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

xxp myself

Womack and Womack is an obvious parallel but they are way more toxic. Same goes for Richard and Linda, the Go-Betweens, Fleetwood Mac and X. Delaney and Bonnie come the closest.

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104. The Meters - Fire on the Bayou (1975)
37 points • 4 votes

Finally decided I don't really care for New Orleans r'n'b. Sparks of genius like Prof Longhair or Mother-in-Law excepted. Still voted for Yes We Can since that one is also kind of undeniable.

Fire above Pleasure, eh? Thought that Pleasure would be higher. Good to also see that Meters album place!

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103. Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel (1974)
37 points • 5 votes

Way too low for "Fire on the Bayou", that's an awesome album, even though Meters purists apparently don't like it so much (because it has vocals and catchy songs). I especially love "Can You Do Without" for it's ridiculously funky groove, and "They All Ask'd for You" for listing all those animals. :)

xxp One more person voted for Fire, but the number of points for both albums is the same. So the people who voted for Pleasure rated it higher than they did Fire.

Wow, I didn't expect "Perfect Angel" to place below "Adventures in Paradise"... (Which is surely yet to come, right? Right?) But that's the correct order, IMO. As transcendant as "Lovin' You" is, in general I don't think Riperton's vocals work so well in a standard funk-rock setting, with no horns or strings. The more baroque arrangements of the album before and after this complement her talent better.

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102. Roberta Flack - Chapter Two (1970)
38 points • 3 votes

That was my #3... IMO Flack is kinda unfairly remembered mostly for "Killing Me Softly", or for her various cover versions of folk tunes and Leonard Cohen (which are undoubtedly great, don't get me wrong), but her first three albums are all flawless pieces folk-soul, and this one is the best of them.

already stoked to check out a bunch of these albums I've never heard before - and there are 101 left to come!

so 2 brilliant Ohio Players albums and a brilliant meters album placed while I was in bed. 3 of my votes right there

Yeah sorry, I didn't know when you'd wake up. But stay tuned, there's more coming up in the next hour.

xp - Which ones, Sean?

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101. Smokey Robinson - A Quiet Storm (1975)
38 points • 6 votes

Not counting James Brown, Smokey is probably my favorite soul man ever but I don't love this one. It's sort of gimmicky? The filler is schmaltzy af. Hope Where There's Smoke... is still to come cause that one is awesome.

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100. Patrice Rushen - Pizzazz (1979)
39 points • 5 votes

Wow, cool. I love Haven't You Heard completely. Should listen to this.

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99. Fontella Bass - Free (1972)
40 points • 2 votes

Album highlights: 'It Sure Is Good' and 'Talking About Freedom'

That was my #7. A great, gritty & political album, far away from "Rescue Me", if that's what you know Bass from. "It Sure Is Good" isn't on the original album though... It's included in the CD reissue, which has 5 bonus tunes from the same era that were released as singles but not on any album.

Oops, you're right. I hadn't noticed those were bonus tracks.

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97 (TIE). The Undisputed Truth - The Undisputed Truth (1971)
40 points • 3 votes

I should check that one out someday, I have their second album, which is pretty good.

Awesome cover too! (Though I'm not sure what's going on there; are they preparing for a spiritism session?)

Obvious album highlight: 'Smiling Faces Sometimes'

Slightly less obvious album highlight: 'Like a Rolling Stone'

xp - Yeah, it's hard to see what they're doing down there.

Cosmic Slop to thread!

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97 (TIE). Funkadelic - America Eats Its Young (1972)
40 points • 3 votes

Full album cover

the weakest of the funkadelic albums but has some great stuff on it

i voted for A Quiet Storm btw

How about this one:

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95 (TIE). Ohio Players - Honey (1975)
40 points • 4 votes

99. Fontella Bass - Free (1972)

another one for the list!

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95 (TIE). Earth, Wind & Fire - Open Our Eyes (1974)
40 points • 4 votes

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94. Sly Stone - High on You (1975)
41 points • 3 votes

I know some people like their earlier, rougher material, but to me "Open Your Eyes" is the beginning of EWF's imperial period. Everything from that album to "Raise!" is more or less great (except maybe "Spirit", which is oddly lacking in highlights). So lively and pristine!

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92 (TIE). Blue Magic - Blue Magic (1974)
41 points • 4 votes

Album highlight: 'Just Don't Want to Be Lonely'

and 'Sideshow' of course.

...and 'Tear It Down'...

Just a great album.

Honeyis possibly my fave of later period ohio players but its very close.

That Sly Stone album is great, very underrated and is as good as Fresh and better than Small Talk and most of the other lesser albums

Not counting James Brown, Smokey is probably my favorite soul man ever but I don't love this one. It's sort of gimmicky? The filler is schmaltzy af. Hope Where There's Smoke... is still to come cause that one is awesome.

― gospodin simmer,

Agreed, but "The Agony and the Ecstasy" is all time.

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91. Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (1971)
42 points • 4 votes

Album highlights: 'Listen to Me' and 'Hard Times'

Sorry, I forgot Uncle Barry!

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92 (TIE). Barry White - Stone Gon' (1973)
41 points • 4 votes

Catching up

Way TOO LOW for Perfect Angel, not a bad track on there and Reasons and Edge of a Dream are two of the best songs of the decade

I didn't vote for any Meters stuff because I leaned more soul than funk in my ballot, but Fire on the Bayou is fantastic, particularly that title track.

Same thing with Ohio Players--leaned a little funky for what my parameters were--Fire and Pleasure are both very worthy of votes.

A Quiet Storm got a vote from me, mostly because of its influence on the succeeding decades of R&B--it's a sound and a phrase so specific that it practically created its own subgenre

Perfect Angel is way too low. Hopefully Adventures In Paradise and Come to my Garden are still to come.

Baby Huey was so good and it's a shame he died before he could really show what he was capable of.

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90. Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction to Your Mind (1970)
43 points • 3 votes

A Quiet Storm ... a sound and a phrase so specific that it practically created its own subgenre

― I know hoes that know Ali Farka Toure (voodoo chili)

This Pitchfork article from a couple of years ago is where I first the term 'quiet storm':
http://pitchfork.com/features/underscore/8822-the-quiet-storm/

first *heard*