Favorite albums of the year

I'm not talking about your favorites of 2015, its barely even started!

I started this on a facebook group I belong too and some people were digging the idea, although I was the only one really contributing to it. Maybe it will go over a little better here, also on the facebook group its mostly just METAL. On here it might work a little better because it doesn't have to be METAL its about what your favorite albums are from that year. I'm going to start with 1970 and we'll eventually (hopefully, if I don't flake out and give up) get to the present year which depending on how often I update might be this year, next year or later (haha), but we'll see how this goes. So lets get started!

1970



The year is 1970. My favorite releases from that year are Black Sabbath -S/T and Led Zeppelin III. 2 very different bands but both are very influential to metal music and are basically part of the beginnings of heavy metal. The opening track alone to Black Sabbath is so evil sounding. Even the albums artwork is haunting.
Led zeppelins III is a bit different from the first two albums being a little more acoustic, mellow and very bluesy. The heaviest track on the whole album is the opening track Immigrant Song. This album may not be heavy but it has a lot of great songs. When I was younger I played this album non stop.


So what's your favorite albums from 1970?

1970 I think is one of the best years in music history, so many choices!  So here are 50 albums (in no particular order) and I could probably add another 50 to this list fairly easily....

Santana
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Van Morrison - Moondance
Atomic Rooster - Atomic Roooster
Mountain - Climbing!
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Nike Drake - Bryter Later
The Doors - Morrison Hotel
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
CSN&Y - Deja Vu
Jimi Hendrix - Band Of Gypsys
Lucifer's Friend - Lucifer's Friend
Jethro Tull - Benefit
Van Der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do I Wave To Each Other
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon
The Who - Live At Leeds
Woodstock: Soundtrack
Deep Purple - In Rock
Free - Fire & Water
Uriah Heep - Very 'eavy, Very 'umble
Yes - Time And A Word
Grand Funk Railroad - Closer To Home
James Gang Rides Again
Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die
The Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance
Neil Young - After The Gold Rush
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Santana - Abraxas
Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
Mott The Hoople - Mad Shadows
Led Zeppelin - III
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World
Soft Machine - Third
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Gentle Giant - Gentle Giant
Jefferson Starship - Blows Against The Empire
Wishbone Ash - Wishbone Ash
King Crimson - Lizard
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - ELP
Focus - Focus Plays Focus
John McLaughlin - My Goals Beyond
Curved Air - Airconditioning
Miles Davis - A Tribute To Jack Johnson
Van Der Graaf Generator - H To He, Who Am The Only One
Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By
Stephen Stills - Stephen Stills
Genesis - Trespass

Yeah, with 1970 I can't even pick a favorite.

Wow S.D. I knew you would have a lot of favorites haha. As the years go on I'll have more favorites. A lot of the stuff I listen to either didn't start til the mid 70's or I didn't feel the band didn't get strong until a few albums later. Someone on the facebook group posted this. I never heard of it before but looked it up on youtube and I liked what I heard.

corplhicks wrote:

Yeah, with 1970 I can't even pick a favorite.

hahaha too many or you didnt like anything?

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Wow S.D. I knew you would have a lot of favorites haha. As the years go on I'll have more favorites.  A lot of the stuff I listen to either didn't start til the mid 70's or I didn't feel the band didn't get strong until a few albums later. Someone on the facebook group posted this. I never heard of it before but looked it up on youtube and I liked what I heard.

Yeah, that Taste album is really good, it was Rory Gallagher's first band.  

My list originally had about 86 titles on it, I decided to cut it down a little.  

S.D. wrote:

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Wow S.D. I knew you would have a lot of favorites haha. As the years go on I'll have more favorites.  A lot of the stuff I listen to either didn't start til the mid 70's or I didn't feel the band didn't get strong until a few albums later. Someone on the facebook group posted this. I never heard of it before but looked it up on youtube and I liked what I heard.

Yeah, that Taste album is really good, it was Rory Gallagher's first band.  

My list originally had about 86 titles on it, I decided to cut it down a little.  

Hahaha I don't think I have that many favorite albums for any year but i'll have to wait and see what happens. I could be wrong.

It's just going to be a giant list thread, where every single release from 1970 is going to get mentioned.

If I'd have to name just one it'd be Deep Purple In Rock. That album was a game changer. No disrespect to Sabbath, as I like both their '70 albums a lot, but Purple was always the more interesting and exciting band.

Lari wrote:

It's just going to be a giant list thread, where every single release from 1970 is going to get mentioned.

If I'd have to name just one it'd be Deep Purple In Rock. That album was a game changer. No disrespect to Sabbath, as I like both their '70 albums a lot, but Purple was always the more interesting and exciting band.

HAHAHA! Well I'm hoping we can avoid that cause no one can like every release ever made each year. If it just gets stupid then i'll just end it, but it should just be strictly the albums you couldn't put down and just couldn't stop listening to it. I understand theres tons of good albums each year but be reasonable and list THE best ones for you.

I never could get into Deep Purple.

S.D. wrote:

The Doors - Morrison Hotel

Nothng beats this!

There are too many to list I know, but Led Zeppelin III is a top contester to me, and Black Sabbath (both albums) too along with Uriah Heep, but only after Doors with Morrison Hotel.

Don't worry, once we get past 1973 my lists will get smaller with each consecutive year.

S.D. wrote:

Don't worry, once we get past 1973 my lists will get smaller with each consecutive year.  

Black Sabbath

After that, not too much interests me from that year (just going off SD's list; I'm not well versed in music from that year)

Ok too many to list but if I had narrow down it would be:

Jimi Hendrix- Band of Gypsys-IMO one of the greatest live albums of all time. Hendrix moving in a different direction, with the short lived Band of Gypsys

The Doors- Morrison Hotel- The band after the fiasco of Miami, and the cool experimentation of 'The Soft Parade', the band returns with a lean, mean, no frills rock album.

Honorary mention to Deep Purple- In Rock

There are tons of great albums as SD listed but if I had to pick just one I'd go with Black Sabbath - S/T.

Moving on to 1971

Alice Cooper- Killers
Alice Cooper- Love It To Death
Led Zeppelin- IV

I think Led Zeppelin IV was my first exposure to rock music. Either them or Def Leppard I honestly forget. I just remember my mother had a bunch of records and one day I decided to go threw them and see if I liked anything. I knew the song Stairway To Heaven cause the radio would play it all the time but I never heard anything else until I listened to this record. I played it constantly, but the record ended up getting ruined because my brother and cousin thought it was funny when they would jump and make the record player skip scratching the record. They ended up doing it so much the record was practically useless.

Alice Cooper I didn't get into to much much later in life. I always liked the songs I heard but I never bought anything until a few years ago and I found so much stuff I never even heard and now I can't get enough especially the older stuff like Killers and Love It To Death. The band finally started taking themselves more seriously on Killers. Love it to Death really did it for them. The whole album is a masterpiece.

Well, it's got to be an album from the big three. I guess since I don't really love Led Zep IV or Fireball, it's gotta be Sabbath's Master of Reality. That's a great album. Right up there among the best Ozzy-era albums, together with the first two of course.

1971 is another amazing year for music and again...I left quite a bit off the list (including a bunch of jazz albums).  

The Doors - L.A. Woman
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame
The Who - Who's Next
Wishbone Ash - Pilgrimage
Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality
Budgie - Budgie
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
King Crimson - Islands
Humble Pie - Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore
The James Gang - Live in Concert
Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself
Atomic Rooster - In Hearing Of
Deep Purple - Fireball
Curved Air - Second Album
Electric Light Orchestra - No Answer
Led Zeppelin - IV
Bill Withers - Just As I Am
ELP - Tarkus
The Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East
Focus - Moving Waves
Gentle Giant - Acquiring The Taste
Jimi Hendrix - The Cry Of Love
Jimi Hendrix - Rainbow Bridge
Ten Years After - A Space In Time
Caravan - In The Land Of Grey & Pink
Nucleus - We'll Talk About It Later
Queen - Queen
McDonald & Giles - McDonald & Giles
Thin Lizzy - Thin Lizzy
Procol Harum - Broken Barricades
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Traffic - The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
Weather Report - Weather Report
T-Rex - Electric Warrior
Uriah Heep - Demons & Wizards
Yes - The Yes Album
Alice Cooper - Killer
Yes - Fragile
Can - Tago Mago
CSN&Y - 4-Way Street
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Genesis - Nursery Cryme
Miles Davis - Live Evil
Mott The Hoople - Brain Capers

So which one is your favourite?

Too many to choose from, I couldn't narrow it down to 1, I probably couldn't narrow it down to 10. I posted those albums because I like all of them.

theres some good stuff on that list. Thin Lizzy, Genesis, Queen, and Sabbath, but I dont like enough songs off those albums for my list.

My father in law loves Tarkus. The wife and I got his record and got it signed by Keith Emerson for Christmas.

Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality
Alice Cooper - Killer

I was born in '70 and didn't start getting into music till the early 80s, therefore my knowledge of most pre-1980 rock is spotty (at best).

According to my RateYourMusic account, I own a grand total of three 1970 releases - Closer to Home by Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, and Led Zeppelin III.

For whatever it's worth, I like all three just fine but if I had to pick a fave I guess I'd go with Paranoid.

Similarly, the only 1971 releases I own are Yes' Fragile and The Doors' L.A. Woman. Of those two I'd pick The Doors as my fave.

From 1971, gotta go with the excellent but waaaaaay overplayed Led Zeppelin IV