, the lyrics of which are printed inside the gatefold sleeve, and the album was produced by Springsteen, John Landau and Mike Appel. A vinyl copy will sell at around £10 in first class condition.
 

SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE by STEVIE WONDER
Released in September 1976 on the Tamla Motown label, reaching No. in the UK chart.

Produced by Stevie Wonder, this double album won no less than four Grammy Awards: Album of the Year; Best Producer; Best Pop Male Vocal and Best R&B vocal performance for the song ‘I Wish’ , an incredible achievement. Over two years in the making, it was causing label bosses some sleepless nights, but they were well rewarded with worldwide sales of nearly ten million, as well as two single releases that went to number 1 in the States (‘Sir Duke’ a tribute to Duke Ellington and ‘I Wish’).
Total listening time is 109minutes, and the gatefold sleeve of the vinyl copy contains a 24-page booklet with all the lyrics, details of every musician, backing vocalist and friends involved in the project, right down to the tea lady…well almost! The track listing is as follows: ‘Love’s in Need of Love Today’ ; ‘Have a Talk with God’ ; ‘Village Ghetto Land’ ; ‘Contusion’ ; ‘Sir Duke’ ; ‘I Wish’ ; ‘Knocks Me Off My Feet’ ;
‘Pastime Paradise’ ; ‘Summer Soft’ ; ‘Ordinary Pain’ ; ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ (featuring the cries of his then newborn daughter), ‘Joy Inside My Tears’ ; ‘Black Man’ ; ‘Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singalong’; ‘If it’s Magic’ ; ‘As’ ; ‘Another Star’ ; ‘Saturn’ ; Ebony Eyes’ ; ‘All Day Sucker’ ; ‘Easy Goin’ Evening (My Mama’s Call).

THE WALL by PINK FLOYD
Released in December 1979 on the Columbia record label, reaching No. 3 in the UK chart.

So successful was this album on both sides of the Atlantic (No.1 in the USA), that in 1982 a feature film version was released. This was directed by Alan Parker and starred Bob Geldof as the character ‘Pink’.
Taking this album on the road as a live show was another matter though, as it involved the actual building of a huge wall onstage as the musicians played, consequently it only visited four cities.
The wall was actually constructed of 340 fireproof cardboard boxes, measuring 3ft high x 4 feet wide by 1 foot deep, and when erected on stage stood 33 feet high by 260feet wide. The band at this time consisted of Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright (who sadly passed away recently), but there was a lot of animosity within the group at this time. Nick Mason is the only band member to have played on every Pink Floyd album. The double-album gatefold sleeve for the vinyl was designed by artist Gerald Scarfe, and features some quite grotesque characters in the usual Scarfe style. Also the inner sleeves contain the lyrics and other information, again by Scarfe. The track listing is as follows: ‘In the Flesh’ ; ‘The Thin Ice’ ; ‘Another Brick in the Wall pt.1’ ; ‘The Happiest Days of our Lives’ ; ‘Another Brick in the Wall pt.2’ (this track was culled as a single release and reached No.1 in December 1979), ‘Mother’ ; ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’ ; ‘Empty Spaces’ ; ‘Young Lust’ ; ‘One of my Turns’ ; ‘ Don’t Leave Me Now’ ; ‘Another Brick in the Wall pt.3’ ; ‘Goodbye Cruel World; ‘Hey you’ ; ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ ; ‘Nobody home’ ; ‘Vera’ ; ‘Bring the Boys Back Home’ ;
‘Comfortably Numb’ ; ‘The Show Must Go On’ ; ‘In the Flesh’ ; ‘Run Like Hell’ ; ‘Waiting for the Worms’ ‘Stop’ ; ‘The Trial’ ; and finally ‘Outside the Wall. All this amounts to just over eighty-one minutes in playing time!

BAT OUT OF HELL by MEAT LOAF
Released in October 1977 on the Epic/Cleveland International record label, reaching No.9 in the UK album chart.

Given that this album remained in the charts for well over 400 weeks and sold in excess of 14 million copies worldwide, the fact that it only attained the number 9 position in the UK chart and number 14 in the USA is quite amazing. This was the debut album of Meat Loaf (real name: Marvin Lee Aday) and was produced by Todd Rundgren, a rock star in his own right, whose record company actually financed the project. Prior to this, several rejection slips had been given from various other record executives, who generally felt the album to be far too overblown to succeed, but in effect it was simply because of this fact that it triumphed, virtually being in a class of it’s own. Jim Steinman provided the lyrics and also collaborated with Meat Loaf on later projects. At 46 minutes long the track list is as follows: ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ (at nine minutes and fifty-one seconds long, this is almost a quarter of the album!),‘You took the Words Right Out of my Mouth’ ; ‘Heaven can Wait’ ; ‘All Revved up with No Place to Go’ ; ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’ (a million seller as a single), ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ ; and finally ‘For Crying Out Loud’.

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER by SIMON & GARFUNKEL
Released in February 1970 on the CBS record label, reaching No.1 in the UK chart.

This was the duo's sixth hit album in the UK and their second to reach the top spot ('Bookends' was the first in August of 1968). However, the most amazing statistic is that not only did it spend 23 weeks at No.1, but succeeded in totalling 303 weeks in the chart overall! (That equates roughly to five years, ten months and three weeks) And, of course, their back catalogue benefited from this too, as their works spent a total of 102 weeks in the 1971 album chart. Paul Simon's brilliant lyrics and the stunning voice of Art Garfunkel made a great recipe for success, and virtually everything they did thereafter was touched with gold. The track listing on the album is as follows: 'El condor Pasa' ; 'Cecelia' ; Keep the Customer Satisfied' ; 'So long Frank Lloyd Wright' (who incidently, was a real life American architect), 'The Boxer' ; 'Baby driver' ; 'The only living boy in New York' ; 'Why don't you write me' ; 'Bye Bye Love (a cover of the old Everly Brothers hit), 'Song for the Asking' and of course the title track which is actually the first on the album. CD's are available from good record stores, and vinyl copies crop up now and again. Value of the latter is pretty poor due to the albums' popularity, unless you have a quadrophonic version which is around £20 in mint condition.

AUTOBAHN by KRAFTWERK
Released in May 1975 on the Vertigo record label, reaching No.4 in the UK chart.

A cleverly designed cover of a graphic white dual carriageway and white overpass (both embossed) on a bright blue background enclosed an album that was quite a shock to the British record buying public.
The whole thing was mostly instrumental for a start, fairly unusual in itself, and what lyrics there were in German, but the way the synthesizers and other electronic wizardry was utilized was quite unique for that time. The four-piece band initially comprised of Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider with Wolfgang Flur and Klaus Roeder joining later in time to perform on Autobahn. For the following album (Radioactivity) Roeder was replaced by Karl Bartos. Side one was taken up entirely by the title track at just over 22 minutes, but to hear vehicles swishing in the rain down a motorway all done electronically was truly quite amazing! Side two feartured the following tracks: 'Kometenmelodie 1' ; 'Kometenmelodie 2' ; 'Mitternacht' and 'Morgenspaziergang' , but 'Autobahn ' was the only one to be released as a shortened version single. This got to No.11. A vinyl copy of the album in good condition with the sleeve intact, is valued at around £30. The single, with 'Kometenmelodie 1' on the 'B' side, is around half that price, again depending on the condition of the vinyl and sleeve.

PET SOUNDS by the BEACH BOYS
Released July 1966 on the Capitol record label, reaching No.2 in the UK chart.

This album is considered by many to be one of the finest ever produced, due mainly to the inspired genius of Brian Wilson. It was their third album to enter the UK charts, following 'Surfing USA' , 'Beach Boys Party' , and 'Beach Boys Today'. The Californian close-harmony band consisted of Wilson, his two brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love and neighbour Alan Jardine, but later Brian decided to stay home to concentrate on writing and producing more material whilst the band toured. He was then replaced on the road by Bruce Johnson, although Glen Campbell did a short spell with them. The track listing of 'Pet Sounds' is as follows: 'Would'nt it be nice; You still believe in me; That's not me; Don't talk (put your head on my shoulder); I'm waiting for the day; Let's go away for awhile; Sloop John B (a number 2 hit in the UK singles chart), God only knows (another number 2), I know there's an answer; Here today; I just wasn't made for these times; Pet sounds; and finally Caroline no. 'Pet Sounds' is available on CD and is thoroughly recommended. The original vinyl is much harder to obtain, although you should only pay around £30-£35 for the stereo version, depending on condition. Unfortunately, the Beach Boys are no longer a serious entity, as Dennis (the only real surfer in the band) drowned at Marina Del Mar, California in 1983 and Carl succumbed to cancer in 1998. Brian now continues to record and tour with his own excellent band as a solo artist.