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

Hairy Chapter's one of Julian Cope's favourites iirc. First track's a belter, can't remember much about the rest of it though.

This is a pretty interesting album I've never heard of before.

492    Slade - Slayed?    426 Points,   3   Votes
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U__ix0AABJA/UFKrxDbKiDI/AAAAAAAADD4/iUMLVhDPyso/s1600/g1-12-album-slade-slayed.jpg
RYM #239 for 1972

review
[-] by Dave Thompson

Slade might have built its everywhere-but-America fame upon a succession of gut-tearing hit singles, but the band's true rocking credentials were on display elsewhere, in the second to none stage show that had already been preserved on the epochal Slade Alive! earlier in 1972 and across the chain of storming B-sides that had accompanied the smashes so far. Slayed? may have been only the band's second studio album in four years, but it reinforced that barrage with enough mighty stompers that the band could have taken the next year off and still not run out of steam. Even if one excises past hits "Gudbuy t' Jane" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" from the equation, Slayed? is a nonstop party, from the riotously self-fulfilling prophecy of "The Whole World's Goin' Crazee" to the down-key but still eminently stompalong-able "Look at Last Nite," the latter a reminder that, even at its loudest, Slade was still capable of some fetching balladry. Or should that be the other way around? The tomahawk riffing of "I Won't Let It 'Appen Again" is another highlight -- a similar arrangement was later borrowed, to excellent effect, for sometime support band Blue Öyster Cult's version of another Slade favorite, the rocker anthem "Born to Be Wild," while "Gudbuy Gudbuy" lurches like a battalion of tanks and matches a stirring Dave Hill guitar break to one of Noddy Holder's coolest-ever vocals. A couple of covers break the Holder/Lea songwriting domination. A bass-heavy blues boogie through Janis Joplin's "Move Over had graced a Slade BBC session earlier in the year, and provoked such a great response that they had no option but to re-record it, while the closing medley of "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Feel So Fine" was the closest you could come to the mania of a Slade live show without actually going out and buying a ticket. Of course, listeners don't have that option today. But stick on Slayed?, crank the volume well up -- and the whole world will be going crazee all over again.

yeah the 1st track on the hairy chapter album is terrific

love Slade

oh yes ! i have totally fallen for this album in recent weeks ...

Chop off one of their fingers, you get Sade.

Damn, where the heck was Janis's Move Over was in the tracks poll?

ive met a fair few people who will rep for Slade and Sweet albums where they say the albums are quite different from the singles

491    Goblin - Goblin    430 Points,   4  Votes
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0001/813/MI0001813304.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

nice

GOBLIN!!!

Too low!!!

490    Be Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim    431 Points 4 Votes
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TA-Z3DnjheY/UHrrF_8uUrI/AAAAAAAAAuY/XY4YInNn3Hs/s1600/Be-Bop+Deluxe+-+Axe+Victim+-+Front.jpg
RYM #444 for 1974
http://open.spotify.com/album/7rOE5FXOZzhSvmPQn2mjHn

review
by William Ruhlmann

When Be Bop Deluxe's first album was released during the glam rock wave in 1974 and the band (then comprised of Bill Nelson and Ian Parkin on guitars, Robert Bryan on bass, and Nicholas Chatterton-Dew on drums) turned up on the back of the record cover in heavy makeup, it was viewed as being in the David Bowie mold, which certainly took in Nelson's thin but confident tenor vocals and the uptempo rock approach, and even ballads like "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" that sounded a lot like Bowie's "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide." But it was already obvious that Nelson was an unusually lyrical guitar slinger, and in fact the tunes often took a back seat to his sometimes jazzy, sometimes metal-ish excursions. He was, as he sang, "an axe victim," but at the same time, Be Bop Deluxe's musical identity was uncertain.

Haha what a terrible album cover.

wait, what's the goblin? do the band goblin have an album just called goblin, or is that something else?

always loved that be-bop deluxe cover, still never heard the record

No idea about the Goblin

489    Buddy Miles Express - Them Changes    432 Points   4  Votes
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5_i8IPVbWL8/T1IsBvZktrI/AAAAAAAACJ0/U4foiUIb6cQ/s1600/Them%2BChanges.jpg
RYM #281 for 1970
http://open.spotify.com/album/5oZjIOwDlJ7DC1KQM2BjWz

review
by Steve Kurutz

This 1970 release by former Band of Gypsy's drummer Buddy Miles is, quite simply, one of the great lost treasures of soul inspired rock music. From the funky drive of the title track to Miles' plaintive singing on "I Still Love You, Anyway" and Greg Allman's "Dreams," the album is filled with the best qualities of both genres. Not only does Miles prove himself to be a great interpretor of songs, but with the title track and "Heart's Delight," he demonstrates his ability to write solid material on his own. Complimented by the Memphis Horns, Miles' songs soar and swing as hard as any Stax release, and his voice, underutilized when he played with the Electric Flag and Hendrix, combines the nuance of soul singing with the grit of rock. Them Changes is definately worth the extra effort to try to locate.

I have 2 bill nelson solo records but have never heard any bebop deluxe

now that's a drum kit!

488    Chrome - Read Only Memory    433 Points   4  Votes
http://www.audiophileusa.com/covers400water/60555.jpg
RYM #37 for 1979 , #4985 overall
http://open.spotify.com/album/0MinkKLxOwm97glvftpSO9

review
[-] by Ned Raggett

Introducing their disembodied drummer John Q. Cyborg -- in reality a drum machine, publicity photos of the time to the contrary -- Chrome moved into the next phase of its existence with Read Only Memory. The five track release reconfirmed them as being some of the craziest musicians out there working with in a rock format at the time. Beginning with a rising swell of processed Creed guitar shooting towards the skies as Edge provides rumbling keyboard loops, before switching over to the varied cut-up format the early Edge/Creed partnership favored, Read Only Memory is, unsurprisingly, strange and eerily compelling. One curious thing about the release is that, rather that specifically highlighting separate songs, the same Cyborg beat continues relentlessly throughout, fading and reappearing from time to time. Edge and Creed make a variety of different noises over the top as they choose, from soft guitar chimes to punchy randomness, all to good effect. The most distinct number is "I Am the Jaw," if only because Creed's brief lyrical part at the start identifies it as such, while the two musicians add more guitar and keyboard moodiness all around.

Definitely need to listen to more Chrome. What I've heard so far is really good.

Surprised you've never heard any albums

love buddy miles' cover of "down by the river". whole album's cool.

487    Free - Heartbreaker    434 Points   4  Votes
http://991.com/newgallery/Free-Heartbreaker---Pi-130492.jpg
RYM Ranked #172 for 1973
http://open.spotify.com/album/0apoOp8hHx0ZD96CHdFyHS

review
[-] by Dave Thompson

Free's return in 1972 was scarred by any number of traumas, not least of all the departure of bassist Andy Fraser and the virtual incapacity of guitarist Paul Kossoff -- one-half of the original band, and the lion's share of its spirit as well. But did their erstwhile bandmates let it show? Not a jot. The hastily recruited Tetsu Yamauchi, and vocalist Paul Rodgers himself, filled the breach instrumentally, and probably 50 percent of the ensuing Heartbreaker ranks among Free's finest ever work. Of course, any record that can open with the sheer majesty of "Wishing Well," Rodgers' so-evocative tribute to Kossoff, is immediately going to ascend to the halls of greatness, all the more so since Kossoff himself is in such fine form across both this cut and the next three -- completing side one of the original vinyl, "Come Together in the Morning," "Travellin' in Style," and "Heartbreaker" add up to the band's most convincing sequence of songs since the days of Fire and Water. Further into the disc, two contributions from another new recruit, keyboard player John Bundrick, fall a little flat, a fate they share with the previously unreleased "Hand Me Down/Turn Me Round," one of the 2002 remaster's six bonus tracks. But a pair of solo Rodgers songs, "Easy on My Soul" and "Seven Angels," close the album with as much emotion as it opened on, and one could well argue that, after such a treat, the aforementioned bonus tracks are all but unnecessary, especially as the first few simply offer outtakes, alternates, and B-sides from the sessions themselves. As the CD wraps up, however, two final tracks reveal what happened once the album was completed, peeping into the band's rehearsal room on the eve of their summer tour of Japan to catch "Heartbreaker" and "Easy on My Soul" in such rough but eloquently heavenly form that this most emotionally weighted of Free's albums could demand no deeper coda.

Thank you AG for at starting at 501 because Tokyo Tapes!!

Wow, I didn't think that Sparks album would get even 3 votes. Such a great record.

― Non-Stop Erotic Calculus (bmus)

Think I had it in my top twenty. Great album, one of their eight masterpieces.

I don't know most of the albums that have placed so far but I'm trying to check them out... This Free album starts off pretty good!

I'm pretty sure that Goblin didn't have a self-titled album, so the list actually starts at an even 500!

well AMG lists it so i posted the cover from there.

that album is actually goblin covering the whole of the tyler record fyi

Well AMG has it listed but no tracklist or anything about it. It allegedly came out in 1975 and was the first thing they released under that name, previously calling themselves Cherry Five.

hiruko the goblin appears to be a japanese horror movie from 1991

Well I hope the only Goblin album to place isn't one that doesn't actually exist.

argh I meant -- I hope more Goblin places.

I'm sure Suspira will get more than 4 votes

who nominated it?

not me.

486    Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen    434  Points  5 Votes
http://www.weareprivate.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/411Q7oH4+hL._SS500_.jpg
RYM #45 for 1978 , #1764 overall
http://open.spotify.com/album/1tf86cbNXgFpRDntcj3EDb

review
[-] by Ned Raggett

General judgment holds the Buzzcocks' peerless singles, the definition of punk-pop at its finest, as the best expression of their work. However, while the singles showcased one particular side of the band, albums like the group's long-playing debut Another Music showcased the foursome's other influences, sometimes brilliantly. The big secret is Shelley's worship of Krautrock's obsessive focus on repetition and rhythm, which transforms what would be "simply" basic punk songs into at-times monstrous epics. The ghost of Can particular hovers even on some of the shorter songs -- unsurprising, given Shelley's worship of that band's guitarist Michael Karoli. "Moving Away From the Pulsebeat" is the best instance of this, with a rumbling Maher rhythm supporting some trancelike guitar lines. As for the sheer rush of pop craziness, Another Music is simply crammed with stellar examples. Lead-off track "Fast Cars" starts with the opening of Spiral Scratch's "Boredom"'s intentionally hilarious two-note solo intact, before ripping into a slightly bemusing critique of the objects in question. Most of the similar tracks on the album may be more distinct for their speed, but Shelley in particular always seems to sneak in at least one astonishing line per song, sometimes on his own and sometimes thanks to Devoto via older cowritten tunes redone for the record. One favorite standout: "All this slurping and sucking -- it's putting me off my food!" on "You Tear Me Up." Top all this off with any number of perfect moments -- the guitar work during the breaks on "Love Battery," the energizing yet nervous coda of "Fiction Romance," the soaring angst throughout "I Don't Mind" -- and Another Music flat out succeeds.

there is a series of goblin compilations, i'm guessing this it's the first one of those that people were voting for?

http://www.radioapplepie.org/cinebis/86/goblin_collection.jpg

that Goblin "album" is on allmusic, as an image only. It's an unrelated movie poster. I tried to figure out what was actually intended, and all I could come up with is a possible greatest hits from 1979.

xp, that above cd is from much later.

The cd is from later obv, but it covers music from 1975 (i.e. Profondo Rosso) onwards

485    Cabaret Voltaire - Extended Play    436  Points  4  Votes
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bd/Cabaret_Voltaire-Extended_Play.jpg
RYM Ranked #18 for 1978 , #1162 overall

What is Be-Bop Deluxe like? Kinda wish I could've been arsed to vote but well, I suppose I couldn't be arsed. Looks like you guys did a good job of the tracks poll though. Maybe I would've broken the tie on the Vibrators.

I don't know how I forgot to vote for Cab Voltaire. Hopefully Mix-Up will place a lot higher.

484    Tonto's Exploding Head Band - Zero Time    439 Points   6  Votes
http://www.silverdisc.com/images/4/4753314800427.jpg
RYM #566 for 1971

review
by Jim Brenholts

Zero Time is one of the first -- and perhaps best of -- all electronic albums. Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, under the alias of T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band, created this analog marvel on T.O.N.T.O. -- "The Original New Timbral Orchestra." The pristine synth washes are crisp and clear. Margouleff and Cecil forged a new sound with a digital feeling. Oddly, this instrument was embraced and used extensively by Motown artists. Steve Hillage used it on Motivation Radio, and Devo used it quite often. (Cecil produced and engineered a number of their albums.) The rest of the rock & roll community ignored it. For historical purposes, this rare and collectible album is essential. For musical integrity, it still stands the test of time and is essential. It is a classic with no real peers, but it will appeal to fans of Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company, Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Wendy Carlos, and Fripp & Eno in terms of its uniqueness and legacy.

http://open.spotify.com/artist/1EAuonSn6FGXejwZS6EU9Z

Are you ready for some funk?

483    Fela Kuti - Roforofo Fight    441 Points  4  Votes
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-JMAu-xy1w/TdJiXdM0cHI/AAAAAAAABZ0/rpK83Y--Ssc/s1600/Fela%2BKuti%2B-%2BRoforofo%2BFight.jpg
RYM #22 for 1972 , #540 overall
http://open.spotify.com/album/6F9klNzRwcs3yk40DEUh3l

review
[-] by Thom Jurek

This is essentially a CD reissue of Fela Kuti's 1972 album Roforofo Fight, with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks from the same era. It's true that Kuti's early-'70s records tend to blur together with their similar groupings of four lengthy Afro-funk jazz cuts. In their defense, it must be said that while few artists can pull off similar approaches time after time and continue to make it sound fresh, Kuti is one of them. Each of the four songs on Roforofo Fight clocks in at 12 to 17 minutes, and there's a slight slide toward more '70s-sounding rhythms in the happy-feet beats of the title track, and the varied, yet rock-solid drums in "Go Slow." There's just a hint of reggae in "Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am," in the pace, vocal delivery, ethereal keyboards, and lilting yet dramatic minor melodic lines. The James Brown influence is strongly heard in the lean, nervous guitar strums of "Question Jam Answer," and the horns cook in a way that they might have had Brown been more inclined to let his bands go into improvisational jams. The two bonus tracks -- "Shenshema" (from 1972) and "Ariya" (from 1973) -- comprised the segment of the CD titled "Fela Singles" a curious phrase given that they were previously unreleased. "Shenshema" is a nine-minute cut that is heavy on go-go-like percussion and cool, responsive chants from the band. The ten-minute "Ariya" is a real discovery, its urgent spy theme-like melody and Kuti's haunting, driven vocals making it a highlight even relative to the generally high quality of his recordings during this period. The same set was remastered and licensed to the venerable Wrasse Records label. The package is deluxe, in a slipcase. There is a biographical essay included and notes on individual songs by Mabinuori Idowu, the author of the excellent biography Fela, Why Blackman Carry Shit.