1969
Another fantastic year as we close out the 60s. However, I'm a little less passionate about this set as a whole compared to the previous few years. The top two of course are fantastic and some of the best from The Beatles and The Kinks, but the rest are "merely" great versus amazing. In the previous few years I think everything on my lists warranted 4.5 or 5 stars, here they're mostly 4 stars - aside from the first two. Great year as a whole though, there are at least another 10 worth mentioning beyond this.

1. The Beatles - Abbey Road
2. The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
3. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
4. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
5. Humble Pie - Town & Country
6. Love - Four Sail
7. Pink Floyd - More
8. Spirit - Clear
9. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
10. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

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1970
A gem-filled release by The Kinks which isn't necessarily my favorite of theirs but tops this year's chart. "Strangers", "Get Back in Line", "This Time Tomorrow" - amazing songs. Black Sabbath's sophomore album is also packed with undeniable classics. Their debut was awesome but didn't happen to make the cut for that year. Spirit is one of those bands that doesn't get the attention they deserve. Led Zeppelin obviously thought they were great, having them open on a tour and stealing a riff as part of "Stairway to Heaven". And speaking of that song, check out "Nothing At All" from Gentle Giant's debut - their best IMO, before they got all proggy. McDonald and Guiles (of King Crimson) release an amazing folky progressive/art rock album that more people should hear. If you haven't heard Rodriguez by now maybe you should. As for Van der Graaf Generator, I was hugely into them around 2008-9, this being their first great album. I always thought Peter Hammill sounded like a psychotic David Bowie.

1. The Kinks - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround (Part One)
2. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
3. Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
4. The Beatles - Let It Be
5. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
6. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
7. McDonald and Giles - McDonald and Giles
8. Rodriguez - Cold Fact
9. Gentle Giant - Gentle Giant
10. Van der Graaf Generator - H to He Who Am the Only One

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1971
A better year than the last for me. My favorite Bowie release, my favorite Rolling Stones release, my favorite Pink Floyd release, motherfucking T. Rex, the next best thing to The Beatles, another incredible album by Led Zeppelin (that might have been higher on the list if some songs weren't so played out), a stylistic shift from The Kinks before they started going downhill, my two favorite Yes albums, and another stellar release from Black Sabbath. And that's just the top 10! The next 10 features great albums from Spring, Elton John, The Who, Gentle Giant, Badfinger, Jethro Tull, Van der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill, Genesis, and Traffic. And there's more to like beyond that. Incredible year!

1. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
2. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
3. Pink Floyd - Meddle
4. T. Rex - Electric Warrior
5. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
6. Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram
7. The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies
8. Yes - The Yes Album
9. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
10. Yes - Fragile

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Holy shirt, no Popol Vuh, Can, Faust, Cluster, Deuter, or Ash Ra Tempel amongst others..

what you got against the Germans?? It was their year.

I've tried Can a few times but didn't really get into their sound. Which is why I haven't really tried many other Krautrock artists. I intend to try again though, eventually.

Great lists, very similar to what I would have.

Our 1970 list shares exactly zero albums. Oh well.

That just means more for us and everyone else to discover.

1972
Maybe six years ago I went though a huge progressive rock discovery phase. That included a ton of Italian Symphonic Prog and I really really liked most of the albums I heard. But since then, my enjoyment of them has faded and even after relistening, whatever it was that made me enjoy them isn't quite there anymore. They're still good but I just didn't feel anything anymore. So when I started to compile this list and saw all these 4+ star rated albums in my list, I thought I'd never be able to sort out a top 10. Then the task became easier once I realized the prog love just wasn't there anymore. Now that's not to say certain albums didn't have staying power, as you'll see based on the inclusion of Khan, Genesis, and Wishbone Ash. All truly worthwhile albums. The one I think would have made this list if there was more room is Yes' Close to the Edge, but I do enjoy The Yes Album and Fragile more.

Now that I've gotten the prog talk out of the way, the rest is pretty self-explanatory, wouldn't you say? I'll just say that Obscured by Clouds is my favorite Pink Floyd release, and Honky Château is my favorite from Elton. Glad to have finally gotten into his albums in recent years.

1. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
2. Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds
3. Elton John - Honky Château
4. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
5. Lou Reed - Transformer
6. Wishbone Ash - Argus
7. Big Star - #1 Record
8. T. Rex - The Slider
9. Khan - Space Shanty
10. Genesis - Foxtrot

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I went through basically the same exact thing. For a while, all I wanted was prog rock. A song less than 10 minutes long? Not the band for me. I definitely wore out of that phase, but the big names definitely still get rotation. That's the problem with prog...the obscure stuff is obscure because most of it is just tiresome noodling served as being "progressive" but the big bands provided some great albums that still hold up.