For 1969 there is a lot of choice again but finally I chose these:
An album I already own:
I don't know a better hard album than this for the year although I suppose it's more punk than hardrock. But hard and a classic it is:
The Stooges by The Stooges
This album doesn't contain one but two absolute classics with two of the most classic riffs ever: No Fun and especially I Wanna Be Your Dog. But the whole album is a classic with an Iggy Pop and band at their most nihilistic but at their best as well. I Love this album and it rises from the 6th to the 5th rank of this important year in rock music.
An album on my wishlist:
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Sea Shanties by High Tide
This is indeed a strange album: sometimes with the organ and the voice sounding like Jim Morrison, you hear the Doors, but certainly not in the first two and best tracks: there it's the fuzzed out guitar and violin which work together to create a full on jam atmosphere which make the album. Some of the songs near the end drag a bit but nevertheless a must hear album if you want to know about the origins of harder rock music. It ends up at the 22nd rank of the year.
OK, we're in the seventies where hardrock really took off.
And for an album in my collection I cannot do otherwise than pick my favorite Deep Purple album (I know, I know there are many other classics in this year like two Back Sabbath classics and one by Led Zep) :
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Deep Purple In Rock by Deep Purple
And it contains two of my favorite Deep Purple tracks: together with Highway Star from Machine Head, Speed King is one of those rockers which really pushes itself to its outer limits because of its unrelentless drive not in least because of the aggressive organ playing by Jon Lord. But the absolute best track is Child In Time which has long been my favorite song ever and still is one the best. To me this is thรฉ perfect song because of its sheer epic character with its different sections which so entirely blend together into a giant killer song. The best part is the middle section with first one of the best guitar solos ever by Ritchie Blackmore, then a searing organ solo which nearly matches the guitar solo and than in one of the best hard/soft sections ever goes back to that simple starting pattern (which btw is in no way original: just listen to Bombay Calling by It's A Beautiful Day). I also listened back to the version on Made In Japan which is much more aggressive and in a lot of ways better than the studio version although I still think that the original version is a better on that unique hard/soft flow. Did I mention the high pitch and screams of Ian Gillan yet.
And then I haven't even mentioned those other classics like Flight Of The Rat and Into The Fire. One of the best albums ever made and after listening to it again it even jumps over that other classic by Derek & The Dominos to the first rank of the year and 3rd of the decade.
And for the album on my wishlist I'm gonna take albums from two bands if they released one (and they both released many): Saxon (that's more for the end of the decade) and UFO which already released their first album in 1970:
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UFO 1 by UFO
Of course the band was not yet the band they would become later in the seventies, there was no sign yet of Michael Schenker, and they mainly produced very blues tinted psychedelic space rock here, but the distinctive voice of Phill Mogg was already present. And the thing is: I liked it: the bass playing of Pete Way is very distinctive and the limit the length on the noodling (maybe except for Who Do You Love?) common for many of the space rock albums of the time. So it deserves its 17th rank of the year.
These are the two choices of hardrock albums for 1971:
First a (fairly underrated) album I already own:
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Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath
The first two albums are masterpieces but somehow many people (including me) seem to forget that this third one of theirs is also one: Children Of The Grave, After Forever, Sweet Leaf and Lord Of This World are just incredibly good. It's just a pity that they chose to include three tracks which are really not at all fitting in the general flow of the album. But nevertheless it goes from the the 24th to the 7th rank of the year.
And as UFO has released its second (still Schenker-less) album in 1971 I have also listened to this one:
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UFO 2 Flying by UFO
Still very psychedelic but very guitar based and with two veeeeery long tracks and you know what, they don't get boring for a minute. I really like the good jam atmosphere on these and also on the shorter tracks. And in some way the guitar playing is very inventive and the songs are just really good. So it really deserves the 10th rank of the year.
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Demons & Wizards by Uriah Heep
One of their best albums with of course especially Easy Livin' but also Circle Of Hands, Rainbow Demon and All My Life deserve your attention. It's ranking doesn't change at 4th.
An album on my wishlist:
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Blue รyster Cult by Blue รyster Cult
The choice was between the first album of BOC and the first of Foghat and it was quickly made. The first 4 tracks are not bad but after that the tracks deteriorate quickly and sometimes even border at the ridiculous. But the first part is good so finally the 25th rank for this one.
These are the two hardrock albums of 1973 I would like to highlight:
An album I already own:
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(pronounced 'lฤh-'nรฉrd 'skin-'nรฉrd) by Lynyrd Skynyrd
This album completely earns its appeal from the three epic tracks on it while the rest of the album (ok Gimme Three Steps is not bad either) isn't really special. Those three epics are Tuesday Gone, Simple Man and of course the track adored by most guitar lovers including me: Free Bird. The intertwined guitars at the end (but the end takes a long time) sound absolutely perfect. The three mentioned epics are all favorite songs of mine and after listening to the album again it jumps just over For Your Pleasure to the first rank of 1973.
An album on my wishlist:
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Never Turn Your Back On A Friend by Budgie
A few days ago Spyglass discussed this album as well in his diary and I know Repo is a fan of the album. Well I think I have to agree with Spyglass: the vocals are in my view not a liability but they're not an asset either and especially the slower songs don't do the album any good. But the guitar is really good on Breadfan (the riff is awesome but sounds even better on a more ferocious version like Metallica's on Garage Inc), Baby Please Don't Go (a really good cover), In The Grip of the Tyrefitter's Hand and Parents (great guitar solo but it could have done without the seagulls). All in all a fairly good but not fantastic hardrock album and enters my 1973 chart at the 21st rank.
Phenomenon by UFO
I said before I didn't have any regular UFO albums in my collection and that's true for my CD collection but I see that I do have a few albums in my Apple Music list including this first album with Michael Schenker and I think already one of their best. It includes my favorite track of them, Doctor Doctor, although that track sounds better on live albums, and also one of my other faves, Rock Bottom. But also the majority (including the ballads) are very good with only Lipstick Traces as a worse track.
And it moves from the 12th to 6th rank of the year.
An album on my wishlist:
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Kiss by Kiss
I'm not a big fan of Kiss (of course they have a few good songs like Detroit Rock City and they sound better on live albums) but I did want to check out their first album. The only good track on this album is Deuce (even Strutter sounds a bit dull) and the rest is to me fairly unimaginative power rock. I'm not gonna include this album in my top chart of the year.
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow by Rainbow
I wanted to hear this album again because I thought I underrated it but I haven't really: this is in no way the band yet they would become on their two following albums. of course Man On The Silver Mountain is up to the rest of their legacy and also Catch The Rainbow and some other tracks are not bad and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar and Ronnie Jamie's Dio's voice are very good but somehow something's missing here. I nevertheless moved up the album from the 23rd to 17th rank of the year.
An album on my wishlist:
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Warrior On The Edge Of Time by Hawkwind
Also not a bad album (especially the first two-part epic is very good) but many tracks are lacking some real songs which is ok for a space rock album but here it drags a bit too long. Unfortunately the album version misses this track but the CD version an my Apple Music version contains Motรถrhead as a closer which is a fitting end to the cooperation of Hawkwind with Lemmy. The album lands on the 29th rank of the year.
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