Critics Roundup 1979

1979 – Those who took ’76/’77 not as a formula but as a watershed form which to explore uncharted territory survived. So did Glam-rock: it just disguised itself in different duds and disco accessories. Rock rediscovered the dance but revivalism-ska showbands? America discovered Michael Chapman amid musically deft but increasingly economically desperate formulae. Their teens had the Knack but not the other knack of musical self-reliance. Dylan and John Paul II – the first signals of a religious revival. David Byrne surveyed all and moved on; Lou Reed shed many a tear.

Ireland – Ulster was calling and delivered three albums of the first order. Others prepared to follow but no-one had the savvy to sign rudi. The South – Horslip’s best-ever single, club and college inactivity which didn’t match the music, the Radiators opened a new door, U2 became the great green hopes and Fab Vinnie and Droll Dave were cominatye. The Rats celebrates and were then considered from a new plateau.

1980: New world records – the Lodger becomes Baedeker. Ayatollahs and Afghanistan slew America further rightwards; RAR and its affiliates will have to retheorize. Some love songs that might make us pretend to break down and cry. Within Britain, further erosion of the Tour-Album-Tour syndrome; with America, new business methods. 1980: retrenchment, reaction and the rediscovery of feelings other bands haven’t yet reached.

Ireland’s (hopes!) – decent albums from U2, Atrix, Tony Koklin, Teen Commandments, The Blades, D.C. Nien, Lookalikes, Ruefrex, Rudi and Moondogs. Singles from Fabrics, New Heroes, Soul Survivors, Scheme, Threat and Prunes. More business acumen, more folk experiment. And will there be more informed establishment interest in the Irish rock business?