1970s - Mop-Up and Albums of the Decade List

As promised, before we move onto the 80s, here’s a 70s roundup article, with a whole heap of albums that I didn’t get round to in the individual year lists followed by my best of decade rankings.

Where have you plucked this lot from you ask? Well I added anything that I hadn’t covered already that: is rated in the top 50 of the 1970s on rateyourmusic.com, placed highly on the Pitchfork best of the 70s list, and a few from some female only best-of lists across the internet. Here’s the 13 that are thrown into the mixer for this 70s round-up special, listed alongside the year they were released.

The Velvet Underground - Loaded (1970)
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971)
Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colours (1971)
Janis Joplin - Pearl (1971)
Sly and the Family Stone - There’s a Riot Going On (1971)
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
Novos Baianos - Acabou Chorare (1972)
Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace (1972)
Yes - Fragile (1972)
Labelle - Nightbirds (1974)
Heart - Dreamboat Annie (1976)
Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady (1979)

Let’s rank this lot, and then we’ll see if any of them make it into my best of decade list!

13. Dreamboat Annie (1975)

Heart

The first hard rock band fronted by women, Heart, was led by sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson. Their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, includes the band’s hits Magic Man and Crazy on You.

It’s refreshing to hear female vocals over the top of the rocking instrumentals on display here, and the whole thing has a very polished sound. I’ve never been the biggest fan of hard rock, it feels like one of those genres that hasn’t aged all that well to me, but there’s plenty to enjoy here. The guitar riffs underpin the vocals perfectly, Crazy on You being a particularly great example of this, the vocals have great range and thankfully avoid that high pitched squeal that was all the rage in 70s heard-rock. The album has a great flow to it, ending with a nice reprise of the title track, and there’s some really beautiful moments such as Soul of the Sea, which has a fabulously Fleetwood Mac feel about it. The Wilsons’ vocals create a dreamy, ethereal feel that makes this record stand out amongst others in the genre.

Dreamboat Annie is a very enjoyable listen, and of course important as the first women led hard rock recording. As with most hard rock, it leans a bit too much into cheese at points, particularly with (Love Me like Music) I’ll be Your Song, and the production is a little uninspiring, but there’s plenty here to make it a very worthwhile listen.

Song Picks: Magic Man, Soul of the Sea

7/10

12. Coat of Many Colours (1971)

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton’s eighth album is generally regarded as her best, appearing both in in the Time and Rolling Stone best albums of all time lists. Parton has said that the album’s title track is the best song she’s ever written.

Coat of Many Colours is straight up country, so if that’s not your bag then you’re not going to get on with this. I can’t claim to be the biggest country fan, but when done well I do enjoy it in smaller doses. This album is a delight generally, Parton’s jolly melodies soar over the plodding country arrangements. The title track is pretty much the perfect country song, a touching tale of a mother’s love. Traveling Man is perhaps the album’s other highlight, a twangy guitar rock ‘n’ roller that’s as American as the Grand Canyon. The record continues in a similar vein, with pleasant country song after pleasant country song showcasing Parton’s considerable talent for a melody, and production that really makes them shine.

The grass is always green with Dolly in your ear, but sometimes, as in the final two tracks, it gets a little too green. The ‘la,la,la’s’ of the final track catapulting things a little too far into ‘cheese’ for example.

Song Picks: Coat of Many Colours, Traveling Man,

7.5/10

11. Nightbirds (1974)

Labelle

All female vocal group Labelle’s fourth album was their most successful to date, and features their biggest hit, the often covered Lady Marmalade. The album is generally regarded as one of the greatest combinations of poppy r&b with funk and soul. Rolling Stone listed it as the 274th greatest album in their all time top 500 list.

The opener is probably more famous to my generation for the cover by 90s band All Saints, but Labelle’s version of Lady Marmalade trounces that one. That groovy bass riff, the gentle cowbell, the iconic vocals and melodies, it’s a pop gem, and a perfect meld of all the group’s influences into something truly unique.

LaBelle, Hendryx and Dash’s vocals work together brilliantly, with songs like It Took a Long Time being a great demonstration of that, but any of the lively tracks here would serve to make the point. Nightbirds glows with infectious songwriting, Allen Pouissant’s production - which is as comfortable as a warm sofa - and vocals as perfect and soulful as any of the decade. Oh and Hector Seda’s bass playing is some of the most underrated I’ve heard.

“It’s just an all-girl band, dealing with the facts and the pain”

Song Picks: Lady Marmalade, All Girl Band, What Can I Do For You, Somebody Somewhere

8.5/10

10. Songs of Love and Hate (1971)

Leonard Cohen

Cohen’s third album was the only one to make Rollling Stone’s best 500 albums of all time list, and placed at #74 in Pitchfork’s best of the 70s list. It’s here though because it’s rated at number #38 for the 1970s on rateyourmusic.com. Cohen himself spoke rather negatively of the album two years after its release:

"I suppose you could call it gimmicky if you were feeling uncharitable towards me. I have certainly felt uncharitable towards me from time to time over that record, and regretted many things. It was over-produced and over elaborated...an experiment that failed."

Right from the the opening murmurs of Avalanche it’s clear we’re in for a dark ride, as Cohen’s vocals sing his usual poetics over the top of a dark, syncopated guitar line in a timbre even more tired than usual. Though I love the sparse nature of Cohen’s debut, I disagree that this is overproduced and I feel Bob Johnston’s production additions, generally consisting of murmuring strings, flesh out the songs nicely. I think that Cohen’s more passionate vocal performances, such as his intense growl on Diamonds in the Mine, would have worked less well without Johnston’s production touches.

As usual with Cohen, the whole thing is gorgeously poetic, and he’s undoubtedly one of the best lyricists we’ve ever had, something his hummed - and occasionally growled - delivery really emphasises. It doesn’t floor me as much as his debut, but it’s as majestic and bewitching as you’d expect, with a depth as mysterious as the Mariana Trench.

Song picks: Avalanche, Last Year’s Man, Diamonds in the Mine

8.5/10

9. Fragile (1971)

Yes

Yes’ first album with keyboardist Rick Wakeman features only four group compositions due to time and budget constraints at the time, the remaining five tracks are solo pieces, one from each member.

Those 5 solo pieces demonstrate just how much talent the band contained, and it’s remarkable that 5 such individually creative people could work together in a way that created something that was actually surprisingly modest. Opener Roundabout is a Yes favourite, and a great demonstration of their ability to create progressive music that is accessible despite it’s penchant for tons of different sections and time signatures. All the solo contributions are welcome breaks from the more lofty band recordings, but it’s Steve Howe’s Mood for a Day that’s a particular highlight, a beautiful instrumental acoustic guitar piece that twitters like exotic birds in the Sun.

Fragile doesn’t feel as important or weighty as the later Closer to the Edge, but there’s a real charm in its surprising sprinkles of simplicity, and the closing track, Heart of Sunshine, is a perfect segue to the aforementioned album, with Anderson’s belted out vocal foreshadowing his vocal style on a lot of its songs.

Song Picks: Roundabout, Mood for a Day, Heart of Sunrise

8.5/10

8. Amazing Grace (1972)

Aretha Franklin

Amazing Grace, Franklin’s 1972 live album, was recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, with Reverend James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir accompanying her. It remains Franklin’s best-selling album, and the best-selling live gospel album of all time.

One of the finest vocal performances ever committed to tape, Aretha’s every word seems to soar like a beam to the heavens. The backing choir provide the bed for Aretha to bounce off, and bounce she does, providing quite probably the decade’s most energetic and iconic vocal performance. It’s warbling and over-sung at points, things I’m not generally a fan of, but here it sounds like Aretha’s soul exploding with joy, and that is quite the thing.

I’m not even remotely religious, I don’t think there’s anything waiting for us after death or that there’s any meaning to our lives beyond those for a spider or a mouse, but I don’t think you need need that kind of belief to enjoy this. There’s a undeniable sense of history, soul and weight to the whole thing that doesn’t require any faith in its subject matter for it to affect you rather deeply. That said, you definitely have to be in the mood for it!

Song Picks: Mary, Don’t You Weep; How I Got Over, Amazing Grace

8.5/10

7. Buzzcocks (1979)

Singles Going Steady

As a compilation, it’s debatable as to whether this belongs here, but Pitchfork named it the 16th best album of the 70s so I’m including it. Singles Going Steady was intended as an introduction to the band for an American audience, where it was the band’s first album released. It was eventually released in the UK in 1981, after it became a successful import. The album features the band’s 8 singles from 1977 up until Singles Going Steady’s release followed by the B-sides to each of those singles in chronological order.

Put simply, Singles Going Steady is a trip, destination Bangertown. As Jason Heller of Pitchfork puts it, it’s "a paragon of songwriting about the pain and joy of love that stands as one of the most endearing, intimate, and impeccably crafted batch of earworms in either the love-song or punk-rock realm". It’s hard to disagree. The record shows Buzzcocks for what they were, one of the best singles bands we’ve ever had, and certainly the best pop-punk singles band to ever grace our ears.

Song Picks: Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve),

9/10

6. Pearl (1971)

Janis Joplin

Joplin’s second solo studio album was released three months after her death due to an accidental heroin overdose. It was the final album released that she directly participated in, and was recorded with her final touring band. Paul A. Rothchild, who also produced The Doors, was given production duties here, and creates Joplin’s most polished sounding record. Rolling Stone ranked it 112th on their best albums of all time list.

Pearl is a magnificent display of what a vocal talent Joplin was. Her trademark raspiness extends to both her powerful (My Baby), and more delicate vocals (Me and Bobby McGee). She’s one of those rare vocalists where her tone, timbre and character mean that pretty much everything she sings has a gorgeous, intangible soul to it. The acapella Mercedes Benz is a perfect example of this. There’s not many vocalists who could carry an acapella performance so perfectly, and the fact it was the last song she ever recorded makes it all the more poignant. Joplin was due to record the vocals to Buried Alive in the Blues on the day of her death, and the instrumental, backing track sound feels like a hole in the middle of the album, a touching reminder that Joplin passed away during its creation.

Rothchild’s production and Joplin’s band back her perfectly, keeping the emphasis on her otherworldly vocals, while providing enough interest and edge to make sure things never get stale. Joplin was an incomparable talent, and Pearl is a beautiful goodbye. There’s no doubt she would have gone on to record a whole host of amazing records, but this is certainly a powerful one to finish with.

Song Picks: Move Over, Mercedes Benz, Cry Baby

9/10

5. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon’s debut solo album was released at the same time as his wife’s album, titled in the same way, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. Heavily influenced by Lennon’s recent primal scream therapy, it focuses largely on Lennon’s personal problems, including those from his upbringing.

Songs on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band are incredibly simple, rarely featuring more than three chords and a few instruments, and often have a repetitive, almost trancelike quality to them. There’s a clean honesty to all the material here, and it’s one of those albums that is perfectly encapsulated by the cover. It sounds like the musical equivalent of what might go through your head if you were to sit under the peacefulness of a tree and meditate on your life. There’s beautifully quiet moments such as the piano led Love, and rockier - more Beatles-esque - moments like the fabulously gritty sounding Well, Well, Well - where the primal scream therapy influence becomes evident in Lennon’s unrestrained screams - but the common thread that holds the whole thing together is a wonderful sense of spontaneity and freedom. This is something particularly evident in the penultimate track God, where Lennon lets go of everything, even the Beatles.

Song Picks: Love; Well, Well, Well; God

9/10

4. Maggot Brain (1971)

Funkadelic

Funkadelic’s third album was ranked the 14th best album of the 1970s by Pitchfork, and is the last to feature the band’s original lineup.

The album opens with the title track, a 10 minute guitar solo by Eddie Hazel, and the album’s most famous song. The band’s leader George Clinton was apparently high on LSD and asked Hazel to play as if his mother had just died The rest, as they say, is history. There’s no doubt in my mind that Maggot Brain is the finest guitar solo of all time, backed only by the odd sound effect and an arpeggiated guitar (apparently there was more playing along, but Clinton faded them out in the mix to keep the focus on Hazel’s guitar), Hazel delivers a stratospheric solo that says more than a lot of albums, books and people without saying a single word. It soars with its Jimi Hendrix inspired fuzz and wah effects, reverbed to sound as if they’re coming from some hole in the ground. I can’t remember the last time I was so completely floored by a song, it skitters and roars, howls and screeches, all in melodies that seem to stop the passing of time. It is, as one critic puts it, “an emotional apocalypse of sound,” and it might just be my favourite song of the 70s.

The rest of the album could never compete with something as stupendously powerful as that opening track, but it doesn’t fall all that far behind. Featuring a slightly more conventional psychedelic funk the band proceed to entertain the hell out of whoever is listening with some of the funkiest riffs in town (Hit It and Quit), bass lines that could make a gravestone groove (You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks) and yet another Eddie Hazel masterclass on the musical steamroller Super Stupid.

Quite honestly, I’m struggling to think of a more consistently entertaining 36 minutes of music in the entire decade.

Song Picks: Maggot Brain; Super Stupid; Hit it and Quit It; You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks

9.5/10

3. There’s a Riot Going On (1971)

Sly & the Family Stone

The soul and funk band’s fifth album was named as the 4th best album of the 70s by Pitchfork and it’s title is an answer to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, released six months earlier. Regularly cited as one of the most influential albums of all time, it’s recording process was by all accounts a huge mess, with Sly Stone fraying to drug abuse, and the band falling apart around him.

You can practically smell the marijuana, hear the cocaine snorts, and feel the mental fog emanating from all 12 of the album’s tracks, where the drum machines sound as if they’ve been used because they’re the only thing that couldn’t succumb to the drugs flying around, and would thus be able to hold the band together somewhat. The band plays loose and hazey, but this is hands down the funkiest album I’ve ever heard. Every track grooves with a crackled genius, Sly’s vocals often sounding so laid back it’s no surprise that he recorded some of them lying on a bed with a wireless microphone. The album lays out the cold, dark truth about America, both lyrically and sonically, but it does so in a way that’s soulful and enjoyable in a manner completely devoid of kitsch and cheese. There’s a Riot Going On is an album where I have real trouble picking my favourite tacks, everything fits the mood, everything is perfect.

9.5/10

2. Loaded (1970)

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground’s fourth album was the final album recorded featuring founding member Lou Reed, who left before it was released. By the band’s next release, Squeeze in 1973, all but Doug Yule had left and thus this is often considered the ‘last’ album by the band. The album’s title alludes to the fact that they were asked by their record label (Atlantic) to produce an album ‘loaded with hits,’ a request which leads to this being the band’s most accessible release. Reed wasn’t pleased with the album on release, unhappy with the incorrect songwriting credits and the edits that had been made to the album’s song and running order without his consent. Nevertheless, the album is very much regarded as one of the 70’s best, with Pitchfork ranking it at #14 for the decade.

Loaded is a gem of enjoyable melodies, breezy productions, and a vibe not unlike peak 60s Dylan. Below that thoroughly enjoyable exterior, lies some incredibly intelligent songwriting. With hits like ‘Who Loves the Sun’ conveying a flat pessimism, which contrasts with both its poppy melodies and instrumentals as well as other pop songs of the time. The album’s other hit, Sweet Jane, is a bona-fide banger, with a sing-along chorus and engaging verses featuring evocative lyrics, again with more than a hint of Dylan to their delivery.

Loaded is the result of asking an incredibly talented band to make pop hits against their will. It’s catchy, easy-breezy and brilliant, and yet hides an intriguing bitter sarcasm at its core. Sometimes the true test of a band’s mettle is how well they can tread paths that have already been trodden. In the case of the Velvet Underground the answer is fabulously, creating a record that works both as a collection of pop hits, but that still has the band’s stamp of ingenuity, wit and intellect all over it. Sometimes pushy, money driven record labels genuinely lead to masterpieces.

“Oh, all the poets they studied rules of verse
And those ladies, they rolled their eyes”

9.5/10

1. Acabou Chorare (1972)

Nocos Baianos

We’ve had quite a lot of Brazilian music from the 70s on this list, and it’s all been a delight, so I’m delighted to be able to throw another one in. Voted as #49 of the 70s by rateyourmusic users and coming in at #1 on a list of the best Brazilian albums by Rolling Stone in 2007, Acabou Charare (No More Crying in English) is Novos Baianos’ second studio album.

Listening to some Brazilian music is always a refreshing change from the mainly Western music in these lists. I suspect once this challenge is complete I’ll look at doing some sort of ‘best albums from each country’ challenge to widen my horizons a bit in that regard.

Acabou Chorare is an absolute delight, the energetic hit Brasil Pandeiro and fan favourite Preta Pretinha start the album off perfectly. The former demonstrates the band’s flawless combining of male and female vocals, gorgeous, jolly guitar riffs, and melodies to make even the coldest of hearts sing. The latter is musical honey, Moreira’s vocals are so effortless, calm and tuneful and they blend with the samba of the nylon guitar like the ingredients of some timeless meal. The energetic guitar solo skitters and sparkles like a thousand butterflies in the blue sky, one of the prettiest songs of the 70s. I’m trying to keep these reviews shorter, but rest assured the album is littered with such brilliance, Swing de Campo Grande and the title track are some further highlights.

Acabou Chorare is an album that I think I’ll be turning to to lift my mood whenever I need it, along with some of the other Brazilian greats of the decade. Acabou Chorare is the musical Sun, an album of such positive energy and life that I cried the first time I heard it. As the Arial font of an e-mail blurred to some strange splodged painting, I felt the kind of joy of discovery that has been so hard to come by in the groundhog day lockdown shroud.

Song Picks: Brasil Pandeiro, Preta Pretinha, Swing de Campo Grande

10/10

1970s - Best of the Decade

And now, having reviewed over 130 albums from the 1970s, it’s time to rank my favourites of the decade. I’m upping the list from 25 (as in the 60s) to 30, as it was just too hard to cut it to 25. Here goes:

#1 Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
#2 Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
#3 Pink Floyd - The Wall
#4 Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
#5 Novos Baianos - Acabou Chorare

#6 Pink Floyd - Animals
#7 Miles Davis - Get Up With It
#8 Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
#9 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
#10 Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus

#11 Joni Mitchell - Hejira
#12 Joni Mitchell - Hissing of Summer Lawns
#13 Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges - Clube Da Esquina
#14 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
#15 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
#16 David Bowie - Low
#17 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
#18 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
#19 Yes - Close to the Edge
#20 Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

#21 Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
#22 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
#23 Pink Floyd - Meddle
#24 The Velvet Underground - Loaded
#25 The Clash - London Calling
#26 Sly & the Family Stone - There’s a Riot Going On
#27 Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
#28 Joni Mitchell - Blue
#29 The Stooges - Raw Power
#30 Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

What a decade it’s been. The artist of the decade award has to go to Pink Floyd, with no less than five records in the end of decade top 30 list, something that I’m not sure will be beaten for the remainder of this challenge. Joni Mitchell comes in second with three records on the list, with an honourable mention to Miles Davis who got two entries into the top ten.

And so it’s time to get back in our time machine, and move to the decade of shoulder pads, neon colours, and oversized jumpers, the 80s. See you there.