My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

This is the next batch of 1972 albums I listened to:
- Something/Anything? by Todd Rundgren (nr 26 on the overall BEA top chart of 1972): When I looked at the comments for this album I was expecting a lot but against my expectations I didn't really like it. In fact one of the least liked track is my personal favorite: Song For the Viking. Bit other than that the music sounded a bit dated and the album is overly long.
- On The Corner by Miles Davis (nr 27): this album sure is funky but overall not really my thing
- Paul Simon by Paul Simon (nr 28 ): this album disappointed me a bit: Me an Julio and Mother and Child are both fine songs but not his best and the rest of the album was a bit too folky without a lot highlights.
- Sail Away by Randy Newman (nr 29): this is an artist I like overall especially for his lyrics and although this must be one of his best he never maintains a high quality and song diversity for a whole album.
- Caravanserai by Santana (nr 30): at the start I really thought this would be a no no, but the middle section and the two final tracks are really good so another Santana inclusion in my top charts.
- Obscured By Clouds by Pink Floyd (nr 31): I'm sure I had a cassette of this album one time but after listening to it again I don't seem to remember a lot of the tracks. But overall this is a fine Pink Floyd worth including in my personal 1972 top chart.
- Trilogy by Emerson, Lake & Palmer (nr 32): this is one of those bands I really don't like (except for Lucky Man and Pictures at an Exhibition) and this album didn't convince me either
- Transa by Caetano Veloso (nr 33): another Brazilian album of 1972 that didn't really touch me.
- Irrlicht by Klaus Schulze (nr 34): one of these albums with absolutely not a clue of a beginning of a good song: bleeps, organs, more electronics just being put one behind another.

The next album to listen to is Saint Dominic's Preview by Van The Man.

[dihansse]

Nearly at the end of 1972:
- Saint Dominic's Preview by Van Morrison (nr 35 on the overall BEA top chart of 1972): I'm starting to appreciate Van Morrison more and more, even his lesser known albums like this one; but it does contain the great Jackie Wilson Said (this version is even better than the already fine version of Dexy's Midnight Runners) and the long and winding Listen To The Lion is no less great.
- Octopus by Gentle Giant (nr 36): round these times there were a long string of albums which were supposed to be pastoral (in this context a synonym of boring) with prog influences (meaning having a bit of superfluous time signature changes to give them more respect). This is one of the most typical ones of that string of albums.
- Honky Château by Elton John (nr 39): Rocket Man is one of his best, but the second track on this album sums it up: mellow and this in the corniest 70's sense: songs like Salvation wouldn't be allowed to be played anymore these days. Even the acclaimed Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters sounds very dated.

The next album to listen to is Let's Stay Together by Al Green.

[dihansse]

And this is the nearly final entry for 1972 at least for those within the overall top 2500 (with a lot of sentences beginning with not I have to admit):
- Let's Stay Together by Al Green (nr 40 on the overall BEA top chart of 1972): of course the title track is a classic but overall this is not really my favorite soul artist or soul album.
- Let My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus (nr 41): not my favorite jazz album
- Zeit by Tangerine Dream (nr 42): not the most lively album in the world and that is an understatement
- Storia Di Un Minuto by Premiata Forneria Marconi and Per Un Amico by Premiata Forneria Marconi (nr 43 and 44): these albums are so close together and they are both not the best messengers of prog.

And this ends the list of albums of 1972 within the overall BEA top 2500 I intended to listen to. But for the moment I have only 19 albums in my personal top chart of the year and that's not enough especially because I still have a lot of albums of that year on my wishlist. I quickly listened to some of them and quickly dismissed them for the moment (maybe will come back to them later), with examples being Seventh Sojourn by Moody Blues, Naturally by JJ Cale, Jackson Browne and School's Out.

So I'll only comment on the albums I liked:
- Catch Bull At Four by Cat Stevens (nr 75): I have always liked and Can't Keep It In and also Sitting and 18th Avenue are great tracks. Maybe the album is a bit too much orchestrated but I liked it.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Uriah Heep so I'm now listening to the Magician's Birthday but this album is very proggy so I don't know yet if I will like it.

[dihansse]

And I like it, I mean that other Uriah Heep album of 1972:
- The Magician's Birthday by Uriah Heep (nr 78 of 1972): although there no real highlights I like it overall and there's not a bad track on it.

However now I feel a bit ashamed that I ranked this album higher in my 1972 top chart than Demons and Wizards which I consider to be a classic. So I decided to listen to that one again and in general to take a bit of Uriah Heep side-tracking and to also listen to their other albums. I consider them to be a favorite of them but in fact only know them from their greatest hits so I should widen my horizon on them a bit so I can broaden my overall seventies chart a bit as well.


Demons & Wizards by Uriah Heep:
And after listening to it: what a jump it is because it hurled itself to the third rank in my personal top chart of 1972: Easy Living is one of my all-time favorite songs and also Rainbow Demon, Circle Of Hands and All My Life are amongst their finest tracks.

This also proves that, while their sound is very guitar-based, the real driving force behind the songs is the organ a bit like these other organ based bands Deep Purple and The Doors.

So from now on I'm gonna free-wheel a bit through the seventies with other Heep albums.

[dihansse]

I'm gonna veer off 1972 a bit to launch myself in the investigation into two bands of the seventies: not only Uriah Heep but also Status Quo: to me two bands:
- who have dominated the seventies at least the pre-punk years but both had their roots in the sixties
- where both play hard rock but not really hardrock
- who were more looked at as having a few good songs but not good full albums (at least by myself) but which could in my opinion very well fill up lots of my year charts of the seventies with lots of albums to discover because they both issued at least one album per year in the seventies. Both bands are looked at as guilty pleasures and especially on this site both bands are not very popular: only Demons and Wizards of Uriah Heep finds itself barely in the top 2500. This is also an attempt to change this a bit.
- who were looked at one-trick pony's especially Status Quo was looked upon as a band only being able to play three chords (they even had an album In Search of the Fourth Chord, which wasn't even that bad)

I already started with Uriah Heep 1972 posts so I'll start with the remaining coverage of albums of both bands from 1970 to 1972:
- Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon by Status Quo ( (nr 349 of 1970 and 29976th overall): Status Quo started in the sixties as a psychedelic rock band and on this album they were already turning more to blues rock without yet a lot of the boogie-rock for which they came to be known on later albums. Spinning Wheel Blues was already a good attempt but hey really were succesful in the combination of Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home, which is a compilation of real blues in the first part and boogie in the second part. A lot of tracks, especially in the middle part are still not very good but overall already a fine album.
- Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble by Uriah Heep (nr 110 of 1970 and 5722 overall): this is really an album consisting of two parts: on the one hand the opener and the closer which are already very typically Uriah Heep: especially Gypsy is one of my favorite tracks ever and is one of those typical epic tracks in which Uriah Heep excels. Wake up (Sets Your Sights) is also very prog but here more in the bad sense of the genre. The middle section is more blues based and frankly not of very high quality. Nevertheless also an overall good album.
- Dog Of Two Head by Status Quo (nr 315 of 1971 and 22328 overall): here their sound was nearly completely developed not in the least on the opener Umleitung whic goes on for mpre than 7 minutes but which contains every single element that ex also Roll Over Lay Down has. Also Mean Girls and Someone's Learning are very good while Nanana (in three parts) is a bit too mellow for its own good).
- Salisbury by Uriah Heep (nr 312 of 1971 and 5036 overall): This is maybe their most prog album, so for me especially the first part is not really interesting. But it gets better in the second half: while still proggy Lady In Black and especially High Priestess are very good. The last track and also the title track is very long (over 16 minutes) and is a bit a mixed bag but contains very good parts. Overall still a good Uriah Heep album.
- Look At Yourself by Uriah Heep (nr 70 of 1971 and 3372 overall): this album is one of their highlights in my opinion and many of the tracks here seem to refer to the Deep Purple sound not in the least the title track and the last track, Love Machine, which are however very fine examples of their signature sound. The other absolute highlight is of course July Morning which is one of my absolutely favorite songs ever. This is one of these very best examples of mini-rock operas with many twists and turns in one song: silent and nearly pastoral to hard and ending in a blistering organ part which is very invigorating.
- Piledriver by Status Quo (89th of 1972 and 4928 overall): still an album with not many of their big hits but on which they signature sound was developing more and more and Paper Plane is maybe the best known. Don't Waste My Time is again a fine example of Boogie nobody knows while A Year and All The Reasons start of very slowly but gradually build into very fine guitar based tracks not really comparable with any other of their songs. Roadhouse Blues shows how they master how to play good blues rock and how their boogie rock is very much rooted in that good old blues.

In the next section I will go into more detail on 1973 and further.

[dihansse]

And here is the harvest of 1973 and 1974 with Uriah Heep only making so-so albums and Status Quo at its peak:
- Sweet Freedom by Uriah Heep (125th album of 1973 and ranked 6647 overall): with this album, Uriah Heep tried to move a bit more into prog territory and that was a bit at the expense of the quality of the songs. Stealin' and Pilgrim are ok but the rest is not really at par with their other albums. It's still an album worthy of being in my top chart of 1973 but fairly low.
- Hello! by Status Quo (nr 87 of 1973 and 4485 overall): and around the same time, Status Quo issued what must be one of their best, if not the best album, in their career. It did feature two of their best songs ever and of my all-time overall favorite tracks ever: Roll Over Lay is one of the best slow/fast - soft/hard songs I know with fantastic and inventive bridges between the different parts. This while Caroline has one of those vintage intros Status Quo excelled and then keep on holding on to that momentum during the whole of the song. Two monsters of tracks. Also the long Forty-Five Hundred Times has the name Status Quo written all-over it and the rest of the album is equally good: a classic.
- Wonderworld by Uriah Heep (nr 264 of 1974 and 21545 overall): and this while Uriah Heep plodded on with another average album. I Won't Mind which is already not so special was the best track of this album and again: overall it's good enough to earn a place in my personal chart of 1974 but it is not at all their best album either.
- Quo by Status Quo (nr 74 of 1974 and 4207 overall): and there was Status Quo again with a great album. The album has not of my absolute favorite Quo tracks but overall all the tracks are of great album with as highlights Drifting Away and Slow Train which even finishes with an Irish Jig and they still get away with it in a great way.

So now on to 1975 and further on.

[dihansse]

And both bands still issued one album per year in the years from 1975 to 1977:
- Return To Fantasy by Uriah Heep (nr 378 of 1975 and 34836 overall): this was a return to true form after two mediocre albums with especially Return To Fantasy which must be the most envigorating track ever made by Uriah Heep. The song id full of neck break solos but they're not so much produced by guitar but by the organ of Ken Hensley. This is one of my all-time favorite songs. Maybe I let my idea of this album a bit too much influenced by this song because the rest is not so great maybe except for Show Down. Overall a fairly good album but saved by Return to Fantasy.
- On The Level by Status Quo (nr 120 of 1975 and 7342 overall): there are many band who had fantastic intros: The Stones (Jumpin Jack Flash), AC/DC, etc but to Status Quo couldn't be beaten on this with the intros of Caroline(fast and in your face), Whatever You Want (with a great build-up) but own Down can't be beaten on this front: the intro takes 45 seconds to develop and the way it builds up to the chorus is just wonderful. Of course the lyrics are stupid and the many false start-stops may annoy some of you (not me: I don't think there is one note to much) but I don't think there are many songs which make me happier to hear than this one. Another unexpected highlight: Bye Bye Johnny which is in fact a kinda cover of Johnny B Goode but the version played here is FIERCE. Two lesser known highlights are also Broken Man and What To Do. Overall one of the best albums of the Quo.
- High And Mighty by Uriah Heep (nr 156 of 1976 and 11300 overall): this album doesn't seem to have a lot of fans but to me it's fairly OK. Apart maybe from Can't Keep A Good Band Down, it doesn't contain a main hit but overall the songs are good.
- Blue For You by Status Quo (nr 83 of 1976 and 5841 overall): And still they're highlights keep on coming. This album contains fairly original songs like Rain and Mystery Song which would be enough to make this a great album but again: most of the other songs are also good, especially Ring Of Change, a track I had never heard before.
- Firefly by Uriah Heep (nr 293 of 1977 and 24966 overall): On this album, Uriah Heep became a bit of an ordinary hardrock band, not in the least because of the singer David Byron who had an alcohol problem. Also the role of the typical UH organ was pushed to the background. The title track is still an ok song but overall this album didn't convince me enough to include it in my personal top chart of 1977. There were much better albums around at that year...
- Rockin' All Over The World by Status Quo (nr 83 of 1977 and 40380 overall): but also Status Quo made an album which was a bit lacking in quality. Hold You Back was still the old Quo and the title song is totally not the old Quo but one cannot do anything else than at least like this song. But the rest of the album was becoming mellower and less good. Still overall an album for my personal top chart of that year but ok.

So this brings me to 1977 and I think I'm gonna leave QUO/UH for now and pick it up later and start my round-up for the rest of 1977 but not before I finish the last bits and pieces for 1972.

[dihansse]

I had already gone through the albums of the overall BEA top 2500 of 1972 and had already included some additional Uriah Heep and Status Quo albums, but I listened to 3 additional albums to make it to 25 favorite albums of that year:
- Focus III by Focus (nr 106 of 1972 and 5856 overall): this album of this Dutch band with classic influences contains the great Sylvia which is also the only song which might count as a hit. The rest of the album is more long jams but they are very jazzy and very interesting to sit through. So I have added this album.
- A Song For You by Carpenters (nr 107 of 1972 and 5857 overall): this album is maybe an unexpected highlight to me because very MOR but Karen has a great voice and some of the songs are real gems. And on this album at least two of those can be found: Top Of The World and Goodbye To Love. If you add to these some songs which are OK you have an addition to the lower parts of my top chart of 1972.
- Lou Reed by Lou Reed (nr 134 of 1972 and 7788 overall). I fail to understand why this first solo-album is ranked so low because it's just great. The Ocean is just one of those really peculiar but fantastic songs by old Lou and there is no lesser than great track to be found on this album. I can recommend it to anyone who likes Lou Reed or the Velvets.

And this the ends my journey into 1972 albums and I'm happy to say I can finish with 25 albums I really like with first the overall BEA rank after that the BEA year rank and my rank before and after these listening sessions:
BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before To My Rank after
237 Machine Head By Deep Purple 7 - 1 To 1
665 Eat A Peach By The Allman Brothers Band 16 - To listen To 2
2254 Demons & Wizards By Uriah Heep 46 - 11 To 3
696 Roxy Music By Roxy Music 18 - 2 To 4
16 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars By David Bowie 1 - 3 To 5
30859 Lonesome Crow By The Scorpions 380 - 4 To 6
4853 Piledriver By Status Quo 89 - Not yet listened To 7
613 Can't Buy A Thrill By Steely Dan 14 - To listen To 8
429 #1 Record By Big Star 11 - 5 To 9
30 Exile On Main St. By The Rolling Stones 2 - 6 To 10
113 Transformer By Lou Reed 5 - 7 To 11
7787 Lou Reed By Lou Reed 134 - Not yet listened To 12
986 Argus By Wishbone Ash 24 - 8 To 13
102 Harvest By Neil Young 4 - To listen To 14
3181 Eagles By Eagles 58 - 9 To 15
4246 The Magician's Birthday By Uriah Heep 78 - Not yet listened To 16
1351 Obscured By Clouds By Pink Floyd 30 - To listen To 17
914 Vol 4 By Black Sabbath 22 - 10 To 18
5856 Focus III By Focus 106 - Not yet listened To 19
4090 Catch Bull At Four By Cat Stevens 76 - Not yet listened To 20
1778 Saint Dominic's Preview By Van Morrison 36 - To listen To 21
1400 Caravanserai By Santana 31 - To listen To 22
644 Neu! By Neu! 15 - To listen To 23
581 Talking Book By Stevie Wonder 12 - To listen To 24
5857 A Song For You By Carpenters 107 - Not yet listened To 25

So after skipping another 5 years I will now move into 1977 albums...

[dihansse]

1977 must be one of the most interesting and pivotal rock years ever with the beginning of punk (UK and US), some disco highlights and some absolute classics like Rumours still of the old days but sounding really fresh at the time:

This is the list of albums of 1977 which are part of the overall BEA top 2500 waiting to be discovered (or already discovered) with at the start the overall BEA rank and after that the BEA year rank and my rank before this listening session (or to listen):

BEA Rank Title By Band BEA YearRank - My Rank before
32 Rumours By Fleetwood Mac 1 - 6
43 Animals By Pink Floyd 2 - 15
50 Marquee Moon By Television 3 - 1
62 Low By David Bowie 4 - 22
82 Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols By Sex Pistols 5 - 2
186 The Clash By The Clash 6 - 14
223 Aja By Steely Dan 7 - 20
254 Exodus By Bob Marley And The Wailers 8 - To listen
266 "Heroes" By David Bowie 9 - 23
275 Trans-Europe Express By Kraftwerk 10 - To listen
282 Pink Flag By Wire 11 - To listen
286 The Stranger By Billy Joel 12 - To listen
335 My Aim Is True By Elvis Costello 13 - 21
464 Bat Out of Hell By Meat Loaf 14 - 9
480 Talking Heads: 77 By Talking Heads 15 - 7
482 Lust For Life By Iggy Pop 16 - 8
521 Rocket To Russia By Ramones 17 - 10
540 Suicide By Suicide 19 - To listen
525 Out Of The Blue By Electric Light Orchestra 18 - 5
601 The Idiot By Iggy Pop 20 - To listen
757 A Farewell To Kings By Rush 21 - To listen
810 News Of The World By Queen 22 - To listen
824 Before And After Science By Brian Eno 23 - To listen
870 Heart Of The Congos By The Congos 24 - To listen
1105 Going For The One By Yes 25 - To listen
1186 Saturday Night Fever By Various Artists 26 - To listen
1195 Let There Be Rock By AC/DC 27 - To listen
1322 Even In The Quietest Moments By Supertramp 29 - 11
1296 Leave Home By Ramones 28 - 13
1373 Peter Gabriel By Peter Gabriel 30 - To listen
1472 I Robot By The Alan Parsons Project 31 - To listen
1511 Slowhand By Eric Clapton 33 - To listen
1497 Damned, Damned, Damned By The Damned 32 - To listen
1680 Heavy Weather By Weather Report 35 - To listen
1635 Rattus Norvegicus By The Stranglers 34 - 12
1785 Running On Empty By Jackson Browne 37 - To listen
1780 The Grand Illusion By Styx 36 - To listen
1799 The Album By ABBA 38 - To listen
1833 Seconds Out By Genesis 39 - To listen
1868 Live At The Old Quarter By Townes Van Zandt 40 - Live Excluded
1977 New Boots and Panties!! By Ian Dury 41 - To listen
1986 Songs From The Wood By Jethro Tull 42 - To listen
2104 Pacific Ocean Blue By Dennis Wilson 43 - To listen
2448 Blank Generation By Richard Hell & The Voidoids 45 - 18

And I have already listened to two of them:
- Exodus by Bob Marley And The Wailers (nr 8 of the BEA top chart of 1977): this album feels like a greatest hits album: nearly all the tracks are very well known radio hits not in the least the title track, Jamming, Three Little Birds and One Love. How not to like this album...
- Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk (nr 10): this must be one of the best albums of Kraftwerk (the track Autobahn remains the best) but it's still a band I really know well but don't really like overall maybe except some of the more trance-enducing parts. I doubted a bit but the final verdict is a no.

The next album of 1977 to discover is Pink Flag by Wire.

[dihansse]

A second batch of albums of 1977 I listened to:
- Pink Flag by Wire (nr 11 on the BEA top chart of 1977): what can I say: a great album by a great band: punk but art punk
- The Stranger by Billy Joel (nr 12): a bit of a mixed bag: the ballads are a bit cheesy and finally end up on the wrong side (Just The Way You Are) or on the right side (She's Always A Woman) of that line. And of course there's that great Scenes From An Italian Restaurant. The album only just made it top my personal top chart.
- Suicide by Suicide (nr 19): Some of the songs are good (Ghostrider, Frankie Teardrop), but overall the album didn't really convince
- The Idiot by Iggy Pop (nr 20): however much I like Iggy Pop, I don't really like this album. China Girl is in some ways a better version than David Bowie's but the rest of the album is to me not convincing at all.
- A Farewell To Kings by Rush (nr 21): I really try but I don't like Rush
- News Of The World by Queen (nr 22): although We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions are big hits this album is a bit underrated as an album. Spread Your Wings, Sheer Heart Attack and It's Late are all very fine songs and allthough not everything is top notch, it's a real good one overall.

The next album to listen to is Before And After Science by Brian Eno.