1974
1974 was one of those years where there just seemed too many albums about, but luckily a huge amount of these albums were quality releases. I had real problems just trying to select ten albums from the provisional list that I selected and yet again I had to use my double-header idea (this is where an entry by a band goes in as normal and if that band also released another good album in the same year, that would also go into the same entry as well) and so 1974 would see a large amount of double-header entries. The charts saw nice safe acts like Elton John and Wings amongst the biggest sellers of the year and prog giants Yes and Genesis released probably their most ambitious projects yet. Bands like Supertramp and Steely Dan gave us a demonstration in accomplished and sophisticated music and Rush were finding their feet! As far as heavy music went, it was a real opportunity for a lot of bands to make their mark, due to the fact that both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath didn’t release any studio stuff in 1974, but the third giant Deep Purple were back in action, with a duo of frontmen in David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes to replace Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. The year also saw a host of other reliable acts putting out some of their best stuff. There were also big entries by the likes of Aerosmith and Queen, and despite a popularity wane with glam-rock, the face-painted Kiss made one of the biggest splashes of the year! Overall it was a solid year and some of the very best albums came from the heavy category, in fact the album in the number one spot on my list, shares the pedestal with King Crimson’s
Red as the very best album of the year!