Another watershed year for releases, and believe me the omissions were not at all easy. I chose Greetings over "The Wild, The Innocent..." and I know some people here will probably have a problem with it. Oh well, both are great records. I did take a little bit of liberty with the poll by including the Crimson record, although really it's a fucking classic and you all should hear it at some point. All of the records on the poll are fucking great and so are many of these omissions:
Note: "Here Come the Warm Jets" was January 1974
# Toots & the Maytals * Funky Kingston (Mango)
# New York Dolls * New York Dolls (Mercury)
# Betty Davis (Just Sunshine/Aztec)
# Lee Perry & the Upsetters * Blackboard Jungle Dub (Upsetter/Trojan)
# Funkadelic * Cosmic Slop (Westbound)
# Miles Davis * On The Corner (Columbia)
# Toots & the Maytals * In The Dark (Trojan)
# John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana * Love Devotion Surrender (Columbia)
# The Mahavishnu Orchestra * Birds Of Fire (Columbia)
# Fela Kuti * Gentleman (Universal)
# Herbie Hancock * Sextant (Columbia)
# Serge Gainsbourg * Vu De L' Exterieur (Philips Fr)
# Al Green * Call Me (Hi)
# Bob Marley & the Wailers * Burnin' (Tuff Gong/Island)
# Roxy Music * For Your Pleasure (EG)
# Augustus Pablo * This Is Augustus Pablo (Kaya/Heartbeat)
# Larry Marshall * Presenting Larry Marshall 1968-73 (Heartbeat)
# The Silvertones * Silver Bullets (Trojan)
# T. Rex * Tanx (Mercury/Repertoire)
# Roxy Music * Stranded (EG)
# Herbie Hancock * Head Hunters (Columbia)
# Herman Chin-Loy * Aquarius Rock (Pressure Sounds)
# Cymande * Second Time Round (Janus/Sequel)
# Harmonia * Music Von Harmonia (Brain)
# Curtis Mayfield * Back To The World (Curtom)
# Amon Duul II * Wolf City (Mantra)
# John Cale * Paris 1919 (WB)
# John Martyn * Solid Air (Island)
# Roy Harper * Lifemask (Resurgent)
# Faust * Faust IV (Virgin)
# Hawkwind * Space Ritual (One Way)
# Al Green * Livin' For You (Hi)
# Mott The Hoople * Mott (Columbia)
# Secos e Molhados (Continental)
# The Mahavishnu Orchestra * Between Nothingness And Eternity (Columbia)
# Little Feat * Dixie Chicken (WB)
# Ash Ra Tempel * Join Inn (Spalax)
# Gong * The Flying Teapot (Radio Gnome Invisible Pt. 1) (Charly)
# Fela Kuti * Afrodisiac (Universal)
# Terry Reid * River (Water/Atlantic)
# Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes * Black & Blue (Philadelphia International)
# Sly & the Family Stone * Fresh (Epic)
# Tom Ze * Todos Os Olhos (EW)
# Faust * The Faust Tapes (Cuneiform)
# ZZ Top * Tres Hombres (London)
# Todd Rundgren * A Wizard, A True Star (WB/Rhino)
# Cornell Campbell (Trojan)
# Tim Buckley * Honeyman (Manifesto)
# John Holt * 1000 Volts Of Holt (Trojan)
# The J.B.'s * Food For Thought (Polydor)
# Nektar * Remember The Future (Bellaphon)
# Mahavishnu Orchestra * The Lost Trident Sessions (Columbia)
# Lynyrd Skynyrd * Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd (MCA)
# Bruce Springsteen * The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (Columbia)
# Gong * Angel's Egg (Radio Gnome Invisible Pt. 2) (Charly)
# Lou Reed * Berlin (RCA)
# Pink Fairies * Kings Of Oblivion (Polydor)
# Horace Andy * You Are My Angel (Trojan)
# Black Sabbath * Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (WB)
# The Isley Brothers * 3+3 (T-Neck/Epic)
# Neu * Neu! 2 (Brain/Astralwerks)
# Alice Cooper * Billion Dollar Babies (WB)
# Larry Young * Lawrence Of Newark (Sequel/Sanctuary)
# Gentle Giant * In A Glass House (PolyGram)
# Gentle Giant * Octopus (PolyGram)
# Guru Guru (Polydor)
# Tom Waits * Closing Time (Elektra)
# Magma * Mekanik Destruktiv Kommandoh (A&M)
# Chick Corea * Hymn to the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor)
# The Melodians * Sweet Sensation: Best Of 1967-73 (Trojan/Sanctuary)
# Charles Mingus * Mingus Moves (Atlantic)
# Robert Fripp & Brian Eno * No Pussyfooting (EG)
# Jane Birkin * Di Doo Dah (Fontana/Universal Fr)
# Bill Withers * Live At Carnegie Hall (Sussex)
# Budgie * Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (MCA/Roadracer)
# The Strawbs * Hero And Heroine (A&M)
# Neil Young * Time Fades Away (Reprise)
# Genesis * Selling England By The Pound (Atlantic)
# Jimmy Cliff * Unlimited (Island)
# Santana * Welcome (Columbia)
# Tower Of Power (Columbia)
# Kevin Ayers * Bananamour (Beat Goes On)
# Humble Pie * In Concert (King Biscuit)
# Queen (EMI)
# Tyrone Davis * Without You In My Life (Brunswick)
# Alice Cooper * Muscle Of Love (WB/Rhino)
# The Modern Lovers * Precise Modern Lovers Order (Rounder)
# Alice Cooper * School's Out (WB)
# Gram Parsons * GP (Reprise)
# Gram Parsons & the Fallen Angels * Live (Rhino)
# The O'Jays * Ship Ahoy (CBS)
# Tangerine Dream * Green Desert (Castle)
# The Rolling Stones * Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones)
# David Bowie * Pin-Ups (RCA)
# Henry Cow * Legend (ESD)
# Steely Dan * Countdown To Ecstasy (MCA)
# Weather Report * Sweetnighter (Columbia)
# Kraftwerk * Ralf And Florian (Philips)
# Emerson Lake & Palmer * Brain Salad Surgery (Atlantic)
# Raspberries * Side Three (Capitol)
# Yes * Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic)
# Free * Heartbreaker (A&M)
# Black Nasty * Talking To The People (Stax)
Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
Quote:
Bruce Springsteen's debut album found him squarely in the tradition of Bob Dylan: folk-based tunes arranged for an electric band featuring piano and organ (plus, in Springsteen's case, 1950s-style rock & roll tenor saxophone breaks), topped by acoustic guitar and a husky voice singing lyrics full of elaborate, even exaggerated imagery. But where Dylan had taken a world-weary, cynical tone, Springsteen was exuberant. His street scenes could be haunted and tragic, as they were in "Lost in the Flood," but they were still imbued with romanticism and a youthful energy. Asbury Park painted a portrait of teenagers cocksure of themselves, yet bowled over by their discovery of the world. It was saved from pretentiousness (if not preciousness) by its sense of humor and by the careful eye for detail that kept even the most high-flown language rooted. Like the lyrics, the arrangements were busy, but the melodies were well developed and the rhythms, pushed by drummer Vincent Lopez, were breakneck.
David Bowie - Aladdin SaneQuote:
Ziggy Stardust wrote the blueprint for David Bowie's hard-rocking glam, and Aladdin Sane essentially follows the pattern, for both better and worse. A lighter affair than Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane is actually a stranger album than its predecessor, buoyed by bizarre lounge-jazz flourishes from pianist Mick Garson and a handful of winding, vaguely experimental songs. Bowie abandons his futuristic obsessions to concentrate on the detached cool of New York and London hipsters, as on the compressed rockers "Watch That Man," "Cracked Actor," and "The Jean Genie." Bowie follows the hard stuff with the jazzy, dissonant sprawls of "Lady Grinning Soul," "Aladdin Sane," and "Time," all of which manage to be both campy and avant-garde simultaneously, while the sweepingly cinematic "Drive-In Saturday" is a soaring fusion of sci-fi doo wop and melodramatic teenage glam. He lets his paranoia slip through in the clenched rhythms of "Panic in Detroit," as well as on his oddly clueless cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together."
The Stooges - Raw PowerQuote:
By most accounts, tensions were high during the recording of Raw Power, and the album sounds like the work of a band on its last legs -- though rather than grinding to a halt, Iggy & the Stooges appeared ready to explode like an ammunition dump. From a technical standpoint, Williamson was a more gifted guitar player than Asheton (not that that was ever the point), but his sheets of metallic fuzz were still more basic (and punishing) than what anyone was used to in 1973, while Ron Asheton played his bass like a weapon of revenge, and his brother Scott Asheton remained a powerhouse behind the drums. But the most remarkable change came from the singer; Raw Power revealed Iggy as a howling, smirking, lunatic genius.
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the MoonQuote:
By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren't that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd's slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. But what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It's dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the HolyQuote:
Houses of the Holy follows the same basic pattern as Led Zeppelin IV, but the approach is looser and more relaxed. Jimmy Page's riffs rely on ringing, folky hooks as much as they do on thundering blues-rock, giving the album a lighter, more open atmosphere. While the pseudo-reggae of "D'Yer Mak'er" and the affectionate James Brown send-up "The Crunge" suggest that the band was searching for material, they actually contribute to the musical diversity of the album. "The Rain Song" is one of Zep's finest moments, featuring a soaring string arrangement and a gentle, aching melody. "The Ocean" is just as good, starting with a heavy, funky guitar groove before slamming into an a cappella section and ending with a swinging, doo wop-flavored rave-up. With the exception of the rampaging opening number, "The Song Remains the Same," the rest of Houses of the Holy is fairly straightforward, ranging from the foreboding "No Quarter" and the strutting hard rock of "Dancing Days" to the epic folk/metal fusion "Over the Hills and Far Away." Throughout the record, the band's playing is excellent, making the eclecticism of Page and Robert Plant's songwriting sound coherent and natural.
The Who - QuadropheniaQuote:
Pete Townshend revisited the rock opera concept with another double-album opus, this time built around the story of a young mod's struggle to come of age in the mid-'60s. If anything, this was a more ambitious project than Tommy, given added weight by the fact that the Who weren't devising some fantasy but were re-examining the roots of their own birth in mod culture. In the end, there may have been too much weight, as Townshend tried to combine the story of a mixed-up mod named Jimmy with the examination of a four-way split personality (hence the title Quadrophenia), in turn meant to reflect the four conflicting personas at work within the Who itself. The concept might have ultimately been too obscure and confusing for a mass audience. But there's plenty of great music anyway, especially on "The Real Me," "The Punk Meets the Godfather," "I'm One," "Bell Boy," and "Love, Reign o'er Me." Some of Townshend's most direct, heartfelt writing is contained here, and production-wise it's a tour de force, with some of the most imaginative use of synthesizers on a rock record. Various members of the band griped endlessly about flaws in the mix, but really these will bug very few listeners, who in general will find this to be one of the Who's most powerful statements.
Stevie Wonder - InnervisionsQuote:
When Stevie Wonder applied his tremendous songwriting talents to the unsettled social morass that was the early '70s, he produced one of his greatest, most important works, a rich panoply of songs addressing drugs, spirituality, political ethics, the unnecessary perils of urban life, and what looked to be the failure of the '60s dream -- all set within a collection of charts as funky and catchy as any he'd written before.
Can - Future DaysQuote:
Damo Suzuki's final effort is Can's most atmospheric and beautiful record, a spartan collection of lengthy, jazz-like compositions recorded with minimal vocal contributions. Employing keyboard washes to create a breezy, almost oceanic feel (indeed, two of the tracks are titled "Spray" and "Bel Air"), the mix buries Suzuki's voice to elevate drummer Jaki Liebezeit's complex rhythms to the foreground; despite the deceptive tranquility of its surface, Future Days is an intense work, bubbling with radical ideas and concepts.
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in AspicQuote:
King Crimson reborn yet again -- the newly configured band makes its debut with a violin (courtesy of David Cross) sharing center stage with Robert Fripp's guitars and his Mellotron, which is pushed into the background. The music is the most experimental of Fripp's career up to this time -- though some of it actually dated (in embryonic form) back to the tail end of the Boz Burrell-Ian Wallace-Mel Collins lineup. And John Wetton was the group's strongest singer/bassist since Greg Lake's departure three years earlier. What's more, this lineup quickly established itself as a powerful performing unit working in a more purely experimental, less jazz-oriented vein than its immediate predecessor. "Outer Limits music" was how one reviewer referred to it, mixing Cross' demonic fiddling with shrieking electronics, Bill Bruford's astounding dexterity at the drum kit, Jamie Muir's melodic and usually understated percussion, Wetton's thundering (yet melodic) bass, and Fripp's guitar, which generated sounds ranging from traditional classical and soft pop-jazz licks to hair-curling electric flourishes.
