My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

And then came 1969:

With an album I already own/know:

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Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones
In general this Stones album is just a collection of well done but not really special blues songs and there's nothing wrong with. But of course there's the magnificent Gimme Shelter and especially the very gospelly You Can't Always Get What You Want which makes it stand out above the main crowd: goes from the 30th to the 10th rank.

And an album on my wishlist:

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Contact by Silver Apples
By describing the tracks of this album you could replace the words silly and repetitive/monotone by druggy and hypnotic and in many tracks like You And I, You're Not Feeling Me and especially I have Known Love it works but in many instances like Ruby and Fantasies it doesn't. For the moment it doesn't click completely but I have the impression a second listen would help so for the moment I put it at the lower parts of my 1969 chart (nr 33).

[dihansse]

These are two albums of 1970 I listened to:

First an album I already own:

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All Things Must Pass by George Harrison
This is a masterpiece which stands alongside the best The Beatles have done but why does it have to be so long. Especially the second half contains a lot of filler but the first half is absolutely fabulous which just shows that George Harrison was as much an important part of the Beatles than those two other gods.
What Is Life is one of my favorite tracks ever but there's so many others with of course the unforgettable My Sweet Lord, I'd Have You Anytime, If Not For You, Let It Down, Beware Of Darkness, aso, aso. The second half mainly contains fairly uninspired gospel and instrumental rock 'n roll but can I repeat this is a masterpiece and goes from the 6th to the 4th rank of the year.

Then an album on my wishlist:

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Shooting At The Moon by Kevin Ayers
Syd Barett had The Madcap Laughs and Kevin Ayers had Lunatic Lament, no sorry Shooting At The Moon. This is a very experimental album with sometimes unbearable long pieces of sh... but the album is saved by the wonderful three first tracks. May I? is even better in the French version (Puis-Je?, not part of the original version of the album) and is one of my favorite quirky songs ever and the next two tracks sound very weird but are also very good. So ok not the best album ever made but definitively worth listening to and good for the 18th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

These are two album of 1971 I listened to:

First an album already in my possession:

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Hunky Dory by David Bowie
Changes and Life On Mars? are the killer tracks here but also Quicksand has a special place in my heart: in fact this album is a bit harking back to the sixties sound of his self-titled album of 1969 and I like it all the more for it. And it goes from the 21st to the 7th rank of the year.

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Split by The Groundhogs
Psychedelic and bluesy at the same and hard and guitar driven. I had never really listened to this band and I should have because this is a very solid album. The four part title track and Cherry Red are the best tracks and the album immediately enters at the 15th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two albums pf 1972:

An album I already own/know:

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#1 Record by Big Star
An inspiration on lots of albums/artists to follow. Especiallt Thirteen is a tru gem. The album goes from the 11th to the 4th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Foghat by Foghat
Nothing very special: just good boogie rock and the cover of Maybelline is very listenable. Enters at the 14th rank of the year.

[MarkusN]

I really like your approach. I recently made a 70s list myself (https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=67351) after screening and listening to the first 100 albums of each year. My favorite for 1972 was 'You Don't Mess Around With Jim' by Jim Croce. You should give it a try!

[dihansse]

These are two albums of 1973 I listened to:

An album I already own:

Paris 1919 by John Cale
Sometimes a bit too orchestrated and many of the track would sound better on live albums or when I saw him perform them live but nevertheless a very fine album not in the least because of the fantastic title track. The last three tracks are a bit less but the first part of the album shows the best side of John Cale: theatrical and adventurous at the same time. I still don't know who was the best as a solo artist: John Cale or Lou Reed? The album goes from the 16th to the 15th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Tattoo by Rory Gallagher
a very fine hard rocking blues album which immediately enters at the 20th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the two a bit over the top albums of 1974 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Queen II by Queen
An album which has always been a bit of the lesser ones in my thought because I found it was too swollen and proggy. So it was about time to make up my mind about it and who knows, maybe I would see the genious which many real Queen fans make of it on the many Queen fora to be found on the net. Well the conclusion is that it still falls between two chairs. Seven Seas Of Rhye is still a great track and I can't say I dislike the many opera-like tracks (this is in fact the real ANATO) but I still think that The March Of The Black Queen is no match to Bohemian Rhapsody. So the conclusion is that I like this album more than I originally credit for and it does rise from the 35th and last rank to the 23rd rank but not higher than that.

An album on my wishlist:

Slaughter On 10th Avenue by Mick Ronson
The importance of Mick Ronson to a number of David Bowie albums can't be overvalued but when Bowie wanted to change course and discarded him, he made a solo album which was largely in the style of albums like Alladin Sane but lacked the hand of a master songwriter and most importantly, the hand of someone who could reign him in. This album is a bit too over the top in my taste and indeed, just lacks good song, however fine the guitar work sometimes is.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 1975 I listened to:

An album I already own/know:

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Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin
The forgotten Led Zep masterpiece, if the last tracks would have been cut away. But especially side one is absolutely priceless with classics like In My Time Of Dying, Houses Of The Holy, Trampled Underfoot and of course Kashmir. In fact, side two, although it contains some overall good tracks, doesn't contain any of these classics. And it moves forward from the 36th to a whopping 8th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Come Taste The Band by Deep Purple
After Ritchie Blackmore left for big successes with Rainbow, he was replaced by Tommy Bolin and I must say this was a succes for this one album and he proved to be a worthy replacement for Blackmore. Less can be said for David Coverdale who is not really my favorite singer and I can only imaging how good this album could have been with Ian Gillan as a singer. Because I like it and even more so because I listened to the 2010 35th anniversary edition which contains a simple remastered version but also a Kevin Shirley version, the one I listened to and I must say this was quite an experience because when comparing the two versions, the simple remasters sound very bland. There are many fans who seem to dislike the Kevin Shirley remixes but I have never heard an album where the production is so in your face where it seems that every instrument is mixed to the front and sounds very dynamic. On the level of the songs: in fact only Comin' Home is really good but otherwise all the others have something interesting like a good Bolin guitar solo who was really a good addition to Deep Purple for this album. And also the soulful You Keep Movin' deserves a special mention. Only This Time Around/Owed To "G" is really not a good track and just sounds dull and overproduced. But all in all a good album which deserves its 14th rank of the year.

[Repo]

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 1976 I listened to:

First an album I already own:

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Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder
And what an album this is. This is the most diverse and ingenious and groovy soul/r&B album I know and if you can combine miracles like Village Ghetto Land, I Wish and As on one album, you are a true genious. And it rises from the 20th to the 7th rank.

And for the next albums on my wishlist I already announced I would do something special this round. All these years I have been on BEA I have really appreciated the write-ups on albums Romanelli owns. They are always insightful and interesting to read and I have put many of your recs on my wishlist and the easy thing about it is that you have numbered your entries. So recently I started tagging the albums on my wishlist with these numbers so I can now easily find them. So for each following year I'll try to pick one of those albums and try to give my comment on your comment.

And I'll start with nr 899:

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Private Eyes by Tommy Bolin
Which is an interesting thing because recently I listened to Come Taste The Band by Deep Purple on which Tommy Bolin was the stand-in for Ritchie Blackmore and did that very well. After that he started a solo career and this is his second album but also his last because quickly after that he died from a drug overdose. According to Roma this is an almost perfect album not in the least because of his burning guitar playing. Tbh I can't say that the guitar playing on this album is particularly special to me. Even on the long jam Post Toastee I thought it was ok but never really impressed me really. Only on the last track You Told Me That You Loved me, he really rocks. For me the general sound is a bit too slick which might sound strange because I think that his slickest song was also the best: Hello, Again. So all in all for me a bit of a near miss or hit but finally I decided that it was good enough to include it in my year chart at the 24th rank.