Masterpiece 70's Studio Albums

nichodido

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What were the most phenomenal masterpieces of the 80s? I'll name a few to start (some might not be filled with hits, just my opinion on every song, also not ranked)

1970:
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

1971:
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
The Who - Who's Next

1972:
Nothing

1973:
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Hall & Oates - Abandoned Luncheonette
Billy Joel - Piano Man

1974:
Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade
Hall & Oates - War Babies

1975:
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Earth, Wind, & Fire - That's the Way of the World

1976:
Boston - Boston
Barry Manilow - This One's for You
Billy Joel - Turnstiles

1977:
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Billy Joel - The Stranger

1978:
Billy Joel - 52nd Street
Barry Manilow - Even Now
Nicolette Larson - Nicolette
Toto - Toto
Van Halen - Van Halen

1979:
Christopher Cross - Christopher Cross
Nicolette Larson - In the Nick of Time
Bee Gees - Spirits Having Flown
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Hall & Oates - X-Static
 

darklands

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Love Streetlife Serenade & Turnstiles (particularly the former, and Say Goodbye to Hollywood).

1977 - Pink Floyd - Animals.

1972:
Neil Young - Harvest
Rolling Stones- Exile on Mainstreet
Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits
Lou Reed - Transformer
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
 

Nai Noswad

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Recorded at the legendary Musicland Studios..this 1976 release is every inch of it's 12" perfect.
Rainbow-Rainbow-Rising.jpg
Even the Ken Kelly illustration on the sleeve- invites the listener in..before playing. This was the second offering from
Rainbow..that difficult 2nd album proved no sweat for Dio & co.
Bain, Powell and Dio sadly with us no more- but remain immortal when slipping
Rainbow Rising into ..or on your system.
Kerrang's all time top album..and a deserved title of 'Masterpiece'.
Tarot Woman.
Stargazer.
 
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Nai Noswad

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From the now cult cover..to the smooth yet rocky production from Leo Lyons.
37132.jpg
This was the third release by
UFO and Bolton was gone..this was Schenkers debut album band appearance. Recorded at the cosy ..yet respected Morgan Studios..this set the rock bar high for 1974.
Spacechild.
Rock Bottom.
 

E-Z

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Love Streetlife Serenade & Turnstiles (particularly the former, and Say Goodbye to Hollywood).

1977 - Pink Floyd - Animals.

1972:
Neil Young - Harvest
Rolling Stones- Exile on Mainstreet
Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits
Lou Reed - Transformer
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Neil Young-Harvest
. I remember the song Heart of Gold it was a BIG HIT in the UK back in the early 1970s but I haven't heard the entire album.
Pink Floyd-Animals. I've known of this album since it was released back in 1977 but never listened to it?.
The Rolling Stones-Exile On Main street. Many people rate this as the Stones greatest album but I'm not sure I would call it that?.
Simon & Garfunkel-Greatest Hits. Never heard any greatest hits album by these guys except for the individual singles they put out down the years.
Lou Reed-Transformer. Again I have never heard the whole album all the way through but only some tracks off it but I believe it's possibly Lou's best album?.
Black Sabbath-Vol.4. A great album.
 
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E-Z

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Recorded at the legendary Musicland Studios..this 1976 release is every inch of it's 12" perfect.
Rainbow-Rainbow-Rising.jpg
Even the Ken Kelly illustration on the sleeve- invites the listener in..before playing. This was the second offering from
Rainbow..that difficult 2nd album proved no sweat for Dio & co.
Bain, Powell and Dio sadly with us no more- but remain immortal when slipping
Rainbow Rising into ..or on your system.
Kerrang's all time top album..and a deserved title of 'Masterpiece'.
Tarot Woman.
Stargazer.
I heard this Rainbow album pretty much after it was first released back in 1976 and amongst Rainbow fans and especially with Ronnie Dio fans it is rated very highly!. I use to play it quite a bit in earlier times but hardly ever these days but that's not to detract from how good this album still sounds 44 years on from when it was first released.

For many years a rumour circulated amongst Rainbow fans that Ritchie Blackmore had dumped the giant multi-coloured illuminated rainbow backdrop that is featured on the album cover and that was assembled in large parts and erected above the band when they played live on stage during the 1976-78 era from a helicopter into the sea!. The truth according to Ritchie was more mundane apparently it was stored in a 'lock up' garage somewhere in the USA and got forgotten about after awhile and it may have been eventually sold off but I can't exactly remember?. Ritchie said it was worked by a early computer and required a computer operator to work it and it eventually became to expensive to take on the road.
 
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darklands

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Picking up on some of the posts above:
Regardless of all other 70's albums, I have to rate Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits right up there (though, obviously, it's questionable whether a greatest hits album counts).
Still, after all these years, not totally sure about Rising (I know, blasphemy!) - against the first album and Down to Earth (again, do live albums count here [On Stage]?) - i guess i like songs rather than 'cleverness' [that's why I'm always a bit reticent about Deep Purple - that and the keyboard 'breaks']. Obviously, Stargazer got played to death back in the day.
UFO; for me it's gotta be Obsession first, followed closely by Lights Out and The Wild, The Willing and the Innocent (I know, without Schenker!).
Lou Reed - again, never been the greatest fan of Transformer - whilst Berlin is in my top ten ever.
And, Pink Floyd - where do you start? - whilst I'd also go for Animals it's difficult to separate DSotM, WYWH and The Wall - they're all quite different and all been played tons of times, but Animals does it for me now - much 'prefer' Waters to Gilmore - Pink Floyd wouldn't have been what they were without Waters (as was, latterly, proved) [I know, there's plenty of Gilmore in Animals].
I'll try to come up with a few suggestions of my own (for others to disagree with).
Oh, here's one (that'll get a few disagreements) - Barclay James Harvest - Live Tapes....

71mq3WSnPCL._SX355_.jpg
 

darklands

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In my earlier post I was just pointing out some albums that had been released in 1972 that were regarded as classics because nichodido had suggested there weren't any in 1972...
I wouldn't necessarily have listed them as my choices for masterpiece albums - except Animals and S&G Greatest Hits. I'm also not sure about Exile and, as ive said, prefer Berlin to Transformer.
 
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E-Z

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Picking up on some of the posts above:
Oh, here's one (that'll get a few disagreements) - Barclay James Harvest - Live Tapes....
Ha ha ha... BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST. I've tired getting into Barclay James Harvest several times down the decades but just can't 'symphonic rock' just isn't my thing but BJH is a British rock band that I always wanted to like but just couldn't get into them.

Sadness surrounds the death of 'Woolly' Wolstenholme about a decade ago through depression I believe?.
 

E-Z

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When it comes to rock music I mainly prefer American rock bands from the 1970s that just played rock or blues/rock with no fuss plus the climate of warm weather generally creates a good backdrop to play open air rock music in.

Some Canadian rock bands were cool like Bachman Turner-Overdrive, Pat Travers and even April Wine.

British artists like David Bowie as good as he was carried to much baggage around with him although his 'Ziggy Stardust' era albums were ok but what came after Ziggy Stardust was to avant-garde for me. Bands like Roxy Music or 10CC played 'structured music' it wasn't free flowing enough for me although some British rock bands from the 1970s were cool like Wishbone Ash, Status Quo, Deep Purple and a few other big names from that era and if you include people and bands like Rory Gallagher & Thin Lizzy they were cool as well.
 
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