Greetings and Happy Holidays! I'm bored and drinking way too much coffee to eradicate a hangover despite knowing that it never ever helps. So now I'm wired AND feel like shit. It's impossible (for me) to be productive at this time of the year when I still have the luxury of procrastinating on all the things I want to accomplish until January 1st. So bored & unmotivated I stumbled across a youtube link (courtesy of bangerTV) listing the top 10 HEAVY albums of 1970 and figured I'd have a go myself.
(keep in mind this is a rough first draft list just to get this topic & thread started. I'd love to see others' lists so that I may perfect mine in the coming weeks. If this is successful, I'd then do one for 1971, 1972, etc and then march up to today. Also keep in mind that this is a genre-free list. I'm just looking for stuff that is heavy & rocking and, most especially, mind-blowing!)
My Top 10 HEAVY Albums of 1970
1. Black Sabbath - s/t
2. The Stooges - Fun House
3. Led Zeppelin - III
4. The Flamin' Groovies - Flamingo
5. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
4. King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon
5. Deep Purple - In Rock
6. MC5 - Back In The USA
7. Hawkwind - s/t
8. Iron Claw - Iron Claw
9. Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come
10. ??????
Albums I need to check out in more depth before ranking...
1. King Crimson - Lizard
2. UFO - UFO 1
3. Uriah Heep - Very 'Eavy, Very Humble
4. Association PC - Earwax
5. Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation
6 Lucifer's Friend - s/t
7. Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You
8. Wicked Lady - The Axman Cometh
So I'd love to get a discussion going about this topic. See what others BEAers have in their top 5 ot 10. Any recs or suggestions?
Here's that link which is pretty killer if you're into heavy music...
Nice list there. Such lists can be tricky since it can be tough drawing the line for what is or isn't "heavy."
Of your "need to check out more in depth" list, I'd say the s/t Lucifer's Friend would round out your list nicely. I'm also a huge fan of Lizard, Atomic Rooster, and that year's Heep.
Other heavy 1970 releases you need to check out if you haven't already:
Ginger Baker's Air Force and Wishbone Ash (both s/t).
First off, psyched to check out your recs!!! I've wanted to check out The Move for awhile. AND, Steppenwolf's 1970 chart is off the rails. Tons of stuff that looks incredible.
As far as making this a diary, I actually want it to be more of a communal thread for recs and discussion and not "my" thread per say. We had a metal thread that was active in the music section back about four years ago so I guess I'm trying to replicate that. Between myself, you, Fischman, Noisy Beast, Purplepash, Led Zep, Dihansse, Gowi, RockyRacoon, Romanelli, we have a shitload of active users who know a lot about heavy-ish music.
Last edited by Repo on 12/28/2019 00:27; edited 1 time in total
Holy shit! I had no idea GFR was so heavy back in the day before they settled into a more AOR groove. This thing is cranked to 11 and reminds me of none other than MC5's Kick Out The Jams in terms of the sheer raw energy they generate when they're playing. This shit is just brutal. I nicked this off Fischman's, Steppenwolf's , & Noisy Beast's 1970 charts (I believe). The fact that it was on all three told me something.
Nice list there. Such lists can be tricky since it can be tough drawing the line for what is or isn't "heavy."
Totally true and can be one of the things people like to discuss & debate. I'm personally not to hung up on it but do like to follow those kind of debates. I'm just looking for stuff you'd want to crank to 11 with the car windows down OR roll a couple of joints and zone out too vibe (such as Amon Duul's Yeti which I have to add to my list too!!!
Fischman wrote:
Of your "need to check out more in depth" list, I'd say the s/t Lucifer's Friend would round out your list nicely. I'm also a huge fan of Lizard, Atomic Rooster, and that year's Heep.
Awesome rec! Just added!
Fischman wrote:
Other heavy 1970 releases you need to check out if you haven't already:
Ginger Baker's Air Force and Wishbone Ash (both s/t).
I heard Wishbone Ash mentioned a lot, but never Ginger Baker's Air Force despite being a big fan of Cream.
Edit: Guess you could put Black Widow's Sacrifice and Mort Garson's Ataraxia if we're considering Tangerine Dream and King Crimson _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
Awesome! Loving the feedback & recs so far! Today I'll try & listen to some Black Widow, Lucifer's Friend or T2.
I was really hungover yesterday so I probably wasn't clear, BUT I'd love to see everyone's Top TEN or FIVE lists from 1970 of the best HEAVY PROTO-PUNK/PROTO-METAL/PSYCHEDELIC/ PROG/KRAUTROCK/STUFF TOO WEIRD TO PIGEONHOLE albums. This already becoming a killer repository of some great recs.
Now this is a GREAT find for underground metal aficionados sounding like the bastard child of Deep Purple >> Black Sabbath. And even Led Zeppelin especially on opening track Ride In The Sky which is straight up Viking Power Metal al la Immigrant Song by Zeppelin. (I’d love to know who influenced who on that one because there is no way someone wasn’t taking notes!)
It’s only my first listen so I can’t tell just yet if this is merely derivative or if it will rise above their influences, but there’s no question they were apt pupils and those who love early 70s Uriah Heep and Deep Purple in particular need to hear this one!
Recommended!
Here's a highly informed and well stated review From the Pounding Decibels blog... Overview
A German based band who were quickly cited as being early practicioners of blending both heavy metal and progressive rock together. I say heavy metal and not hard rock, because Lucifer's Friend were one of the few bands around at this time that weren't overly influenced by the blues and their influences seem far more focused on classical influences than a lot of their counterparts. In effect they followed on from the heavy organ and keyboard approach of bands such as Iron Butterfly, Spooky Tooth, Atomic Rooster and Deep Purple and laid down some real proto-metal groundwork. Lucifer's Friend would have a sound that featured heavy keyboard textures, often combined with very dark lyrics and their nearest musical contemporaries at the time were Uriah Heep whose debut album also came out the same year. In fact the link between the two bands would always be there, as Lucifer's Friends vocalist John Lawton would much later on, go onto become the vocalist for Uriah Heep. Lucifer's Friend were in essence a German pioneer band from Hamburg and they were fronted by British vocalist John Lawton. The members of band had met in Hamburg whilst in different bands and had decided to work together, first under the name of Asterix and then as Lucifer's Friend. After quickly bonding, the newly formed band went into the studio to put out their heavy and often complex organ driven sound, little did they know that they would record such a cult classic that is still revered today by listeners of heavy metal. Also the album cover was so distinctive with the short bald guy with what looks like a hook for a hand, next to the tall shifty looking one and standing in a pool of blood. The album cover most definitely suited the music.
John Lawton- Vocals
Peter Hesslein- Guitar
Dieter Horns- Bass
Peter Hecht- Keyboards
Joachim Rietenbach- Drums
Production- Herbert Hilderbrandt
Album
Ride the Sky- Starts off sounding amazingly like Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" not sure who copied who here, but then John Lawton kicks in and the song turns into a very competant rocker. Everybody's Clown- A fast moving track which is a true exercise in all the elements of the band working together. John Lawton on this track sounds similiar to a future Klaus Meine. Keep Goin- A real stand-out track full of heavy dense guitar and organ sections that produce an almost heavy plodding feel, before breaking into various musical sections. Toxic Shadows- A complex and lengthy composition of several minutes, as the band flex out and relax at the same time. Free Baby- A superb mid-album rocker, that is full of up and down shifts in sound and mood, again the band really flex out here. Baby You're a Liar- Organ driven and the song has some really truly crunching guitar moments. In the Time of Job When Mammon Was a Yippie- An eccentric interlude and a great song title. Lucifer's Friend- The album closer which again features their highly original song arrangements and power injection, along with some great Doors sounding organ throughout the song. An additional track on some copies of the album is the great but short instrumental Horla.
Verdict
One of those full throttle sounding albums, full of dense sounding guitars combined with an organ/keyboard overload if you like that kind of thing. The listener can't help but to be impressed with the technical playing of the band, all of which was highlighted by the superb singing of frontman John Lawton who really had a melodic wail. The similiarities with contemporary rivals Uriah Heep was most evident as well, from the organ driven sound to the style of the song compositions and then onto the vocal approach of vocalist John Lawton, who sounded and screamed similiar to Dave Byron of Uriah Heep. But that was where the similiarities ended, because from the word go Lucifer's Friend were far more compact and focused than Uriah Heep were at this stage. It's just a shame that they couldn't build off this superb debut and spent the rest of the 1970s, focusing either on dour sounding or overtly progressive rock releases, along with getting distracted by their fellow German Krautrock bands. Despite these future drawbacks, the band always excelled as expected in the instrumental department. Uriah Heep later stole the success that really should've been theirs but that's rock music for you! The band though, always kept a cult following and were always popular in their native Germany and helped set the stage for bands like the Scorpions a few years later.
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Cool video, and I agree with the discussion of those albums mentioned...
