10. Kraftwerk - Radio-ActivityKraftwerk's most brilliant albums were still yet to come, but the sound was already starting to be there. Radio-Activity has all the great space-electronica elements known from their later albums, but the songwriting lacks a bit of that magic. The title-track comes closest with it's dark choir melodies and beeping sounds. Most of the album still leans on more traditional synthesiser sounds. This album is all about experimentation with sounds which was seminal to reach the classic later Kraftwerk albums. Radio-Activity is a great piece of music, but with a bit of tuning, they cold've made it better. Unlike their later albums, this one is definitely an album and not just collection of songs. Some of the songs are really short and only there to support the main tracks. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Tonight's the Night is often considered one of the best albums by Neil Young. It's sounds are a lot more stripped than on other albums of the time. In my opinion this album does not succeed to reach similar wow-effect as After the Goldrush or Harvest, but it's still a great album. Music has elements from blues, rock, folk and country. Young's nasal voice is annoying to some, but in my opinion is works perfectly in this line of music. His voice is at its best singing high notes quietly as in New Mama. He can reach such beauty with his voice. Neil Young is one of the most well-known artists of all times and certainly the most well-known Canadian musician. Tonight's the Night is just a good album, but there are quite amazing albums yet to come when I move further to the past in this blog. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Led Zeppelin was at the hight of its success in 1975, but their albums were getting worse at this point. It's a well-known syndrome, that when a band becomes too successful, it becomes hard for them to improve anymore and in trying to make something different, they often fail. Physical Graffiti is by no means a bad album. It's just not as good as any of the albums before it. The hard-rock giants still manage to offer many great bluesy rock songs worth listening to. Trampled Underfoot and Kashmir are amazingly ambitious rock epics. Bron-Yr-Aur shows the folkier sound of the band and is a great example of the guitar skills Jimmy Page has. Led Zeppelin is a collective of four amazing musicians, who all know their instruments inside and out and can make great songs using them. Listen to the album on Grooveshark.
I wouldn't usually include soundtrack albums in this blog, but this time the situation is so special that I have no choice. Rocky Horror Picture Show has always been, above all else, about music to me. Richard O' Brien's amazing glam-rock songs work amazingly well in album form. This album could really just be listened to as a great album without the film itself. Of course the film is also great. This glam-rock musical captures the best parts of early 70's glam rock and makes beautiful music with weird lyrics out of it. O' Brien's singing voice is amazing and I think it's a shame that he didn't really move into serious musical career afterwards. All the other actors, especially Tim Curry, succeed brilliantly of their vocal parts, but I must still tip my hat to Richard O' Brien's singing and songwriting above all else. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Wigwam was without a question the best Finnish band of the 70's. Their music combine progressive rock with more traditional pop melodies. Nuclear Nightclub is their best album. It's a shame the band never really made a breakthrough outside of Finland. They had all the tools to do that, since the singer Jim Pembroke is English and therefore you can't blame the vocals of bad pronunciation. I guess they just didn't have good enough promoters to really get them out there. I urge all you non-Finns to listen to this band to see what kind of talents were hidden from the music fans. Songs like Kite, Do or Die and Tram Driver used to be my favourites in my teens, when I was really into progressive rock. Wigwam might still be considered one of the most talented bands in the history of Finnish popular music. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Dylan made his best albums in the 60's, but Blood on the Tracks comes fairly close behind. Sound is mostly acoustic driven. Dylan is more than anything else, a storyteller. There's nothing really complicated in the song structures or melodies, which is actually quite refreshing at this time of progressive rock, but the songs are great stories and country-folk backgrounds are beautifully composed. Melancholic melodies of You're a Big Girl Now are my favourite bit on this great album. Blood on the Tracks can be seen as a 'back to basics' album of Dylan. Some of the early 70's albums had moved away from basic folk, but Blood on the Tracks is strongly folk driven album. Dylan's trademark harpsichord is also heard in few of the songs. There's something very special in Dylan's songs! Listen to the album on Spotify.
Springsteen's third album Born to Run is by far his best one. The songs are played with amazing talent and they're larger than life. The title track is just amazing. Especially the saxophone solo. On this album the sounds are not yet as made for the stadiums as on the later albums, but the ambition is there. The songs on this album range from wild rock jams to jazzy ballads. Springsteen's rough voice is perfect for a rock singer. Almost ten minutes long ending song Jungleland is one of the highlights of the album. This album shows that if you want to make stadium rock, you must be really confident, talented and charismatic. unfortunately not many artists can achieve these goals and most of the stadium rock is a bit bland for that reason. But Boss sure knows how to do that. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This blog has already seen its fair share of Patti Smith albums, but we have to go to her debut album to find the best one. Horses draws influences from bluesy rock and garage, but the result comes close to punk, even though punk wasn't properly even born yet. There are also some reggae influences in Redondo Beach. The attitude more than anything else makes this album a classic. The hauntingly melancholic Free Money is my favourite song from the album. The opening track Gloria is a cover, but no-one has ever succeeded in making such a great version of this song. Eerie ballad Elegie almost predicts the birth of The Cure. The album ends in one of the wildest songs out there. Amazingly Smith manages to make The Who's classic My Generation into aggressive piece of garage punk. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Wish You Were Here is one of the most ambitious albums of all times. It takes Pink Floyd's psychedelic prog-rock to a stadium level, without being too tacky. The epic Shine on you Crazy Diamond takes more than half of the album, but that's completely okay, since it's one of the finest long songs ever made. It's a symphony for the band's founder Syd Barrett. The greatness of the album does not end there though. Welcome to the Machine is, in my opinion, one of the finest songs of this era. Its cold melancholic sound is extremely beautiful. The title track became one of the biggest hits of the band and if I hadn't heard it so many times already, I could just marvel at its beauty. The only song on the album that does not mean that much to me is Have a Cigar, which in my opinion is a bit too different from the rest of the songs. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I've already mentioned how massive projects bands took up at this time, but Queen sets new borders for the word grandiloquent. This rock opera combines heavy metal, progressive rock, choir singing and indeed opera. It's difficult to understand how something this great has ever been able to be produced. Bohemian Rhapsody is obviously one of the most well-known and undoubtedly best songs ever, but the whole album is full of surprises and great songs. My personal favourite is extremely beautiful Love of My Life. This is no ordinary songwriting. With this album Queen deserves its place forever at the rock n' roll hall of fame. Queen has some amazing songs on many other albums, but as a whole this album is something quite amazing. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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