Favorite albums of the year

Fat Freddy wrote:

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.

Hahaha no Thin Lizzy? Rush?

I like that Grand Funk song Closer to Home, but never heard the album. Helloween does a great cover of that song.

Again tough tough choices but if I had to chose it would be:

The Doors-LA Woman-Jim Morrison's swan song, where the band goes to the blues route but only the way The Doors can. A dark album, a fitting finale to one of the most influential bands in rock history.

Alice Cooper-Love it To Death- Album #3 from Alice and the boys, and on here the band put their best foot forward with killer tunes, and excellent production from Bob Ezrin, who Alice himself called the 6th member of Alice Cooper. Ezrin put the band thru the paces, zoned in on improving their songwriting and instrumentation, the results put Alice on the map.

1972

Unfortunately I can only pick one album for this year. I would have liked to go with Alice Coopers "Schools Out", David Bowies "Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust" or Black Sabbath "Vol. 4" but when I went threw them the other day, to me there was a lot of stuff I felt was filler. I do listen to those albums but only a handful of songs on each.

My pick is Blue Oyster Cult-S/T. The debut of Blue Oyster Cult. I really like this album a lot. Its a great debut with great songs. Transmaniacon MC, I'm On The Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep, Stairway To The Stars, Screams, Cities On Flames With Rock and Roll, Workshop of the Telescope and Redeemed.

I only have two 1972 releases in my collection - Deep Purple's Made in Japan and Black Sabbath's Vol. 4.

Once again, I like both but I'm gonna have to go with Sabbath.

Any hard rock/metal fan who doesn't own MACHINE HEAD by Deep Purple should hang their heads in shame...

Blue Oyster Cult - s/t
Lucifer's Friend - Where The Groupies Killed The Blues
Curved Air - Phantasmagoria
Flash - s/t
Flash - In The Can
Grant Green - Live At The Lighthouse
Nektar - Sounds Like This...
Rare Bird - Epic Forest
Jimmy Smith - Root Down
The Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach
Neil Young - Harvest
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Humble Pie - Smokin'
Stephen Stills - Manassas
Gentle Giant - Three Friends
Wishbone Ash - Argus
Nektar - A Tab In The Ocean
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards
Weather Report - I Sing The Body Electric
Jeff Beck - Jeff Beck Group
Bill Withers - Still Bill
Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
King Crimson - Earthbound
Aphrodite's Child - 666
Free - Free At Last
Alice Cooper - School's Out
The Doobie Brothers - Toulouse Street
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Trilogy
Yes - Close To The Edge
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
Budgie - Squawk
Genesis - Foxtrot
Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill
Jimi Hendrix - War Heroes
Uriah Heep - The Magician's Birthday
Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
Captain Beyond - s/t
Focus - Focus 3

1972

Deep Purple - Machine Head

Obvious choice. It's a cut above.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I only have two 1972 releases in my collection - Deep Purple's Made in Japan and Black Sabbath's Vol. 4.

Once again, I like both but I'm gonna have to go with Sabbath.

Don't feel bad I only have 4 haha.

S.D. wrote:

Any hard rock/metal fan who doesn't own MACHINE HEAD by Deep Purple should hang their heads in shame...  

I don't own any Deep Purple and probably never will.

That's okay, not everyone can have good taste in music.  

Well, Purple was always a little on and off. Edgy one moment, then mainstream the other. Pop rock, then heavy metal, then funk, then hard rock. A great hard rock album gets followed up by a funk rock one. Then a boring guitar album. And even from the start they can be an acquired taste because of the hammond organ that surely is a turn-off to a lot of modern metal fans who don't understand it.

But despite their checkered past, Machine Head is one album I thought everyone'd own. Even if In Rock was the better one. Either way, they had a good run. The albums after Blackmore I'm only lukewarm to.

But maybe all this weirdness is the reason I find Deep Purple the most fascinating of the original big three of heavy metal. Words can't define Deep Purple.

Because back in the day "hard rock" bands weren't in strait-jackets confined to doing just one thing over and over and over. The breadth of styles Deep Purple explored is one of the reasons I love them so much and prefer music from that era in general. If you listen to any of the hard rock bands from the late 60s and early 70s they are much more diverse than later and because of that I find them far more interesting.

Hammond Organ is the second heaviest instrument to a guitar, modern metal fans that don't understand it need to have their ears cleaned out.

S.D. wrote:

That's okay, not everyone can have good taste in music.    

Hey I'll be the first to admit sometimes I don't have good taste in music.

Lari wrote:

Well, Purple was always a little on and off. Edgy one moment, then mainstream the other. Pop rock, then heavy metal, then funk, then hard rock. A great hard rock album gets followed up by a funk rock one. Then a boring guitar album. And even from the start they can be an acquired taste because of the hammond organ that surely is a turn-off to a lot of modern metal fans who don't understand it.

But despite their checkered past, Machine Head is one album I thought everyone'd own. Even if In Rock was the better one. Either way, they had a good run. The albums after Blackmore I'm only lukewarm to.

But maybe all this weirdness is the reason I find Deep Purple the most fascinating of the original big three of heavy metal. Words can't define Deep Purple.

I don't mind the organs or even the different style albums as long as they are good. I should probably really give them a shot and listen to some stuff. My problem is if I end up liking it I'll have to own every single album and I'm trying to stop doing that haha.

Yeah, I see what you mean. A band with nearly 50 years worth of back catalogue can be a littler frightening to get into. But if you only go for the harder stuff then mark II (which is the definitive lineup) stuff isn't that extensive. With Gillan, Glover, Blackmore, Paice and Lord they only recorded 4+1 albums. And of those only In Rock and Machine Head are essential. Fireball and Perfect Strangers good additions, and that Who Do We Think We Are is a transitional album.

If you're into David Coverdale or Glenn Hughes or both, then it gets a little tougher. And more expensive

Actually I like the song Perfect Strangers. I always forget its them.

Deep Purple's Machine Head

1973

Aerosmith- S/T
Alice Cooper- Billion Dollar Babies
Led Zeppelin- Houses of the Holy

Billion Dollar Babies is the last great Alice Cooper band album. Muscle of Love was a complete mess. Shame they never got to make another good album like this one.

1972 it would be

Deep Purple- Machine Head- Just pure class

Alice Cooper- School's Out- a very diverse album and probably the most diverse album of their career.

1973

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, maybe I suppose. Doesn't seem like a big year.

Okay for 1972 I only have Sabbath's Volume 4 and for 1973 it's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. I just don't have much from the 70s.

1973

Alice Cooper- Billion Dollar Babies- A gem of an album

I own a whopping four (!) 1973 releases - Led Zep's Houses of the Holy, Alice's Billion Dollar Babies, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and Aerosmith's debut.

They're all quality of course, but I've had the Aerosmith album the longest and have probably played it more times than all of the other three combined, so it gets the win.

King Crimson - Lark's Tongues In Aspic
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy
Gentle Giant - In A Glass House
Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are
Thin Lizzy - Vagabonds Of The Western World
Electric Light Orchestra - ELO2
Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Camel - Camel
The Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me
Beck, Bogart & Appice - s/t
Herbie Hancock - Sextant
Tom Waits - Closing Time
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
Seals & Crofts - Diamond Girl
Uriah Heep - Live
Hawkwind - Space Ritual
Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get
Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
Genesis - Genesis Live
Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin - Love, Devotion, Surrender
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy
West, Bruce & Laing - Whatever Turns You On
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup
Buffalo - Volcanic Rock
Atomic Rooster - Nice 'N' Greasy
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Montrose - Montrose
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
The Who - Quadrophenia
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery
Alice Cooper - Muscle of Love
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Between Nothingness & Eternity
Electric Light Orchestra - On The Third Day
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans
Wishbone Ash - Live Dates

manny wrote:

1972 it would be

Deep Purple- Machine Head- Just pure class

Alice Cooper- School's Out- a very diverse album and probably the most diverse album of their career.

This is another Cooper album that I should like the whole thing of but as I was skimming threw it the other day just to get a quick refresh of it I remembered why I didn't care for most of it. Like you said, its very diverse but I don't think its diverse in a good way. Some stuff just does nothing for me. Of course the opening track is a huge favorite but maybe 2 or 3 more songs and thats it for me on that album.

Lari wrote:

1973

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, maybe I suppose. Doesn't seem like a big year.

Hahaha you should check out some of the stuff listed then, cause there is good stuff. Look at SD's list. Some good stuff on there that I like but not as much as the stuff I listed. I think things start to get better from here on.