EC #5 - This Year's Model

We have gotten to my favorite of his albums, This Year's Model.

This is his second album, but in terms of sound, I sort of think of it as the first REAL EC album. My Aim is True is a truly great record, but it doesn't sound that much like any of his other work. This Year's Model is where he found the sound that he sort of defaults to.

It's a truly excellent album and strangely, despite coming out in 1978, it sounds like it could have been released last year. There really isn't a bad song on there. I don't LOVE "Night Rally," but it's hardly bad.
That just establishes how great the rest of the songs are. That pretty good isn't up to par.

It starts fast and furious with "No Action" and ends with a song that is best summed up with the line "I wanna bite the hand that feeds me." This line is from "Radio, Radio" and EC first came to my attention during the big SNL anniversary they had not too long ago. They showed a classic performance wherein EC was scheduled to play "Less Than Zero" from his debut album. Less than a line in, he stops the band and says "I'm sorry, there's no need to play this song." And they launch into "Radio, Radio." Doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Well one of the producers thought so and swore that EC would never play on American tv again. If that isn't punk, I don't know what is. It clearly didn't stick since I know of at least two other performances, though the oldest I am aware of was "Veronica" in the late 80's.

"The Beat" is a strong contender for my favorite EC song period. In fact, most of the songs on this record are. There's a heavy keyboard sound, but not your standard keyboard. The guitars are accompanied by a strange rock organ, which really separates EC from his contemporaries. The songs no longer sound like Buddy Holly. EC found his own voice and now, people copy that.

It is clear to me that bands like No Doubt and many other "ska" bands have studied "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea." I don't like those bands, but they have good taste. This is an undeniably cool song. And listening to it, you really can see an early blending of rock music with reggae rhythms. They had begun experimenting with these back on "Watching the Detectives" on My Aim is True.

This is damn near a perfect album and would undoubtedly make my list of top ten albums of all time.

Rating: Perfect 10