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The 70's in Retrospect: Top Ten AlbumsMar 16 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line The 70's were great.
The 70’s represented a development of music in the wake of the 60’s. Where Elvis had laid the groundwork for music with a mass appeal in the 50’s, The Beatles came along and provoked possibly the biggest explosion of popular culture of the twentieth century, and their influence is felt today with as much force as when their albums first hit the shelves. So, for the generation sparked, influenced and inspired by both these huge names, and of course the incombustible Bob Dylan, the 70’s was their chance to create something new. The 70’s was a coming of age for popular music, as more and more bands emerged and sought to distance themselves from the popular music based on folk, skiffle or motown sounds, amongst others. The point was to do something different, based on the startling innovations of The Beatles, who single-handedly overhauled music and set the standards so high that no one has ever been able to match them. And when I say no one, I mean no one. The Beatles – Let It Be 1970 Unfortunately for us mere mortals, The Beatles were on their way out by the 70’s, leaving a gap that none of their solo careers came even close to filling. Although Let it Be was released in 1970, thereby qualifying for this list, it was actually recorded before the 1969 album Abbey Road. By this stage, the members of the band could barely stand each other, and the album is permeated with a sense of exhaustion. It may not be a White Album, but it’s still head and shoulders above the competition. Two of us is a surprisingly blissful opener, but curiously underproduced, even for the early 70’s. The album begins and almost ends with that sense of unfinished business, which stretches into such classic songs as Across the universe, one of the most heartfelt songs ever committed to disc, he whole thing reverberating with studio echo and fuzz, as an ethereal backing of choir and orchestra props the whole thing up, a song that threatens to break down into tears from the opening notes. Let it be is the obvious song to refer to on this album, one of those handful of songs that has left generations of people completely stunned and open-mouthed at the sheer beauty of the melody. That guitar solo is to die for. The album closes almost too aptly with Get back, words we all wanted to scream at the band after they broke up. I suppose it had to end, and what these four Liverpudlians gave us was truly spectacular. Led Zeppelin – IV, ZOSO, Runes, Whatever 1971 By the late 60’s, a great number of bands had turned up and started to challenge The Beatles absolute supremacy. Led Zeppelin were probably one of the best to try to do so, and their first three albums are each, in different ways, absolutely spectacular. IV, or however you want to call it, is generally recognised as the bands most sustained effort, cutting the track listing right down to eight pieces, and allowing themselves enough space to noodle and play insane guitar solos without meandering too far from the point, which for me is often their major problem. Black Dog often threatens to collapse under its own weight, but Jimmy Page’s fast fingers, and John Bonham’s tight resounding drumming turns it into a representative tune. Rock ‘n roll is my personal favourite from the album, and the name tells you all you need to know about this tight gem of a rocker. The Battle of Evermore is another classic revolving around the characters of Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. Everywhere you look you see classic songs, as the overplayed Stairway to Heaven follows up. Wonderful, yes, but probably not as good as the spectacular When the Levee Breaks which winds the album up. In between you have another classic, yawn, Misty Mounain Hop the forgotten off beat Four Sticks and the beautiful acoustic yearning of Going to California. The album is on paper the bands strongest, with at least seven unforgettable songs, not to say all eight, and the influence of this recording is almost as long-reaching as The Beatles. You could forget Pearl Jam, if not most grunge, if these boys hadn’t produced the mud-drenched rock and roll of When the Levee Breaks. Bruce Springsteen – The Wild, The Innocent, & The E-Street Shuffle 1973 Now, I can understand not liking Bruce. I often feel that his material from Born to Run onwards suffers from overblown pomposity, and definitely sinks the monolithic Born in the USA. But before all of this, he released one of the most strikingly original and melodic albums of the 70’s, taking one of the few directions where you can claim The Beatles had little effect. In fact, the album is more inspired by Jazz and Gershwin, meaning that the whole thing has an uncontrollable surge behind it, whilst also feeling like it’s all part of a very clear series of movements. The opener places you pretty clearly in New York, a feel that the album embraces whole-heartedly. The jazziness is combined with rock and roll most expertly by the underrated E-Street band, with whom Bruce recorded most of his best work. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) is another beautiful construction, apparently formless, but capturing the sense of a working class slice of society, a visual scope as vivid and dense as going there and seeing the place for yourself. In fact, at times the album even takes on qualities of West Side Story, in the musical form that paints clear pictures of people and places and tells stories with surprising clarity given the lopsidedness and apparently irrelevant detail of the telling. Kitty’s Back sounds almost like Led Zeppelin, and brings more classic and blues orientated rock into the picture, followed by the circus inspired Wild Billy’s circus story, playful and expressive. The final three songs are simply wonderful, and really build into the grand finale of the album. Incident on 57th Street and Rosalita (Come out tonight) both combine the formlessness of impromptu jazz with rock and roll sounds (a technique that would not be wasted on bands like Counting Crows). But they both set the stage for the heavily Gershwinesque suite New York City Serenade, which I think could easily vie for best song of the century. The grand piano intro feels like a dramatic intro to a Woody Allen film coupled with images of the NY skyline. And a little while later, it drains into the beautiful melodies of the song-proper, a song with a finale that brings tears to your eyes. And all the time, this grand skyline capturing music is placed against the ordinary people on the streets of the city, elevating them, an overture for daily life. This is genuinely beautiful, and I can’t stress that enough. Not even The Beatles ever came up with anything this gorgeous, and they came close. Jackson Browne – Late For The Sky 1974 Talking about gorgeous and music that brings tears to your eyes… Browne’s first few albums were without exception, wonderful, but there is something about Late for the Sky that kills you every time. For one thing, the title track is beautiful, a poetic rendering of a break-up. That final cry of Late for the sky is one of the most striking moments that Browne ever came up with. Fountain of sorrow ups the pace a little, but this doesn’t lift the apparent misery of the lyrics – it’s an album about memories and lost love. Farther on adds the impact of David Lindley’s spectacular electric guitar work, whilst Browne turns in one of his most powerful vocal performances. The album isn’t without it’s surprises The road and the sky is an excellent rock and roll track, also giving Lindley the chance to play an upbeat guitar solo, something you can just tell he’s itching to do. But where Browne really excels is behind the keys of his piano, and For a dancer showcases this nicely. Walking slow heads back for rock, but what can only be described as annoying-fart-like-noises do mar the song somewhat for me personally. What kind of instrument is that, and why would anyone in their right minds want to use it at all, let alone so prominently? Before the deluge rounds the album off nicely. Some think it’s about nuclear fallout, but whatever it is, the sensation is of a disaster narrowly averted or waiting to happen, with the ensuing hope for something better. I like to think that the whole album is about a break up, but unlike the other great break up album, The Cure – Disintegration, there is always hope, here carried by Browne’s light instrumentation and ultimately positive lyrics. This is just one of those albums that works almost perfectly, and affected god knows how many musicians from today. Even American Hi Fi refer to the man on their new album this year. David Bowie – Hunky Dory 1974 David Bowie, in general, has passed me by. Don’t get me wrong, I like the man, and enjoy his music more often than not, and it’s very very obvious that he’s had a huge influence on a great many artists and styles. But I have repeatedly failed to make the effort to get into him, so I’m only familiar with the hits double disc. However, after consultation with thevoid99, as well as allmusic.com and Rolling Stone Album Guide, Hunky Dory seems to me to be the most logical album to highlight. Released the year before the overblown sci-fi fantasy of Ziggy Stardust, you can hear a lot of that album predicted in Hunky Dory. The sweeping Life on Mars sits at the heart of the album, along with the classic ch-ch-ch of Changes. What really matters is that Bowie has been an enormous influence on modern music, not just in the direct terms of his music, but just his whole persona. He is famous for the cliché of his chameleonic ability to go with the latest musical trends (reinventing them along the way), as he is for his appearance and personality. He invented the whole sexual ambiguity thing, making people like Brian Molko look like absolute learners. And then the wide-ranging appeal of his music gave the 70’s a real thrust, certainly feeding directly into acts like Queen, Peter Gabriel, The Smiths and Suede. Along with Pink Floyd, Bowie, and most pointedly this album, helped define the decade, making him the quintessential 70’s artist. Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks 1975 Mr. Robert Zimmerman helped define the 60’s, but with that his work was not done. Blood on the Tracks is considered his greatest 70’s album, and sees a slight departure from both the more politicised or the swirling electrical 60’s work, becoming more interested in autobiography. His sound also cleaned up a great deal, with the production values sharpening, and other instruments supporting his acoustic led tracks. This album probably marks the beginning of alternative folk music, a clear influence on bands like Counting Crows or even Wilco. Basically, it’s impossible to go through life without being influenced by Dylan, just as it’s impossible to not be influenced by The Beatles. This album features the blissful melodies of Tangled up in blue, and the famous tirade of Idiot wind. Obviously the album is very focused in its approach, and diverges little form the acoustic formula, as greater experimentation with instruments and arrangements would arrive later in his career. The point is that he was still writing classic material into the 70’s, still setting trends and making people listen to his wonderfully penned lyrics. The Clash – The Clash 1977 The 70’s were a time of excesses, and the excesses stormed off in various directions. For one thing, you had the pompous wave of art and prog rock bands, like Bowie, Genesis & Pink Floyd, and then in 1977, an explosion of punk acts, reacting against the perceived banality of society, as well as against the grandeur and overproduction of most music at the time. Really I should mention the Sex Pistols, but I really don’t like them, and The Clash were not only as important, but just better. Their debut album doesn’t have the quality material of London Calling, but it is rawer and capturing he spirit and energy of punk without necessarily losing the style and order of their delivery. The original release featured such classics of two minute punchy rock as Janie Jones, White Riot, Career Opportunities, London’s Burning & Police & Thieves. London’s Burning is perfectly noisy and attitude based, whereas moments like Janie Jones kept the pace and beat going whilst toning the sound down every so slightly to reflect the song-writing quality, an element that never much bothered the Sex Pistols. The US version of the album replaced some of the weaker cuts with a few other classic tunes, including the spectacular (White man) In Hammersmith Palais, Complete Control, Clash City Rockers and the definitive cover of I fought the law. Like it or hate it, punk changed music, allowing post punk bands like R.E.M. and U2 to exist – upon Joe Strummer’s death last year, Bono claimed that The Clash ‘wrote the book for U2’. He wasn’t lying. Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food 1978 With punk came post-punk hot on its heels. Within a year, a handful of bands were stretching a sound that was never going to survive very long – punk as a phenomenon was always going to implode. Not only did The Clash branch out, but other bands like The Jam and Joy Division allowed it to take them to different places. The Cure and Siousxie and the Banshees gave us goth and industrial, U2 and R.E.M. took it towards rock and pop, and Talking Heads created the new wave. Already within a year, punk was reinvented, whilst the band toured with The Ramones and learnt all there was to learn. The fidgety style of David Byrne’s funk influenced rhythms came as much from art rock as it did from punk, and it was only a matter of time until he would discover the joys of world music, melding it all together on the excellent Remain in Light. However, as post-punk revisions go, David Byrne had the clearest and most cogent vision, cleaning the sound with excellent studio production and allowing the whole thing to develop in a natural way. The result is that Talking Heads are also responsible for a lot of 80’s pop, which was just as based on twitchy synth fiddling as this album. However, we can’t really blame him for people who couldn’t be bothered to put any thought into the space behind the sound, an area that is bustling with thoughts and provocations in the case of this album. This classic includes such gems as Thank you for sending me and angel, the beautifully bass led Warning sign. This album probably fills the gap between punk and the rockabilly hybrid of X, which leads seamlessly into The Pixies. That’s how far-reaching this sound is. Pink Floyd – The Wall 1979 However, the old guard were not about to be dethroned by a bunch of noisy upstarts, and Pink Floyd added to the development of post-punk in a pretty major way with their third awesome 70’s album. I could just as easily have cited The Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here, both of which are probably better albums, but The Wall somehow seems to have had bigger influence than the other 70’s opuses, and showed that Pink Floyd were more than just pretentious knob-twiddlers. Obviously, concept albums weren’t a new thing, but the band used past tricks, and threw in nervous guitar work and a good dose of attitude, something lacking from past albums. The line Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone is probably twenty times more famous than the Sex Pistols paranoid fascist regime line. Most importantly, the overall production of the album was literally ground-shaking, as the whole album ran together, with songs broken up and spread out across suites that lasted two whole CD’s. Another good reason for loving this album is that it’s Trent Reznor’s favourite, which makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Ultimately, Pink Floyd, along with Bowie, created a sense of the 70’s that stays with us today, and The Wall is just one of those albums that transcends its time but never allows you to forget where it came from. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps 1979 Another late 70’s classic, and another album firmly rooted in the explosion of punk in 77. Neil Young was already quite noisy, releasing the first recognisably grunge album way back in the 60’s, the spectacular Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. But this album predicts Nirvana a good twelve years before they happened. Talking of the Nirvana connection, it’s a well known factoid that Kobain was playing the opening track, My my, hey hey (out of the blue) before committing suicide, leading Young to stop playing the song, sadly. Anyway, that acoustic gem of a song gets the album going, a dense and dark exploration of depression. Thrasher and Ride my llama keep the proceedings low key and melodic, whilst Pocahontas starts to build the energy up, whilst staying surprisingly acoustic. Eventually, Powderfinger explodes at you, one of the most perfectly executed rockers ever, with a guitar solo or two to die for. The pace keeps building, with two heavily punk influenced rockers, Welfare mothers and the stomping Sedan delivery. They also outstrip anything Nirvana did on Nevermind, and brim over with the same kind of distorted crashing guitar chords, and attitude. But they are nothing compared to the alternative version of opener Hey hey, my my (into the black). Distorted feedback blares out from the loudspeakers, probably the single biggest influence on the sound of Jesus & Mary Chain. The song pounds away for a good five minutes, staying loud and in-yer-face. Neil Young basically seems to do everything out of fashion, becoming the guru for the early 90’s Seattle bands. So, those were the 70’s. Of course, there are other great contenders, including The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Hotel California, Rumours, Bridge Over Troubled Water and American Girl at least. But, in my humble opinion, these were the top ten albums that changed the face of music and fed most importantly into everything that followed them. So, now for the 60’s, and I predict there’ll be more than one Beatles album in that list.  |
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