Which of the following is your favourite album?

well, this was a seminal year for my music enjoyment. i've got to go with low as well, though. a great collection of avant pop and dark atmospheres. from your selection i also love the eno, iggy, pistols and suicide. others from my collection that are worth a mention include:

Greaves Blegvad Hermann - Kew. Rhone. : prog meets jazz meets intellect Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express : their 1st great album The Specials - s/t : their only great album, what dancing we had Television - Marquee Moon : perfect guitar playing This Heat - s/t : the most experimental rock band, evah Wire - Pink Flag : punk at it's best Bowie - Heroes : same year methinks as low, not as good Steely Dan - Aja : seminal session muso jazz, not a bad moment Cluster and Eno - s/t : where eno got his schtick from Fleetwood Mac - Rumours : aor at its best The Residents - Duck Stab : just for a laugh The Saints - I'm Stranded : more pefect punk Talking Heads - Talking Heads:77 : not as good as they would become Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue : gently does it

also connect concerning joy division and ian curtis. warszawa on low inspired the name of warsaw the punk band before they found their proper, intense sound and turned into joy division.

the idiot was according to deborah curtis, i think, the record which played on ian's stereo when she found him hanging in the kitchen.

You're absolutely right! I never conciously connected them through Curtis. Nice.

i should have put marquee moon instead of never mind the bollocks. the truth is that i find both albums way overrated. concerning marquee moon i always preferred to read what people said about it than listening to the actual album. i like tom verlaine's voice and the guitar sound but the record seems to noodle along. i find the songs are quite samey and too long, esp. the title song. i am in the minority there, i know, but 5 minutes of marquee moon are usually enough for me. something on that record annoys me (the simplicity and repetitiveness?) and bores me to death. it lacks energy or something.

i agree about 'bollocks'. there was such high expectation for it's release that the sludgy rock on it was a deathly dissapointment to me (but not to most folk i must say). especially after the singles which, really, did bring back some sort of raw excitement to rock music. at least that's how it felt at the time.

and i know what you mean about 'marquee moon'. i've had many discussions with people over time who felt exactly the same as you do about it. it's just one of those albums that clicks with people or doesn't. for me, those cerebral guitar noodlings are superb especially on the title track and friction but some of the songs haven't aged as well (just like patti smith's 'horses').