Paste's best albums of 1976 has one Pittsburgh legend and plenty of surprises

Your assignment is to whip up a list of the 25 Best Albums of 1976.

Where do you put Jorge Ben Jor's "África Brasil"?

Paste, which just dropped such a list, has it at No. 2.

There's a good chance you're wondering, "Who is Jorge Ben"?

Ben is a Brazilian artist often considered the father of samba rock. He had one charting U.S. hit connected to his catalog when Sérgio Mendes took "Mas Que Nada" to the American market in 1966.

While "África Brasil" did not chart in the United States and had little presence in the market, David Byrne shined a light on it through his 1989 compilation "Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical." It was later included in the 2005 book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and a Rolling Stone list of 50 Coolest Records.

One of its lasting claims to fame is that Ben received a settlement from Rod Stewart for lifting the melody of the song Taj Mahal" for his hit Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

Topping the list is what Paste calls "the greatest album of all time": Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life." Not bad for an artist's 18th album. Stacked with such classics as "I Wish," "Sir Duke," "Isn't She Lovely," "As" and "Another Star," it's hard to argue against the double-album masterpiece.

Released on Sept. 28, 1976, it spent 13 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, stretching right into the second week of 1977, then returned for another week later that month.

This is where the Pittsburgh angle arrives. Hill District native George Benson played guitar and sang on "Another Star," and he landed at No. 23 on the list with his album "Breezin'," his commercial breakthrough and transition from jazz toward pop -- and, later, disco. Paste calls it "a true smooth-jazz staple."

David Bowie lands at No. 3 with "Station to Station," and the list continues with a mix of obscure (Marijata? Ryo Fukui?) and canonical titles such as the Ramones' debut, Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak," Rush's "2112," Joni Mitchell's "Hejira" and Bob Dylan's "Desire."

This is how we know it was not created by the listeners of WDVE: Missing from the list are the Eagles' "Hotel California," Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam," Kansas' "Leftoverture," AC/DC's "High Voltage," Led Zeppelin's "Presence" and, if you want to count live albums, Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive."

The latter sat at No. 1 for nine weeks in the summer and fall of 1976, interrupted only by the Fleetwood Mac self-titled album from 1975 (weird times) and two weeks for "Breezin'."

Along with Rush and Thin Lizzy, Paste breaks through the snobbery with the inclusion of the first Boston album, considered by many to be one of the best rock debuts of all time. Fleetwood Mac, Frampton and Wonder kept it from being a chart-topper.

Paste notes that the band "polished every last second of their music into a gleam worthy of a freshly waxed muscle car."

If you turn on 102.5 FM, it might be on there right now.

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