Led Zeppelin didn’t have a whole lot left in their tank by 1976. Which isn’t to say that, on a good day, they still weren’t one of the most devastating four-pieces the world would ever know. Case in point, Hots On For Nowhere wherein rhythmatists John Bonham and John Paul Jones give full rein to their love of all things groovy, which the other two turn sideways, inside-out, any which way but where you think it might be going. And it rocks.
For all their pomp and fantasy, Queen could also take things down to earth every now and then as Drowse makes clear. Like something Brian Wilson and David Bowie might’ve come up with if they’d ever written a song together. Because it’s eternally true. Teenagers spend vast chunks of their time alone in their rooms frustrated and confused, bored to rages of tears, or maybe just on the drowse.
In 10cc‘s hands, pop was alive and rather brilliantly insane in 1976. Or whatever you call the kind of music they were messing around with on the album How Dare You? in general, the song I Wanna Rule The World in particular – spending big money on studio time and album art. “Art for art’s sake, money for god’s sake,” as one of the other songs on the album put it.
From one of those albums that changed everything forever, Kraftwerk give us superlative Euro-travel music. Just put on the headphones, stare out the window of your moving vehicle, get lost in the trance of history and modernity, wreckage and beauty.
A non-hit from a 1976 album that was thick with hits, Tightrope nevertheless has everything that was ever truly great about the Electric Light Orchestra – big screen dynamics, big melody, big fun all around. It even rocks once they finally get to that part.
Randophonic 
