I’ve recently been going through every year in music for my thorough retrospectives, and as such I’ve been exposed to some fantastic albums. I wanted to talk about some of my favourites – this time looking at the 1970’s.
I reviewed fifty albums as part of that decade’s retrospectives (five per year), all of which were voted online as the best of their respective years. I’m picking my top 10 based on those original fifty. It’s possible I’ll miss out one some great albums, so I think these top 10’s should be viewed as companion pieces to those original retrospectives.
Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:
Led Zeppelin IV – Every Song Ranked
Talking Heads Albums Ranked
The Wall (Pink Floyd) – Songs Ranked
Top 10 Albums of the 1960’s
Honourable Mentions
I listened to fifty great albums from the 1970’s during my retrospectives, so it was almost impossible to pick the ten best. Here are five albums that almost made the cut (believe me, this decade more than others was the hardest to narrow down):
Ozzy Osbourne and co. gave us a fantastic Rock / Proto-Metal album with Paranoid (Black Sabbath). I don’t love every song as much as some people do, but the highs like “War Pigs” and the title track are iconic.
Cosmo’s Factory (Creedence Clearwater Revival) was up there amongst my biggest surprises of the decade. I knew a lot of great CCR songs, but I never expected one of their albums to be so strong from front to back.
I can see why many tout What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye) as one of the all-time greats. It’s a landmark record that would’ve made my list if this was a top eleven.
Despite being only three songs, Close To The Edge (Yes) is a magical experience – especially the epic title track. For the sake of this list, however, there was another early 70’s Prog Rock album I liked a tad more …
And finally, The Wall (Pink Floyd) was one of my favourite albums of all time at one point. In hindsight, however, it’s a bit too long and has too much filler to be a true great.
10 – Fear Of Music (Talking Heads)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Life During Wartime
- Heaven
- Drugs
Talking Heads were my first great musical love. I played their “Best Of” album relentlessly, and I soon transitioned to “Remain In Light” and, for the sake of the 70’s, the incredible “Fear Of Music”.
Byrne and the band collaborated with Brian Eno to create an eclectic yet electric conglomeration of tracks. You could be dancing to “Life During Wartime” and “I Zimbra” one moment, then be existential in “Heaven”, then feel an incomparable fear in “Memories Can Wait”, or you can simply trip balls for “Mind” and “Drugs”. No band were making music quite like Talking Heads.
9 – Red (King Crimson)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Starless
- Fallen Angel
- One More Red Nightmare
In many ways, “Red” is just as incredible and ground-breaking as King Crimson’s revolutionary debut album “In The Court of the Crimson King”.
It’s five songs of pure Prog Rock mastery. Opener “Red” wastes no time at all throwing you in the deep end, “Fallen Angel” is a gorgeous yet nightmarish ballad, “One More Red Nightmare” has one of the best drumming performances ever, “Providence” turns the jazzy experimentalism up to eleven, and then “Starless” closes the album with one of the greatest Prog Rock songs of all time – possibly even THE greatest.
Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford and John Wetton cemented themselves as music royalty with this one album alone.
8 – Songs In The Key Of Life (Stevie Wonder)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- I Wish
- Sir Duke
- As
Rarely has an artist committed sheer musical mastery to tape quite like Stevie Wonder for “Songs In The Key Of Life”.
There are more songs here than you could ever ask for, and Wonder goes for a quality AND quantity approach. He lifts us up with “Sir Duke”, takes us on a trip down memory lane for “I Wish”, and then the one-two punch of “As” and “Another Star” ends the album with aplomb.
Whenever people claim that the 70’s was the best decade for music, it’s albums like these they point towards first.
7 – Rumours (Fleetwood Mac)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- The Chain
- Dreams
- Go Your Own Way
It may have been born from the most tumultuous time in the bands’ lives, but “Rumours” remains a miracle of an album as a result.
I was surprised when relistening to it just how solid the whole album is – there isn’t a dud on the tracklist. I’ve always been a big fan of “Go Your Own Way” and “Dreams”, but nowadays I consider “The Chain” to be their best song.
I think what makes the project special is the array of songwriting talent. Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie all captured lightning in a bottle – rarely have songwriting credits been so evenly and impressively distributed.
6 – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
- Moonage Daydream
- Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie is my favourite musical artist of all time. As you’ll soon see from the remaining entries in this list, no artist was pumping out as many consistently amazing albums in the 70’s as he did.
Many tout “Ziggy Stardust” as his magnum opus, and while I personally wouldn’t agree I still consider it one of the all-time greats. It’s a Glam Rock extravaganza which tells the story of an alien who makes a Rock band on a dying earth … and yet, against all odds, it excels despite the ridiculous premise.
It’s easy to sing the praises of “Starman” and “Ziggy Stardust”, but I keep coming back to songs like “Suffragette City”, “Moonage Daydream” and the incredible closer “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”.
5 – Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Wish You Were Here
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5)
- Have a Cigar
Pink Floyd released so many incredible albums in the 70’s. “The Wall” made my Honourable Mentions shortlist, but other albums like “Animals” and “Meddle” have stood the test of time as well.
There are days when I think “Wish You Were Here” is their best work. The title track and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” are well worth the price of admission, and I even think that “Have a Cigar” is their most underrated song.
It’s an album of only five exceptional songs, so it’s all killer no filler.
4 – Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Stairway To Heaven
- When The Levee Breaks
- Black Dog
This might be a basic and very mild take, but I think “Led Zeppelin IV” is the best Led Zeppelin album by far. It has most of my favourite Led Zeppelin songs and the whole album is just such a tight Rock experience.
“Stairway To Heaven”, “When The Levee Breaks”, “Rock and Roll”, and “Black Dog” are all-time great Rock songs, and even “filler” tracks like “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Four Sticks” are my guilty pleasure Led Zeppelin songs.
To be honest, even if this album was just “Stairway To Heaven” and seven other forgettable tracks it still would’ve had a chance to place in this ranking.
3 – Low (David Bowie)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Sound and Vision
- Breaking Glass
- Subterraneans
It’s a testament to Bowie’s dominance in the 70’s that “Low” isn’t even the best Bowie album in this ranking. That being said, it’s unquestionably one of the greatest albums of all time.
Bowie and Eno take a more instrumental, mass-appeal route with their production, and it paid off in dividends. Not only is it a phenomenal album experience when you listen to the tracks back to back, but individual songs like “Sound and Vision” and “Breaking Glass” shine in his discography too.
I also want to use this time to shout out “Hunky Dory”, “Aladdin Sane”, “Young Americans” and “Heroes” – other great albums that Bowie released in the 70’s. If you include the three albums already on this list, that makes seven incredible albums by one artist in one decade. I’m not even sure if The Beatles managed that!
2 – Station To Station (David Bowie)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Golden Years
- Station To Station
- Word On A Wing
I don’t know if “the perfect album” will ever exist, but Bowie’s “Station To Station” is probably as close as we’re ever likely to get. It’s six tracks and all of them are fantastic – my 3rd favourite song may as well be a four-way tie between the other tracks.
“Station To Station” is one of the most awe-inspiring openers I’ve ever heard. “Golden Years” is groovy as hell. “Word On A Wing” is strangely romantic. “TVC-15” is super charming. “Stay” is incredibly slick. And then to cap it all off, “Wild Is The Wind” has one of Bowie’s best and most endearing vocal performances.
These are all songs that would probably make my “Top 40 Bowie Songs” list. That’s the level of consistency we’re talking about.
1 – The Dark Side Of The Moon (Pink Floyd)
TOP THREE SONGS:
- Time
- Money
- Us And Them
I’ve praised “The Dark Side Of The Moon” to death over the years on this blog. The fact it’s still going strong as my second-favourite album (after “Abbey Road”) proves how near-flawless it is.
The tracks all flow together beautifully, and the psychedelic ideas compliment the more Rock-orientated ones perfectly. The bigger songs like “Time” and “Money” deserve all the praise, but I always find joy in the lesser-known tracks like “Brain Damage” and “Any Colour You Like”.
You may roll your eyes at this ranking, but there’s a reason why “The Dark Side Of The Moon” is so acclaimed. It is THE album to a lot of people, Pink Floyd fans and music normies alike, and it’ll linger in the public consciousness long into the next century and beyond.
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