Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s
by 
neilgee 
- Chart updated: 06/12/2018 17:15
- (Created: 10/09/2015 12:13).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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Buy album 
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What to say about this album apart from it's an absolute gem? The only thing I can think of doing is retrieving my comments on the individual tracks one by one to give some idea of why I love it so.
One of the classic opening tracks of all time for me. It works perfectly. It's the best of his imput to Genesis meets the best of Peter the solo artist. I always thought this could have been a double a-side with Solisbury Hill.
Track 2 continues where Moribund leaves off, magical music. The first 3 tracks on this album hit heights never seen on one album for me.
Track 3: Just superb, classy rock n roll. Hard to comprehend that this wasn't a hit in it's own right as the follow up to Solisbury Hill.
4: I love it, I think it's interesting and inspired, it breaks all the rules, Gabriel's vocals never grate but they are great (Groan). It starts out like A Capella but almost develops into a rock ballad and the lyrics on this album are simply unsurpassed by any other album he's recorded. Terrific stuff!
5: After the pounding of Modern Love and the exquisite strangeness of Excuse Me, Humdrum is where Gabriel's ability to create an atmosphere in music comes to the fore.
I ride tandem with a random
Things don't run the way I planned them
In the humdrum
he sings with that faux ennui, and then the lilting, undercutting chorus before the song begins to build and build like a symphony towards it's climax. This is extraordinary stuff. Love it.
6: We're character actors from the Tower of Babel
Bewildered, burned out, hardly able
To sit astride the high wire cable
It's hard to balance, a little unstable.
sings PG in this beguiling start to the second side of the album, this song changes pace 3 times in the first 3 verses and held me mesmerised when I first turned my vinyl copy of this over in 1977.
Dont get me wrong, I'll be strong
When the slow burn sunset come along
goes the powerful chorus, one that I'm sure many teenagers identified with at the time and since as PG creates an atmosphere of pure pathos. God, I love this stuff!
7: The wine's all drunk and so am I
slurs PG against a background of a tinkling bar-room piano in another perfect example of atmosphere in song. Waiting for the Big One is supremely crafted piece of easy to listen to melody and stop/start tension. If the album was going to have a weak link it may be this one but it isn't because this song is superb and just adds to the spellbinding nature of this album. Phenomenal stuff!
8: An uplifting rock rhythm after the inebriated atmosphere of Waiting For the Big One but it's contrasted with the dark lyrics:-
And the sea is whipping up a welcome
If hell come we're all easy prey,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive"
and the repeated despairing refrain of 'You guys are crazy!' yet there's something shiningly optimistic in the music that defies the lyrics. A supreme example of a contrast/contradiction that works and all part and parcel (one part in nine equal parts) that makes up the most perfect album of all time, for me.
9: The superb show closer on the best album of all time, Flood builds slowly to a thundering chorus reminscent of crashing waves and ends with PG's plaintive:
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.
before that magnificient chorus breaks over us and ends the perfect album, God this is lovely stuff, writing about it makes me want to go and put it on right now! Brilliant!
As you can see I rather like PG's lyrics on this album, but the band is so tight too that finally here's a list of the personnel who played on it:
Peter Gabriel – vocals, keyboards, flute, recorder
Allan Schwartzberg – drums
Tony Levin – bass, tuba, leader of the Barbershop Quartet
Jimmy Maelen – percussion, synthibam, bones
Steve Hunter – acoustic guitars on "Solsbury Hill"; lead guitar on "Slowburn" and "Waiting for the Big One"; electric, acoustic & rhythm guitars; pedal steel
Robert Fripp – electric & classical guitars, banjo
Jozef Chirowski – keyboards
Larry Fast – synthesizer, pro [First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
One of the classic opening tracks of all time for me. It works perfectly. It's the best of his imput to Genesis meets the best of Peter the solo artist. I always thought this could have been a double a-side with Solisbury Hill.
Track 2 continues where Moribund leaves off, magical music. The first 3 tracks on this album hit heights never seen on one album for me.
Track 3: Just superb, classy rock n roll. Hard to comprehend that this wasn't a hit in it's own right as the follow up to Solisbury Hill.
4: I love it, I think it's interesting and inspired, it breaks all the rules, Gabriel's vocals never grate but they are great (Groan). It starts out like A Capella but almost develops into a rock ballad and the lyrics on this album are simply unsurpassed by any other album he's recorded. Terrific stuff!
5: After the pounding of Modern Love and the exquisite strangeness of Excuse Me, Humdrum is where Gabriel's ability to create an atmosphere in music comes to the fore.
I ride tandem with a random
Things don't run the way I planned them
In the humdrum
he sings with that faux ennui, and then the lilting, undercutting chorus before the song begins to build and build like a symphony towards it's climax. This is extraordinary stuff. Love it.
6: We're character actors from the Tower of Babel
Bewildered, burned out, hardly able
To sit astride the high wire cable
It's hard to balance, a little unstable.
sings PG in this beguiling start to the second side of the album, this song changes pace 3 times in the first 3 verses and held me mesmerised when I first turned my vinyl copy of this over in 1977.
Dont get me wrong, I'll be strong
When the slow burn sunset come along
goes the powerful chorus, one that I'm sure many teenagers identified with at the time and since as PG creates an atmosphere of pure pathos. God, I love this stuff!
7: The wine's all drunk and so am I
slurs PG against a background of a tinkling bar-room piano in another perfect example of atmosphere in song. Waiting for the Big One is supremely crafted piece of easy to listen to melody and stop/start tension. If the album was going to have a weak link it may be this one but it isn't because this song is superb and just adds to the spellbinding nature of this album. Phenomenal stuff!
8: An uplifting rock rhythm after the inebriated atmosphere of Waiting For the Big One but it's contrasted with the dark lyrics:-
And the sea is whipping up a welcome
If hell come we're all easy prey,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive"
and the repeated despairing refrain of 'You guys are crazy!' yet there's something shiningly optimistic in the music that defies the lyrics. A supreme example of a contrast/contradiction that works and all part and parcel (one part in nine equal parts) that makes up the most perfect album of all time, for me.
9: The superb show closer on the best album of all time, Flood builds slowly to a thundering chorus reminscent of crashing waves and ends with PG's plaintive:
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.
before that magnificient chorus breaks over us and ends the perfect album, God this is lovely stuff, writing about it makes me want to go and put it on right now! Brilliant!
As you can see I rather like PG's lyrics on this album, but the band is so tight too that finally here's a list of the personnel who played on it:
Peter Gabriel – vocals, keyboards, flute, recorder
Allan Schwartzberg – drums
Tony Levin – bass, tuba, leader of the Barbershop Quartet
Jimmy Maelen – percussion, synthibam, bones
Steve Hunter – acoustic guitars on "Solsbury Hill"; lead guitar on "Slowburn" and "Waiting for the Big One"; electric, acoustic & rhythm guitars; pedal steel
Robert Fripp – electric & classical guitars, banjo
Jozef Chirowski – keyboards
Larry Fast – synthesizer, pro [First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,209
Rank in 1977:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,543
Rank in 1974:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
30,837
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43,298
Rank in 1972:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
805
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,578
Rank in 1976:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,359
Rank in 1974:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2015]
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 5 | 5% | |
| 1971 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1972 | 12 | 12% | |
| 1973 | 13 | 13% | |
| 1974 | 15 | 15% | |
| 1975 | 18 | 18% | |
| 1976 | 4 | 4% | |
| 1977 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1978 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1979 | 7 | 7% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Commodores | 4 | 4% | |
| Roxy Music | 4 | 4% | |
| Kool & The Gang | 4 | 4% | |
| Chairmen Of The Board | 3 | 3% | |
| Genesis | 3 | 3% | |
| Elton John | 3 | 3% | |
| The Isley Brothers | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 37th to 38thLet It Be by The Beatles |
| Down 1 from 38th to 39thClose To The Edge by Yes |
| Down 1 from 39th to 40thBand On The Run by Paul McCartney & Wings |
| New entries |
|---|
| Message From The King by Prince Far I |
| Leavers |
|---|
| In Search Of Space by Hawkwind |
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Other decade charts by neilgee
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 1 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/02/2017 23:22 |  bobbyb5 | 725 | 90/100 |
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s favourites
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s comments
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From bobbyb5 10/02/2017 23:23 | #199019
bobbyb5 10/02/2017 23:23 | #199019
Its about time I saw 3 + 3 in someone 70s chart. You're a very wise person.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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