TURN THIS MUTHA OUT! It's the Alternate 1970s Albums Poll on ILX — Results Thread

Cool Comus coming so (relatively) high - makes me think there will be further pleasant surprises

I think I am the only person in the universe that thinks "To Keep From Crying," their second album, is really any good.

most broadly appealing records will always trump the more niche or genre-specific records every time.

But why would rock albums be less genre-specific and more broadly appealing? "Rock" is a genre just like "jazz" or "soul" are. I guess my view of things is pretty different from most ILXors, because I've never really listened to or cared for rock music, but I don't quite get why it's always the consensus choice, whereas equally broad genres like jazz are thought as "niche".

People just getting into Comus now are lucky as there's a 2-CD set that has all their songs on it for pretty cheap. (Pretty cheap = cheaper than buying extra-special edition vinyl to get "In the Lost Queen's Eyes" on bonus 12" + also somehow finding a copy of their OOP second album like someone I know)

Tuomas I think you're asking a question that can't be satisfactorily or empircally answered.

empirically

rock and pop are more easily accessible and widespread broadcast-wise than jazz and to some extent soul (certainly from the 70s at any rate). xposts

Jazz and soul and tropicalia have every bit as much worth as rock and pop music, but they'll always be damned to underappreciation because of radio and record company greed. More people grow up with rock and pop music because that's what's playing everywhere they go. For some people, familiarity breeds contempt, but for the rest it's comfort food. xxxp

Hooray for Comus!

I would have liked to vote for more funk and jazz, but didn't get time to check out some of the ones I thought were most likely to float my boat (anyone got any thoughts on the Cecil Taylor, for instance? I love the one album I have by him, but didn't know the one nominated). Also, so much kraut in the 70s meant so many records there was no way I could leave off my ballot. I tried the one-album-per-band thing, but couldn't stick to it.

i gave my three top spots to a band who won't place! if the proggers and krauters can moan i guess the jazz/soul/world music enthusiasts can too, difference being their darlings are gonna show up later ;)

I'm sure I was probably the only vote for a few of the jazz records on my ballot (hint: I also nominated them).

I highly doubt most of my darlings are gonna show up. Curtis Mayfield probably will, Herbie and Alice Coltrane might, but I'm not certain about it anymore, and I'd be genuinely surprised if Donny Hathaway or Flora Purim or Baden Powell will land an album in the top 80.

xxpost looking at these scores so far and doing a head count of other threads they might place, y'know.

tuomas if u voted for love unlimited orchestra top 10 we might get some soul up in this piece

I srsly loved voting for this poll bcz it was just some of god's best albums available here.

Yeah, if nothing else, the nominations spread sheet gives me a guide to work with for the next 20 years of record shopping.

"Familiarity breeds contempt." That must be why aside from some Stevie Nicks jams, Fleetwood Mac makes me want to stab my head. Or whoever is responsible for my hearing it.

There's also Tropicália and other Brazilian albums, tons of African stuff, and a shit-ton of great reggae that won't make this list. But that's okay, as long as a couple things make it. What really confounds me is how many times people have said, "this album should be higher." Somehow there's still a failure to recognize the sheer massive amount of great music made in the 70s. The ZZ Top, Van Halen and Aerosmith albums make for some great party music. I have them and love them. But they might not make even my top 500 for the decade.

"Familiarity breeds contempt." That must be why aside from some Stevie Nicks jams, Fleetwood Mac makes me want to stab my head. Or whoever is responsible for my hearing it.

I feel this way about The Beatles, tbh. Love Fleetwood Mac with all my heart, tho.

I also love this poll/thread. Thanks for putting it together. I especially like the notion that it's designed not to create some definitive list, but to raise awareness of some gems that haven't received due credit or attention.

I think I am the only person in the universe that thinks "To Keep From Crying," their second album, is really any good

No you're not...... I've never found a copy of first Utterance, and only have it as a rip, whereas i have TKFC on vinyl and am terribly fond....

I saw Flora Purim recently, Tuomas, and she was great - I don't know her albums but I did sling her a spare vote. Probably not enough to get her in the top 80 though.

I'm hoping people will post their ballots after the countdown finishes, as it'll be interesting to see some records people rate highly that didn't make the top 100. That's as much a recommendation to me as anything on the list.

I actually cant wait to see 200-101.

I would have voted for Purim's Everyday, Everynight because it's one of my favorite albums ever, but it's the only of hers I know and I forgot to nom it.

To continue with RYM '70s rankings:

ZZ Top- Tres Hombres (#440)
Clube de Esquina (#54)
Chic- C'est Chic (Not ranked)
John Lennon- Imagine (#236)
Patti Smith- Horses (#121)
Van Halen (#212)
Fleetwood Mac (#731)

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (#22)
Blondie - Eat to the Beat (Not ranked)
Miles Davis - Agharta (#158)
Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties!! (#979)
Neu! - Neu! 2 (Not ranked)
Tom Waits - Closing Time (#314)
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (#179)
Hawkwind - Space Ritual (#141)
Aerosmith - Rocks (#546)
Tubeway Army - Replicas (#400)
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (#184)
The Who - Live at Leeds (#26)
Comus - First Utterance (#93)

The Comus record seems to me part of the "blog canon," one of those Lps (like Judee Sill's Heartfood or Flower Travellin' Band's Satori) that had a low profile or was unavailable until people started sharing it on MP3 blogs.

Yep i'd definitely agree with that. Add on Bill Fay's Last Persecution which i'm hoping will place pretty high on this list.

was about to curse for forgetting to vote for last persecution only to find out i actually did

twas my number one. love it soooooo much. can't believe i missed out on probably my only chance to see him play live just because i didn't go to the fecking wilco gig where he did a guestslot :-(

Comus were also on the NWW list, so they've had a bit of underground cachet since the late 70s.

I think all of those albums had a cult following, but since they were hard to come by they remained pretty much out of even most music obsessives' purview.

I still can't wrap my head around RYM regulars/voters (other than the huge collective boner for metal).

you posting any more results tonight?

I think i voted mainly funk jazz and krautrock/prog as i knew other stuff i liked would get votes but i didnt vote Neu 2 so im hopeful a lot of krautrock will get in now.

Yep, I love Neu but Neu 2 is definitely the least of the three imo. I would guess that the fact that it made it into the 90s here means that their first and 75 will make it in somewhere in the top 30, if not top ten.

Er, just remembered the first Neu wasn't an option. My revised prediction is that Neu 75 will do very well, then. :)

it does have my 2nd fave track on it mind you but i had to exclude it to get other stuff in. Wish we could've listed 100 albums!
xp

Wish we could've listed 100 albums!

Speaking as the guy who had to count up ballots with 40 votes each, I would've committed suicide.

No more result posts tonight. I'll do at least ten more tomorrow, and maybe 20 more if I have the time.

nah, spread it out!

Er, just remembered the first Neu wasn't an option. My revised prediction is that Neu 75 will do very well, then. :)

Indeed. Helps that Neu! '75 is their best album by a country mile, better than the canonical pick Neu! and the fun but scattershot Neu! 2, and most people know it in their hearts and voted for it. At least I'm hoping so.

80. Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece (1974) [88 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]

http://i48.tinypic.com/331k32c.jpg

This is the Van disc I come back to the most right now. It's chock full of idiosyncratic Van greatness. Lyrics that almost but not quite make sense, check. Weird song titles, check. Strange literary obsessions, check. Beautiful tunes, check.

For some reason though I always think he hits higher notes on this album than on any other (check Linden Arden). Works for me.

― that's not my post, Wednesday, October 17, 2007 11:34 PM (2 years ago)

Yeah, and the falsetto on "Who Was That Masked Man?" is fantastic!

― dell, Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:44 PM (2 years ago)

Wonder if Common One is as great as it seemed to me at the height of my VM obsession.

― J0hn D., Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:06 AM (2 years ago)

First, Common One holds up really well. Whatever made it seem weird on first listen makes it even weirder and better all these years later.

As for Van's vocal range, I've been trying to pinpoint where his voice left a step. I don't think he'd ever attempt the falsetto of "Masked Man" these days. Even on Wavelength he still has the ability to reach the higher notes and his voice still has that crisp snap in it. Common One has interesting textures, but it seems like with Beautiful Vision his voice is starting to get that "Head Cold" sound. (Listen to a later album like Days Like This and the whole thing sounds like he was sining with the flu...not bad, but not the guy you remember). Anyone else notice the tonal shifts in his voice?

― smurfherder, Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:57 PM (2 years ago)

79. Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue (1977) [90 points, 10 votes]

http://i47.tinypic.com/2rdxeer.jpg

I ask once again (and I have before): WHY ISN'T THIS ONE OF THE GREAT CANONICAL ALBUMS OF THE 70S?

Seriously, there isn't a moment on this that isn't absolute GENIUS. Considering the likes of Elephant 6, Daftpunk, Air, and anyone else who attempts to make stellar multi-instrumetal psychedelic big big pop is ripping this album off, shouldn't [Jeff Lynne] deserve a bit more credit than the label of "sub-standard AOR Beatles-ripper"?

I love this album more than life could meantion.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, February 24, 2006 9:56 PM (3 years ago)

I don't know. I have a bias against ELO that I'm finding it very difficult to get over. It just seems like that every time they get a song going with something good, they waste no time in cheesing it up. For one thing, I hate all the string arrangements. They seem very gimmicky, not giving anything to the songs at all. Also, not sure I can actuallys tand Jeff Lynne's voice, especially when he starts trying to be the Bee Gees. The songs themselves are often not bad, but I guess the performances turn me off most of the time.

― Dominique (dleone), Sunday, February 26, 2006 10:21 AM (3 years ago)

I bought this album at Gary's Rexall Drug in Canby, Oregon, the day it came out, and had it memorized three days later. I just re-found it on vinyl for 99 cents and that is clearly the right way to listen to it. I still hear "Birmingham Blues" in my head when I see the Premiership results.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Saturday, February 25, 2006 11:29 PM (3 years ago)

Alright, there's a couple for the middle of the night (where I am). Back to bed!

After I said some not entirely nice things about Patti Smith yesterday, I discovered she's playing a small and historic venue in my town (Oxford, England) in March and was slightly tempted. I'm sure it will sell out easily to people who actually follow her work or at least are fonder of Horses, but weird timing.

Ah, ELO. I grew up listening to Out of the Blue, the last pop/rock record my parents bought (before that, two Beatles LPs and Dark Side of the Moon). Discovered in the 90s it was the least cool record ever, which happily let me pick it up for 20p from a record shop's "stuff we'll sneer at you for buying" bin. Seems to have had a considerable resurgence since then.

The picture on the front cover + the vocoders on "Mr Blue Sky" = when I was a kid, this record WAS the future to me, as fascinating and alien to my understanding as the covers to my mother's collection of sci-fi paperbacks.

I haven't heard it for years, but slung it a vote for old times' sake. But the overdone, tacked-on string arrangements Dominique singles out as bad are exactly what I like about it, that and the huge, shiny production which was like nothing I'd ever heard before. It sounded amazing on big speakers to a small kid who never heard pop but was really into space.

Damn, I guess that means A New World Record won't make it.

I have never been able to overcome my aversion to "Don't Bring Me Down" in order to delve into the reputed genius of Jeff Lynne.

Big fan of Veedon Fleece. Lush and romantic with great singing - by far the most satisfying Van that I've heard.

Though my first records were Pleasure Principle, Fear Of Music and Armed Forces, Out of the Blue was the first album I fell in love with. I was nine, after all! "And they sang, 'Wondrous is our great blue ship that sails around the mighty sun and joy to everyone who rides along!'" I always figured the cheese factor for people was the unhinged joy in a lot of their songs. Not cool for insecure, self-conscious teenagers or young adult hipsters, but perfect entry point for kids.

This album is so, so good. Like Scott's quote says, "a perfect gateway drug," but sadly I've found it is also drug-like in that other Hawkwind albums are good, but just don't have that same kick.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, January 4, 2010 1:07 PM (Yesterday)

Enjoying the results so far. Space Ritual was my #22 -- but as much as I love it, I've been loath to dig farther into Hawkwind because it seems like nothing else could match up. There are a couple of other bands I act that way about -- a bad, illogical approach I know.

78. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (1973) [92 points, 9 votes]

http://i49.tinypic.com/wgvk08.jpg

I love the sense of fun and absurdity on this album. The band never sounded as loose and free as it does on this release. If Bruce was the new Dylan, it was the absurd Dylan of Million Dollar Bash and not the message-oriented, folkie Dylan of Masters of War. I wouldn't go so far as to say Jon Landau ruined him, but I do think he wiped away a lot of the fun by making him into the "future of rock n' roll." My favorite Bruce album by a mile.

― leavethecapital, Wednesday, February 4, 2009 7:35 PM (11 months ago)

To my mind, The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle is a superb album. The songs (Lyrics), as noted, are interesting and of a time and place, and the music is different from what comes later, probably because two of the musicians, David Sancious and Vin Mad Dog Lopez, were replaced with people who had a much straighter rock approach, rather than a wilder, jazzier even, approach. It's also got a feeling fun about some of it (eg Cathy's Back), with all the band and friends joining in the chorus and playing instruments they might not usually play. What also happened after this was that he got "taken over" by the record company and his producer (Jon Landau if my memory serves me), and some of us would contend that Born to Run is a very "over produced" album. So to some of us, TWTITESS is the best Springsteen album.

― andyjack (andyjack), Monday, May 16, 2005 5:46 AM (4 years ago)

My favorite 70s LP is the Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Heavy Van Morrison influence on that one, but that sort of thing sounds better coming from an American I think. What a weird sound the band had on that album, very loose rhythm (I liked that drummer better than Weinburg), tuba, huge brass crescendos. The live version of "Incident on 57th Street" that was a b-side to one of the Born to Run singles was incredible, showed how interesting and melodic Springsteen was as a guitar player.

― Mark, Sunday, August 11, 2002 8:00 PM (7 years ago)

awesome. i suppose this means Born To Run is still to come, right? ilx can't be THAT perverse, can it?