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

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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*

I heard about it in the early 90s as it supposedly was used in the 70s for a radio format. Didnt hear the album until late 90s.

arch carrier thanks for the large roll out because of so many saying they saw it as a soul poll so didnt vote for funk it appears so much of my ballot is in the lower part and its nice to see them place

Sure, my pleasure! Doing this poll has been an education for me, and from the comments of others it's the same for them. A larger rollout means more albums to discover :)

I didn't listen to Swamp Dogg for this poll, but at least the title track is awesome.

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89. Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark (1970)
43 points • 4 votes

This Blue Magic is fantastic. I've always been more of a stomper and a shouter when it comes to soul, so this smoother end is a total education to me.

Oh man, wait till we get to the Stylistics...

I've already bought a bunch of things from the discussion thread - Stylistics and Lou Bond have been my most joyous discoveries thus far. I don't know any 70s Smokey. Busy times...

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88. Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees (1976)
44 points • 4 votes

Sounds like an ilness

Yeah, I don't get it either.

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87. The Wild Tchoupitoulas - The Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976)
45 points • 5 votes

Tentative album highlight: 'Hey Pocky a-Way'

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86. Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights (1975)
45 points • 6 votes

Didn't make my ballot but these are good albums

What is The Wild Tchoupitoulas?

Meters related New Orleans funk iirc?

old New Orleans funk/soul group led by George Landry, and backed by the Meters.

I think The Wild Tchoupitoulas are specifically about doing Mardi Gras chants, at least on that album. It's related to Mardi Gras Indians, though I don't know New Orleans traditions enough to explain it any more. It's a pretty fun album, very traditional and carnival-y. The version of "Hey Pocky A-Way" on it is hardly as good as the Meters' original though, but the original is one of the 10 best funk tunes of all time, so it's hard to improve on that.

Shows how much I know. Never heard the Tchoupitoulas before.

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85. Heatwave - Too Hot to Handle (1976)
46 points • 5 votes

Heatwave is awesome and all their albums are good, really good midpoint between funk, pop, soul and disco. Thanks for doing this poll btw. I voted, but know a lot more about funk than I do about soul, so happy to see some of that stuff charting.

You're welcome! :)

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84. WAR - All Day Music (1971)
46 points • 6 votes

super album

I love Southern Nights, the title track is so gorgeous.

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83. Slave - The Concept (1978)
47 points • 2 votes

Silk Degrees is like a sweet antidote when you overdose on Steely Dan. Not a perfect album but plenty unique and Boz is probably my favorite blue eyed soul vocalist.

Blue Magic are the weaker Stylistics but that's hardly an insult. Some spellbinding moments on that album.

Swamp Dogg is the best cult artist I can think of. A textbook example really. If you play him in the background he disappears and sounds hopelessly generic. But underneath there's a completely leftfield perspective you can't get anywhere else. Top 10 on my ballot.

aww man The Concept is so low. I thought there was a lot of Slave fans on ILM. I guess they dont vote :(

Should be top 20 imo

I didn't get a chance to really listen to anything I didn't already know for this poll, or I might have voted for it. Stone Jam is their record I play a lot, but that was '80.

I voted for a difference Toussaint album, but happy to see any of them tbh.

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82. Brick - Brick (1977)
47 points • 3 votes