Mojo – The 70 Best Soul Albums Of The 70’s

yeah, chapter two and quiet fire are all time great for me. they reward deep listening. so amazing. but i love all her 70's stuff. s/t, blue lights, and feel like makin' love especially. feel like makin' love is so inspiring and anyone who hasn't heard it needs to quick.

and the album with donny too. so much great stuff.

Yeah, I don't know, Robert Flack isn't terrible, and as a kid I was fascinated by that single she did with Hathaway, "Where Is the Love." But I never could get with it. I also have a limited thing with Hathaway, who I do think was great in a way, kind of the lost Billy Strayhorn of soul you could say. Probably need to go back and spend more time with both, and Dionne belongs on a '60s soul list, altho I really like some of her '70s stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BopX81qvdcI

been playing this like crazy lately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ_HWPtwaqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC41K6lL6GY&feature=related

That Dionne album's been sitting in a shop here for a while - i need to get it. I love Roberta Flack's First Take: don't have Chapter Two....

I agree with Tuomas about Curtis, it's by far my favourite soul album of all time it's just perfect.

The comments about Issac Hayes are spot on, it's a fine album but Shaft, Black Moses and especially Chocolate chip are much better. Seeing that album so high seems really odd just because he has much stronger albums.

Some other albums that should have made it.

Brick-Brick
Slave-The Concept
The Four Tops-Nature Planned it
Tom Brock-I Love You More & More
Cameo-Cardiac Arrest
Greg Perry-One For the Road
The Delfonics-The Delfonics
Mandrill-Is
Dusty Springfield-A Brand New me
Stairsteps-2nd Ressurection
Love Unlimited-From a Girl's Point of View
Gloria Scott-What am I Gonna do?
and I'll definitly second The Meters-Rejuvination

So, there's no 'what's that doing on the list?' entries?

not bad going then.

Some of the placings and choices of albums by those artists are a bit off but yeah it's a pretty good list overall.

Well, beyond the top 10 or 5 or whatever, all the rest could place anywhere on that list.

There is no way that Superfly is better than Curtis. That is just crazy talk. I find the Superfly soundtrack, good as it it, is overwhelemed by that one song whereas Curtis has many goodies.

little child runnin wild, pusherman, freddie's dead, superfly - it's anything but a one song album. maybe sags a little bit in the middle, but every bit as good as curtis, imo. easily my favorite CM.

Def. not a one song album - it's Curtis Mayfield after all

Results of my 70s soul binge inspired by the article and this thread:

http://www.fastnbulbous.com/70s_soul.htm

http://www.fastnbulbous.com/70s-soul.jpg

I listened to pretty much all the remaining ones I had not yet heard. For the most part my instincts were right in

25. The Detroit Spinners – Spinners 72
I prefer 2nd Time Around (1970) that has "It's A Shame." This is a little too smoove MOR for me, with "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" bringing unpleasant easy listening flashbacks from my childhood.

26. Leroy Hutson - Hutson 75
I don't know man, a lot of stuff from 1975 seems tailored a bit too much for supperclubs/Love Boat type settings for my taste. I like Smokey Robinson's Quiet Storm, and this seems to be along those lines, but I can only take a certain amount of this stuff.

33. Labelle – Nightbirds 74
"Lady Marmalade" suffers from the over-familiarity, though it is a good tune. I just don't need to hear it again, which is why it's taken me so long to listen to more Labelle or Nona Hendryx. It's a pretty solid, energetic fusion of funk, disco and rock, but not a huge fan.

34. The Soul Children – Friction 74
I've had a couple of their earlier albums for years and never play them. They're a pretty minor act, and though the cheatin' soul here is fairly well crafted, I find it depressing and don't think it belongs in any top 70 list.

38. Shirley Brown – Woman To Woman 74
I couldn't make it the whole way through the album. Too bland for me.

49. Allen Toussaint – Southern Nights 75
I usually love New Orleans soul, but this has some weak cuts. I agree that Life, Love and Faith (1972) is far superior. Would be better if he used the Meters like he did with Lee Dorsey.

60. Sam Dees – The Show Must Go On 75
This is actually kind of nice. It might be crazy to say it's way better than Gaye's What's Going On, but I enjoy it more, probably because it isn't so infuriatingly overrated like that album. His testifyin' vocals give some convincing weight to the concerns behind message songs like "Troubled Child" and "Child Of The Streets," while the music makes it sound like he could be from Chicago rather than Alabama. A good mix.

62. Billy Paul – War Of The Gods 73
With four cuts ranging from 6:11 to 10:03, this Gamble & Huff production is a bit different than the normal Philly International stuff in that it's sprawling, spacey and spiritual. The two shorter tunes are more standard, poppy fare that sound somewhat out of place.

Stuff not on the list that I also heard recently - Laura Lee - I Can't Make It Alone (1974), Danny Woods - Aries (1972), Freda Payne - Contact (1971), The Chi-Lites - A Lonely Man (1972), Syl Johnson - Total Explosion (1975), Lou Bond (1974), Eddie Kendricks - S/T (1973)/Boogie Down (1973), Esther Phillips - Black-Eyed Blues (1973), The Delfonics (1970), The Stylistics (1971), Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972).

...instincts were right in that I wasn't gonna love most of these.

I am loving everything by Esther Phillips and Eddie Kendricks though.

Quiz question, anyone know what tune the phrase "Tryin' to run my game on ya" is from, and which album the cover of my mix is taken from?

This list is seriously insane. Really weird ordering in some spots.

― no gut busting joke can change history (polyphonic), Wednesday, September 1, 2010 7:59 PM (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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~~~ ILM 1970s SOUL/FUNK/DISCO ALBUMS POLL ~~~