New Releases: Cosmo Topper - Cosmo Topper's 1979 (2026)

Cosmo Topper has just released his new album, "Cosmo Topper's 1979".

It's a collection of songs that helped shape his musical journey that he's reimagined with some wonderful musicians including Robbie Rist, Susan West, Jamie Knight, and Tim Henderson!

The album was produced by Morley Bartnoff and Michael Simmons!

Cosmo Topper reimagines songs by The Plimsouls, Bram Tchaikovsky, Bugs Tomorrow, 20/20, The Motels, The Pop, The Records and The Knack!

Read a little from Cosmo about the album: “This isn’t a nostalgia record. I was there, and my life runs directly through these songs and many of the people who created them. I came out of the same Los Angeles musical community, recording, writing and performing with Bugs Tomorrow, Andy and the Rattlesnakes, Burning Sensations and Dramarama, and later working alongside Tony Award winners Stew and Heidi Rodewald. With Bugs Tomorrow, I co-wrote ‘Summercamp,’ which I’ve reclaimed here. With Burning Sensations, I went from the Los Angeles clubs to Capitol Records and the MTV exposure of ‘Belly of the Whale.’ These nine songs aren’t simply favorites. They represent friendships, stages and experiences that have intersected with my musical life for more than four decades. Those connections are everywhere. The Pop’s Tim Henderson plays his original Arista-era bass and sings harmonies on this record. Plimsouls guitarist Eddie Muñoz later joined my band Daisychain, where we actually played ‘A Million Miles Away’ together. Peter Case and I have shared the stage multiple times, and years earlier I interviewed him for Yeah Yeah Yeah. John Wicks of The Records became a dear friend, and Steve Allen of 20/20 and I have played together. Then there’s The Knack. Before I joined Tim Piper and Greg Piper’s production of the John Lennon rock theatrical ‘Just Imagine’, Tim took me into Doug Fieger’s studio, where we recorded three songs. Doug appreciated my playing, and I saw firsthand what a terrific producer he was. Later, when ‘Pure Fast Vibrations’ came out, Knack drummer Bruce Gary heard it, called me and said, ‘If you ever need a drummer, please hire me. I’d love to play music with you.’ Most recently, Berton Averre and I have become friends on Threads. So when I play The Knack’s ‘Let Me Out,’ I’m not simply covering a song I loved in 1979. There’s a lifetime attached to it. Robbie Rist - one of power pop’s great musicians and champions - plays drums on two songs and appears as a guest vocalist on another. We aren’t trying to reproduce the originals note for note. We’re treating them as living music: rearranging them, reimagining them and reconnecting them to the electricity that made us fall in love with them. From The Knack, The Records, The Pop, 20/20, The Plimsouls, The Motels and Bram Tchaikovsky to my own Bugs Tomorrow, this album is about something larger than nine songs. It’s about a remarkable musical moment and the friendships and creative relationships that survived it. This isn’t a covers album about a world I wish I’d experienced. I lived in that world, and more than four decades later, those people, songs and connections are still part of my life - because sometimes the past isn’t behind us at all; sometimes it’s waiting to be rediscovered. GREAT!!"