1970s music draft discussion- Albums of 1971 (1 Viewer)

[timschochet]

Allman Bros Band-At Fillmore East


The Doors-LA Woman


David Bowe-Hunky Dory


The Kinks-Muswell Hillbillies


T Rex-Electric Warrior


Rod Stewart-Every Picture Tells a Story


Sly and the Family Stone-There's A Riot Goin' On


Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys


Jethro Tull-Aqualung


Yes - The Yes Album


Badfinger - Straight Up


Yes - Fragile


Black Sabbath - Master of Reality


John Prine - John Prine


John Lennon - Imagine


Alice Cooper - Love it to Death


Elton John - Madman Across The Water


MC5 - High Time


Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate


Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey


Hound Dog Taylor - Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers

 

[timschochet]

IMO, the greatest year ever for albums, period. And we're not even getting the best of the best here because many of the albums were taken in other categories (such as LZ IV, Tapestry, Sticky Fingers, Who's Next, etc.) Even so, the ones listed are an incredible list. 

Personal favorite is Every Picture Tells A Story. But in terms of both brilliance and longevity, I'll put up my own pick of David Bowie's Hunky Dory against any album of that year. 

 

[otb_lifer]

gotta go with Bowie's 'Revolver' here ... I could spin that for days and be entertained by every last note. 

Rod Stewart and Sly to round out my trifecta 

(excluding my Alice pick, natch)

 

[worrierking]

I grabbed the Leonard Cohen album in the category and obviously I think it is great.  But the trio of LZ IV, Sticky Fingers and Who's Next is just some astonishing output from the absolute peak of British-dominated Classic Rock. 

Hunky Dory and What's Going On are brilliant as well.  Outstanding year for albums. 

 

[ScottNorwood]

Wow this is a tough one.  I'll call it for Hunky Dory.

 

[simsarge]

Tough call for me here. Arguably the greatest live album in ever (Fillmore) or a R&R legend's (Rod Stewart) breakthrough or another's (the Door's Morrison) swan song. I',m going to say LA Woman if only because both of the other's would go on to make some great music. I'm way more of a Allman and especially Stewart fan, but even though the Door's had been around for sometime and may not have had the staying power of say Zepplin, to me this was their most listen-to-able album (Riders notwithstanding) and may have been the start of something really, really big.

Or it could have been their only true listen-to-able album and they may have sucked forever more.

 

[jwb]

LA Woman is my favorite Doors album - love it from start to finish. It's the one Jim seemed to enjoy singing on the most.

I picked the Allmans here, and think it's the cream of the crop - the best live album of all time (imho), but since their songs play better live than in studio, it stands against anything else here. I love Rod's "story" - as Tim once mentioned, for a while there, Rod did blues rock as good as anyone ever has.

Did not realize YES released both The Yes Album and Fragile in 71. Wow, that's some serious creative output. 

Love "What's Going On" too (as well as a few others) that we'll talk about in other categories.  

 

[Bonzai]

Hunky Dory

 

[simey]

but even though the Door's had been around for sometime and may not have had the staying power of say Zepplin, to me this was their most listen-to-able album (Riders notwithstanding) and may have been the start of something really, really big.

Or it could have been their only true listen-to-able album and they may have sucked forever more.

I think all The Doors albums are good. My favorite is their debut self-titled album. Next would be a tie between LA Woman and Strange Days. Morrison Hotel and Waiting for the Sun tie after that, and The Soft Parade would be last. 

 

[simey]

I like all of the albums on the list, and I don't think these two albums are necessarily the best out of the bunch, but the two I listen to the most right now are John Prine and Electric Warrior.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Just for replayability, Tupelo Honey is my favorite. I could listen to that record over and over. The Allmans & Badfinger would round out my Top 3.

I picked Riot in the draft, but if all of the chosen albums were on a shelf for my listening pleasure, it would probably be one of the last I put on. It's great, important, and I love it. But it's not an easy listen. 

 

[jwb]

I think all The Doors albums are good. My favorite is their debut self-titled album. Next would be a tie between LA Woman and Strange Days. Morrison Hotel and Waiting for the Sun tie after that, and The Soft Parade would be last. 

flip LA woman and their first album, and it's the same for me. But I really, really like the song The Soft Parade. The rest of the album isn't that good, however, despite having one of their biggest hits (touch me).

I wish we had better live recordings of them. When Jim was "on", their live shows were legendary, but they sound very "thin" recorded live. It's a shame, because I really, really like The Doors. 

 

[simey]

I wish we had better live recordings of them. When Jim was "on", their live shows were legendary, but they sound very "thin" recorded live. It's a shame, because I really, really like The Doors. 

Have you ever seen the documentary "Mr. Mojo Risin' - The Story of L.A. Woman?" It's good and interesting.












 

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

Great year.

My favorites are John Prine, the Kinks, T. Rex and the Doors....But Hunky Dory wins this group for me. 

 

[Tom Skerritt]

LA Woman got picked before I was planning on taking it. Ended up taking the Yes album. Starship Trooper is one of my all-time favorite songs. 

 

[Binky The Doormat]

I refuse to pick just one.

You can't make me.  

 

[FUBAR]

IMO, the greatest year ever for albums, period. 

It might just be my age or personal taste, but without the albums picked for other categories this is probably my least favorite year.  

Without voting for my own pick (LA Woman), my top 3 are Sly, Ros Stewart, and the top choice the Allman brothers. 

 

[Godsbrother]

Lots of great choices here but I would go with Badfinger's Straight Up.

 

[Johnnymac]

I think all The Doors albums are good. My favorite is their debut self-titled album. Next would be a tie between LA Woman and Strange Days. Morrison Hotel and Waiting for the Sun tie after that, and The Soft Parade would be last. 

Agree with all of this.  I love the debut album, still listen to it often.

 

[rockaction]

I never really weighed in on this. Electric Warrior would be my pick. I absolutely love that album. 

I was dancing when I was twelve...

But I really wanted to bump this and thank simey for selecting Muswell Hillbillies. The songs have been in my head for over a month now, everywhere. 

Fun to see a recommendation/pick work out so well. 

That's not to slight anybody; there's only a limited time to listen to a ton of new stuff, and I tend to like limited, um, action and growers, as it may be.  

 

[Aerial Assault]

Did not realize YES released both The Yes Album and Fragile in 71. Wow, that's some serious creative output. 

They did, the first in February and the second in November.  It helped that when Steve Howe joined just prior to _TYA_, he already had some material stored up like "Clap" and the outro/coda ("Würm") to "Starship Trooper."  Also, _Fragile_ is four songs surrounded by five solo pieces, so it was easier to put together than a full-length album of new material.  But of the four songs, two are legendary, one is phenomenal, and one is pretty good.  

Geez, choosing between them is tough as I listen to both constantly.  "Heart of the Sunrise" is my favorite song from the two combined, but never getting to hear "Starship Trooper" or "Your Move" again would be tough.  For that matter, "Perpetual Change" has really grown on me over time.  Tough call but I'll say that one of those two was 1971's best album. 

 

[otb_lifer]

Have you ever seen the documentary "Mr. Mojo Risin' - The Story of L.A. Woman?" It's good and interesting.












 

just caught that doc yesterday - fantastic look at the group during those sessions ... self produced (with engineer Bruce Botnick) after Paul Rothchild and the group came to the mutual agreement that neither party were still inspiring the other - bringing in a rhythm axe (Marc Benno) to join Robbie, and having Elvis' bass player Jerry Scheff sit in to provide some truly remarkable crunch that punctuated so much of the album.  moving the sessions from the studio to their practice room ... that grit and sweat and claustrophobia is so essential here - it has that feeling of urgency and intimacy in spades.

overwhelming vibe of Jim's inevitable departure permeated the air, and he actually bolted before the final mixing.  perhaps his most visceral collection of lyric genius, as the Miami debacle hung heavy on him ... "The Changeling" kicks it off, and it's apparent from jump that Jim is going to treat this as his swan song - again, visceral, and as deeply personal as he ever laid down.

the fleshing out of each track with Manzarek/Robbie/Densmore/Botnick is fascinating ... man, these guys truly loved each other - none of the garden variety drama that one would expect from such an immense group of talent ... sure, they knew Jim was on borrowed time, and Robbie and Densmore lament it, but never attack it - Manzarek is in usual Jim swoon mode, but provides such compelling insight about the musical machinations ... my favorite was watching him morph Chopin into his solo in "Hyacinth House" - these dudes enjoyed the ride.

the finished product speaks for itself - we all know what a powerful gut punch this farewell platter was, but crawling into that cramped rehearsal space with them for an hour was such a treat - i have a new(er) found love and respect for the band, for Jim, and, yes, for this masterpiece of an album.   

10/10.