MusicManiac Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 The Super Seventies Reconsidered - An Assortment of Essential Albums of the Decade As with the 80's thread and other decade threads to follow, All things 70's - a seventies thread for all those disco, rock and soulful sounds from the era with Wolfman Jack, the BeeGees, big hair and bellbottoms. ___________________________________________________________ These aren't the only essential albums of the Seventies. Instead, the point of this list is to give some sense of depth and breadth of the decade's music, so, for starters, it's limited it to one album per artist. The 70's offered some great music in a genre of disco, r&b and rock. _____________________________________________________ BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Born to Run (1975) He said he wanted to make an album with the lyrics of Bob Dylan, the sound of Phil Spector and the voice of Roy Orbison. "Born To Run's" words weren't much like Dylan's, its sound didn't really ape Spector's and Springsteen's voice was nothing like Orbison's -- but all the same, its impact was as if he had accomplished just what he had set out to do. DEREK AND THE DOMINOS: Layla (1970) A tale of two guitarists: Eric Clapton, anguished over an unrequited love and determined to capture his pain in music, and Duane Allman, who dropped by to say hello and was drafted into service. Among white blues-rock albums, "Layla" is probably closest to the real blues: It's the sound of a desperate man making majestic, beautiful and horribly sad music. BILLY JOEL: The Stranger (1977) Movin' Out (Anthony's Song), The Stranger, Just The Way You Are, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, Only The Good Die Young, She's Always A Woman Everybody Has A Dream... Platnium Joel and one of the best recorded albums of the decade. BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS: Live! (1975) Reggae was lauded as the Next Big Thing into America in the early Seventies, but that never happened -- though records as remarkable as Toots and the Maytals' "Funky Kingston," Burning Spear's "Marcus Garvey," the Mighty Diamonds' "Right Time" and Culture's monumental "Two Sevens Clash" deserved far more than a cult audience. The two great reggae collections of the decade are the soundtrack from "The Harder They Come" and virtually the entire recorded catalog of Bob Marley, reggae's only real star in America and a prophet virtually everywhere else. On "The Harder They Come," Jimmy Cliff's best songs sit alongside classics from Toots, the Slickers, the Melodians and others. As for the Marley catalog, "Live!" is a good place to start because of its well-chosen repertoire and its picture of an evangelical frontman and a furious band at the peak of their powers. BOB DYLAN: Blood on the Tracks (1975) Essential Dylan, deep and melodic. THE ROLLING STONES: Exile on Main Street (1972) One of the Stone's classic albums, it featured some great riffs and incredible lyrics. JOHN LENNON: Plastic Ono Band (1970) These are the only Seventies albums from the Sixties' kingpins that deserve to stand alongside "Blonde on Blonde," "Beggars Banquet" and "Revolver." Dylan's album, reportedly prompted by a split with his wife, was lovelier, more mature and more openly emotional than anything he'd done, leavened with just enough righteous anger and convoluted narratives. Weariness rather than maturing characterized "Exile on Main Street," two records of relentless, brutal, and crude rock hits -- "Tumbling Dice," "Happy," "Rip This Joint" -- to lure listeners into the murk. For the former Beatles, things were trickier. George Harrison had the first big hit (with the overblown but admirable "All Things Must Pass") and Paul McCartney had the most success (though only "Band on the Run" was a complete triumph), but John Lennon hit the hardest and cut the deepest. Mostly, he did so on his first solo album, recorded in his post-Beatles flush of freedom and written under the influence of primal-scream therapy. A diatribe against everyone who wronged him and every false dream he ever believed in, "Plastic Ono Band" is monumentally self-absorbed, completely honest and wholly convincing. DAVID BOWIE: Station to Station (1976) He could have been the decade's dominant artist, but Bowie switched direction too often and alienated his fans too eagerly. He left behind a string of Seventies bench marks -- "Ziggy Stardust," "Aladdin Sane," "Low," ""Heroes"," "Lodger," -- but the chilly, hard-rock/funk/synth-pop blend of "Station to Station" deserves special mention as Bowie's initial daring step in the direction that would produce his most lasting work. STEVIE WONDER: Innervisions (1973) Motown's most stubborn individualist listened to everything from reggae to funk to Dylan and sappy ballads and incorporated it all into his synthesizer-driven, multilayered music. Light on sentiment and long on urban horror stories, "Innervisions" brought out the tougher side of this virtuoso idealist. ROD STEWART: Every Picture Tells a Story (1971) Does anybody remember when Rod Stewart had this much compassion, warmth and soul? Does anybody remember when his rock & roll sounded so unforced and natural? And finally, does anybody know what happened? MILES DAVIS: Bitches Brew (1970) This isn't exactly the album that *invented* jazz rock; it's more like Elvis's first records, which were the place where rock first flowered unmistakably. Fusion players have yet to improve upon this turbulent blueprint -- though a few years later, Jeff Beck came up with a more rock-derived alternative on "Blow by Blow" and "Wired." VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Sound of Philadelphia (1988) What Motown was to the Sixties -- an apparently inexhaustible font of stylish, memorable hit singles -- Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International label was to the early Seventies. Sleek and sinuous, the hits just kept on coming: "Back Stabbers," "When Will I See You Again," "Me and Mrs. Jones," "Wake Up Everybody.".. This two-record British compilation collects more of them than any other single source. LED ZEPPELIN: Physical Graffiti (1975) Seldom known for restraint and taste, Led Zeppelin raised a blues-derived racket with such artful excess that this band defined the hard-rock genre. Which is why "Physical Graffiti" - an immoderate, overweening, explosive two-record set -- may be the group's quintessential record: It's nowhere near as focused as "Led Zep IV," but it makes a bigger, grander noise for a longer time. TALKING HEADS: More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) New York City, 1974-1978. It started with the Dolls: willfully crude punk precursors, louder and harder and glitzier than anybody else and equally unstoppable on their own odes to alienation and their trashy covers of soul classics. Then the Ramones: more single-minded than the Dolls and able to do one thing (play *loud, hard and fast*) very well and do it again and again. And once those two groups of brats from the boroughs had helped create New York punk, artier types got involved: Television, with Tom Verlaine's grating voice and minimalist lyrics set against his and Richard Lloyd's alteratively lyrical and raging guitars; and Talking Heads, who on "Buildings and Food" diluted David Byrne's nervous twitches and rampaging irony with Eno's electronic washes and a love for the likes of Al Green. PAUL SIMON: Paul Simon (1972) With its spare, simple and finely drawn sketches about life in Manhattan -- plus a side trip to Jamaica for "Mother and Child Reunion" -- Simon's solo debut was a quietly assertive statement of identity that bore little resemblance to the grandeur of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and showed no need at all for the other voice that sang on that record. ELVIS COSTELLO: This Year's Model (1978) In 1978, England's Capitol Radio named Elton John Male Singer of the Year. He said the station had goofed: "I honestly felt that of the people who had emerged, Elvis Costello was the most important -- by far the best songwriter and the best record maker." John was right. THE ALLMAN BROTHERS: Eat a Peach (1972) The early Allman Brothers practically created Southern rock, leaving a legacy that only Lynyrd Skynyrd (on "Second Helping" and "Street Survivors") deserved to inherit. With Duane Allman on part of the album, the band summed up the genre; on the rest of the album, recorded after his death, they expanded the genre to make room for their tragedy. PATTI SMITH: Horses (1975) An overwrought, silly and exhilarating fusion of rock and poetry. Smith was a born rock & roller and also a mystic whose muses included, in no particular order, Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Rimbaud, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Van Morrison and Jesus. STEELY DAN: Katy Lied (1975) A typical Donald Fagen-Walter Becker production: immaculately well played, deeply cynical and wickedly twisted. Mainstream pop rock as inexplicable as it is irresistible. Equally noteworthy: "Countdown to Ecstasy," "Pretzel Logic." MARVIN GAYE: "Let's Get It On" (1973) His other great concept album of the Seventies, "What's Going On," was about the inner city; this one was about sex. Social awareness was an integral part of the most mercurial and seductive R&B singer in pop music, but sex always *did* bring out the best in him. ELTON JOHN: Honky Chateau (1972) This album was the epitome of the insanely catchy, wondrously disposable pop music that John made in his mid-Seventies heyday. His first "Greatest Hits" album was an even safer bet, but 1975's hard-rocking "Rock of the Westies" was his bravest triumph. JACKSON BROWNE: The Pretender (1976) Tales of loss, disillusionment and uneasy redemption set to the beat of the toughest music Browne had made. The Eagles' "Hotel California" was more ambitious, Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like a Wheel" more flawless, Warren Zevon's first two albums funnier -- but "The Pretender" is the essential touchstone for the Southern California rock of the decade. AEROSMITH: Rocks (1976) At the time, cynics pegged this band as a blatant Rolling Stones retread and not much more. Turns out Aerosmith was rocking harder and more convincingly than the Stones by this point. FLEETWOOD MAC: Rumours (1977) These are two near-perfect pop albums -- both full of songs about girls and boys, both undercut their gorgeous melodies with a dollop of twisted grit. But Big Star (mastermind: Alex Chilton) had considerably more grit and twist, which may be why Fleetwood Mac (mastermind: Lindsey Buckingham) sold about 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 all it's missing is "love's holiday"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicManiac Posted November 14, 2005 Author Share Posted November 14, 2005 Did I ever say how fuckin' cool you are IC? Props man......... Fantasy, September...yeah man EWF for sure. You know my affiliation with Verdeen White and Sonny Emory... great pick man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunnyfoofoo Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Night at the Opera (1976) by Queen Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by Pink Floyd The Clash (1977) by The Clash Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) by Elton John Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (1977) Ziggy Stardust (1972) by David Bowie Pronounced Lehnerd Skinerd (1973) by Lynyrd Skynyrd What's Going On (1971) by Marvin Gaye Rumours (1977) by Fleetwood Mac The Stranger (1977) Billy Joel... actuallym scratch that... any billy joel album will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ganny McVagflaps Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Reverend Jax Posted November 15, 2005 Share Posted November 15, 2005 Mothership Connection by Parliament Motherlode by James Brown Highway To Hell by AC/DC Janis Joplin - Pearl Black Sabbath - Paranoid Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman OR The Teaser And The Firecat Boston by Boston Sheik Yerbouti by Frank Zappa Aqualung by Jethro Tull Reggatta De Blanc by The Police There's a Riot Goin' On by Sly & The Family Stone Moondance by Van Morrison Who's Next by The Who Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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