Face Value
Artist: Phil Collins
Community Score: 6.79

Collins proves himself a passionate singer (and distinctive drummer) with a gift for both deeply felt ballads and snarling rockers. His debut album transformed him from the frontman of Genesis to a solo star who happened to be in Genesis, too. Contains "In the Air Tonight" and "I Missed Again." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Read More

Kenny Loggins Alive
Artist: Kenny Loggins

Three albums into his solo career, and Kenny Loggins decides it's time for a double live affair, appropriately titled Kenny Loggins Alive. Such are the perks of launching a career on the back of a successful group -- you can borrow material to flesh out your solo works. This set, recorded between 1978 and 1980, still spends most of its time on... Read More

Touch You
Artist: Jimmy Hall
Eye to Eye
Artist: Eye to Eye

Deborah Berg has a voice so clean that you feel as if you have taken a long bath after listening to this album. Berg, along with her Eye To Eye partner, keyboardist Julian Marshall, are impressive songwriting and performing talents. In fact, "Nice Girls," which was a Top 40 hit, is a pop music masterpiece. A who's who of studio musicians are all... Read More

Singles 1969-1973/1974-1978
Artist: The Carpenters

Exactly what it claims to be, this compilation contains 10 of The Carpenters' 12 Top 10 hits, from "Close To You" to "Top Of The World." They continued to make the charts until 1982, but the bulk of their memorable pop hits, the songs that reintroduced soft, melodic music to the masses and rolled back the rock revolution, are here. ~ William... Read More

Toto IV
Artist: Toto
Community Score: 8.20

It was do or die for Toto on the group's fourth album, and they rose to the challenge. Largely dispensing with the anonymous studio rock that had characterized their first three releases, the band worked harder on its melodies, made sure its simple lyrics treated romantic subjects, augmented Bobby Kimball's vocals by having other group members... Read More

Bella Donna
Artist: Stevie Nicks
Community Score: 7.95

Stevie Nicks' solo career was off to an impressive, if overdue, start with Bella Donna, which left no doubt that she could function quite well without the input of her colleagues in Fleetwood Mac (a band she would remain a member of until 1993). The album yielded a number of hits that seemed omnipresent in the '80s, including the moving "Leather... Read More

Frontiers
Artist: Journey
Community Score: 7.51

Frontiers managed to give Journey four Top 40 hits, with "After the Fall" and "Send Her My Love" both reaching number 23, "Faithfully" at number 12, and "Separate Ways" peaking at number eight -- the same amount that 1981's Escape brandished. While they tried to use the same musical recipe as Escape, Frontiers comes up a little short, mainly... Read More

Escape
Artist: Journey
Community Score: 8.64

Escape was a groundbreaking album for San Francisco's Journey, charting three singles inside Billboard's Top Ten, with "Don't Stop Believing" reaching number nine, "Who's Crying Now" number four, and "Open Arms" peaking at number two and holding there for six weeks. Escape flung Journey steadfastly into the AOR arena, combining Neal Schon's... Read More

Private Eyes
Artist: Hall & Oates
Community Score: 9.75

Hall & Oates were in the middle of recording Private Eyes when Voices suddenly, unexpectedly broke big, with "Kiss on My List" reaching number one not just on the Billboard charts, but in Cashbox and Record World. As the album's producer, Neil Kernon, admits in Ken Sharp's liner notes to the 2004 reissue of the album, everybody knew that the new... Read More

Voices
Artist: Hall & Oates
Community Score: 7.40

At the close of the '70s, Hall & Oates began inching toward a sleek, modern sound, partially inspired by the thriving punk and new wave scene and partially inspired by Daryl Hall's solo debut, Sacred Songs, a surprising and successful collaboration with art rock legend Robert Fripp. While 1979's X-Static found the duo sketching out this... Read More

Abacab
Artist: Genesis
Community Score: 7.32

After gaining some limited commercial success with Duke, Genesis went for the jugular of American radio with the well-crafted pop of Abacab. While there are still some traces of their art rock past, the album is primarily filled with a new wave sound and concise songs. Phil Collins, who replaced Peter Gabriel years earlier as the lead vocalist,... Read More

25 Years 1968-1993
Artist: Climax Chicago Blues Band
Community Score: 10.00

Most casual fans know the Climax Blues Band through "Couldn't Get It Right" and "I Love You," a pair of slick pop and soft-rock hits from the late '70s and early '80s. Those two songs are a little misleading, in a way, since they arrived halfway through a career that spanned over 25 years. Anyone who heard those two hits probably were puzzled by... Read More