Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s by Jimmy Dread

Ahhh the 70s - my favourite musical decade by far, and so much so there's at least another 50 albums/artists that could easily be in here without a moment's hesitation. Born on the day before the year that punk broke, you could argue that I was destined to fall in love with the decade of my birth. But look at the variety - folk, funk, MPB, soul, punk, jazz, disco, post-punk, and critically the emergence of Jamaica as a bona fide musical contender. All find a home here, and rightly so. Forever finding nuggets to shoehorn into this chart so likely to be pretty fluid - if you'd told me I'd have a smattering of jazz LPs in here a couple of years ago I'd have scoffed. Repetitions with my overall 100 generally ignored, and more comments to follow (in addition to those that have probably been here since the earth cooled). Feedback, criticisms, recommendations all welcome (unless it's anything to do with listening to The Wall, Springsteen or ELP - there's a whole slew of boring dad-rockers on BEA if that's your bag). Jimmy, January 2021

• Chart updated: 01/22/2021 15:15
• (Created: 01/24/2012 18:55).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 7 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 18 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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1. (=)

Heart Of The Congos 

 The Congos

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PICK - Ark Of The Covenant. Hands-down the finest album to come out of Jamaica. Scratch's production is peerless. Roots Reggae's finest half-hour-and-a-bit. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

247 charts

Rank Score:

1,805

Rank in 1977:

23

Rank in 1970s:

208

Overall Rank:

995

Average Rating:

 79 (255 votes)

Comments:

10

2. (=)

Hunky Dory 

 David Bowie

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PICK - Fill Your Heart. It was via my favourite Welshcake Eilir that I discovered Bowie, admittedly far too late. Deep in his dungeon/bunker in halls at Uni he was busy making odd noises with a battered microphone and a Tascam 4-track. I was intrigued and upon burying my nose in his record collection found an LP I really should have listened to before attempting to digest the likes of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Datblygu... [First added to this chart: 05/31/2012]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,799 charts

Rank Score:

22,119

Rank in 1971:

3

Rank in 1970s:

13

Overall Rank:

46

Average Rating:

 87 (2,374 votes)

Comments:

159

3. (=)

Truths And Rights 

 Johnny Osbourne

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PICK - Jah Promise. University saw me fall in love with Studio One, primarily through the essential compilations Soul Jazz Records puts out on a regular basis. Johnny Osbourne has a voice that could melt the hardest of hearts, the riddims are immense, and the album is a peach. Respect is indeed overdue. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

38 charts

Rank Score:

177

Rank in 1979:

114

Rank in 1970s:

1,128

Overall Rank:

7,160

Average Rating:

 76 (37 votes)

Comments:

3

4. (5) 1

Songs In The Key Of Life 

 Stevie Wonder

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PICK - Black Man. One of a handful of LPs I own in 3 formats (CD, vinyl, MP3), and one album that my ex will not taint my adoration of. I picked this up in a charity shop for a quid (all intact, with inner booklet and bonus 7") and played it incessantly, even ending my sets with Another Star when I used to DJ in the early 2000s. Jamiroquai's hijacking of half this LP and attempting to pass it off as his own still doesn't taint its appeal. Probably owned 3 copies on vinyl over the years (keeps turning up in collections I acquire). [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

1,223 charts

Rank Score:

15,514

Rank in 1976:

1

Rank in 1970s:

23

Overall Rank:

86

Average Rating:

 85 (1,307 votes)

Comments:

86

5.

Sorrow Tears And Blood 

 Fela Kuti & Africa 70

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Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

68 charts

Rank Score:

574

Rank in 1977:

48

Rank in 1970s:

496

Overall Rank:

2,698

Average Rating:

 80 (80 votes)

Comments:

0

6. (7) 1

The Modern Lovers 

 The Modern Lovers

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PICK - Old World. Discovered on same CD as Television and Nick Drake (as well as the New York Dolls, Husker Du and Sonic Youth - quite some compy!), it took me an age to get round to laying hands on a copy of The Modern Lovers, and about twice as long to fall head-over-heels in love with it. Chuck this and the 3rd Velvets album together and you've got two records that could pretty much be proto-twee pop. That's assuming anyone's looking for such a thing. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

508 charts

Rank Score:

4,011

Rank in 1976:

8

Rank in 1970s:

105

Overall Rank:

446

Average Rating:

 82 (589 votes)

Comments:

34

7. (8) 1

King Tubby's Prophesy Of Dub 

 Yabby U

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PICK - Conquering Dub. Regular visitors to the House of Dread are more than likely acutely aware of my love of Yabby's stuff, but this Tubby dub (plucked out of obscurity by the good folk at Blood and Fire in the mid-90s) is outside of ...Meets Rockers Uptown his finest work, taking cuts from Conquering Lion and blasting them through a tube so that they come out dripping with bass and echo. A top-drawer set from the dub organizer himself. [First added to this chart: 10/19/2017]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

19

Rank in 1976:

370

Rank in 1970s:

3,956

Overall Rank:

37,769

Average Rating:

 73 (5 votes)

Comments:

1

8. (6) 2

Stargazer 

 Shelagh McDonald

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[First added to this chart: 05/01/2015]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

30 charts

Rank Score:

127

Rank in 1971:

139

Rank in 1970s:

1,398

Overall Rank:

9,388

Average Rating:

 75 (26 votes)

Comments:

2

9. (=)

Pink Moon 

 Nick Drake

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PICK - From The Morning. First heard Nick Drake on same compilation that spawned my love of Television (the band, not the medium). I vividly remember my mum coming up to my room one day and hearing me play this, remarking on how different it was to the 'usual rubbish' (my Dad's favourite phrase) that normally eminated from my boombox. I used to lead a one-man crusade at Uni to persuade more people to get into Nick. Those who listened got invited to my wedding. I haven't spoken to the rest in over 10 years. [First added to this chart: 03/07/2014]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,502 charts

Rank Score:

20,125

Rank in 1972:

3

Rank in 1970s:

15

Overall Rank:

50

Average Rating:

 87 (1,802 votes)

Comments:

142

10. (=)

War Ina Babylon 

 Max Romeo & The Upsetters

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PICK - Tan and See. I borrowed my parents' MX-5 one day to drive my dear friend Hayley and I over to her place in the gorgeous Surrey of Albury. A singer by profession (and a bloody good one at that), she was immediately taken with not only a spot of (roof)topless driving, but also some rather natty roots reggae I had pumping out of the particularly crude stereo with speakers in the headrests. After Heart of The Congos, Scratch's best production job. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

81 charts

Rank Score:

470

Rank in 1976:

54

Rank in 1970s:

567

Overall Rank:

3,163

Average Rating:

 78 (74 votes)

Comments:

6

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%
1970	13	13%
1971	10	10%
1972	13	13%
1973	9	9%
1974	4	4%
1975	7	7%
1976	8	8%
1977	8	8%
1978	11	11%
1979	17	17%

Artist	Albums	%
Crass	1	1%
Jorge Ben	1	1%
Patti Smith	1	1%
Milton Nascimento / Lô Borges	1	1%
Iggy And The Stooges	1	1%
Magazine	1	1%
The Delfonics	1	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	38	38%
	30	30%
	15	15%
	6	6%
	3	3%
	3	3%
	2	2%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 42 from 88th to 46th Metal Box by Public Image Ltd.
Up 8 from 44th to 36th Journey In Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane
Up 6 from 36th to 30th Blackboard Jungle Dub by The Upsetters

Biggest fallers
Down 27 from 41st to 68th Estudando O Samba by Tom Zé
Down 27 from 62nd to 89th London Calling by The Clash
Down 22 from 77th to 99th Refuge by Heaven & Earth (1970s)

New entries
Sorrow Tears And Blood by Fela Kuti & Africa 70
Harlem Bush Music - Uhuru by Gary Bartz NTU Troop
Progress by Tony Allen & Africa 70
Maulawi by Maulawi

Leavers
Zombie by Fela Kuti & Africa 70
One Nation Under A Groove by Funkadelic
First Utterance by Comus
Disco Club by Black Devil Disco Club

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 18 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100	09/23/2020 07:14	Purplepash	1,303	88/100
100/100	09/22/2020 17:19	DommeDamian	970	90/100
95/100	09/22/2020 08:55	BraddlesHendo	491	91/100
100/100	09/22/2020 08:29	desh79	1,281	93/100
90/100	02/06/2020 22:37	Rhyner	1,382	99/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 4% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.3/100, a mean average of 92.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.4.

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s comments

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Rating:  

100/100

From ForegroundNoise 02/06/2020 10:00

Your charts are always a joy to behold Jimmy, but this one happens to shine particularly bright. For a list that's limited to 1970-1979, you delicately interweave decades of memories so that your relationship with a time you experienced mostly second hand somehow transcends the limits its releases are bound to, the 70s' shockwaves rippling through your life long after 1980 came rolling around. A pleasure to thumb through- though should I really be surprised at this point?

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Rating:  

90/100

From WayneMC 10/20/2016 19:32

I've invested in 3 or 4 in your list....thanks. All Brazilian albums. Now I'll check some of the reggae albums I don't know. I would have rated this 95/100 with a bit more soul.

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Rating:  

100/100

From meccalecca 06/27/2016 16:17

Amazing chart. Still needs more funky stuff from Africa, especially William Onyeabor

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From baystateoftheart 06/26/2016 21:33

Amazing chart and great comments! So much to add to my wishlist!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From WayneMC 05/15/2016 01:02

A few I don't know, however I'll be checking some out, certainly the Brazilian albums.

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Rating:  

90/100

From neilgee 09/25/2015 17:18

Interesting 100 Jim. There's certainly a few I've missed there, which is embarrassing because I was buying records in that era (I bought my first single in 1973 when you weren't yet born), but I'll mention Sugar Minott because I only first heard him in 1980 (on the John Peel show). In fact it's mostly the raggae stuff I've missed because 80 was when I went through my raggae phase and most of my collection is from 80 and after. Didn't know much about it before then (outside of Bob Marley) so it's good to find someone who has listened to what I missed and has rated it for me!

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Rating:  

80/100

From daveybaker 04/26/2013 15:56

Great chart, I shall dig out my copy of "Heart of the Congos" tonight and give it a spin. Have to agree about Chic too.

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