Network

Of all the bands that rode the white disco boom out of the Bee Gees' backyard and into what could have been a fresh new tomorrow, Network remain one of the most puzzling, not because they merited so much more success than they ever accomplished, but because there are moments across their debut album where they could have been working in a different ballpark altogether. "You Lied," the opening cut, certainly predicts a hipper version of the early (and still to emerge) Toto, and, while the succeeding "So Far Gone" wants to be a Hall & Oates dancefloor filler, all that really evidences is the septet's versatility. Elsewhere, the likes of Player, the Alessi Brothers, and even latter-day 10cc flicker across your mind ("Holly" even sounds like the latter's "People in Love"). But still there are glimpses of something else just bursting to get out. Something that would rewire American rock for much of the next decade.