Sidewinder's Top 10 Albums from Every Year (1965-)

sidewinder · 08-28-2014, 12:40 PM

1973
Well if it isn't another damn good year for rock n' roll! For some reason this list seems a bit like top of the charts, classic rock classics list. Sorry for that, it does feel a bit generic now that I revisit. The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd albums aren't my favorites from them but still highly worthy of inclusion. We do have a trio of lesser known albums, including The Great Lost Kinks Album which is definitely worth seeking out if you're a 60s Kinks fan. Barefoot Jerry is a pretty recent discovery, and this album blends country rock, prog, folk rock, and southern rock into something that reminds me at times of Wishbone Ash and The Grateful Dead (based on my limited exposure to The Dead). And Museo Rosenbach's Zarathustra is one gem of a prog album that has some staying power. Check it out.

1. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
2. David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
3. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
4. The Kinks - The Great Lost Kinks Album
5. The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup
6. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
7. Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run
8. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
9. Barefoot Jerry - Barefoot Jerry
10. Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra

sidewinder · 09-05-2014, 02:13 PM

1974
Some great albums, but overall not a very strong year for me. I struggle with Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It contains some of my very favorite songs by the band (the stretch from "Counting Out Time" to "Anyway" - skip "The Waiting Room" - is epic), but I struggle with much of the rest. By the time "It" comes around I've had enough of songs passing by with no highs and it's actually quite a painful song to get through. There's just a lot of material on this album that simply isn't good or engaging. Were it a regular length album containing all my favorites, I could deal with a few sub-par songs and depending on their placement it could even be a 5-star album. But as it is I'm constantly battling between 3.5 due to 1/2 of it being lackluster and 4 because the good songs are so damn perfect and they might tip the scale. So that explains its placement on my list. I want to love it more...but it's kind of a mess.

The Rolling Stones' It’s Only Rock 'n’ Roll may seem high on the list for an album that isn't talked about much, but it's really consistent and solid. The hits aren't as good as those on Goats Head Soup for example, but its lows are better making it more consistent. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that they're both deserving.

And finally, I don't think I could put up much of an argument if someone told me Richard & Linda Thompson should take the 3rd spot. But I'm not going to continue agonizing over this list.
1. King Crimson - Red
2. Eloy - Floating
3. The Rolling Stones - It’s Only Rock 'n’ Roll
4. Big Star - Radio City
5. Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
6. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
7. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
8. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
9. Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
10. Camel - Mirage

Josef K · 09-07-2014, 11:07 AM

I just want to say I love your '72 list. With only one or two exceptions, those are all great albums.

sidewinder · 09-07-2014, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josef K

I just want to say I love your '72 list. With only one or two exceptions, those are all great albums.

Thanks! Maybe it's the Khan and Wishbone Ash? The two least known I suppose.

Josef K · 09-07-2014, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidewinder

Thanks! Maybe it's the Khan and Wishbone Ash? The two least known I suppose.

Nah, I like Wishbone Ash and hadn't heard of Khan - though that album is on my list now, it looks cool - but I'm not a big Elton John guy and I probably wouldn't have ranked Obscured by Clouds so high, although I do like it.

sidewinder · 09-22-2014, 04:38 PM

1975
Strong feelings about the first 4. The others are good/great but could be shuffled around.

1. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
2. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
3. Queen - A Night at the Opera
4. Blue Effect - Modrý Efekt & Radim Hladík
5. Camel - The Snow Goose
6. Brian Eno - Another Green World
7. Van der Graaf Generator - Godbluff
8. Eloy - Power and the Passion
9. Invisible - Durazno sangrando
10. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - One Size Fits All

sidewinder · 09-22-2014, 08:45 PM

1976
Sorry Genesis, Schicke, Fuhrs & Frohling, Van der Graaf Generator, and the handful of other great prog albums this year. It's funny that I commented a few years back about how I'd been on a huge prog streak in the late 00s - but I fell out of it and not that much had held up - and for the past few years there has been quite a bit of prog in my lists. I think that just means the early to mid 70s were all about prog and there wasn't that much else interesting to me. Now we're coming out of it with a bit of punk. There's a lot of classic punk that I didn't get around to listening to until more recently, so those may not end up on my lists in the coming years as I haven't gotten to know them well enough. We'll see. But honestly I'll be glad to get out of the prog weeds, as good as these albums may be.

1. Rush - 2112
2. Led Zeppelin - Presence
3. The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
4. David Bowie - Station to Station
5. Ramones - Ramones
6. Queen - A Day at the Races
7. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
8. Invisible - El jardin de los presentes
9. Camel - Moonmadness
10. Boston - Boston

sidewinder · 09-23-2014, 12:20 PM

1977
And we're basically out of the prog weeds, with the exception of the amazing Animals and some very, very good European prog albums by Blue Effect and Ripaille. When I created this list early April, I listened to a ton of punk albums I'd never heard before. But, because they haven't sat with me long enough, not one of those was able to break into the top 10. A few were close, but ultimately I didn't feel that I got to know them intimately enough during that short time to push something else out. And that's perfectly fine, with all the great stuff I was already familiar with, represented below.

1. Wire - Pink Flag
2. Pink Floyd - Animals
3. Television - Marquee Moon
4. Blue Effect - Svitanie
5. Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77
6. Brian Eno - Before and After Science
7. David Bowie - Low
8. Ripaille - La vieille que l'on brûla
9. The Damned - Damned Damned Damned
10. Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel

sidewinder · 09-24-2014, 03:02 PM

1978
Not the strongest of years for me, but there's a dozen albums on my to-do list I still haven't gotten around to. Television's sophomore effort is underrated, and my top pick this year. I really feel pretty strong about the top 4, the rest are just good. A few albums that I had never heard until I made this list back in spring were able to sneak into the top 10, as a result of not having 10 solid previously known contenders. Those would be Dire Straits, Pere Ubu, and Ramones. Ramones?! Yes, Aside from 1992's Mondo Bizarro, I had never really listened to a Ramones album. Pretty lame considering how much I was into some 80s and 90s skate punk. Well, better late than never! I've now listened to their first 4 and this isn't the best of them, but the only year where the competition was light enough for them to break the top 10. As for Pere Ubu, I really need to spend more time with this and check out some of their others. So far this is the only one I've heard.

1. Television - Adventure
2. Rush - Hemispheres
3. Wire - Chairs Missing
4. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
5. Magazine - Real Life
6. The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
7. Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen
8. Dire Straits - Dire Straits
9. Pere Ubu - Dub Housing
10. Ramones - Road to Ruin[/I]

sidewinder · 09-29-2014, 11:25 AM

1979
I never really bothered to listen to The Clash until I started this exercise, and I think I just never really liked the song "London Calling". I was also more into skate punk or hardcore and some of the late 70s punk hadn't really started appealing to me until recently. I'm happy to say that after listening to the album London Calling for the first time during the week I created this list, I enjoyed it enough to include it here. It could eventually climb higher when I get more familiar with it - although I still haven't gone back to it since. It's tough re-visiting albums each each for a new top 10 so it leaves little time for continued listening. As for the other stuff, The Specials is an album I've been into since my teens, the others came later but are great. The Fall isn't a band I fully stand behind, but their debut is really good.

1. The Specials - The Specials
2. Gang of Four - Entertainment!
3. The Police - Reggatta de Blanc
4. Talking Heads - Fear of Music
5. The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials
6. Pink Floyd - The Wall
7. Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville
8. The Clash - London Calling
9. The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
10. The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys

08-28-2014, 12:40 PM	#31 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1973 Well if it isn't another damn good year for rock n' roll! For some reason this list seems a bit like top of the charts, classic rock classics list. Sorry for that, it does feel a bit generic now that I revisit. The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd albums aren't my favorites from them but still highly worthy of inclusion. We do have a trio of lesser known albums, including The Great Lost Kinks Album which is definitely worth seeking out if you're a 60s Kinks fan. Barefoot Jerry is a pretty recent discovery, and this album blends country rock, prog, folk rock, and southern rock into something that reminds me at times of Wishbone Ash and The Grateful Dead (based on my limited exposure to The Dead). And Museo Rosenbach's Zarathustra is one gem of a prog album that has some staying power. Check it out. 1. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy 2. David Bowie - Aladdin Sane 3. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 4. The Kinks - The Great Lost Kinks Album 5. The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup 6. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon 7. Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run 8. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound 9. Barefoot Jerry - Barefoot Jerry 10. Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

09-05-2014, 02:13 PM	#32 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1974 Some great albums, but overall not a very strong year for me. I struggle with Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It contains some of my very favorite songs by the band (the stretch from "Counting Out Time" to "Anyway" - skip "The Waiting Room" - is epic), but I struggle with much of the rest. By the time "It" comes around I've had enough of songs passing by with no highs and it's actually quite a painful song to get through. There's just a lot of material on this album that simply isn't good or engaging. Were it a regular length album containing all my favorites, I could deal with a few sub-par songs and depending on their placement it could even be a 5-star album. But as it is I'm constantly battling between 3.5 due to 1/2 of it being lackluster and 4 because the good songs are so damn perfect and they might tip the scale. So that explains its placement on my list. I want to love it more...but it's kind of a mess. The Rolling Stones' It’s Only Rock 'n’ Roll may seem high on the list for an album that isn't talked about much, but it's really consistent and solid. The hits aren't as good as those on Goats Head Soup for example, but its lows are better making it more consistent. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that they're both deserving. And finally, I don't think I could put up much of an argument if someone told me Richard & Linda Thompson should take the 3rd spot. But I'm not going to continue agonizing over this list. 1. King Crimson - Red 2. Eloy - Floating 3. The Rolling Stones - It’s Only Rock 'n’ Roll 4. Big Star - Radio City 5. Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight 6. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 7. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack 8. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets 9. Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) 10. Camel - Mirage __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

09-22-2014, 04:38 PM	#36 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1975 Strong feelings about the first 4. The others are good/great but could be shuffled around. 1. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here 2. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti 3. Queen - A Night at the Opera 4. Blue Effect - Modrý Efekt & Radim Hladík 5. Camel - The Snow Goose 6. Brian Eno - Another Green World 7. Van der Graaf Generator - Godbluff 8. Eloy - Power and the Passion 9. Invisible - Durazno sangrando 10. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - One Size Fits All __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures. Last edited by sidewinder; 09-22-2014 at 08:40 PM.

09-22-2014, 08:45 PM	#37 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1976 Sorry Genesis, Schicke, Fuhrs & Frohling, Van der Graaf Generator, and the handful of other great prog albums this year. It's funny that I commented a few years back about how I'd been on a huge prog streak in the late 00s - but I fell out of it and not that much had held up - and for the past few years there has been quite a bit of prog in my lists. I think that just means the early to mid 70s were all about prog and there wasn't that much else interesting to me. Now we're coming out of it with a bit of punk. There's a lot of classic punk that I didn't get around to listening to until more recently, so those may not end up on my lists in the coming years as I haven't gotten to know them well enough. We'll see. But honestly I'll be glad to get out of the prog weeds, as good as these albums may be. 1. Rush - 2112 2. Led Zeppelin - Presence 3. The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers 4. David Bowie - Station to Station 5. Ramones - Ramones 6. Queen - A Day at the Races 7. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life 8. Invisible - El jardin de los presentes 9. Camel - Moonmadness 10. Boston - Boston __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

09-23-2014, 12:20 PM	#38 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1977 And we're basically out of the prog weeds, with the exception of the amazing Animals and some very, very good European prog albums by Blue Effect and Ripaille. When I created this list early April, I listened to a ton of punk albums I'd never heard before. But, because they haven't sat with me long enough, not one of those was able to break into the top 10. A few were close, but ultimately I didn't feel that I got to know them intimately enough during that short time to push something else out. And that's perfectly fine, with all the great stuff I was already familiar with, represented below. 1. Wire - Pink Flag 2. Pink Floyd - Animals 3. Television - Marquee Moon 4. Blue Effect - Svitanie 5. Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77 6. Brian Eno - Before and After Science 7. David Bowie - Low 8. Ripaille - La vieille que l'on brûla 9. The Damned - Damned Damned Damned 10. Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

09-07-2014, 11:07 AM	#33 (permalink)
Josef K A Jew on a motorbike! Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 800	I just want to say I love your '72 list. With only one or two exceptions, those are all great albums.

09-24-2014, 03:02 PM	#39 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1978 Not the strongest of years for me, but there's a dozen albums on my to-do list I still haven't gotten around to. Television's sophomore effort is underrated, and my top pick this year. I really feel pretty strong about the top 4, the rest are just good. A few albums that I had never heard until I made this list back in spring were able to sneak into the top 10, as a result of not having 10 solid previously known contenders. Those would be Dire Straits, Pere Ubu, and Ramones. Ramones?! Yes, Aside from 1992's Mondo Bizarro, I had never really listened to a Ramones album. Pretty lame considering how much I was into some 80s and 90s skate punk. Well, better late than never! I've now listened to their first 4 and this isn't the best of them, but the only year where the competition was light enough for them to break the top 10. As for Pere Ubu, I really need to spend more time with this and check out some of their others. So far this is the only one I've heard. 1. Television - Adventure 2. Rush - Hemispheres 3. Wire - Chairs Missing 4. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food 5. Magazine - Real Life 6. The Rolling Stones - Some Girls 7. Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen 8. Dire Straits - Dire Straits 9. Pere Ubu - Dub Housing 10. Ramones - Road to Ruin[/I] __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

09-29-2014, 11:25 AM	#40 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	1979 I never really bothered to listen to The Clash until I started this exercise, and I think I just never really liked the song "London Calling". I was also more into skate punk or hardcore and some of the late 70s punk hadn't really started appealing to me until recently. I'm happy to say that after listening to the album London Calling for the first time during the week I created this list, I enjoyed it enough to include it here. It could eventually climb higher when I get more familiar with it - although I still haven't gone back to it since. It's tough re-visiting albums each each for a new top 10 so it leaves little time for continued listening. As for the other stuff, The Specials is an album I've been into since my teens, the others came later but are great. The Fall isn't a band I fully stand behind, but their debut is really good. 1. The Specials - The Specials 2. Gang of Four - Entertainment! 3. The Police - Reggatta de Blanc 4. Talking Heads - Fear of Music 5. The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials 6. Pink Floyd - The Wall 7. Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville 8. The Clash - London Calling 9. The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette 10. The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.