PEOPLE... HOLD ON. It's the ~~~ ILM 1970s SOUL/FUNK/DISCO ALBUMS POLL ~~~ results thread!

I'm surprised to see Wild & Peaceful so high. This and Spirit of the Boogie are really great records. Love the artwork for this one.

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41. Donny Hathaway - Everything Is Everything (1970)
75 points • 6 votes

OK, last one for today. I'm falling asleep here and it looks like everyone else has already done so.

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40. Parliament - Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome (1977)
75 points • 7 votes

RECAP:

40. Parliament - Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome (1977) 75 points • 7 votes
41. Donny Hathaway - Everything Is Everything (1970) 75 points • 6 votes
42. Kool & the Gang - Wild and Peaceful (1973) 73 points • 9 votes
43. Earth, Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World (1975) 72 points • 8 votes
44. Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain (1974) 71 points • 4 votes
45. Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) 70 points • 8 votes • 1 number one
46. Bill Withers - Just as I Am (1971) 69 points • 8 votes
47. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973) 69 points • 6 votes
48. The Meters - Rejuvenation (1974) 67 points • 11 votes
49. Terry Callier - What Color Is Love (1972) 67 points • 4 votes • 1 number one
50. Al Green - Let's Stay Together (1972) 66 points • 8 votes
51. Isaac Hayes - ...To Be Continued (1970) 66 points • 4 votes
52. Donna Summer - Bad Girls (1979) 65 points • 7 votes
53. George McCrae - Rock Your Baby (1974) 65 points • 4 votes
54. Minnie Riperton - Adventures in Paradise (1975) 64 points • 3 votes • 1 number one
55. Isaac Hayes - Black Moses (1971) 62 points • 7 votes
56. Lee Dorsey - Yes We Can (1970) 62 points • 3 votes
57. Cymande - Cymande (1972) 61 points • 7 votes
58. The Chi-Lites - (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People (1971) 61 points • 4 votes
60. Al Green - The Belle Album (1977) 60 points • 5 votes
61. Funkadelic - Funkadelic (1970) 58 points • 6 votes
62. Funkadelic - Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow (1970) 58 points • 5 votes
63. Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today (1975) 57 points • 5 votes
64. Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear (1978) 55 points • 5 votes
65. Chairmen of the Board - Skin I'm In (1974) 55 points • 3 votes
66. Mutiny - Mutiny on the Mamaship (1979) 55 points • 2 votes
67 (TIE). Parliament - Motor Booty Affair (1978) 54 points • 5 votes
67 (TIE). Willie Hutch - The Mack (1973) 54 points • 5 votes
69. James Brown - The Payback (1973) 53 points • 7 votes
70. Betty Davis - Nasty Gal (1975) 52 points • 5 votes
71. Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different (1974) 50 points • 5 votes • 1 number one
72. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Imagination (1973) 50 points • 5 votes
73. Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse (1971) 49 points • 5 votes
74 (TIE). Barry White - Let the Music Play (1976) 49 points • 3 votes
74 (TIE). Earth, Wind & Fire - I Am (1979) 49 points • 3 votes
76 (TIE). Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (1973) 48 points • 8 votes
76 (TIE). Prince - Prince (1979) 48 points • 8 votes
78. Donny Hathaway - Extension of a Man (1973) 48 points • 5 votes
79 (TIE). Funkadelic - Cosmic Slop (1973) 48 points • 3 votes
79 (TIE). Funkadelic - Let's Take It to the Stage (1975) 48 points • 3 votes
81. The Isley Brothers - Go for Your Guns (1977) 47 points • 4 votes
82. Brick - Brick (1977) 47 points • 3 votes
83. Slave - The Concept (1978) 47 points • 2 votes
84. WAR - All Day Music (1971) 46 points • 6 votes
85. Heatwave - Too Hot to Handle (1976) 46 points • 5 votes
86. Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights (1975) 45 points • 6 votes
87. The Wild Tchoupitoulas - The Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976) 45 points • 5 votes
88. Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees (1976) 44 points • 4 votes
89. Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark (1970) 43 points • 4 votes
90. Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction to Your Mind (1970) 43 points • 3 votes
91. Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (1971) 42 points • 4 votes
92 (TIE). Barry White - Stone Gon' (1973) 41 points • 4 votes
92 (TIE). Blue Magic - Blue Magic (1974) 41 points • 4 votes
94. Sly Stone - High on You (1975) 41 points • 3 votes
95 (TIE). Earth, Wind & Fire - Open Our Eyes (1974) 40 points • 4 votes
95 (TIE). Ohio Players - Honey (1975) 40 points • 4 votes
97 (TIE). Funkadelic - America Eats Its Young (1972) 40 points • 3 votes
97 (TIE). The Undisputed Truth - The Undisputed Truth (1971) 40 points • 3 votes
99. Fontella Bass - Free (1972) 40 points • 2 votes
100. Patrice Rushen - Pizzazz (1979) 39 points • 5 votes
101. Smokey Robinson - A Quiet Storm (1975) 38 points • 6 votes
102. Roberta Flack - Chapter Two (1970) 38 points • 3 votes
103. Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel (1974) 37 points • 5 votes
104. The Meters - Fire on the Bayou (1975) 37 points • 4 votes
105. Ohio Players - Fire (1974) 37 points • 3 votes
106 (TIE). Ashford & Simpson - Is It Still Good to Ya (1978) 37 points • 2 votes
106 (TIE). Ohio Players - Pleasure (1972) 37 points • 2 votes
108. The Spinners - Pick of the Litter (1975) 36 points • 5 votes
109 (TIE). Donna Summer - Love to Love You Baby (1975) 36 points • 4 votes
109 (TIE). Lou Bond - Lou Bond (1974) 36 points • 4 votes
111. Jorge Ben - Negro é lindo (1971) 36 points • 3 votes
112. The Temptations - All Directions (1972) 36 points • 2 votes
113. The Soul Children - Friction (1974) 35 points • 2 votes • 1 number one
114. Syreeta - Syreeta (1972) 35 points • 2 votes
115. Parliament - Chocolate City (1975) 34 points • 6 votes
116. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Wake Up Everybody (1975) 34 points • 5 votes
117. Isaac Hayes - Shaft (1971) 33 points • 5 votes
118. Bee Gees - Main Course (1975) 33 points • 4 votes
119 (TIE). Commodores - Commodores [a.k.a. Zoom] (1977) 33 points • 3 votes
119 (TIE). Ohio Players - Pain (1972) 33 points • 3 votes
119 (TIE). WAR - War (1971) 33 points • 3 votes
122. Margie Joseph - Margie Joseph Makes a New Impression (1970) 33 points • 2 votes
123 (TIE). Andy Bey - Experience and Judgment (1974) 32 points • 3 votes
123 (TIE). Barry White - Can't Get Enough (1974) 32 points • 3 votes
125. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - I Miss You (1972) 32 points • 2 votes
126. The Delfonics - The Delfonics (1970) 31 points • 5 votes
127 (TIE). Parliament - Up for the Down Stroke (1974) 31 points • 4 votes
127 (TIE). Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan - Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan (1975) 31 points • 4 votes
129 (TIE). Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude (1975) 31 points • 2 votes
129 (TIE). Nina Simone - Emergency Ward! (1973) 31 points • 2 votes
131. The Dramatics - Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get (1972) 30 points • 5 votes
132. Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World (1973) 30 points • 4 votes
133. Ohio Players - Skin Tight (1974) 30 points • 3 votes
134. Al Jarreau - We Got By (1975) 30 points • 1 vote • 1 number one
135. Caston & Majors - Caston & Majors (1974) 29 points • 3 votes
136. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly - Maze (1977) 29 points • 2 votes
137. Van Morrison - Moondance (1970) 28 points • 2 votes
138 (TIE). Love Unlimited Orchestra - Rhapsody in White (1974) 28 points • 1 vote
138 (TIE). Noir - We Had to Let You Have It (1971) 28 points • 1 vote
138 (TIE). Ruby Andrews - Black Ruby (1972) 28 points • 1 vote

hey just want to pop in and say thanks for yall for putting this on, i didn't vote or participate due to time but 70s soul has been about 80% of my listening lately so i am closely reading this thread

Disappointed that "Everything Is Everything" placed so low, that's pretty much a perfect album (an my #2). I guess Donny Hathaway still remains somewhat obscure compared to many other singers of the same mold? But I can't imagine any soul fan who's heard that album not rating it very high. To me, it was a total eye-opener; it's everything What's Going on had promised but didn't alway manage to deliver. But Donny does deliver it all! And that incredible silky voice of his! Even without his songwriting skills and general artistry he should've become big based on that alone. That he didn't, and the way his life ended, is such a sad, sad story.

And "That's The Way Of The World" is another perfect album, that's when EWF really discovered their poppy sensibilites, such incredibly beautiful melodies there. IMO it's their second-best album, only All 'n All raises even higher.

This live version of the title track is a jam too. (It's from the "Alive in '75" album, which is highly recommended for any fan.)

Strongly disagree on Donny. Yes, it's a sad story and he does chase the What's Going On promise somewhat but there are plenty of soul fans who can't get behind him. I doubt he will ever become an essential part of the wider canon simply because his version of r'n'b plays to the genre's worst and most isolated instincts. I'm not a fan of What's Going On but Donny is not a good alternative. I know this is probably too strongly worded but so much truly canon worthy stuff has placed very low while Donny is above his paygrade here.

Love EWF as a singles band. Went with Still Bill for Withers. Voted FFF. Sabotaged P-Funk on my ballot but the track Funkentelechy goes to some sublime places.

Yeah, I cannot get into Donny Hathaway at all. I've listened to his first three albums and they all passed me by.

What are the genre's worst and most isolated instincts?

I love the results so far... several of these seem like classics and I thought they were top 20 for sure. I hope Curtis gets 1st place instead of Gaye or Wonder. What's Going On and Innervisions are good albums but they're not top 10 material for me, not even my favorite by each artist.

I'd love to see Curtis up there. I was assuming that Sly & The Family Stone were the biggest competition. They'll have slightly less split voting than Curtis, Stevie and Marvin.

Sly would be cool too. Anything that's not Whats Going On or Innervisions works for me hahaha

xxxp I think it comes down to a certain embeddedness in old time pop. A particular sort of sappiness and histrionics. Sure, Donny does use more contemporary references but they become dull mannerisms in his hands. All of it is so tame I can't quite understand why someone would prefer him to basically anyone else in the genre.

Put it this way. If I wanted to convince someone that 70's soul is the golden age of music and offers something you can't get anywhere else, Everything Is Everything would make an extremely ineffective argument. It sounds like every cliche received wisdom about r'n'b ever. And the stuff that is sort of removed is such in a bad way (his attempt at Misty for example).

Hate to be negative but I think 70's soul is desperately in need of an updated canon. It's misleading and unrewarding to focus on funk and blaxploitation so much. Giving Donny the "underappreciated genius" spotlight isn't helping this proces.

Figure Riot will take this and I have no problem with that.

huh ppl having strong opinions either one way or the other about Donny Hathaway is something I was completely unaware of until I first heard Everything is Everything a couple years ago. I knew Roberta Flack's solo stuff but not his. and was surprised to read all the gushing praise quoted in his wiki entry. I don't think Everything is Everything is incredible or anything but it's solid. Does seem like one of those cases where the artist's personal story might tend to make his actual work overestimated (I'm sure some people here feel the same way about Betty Davis)

the live album is really good. don't care about his studio albums, not really my kind of thing.

I don't really understand exactly what he does that sets him beyond the pale, compared to other stuff on this thread. Like he doesn't feel like he's in a different genre or working from a totally different template than others listed so far.

That's true sort of. But the point of many (most) albums on this list is how distinctive they are. Everything Is Everything really isn't so it irks me when Donny gets the praise I feel legitemately underappreciated geniuses like Eugene Record, Ashford and Simpson, Thom Bell, Teddy Pendergrass, August Darnell and Swamp Dogg need.

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39. Earth, Wind & Fire - All 'n All (1977)
78 points • 6 votes

When I first came across "Everything Is Everything", I didn't know anything about Donny Hathaway's story (the CD copy I bought in the nineties doesn't even have liner notes), so certainly his tragic life wasn't the reason I got into his music. I just saw the album in the soul section of a record store, loved the cover, listened to it for a bit in the store, and was sold!

Like you, I was a bit tired of "greasy" funk and "gritty" blaxploitation soundtracks being the stereotypical image of '70s R&B (and this was in the '90s, so that stuff was everywhere). I'd tried to get into "What's Going On", but besides the admittedly gorgeous title track, it all sounded a bit too samey to me. So listening to "Everything Is Everything" was a revelation! Here's this guy who was doing all sorts of things on one record, experimenting within the form of R&B, but not in that psychedelic rock-inspired way Funkadelic etc were going (which isn't my thing), it was still within that smooth sound and always with his silky voice. And that was great for me, because I love smooth and silky!

So to me that seemed like an interesting alternate route that many of the more praised soul/funk/R&B artists I was more familiar with hadn't chosen, which drew me in. And he went even further with that on Extension of a Man, which is excessive, yes, but excess can be interesting. It doesn't gel together as nicely as his debut, but I'm still glad he tried, because it's an even more unique album than "Everything Is Everything".

And I get that Donny Hathaway is mannered and puts on personas and may sometimes sound disattached from his material, like on "Misty" or "Magdalena" or "Little Girl". But I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing? When white rockers like David Bowie do that, put on all their various masks that are all not so convincing, they're praised for being chameleons and theatrical perfomers. But to me it feels that black R&B artists, at least those from the pre-Prince era, are still expected to be "real" (which also accounts for why funk and blaxploitation is still the most canonical sound of that era), which seems unfair. So certainly I don't count that as a minus fo Donny! I love "Magdalena" in all it's showtuneness!

I'm not saying Donny Hathaway is this forgotten genius who'se reappropriation can help change the '70s R&B canon, I guess that "quite there but still outside" mannered quality in his music and persona makes it sure that he will never be rated as high as some more straightforward artists within the genre. And I still rate artists like Minnie Riperton, Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, Leon Thomas, Roberta Flack, EWF, etc as high or higher than him. But I do feel his small output is an interesting and unfairly slept on chapter in the history soul music, and that getting more recognition would do him justice.

(xpost)

Oh, that's way to low! It's undoubtedly the best album EWF did, and one of the top 10 albums of the decade, IMO. Everything in it is so colourful, so beautiful, so filled with joie de vivre. Philip Bailey has the most gorgeous falsetto in soul music, and their genius for writing catchy songs reached its highest hights here too. A tune like "Fantasy" has like three different hooks, all of which could've been built into a separate hit, but they decided to put them all into one. It's amazing, transcendent pop music.

Very interesting what you say about Hathaway's personas, Tuomas. I hadn't picked up on that aspect. I'll listen to Everything Is Everything again with your post in mind.

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38. Mandrill - Mandrill Is (1972)
79 points • 4 votes • 1 number one

BTW, I keep seeing the Powerslave cover when I scroll up :)

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37. Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces of a Man (1971)
84 points • 9 votes

My number 1 coming up:

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36. The Stylistics - Round 2 (1972)
85 points • 6 votes • 1 number one

Album highlights:
'Children of the Night'
'Peek-a-Boo'
'You and Me'
'Pieces'

I love "Magdalena" in all it's showtuneness!

Donny Hathaway's "Magdalena" kills me. Is it a showtune? The verse is all ragtimey and sounds like it ought to be on the Toy Story soundtrack and then the chorus kicks in and the whole thing is just so good. Tuomos right otm though, dude had some pretty big, unconventional ideas for someone that might show up on the ILM 70s Soul Poll

Tuomas that's fair. I'm not big on being "real" but I much prefer the way showtuneness is handled in, say, Thom Bell stuff which is to say via Burt Bacharach. But agree to disagree. I was sort of being a prick earlier.

Fantasy is indeed a landmark. Might be the best pop expression of spirituality ever. It feels like somewhere in the middle the holy ghost really does intervene. But I don't dig the ballads on All 'n All.

Pieces of a Man is flawed but beautiful. Heron is like a fucked up, introverted version of Bill Withers. Both smart and intense but Withers is better on sex and Heron more evocative on desperation.

Round 2 shows some weaknesses imo. Russel Thompkins Jr. is the best there is at what he does when what he does is hyperromanticism. But I don't think he handles lust (Children of the Night) or genuine regret (the Carole King cover) well. It just ends up sort of awkward. Still, at least a half of this record is unfuckwithable.

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35. Curtis Mayfield - Roots (1971)
85 points • 10 votes

"Roots" is fine, but it's kinda sad how it already begins to show hints of Mayfield's decline. I guess it's really hard, after having released the perfect (solo) debut album, to try to come up with anything that'd equal it... Sadly he never did.

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34. James Brown - There It Is (1972)
86 points • 5 votes • 1 number one

Yes! Was saying how ranking Brown albums is a thankless job but this is my choice. King Heroin would be a dud if performed by anyone else but somehow I'm on a verge of tears by the time it ends. He truly cuts the beat while saying "cuttin'" on Talking Loud and it's one of those myriad moments that demonstrate that he is on a whole different playing field.

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33. Millie Jackson - Caught Up (1974)
87 points • 6 votes

Prefer the similar Soul Children album way down on the list.

Millie Jackson was my number five. I'd given up hope of her placing. Caught Up is an incredible record.

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32. Sister Sledge - We Are Family (1979)
88 points • 9 votes

Should have been a disco masterpiece but for some plodding filler and maybe an overused tittle track. Thinking Of You is sublime.

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31. Minnie Riperton - Come to My Garden (1970)
92 points • 8 votes

OK simmel, here comes your moment of glory:

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30. Stairsteps - 2nd Resurrection (1976)
94 points • 5 votes • 1 number one

Album highlights:
* 'From Us to You'
* 'Pasado'

Indeed! Just recently heard this and was amazed. Gave it the number one spot and judged all the other albums against it. A few that are yet to come match it in cohesiveness but this one is still a miracle. It just flows so well! Spectacular cover too.

I listened to it via this YouTube of the full album, that's why I highlighted the first two songs. Do you have any other particular favorites?

I had it at number 8, mostly thanks to your campaigning. I'd never heard of the group before.

Oh, I forgot to highlight 'Les Fleur' from Minnie Riperton's Come to My Garden, for the few people who haven't heard it yet.

Not just the high point of that album, but one of the most beautiful songs in music history.