ILX 70s album poll - results

In a Silent Way is from is from the late 60s (and there seems to be barrels on uncertainty about Bitches Brew should be considered 60s or 70s. It was recorded in late 60s, though).

On the Corner could show up. That album has a lot of hardcore zealots.

For #1, it will probably be London Calling, right? Who knows. This list is GREAT so far. My amazon cart is getting crunk.

I'll eat crow if the Sex Pistols beat either Clash record, Joy Division, Buzzcocks or Television.

Don't worry. Its an easy mistake to make. Anyone could have done it.

points: 310
1st place votes: 0
total votes: 13

THE CONGOS - HEART OF THE CONGOS

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000005L86.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

This is probably one of my five favorite albums of all time.-- Bofus (bofus...), November 8th, 2001.

points: 310
1st place votes: 0
total votes: 12

FLEETWOOD MAC - RUMOURS

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Lee Perry's finest hour? JA '77; vocal group, COMPLETELY URGENT AND KEY RECORD - get the 2CD redux version on Blood & Fire, which I think is still available. Deeply spiritual and avant-garde at the same time.

-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), March 5th, 2003

it sounds like what Brian Wilson would do if he made a roots reggae album.

-- dog latin (doglati...), February 21st, 2003 .

having The Heart Of The Congos as sole reggae album is def pref to The Best of Bob Marley, which is the usual token reggae album.

-- m jemmeson (mjemmeso...), August 21st, 2001.

honestly Heart of the Congos sounds better than just about any Marley I've ever heard.

-- Josh Love (heaveninrowboat...), July 29th, 2004.

one of the best albums ever made, any genre

-- james edwards (jame...), July 20th, 2001

Absolutely, if you must have only one reggae album, this is the one. Just sublime.

Headhunters wasn't nominated...would have been my #2.

-- Nikayla Crews (frozenlove197...), April 20th, 2004.

Well, I did nominate Sextant, and it was my #1.

points: 320
1st place votes: 2
total votes: 7

ORNETTE COLEMAN - DANCING IN YOUR HEAD

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Ornette Coleman - Dancing In Your Head

i) It's like minimalism without the rigidity, improv without
incoherence.

ii) It's like music as an environment, conceived as a space wherein
everyone can
'do his own thing' while still feeding the group. Individuality and
cohesiveness are not only not opposed but are mutually defining and
sustaining.

iii) It's like a super-advanced polyphony - the lines are so
independent that
they're improvised and they still make sense as part of a whole.

iv) It's just the best bass record there is.

v) It's a multilayered groove and a catchy riff.

vi) You can dance to it.

---- Sundar

I must have some PROG! I demand to have some PROG!

points: 321
1st place votes: 1
total votes: 12

RICHARD AN LINDA THOMPSON - I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT

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Richard And Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

That Richard Thompson remains a relatively obscure figure in the
annals of popular music is an injustice that has yet to be corrected.
Sure, among music fans his name is known and respected, but try
dropping his name outside of ILM or your local record store. "Richard
Who?" is the inevitable refrain. "I Want To See The Bright Lights
Tonight" is Thompson's tour-de-force, consisting of his best set of
songs, all wrapped in an almost ridiculous, painful sorrow. While
tracks like "Withered and Died" and "End of the Rainbow" couldn't be
more stark and depressing, the gravity of the lyrics is countervailed
by a buoyancy that pervades the music, giving it life and beauty.
It's possible the darkness and pessimism of Thompson's music is what
puts people off, but to me that'll always be a mystery. Tragically,
"I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight" remains out of print in the
U.S.

------------Keith C

points: 330
1st place votes: 2
total votes: 11

DAVID BOWIE - HUNKY DORY

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David Bowie – Hunky Dory
“Time may change me” sang David Bowie on the cabaret-styled opener to Hunky Dory. But as the album was coming on the heels of his heavy glam rock album The Man Who Sold The World, who could have expected that time would change him so quickly? Bowie exchanged electric guitars with pianos and acoustic guitars, focused even more on his story-telling, and in the end, put out one of his greatest collections of songs he would ever make. Just focusing on the lyrics, Bowie can be found spinning tales about self-proclaimed crazy people (“Kooks”), homosexual desires (“Oh! You Pretty Things”) and giving a Bowie's-eye view of celebrities in “Andy Warhol” and “Song For Bob Dylan.” Bowie even created the greatest Generation X chorus on “Quicksand,” though the song pre-dates that demographic by a couple of decades. Bowie lets loose on “Queen Bitch,” modeled after The Velvet Underground (though it outperforms many of their classics). And hidden among the greatness is the brilliant “Life On Mars,” with its nonsensical yet somehow universal lyrics that speak volumes, and gorgeous orchestrations that swell to orgasmic heights at the song’s close. Hunky Dory’s strengths also come from the little things Bowie added, such as the quaalude-enhanced opening of “Andy Warhol,” the ringing phone at the end of “Life On Mars” (wherein Bowie gives a thumbs-up to that take), and the chanting trolls that close out “The Bewlay Brothers” (okay, maybe the trolls are a figment of my imagination, but after the cavemen line in ‘Life on Mars,” I’m allowed to dream, right?). David Bowie went on to make some of the greatest albums of the 1970s, but for me, he never topped Hunky Dory.

-------------Jonathan Hale

points: 337
1st place votes: 0
total votes: 8

THE FALL - DRAGNET

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points: 337
1st place votes: 0
total votes: 10

NEIL YOUNG - TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT

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Fleetwood Mac go above The Congos because their highest placing was 2nd, compared to 5th. Neil Young and The Fall both had 2nd places, so the total number of votes decides the placing.

Dragnet. No contest.

-- Dr. C (Daveatcrossdee...), October 14th, 2002.

The true heart of the mighty Fall beats in the gnarled, beer n' woodbines sound of Dragnet and the early singles.

-- Dr. C (Daveatcrossdee...), February 12th, 2002.

The lowest of lo-fi and absolutely fantastic! Intense, spooky garage fun, AND has some rarely mentioned Fall classic tracks. The best Fall album IMHO.

-- Dr. C (Daveatcrossdee...), July 10th, 2001 1:00 AM.

It's the absolute essence of The Fall, never bettered.

-- Dr. C (Daveatcrossdee...), July 11th, 2001

Dragnet is real Fallmusik - accept no other (except Room To Live, Hex, Witch Trials)

-- Dr C (Daveatcrossdee...), September 10th, 2001

(In answer to: Which FALL album do you get first?)

Not a single vote for Dragnet then?

-- Nag! Nag! Nag! (MarquisChaCha...), August 28th, 2003 5:47 AM.

Dragnet

-- Dr. C (Daveatcrossdee...), August 28th, 2003 10:56 AM.

points: 338
1st place votes: 0
total votes: 11

STEELY DAN - PRETZEL LOGIC

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On the Beach is alright, but Tonight's the Night's peerless.

-- otto (ottomanjense...), March 28th, 2004

The only Neil Young album I can love. There's something so dark and tragic yet playful in it. And you can shout along with it brilliantly.

-- Omar (o.muno...), May 2nd, 2001

"Tonight's the Night" is one of the most gloriously, strangely f***ed up records I've ever heard. He just sounds like his hanging on the edge of complete mental collapse. But oddly indifferent to it. Most of his early solo albums have a similar kind of catastrophic feel to them. I think he's great for bad hangovers.

-- Johnathan (blis...), May 2nd, 2001

in answer to 'Name a so-called classic album which you think is a real stinker':

every record by Neil Young except Tonight's the Night.
-- o.munoz (o.muno...), January 12th, 2001

-- Baaderonixxx le Jeune (fabfon...), November 19th, 2004.

Hmm, I'm unfamilar with that Coleman record; I've only listened to his 50s and 60s stuff. I guess I should check it out and tuck my tail between my legs.

Oh well, this will do for now. More tomorrow.

As I put on Pretzel Logic for the 1st time, I was like wtf, but since I'd put the album on repeat while computerizing all afternoon I soon caught myself singing along.

-- Baaderist (fabfon...), February 13th, 2004.

100. V/A - 'Pebbles'

More than worth it, for me, for the original of 'I Want Candy', which for some reason I assumed was a Bow Wow Wow original! D'oh!

Oh, and the Standell's 'Dirty Water' (has there been a better song about Boston, ever??)etc etc

-- Bill E, January 24th, 2002

Got both Vol 1 and Vol 2, and they're both worth every! Single! Penny! Lots of great material throughout, and not knowing most of it beforehand just makes it all that much better.

-- Sean Carruthers, January 24th, 2002

I love *all* this stuff more than just about anything.
i sometimes find it difficult to *adjust my ears* if I listen to say 20 minutes of Nuggets stuff followed by something with clean, modern production. Somehow you listen to them in different ways, and get used to a particular range of frequencies, or timbres maybe or just the amount of *detail*

-- Dr. C, January 25th, 2002

99. New York Dolls - s/t

As a man whose first records were (45) Ride A White Swan and (33) Slade Alive, and who had only gone to a couple of gigs before going to dozens of punk ones, how can I not love the bridge between them.

-- Martin Skidmore (martin.skidmore...), May 4th, 2002

There's something genuinely expressive about Johnny Thunder's guitar playing. He solos all through the songs – often just distorted extended notes. It bears little relation to the 'acceptable' guitar playing of commercial radio; it's even 'decorative,' fragile, or delicate. It makes all the lyrics of the songs much more melancholy, because they're accompanied by this sporadic, almost contrapuntal, harmony. It doesn't sound like other music. I think the producers tried to make up for it by making these random notes really quiet except in the 'proper' places (at the end of the song usually) but you can still hear them, all the time – it's quite disturbing. I guess he's actually listening to what they sound like.

-- Maryann (tedium200...), June 10th, 2001

*Were* they clever or radical? Johansen was clever, Johnny Thunders was radical even if he wouldn't've known why himself. What did their ultra femininity/ultra masculinity mean? it meant that it was 1973 & time to take rock back off the hippies once & forever. & it still is. (1973 I mean).

-- duane zarakov (pfaiga...), June 10th, 2001

98. David Bowie - "Heroes"

Low is elegant, weird, strange and wonderful, but "Heroes" is all that and more, and is probably the album I've listened to from Bowie the most over the years. "Sons of the Silent Age" may actually be my favorite song by him ever, that weird queasy start, sax and synths and more, the sudden imagistic power of the lyrics -- "they never die, they just go to sleep one day" -- and that sudden break into a twisted tearjerker chorus, a pure spotlight/drama queen moment that feels like the most emotional confession of love ever.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), June 15th, 2004

Heroes is just as interesting and unusual as Low and yet more accessible.

-- wetmink (minksof...), June 15th, 2004 7:09 PM.

Heroes is the only Bowie album I've ever gotten deeply and emotionally attached to.

- Girolamo Savonarola (gsav@smb.net), June 26th, 2003 11:12 PM.

97. Kate Bush - 'The Kick Inside'

I do still have a bit of a thing for KB, and, last year, listened to the first three LPs for the first time in ages. The Kick Inside won that particular battle easily though, strangely, I've no desire to listen to 2/3rds of it ever again.

-- Michael Jones (tourajsig...), February 8th, 2002

My favorite is "The Kick Inside"... but then again I love Laura Nyro.

-- Sean (saturns...), January 22nd, 2003 7:06 PM.

Go with her debut, "The Kick Inside". My favorite, and the least freakish (my favorite AND the least freakish??).

-- Sean (saturns...), April 8th, 2003

96. Bruce Springsteen - 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'

What an opening couplet:

I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor

-- Mark (mar...), July 15th, 2002

The stuff that's good on Darkness is good in some really interesting ways. I think he came into his own there, figured out more what worked for him and what didn't. He kept the big anthems, but he also finally figured out the quiet end -- it's the first album that anticipates Nebraska, especially the title track. And even the anthems got more pointed and pared down. Like, "poor man wanna be rich/ rich man wanna be king/ and a king ain't satisfied until he rules everything/ I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got" -- I mean, that's a great fucking lyric, especially joined to the jumping-out-of-his-skin throb of the song. It combines dawning political consciousness with adolescent will to power, and suggests without even meaning to the roots of fascism. And it locates all that in small-town Midwestern we-gotta-get-out-of-this-place cockiness, just barely covering up for a growing certainty that he ain't going nowhwere. (Which is kind of the theme of the whole album, I think, even more than "Born to Run" -- on Born to Run there still seemed to be some kind of idea that all that mythic shit would add up to something, but "Darkness" kind of put an end to that.)

Also, for all its cheesiness, I love "Candy's Room" just for the pure horny build and release of it. ("Prove It All Night," on the other hand, never really gets going -- he makes it sound way too much like work.)

-- spittle (ptu...), July 21st, 2004

If anyone asks "what historical moment would you like to have seen", sometimes I think that being present at the first studio playback of the completed "Racing" would be my real answer. I can't imagine what it must've been like to have finished that song, I picture everyone collapsing afterward. It's a song to put on when the only option in life seems to be staring into space and flicking a lit cigarette into the dustbin for every bad decision you've ever made, half in hope that maybe your house will burn down with you still in it. The delivery of the "Callin' out around the world" line is the finest recorded vocal in the history of music. Or one of them, anyway. ("Badlands" - that's more all-purpose put-on-any-time for me, mainly because I can tune out the words if I want to and train the beady rational-crit half of my brain onto the sonics. IMHO "Badlands" is the most intensely political song ever recorded because it would say the same thing even if I couldn't understand the words or even if there WERE no words. (In distorted symbolic form, what it seems to be saying sonically is "Whatever happened to the Vagrants? Does Leslie West ever step out of his limo to buy a hot dog from them? And why are THEY reduced to selling hotdogs when Lou Reed isn't?" ) The social analysis of the song is built into the structure and playing and arrangement and sound etc., whereas most artists attempt to prove they see beyond their own noses by taking stock forms and then singing lists of famous names and appalling historical tragedies over the result.

-- dave q (scrape10...), July 15th, 2002

i only had one album vote and that was for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I was more about the singles.

!

!!

Now I finally understand the importance of the sleigh bells on "Charlie Freak." Thank you!

Some great selections so far. My only genuine WTF moment was with 'My Aim Is True' - that album is pish! Oh Alright, the singles are good.

Anyway.......GET DRAGNET!!