best album ever

Paul Siebel~ Jack-Knife Gypsy- His second (and unfortunately last) album, full of folky-rootsy-country goodness from start to finish.



Leon & The Shelter People- for about 3 years, Leon was EVERYWHERE. Acid-coated boogie-woogie rock it till it falls off music.



John Hartford~ Aereo-Plain- Transcendent.



Lindisfarne~ Fog On The Tyne- not as good as their debut, but damned good Brit- traditional folk-rock-whatever.



Spacy, psychedelic pop.


And Townes, and John Prine's debut, and Kristofferson, and Jade Warrior and.....damned good year.

Nice one Toze. I think you & I are the only ones that ever plugged this record.

+1 on the Prine, Townes, and Kristofferson.

Call it proto-punk or proto-metal or whatever you want, but Mott the Hoople's fourth album is all about intense rock'n'roll. They somehow managed to be both melodic and articulate while delivering a sonic pummeling that often bordered on sheer chaos. Why this band never broke out of obscurity is one of the great mysteries of the 70's. "Death May Be Your Santa Claus", apart from having one of the best titles of all time, is the sort of rocker that classic rock radio would be built on if it had any taste or sense of self-respect. "The Journey" is an 8 minute epic that, gasp, has a melodic hook AND builds to an electrifying, shiver-inducing climax. "The Moon Upstairs" will split your skull, and "Sweet Angeline" will have you singing along before it even gets to the chorus. Quite simply, one of the most undeservedly unheralded albums of the 70's.

REO Speedwagon turned so quickly into such a bad joke that it's hard to consider they once might have been pretty good. Not great, mind you - I'm not here to take part in any kind of rock revisionism, casting some obscure artifact as a lost gem. At least not in this case. The difference between Speedwagon's '71 debut and their later power ballad atrocities lies exclusively in vocalist Terry Luttrell. The dude sings like it's his last gasp at life and, in so doing, he brings a sense of desperation to this band that they would never revisit. Similarly, songs like "Prison Women" and "Anti-Establishment Man" revealed counterculture sentiments that the band would quickly cover up or forsake. I'm not going to offer a sad eulogy over what-might-have-been had Luttrell stayed with the band - I suspect REO Speedwagon ended up exactly where they'd aimed - but, for one album anyway, they weren't their own cruel punchline.

I was waiting for you to post that Mott album. That's my favorite of theirs.

I gotta hear this.
And, reading his bio, he's Penelope's brother? Cool family.

Yeah, I'm interested in that one as well.

That one and the Mott album that Rads just posted about.

Give me few on the Spheeris.

Here it is....

Unexpected rec and an album I've never listened to.

Yeah, '71. That was my first year on the job. Bad year for libraries.
Bad year for America. Hippies burning library cards, Abby Hoffman
telling everybody to steal books. I don't judge a man by the length of
his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But
you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public
Library, fella.

For me, 1971 begins and ends here:



Only one of a handful of records I'd rate 5/5 stars...reviews abound on the innernets, so if your interest is piqued, surf away.

I've had a pristine vinyl copy of that for about 5 years, and never have gotten around to listening to it.

This is pretty much the only Flo-and-Eddie era release I can listen to without getting a splitting headache.

Sir Douglas Quintet - Return of Doug Saladana

I've always been a big fan of SDQ and this is probably one of their best albums. Can't beat their fusion of country, rock, drugs, cajun music and mexican music. Pure sounds of Texas. For my money, his version of Wasted Days and Wasted Nights is that perfect mix of it all.


Allen Toussaint - S/t

Really good album from the master of New Orleans R&B, funk, & soul. Excellent song-writer with great arrangements. I'd be shocked if someone actually didn't like this. So much of Rock'n'roll was defined by what Toussaint did and he was always kind of behind the scenes. "On Your Way Down" is song crafting at its finest.

Donny Hathaway - Donny Hathaway

This is basically a covers album, but next to Sam Cooke and Otis, Donny Hathaway has the smoothest voice on the planet.

Similar to the Fairport Convention albums with Sandy Denny, but not quite as much "rock" in it. Still, a great album if you like the genre.

And sticking with that genre:


edit: ooops, tentoze posted this but the image didn't work, didn't see it

this guy is great

Yeh, don't know what the fuck happened to the pic. Great album.



Damn shame he got fed up with Tha Bidness so quickly. About the last thing I remember reading about 10 years ago, he was making donuts (literally) somewhere.

This should have been released in 1971. But because David Ruffin pissed off Motown, they wouldn't release it. In my opinion, it's as good as anything the Temptations released. Ruffin can flat out sing and the songs are strong here. IF you like Motown, this is a GREAT ALBUM. If you've seen the VH1 movie on the Temptations, you know that untold amounts of coke and hookers went into making this album.

got a link for that Ruffin album dude?