ILM's Now For Something Completely Different... 70s Album Poll Results! Top 100 Countdown! (Part 2)

92. FELA KUTI Zombie (2178 Points, 18 Votes)
RYM: #14 for 1977 , #399 overall | Acclaimed: #1133 | Pitchfork: #90
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0001/615/MI0001615390.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
http://open.spotify.com/album/1Gs6iohznUttOXNjQcAqIN
spotify:album:1Gs6iohznUttOXNjQcAqIN

Fela Anikulapo Kuti is a Nigerian pianist-saxophonist who makes real fusion music--if James Brown's stuff is Afro-American, he is Amer-African. No U.S. percussion ensemble would distinguish between first and second conga, but Fela's harmonic, melodic, and improvisational ideas are all adapted from Afro-American (which means part European) models. His sax style recalls the honkers, but it's more staccato, more complex rhythmically. Not only that, there are lyrics, in English, with crib sheet--very political, very associative, explicitly antibook. A- -- R. Christgau

Zombie, Fela Anikualapo Kuti's first stateside release, embodies the qualities that make him Nigeria's most popular musician and most notorious dissident folk hero. While the two roles are, of course, intertwined, the former is probably the one most accessible to Americans. Fela's mixture of jazz-rock instrumentation and West African percussion (a combination he terms "Afro-beat") is less a fusion than a rough and tenuous cohesion, but what results is original and exciting.

The story behind the title cut provides a context for understanding Fela's latter role. The lyrics to "Zombie" satirize, through call-and-response chanting, the robot-like obedience of the Nigerian military. When a group of soldiers heard the song, they burned down Fela's communal estate, beating many of his small army of bodyguards and raping the women with whom he lived. Fela was subsequently jailed, martyrized in a sensational trial and released. He now claims to be running for president in Nigeria's first national elections next year.

"Everything Scatter" is an after-the fact account of the clash at Fela's estate once again mocking the government. (Fela has since been barred from performing in Nigeria.) Unfortunately, some of the lyrics are incomprehensible because of the regional dialect ("wuru-wuro for dem back"?), and much of the subtlety and humor is lost. "Monkey Banana" pokes fun at the upwardly mobile aspirations of many black Nigerians, but once again the nuances of meaning are obscured.

As with reggae, one must accept the political overtones of this music to fully enjoy it, though Fela's are secular and considerably more sardonic than most reggae compositions. Like many reggae musicians, Fela and Afrika 70 smoke inordinate amounts of marijuana, which may partially be responsible for the music's pleasant temporal laxity. Thus, Zombie is a real challenge to listeners of American pop. -- Michael Duffey, RS

review
[-] by Sam Samuelson

Zombie was the most popular and impacting record that Fela Anikulopo Kuti and Africa 70 would record -- it ignited the nation to follow Fela's lead and antagonize the military zombies that had the population by the throat. Fela is direct and humorous in his attack as he barks out commands to the soldiers like: "Attention! Double up! Fall In! Fall out! Fall down! Get ready!" Meanwhile, his choir responds with "Zombie!" in between each statement. Since the groove was so absolutely contagious, it took the nation by storm: People in the street would put on a blank stare and walk with hands affront proclaiming "Zombie!" whenever they would see soldiers. If "Zombie" caught the attention of the populous it also cought the attention of the authority figures -- this would cause devastating personal and professional effects as the Nigerian government came down on him with absolute brute force not long after the release of this record. Also included are "Monkey Banana," a laid-back groove that showcases drummer Tony Allen's mastery of the Afro-beat, and "Everything Scatter," a standard mid-tempo romp. Both songs are forgetful in relation to "Zombie," but this is still an essential disc to own for the title track alone.

Ah, OK, I don't have that one. Good to know.

wait, never mind. Looking at You on '66 Breakout is a live version

Anyone know the best version of their 10+ minute "Black To Comm"? The one I have is from Motor City Is Burning which sounds like absolute ass. I keep hoping they performed it when they recorded Kick Out The Jams, and a pristine version is just waiting in the vaults for that deluxe reissue.

alright, a real Goblin album!

― wk, Monday, March 25, 2013 3:01 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark

Anyone know the best version of their 10+ minute "Black To Comm"?

Best one I've heard is on Power Trip. Not the greatest sound quality, but when the rest of the band comes in after the opening chord vamp, you'll want to duck.

Kimono My House, Real Life and Superfly all should have been top hundred at least. I thought they would all easily make it.

Last one for the night coming up. Are you ready for another moronic review by Robert Christgau?

Kimono My House, Real Life and Superfly all should have been top hundred at least. I thought they would all easily make it.

Propaganda still coming up?

Propaganda wasn't nommed

damn. TOO LOW then

Too true. Sparks was my #1

91. OHIO PLAYERS Fire (2195 Points, 16 Votes)
RYM: #283 for 1974
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0002/177/MI0002177711.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
http://open.spotify.com/album/6jqy46bCaO2Ifosm1SFZDI
spotify:album:6jqy46bCaO2Ifosm1SFZDI

The makers of Shoogity-Boogity bring you: More Shoogity-Boogity. B -- R. Christgau

The author of some really shitty reviews brought you: More Shitty obnoxious reviewing.
----

review
by Alex Henderson

After greatly increasing their visibility with Skin Tight, the Ohio Players became even more visible with Fire -- an unpredictable masterpiece that boasted such explosive horn-driven funk jewels as "Smoke" and the wildly addictive title song. The Players were always best known for their hard-edged funk, but in fact, there was much more to their legacy. "I Want to Be Free," the almost innocent "Together," and the remorseful "It's All Over" demonstrate that their ballads and slower material could be first-rate soul treasures. The influence of gospel imagery and the black church experience had asserted itself on Skin Tight's "Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved," and does so once again on the intense "What the Hell" and the hit "Runnin' From the Devil." Without question, Fire was one of the Ohio Players' greatest triumphs -- both commercially and artistically.

lol

Will never understand why people revere Xgau.

me neither. I was loling at yet another Ohio Players record though.

Don't see why as they had a terrific output in the early to mid 70s

A run as good as anybodys

It's kind of funny though! He had to have gotten a lot of shit for it the first time, then he did it again! However if you recall, by Honey he must have felt guilty and wrote, "A/k/a Boogity-Shoogity, and I don't mean to be mean--I quite like these guys in limited doses..." and upped the grade to a B+.

I have most of the Ohio Players stuff and it does the job when good solid funk is needed. But I really don't see how it merits top 100 of the decade status. Only in ILM-land!

glad it's not just me

It does amongst funk fans.

plus you could say the same about albums from every genre in a poll.

I like how itt we draw lines in the sand as to who are or aren't true funk fans

Props to AG's unwavering love of funk! Beyond P-Funk, the funky force is just not as strong with me. I had a good time seeing Kool & the Gang last year, and hearing some Ohio Players again, but I've about hit my limit already and will probably be sick of it for another year or five.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.spinner.com/media/2011/04/bootsy-collins.jpg
Mmmh. The funk is strong with this one.

Direct Link to poll recap & full results

Quality list I think and I hope everyone enjoys the Spotify playlist moodles set up.

As always you can post about any album or band that's already placed. Thoughts by those catching up or latecomers are always welcome as are comments about any of todays results and even the reviews posted with the results.

I guess it's dumb to make any comparisons at this point because presumably that's the last Ohio Players album that's going to place and there are several bands who are going to place a bunch in the top 100. But at this point I think combined Parliament and Funkadelic are leading with 8 albums having placed, and the Ohio Players are tied with Fela and Miles Davis with 6 albums. unless there's somebody I'm overlooking.

not complaining or anything, it's just been the biggest surprise of the poll so far for me, and makes me wonder if I should reassess the Ohio Players.

I threw together a playlist that's just the funk stuff

http://open.spotify.com/user/edward_iii/playlist/041HnhUG5v2j7ZnwK4FGbv

Propaganda wasn't nommed

― Non-Stop Erotic Calculus (bmus)

This is a real shame, It would have been in my top five as it's my favourite Sparks album and one of my thirty favourite albums of all time.

Ron&Russ signed mine..

Added today's albums to the big playlist.

http://open.spotify.com/user/olken2000/playlist/5sdu93N2DjKkDk0NMe6sFH
spotify:user:olken2000:playlist:5sdu93N2DjKkDk0NMe6sFH (put into Spotify search bar)

yeah kimono isn't in my top 5 sparks albums but wtf @ being outside the 100.

Another glam placing that hurts is electric warrior. I've always liked tyrannosaurus rex, abbreviated or otherwise, but it's only in the last year or so that I've fallen for electric warrior in a big way. Not even sure I mean that metaphorically, it feels like a real infatuation. I just melt. Was there ever a more exquisitely orchidaceous rock frontman?

Ron&Russ signed mine..

― Mark G

Nice!

I wish I'd been involved in the nominations thread now.

yeah kimono isn't in my top 5 sparks albums but wtf @ being outside the 100.

― beau 'daedaly (wins)

Which are your top five Sparks albums by the way?

yeah electric warrior placing hurts but the run of t rex -> misfits -> clash -> damned is pretty sweet

The original 70 poll - ILX 70s album poll - results

200 Brian Eno - Before and After Science 84
199 Bob Dylan And The Band - Before The Flood 84
198 Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert 85
197 Yes - Fragile 86
196 Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon 87
195 John Martyn - Solid Air 88
194 Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys 89
193 Roxy Music - Stranded 89
192 Joni Mitchell - Hejira 90
191 Queen - A Night At The Opera 90
190 Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight 90
189 Nilsson - Nilsson Sings Newman 90
188 Alvin Lucier - I Am Sitting In A Room 90
187 Swell Maps - A Trip To Marineville 91
186 Who - Quadrophenia 91
185 Neil Young- Zuma 91
184 Pere Ubu - Dub Housing 92
183Ivor Cutler - Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol. 2 93
182 Genesis - Selling England By The Pound 94
181 Saints - I'm Stranded 95
180 Gram Parsons - GP 95
179 Specials - s/t 95
178 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water 97
177 Bauhaus - In The Flat Field 98
176 cerrone - cerrone 3: supernature 99
175 Carole King - Really Rosie [soundtrack] 103
174 Kiss - Destroyer 104
173 Randy Newman - Good Ol Boys 104
172 cecil taylor 'silent tongues' 105
171 Faust - Tapes 107
170 Mott The Hoople - Mott 107
169 Gong - Camembert Electrique 108
168 Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil 109
167 Jerry Goldsmith - Alien 109
166 This Heat - This Heat 110
165 Capt. Beefheart & the Magic Band - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) 110
164 Brian Eno - Music For Airports 113
163Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak 113
162 Townes Van Zandt - Live At The Old Quarter 114
161 Donna Summer - Bad Girls 116
160 Black Devil -- Disco Club 118
159 Charlemagne Palestine - Four Manifestations On Six Elements 119
158 T. Rex - The Slider 120
157 Culture - Two Sevens Clash 121
156 Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges - Clube Da Esquina 121
155 Willie Nelson "Redheaded Stranger" 121
154 Undertones - The Undertones 122
153 Carole King - Tapestry 122
152 Joni Mitchell- Court And Spark 123
151 lou reed 'metal machine music' 124
150 David Bowie - Aladdin Sane 124
149 Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! 127
148 Dr. Alimantado - The Best Dressed Chicken In Town 128
147 Police - Regatta de Blanc 129
146 Aretha Franklin - 'Spirit In The Dark' 130
145 CCR - Cosmo's Factory 131
144 Neu! - Neu! 2 136
143 Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen 136
142 Ramones - Rocket To Russia 136
141 Fela Kuti - Zombie 137
140 Patti Smith - Horses 137
139 Fall - Live At The Witch Trials 143
138 Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - 'Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band' 144
137 ABBA - Voulez-Vous 146
136 Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story 147
135 Who - Who's Next 148
134 Velvet Underground - 1969 Velvet Underground Live 149
133 Talking Heads - Fear Of Music 150
132 Van Morrison - Moondance 152
131 Led Zeppelin - Physical Grafitti 152
130 Boston - Boston 154
129 Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 155
128 Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance 158
127 Pink Floyd - The Wall 158
126 Human League - Reproduction 159
125 Faust - Faust IV 160
124 James 'Blood' Ulmer - Tales Of Captain Black 162
123 Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove 163
122 T. Rex - Electric Warrior 164
121 Fripp/Eno - Evening Star 166
120 ABBA - Arrival 167
119 Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom 169
118 James Brown - Sex Machine 170
117 Joao Gilberto - Joao Gilberto 172
116 Bruce Sprinsteen - Born To Run 172
115 Herbie Hancock - Sextant 172
114 Steely Dan - Katy Lied 179
113 Pop Group - Y 180
112 Curtis Mayfield - Curtis 181
111 Cars - s/t 182
110 Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything 182
109 Fleetwood Mac - Tusk 184
108 Various - No New York 187
107 Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Armed Forces 188
106 Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby 190
105 Magazine - Real Life 190
104 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass 191
103 Yes - Close To The Edge 193
102 Giorgio Moroder - From Here To Eternity 196
101 Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation 197
100. VA - Nuggets
99. New York Dolls - s/t
98. David Bowie - Heroes
97. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
96. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On the Edge of Town
95. The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys
94. Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
93. Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach
92. Sparks - Kimono My House
91. Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan
90. Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstacy
89. Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven
88. Can - Future Days
87. The B52s - The B52s
86. Parliament - Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome
85. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
84. Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
83. The Slits - Cut
82. Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
81. The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
80. Neu! - Neu!
79. The Beatles - Let It Be
78. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
77. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
76. Big Star - Third
75. John Cale - Paris 1919
74. Donna Summer - On the Radio
73. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
72. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
71. Parliament - The Mothership Connection
70. Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
69. VA - Saturday Night Fever
68. Wire - 154
67. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
66. Led Zeppelin - IV
65. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
64. Big Star - #1 Record
63. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
62. David Bowie - Station to Station
61. Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
60. Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
59. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
58. Bob Dylan - The Basement Tapes
57. The Congos - Heart of the Congos
56. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
55. Ornette Coleman - Dancing in Your Head
54. Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight
53. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
52. The Fall - Dragnet
51. Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
50. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
49. Roxy Music - Roxy Music
48. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
47. Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
46. Suicide - First Album
45. Miles Davis - On the Corner
44. Curtis Mayfield - Superfly
43. Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians
42. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
41. Neil Young - On the Beach
40. Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel
39. Wire - Chairs Missing
38. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
37. Can - Ege Bamyesi
36. Brian Eno - Another Green World
35. Serge Gainbourg - Histoire De Melody Nelson
34. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
33. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
32. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
31. Big Star - Radio City
30. The Clash - The Clash
29. The Velvet Underground - Loaded
28. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
27. Wire - Pink Flag
26. Can - Tago Mago
25. David Bowie - Low
24. Joni Mitchell - Blue
23. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
22. Ramones - Ramones
21. Al Green - Call Me
20. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine
19. The Stooges - Fun House
18. Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
17. VA - The Harder They Come
16. The Sex Pistols - Nevermind the Bollocks
15. The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
14. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
13. Gang of Four - Entertainment
12. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
11. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
10. Marvin Gaye - What's Goin' On
9. Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
8. PiL - Metal Box
7. Blondie - Parallel Lines
6. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
5. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
4. Television - Marquee Moon
3. Bob Dylan - Blood On the Tracks
2. The Clash - London Calling
1. Sly & the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On

yeah ohio players were fairly second tier so these results are pretty laughable from a strictly funk standpoint, nevermind the entire 70s. that's its not even one of the westbound ones making the top 100 makes it even more hilarious.

Results of the other poll where anything from the top 100 of the last poll was barred

100. Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges - Clube de Esquina (1972) [80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
99. Chic - C'est Chic (1978) [80 points, 14 votes]
98. John Lennon - Imagine (1971) [80 points, 15 votes]
97. Patti Smith - Horses (1975) [80 points, 17 votes]
96. Van Halen - Van Halen (1978) [81 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
95. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (1975) [81 points, 8 votes]
94. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (1970) [81 points, 11 votes]
93. Blondie - Eat to the Beat (1979) [82 points, 9 votes]
92. Miles Davis - Agharta (1976) [82 points, 10 votes]
91. Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties!! (1977) [83 points, 6 votes]
90. Neu! - Neu! 2 (1973) [83 points, 10 votes]
89. Tom Waits - Closing Time (1973) [84 points, 6 votes]
88. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (1972) [85 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
87. Hawkwind - Space Ritual (1973) [85 points, 11 votes]
86. Aerosmith - Rocks (1976) [86 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
85. Tubeway Army - Replicas (1979) [86 points, 9 votes]
84. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (1976) [86 points, 11 votes]
83. The Who - Live at Leeds (1970) [87 points, 6 votes]
82. Comus - First Utterance (1971) [87 points, 9 votes]
81. Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece (1974) [88 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
80. Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue (1977) [90 points, 10 votes]
79. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (1973) [92 points, 9 votes]
78. Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action (1976) [92 points, 10 votes]
77. Pere Ubu - Datapanik in the Year Zero EP (1978) [93 points, 6 votes]
76. ABBA - Arrival (1976) [93 points, 8 votes]
75. David Bowie - Lodger (1979) [93 points, 12 votes]
74. Cluster - Zuckerzeit (1974) [93 points, 14 votes]
73. Pere Ubu - Dub Housing (1978) [94 points, 12 votes]
72. The Rolling Stones - Some Girls (1978) [95 points, 13 votes]
71. Neil Young - Harvest (1972) [96 points, 9 votes]
70. Herbie Hancock - Sextant (1973) [96 points, 12 votes]
69. Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) [97 points, 10 votes]
68. Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979) [98 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
(Tie) 66. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) [99 points, 9 votes]
(Tie) 66. Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (1974) [99 points, 9 votes]
65. The Pop Group - Y (1979) [99 points, 10 votes]
64. Al Green - The Belle Album (1977) [100 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
63. Steely Dan - Katy Lied (1975) [100 points, 9 votes]
62. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (1971) [100 points, 11 votes]
61. Various Artists - No New York (1978) [101 points, 10 votes]
60. The Specials - The Specials (1979) [102 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
59. John Cale - Fear (1974) [104 points, 11 votes]
58. Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971) [106 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
57. King Crimson - Red (1974) [109 points, 12 votes]
56. Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978) [110 points, 12 votes]
55. Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove (1978) [110 points, 13 votes]
54. Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) [111 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
53. Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975) [111 points, 12 votes]
52. Van Morrison - Moondance (1970) [111 points, 13 votes]
51. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor (1979) [112 points, 6 votes, 2 first place votes]
(Tie) 49. The Who - Who's Next (1971) [112 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
(Tie) 49. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces (1979) [112 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
48. David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1973) [113 points, 11 votes]
47. Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [113 points, 13 votes]
46. Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick (1977) [116 points, 9 votes]
(Tie) 44. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Zuma (1975) [116 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
(Tie) 44. James Brown - The Payback (1973) [116 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
43. Grateful Dead - American Beauty (1970) [119 points, 9 votes]
42. Amon Düül II - Yeti (1970) [120 points, 12 votes]
41. New York Dolls - Too Much Too Soon (1974) [121 points, 4 votes, 2 first place votes]
40. Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs (1970) [121 points, 9 votes]
39. Funkadelic - Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow (1970) [124 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
38. Miles Davis - Get Up With It (1974) [124 points, 12 votes]
37. This Heat - This Heat (1979) [125 points, 10 votes]
36. T.Rex - The Slider (1972) [127 points, 13 votes]
35. Tim Buckley - Starsailor (1970) [127 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote]
34. Funkadelic - Standing on the Verge of Getting it On (1974) [128 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
33. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975) [128 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
32. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) [128 points, 14 votes]
31. The Cars - The Cars (1978) [131 points, 13 votes]
30. Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story (1971) [140 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
29. Fela Kuti & Afrika 70 - Zombie (1977) [141 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote]
28. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975) [146 points, 14 votes]
27. Talking Heads - 77 (1977) [147 points, 15 votes]
26. Led Zeppelin - III (1970) [149 points, 11 votes]
(Tie) 24. T.Rex - Electric Warrior (1971) [151 points, 17 votes]
(Tie) 24. Faust - IV (1973) [151 points, 17 votes]
23. Ramones - Rocket to Russia (1977) [152 points, 13 votes]
22. Can - Soon Over Babaluma (1974) [152 points, 16 votes]
21. Harmonia - Deluxe (1975) [155 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
20. Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (1976) [161 points, 10 votes]
19. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star (1973) [162 points, 12 votes]
18. Lou Reed - Transformer (1972) [164 points, 16 votes]
17. Joni Mitchell - Hejira (1976) [165 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
16. The Raincoats - The Raincoats (1979) [168 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote]
15. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (1976) [176 points, 11 votes, 2 first place votes]
14. Steely Dan - Aja (1977) [177 points, 16 votes]
13. Neu! - Neu! 75 (1975) [187 points, 17 votes]
12. Brian Eno - Before and After Science (1977) [187 points, 18 votes]
11. XTC - Drums and Wires (1979) [188 points, 15 votes, 2 first place votes]
10. Yes - Close to the Edge (1972) [189 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
9. Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance (1978) [205 points, 20 votes]
8. Kraftwerk - Autobahn (1974) [230 points, 25 votes]
7. Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (1970) [248 points, 19 votes]
6. X Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents (1978) [263 points, 20 votes, 3 first place votes]
5. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom (1974) [307 points, 19 votes, 5 first place votes]
4. Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978) [310 points, 27 votes, 1 first place vote]
3. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970) [310 points, 28 votes, 3 first place votes]
2. Talking Heads - Fear of Music (1979) [405 points, 28 votes]
1. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979) [527 points, 30 votes, 4 first place votes]

[b]100. Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges - Clube de Esquina (1972) [80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
99. Chic - C'est Chic (1978) [80 points, 14 votes]
98. John Lennon - Imagine (1971) [80 points, 15 votes]
97. Patti Smith - Horses (1975) [80 points, 17 votes]
96. Van Halen - Van Halen (1978) [81 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
95. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (1975) [81 points, 8 votes]
94. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (1970) [81 points, 11 votes]
93. Blondie - Eat to the Beat (1979) [82 points, 9 votes]
92. Miles Davis - Agharta (1976) [82 points, 10 votes]
91. Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties!! (1977) [83 points, 6 votes]
90. Neu! - Neu! 2 (1973) [83 points, 10 votes]
89. Tom Waits - Closing Time (1973) [84 points, 6 votes]
88. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (1972) [85 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
87. Hawkwind - Space Ritual (1973) [85 points, 11 votes]
86. Aerosmith - Rocks (1976) [86 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
85. Tubeway Army - Replicas (1979) [86 points, 9 votes]
84. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (1976) [86 points, 11 votes]
83. The Who - Live at Leeds (1970) [87 points, 6 votes]
82. Comus - First Utterance (1971) [87 points, 9 votes]
81. Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece (1974) [88 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
80. Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue (1977) [90 points, 10 votes]
79. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (1973) [92 points, 9 votes]
78. Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action (1976) [92 points, 10 votes]
77. Pere Ubu - Datapanik in the Year Zero EP (1978) [93 points, 6 votes]
76. ABBA - Arrival (1976) [93 points, 8 votes]
75. David Bowie - Lodger (1979) [93 points, 12 votes]
74. Cluster - Zuckerzeit (1974) [93 points, 14 votes]
73. Pere Ubu - Dub Housing (1978) [94 points, 12 votes]
72. The Rolling Stones - Some Girls (1978) [95 points, 13 votes]
71. Neil Young - Harvest (1972) [96 points, 9 votes]
70. Herbie Hancock - Sextant (1973) [96 points, 12 votes]
69. Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) [97 points, 10 votes]
68. Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979) [98 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
(Tie) 66. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) [99 points, 9 votes]
(Tie) 66. Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (1974) [99 points, 9 votes]
65. The Pop Group - Y (1979) [99 points, 10 votes]
64. Al Green - The Belle Album (1977) [100 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
63. Steely Dan - Katy Lied (1975) [100 points, 9 votes]
62. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (1971) [100 points, 11 votes]
61. Various Artists - No New York (1978) [101 points, 10 votes]
60. The Specials - The Specials (1979) [102 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
59. John Cale - Fear (1974) [104 points, 11 votes]
58. Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971) [106 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
57. King Crimson - Red (1974) [109 points, 12 votes]
56. Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978) [110 points, 12 votes]
55. Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove (1978) [110 points, 13 votes]
54. Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) [111 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
53. Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975) [111 points, 12 votes]
52. Van Morrison - Moondance (1970) [111 points, 13 votes]
51. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor (1979) [112 points, 6 votes, 2 first place votes]
(Tie) 49. The Who - Who's Next (1971) [112 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
(Tie) 49. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces (1979) [112 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
48. David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1973) [113 points, 11 votes]
47. Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia (1974) [113 points, 13 votes]
46. Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick (1977) [116 points, 9 votes]
(Tie) 44. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Zuma (1975) [116 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
(Tie) 44. James Brown - The Payback (1973) [116 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
43. Grateful Dead - American Beauty (1970) [119 points, 9 votes]
42. Amon Düül II - Yeti (1970) [120 points, 12 votes]
41. New York Dolls - Too Much Too Soon (1974) [121 points, 4 votes, 2 first place votes]
40. Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs (1970) [121 points, 9 votes]
39. Funkadelic - Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow (1970) [124 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
38. Miles Davis - Get Up With It (1974) [124 points, 12 votes]
37. This Heat - This Heat (1979) [125 points, 10 votes]
36. T.Rex - The Slider (1972) [127 points, 13 votes]
35. Tim Buckley - Starsailor (1970) [127 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote]
34. Funkadelic - Standing on the Verge of Getting it On (1974) [128 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
33. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975) [128 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
32. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) [128 points, 14 votes]
31. The Cars - The Cars (1978) [131 points, 13 votes]
30. Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story (1971) [140 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
29. Fela Kuti & Afrika 70 - Zombie (1977) [141 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote]
28. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975) [146 points, 14 votes]
27. Talking Heads - 77 (1977) [147 points, 15 votes]
26. Led Zeppelin - III (1970) [149 points, 11 votes]
(Tie) 24. T.Rex - Electric Warrior (1971) [151 points, 17 votes]
(Tie) 24. Faust - IV (1973) [151 points, 17 votes]
23. Ramones - Rocket to Russia (1977) [152 points, 13 votes]
22. Can - Soon Over Babaluma (1974) [152 points, 16 votes]
21. Harmonia - Deluxe (1975) [155 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
20. Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (1976) [161 points, 10 votes]
19. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star (1973) [162 points, 12 votes]
18. Lou Reed - Transformer (1972) [164 points, 16 votes]
17. Joni Mitchell - Hejira (1976) [165 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
16. The Raincoats - The Raincoats (1979) [168 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote]
15. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (1976) [176 points, 11 votes, 2 first place votes]
14. Steely Dan - Aja (1977) [177 points, 16 votes]
13. Neu! - Neu! 75 (1975) [187 points, 17 votes]
12. Brian Eno - Before and After Science (1977) [187 points, 18 votes]
11. XTC - Drums and Wires (1979) [188 points, 15 votes, 2 first place votes]
10. Yes - Close to the Edge (1972) [189 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
9. Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance (1978) [205 points, 20 votes]
8. Kraftwerk - Autobahn (1974) [230 points, 25 votes]
7. Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (1970) [248 points, 19 votes]
6. X Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents (1978) [263 points, 20 votes, 3 first place votes]
5. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom (1974) [307 points, 19 votes, 5 first place votes]
4. Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978) [310 points, 27 votes, 1 first place vote]
3. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970) [310 points, 28 votes, 3 first place votes]
2. Talking Heads - Fear of Music (1979) [405 points, 28 votes]
1. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979) [527 points, 30 votes, 4 first place votes]

ahh damn double posted that

yeah ohio players were fairly second tier

Wrong.

It's sad, but I think I've completely shed any affection I once held for No Wave stuff.

I used to get off on its attitude, but it strikes me these days as emotional numbness masquerading as destructive vitality.

old man yells at mars

x-post: hahaha

It's funny; I've listened to a lot of these records for roughly the same amount of time--having discovered them in college and listened to them off and on for the past ten years since I graduated. The No Wave stuff and the more deconstructionist-minded stuff (Residents, etc.) has really faded in appeal, but there's stuff I used to not really "get" that just kills me today: Popul Vuh, Hawkwind, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van der Graaf Generator... So the rollout's been a cool way for me to examine the evolution of my own tastes.

I'm hoping we'll see this rank pretty highly, but I pulled out King Crimson's Red the other day for the first time in years, and man did that ever floor me. I always enjoyed listening to it before and kind of admired it at a distance, but it was like I actually *felt* it for the first time--all of its just utter bleakness and cathartic nastiness. The playing on that record is almost unbearable in its intensity.

Rolling Stone review of No New York, 4/5/79, by Tom Carson

A great deal of punk rock is basically art rock in a primitive guise, and in the hands of the avant-gardists who've turned to punk in the wake of New York's underground renaissance, both the artiness and the primitivism have been pushed to their logical extremes. You do it first, and then somebody else does it pretty - or, as in the case on this four-band anthology produced by Brian Eno, deliberately unpretty. Despite its intellectual top-heaviness, the music on No New York is all surface: militantly antimelodic, inaccessible and antihumanist. The fact that nihilism is here reduced to an aesthetic pose only makes the message even more willfully repellent.

Within these borders, No New York ranges from the fairly compelling (James Chance and the Contortions' shrieking, Pere Ubu-like collages of sound built from a metronomic, Velvet Underground beat) to the utterly unendurable (the inept caterwauling of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks' Lydia Lunch). In between the extremes are a competent but not particularly intriguing white-noise group (Mars) and an interesting but not particularly original punk band with just enough conceptual icing to squeak by as avant-garde (D.N.A.).

But even the Contortions, good as they are, arent quite convincing enough to prove that No Wave will ever be more than a fringe movement. While Eno initiated the current project, he doesn't seem to have put much energy into it: his production is unusually restrained. On the whole, he appears more taken with the basic idea rather than the actual substance of the music, and such priorities seem perfectly appropriate. Though I don't dislike No New York, and I'd like to hear more from at least one of the groups on it, this record sends me back to Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance and Eno's own Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy) - which is probably where you should go as well.

Tom Carson 1979

Xps to kitchen person, the sparks holy trinity for me is indiscreet/no 1 in heaven/lil Beethoven. After that, I'd put exotic creatures/gratuitous sax/kimono/propaganda on about equal footing, placings vary depending on mood. I also have tons of love for ones nobody likes such as whomp that sucker, plagiarism & music that you can dance to. I am an unrepentant stan :-D

Seconding whoever said they were hoping for red to do well, love that album.

90. VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR Pawn Hearts (2271 Points, 16 Votes, 1 #1)
RYM: #23 for 1971 , #332 overall | Acclaimed: #1383
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0001/860/MI0001860306.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
http://open.spotify.com/album/7CVoSNQO9BoYVj7f4qsNeE
spotify:album:7CVoSNQO9BoYVj7f4qsNeE

In January 1971, on the heels of H to He Who Am the Only One, Van der Graaf Generator boarded a bus with labelmates Genesis and Lindisfarne for the Six Bob Tour of England and Wales. Another Charisma package excursion with Audience and Jackson Heights (in a pink bus) took them across the Channel, where they played to largely bemused Germans and Swiss. By July, sessions had begun for Pawn Hearts. (As Guy Evans famously observed, "I liked the way things were going. We'd actually gone mad by then.") The image on the album's original inner sleeve is a hideous Technicolor nightmare of four weirdos in an English country garden offering Nazi salutes. Whatever madness was afoot, it definitely made its creative presence felt on Pawn Hearts, which proved to be the group's most fully realized work thus far. Each of its three tracks embodied the Van der Graaf Generator dialectical world view, embracing extremes, working through cycles of thesis-antithesis-synthesis and, ultimately, pulling off impossibly grand statements. These numbers do crease slightly under the weight of pretension and are almost consumed by their own inner-destructive energies; however, they emerge whole and triumphant. While so much prog was purely cerebral, Van der Graaf Generator combined braininess with an intense and sometimes exhausting viscerality. With the sense that the wheels were often close to coming off, that is what made the band so absorbing. Comprising ten separately named sections, the side-long "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" encapsulates this feeling. The parts (some of which border on free-jazz freak-out) threaten to overwhelm the whole, but by the end, the whole wins out by a hair. This counterpart to Genesis' "Supper's Ready" is a nautically themed existential meditation on man hopelessly adrift on the sea of meaning — the lighthouse keeper as the universal embodiment of alienated man. Hammill goes to the edge, as usual: "The maelstrom of my memory / Is a vampire and it feeds on me / Now, staggering madly, over the brink I fall." Nevertheless, the track concludes on a note of reasonably optimistic acquiescence and knowledge: "It doesn't feel so very bad now, I think the end is the start," muses Hammill, recalling T.S. Eliot's conclusion of "Little Gidding." (Hammill seems to draw also on Eliot's "The Waste Land" here.) The two other, comparatively more compact, tracks here offer equally vexed visions of the human condition. Speeding up and slowing down and punctuated with harsh-soft passages, "Lemmings (Including Cog)" rehashes the idea of human beings as members of the Arvicolinae subfamily in a world of soulless mechanization, culminating in a Beckettian "I-can't-go-on-I'll-go-on" moment of resignation: "What choice is there left but to try?" Progressing from an almost hymnal intro, with Hammill's voice accompanied by piano, to a manic climax and back, "Man-Erg" reflects on the human capacity for evil: "I'm just a man, and killers, angels, all are these / Dictators, saviours, refugees." Pawn Hearts topped the album chart in Italy and was more or less ignored everywhere else. The group split up, again. -- Trouser Press

A Kelt in a Krautrock Style

First time I ever heard PAWN HEARTS was in a shitty Torquay hotel where I was working in summer 1972. I was drunk on QC sherry and freaking out an 18-year-old girl called Karen, who was acid tripping and convinced that I was bringing her down. I was 15 and didn’t know what that meant, but the music was such a cack-off cacophony that I had to inform her “It ain’t me, babe!” It was the first time I’d thought what a racket progressive rock could be. Yet I already knew Faust and early Magma, so this lot (British too, so they shoulda known better) were surely just trying to be cantankerous. How I adored this record. However, thirty-one years and a coupla hundred spins later, I’m still genuinely disorientated by this extremely everything LP, and even more in Shock’n’awe of Peter Hammill than I was all those ye-hars ago. For one thing, I now know the technology he had at his group’s disposal and STILL it sound fucking well weird. Dear me, Pete, you were on the famous Charisma label with good old Lindisfarne and Genesis and the Nice and Audience - couldn’t you have tried a bit harder to fit in? 

PAWN HEARTS is progressive rock the way the East Germans played it. Not even the West Germans really managed such truly minging combinations of Brecht and primal scream therapy. This was rock’n’roll only because no other category would fit, and rock’n’roll was slack enough to accommodate this mongrel gang of weaners whose only common ground was that everyone hated them all. Peter Hammill sounds so posh you almost think he’s a council kid putting it on to wind up everybody. He played the same funky Hohner Clavinet that Sly Stone wa’d into Stonkerville, but Hammill reduces it to a damp and tortured Scando-Germanic post-folk harpsichord reminiscent of one of P.V. Glob’s strangled Iron Age bog victims. David Jackson doesn’t play sax for Van Der Graaf Generator, he plays saxophone and two of them simultaneously and extremely well. His melodies play the Mainman riffs usually reserved for fuzz guitars and contained no blues notes whatsoever. Jakson – as he was occasionally known - was like Chris Wood on JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE as played by Derek Guyler. Unfunkeh! Hugh Banton looked like and WAS an ex-choir boy, but his Godspell backing band attire and pouty gob belied his total immersion in undermining everything achieved by the sum total of all other prog keyboard players. Guy Evans had been in the later (and shit) version of the Misunderstood, but he was the best bassless drummer this side of John Densmore and played with the freedom of one who knows that the bass – what there is – will have to be added later in the session, and always around him. Ain’t no bass sucker gonna follow this rollathon, says Guy, coming in on the 7th beat. Indeed, half the time, the bass was supplied either by Hugh Banton’s low organ notes, or the occasional plucked Fender bass. In many ways, Van Der Graaf Generator bore the same relationship to other prog groups of the early 1970s as the Doors did to contemporary garage and psychedelic bands of the mid-1960s. In other words, not a lot.

My Prog/Gnosis

Van Der Graaf Generator were punks in a prog-rock style1. They had a visionary leader who wrote umpteen songs per week and released new LPs without even telling his record company. But Hammill had no idea when he was good or bad, and the first few releases were patchy dry runs for this remarkable statement called PAWN HEARTS. Indeed, the big surprise about Van Der Graaf is not that they were shit when they failed to come up with the goods. No no, more suprisingly they were just bland and a bit dismissable. Their first LP AEROSOL GREY MACHINE looks great and makes all the right moves, then you take it off and never listen ever again. Their second LP THE LEAST WE CAN DO IS WAVE TO EACH OTHER again looks great and contains one great song called ‘White Hammer’, which is portentous psycho-drama of the first order. However, the rest is self-immersed drywank with only the occasional deeply embarrassingly twee moment thrown in for listeners to gnash their teeth over (“West is Mike and Suzie”, anyone?). Their third LP was the mysteriously-titled H TO HE WHO AM THE ONLY ONE, which looks just fabberoo and even opens with the ‘struthly mossive “Killer”, which is the kind of bedsit prog Marc Almond shoulda covered instead of that obvious stuff by Sydney Barrett. But the rest is contemptible window dressing that comes and goes without ever coming at all. Dammit, they even managed to release a 45 called “Theme One” written for them by George Martin, the Beatles Guy. Shite Attack? U-Betcha! Not a hit? Rather! Nowadays available only on some rare US edition LP? Correctamundo! Y?

Becozz they woz shitty shit shit until PAWN HEARTS and then they became great. Great? They become mega-nificent on this LP. Reet youth, so it were plain sailing from here? Nope, then they split up… Hammill goes on to make reems and reems of deeply weird solo LPs and they get back together in 1975 and… they’z even better! Yup, they are probably the only band to re-form and be better than when they went away. However, as they’d only got a 25% score from the first 4LPs that’s not too hard. 

But Van Der Graaf Generator returned with a dry new sound that took that long drawn out LOW SPARK OF HIGH HEEL BOYS meets SHOOT OUT AT THE FANTASY FACTORY-period Traffic stuff (the 14-minutes of “Rollright Stones”, the 7-minutes of “Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired”, and the 12-minute title song “Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”), and Hammill trotted it out on to the Western Iranian plain and played Zarathustra with it. Suddenly, that morbid self-absorption that Stevie’s hollering becomes, in Hammill’s gonzo’d brain, the lone voice of the deserted shaman taking on the Bronze Age chariot-boys from Hell. It’s so damned magnificent I’m convinced Peter Hammill got close to THE TRUTH sometime around that period. Like a Neolithic ridgeway walker who grasps the sky and discovers that it’s actually a false-ceiling just 18 inches above his head, Hammill pushed through the soft barely-coagulated 3-minute egg that separates us from Heaven, and managed to (at least temporarily) live in both places at the same time. The comeback LP was GODBLUFF and it was faultless. Even nowadays, it exists on an entirely different plain to other music. STILL LIFE followed and was just as ruddy out there and unjudgeable. By WORLD RECORD, even I was getting wall-eyed by such 20-minute long titles as “Murglys 3 The Songwriter’s Guild”. But listening now it was me who never got it and Hammill who was just getting going.

The Stone Things are Broken!

But enough, let’s get back to the Album of the Month action. After all, the decision was made to shine the spotlight on this sucker. So just what is it that makes PAWN HEARTS so amazing? Well listen and see what you think. For a start, it’s the beginning of Peter Hammill’s bizarre but successful artistic co-habitation with himself. He’s not singing about anyone else but himself, yet the duets he does with himself actually sound like there’s a bunch of other singers in there too. When Hammill talks about waiting for his saviour, he seems to mean the castrated Attis as much as Jesus the Pastor. His Goddess seems to be both Cybele AND the Virgin. He’s like a newly Christianised Saxon: still willing to invoke Woden when he has to make the journey but content with the shiny guy for 90% of the daytime. Hammill’s a river traveller and a pastoralist, a bringer and a revealer, a giant and a flea AND the most misunderstood man in rock’n’roll – a Kim Fowleyan Loki bound by his accent and an inability rather than a refusal to change it. Look at the gatefold sleeve and that about sums it up. Four make-shift fascistic footballers in black shirts and white ties, in a post-psychedelic super-realist Narnia (Give C.S. a kick from me while you’re there, Pete, will ya?)

“Lemmings” opens the LP drifting in on sweet-voiced acoustics and Mellotron 400 flutes, before a sarcastic Utnapishtim saxophone tells you it’s the fucking Epic of Gilgamesh, and those fucking stone things are BROKEN!!! Ararat is submerged and the last temples of Urartu will never see another fire ritual. The difference between this LP and their previous ‘effort’ is the difference between THE WORLD OF DAVID BOWIE and ZIGGY STARDUST, without any of the graduations in between. In one fell swoop, Hammill has leap-frogged several stages of humanity and clawed, nay bestrode his way up on to Jahve’s own volcano and dumped his own hand-scribed tablets of demands down the God’s own smoke stack. 

Also remember when you hear this stuff that Peter Hammill is, on this recording, only about 24 years old though getting decades older by the hour. “Man-erg” was probably the first example of Hammill’s soon-coming tendency to appropriate religious themes to his own ends, paganise them, and send them back-at-ya with such Victorian mawkishness that U-Cannot-fail to blart your head off. Then, the Hammill formula deems thou must cop as un-R&B a saxophone lick as never did roam this planet and play it strident and bavarian with a small ‘b’. Soon, Hammill’s clanking his clavinet as VDGG summon up some o’ that old thyme Brechtian soul from the Nederland Plain. Now, he’s John Hurt as John Merrick screaming “I’m just a man”. I think not, Peter. Where’s the evidence, even amongst your contemporaries, for your being ‘Just A Man’? Yooz a hooligan cleric, a tonsured Viking, a Daft Vader with the voice of Todd Rundgren, David Bowie, Hall & Oates, John Inman, Quatermass and Pet Shop Boy all rolled into one. 

Remember the first time you heard “The Soft Parade” title track and wondered when it was all gonna kick in, only it never did? Well, here, instead of berating your earhole sergeant-major-like all the way through (as Hammill is well wont to do), “A Plague of Lighthouse keepers” drifts in and out of control for 23-minutes of standing-on-the-verge-of-getting-it-on-ness, occasionally unleashing ridiculous stentorian extremes, then backing right off into passages of near meditational drift. It should also be noted that this lot use Mellotrons 400 and Mark 2 like they SHOULD be used. Sound FX, train choogles, stampeding elephants, bain’t nowt too gimmicky for our boys. If it was guaranteed to invoke the ancient Gods, then they’d even steep the ARP synthesizer in tea.

PAWN HEARTS is a masterpiece in the old-fashioned sense of the word, that is: it is a musical blueprint on which to build in the future and has as sensibly structured an anti-structure as you could wish for. It is in turns beautiful, ridiculous, foul, overwhelming, irritating, mutating and magnificent. So don’t use this LP to irritate the wanker neighbours when you go out or you may return to find them clad in saffron robes, on a mission both to befriend you and to help you co-host evenings of Mellotron 400-based Pan-Eurasian re-constituted fire festivities. Be forewarned! -- J. Cope

Van der Graaf Generator was an enigma from the start, and remain just as mysterious over 40 years later. From the beginning they defied easy categorization. They didn’t fit easily into the niches of psychedelic rock, folk, jazz fusion or progressive rock, yet there were all of those elements and more. At the peak of the punk era, when the bloated circus road shows of Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis were dismissed by punkers as irrelevant, Johnny Rotten famously gave props to Van der Graaf singer Peter Hammill during a radio show. Mark E. Smith of The Fall was also a fan. It’s easy to hear why. When many prog bands were polishing their schtick into static performances, Van der Graaf Generator embodied that restless, questing spirit that led to constant change. They never played the same songs the same way, often pushing themselves to the point failure, alienating half their audiences. This of course sabotaged their commercial viability, but generated awe and respect mostly among fellow musicians. The early albums showed Hammill’s talents as a worldly lyricist as he tackled mysticism, numerology, religion, science fiction and even the Spanish Inquisition. Pawn Hearts brought the madness to a peak as one of the most uncompromising albums of the early 70s. Experimentation with electronics gave their sound an edge that sounded even more evil than before, creating a truly monumental clash of beauty, chaos and horror. After several exhausting tours of Italy and Europe, the band took a hiatus as Hammill tried his hand at some solo work. -- Fastnbulbous

review
[-] by Bruce Eder

Van Der Graaf Generator's third album, Pawn Hearts was also its second most popular; at one time this record was a major King Crimson cult item due to the presence of Robert Fripp on guitar, but Pawn Hearts has more to offer than that. The opening track, "Lemmings," calls to mind early Gentle Giant, with its eerie vocal passages (including harmonies) set up against extended sax, keyboard, and guitar-driven instrumental passages, and also with its weird keyboard and percussion interlude, though this band is also much more contemporary in its focus than Gentle Giant. Peter Hammill vocalizes in a more traditional way on "Man-Erg," against shimmering organ swells and Guy Evans' very expressive drumming, before the song goes off on a tangent by way of David Jackson's saxes and some really weird time signatures -- plus some very pretty acoustic and electric guitar work by Hammill himself and Fripp. The monumental "Plague of Lighthouse Keepers," taking up an entire side of the LP, shows the same kind of innovation that characterized Crimson's first two albums, but without the discipline and restraint needed to make the music manageable. The punning titles of the individual sections of this piece (which may have been done for the same reason that Crimson gave those little subtitles to its early extended tracks, to protect the full royalties for the composer) only add to the confusion. As for the piece itself, it features enough virtuoso posturing by everyone (especially drummer Guy Evans) to fill an Emerson, Lake & Palmer album of the same era, with a little more subtlety and some time wasted between the interludes. The 23-minute conceptual work could easily have been trimmed to, say, 18 or 19 minutes without any major sacrifices, which doesn't mean that what's here is bad, just not as concise as it might've been. But the almost operatic intensity of the singing and the overall performance also carries you past the stretches that don't absolutely need to be here. The band was trying for something midway between King Crimson and Genesis, and came out closer to the former, at least instrumentally. Hammill's vocals are impassioned and involving, almost like an acting performance, similar to Peter Gabriel's singing with Genesis, but the lack of any obviously cohesive ideas in the lyrics makes this more obscure and obtuse than any Genesis release.

Ah, my #1

How could it be anything but?