1973: What a year!

I had pulled out a bunch of albums to play a few days ago, kind of at random and I noticed that almost all of them were released in 1973. It got me to thinking...

Could 1973 be one of the BEST years EVER for music? Think about it...

Quadrophenia, Houses Of The Holy, Innervisions, Red Rose Speedway AND Band On The Run, Living In The Material World, Ringo, Dark Side Of The Moon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Aladdin Sane...just to name TEN KILLER PLAY 'EM ALL THE TIME AND WILL FOREVER albums...

I know I would have gone broke that year for sure, but what fun!

I also know I did NOT buy nearly as many albums released in 2003..........

 

ELP's Brain Salad Surgery...

 

****, that's an amazing list. add Springsteen's Greetings from Asbury Park (January) and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (September).

The Wild & Innocent is a Bruce album that can be appreciated even by people who don't appreciate Bruce.

 

On the other hand, we have Van Morrison's HARD NOSE THE HIGHWAY, Bob Dylan's DYLAN, and The Rolling Stones's GOAT'S HEAD SOUP, which may be the worst efforts from my favorite artists.

 

1973 was a great year for top 40 fare too! Just think:

Let's Get It On-Marvin Gaye
Brother Louie-Stories
Diamond Girl-Seals & Crofts
Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)-Four Tops
Wildflower-Skylark
Higher Ground-Stevie Wonder
Until You Come Back To Me-Aretha Franklin
Come Go With Me-Staple Singers
Little Wily-Sweet
Crocodille Rock-Elton John
Could It be I'm Falling In Love-Spinners
Pillow Talk-Sylvia
The Cisco Kid-War
Roundabout-Yes
Long Train Runnin'-Doobie Brothers
Last Time I Saw Him-Diana Ross

...among tons of other gems

 

Excellent debuts from Queen and Aerosmith!

 

"For Your Pleasure" - Roxy Music

"Court and Spark" - Joni Mitchell

"Grand Hotel" - Procol Harum

 

Wasn't Lennon's Walls & Bridges from 1973?

Sean

 

1974.

 

ah...yes!

 

John Lennon released "Mind Games" in 1973, and if you notice, he's the only ex-Beatle whose solo work I didn't mention from that year. My least favorite John Lennon solo LP.

 

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Mahavishnu John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana - Love Devotion Surrender
Santana - Welcome
Can - Future Days
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Tangerine Dream - Atem
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Herbie Hancock - Sextant

 

1973? Well, I'm more of a 60s guy, but my fave would be NRBQ's "Workshop" (Kama Sutra)--produced and engineered by Mr. Eddie Kramer at Electric Lady Studios.

 

Let's not forget Yes' "Tales From Topographic Oceans" and Genesis' "Selling England By The Pound"!

 

Breezy Stories by Danny O'Keefe- the one lp from 1973 I play the most- superb production, most pressings sound great.

Abandoned Luncheonette- Hall and Oats- Arif Mardin produced, same as the O'Keefe lp above- even the MFSL pressing is not bad.

Holland-Beach Boys- I still use the end of Funky Pretty to test new cartridges (the really high pitched synthesizer squeals).

Fathoms Deep- Linda Lewis- Great Abbey Road studio sound

 

Wow! What a list! Just compare it to what's released these days... Something went terribly wrong since those days...

 

I can't believe I forgot "Selling England By the Pound". I was trying to forget "Tales from Topographic Oceans" though!

Didn't Tull release "A Passion Play" in '73?

Sean

 

Time to pick some nits...

Tales From Topographic Oceans was actually released in 1974...January 9, to be exact. At least according to the booklet in the recent reissue. Maybe that was just in the US, and the UK release was before the turn of the year?

 

Brothers and Sisters--Allman Bros.
Imagination--Gladys Knight & the Pips
Don't Shoot Me--Elton John (quite a year for EJ!)
Lark's Tongue in Aspic--King Crimson
New York Dolls (1st LP)
Raw Power--Iggy & the Stooges

I still recall my High School newspaper taking a poll for the best album of 1973...Brothers and Sisters was the runaway winner...I voted for Space Ritual by Hawkwind, still a great live album!

 

Gladys Knight & The Pips came out with their best stuff that year! I believe the "Claudine" album came out that year as well.

I'm still a singles guy at this point in time, so i'm not relating to most of this thread.

 

Mott--Mott the Hoople
Over-nite Sensation--Zappa/Mothers
Tres Hombres--ZZ Top
Berlin--Lou Reed

 

I hardly remember 1973, so it must have been a good year!

I moved up north around that time, there was a club in Queens, called Coventry, on Queens Boulevard. I saw New York Dolls, The Dictators, Kiss (before they were famous), and a band called Luger, which had Ivan Kral, later of Patti Smith Group, on guitar, there. Any east coasters here ever go there?

 

Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies is one of my faves from '73. Truly a Coop' classic.

 

You'd rank it below "Sometime in NYC"?

 

10cc's debut album is from 73.

Sean