Favorite #1 Album 1973

For me it's DSOTM. But I do like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road a lot, too, and in 1973 it would have got my vote. But not today...

 

Looking ahead 1974 looks a bit weak in comparison, I suspect Band on the Run will win fairly comfortably.

There were so many albums I love from that year (The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Crime of the Century, Court and Spark, Red, Here Come the Warm Jets, On the Beach) but sadly none of them reached #1.

 

Today, something like "Passion Play" making it to #1 (let alone getting it released) would be incredible.

 

easy ... Billion Dollar Babies by Alice Cooper

 

why are these polls always #1 Lps,whats that have to do with if a lp is any good

ever look at the list of #1 TV shows...that will tell you something

 

? Because that's the subject of the thread... start a different one.

Jeff

 

I love GBYBR. I really do. But I'm a bigger fan of Pink Floyd, and DSOTM was my introduction to Pink Floyd, and it's ultimately my favorite album by the band, which is what this thread is all about isn't it?

 

great year for #1 albums. i have to go with the majority. but rewind back to '73 and i would've definitely voted goodbye yellow brick road. my friends listened to that album over and over. i turned 12 that year so dark side of the moon was a little "dark" for me when it came out. but now i have the dvd-a of it....pure bliss. no secrets should score higher for the album cover alone

 

An extraordinary year in music, and in prog as well, though I don't think A Passion Play was worthy of its chart position.

Had to go with Dark Side of the Moon, though World Is a Ghetto and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are strong contenders.

 

The Who - Quadrophenia !

 

Todd W. Nothing wrong with your posts, but that picture icon keeps on irritating / annoying me more and more, I guess that female body proportion is the equivalent of the typical american males wet dream, stunning it is, but the more I look at that girl the more alien like it becomes.
Is that a real living person ?
To me she looks like an oversized Barbie doll.
Or is that the reason why you picked that picture ?

 

Sentimental favourite of mine.


CHICAGO VI (1973) - No. 1 for 6 weeks in Billboard Album Chart

Track listing

Side One

1. "Critics' Choice" (Robert Lamm) – 2:49
2. "Just You 'N' Me" (James Pankow) – 3:42
3. "Darlin' Dear" (Lamm) – 2:56
4. "Jenny" (Terry Kath) – 3:31
5. "What's This World Coming To" (Pankow) – 4:58

Side Two

1. "Something in This City Changes People" (Lamm) – 3:42
2. "Hollywood" (Lamm) – 3:52
3. "In Terms of Two" (Peter Cetera) – 3:29
4. "Rediscovery" (Lamm) – 4:47
5. "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" (Cetera, Pankow) – 4:15

ROLLING STONE Review August 16, 1973

Chicago VI
Chicago
Columbia 32400
Released: July 1973
Chart Peak: #1
Weeks Charted: 73
Certified Double Platinum: 11/21/86

What do you want? I'm giving everything I have,
I'm even trying to see if there's more.
Locked deep inside, I've tried.
Can't you see this in me.

What do you need? Is it someone just to hurt
So that you can appear to be smart?
To keep a steady job, play god?

What do you really know?
You parasite, you're dynamite
An oversight, misunderstanding what you hear
You're quick to cheer, and volunteer
Absurdities, musical blasphemies
Oh Lord, save us all.

-- "Critics' Choice"
Robert Lamm
Big Elk Music ASCAP © 1973



My sympathies to Mr. Lamm. As for the rest of the album, it should by now be clear that Chicago has become the primary prisoner of its own image. In trying so hard to act the role of the "hippest-dudes on the planet," they have only succeeded in caricaturing themselves through overbearing pledges of allegiance to the freak-flag of Hippiedom. It's sad that the group has yet to realize the correlation between their actions and the critical response they generate, but sadder still is the fact that many of the folks who chuckle at them haven't taken the time to differentiate between the group's right-on buffoonery and the music that accompanies it.

If they did, they'd find that they probably had Chicago pegged wrong all along. The Windy City boys may have tried to come on hipper-than-thou, but after their exceptional debut album their produce has in fact been strictly MORsville. Not that this should be taken as an excuse for shoddy musicianship, it's just that when people come to grips with where Chicago is really at musically, it's a lot easier to understand them.


Chicago VI contains two more-or-less outstanding commercial ditties, either of which would improve the average radio playlist a hundredfold. Terry Kath's "Jenny" is a real treat. Its simplicity is refreshing -- guitar, bass, drums and the pedal steel of J.G. O'Rafferty thrown in for good measure -- and the results are a complete success. An ethereal ballad about the love between man and dog, it's so straightforward that it transcends the corniness of the subject.

Peter Cetera's "In Terms of Two" is similarly successful, its major attraction being the youthful harp-blowing of an unidentified harmonicat. It gives direction to the song's otherwise mechanical rhythmic backing and serves as a focus for listener accessibility. Cetera's lyrical arrangement is commendable: He returns to the phrase "in terms of two" not out of repetition but as a restatement of the song's major theme. Once again it's the simple honesty of this song that pulls it through, a quality too much in absence from the rest of Chicago VI.


The other six songs are nearly indiscernable variations of what has by now come to be known as the "Chicago Formula." Pretentious "we gotta get it together" lyrics, muddled musical arrangements and a mix that lacks specific direction are rolled into a glib and slick package, that seems devoid of emotional involvement on the part of the band.
It's doubtful as to whether Chicago will ever return to playing the kind of music that graced their first album. Now that was progressive! So all you folks out there had might as well hunker down and get to know Chicago for what they really are -- a bunch of well-meaning guys who mean no harm to anyone. If they want to kid themselves about being anything other than rock & roll Doc Severinsens, it's fine with me. Take their music for what it's worth; after all, it's the middle of the road that makes the edges possible.

- Gordon Fletcher, Rolling Stone, 8/16/73.

=========================================================================================

Bonus Reviews!


This band continues to progress in terms of musical expansion. Once it was the first band in the shadow of Blood, Sweat and Tears, combining rock tempos with jazz solos. Now it has become more vocally oriented, offering a pastoral sound that leads into temporal solos. It's nice to hear the sound of the horns, of course, but they aren't overpowering. All instruments play with a controlled exuberance, but it is the strength of the ensemble singing that shines through. "In Terms Of Two" almost sounds like a Gilbert O'Sullivan inspirational effort, with a harmonica adding a new trill to the band's blowing abilities. Best cuts: "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," "Hollywood," "Just You 'N' Me."

- Billboard, 1973.

Chicago demostrates all its strength here, turning in one of its great ballads in "Just You 'N' Me" and one of its great rockers in "Feelin' Stronger Every Day." Elsewhere, the group takes on its negative reviews in "Critics' Choice" and acknowledges the impact of L.A. stardom on a bunch of Midwestern kids in "Something In This City Changes People." * * *

- William Ruhlmann, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.


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I went with Brothers and Sisters.
Others I own from the list are DSOTM, Goats Head Soup, Red Rose Speedway and Houses of the Holy.

 

The best album of 1973, but apparently not a #1.

 

Casual listeners do not even know which Chicago album the Roman Numeral (as its album title) is referring to.
I think that is a big disadvantage to Chicago unless the album cover and the song tracks are shown.

Only the hard core fans could recognize a Chicago album by its Ropman numeral title.

 

Another hard poll. So many good ones.

Went with the Allman Bros. - a favorite back then.

Runner ups were Elton's masterpiece, Wings, & Chicago VI

 

A great group of albums.
I went with Pink Floyd, loved it from day one.

 

Naming therir albums in Roman numeral, a naming pattern that lent an encyclopedic aura to the band's work, was a classy idea back in the day.
Now, only the hard core fans could recognize a Chicago album given its Roman numeral title.

 

Lots of great #1 albums in '73. I have to go with DSOTM even though I like Led Zeppelin, Elton John and The Rolling Stones much better than Pink Floyd.

I own most of these albums, unlike in the other polls for other years so far.

Honorable mention:

My favorite live #1 album in this poll is Elvis Presley - Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite

(Had to say that since I love Elvis.)

 

Peter Gabriel albums didn't even have the Roman numeral.

 

I was 13 when Dark Side came out so most of my friends were not listening to that - more were certainly listening to EJ's Yellow Brick Road - as with myself. I didn't come to appreciate really pretty much anything by Pink Floyd until early 1980 when The Wall erupted upon us. Than I discovered Dark Side of the Moon, than got into the Syd Barrett side of Floyd after that (1982) I bought all the earlier pre Dark Side albums. Finally the last two I bought were Animals and Wish You Were Here - that is until The Final Cut was released.

 

Houses of the Holy, narrowly over Goats Head Soup

 

"Yellow Brick" here. "Red Rose", "Material World" and "Goat's Head" are all rather flawed albums, while "GYBR" is a real classic...

 

Absolutely is a real picture and her name is Heidi Montag.

 

Goats Head Soup I like, but only half of it is great.

Dark Side I can't ever get all the way through. The instrumental towards the end is my favourite on there:the vocals on the rest drive me crazy.

World Is A Ghetto is the one for me. 4-Cornered Room, the title track, and City Country City are 3 awesome pieces of music. Over a decent club soundsystem, City Country City sounds immense.

I have to confess, I haven't heard any of the others on the list.