Listed below are the best albums of 1970 as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 4 hours ago).
"The Kinks 'Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One' is arguably part of rocks greatest album streak bettered only by the Fab 4 . Starting in 1967 with the sublime 'Something Else by The Kinks' , followed in 1968 by 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society ' which may well...""The Kinks 'Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One' is arguably part of rocks greatest album streak bettered only by the Fab 4 . Starting in 1967 with the sublime 'Something Else by The Kinks' , followed in 1968 by 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society ' which may well be one of the best albums ever , 1969 saw the release of the excellent 'Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) , followed in 1970 by the album . Unfortunately these same years The Kinks were over shadowed by The Beatles creative peak but as the years have gone on The Kinks have begun to receive there right dues for their sustained excellence
'Lola vs Powerman' is a concept album that is easy to follow and tells the tale of an up and coming band craving success ("The Contenders" , "Get Back In Line") who finally hit it big ("Top of the Pops") only to become disillusioned with the business side of music and touring constantly ("The Moneygoround" ,"Powerman" , "This Time Tomorrow" , "A Long Way From Home") and ultimately seeking a simpler life away from success ("Apeman" , "Got to Be Free" )
This album contains not one but 2 perfect 100/100 tracks in the breathtaking "Strangers" and "This Time Tomorrow"
This album and 3 preceding it are simply sublime "[+]Reply
"Critics hated this, Pink Floyd members themselves hate this, but I (like many fans I guess) love it! The suite is very experimental - and long - but very listenable (for what it is), the three songs by band members are all very good (my favourite is Summer 68 by Wright) and Alan's Pyschedelic bre...""Critics hated this, Pink Floyd members themselves hate this, but I (like many fans I guess) love it! The suite is very experimental - and long - but very listenable (for what it is), the three songs by band members are all very good (my favourite is Summer 68 by Wright) and Alan's Pyschedelic breakfast features beautiful instrumental music - though i'd prefer to hear it without some guy eating and talking about food in the background :) ..."[+]Reply
"A work of utter genius. This album always seemed to me to be an extremely determined Curtis attempting to prove to the world that he was more than just a great pop songwriter (which he certainly was, and The Impressions are probably my favourite singles band of all-time), but also a Curtis overco...""A work of utter genius. This album always seemed to me to be an extremely determined Curtis attempting to prove to the world that he was more than just a great pop songwriter (which he certainly was, and The Impressions are probably my favourite singles band of all-time), but also a Curtis overcome by both anger at the way society worked, and total and irrefutable faith in humanity to do right in the end. Honestly, this album is just perfect from start to finish, filled to the brim with stunning and sincere lyrics and even more impressive musicianship and composing. My favourite soul album."[+]Reply
"Live at Leeds, is quite rightly regarded as one of the great live albums. It's The Who at the top of their game, when all four members were at the peak of their powers, Moon, at his powerhouse best, Entwistle, totally on it as a stunning bass player, Townshend, finally showing his potential as a ...""Live at Leeds, is quite rightly regarded as one of the great live albums. It's The Who at the top of their game, when all four members were at the peak of their powers, Moon, at his powerhouse best, Entwistle, totally on it as a stunning bass player, Townshend, finally showing his potential as a guitar great, and off course Daltrey, in his rock God persona, tassels and all, The Who were at this stage, along with Led Zeppelin, the ultimate rock band. The energy of this record is infectious, and in some ways the original six track release is more enjoyable than the 2CD version, although both are blistering hard rock at it's best. The, Tommy, run through, is arguably even better than it was on the original album, elsewhere, Johnny Kidd's, shakin' all over, and Mose Allison's, young man blues, are fantastic. Substitute, and, summertime blues, are also excellent. Magic bus, and, my generation, wrap the original album up, both versions have rarely been done better. In the top five live LP's ever. "[+]Reply
"The best album of 1970 and easily her best. Desertshore mixes the darkest sonic landscapes of The Marble Index with the warm innocence of Chelsea Girl. Cale's arrangements are avant-garde at its most substantial, and Nico's vocals are always measured in their sobriety without giving the impressio...""The best album of 1970 and easily her best. Desertshore mixes the darkest sonic landscapes of The Marble Index with the warm innocence of Chelsea Girl. Cale's arrangements are avant-garde at its most substantial, and Nico's vocals are always measured in their sobriety without giving the impression that she doesn't care about the music. Every time Nico plays the piano it sounds heartbreaking, and each noise Cale recorded in the studio finds its place. All the songs are solid, in the sense that they all have a bunch of elements that make the listen rewarding, and they are easily distiguishable (something that could not be said about her last one). Great album. Complex but simple. Grey but kaleidoscopic."[+]Reply
"All 3 of Jimi's studio albums are considered Rock essentials, but if you're a guitarist, I would call this record just as important to hear. Whether you agree with it or not, Jimi is consistently cited as the greatest guitarist of all time, and he proves it on his solos here."Reply
"This sounds like I'm working at a sweet quaint farm. I wake up to the birds chiming and the rooster cockle-doodling, and I skip along a vast field of daisies (daisies again, why does female folk remind me of daisies all the time?), and I'm happy as can be. I bask in the sun and Vashti and I decid...""This sounds like I'm working at a sweet quaint farm. I wake up to the birds chiming and the rooster cockle-doodling, and I skip along a vast field of daisies (daisies again, why does female folk remind me of daisies all the time?), and I'm happy as can be. I bask in the sun and Vashti and I decide to call it a night, we sit by our sweet little fireplace and sing each song on this album accompanied by a cute little piano and a ukulele. Aww, if only.
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"The most important thing to realize going into listening to this album the first couple of times is that Syd Barrett really *was* a talented songwriter, and that even without his total mental breakdown he still would have amassed a pretty decently sized following. There are quite a few melodies a...""The most important thing to realize going into listening to this album the first couple of times is that Syd Barrett really *was* a talented songwriter, and that even without his total mental breakdown he still would have amassed a pretty decently sized following. There are quite a few melodies and chord sequences here that would have worked just fine in a normal setting, with a lyrical combination of playfulness and self-confession that would make quite an impact on their own. The opening "Terrapin" is a great example of this, as it's a rather gentle acoustic ballad that combines playful (and only somewhat nonsensical) lyrics about being a swimming fish and simple (but still kinda clever to my ears) boy-girl lyrics like, "Well oh baby my hair's on end about you." Simple and poppy, yes, but high quality simple-and-poppy, if you ask me.
But of course, it's not the normal aspects of the album alone that ultimately draw people here, but rather the way in which they provide a context for the train wreck of Syd's mind. "Terrapin," by having such 'regular' appeal, is an extremely deceptive opener, as the evidence for this album's weirdness reputation begins in full force with track two. Witness the dark aggressive (and outright disturbing) cacophony of "No Good Trying", whose most revealing moment is the line about the person Syd is singing to spinning around in a car while lights are flashing all around. Witness the hilariously catchy up-tempo, nonsensical "Love You," where Syd and Co. conjure up a vaguely Kinksy piano number and let it linger in the astral plane just long enough to totally screw it up (meant in a good way). Witness ESPECIALLY when Syd's performance (singing, lyrics, guitar, everything) goes totally off the deep end in "Octopus," all culminating in the ecstatic chanting of, "Please leave us here! Close our eyes to the octopus riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!!!" And so on.
The easiest way, for me at least, to categorize the rest of the album is to divide it into "lucid" and "less lucid." The less lucid parts sometimes happen within the songs themselves (like the weird mumbling freak-out in the second half of "No Man's Land"), but the most frightening one comes when Roger Waters and David Gilmour (the producers) share an outtake from right before Syd's 'proper' rendition of "If It's In You," where Syd starts into the number and ends up hideously off-key in singing, "Yes I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiNNNNNNNNNNKing" and follows by mumbling only semi-coherently. Poor, poor, Syd.
What makes his collapse even more frightening and sad in my mind, though, is the ways the lucid moments show he was fully aware of it. "Dark Globe" is playful and has somewhat off-key vocals, yes, but those are serious chills down my back when he sings, "Won't you miss me? Wouldn't you miss me at aaaallllllll??" Those chills stay when I hear Syd longing for a girl in "Here I Go," in the mournful "Long Gone," and even when he's slowly singing James Joyce poetry to an elementary melody.
Beyond these, there are some songs that aren't really that super, and that kinda negate my original hopes that, even in the wake of such heavy drug abuse, his songwriting abilities would remain completely unscathed. But really, I don't think that's the point. This is an album that can be extremely enjoyable at points, yes, but it's also very sad, and more than that really has no parallel in music of which I'm aware. It's messy, it's playful, it's sad ... it's Syd. And Syd was great, despite himself. This is why I like this album terribly much, despite that I almost never bring it out. If you don't like it, I can understand, but you must also understand that those of us who do like it get a feel from it that's largely indescribable, and thus you should not condemn us or this album.
PS: Somehow, I left out mention of the album's second best song, the closing "Late Night." It's probably the best example on the album of a semi-coherent love song, one that had a great song at its core but got tweaked more than a bit by being filtered through Syd's mind. It brings a tear to my eye each time I hear it. "[+]Reply
"Bowie dips into heavy rock. I love this album. Width of a Circle blows me away every time. All the Madmen and After All give us a little glimpse into Bowie’s mindset. With mental illness sadly stalking his family history. A lot of credit goes to Mick Ronson and Tony Visconti who arranged and prod...""Bowie dips into heavy rock. I love this album. Width of a Circle blows me away every time. All the Madmen and After All give us a little glimpse into Bowie’s mindset. With mental illness sadly stalking his family history. A lot of credit goes to Mick Ronson and Tony Visconti who arranged and produced the album while Bowie was partly distracted by the birth of his first child. Coming up with his lyrics at the very last minute. Overall an underrated album in the Bowie canon. "[+]Reply