Top 45 Music Albums of 1971
by Romanelli

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Produced by Jimmy Miller. The best years of The Rolling Stones were the years that Mick Taylor was the lead guitarist. Sticky Fingers is the best of that period, the best album of the Stones career. And that's saying a lot. "Brown Sugar", "Bitch", "Sway", "Dead Flowers", "Sister Morphine"...this album has it all. It's got a variety of sounds, it rocks, and outside of the ill-conceived jazzy end of "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'", it's absolutely perfect. Sticky Fingers is why The Stones are called the greatest band in the world. They do not disappoint. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
16,706
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Average Rating:
Top rated album (86/100 - 1934 votes)  86 (1,934 votes)
Comments:
1971-MCA
Produced By THE WHO

1. Baba O'Riley
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain't For Keepin'
4. My Wife
5. The Song Is Over
6. Gettin' In Tune
7. Goin' Mobile
8. Behind Blue Eyes
9. Won't Get Fooled Again

To say that The Who were ambitious in the late sixties to early seventies would be an understatement. After the dizzying heights of Tommy and the extensive touring that went along with it, Pete Townshend immersed himself into another rock opera called Lifehouse. The concept was eventually abandoned, but the seeds for The Who’s greatest album were sown. Who’s Next, only their fifth album, is great from start to finish, without an ounce of filler. Townshend’s writing is at its peak, and the band is so good after the Tommy tours that it’s almost unfathomable that this is a four piece band.

The opening (“Baba O’Riley”) and closing (“Won’t Get Fooled Again”) tracks may be the strongest on any rock album. Townshend’s use of synthesizers on those songs is downright revolutionary. Roger Daltrey sings his ass off as usual, and John Entwistle and Keith Moon stake their place as rock’s greatest ever rhythm section. But it’s the songs more than anything…even Entwistle’s “My Wife” is great. With “Bargain”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, “The Song Is Over”…Who’s next is simply greatness. A great band peaking in every way. A true masterpiece.
[First added to this chart: 04/12/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,874
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Average Rating:
Top rated album (86/100 - 2583 votes)  86 (2,583 votes)
Comments:
1971-APPLE
Produced By GEORGE HARRISON & PHIL SPECTOR

1. Introduction By George Harrison & Ravi Shankar
2. Bangla Dhun
3. Wah-Wah
4. My Sweet Lord
5. Awaiting On You All
6. That’s The Way God Planned It
7. It Don’t Come Easy
8. Beware Of Darkness
9. Band Introduction
10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
11. Medley: Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Young Blood
12. Here Comes The Sun
13. A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall
14. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
15. Blowin’ In The Wind
16. Mr. Tambourine Man
17. Just Like A Woman
18. Something
19. Bangla Desh
20. Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Nobody ever began their new career outside their old band like George Harrison did. After leaving The Beatles, he released the 3 record masterpiece All Things Must Pass, then got together with Ravi Shankar to put together The Concert For Bangladesh. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in August of 1971, the show was a huge success for refugees in need of help from oppression and a huge cyclone that ravaged Bangladesh in 1970. Proceeds from the show (and the album and film) to this day go to the George Harrison UNICEF Foundation. This was the first large scale benefit concert, setting the stage for all future benefit shows.

Harrison had plenty of help from some famous friends: Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, and Badfinger were all there. Phil Spector lends his Wall Of Sound production to the live setting, making for a very advanced sounding album. The show is not without flaws: Ringo had one song to learn (“It Don’t Come Easy”), and he butchers the words. The Dylan set gets a bit long, and at times the lack of rehearsal time shows. But it’s still very worthwhile…the film is obviously better. Great to hear George finally able to play some of his Beatles songs live. An historic album, and a high note in Harrison’s career.
[First added to this chart: 04/11/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
436
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Produced by Jimmy Page. You may think I have this ranked too low...you may be right. It's not that I don't love this album (technically untitled, dammit), it's just that I don't hear it a lot. It's one of those special albums that I don't like to spoil with repeated listenings, because I want it to always be as special as it always has been. This may not make sense to you, but it really does, with this album especially, for me. Every song here is special to me, and I plan to keep it that way. [First added to this chart: 04/12/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
38,033
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Average Rating:
Top rated album (90/100 - 4015 votes)  90 (4,015 votes)
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 04/12/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,727
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
6. (=)
United Kingdom Yes
[First added to this chart: 08/03/2016]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
6,192
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1971-EPIC
Produced by RON RICHARDS & THE HOLLIES


1. What A Life I’ve Led
2. Look What We’ve Got
3. Hold On
4. Pull Down The Blind
5. To Do With Love
6. Promised Land
7. Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress
8. You Know The Score
9. Cable Car
10. A Little Thing Like Love
11. Long Dark Road


The Hollies showed up in 1965, and built a legacy of singles that has always suggested that they were a much better band than their seemingly endless string of lackluster albums would indicate. The number of greatest hits packages made by The Hollies speaks volumes, and if you want to appreciate this band, that’s going to be the best way for you to go. By 1971, Graham Nash had long since departed for the much greener pastures of Crosby, Stills and. The band was left with the also soon to leave Allan Clarke, and they still couldn’t put together a full albums worth of quality material to save their lives. Distant Light is one of the below average efforts that kept their string of hits alive in the early seventies, with “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress” joining the likes of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” and “The Air That I Breathe”. Like most of the Hollies records, everything here sounds very dated…except for the hit. (“Long Dark Road” was also a minor, and long forgotten, hit as well).

Throughout the album, Clarke’s vocals sound as if they were piped in through a tin can. The songs here are not terrible, just completely unmemorable and very dated. It’s listenable, but just barely, and there’s not really any good reason to have this, unless you’re a big fan of the band. Get one of the many, much better, greatest hits packages instead. The Hollies would continue on…their next album, Romany (with the exact same album cover only in a winter setting) was a dud, but that didn’t stop them…The Hollies would make 10 more albums over the next decade before calling it a day. They never did make a really good album, though, and their legacy as one of the great bands of the 60’s and early 70’s is built solely on the fact that they had some hit singles. Distant Light is not highly recommended: there were much better bands in the era to hang your hat on, without having to endure too much of these guys.
[First added to this chart: 10/26/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
23
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1971-POLYDOR
Produced By TOM DOWD

1. Statesboro Blues
2. Done Somebody Wrong
3. Stormy Monday
4. You Don’t Love Me

1. Hot ‘Lanta
2. In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
3. Whipping Post

Seven words best describe the third album by The Allman Brothers Band: The Greatest Live Album Of All Time. Don’t try to argue: you will lose every time. Recorded over a three day period in March of 1971 at Bill Graham’s Fillmore in New York, this double live album is everything that was good about the original Allman Brothers Band lineup. The songs are long…seven songs stretched out over 76 minutes…but even though this is the blueprint for every jam band that has come along since the Allmans, you’ll find that there really isn’t even a moment of wasted space on this album. The powerful rhythm section of Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe thunders relentlessly, and quiets to a whisper when needed. Gregg Allman sings sparingly but with great strength, and his keyboards, while not a lead instrument, add texture. The real weapon here, the centerpiece of it all, is the guitar work of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. The two together were never better than here, and the results are sonically amazing. Best guitar duo ever.

This isn’t just a great live album: it’s the sound of a great band reaching its pinnacle right in front of us. Every track is perfection. The first two tracks, each at under five minutes, are almost teasers. T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday” is beautiful, topped by nearly 20 minutes of Willie Cob’s “You Don’t Know Me”, complete with a breathtaking guitar flurry of “Joy To The World” at the end. The crowning glory is the 1-2 punch of “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” and “Whipping Post”, 36 minutes of pure jam heaven. This album is perfect, and had Duane Allman not died just months later (followed by one year by Oakley), who knows what this band could have done. We’ll never know, but we have At Fillmore East to remind us of where they were headed. You can also get The Fillmore Concerts, which contains five more tracks, including the 33 minute “Mountain Jam” that was also on Eat A Peach. No rock collection is complete without At Fillmore East.
[First added to this chart: 04/12/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,690
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Produced by Rod Stewart. Before he sold his soul to the devil for God only know what, Rod Stewart was the coolest singer on the planet. And he was never better than he was here, the pinnacle of his solo career...his entire career. This album boasts not only his finest material in "Maggie May", "Mandolin Wind" and the title track, but also shows that he used to have great taste in covers. 5 years later, Stewart was courting the realms of really bad music and taste, but here, he's at his exceptional best. [First added to this chart: 04/13/2012]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,669
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1971 – ODE
Produced By LOU ADLER

1. I Feel The Earth Move
2. So Far Away
3. It’s Too Late
4. Home Again
5. Beautiful
6. Way Over Yonder
7. You’ve Got A Friend
8. Where You Lead
9. Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
10. Smackwater Jack
11. Tapestry
12. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

13. Out In The Cold
14. Smackwater Jack (Live)

Carole King’s contributions to the world of popular music can never be overstated. From the late fifties through the sixties, she was one of America’s leading songwriters, in a partnership with her then husband Gerry Goffin. In the early seventies, she started hanging out with James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, who played on her first album, The Writer, in 1970. And then came Tapestry. It was recorded at the same time as Taylor’s Mud Slide Slim, and utilizes a lot of the same musicians, including Taylor and Mitchell. King now had a powerful set of songs, and the sound and feel of the album is warm and beautiful. King’s voice had suddenly become a great lead instrument, and there was no stopping this from being a massive hit. It helped lead the way for the California sound of the early seventies.

“You’ve Got A Friend” was on both King’s and Taylor’s albums, and was a hit for both. She was smart to revise three songs from her days as a writer with Goffin (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, “A Natural Woman” and “Smackwater Jack”), and to put them at the end of the record so that her newer material could be better showcased. “I Feel The Earth Move”, So Far Away”, It’s Too Late”…every song here is perfect. King’s piano is amazing throughout, but it’s her voice that makes Tapestry such a gem. It’s simply a perfect album, and it’s everything that those who followed aspired to. King recorded most of her albums up to 1983, slowing down to a stop by 2011. Tapestry remains, and rightfully so, her best work. It’s easily one of the best albums of the seventies…and one of the best albums ever. A true treasure.
[First added to this chart: 11/02/2014]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,569
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Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 45. Page 1 of 5
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Top 45 Music Albums of 1971 ratings

Average Rating: 
86/100 (from 9 votes)
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03/01/2026 18:00 Johnnyo  Ratings distribution  2,57680/100
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95/100
 
11/25/2020 17:57 desh79  Ratings distribution  1,27493/100
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08/22/2014 14:37 thedistantship  Ratings distribution  16284/100
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From 03/01/2026 18:01 | #313391
Great chart and love the notes. Trying to do the same for my charts but failing miserably
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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From 06/05/2020 03:32 | #252864
Awesome !!!! Love Concert for Bangladesh and Distant Light is underrated.
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85/100
From 08/22/2014 14:37 | #120101
Like the two live albums in top ten. very nice
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95/100
From 01/13/2013 02:50 | #61280
Very cool!
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