Entitled McCartney II because its one-man band approach mirrors that of his first solo album, Paul McCartney's first record since the breakup of Wings was greeted upon its release as a return to form, especially since its synth-heavy arrangements seemed to represent his acceptance of new wave. In retrospect, the record is muddled and confused, nowhere more so than on the frazzled sequencing of "Temporary Secretary," where McCartney spits out ridiculous lyrics with a self-consciously atonal melody over gurgling synths. Things rarely get worse than that, and occasionally, as in the effortless hooks of "Coming Up," the record is quite enjoyable. Nevertheless, the majority of McCartney II is forced, and its lack of memorable melodies is accentuated by the stiff electronics, which were not innovative at the time and are even more awkward in the present…

Anyone's Daughter was a late-'70s, early-'80s symphonic prog rock band heavily influenced by Genesis as well as by German bands such as Eloy and Grobschnitt. After breaking up in the mid-'80s, the group reformed in 2000. Consisting of Uwe Karpa (guitars), Matthias Ulmer (keyboards, vocals), Harald Bareth (bass, lead vocals), and Kono Konopik (drums), Anyone's Daughter was formed in 1978. Their first record, Adonis (1979), featured English vocals, epic tracks with reflective and aggressive moments, and a prominent keyboard sound with heavy use of Moogs in particular. Anyone's Daughter (1980) found the band moving towards shorter material, but 1981's Piktors Verwandlungen, on which the band first sang in German, was their most experimental work. Recorded live, it is a concept album based around Hermann Hesse's novel Pictor's Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies and featured several sections with spoken word…

Spirit Of Love stands as a essential, infectious highlight in the late-1970s and early-1980s funk and soul discography of the legendary Vallejo, California outfit Con Funk Shun. Released in 1980 on Mercury Records, this forty-one-minute album showcases the group's signature dual dynamic, effortlessly balancing high-octane dancefloor funk jams with smooth, sophisticated quiet storm R&B ballads. Driven by tight horn arrangements, heavy basslines, and stellar lead vocal trade-offs between Michael Cooper and Felton Pilate, the album captures the group at the peak of their crossover popularity. Standout selections include the unstoppable floorfiller Got To Be Enough, the breezy title track Spirit Of Love, the horn-drenched rhythm of Happy Face, and the soulful, romantic mid-tempo groove By Your Side. Sourced from original high-fidelity lossless transfers complete with EAC sector logging verification and track cue sheets, this landmark Mercury release remains an indispensable centerpiece for classic funk purists, 1980s R&B collectors, and disco archival collections.

The third and final album of what could be called Journey's cocoon phase (Escape would give birth to a fully formed butterfly and put the band through the stratosphere), 1980's Departure would also be the quintet's last with keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie. Produced by Geoff Workman and Kevin Elson (essentially both engineers turned producers), the album continued to build on the band's previous two recordings, but offered an added edge, arrangement-wise. This was likely due to the fact that the band had walked into Automatt Studios with 19 new tunes and proceeded to record most of them live, eventually trimming down to 11 songs. Catapulted all the way up to number eight on the Billboard Top 200, Departure was the band's highest charting album to date and got off to an explosive start with the driving riffs and chorused vocals of "Anyway You Want It" (another radio smash that would chart Top 25)…

Atomhendge, the home of Hawkwind’s catalogue from 1976 1997, continue their series of definitive reissued editions of these classic albums with the Limited 3CD Deluxe Edition release of Levitation. Recorded in 1980 and featuring Ginger Baker, the album was a classic work and spawned an equally legendary tour. Although Baker’s tenure with Hawkwind was brief, a concert at Lewisham Odeon in December 1980 was recorded by a mobile unit. Now remixed from the original multitrack masters this deluxe edition includes the entire concert (during which Sci-Fi author Michael Moorcock guested).

Originally recorded in November 1979 and released in 1980 by JMS Records (reissued in 2007 on CD), The Things You See is an intimate, highly virtuosic duo collaboration between legendary guitar innovator Allan Holdsworth and acclaimed British jazz pianist Gordon Beck. Stripping away heavy rhythm sections, the duo engages in a sophisticated, fluid dialogue blending acoustic and electric guitars with grand and Fender Rhodes electric pianos. Featuring Holdsworth's signature legato lines and complex harmonic voicings alongside Beck's expansive piano work, the album ranges from intricate original compositions to spontaneous duo improvisations. Highlights include the lyrical title track, the sprawling "She's Lookin', I'm Cookin'," and the evocative opener "Golden Lakes." Essential listening for fans of modern jazz guitar and progressive fusion.

Released in 1980 on ECM Records, Home is a groundbreaking, poetic masterpiece composed by master electric bass guitarist Steve Swallow, setting ten poems by the celebrated American poet Robert Creeley to music. Featuring the distinctively expressive vocal phrasing of Sheila Jordan, the album seamlessly bridges contemporary jazz, art song, and chamber improvisation. Swallow is backed by a stellar ensemble including pianist Steve Kuhn, saxophonist David Liebman, synthesizer pioneer Lyle Mays (of the Pat Metheny Group), and drummer Bob Moses. Lyrical, intimate, and harmonically rich, Home remains one of the most distinctive and celebrated fusion-adjacent vocal jazz projects in ECM's classic era.

Originally recorded in September 1980 at MPS Studio in Villingen, Germany, and reissued in 2012 by Promising Music, Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! captures avant-garde legend Cecil Taylor in a captivating solo piano performance. Known for his percussive attack, lightning-fast kinetic energy, and complex structural clusters, Taylor presents eight distinct solo pieces that navigate between intense physical improvisation and delicate, poetic melodic fragments. From short thematic miniatures like "T (Beautiful Young'n)" to expansive, multi-layered exploratory works such as "The Stele Stolen And Broken Is Reclaimed" and "Rocks Sub Amba," this album remains a masterclass in modern solo piano improvisation.

Andrew Hill's Dance of Death, recorded in 1968 with a stellar band, was not issued until 1980. In the late 1960s, Blue Note was no longer the most adventurous of jazz labels. While certain titles managed to scrape through - Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music did but only because Francis Wollf personally financed it - many didn't. The label was firmly in the soul-jazz groove by then, and Hill's music, always on the edge, was deemed too outside for the label's roster. Musically, this is Hill at his most visionary. From hard- and post bop frames come modal and tonal inquiries of staggering complexity. Accompanied by trumpeter Charles Tolliver, saxophonist Joe Farrell, drummer Billy Higgins and bassist Victor Sproles, Hill engages, seemingly, all of his muses at once. Check out the sinister modal blues that is "Fish 'N' Rice" with its loping Eastern-tinged blues and loping horn lines around Hill's knotty fills in the head and choruses…

Gone are the longtime Anderson images of the vagabond/sage (the group is clad in white jumpsuits on the cover) – also gone are the historical immersion of their music and anything resembling Dickensian, much less Elizabethan sensibilities. And nearly gone was Jethro Tull itself, for A started life as an Ian Anderson solo project but ended up as a Jethro Tull release, probably for commercial reasons. The difference is probably too subtle for most people to comprehend anyway. It is more reflective than Tull's usual work, but lacks the sudden, loud hard rock explosions that punctuate most of the group's albums.

Originally recorded in 1980 and reissued on CD in 2001 by Polonia Records, Air Condition is an essential entry in Polish saxophonist and composer Zbigniew Namysłowski's discography. Marking the birth of his celebrated jazz-fusion group of the same name, the album blends high-energy jazz-rock, complex asymmetrical rhythms, and Polish folk elements with tight 1980s funk grooves. Backed by a virtuosic lineup—including electric bass icon Krzysztof Ścierański, guitarist Dariusz Kozakiewicz, keyboardist Adzik Sendecki, drummer Andrzej Mrowiec, and percussionist Malina—Namysłowski showcases his signature soprano and alto saxophone phrasing over driving synth lines and slap-bass rhythms. Featuring standby compositions like "Speed Limit," "Play It To Me," and "Convenient Circumstances," Air Condition remains a vibrant milestone of European fusion.

Released in 1993 on the German archival label Ohrwaschl Records, The Suite presents rare, long-lost recordings by Analogy, the famed German-Italian Krautrock and progressive rock outfit originally formed in the late 1960s. Recorded in 1980 after the band had relocated to England, this two-part extended suite showcases the group's transition from 1970s Hammond-driven organ progressive rock into a more atmospheric, symphonic, and folk-tinged art rock sound. Fronted by the ethereal, distinctive vocals of Jutta Nienhaus and led by guitarist/pianist Martin Thurn, the suite incorporates classical viola textures, delicate acoustic picking, dual guitar leads, and dramatic multi-movement shifts. Divided into "The Suite A" and "The Suite B," the pieces build through melodic folk passages, brooding art-rock interludes, and symphonic prog crescendos. An essential archival document for collectors of European progressive rock, Krautrock history, and classic female-fronted art rock.

Released in 1990 on Timeless Records, Consecretion II continues the archival documentation of piano legend Bill Evans' final residency at San Francisco's Keystone Korner, recorded between August 31 and September 7, 1980. Accompanied by his final, telepathic trio featuring bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera, Evans delivers a deeply emotional, virtuosic performance captured mere days before his untimely passing. The seven-track program balances signature romantic ballads with expansive, swinging post-bop explorations. Highlights include definitive, heartbreaking interpretations of "My Foolish Heart" and "Turn Out The Stars," delicate late-period originals like "Tiffany" and "Your Story," and an epic, nearly eleven-minute excursion through "My Romance." Marked by Johnson's lyrical bass counterpoint and LaBarbera's sensitive brushwork, Consecretion II is a monumental and poignant document of one of jazz's ultimate piano poets at his final peak.

Released in 1990 by Timeless Records, Consecration 1 is a historic, deeply poignant live recording capturing the final trio of piano master Bill Evans during his legendary last engagement at San Francisco's Keystone Korner between August 31 and September 7, 1980—just days before his passing on September 15. Joined by his exceptional last rhythm section featuring young bass prodigy Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera, Evans performs with breathtaking urgency, lyricism, and emotional intensity. Across eight masterfully executed tracks, the trio explores signature Evans standards and poignant late-period originals, including "The Two Lonely People," "Knit For Mary F," "Re: Person I Knew," and soaring renditions of "Emily," "You And The Night And The Music," and "Someday My Prince Will Come." A monumental, indispensable document of modern jazz history, capturing one of the piano's greatest poets at the peak of his reflective powers.

Despite their origins as a bluesy hard-rock outfit, the members of Samson decided to jump the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) bandwagon, drafting a powerful young singer called Bruce Bruce (who later rose to fame as Bruce Dickinson with Iron Maiden) to give them much-needed visual and musical credibility. The scheme worked, and their first album, Head On, contains top-notch NWOBHM, featuring raw, energetic performances capped with often silly or naive lyrics. "Take It Like a Man," "Manwatcher," and "Hammerhead" sound especially awkward, but the hilarious "Take Me to Your Leader" makes it all seem wonderfully innocent.