1979's Breakfast in America proves that not all disco is meant for dancing (plus: a forgettable Anne Murray experience)

 

I've made a point in some previous posts about my newfound fascination with disco - how quickly it came and went but how emblematic of its time it was. Although I already knew Breakfast in America fairly well, listening to it within the context of the other music coming out at the same time has me now recognizing that disco bled into other works in ways I'd never considered before. 

Exhibit A is definitely Goodbye Stranger. To be honest, I'm not sure if I even have an Exhibit B, but if you were to delete my cache of musical knowledge and told me that this was a Bee Gees song, then I wouldn't have a problem with that.

I don't know if this is already an accepted and obvious statement, or if it's the kind of observation that might make a Supertramp superfan super mad, but disco is in this album, purposefully or not. 

In short: I'm just loving how I feel that I know an album like this in one way, but I now have a whole new perspective on it when I play it alongside its contemporary partners. 

Amazing album all around. 

Now, for this Murray album, I have far less to say. I actually have nothing to say off the top of my head about any track. Admittedly, I put it on while I was working on the computer, and while I wasn't expecting to be bowled over by anything, I was surprised when the album was suddenly ... over. Over without any track really grabbing my ears and saying "Listen to this."

I feel that I owe it another shot, but it's going to the back of the queue and I won't promise that it won't fade away forever. 

Update: I didn't know that this album was in my basement! It definitely didn't belong to either of my brothers and I never bought it - it must have come our way in a batch donation.

Now that I've paid my debt, lived up to my word, and given it another shot ... I enjoyed it a little bit more on the second listen, but only a little bit. 

I'd pick Take This Heart as my top track.