Early 1970's rock: Name some of your favorites


I've been listening to a local FM station a little more recently and have been enjoying some of the "flashbacks" that they've been playing. I'm primarily talking about stuff from Bowie, Roxy Music, Velvet Underground and yes, even the Stones, etc...

As such, i thought it would be neat to dredge up the past and ask some of you to contribute a "few" of your favourite albums from this time. This might also help others find some "gems" that may have been overlooked. Just remember, we're talking early to mid 1970's, not your favourite rock albums of all time. Sean
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sean
The opportunity to revisit my high school days (class of '75) ... as eclectic as they come ...

David Bowie (Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust; 1972 or Pinups; 1973)
Crosby Stills Nash & Young (DeJaVu; 1970 or 4 Way Street; 1971)
Stephen Stills (First Solo Album; 1970)
Bob Dylan (Blood on the Tracks; 1975)
Kinks (Everybody's in Show Biz; 1972)
Emerson Lake & Palmer (Tarkus; 1971)
Frank Zappa (Waka Jawaka; 1972)
Procol Harum (Live in Concert; 1972)
Alan Price (Between Today and Yesterday; 1974)
Neil Diamond (Tap Root Manuscript; 1970)

Enjoy the visit to Tower. Rich
Anything by T Rex...especially the remastered "Electric Warrior" album...this album just reeks of kinky sex...a must!
Iggy & Stooges, New York Dolls, Modern Lovers, Alice Cooper, T. Rex, Sweet, Slade, MC5, Big Star, Badfinger, Faces, Wings, JLPOB, Rod Stewart (only in the 1st 1/2 of 70's!), Beach Boys (yes, even through 1st 1/2 of 70's!), Blue Ash (first record - good luck finding this), Flamin' Groovies, Neil Young, Raspberries, Derek & the Dominos, plus of course the ones Sean mentions above (and the everpresent Led Zep, Who, Aerosmith, Allmans, etc.), and I'm sure others I haven't thought of at this moment, but overall this is not a big period in rock history for me. It was a time of countryish soft rock, boring hard rock, pompous progressive rock, keyboard players, jazz-rock fusion, horn sections, and stoner jam music that you couldn't dance to, but which wasn't psychedelic anymore. Almost without exception, when it comes to bands from the 60's who were big in the 70's, I prefer their 60's work (there were also plenty of great bands that straddled the decade's divide, such as Creedence, The Band, Sly & the Family Stone, etc., plus The Dead only begin to be occasionally tolerable for me starting in the early 70's). About the best thing going at this time, other than Detroit-style 'proto-punk' and British glam-rock, was all the James Brown inspired funk that preceeded disco, foremost among which (other than the man himself and various JB spinoffs) were The Meters, Parliament/Funkadelic, early Kool & the Gang, The Ohio Players, and about a million other lesser lights, plus such singular soul talents as Al Green , Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield. Stretch a bit to '75, and the first New York punk is released by The Dictators, then on to The Ramones and The Cramps in '76, and things begin to look up again for guitar-based R&R where the songs don't come in 'movements' and last for a whole album side, and aren't played by bands that you need more than the fingers of one hand to count all the members of.
While I'm no rock journalist (Loved the movie "Almost Famous");As a really old guy,this is my favorite time period. Music is no different than clothing styles,lingo, /fads, what have you./ In that each generation has its own.---All taking things to a different level.---We've all heard the expression: "Standing on the shoulders of giants"( see Jimmy Hendricks)For these are the things that identify each generation. I go back to the big bands;Was a fan of rhythm and blues before Elvis came along. Music has been through many phases. I think there were a few down times along the way;but there was always somebody coming along.-----Oh, BTW I think by '75, the Eagles were on their 3rd or 4th album.
I might have to go upstairs and spin some of this vinyl again:

Bowie's Aladdin Sane
Springsteen's Greetings From Asbury Park
Zappa'a Apostrophe
Traffic Welcome to the Canteen
Bonnie Raitt's Give It Up
Tull Stand Up
Jackson Brown's Saturate Before Using
Santana Moonflower
Must be nice to still have the brain cells to remember those times so well - it's all just a "purple haze" to me...
(As an aside, somebody's auctioning "Tangerine Dream" - one of the first albums I ever bought, and I just figured I had the only copy - along w/ "The Elephant's Memory")

Cheers,
Tom
Captain Beyond - S/T
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green
Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride
James Gang - Rides Again
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
Favorites I STILL listen to even today:
1. Traffic "Low Spark.."
2. ELP "Brain Salad.."
3. CSNY "Deja Vu"
4. Yes: any, I know, really bad recordings, bad solid state
5. Chicago 1st album
6. George Harrison "All Things.."
and a few others..
What I remember from 70-71-72 as being popular but I do not listen to now: Black Sabbath Master of Reality, Deep Purple Machine Head, Zepplin I, II, III of course, Elton John's golden era (Honky Cat, Yellowbrick, etc.) and who can forget Tull's Aqualung?
Emerson, Lake & Palmer-Tarkus
Jeff Beck-Blow By Blow
Beck, Bogart & Appice
Mahavishnu Orchestra-Birds Of Fire
Camel
Billy Cobham-Spectrum
King Crimson-Red
Jethro Tull-Benefit
Yes-Close To The Edge
Who-Live At Leeds
Rush-Caress Of Steel
Ten Years After-Undead
Grand Funk Railroad-Closer To Home

A nice trip down memory lane.
Thanks for the question.
What a great thread! As a child of the late 60's/early 70's I'll throw a few of my favorites out that are still on my turntable weekly:

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Dirt Silver and Gold
New Riders of the Purple Sage - NRPS
Roxy Music - Avalon
Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore East
The Who - Who's Next
Santana - Abraxis
Pink Floyd - Umma Gumma
Marshall Tucker Band - A New Life
Crosby, Stills and Nash - CSN (just bought 180g reissue from Acoustic Sounds)

The list could go on and on, but I'll leave space for other people...
whoa, right in my power-band!

Captain Beyond
Eloy
Hawkwind
Rainbow / Elf / Deep Purple
Mountain
Uriah Heep
Nektar
Blue Cheer
Frank Marino / Mahogany Rush
Flamin Groovies
Iron Butterfly
Flower Travelin' Band

thanks for the thread - tends to be overlooked, but some of the most classic music ever.
Hallelujah!

Get your hands on an old issue of NME or CREEM from 1975, and you will find writers expressing a common belief that the popular music of the early 70’s was embarrassingly inferior to that of the 60’s. A more recent critical appraisal of that era holds that, in the early 70’s, we were actually in the midst of an under appreciated golden age.

This revisionist history is absolutely correct. I don’t know where to begin. David Bowie was making the best music of his life. Marc Bolan was churning out records that were just as good, if not better, that Bowie’s. For the love of Jehovah folks Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges! Need I mention the first few Roxy Music albums, King Crimson, or the astonishingly great first four albums by Blue Oyster Cult (because BOC later became such a thoroughly crap band, these fine early albums are now largely forgotten.)
While I am on the subject, how about the birth of Heavy Metal? Has anybody really made better mindless hard rock albums than Black Sabbath did in the 70’s?

Remember folks; this was a time when Nashville made music with soul...before it became an assembly line churning out bland muzak for Reagan’s brain-dead America.

The early 70’s were also primetime for Soul and Funk. Curtis Mayfield began his solo career. In Philadelphia, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were producing some the greatest pop singles I’ve ever heard (the output of Gamble and Huff is well represented on Rhino Records outstanding “Didn’t it Blow Your Mind!” compilation series). The outrageous records released by George Clinton & his cohorts are legendary among collectors and music lovers.

In Jamaica, there was the rise of “Roots” music (still, unfortunately, the only music from Jamaica to sell big to white boys in the US), and also the birth of dub, and the ascendancy of Lee Perry and his Black Ark studio.

Did I mention Tom Waits? For that matter, the records released by Van Morrison during this period were, as we have come to expect from the man, totally brilliant.

Now that I think of it, the Mick Taylor era Rolling Stones put out some albums that weren’t half bad either.

Put it this way: I’d trade the entire musical output of the 1980’s for that of just one year, I don’t care which, of the early 70’s.

1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975: I raise my overflowing glass of 100 proof Springbank to each and every one of you.
You guys really know how to pick em'. Lot's of damn cool choices. You couldn't have gone to the same high school I went to. When the addiction to hit unused nerve endings really started to kick in, the following records paid off big:
Kraan/Andy Nogger
Good God/Good God (vinyl only)
Guru Guru/Guru Guru (pink beadwork cover)
Henry Cow/ Legend
Eloy/Floating
Embryo/Rocksession
Alquin/Mountain Queen
Van der Graaf Gen./Pawn Hearts
Darryl Way's Wolf/Saturation Point
Can/Future Days/Tago Mago/Ege Bamyasi
Coeur Magique/Wakan Tanka
New Trolls/UT
Most of these are surprisingly well recorded given their release period, and musically, (of course I'm totally objective!)they all have unique narcotic properties that seem to never stop growing.
This is the list of the MOST favourite bands/albums that I never get bored to listen and always come back to them many many times.
King Crimson -- LIZARD and ISLANDS; Frank Zappa -- HOT RATS; Can MONSTER MOVIE, FUTURE DAYS and TAGO MAGO; Van Der Graaf Generator GODBLUF; Gentle Giant -- INTERVIEW.
Yeah, great thread! These were my high school and college days, and the era when I bought my first component system. Spinning on that, to me, high end Garrard turntable in the early 70's were:
Elton John, Yellow Brick Road
Art Garfunkel, that first solo album Angel Clare
Paul Simon, Rhymin' Simon, Still Crazy After All These Years (even then I thought so about myself, and I was only 18-19), and the self-titled album Paul Simon
Led Zep IV (?) with Stairway to Heaven of course
Beatles White Album and Let It Be and Abbey Road
Stones Goat's Head Soup
Lou Reed, Transformer
Steely Dan, Can't Buy a Thrill
Pure Prairie League, Bustin' Out
Marshall Tucker Band (I went to college in southern Va.), album with "Heard It in a Love Song"
Rod Stewart, album with "Maggie Mae" on it
Graham Nash, Songs for Beginners
Neil Young, After the Gold Rush and Harvest and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
CSNY, Deju Vu and 4 Way Street
Steppenwolf, the album with the silver cover with Inna Gadda etc.
Joni Mitchell, everything out up to then
James Taylor, everything out up to then
Tracy Nelson, self-titled (available as import only CD now)
Bonnie Raitt, Give It Up and Home Plate
Van Morrison, Moondance and Tupelo Honey
Embarrassing confession: Loggins and Messina, Sittin' In
and Starland Vocal Band, Afternoon Delight

I could go on and on, the more I list, the more I picture myself in my various dorm rooms spinning vinyl with my friends. What a blast those days were! Will I ever be so carefree again--NO. Though many times, a new record or CD will make me just as happy as when my musicophile days were just beginning.
I will give you one that was, in my opinion, the single greatest album from the mid 70s, and possibly STILL the greatest album... Heartsfield "Wonder of it all". It has recently been reissued on CD.
In addition to all of the above there is Humble Pie, Genesis, Atomic Rooster, Crabby Appleton, Sir Lord Baltimore, Starcastle, Cactus, Razzmatazz, Frigid Pink, Deep Purple, Mott the Hoople, Nectar, Tonto's...Headband, etc...have all on vinyl due to WNEW-FM (NYC) circa 1970-71 playing the whole albums/ or other songs that to me were better than their "hits".
SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND by Genesis,Ambrosias first self titled album(lose the rest),Camels Snow Goose.You could spend the next ten years of your life ransacking the golden years of rock and you would be better off than paying attention to todays corporate pap.
Would like to add a couple, Humble Pie and Trapeze. And for Tweakgeek, your Funk and Soul should include Glenn Hughes solo called Play Me Out from 1977.
Robin Trower,Rory Gallagher,Uriah Heep,Jethro Tull,NY Dolls.............Gee I feel old !!! lol
SIR LORD BALTIMORE!!!... That's some paint blistering testosterone laced rock candy goodness. During that time Budgie, Ursa Major (guys who went on to play on Lou Reed's R&R Animal), Dust, Uriah Heep (1st 3 records), Patto, Collosseum, Nova (Blink), Armegeddon (some ex Steamhammer guys) and A.F.T. (Automatic Fine Tuning) also helped to keep the buzz going. PFM/Cook and Focus/Moving Waves didn't hurt much either.
Somehow Spirit jumped into my head when I read the title to this thread. The 20-bit remaster of my fave Twelve Dreams of Dr.Sardonicus should be required listening for this group. "Nature's Way" was a minor hit. "Animal Zoo" and "Mr. Skin" also got air play. This album really captures some of what was going on back then.
Old Zappa (his best), Floyd, Tull's first few albums, early Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Strawbs, ect. Lots of stuff already covered above, great music to go back to, especially on vinyl. Now you've done it. Ok, great, Im not going to get anything done today.
I'm surprised at all the Progressive rock entries on this thread.Cool ! IMHO the best rock was from the mid 60's to the early 70's starting with Psychedlic,evolving to Prog.ArtRock,Glam,Hard rock and The real Blues rock jam Bands etc.Great times.and Progressive and Psych are still going big time though still underground meaning no or very little airplay.I wish the classic rock stations would play non hit cuts instead of the same old Stairway to Freebird Dark side cuts.How about the rest of the songs on the Doors 1st album besides Light my Fire?How many of you would listen to the radio more if if was like the early days of then underground FM radio?
Sean; I must have been in a coma or doing hard time during this period-- or most likely into C/W. Thank God CCR made it into the early 70s. Cheers. Craig
In no Particular order & ones not already mentioned
Doors
Cat Stevens
Yes
J Giles
Boston
Bad Company
Boz Scaggs
Deep Purple
Fleetwood Mac
Leon Russle
Jefferson Airplane/Starship
Guess Who
ZZ Top
Bruce Springstien & the E Street Band
Yes
Mott the Hopple
Uria Heep
Chicago Transit Authority
Richie Havens
Canned Heat
Melenie
"ALISION STEELE - the night bird for all you NYers/NJ"
I can keep going on but burning out
seeling england (genesis) 2)close to the edge (YES) 3)THE LAMB LIES (GENESIS) 4)OVER (PETER HAMIL) 5)THICKS AS A BRICK (JETHRO TULL)
Any fans of the "Flock" out there? Sweetwater? Pacific Gas and Electric? Soft Machine? Savoy Brown?
I have to start with Jethro Tull and than I'd mention them a few more times. Yes and Genesis come to mind along with Pink Floyd, Careful with that axe Eugene! When I first switched to FM from AM I found a really seriously weird station in Milw that played bizarre AOR most of which I had never heard, but it made it hard to go back to "Band on the Run" as it played on every AM station all the time. But that was a long time ago!!!
Just about everybody's been mentioned I'll add Nick Drake and Richard Thompson.
Just as I suspected - although there are few common nominations I can hang with (Mott, Floyd, Dan, Crimson, Hawkwind) most of what people like from this era serves mostly to confirm my general indictment of the time, IMO. Oh well, TEHO! (Despite Tweakgeek's disputing this conclusion, I like his additional nominations, especially Gamble/Huff.) (But Sir Lord Baltimore?! Guess I can't really bitch though - I have been known to listen The Damnation of Adam Blessing when nobody's around.) Few more I forgot: Captain Beefheart (more so in the 60's, but still), Brownsville Station, Shocking Blue, NRBQ, The Move, and I'll even nominate The Flying Burrito Brothers as an affirmative defense against The Eagles. (Can't believe that Queen and Bad Company are still waiting in the wings...)
Queen

A Day At The Races

or

A Night at the Opera

or even News To the World

All three albums are classic 70's pop.

KF
Mandatory 8 tracks for cruising in the car while doing various questionable things.....That 70's show is the perfect generation for me!.
Lots of southern rock--Outlaws (Green grass and high tides!), Henry Gross (rare one), CHarlie Daniels band, Marshall Tucker (already mentioned)
Lots of hard rock--ZZ Top (La Grange), Aerosmith (Toys in the Attic)
More progressive things--Head East; I STILL listen to this!, Queen, or course, as mentioned above; WIshbone Ash Argus, Nils Lofgren Cry Tough,
My own personal favorite--Be-Bop Deluxe

By the way, in 1974? (not sure of the year) we saw Queen, Aerosmith, and Mott the Hoople. Some buddies of mine got backstage somehow and wondered into Queen's dressing room. I don't know where I was, and probably didn't know where I was at the time either!
Oneprof, sounds like an excellent concert. I would have loved to go.... but I was only about 2 years old in 1974... heh heh...

KF
Well, KF, it's good to know that some of you 'youngsters' appreciate good music, anyhow!!

I forgot one--REO Speedwagon, no not that 'Keep on loving you' s***, but Early stuff, like the album with "Riding the storm out' on it!
And how about Styx--no not 'MIsterRoboto', but 'Lady'
Fun post Sean..A breath of fresh air here for sure.
Anyone ever get into Cactus? I dont remember the name of the album I had, but one song on it was called Long Tall Sally or something like that.
I loved the album..was this band good or was I just a red eyed teen?
How about Its A Beautiful Day? White Bird? I havent seen this mentioned..A true classic! You younger 'Philes that like Days Of The New should check them out.Very similar style.The First time I heard Days Of The New I thought I was listening to Its A Beautiful Day..strange!
Elvin Bishop
Black Oak.. yeah! Jim Dandy to the recue!!
Wishbone Ash "argus"
Moody Blues "Threshhold Of A Dream" This is 'maybe' my favorite album.
Again Sean...awesome thread!
I was born in '74... can't believe I forgot the Steve Hillage stuff: Arzachel, Khan, Gong and his early solo stuff (and not to forget Dave Stewart's band "Egg".) Duanegoosen scooped the Canterbury link with Henry Cow. How about Happy the Man, and Hatfield + the North? At least one of the HTM guys (Stanley Whittaker) is active in the modern pomp band Ten Jinn, which is just great if you've got an iron stomach.

Just scored a bunch of Sylvania '74 6BM8s for my Wave monos in the bedroom, they sound awesome. Not a bad year ; )
Mwilson, I've got a Happy the man LP; some of the guys I was in college with knew some of the Happy the Man musicians somehow; I was going to mention Steve Hillage too, especially 'L'--his best solo work in my opinion. 'FIsh Rising' was good too.
Oh, yeah, another GREAT progressive 70's band--Crack the sky. 'Animal Notes' and Safety in numbers; I still listen to that.
The intial post states '70-75 several of the above mentions are creeping into the 2nd half of the 70's.
Queen post A Night At..,Reo,Styx,Be Bop and several others.............
Ben, not to quibble, but are you sure of your dates? Be-Bop Deluxe Axe Victim and Futurama were 1974 releases, Night at the Opera is copyrighted 1975 on my MOFI Cd. I'm sure I listened to Styx "Lady" and whichever REO album had 'Riding the Storm Out' on it while a junior in high school, which would been 75, although since I don't have those LP's I can't be certain. Of course, given my 'state of mind' those days, I'm surprised I can remember anything!
CREDENCE CLEARWATER FOR SURE!!! - For starters Stew "Heart" Cook - the bass player in CCR was my college roommate and fellow fraternity brother at San Jose State. Doug Clifford - the drummer in CCR lived a few blocks away, and was over at our place several times a week.
All of the guys in CCR had grown up in Albany, CA and had started a band in high school to play fraternity party gigs and at local clubs in nearby Berkeley, CA - where the University of California is located.
I kept in touch - and later on after serving a tour in the Navy - I was a set-up man on one of their tours. Talk about fun!!! Boy we really had it!!!
Great story, Avideo (but who'da thunk they were frat boys?)! BTW, did you ever see The Golliwogs (pre-Creedence) play? Or The Torquays, The Syndicate of Sound, or any of the other great SJ/SC area bands of the early-to-mid-60's (how about Sly)? And what were some of the other acts CCR played with on your tour?

Back to the list: How could I have forgotten Dave Edmunds or Dr. Feelgood...

no mention yet of Todd Rundgren?

SOmething/ANyhthing
Wizard a True Star

also nice to see others mention progressive music
mid era Genesis, Yes, Crimson, Tull all hold up well today
Steppenwolf-Born to be Wild- still my favorite rock song of all time
Blue Oyster Cult-Secret Treaties---Are you a cagey cretin?
The Who- Who's Next, Quadrophenia
Santana- all albums
Elton John- GBYBR
Pink Floyd- DSOTM
Eagles- all albums
Frampton Comes Alive- Still my favorite live rock album
Boston- I can't believe nobody has ranted about this album.
Completely unfathomable that this was basically made
in someone's basement.
OK Ben, I'll step in here...
Jay, let's not get too far out of bounds here - "BTBW" is from '68, and Boston didn't come out until '77, if I remember correctly (and trust me, I've tried to forget! :-).
Oneprof I do say post Night for Queen,for Be Bop Deluxe I was thinking Sunburst Finish (the one most fans relate to....)which was '76 but yes Axe Victim is '74-apologies for that but I do find more and more on this list-countless ramblings (which you are not guility of at all)miles off the intial thread- which has been an inevitable outcome for a long time now.
You just feel like (sometimes) you are in a crowd shouting to be heard (and yes everybody has something valid to say )amongst a lot of incorrect postings-yes we all make mistakes.
Seriously it makes me not post..........well at least there's something positive comes out of it.....
:-)