TURN THIS MUTHA OUT! It's the Alternate 1970s Albums Poll on ILX — Results Thread

I missed Creedence but I wish I'd voted for it.

I'm going to read this poll as an opportunity to find out about albums I've neglected, b/c if I'm looking for confirmation of my taste I'm sure to be disappointed---there were so many choices that it's kinda amazing anything got more for a couple of votes. Well, I don't know about that. Tres Hombres was my #2, and it got #100, so it takes some consensus to place here.

92. Blondie - Eat to the Beat (1979) [82 points, 9 votes]

http://i50.tinypic.com/289jwjp.jpg

UNION FUCKING CITY BLUE

― Bimble, Sunday, October 14, 2007 4:37 PM (2 years ago)

Eat To The Beat didn't win! I'm going to have to step outside with you guys. This is WRONG.

― Bimble, Saturday, October 6, 2007 3:16 AM (2 years ago)

one of the (possibly) top 5 memories of my whole life is going to my first ever concert which was blondie at edinburgh odeon (january 12th 1980 - these things stay with you forever) on the "eat to the beat" tour and them starting off with "dreaming". much as i was in total awe of debbie, clem burke beating hell out of that drum kit with the arrows on the bass drum (a la "atomic video") completely blew my mind and is possibly responsible for a life long obsession with DRUMS.

― stirmonster, Monday, October 8, 2007 1:54 AM (2 years ago)

(fyi, I will be including Bimble in these postings as often as possible. so much joy!)

Wow, I expected that a lot higher! Bimble OTM. Did it seem too obvious/canonical to people? Really not sure which way the rest of the poll will go now, whether people have deliberately voted for slightly obscure things or whether they've been crowded out completely.

Also Eat to the Beat is a JOY - Union City Blue and especially Atomic were (while not new) exciting reminders to me when young of how music could be shimmering and otherworldly and brilliant catchy pop, all at the same time, just when I was beginning to see a divide between the two

Yes, that really did take me 5 minutes, with all the deleting and undeleting and wishing I could do it better justice. But there it is.

Eat to the Beat is my favorite sounding Blondie album. The first three sound kind of stuffy/boxy, and the ones that followed sounded too glossy. Everything about Eat to the Beat is just really crisp and bright and that probably has as much to do with the recording as it does the songs.

Cosmo's Factory was among the handful of albums I got on eMusic in the last few weeks while I was looking for stuff I didn't had but would probably like, so I'm glad to see that it being on my ballot helped it make the cut. I mean I've been hearing half that album literally my entire life, and the other half is pretty good too.

Hurrah for bimble posts. Im sure he would've loved this poll almost as much as his beloved 80s.

I always kind of think of Eat to the Beat as one of the first albums of the 80s, but I couldn't say why. Maybe it's the cover art, maybe it's because "Dreaming" was the first big anthem-y song Blondie wrote. Whatever the reason, it seems to have less in common with the 70s than it does the 80s.

Part of what's great about the '70s as a decade is that the late '70s did foreshadow a lot of what was great about the early '80s. But it seemed like the last '70s poll was overweighted towards the late '70s and New Wave, so I hope the same thing doesn't happen with this one. So far they've been fairly evenly distributed.

91. Miles Davis - Agharta (1976) [82 points, 10 votes]

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Agharta and Pangaea totally swept me away like a tidal wave the first time I heard them. These days, I don't have the stamina to listen to them all the way through (though I can still bang my head to Dark Magus no problem). The thing about Agharta and Pangaea is, you gotta try to find the Japanese Sony MasterSound editions, because there's more music on 'em (10 extra minutes on Disc 2 of Agharta, 3-4 extra minutes on Disc 2 of Pangaea). It's mostly entropic stuff, keyboard sounds and percussion rattles, at the end of long pieces. But it really adds much more than I thought it would when I first heard about it, when I was still listening to the American versions. I wish Sony US would put out a 4CD box with the Japanese versions all together, like they recently did with the Blackhawk live stuff.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Thursday, June 10, 2004 8:20 AM (5 years ago)

I'm sure Geir would consider Dark Magus and Agharta to be unlistenable too haha.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:20 PM (3 years ago)

(Surprisingly very little good chatter about Agharta in the ILM archives other than "I prefer Agharta" or "Agharta needs to be remastered.")

had i known one point would make or break so many i probably wouldve bothered doing 36-40, oh wellz

Only four albums were within striking distance of the top 100 with a 1-point vote.

I voted for Dark Magus, but I'd have preferred an option to just vote for Miles Davis in the 70s as a whole, it seems like one long jam in E spread over about 12 albums anyway.

90. Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties!! (1977) [83 points, 6 votes]

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What I was saying about Dury as an influence on UK punk was his celebration of London and London/Cockney dialect - I suspect that the Pistols and the rest might have Americanised themselves on the lines of Richard Hell and the Heartbreakers without his model to follow. (And, yeah, I suppose he is indirectly responsible for Oi!) Considering its jazz/funk influence New Boots is a pretty savage record at times.

― Soukesian (Soukesian), Tuesday, June 27, 2006 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

I still don't understand how this could be, since the first Ian Dury album came AFTER the first Pistols album, not before, right? (Or are you saying Johnny Rotten was a fan of Kilburn and the High Roads, which might make more sense? Did Dury even use a Cockney accent in that band?) I've always assumed that the big Brit-accent influence on the Pistols was Slade, though I could be totally wrong.

― xhuxk (xheddy), Sunday, July 9, 2006 2:21 PM (3 years ago)

Dury's accent was 100% authentic, and he used it in everything he did.

― Soukesian (Soukesian), Sunday, July 9, 2006 3:10 PM (3 years ago)

New Boots And Panties was out 2-3 months before Never Mind The Bollocks.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, July 10, 2006 4:11 AM (3 years ago)

Didn't vote for it, but very glad it's there.

As an American, I have no idea what it's like to be a Londoner. But New Boots sort of framed my perception of it from about the age of 21 (after I'd already heated up and then cooled down on the Pistols). Bullocks seems like a statement record. New Boots just seems like Dury saying "Hey, I recorded this. Do whatever you want to with it." And I kind of appreciate that more.

Surprised I didn't vote for this what with all the publicity surrounding the Dury film just now.

xpost
Suspect that this may have been higher if the poll had been in a month or two with the Dury biopic coming out shortly.

It wouldn't have made it at all if I didn't vote for it with my #4 (that wasn't calculatory, though... I probably would've voted it that high regardless).

89. Neu! - Neu! 2 (1973) [83 points, 10 votes]

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"neu 2, they're having too much fun on the second side. they should get back to their serious krautrocking. none of this "rock" shit. this is my sincere belief here. i'm very sincere in this. (giggles) they sound like little richard practically. like, the guitar sound. i'n just waiting for someone to do some early fifties "rock" yell thing. neu i is fine. it's serious enough. it doesn't have that rock and roll bullshit. it is krautrock enough."

jon williams on acid, ladies and gentlemen.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Friday, March 26, 2004 1:57 AM (5 years ago)

I couldn't live without the second side of 'Neu! 2'. I love 'Hallo Eccentrico!'

Mind, I also love putting Laibach's first album on at parties.

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, June 15, 2004 8:44 PM (5 years ago)

Regarding side 2 of Neu! 2, if only they'd gotten someone like Lee Perry to remix the single instead.

― Fastnbulbous, Sunday, June 1, 2008 11:23 AM (1 year ago)

I guess everyone just assumed this was a given and can't be bothered to add commentary, right? (I've got nothing to say about it myself.)

I'll echo your Dury comment (I too found Dury after the Pistols and love and listen to it much more), but I got nothing on Neu.

Neu! 2 is the first of mine to place. Honestly thought it would be higher - I can only assume that La Dusseldorf took all the krautrock votes... right? Right, guys?

My ballot was blessedly Kraut free.

88. Tom Waits - Closing Time (1973) [84 points, 6 votes]

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Consider that circa Closing Time, Asylum/David Geffen thought that they had another Billy Joel on their hands. Incredible.

I love Tom Waits more than life itself.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, November 30, 2003 8:00 PM (6 years ago)

[Re: C/D?] I'd say neither, but considerably less classic than lost of people claim.

I like some of his stuff, but the trouble is that between every nice ballad once in a while he tends to put some of those absolutely unlistenable Captain Beefheart influenced, well, dunno what I'd call them but songs they aren't, that is for certain.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, October 16, 2004 5:59 PM (5 years ago)

For all the flailing and flaming of his subsequent work, the artifice is much more pronounced on his early albums but luckily so is the charm quotient so it doesn't seem like a total goof unless you're predisposed not to buy into his poses.

― tremendoid, Tuesday, September 7, 2004 10:39 AM (5 years ago)

Although partial to a bit of Can, I've never felt my life was any poorer for having no other Krautrock in it.

Same goes for Tom Waits.

Neu is the first on i thought would have placed higher

"one"

39 of those points came from me. Still my favourite of his pre-Brennan work. xposts

Neu is the first one in the list that I really should have voted for, easily my favourite of their albums.

Really glad to see Chic made it, I hope there's a few more disco albums further down the list.

two of mine in a row there. didn't expect Neu!2 to place that much higher on its own, it is the weakest of the three for sure. xp and i thought everyone agreed on this

I disagree...Neu! 2 is my favourite...it's so freewheeling. I love that record a lot; it was my #7 pick.

(I think I might like this poll more than the 80s one...)

Closing Time should be so much higher, its by FAR his best pre-swordfish trilogy lp

actually scratch that, my tired brain somehow confused closing time and small change.
so yes, hoping small change is much higher.

I last minute switched my other Tom Waits vote from Small Change to Blue Valentine, which I regret now.

still think Closing Time is better. Martha, Ol' 55, Rosie, Hope I Don't..., etc...

Which version of Ol' 55 came first? Waits or Eagles? (Not being an Eagles stan, I'm not sure of their chronology.)

I went for Nighthawks - I get tired of the schmaltz. The live boots from the era tell a totally different (and much better) story than the albums.

87. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (1972) [85 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]

http://i48.tinypic.com/2dbo309.jpg

I like Vol.4 quite a bit. It was one of the Sabbath albums I didn't have when I was 14, so I haven't heard it nearly as much as Paranoid or Master of Reality. "Wheels of Confusion" is an epic and one of my favorite songs by them. Other than "Changes" and the oddball stoner sound effect track, the rest is ace. "Supernaut" also may be their best title, whatever it means.

― earlnash, Thursday, March 18, 2004 11:36 PM (5 years ago)

Sabbath's album (besides having "Supernaut" and "Snowblind," two of the greatest songs ever) is a concept album about dirtbags from the asshole of England going to L.A. and getting coked up and going insane. It's like the Apocalypse Now of metal, or something.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Friday, March 19, 2004 11:20 AM (5 years ago)

I mean COME ON - Volume 4 has a shittier, tinnier, paper-thin sound compared to their previous three albums, the band was clearly falling into a predictable rut in terms of songwriting, nothing particularly new or exciting on the record. And like I said, there's a steep decline in the production quality.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, March 19, 2004 3:13 PM (5 years ago)

vol. 4 was my #1...here's what I wrote in the Best Sabbath Album poll:

as far as IV being the best, I totally agree...challops?

IV > Paranoid: this is kind of hard to justify, except the fact that Paranoid was the first Sabbath album I ever bought, and I liked it, but I was already v. familiar with half the songs, and the other half didn't really jump out at me, giving me a first impression of the album as suffocating and monochromatic...I mean, there's songs on it I love...Planet Caravan, Fairies Wear Boots, Paranoid, War Pigs, and even the songs that didn't really stick with me are hard to argue against, like the opening to Electric Funeral, but put it all together, and...I don't know, just seems a bit too monolithic to me I guess...

IV > Master of Reality: A bit easier, there's like four songs on this album, and only Children of the Grave (the best thing Sabbath ever did) shits on the stuff on IV from anything resembling a great height...I mean the album gets a little closer once I realized that After Forever was the earlier superior original article, and St. Vitus Dance was the rewrite, but still...I'm not exactly sure which three songs are stronger: Sweet Leaf/Children/Into the Void or Supernaut/Snowblind/Cornucopia, but it doesn't matter; without these IV is still within striking distance of a sprwaling druggy masterpiece...

so i'm guessing i single handedly made sure Vol. 4 made the poll?

(come on, Fela...!)

I've wondered this for a while. Which color of the cover is more common: yellow or orange? Pictures online seem to be evenly split between them, but when I had it in my collection, it was the orange version (so I went with that one).

Which version of Ol' 55 came first? Waits or Eagles? (Not being an Eagles stan, I'm not sure of their chronology.)

Waits version was first.

I love the schmaltz. Waits does it so well here.

86. Hawkwind - Space Ritual (1973) [85 points, 11 votes]

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it's the perfect gateway drug. once it's in your system, you want more like it. and then, before you know it, you are on to the hard stuff and spending your rent money on peruvian flutepsych boots. and it's all downhill from there.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, July 28, 2005 9:51 PM (4 years ago)

praising it would be redundant as its greatness is self-evident.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Thursday, July 28, 2005 11:13 PM (4 years ago)

As for me I should probably own Space Ritual but I don't. Someone needs to write a beginner's book of Hawkwind because they only have about 6 billion things to choose from. I still remember dancing in a club to a track of theirs in 1990, though. It was fantastic but of course it could be one of any of the billion songs to choose from...it's a bit overwhelming for a novice. I bet they have even more releases than The Fall.

― Hydrochloric Shaved Weirds (Bimble...), Saturday, July 30, 2005 6:06 AM (4 years ago)

I don't care if it's the musical equivalent of liking Doctor Who, it is utter and total classic and I now feel compelled to go out and buy every record they've ever made.

― kate, Friday, November 1, 2002 10:49 AM (7 years ago)