Best Albums of 1971

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21.

The Yes Album 

 Yes

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"What strikes me about this album is how LISTENABLE it is. While the songs certainly qualify as prog rock, they never fall into the trap of being overly complex and challenging for the sake of it, a criticism that can be made of many of the legendary prog rock groups such as ELP or King Crimson (n...""What strikes me about this album is how LISTENABLE it is. While the songs certainly qualify as prog rock, they never fall into the trap of being overly complex and challenging for the sake of it, a criticism that can be made of many of the legendary prog rock groups such as ELP or King Crimson (not to mention later Yes). As it is, The Yes Album is an exceptionally enjoyable album to listen to. The vocals of Jon Anderson, as well as Steve Howe and Chris Squire in harmony, are a treat to hear. The instrumentation is, of course, excellent. The standout tracks to me are Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People, which expertly mix quite distinct musical sections into cohesive wholes. Both songs have beautiful openings and truly epic conclusions, with Trooper's gradual intensification and I've Seen All Good People's descending key changes being particularly hair-raising moments. 90/100"  [+]  Reply

- Caesar01 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

505 charts

Rank Score:

3,462

Rank in 1971:

21

Rank in 1970s:

110

Overall Rank:

490

Average Rating:

 82 (719 votes)

Comments:

49

22.

Songs Of Love And Hate 

 Leonard Cohen

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"More hate than love, so that we can love it better..."  Reply

- apeiron | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

539 charts

Rank Score:

3,433

Rank in 1971:

22

Rank in 1970s:

111

Overall Rank:

501

Average Rating:

 83 (626 votes)

Comments:

21

23.

Histoire De Melody Nelson 

 Serge Gainsbourg

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"Trip-hop most certainly trace its roots back to the early 70's. Serge Gainsbourg's "Histoire de Melody Nelson" is a daring and controversial concept album that I am extremely fond of. The soundscape, jam, and dynamics of the simple instrumental setup is sharply contrasted with the flamboyant symp...""Trip-hop most certainly trace its roots back to the early 70's. Serge Gainsbourg's "Histoire de Melody Nelson" is a daring and controversial concept album that I am extremely fond of. The soundscape, jam, and dynamics of the simple instrumental setup is sharply contrasted with the flamboyant symphonic arrangements that carries the dynamic of this album to an unprecedented level of freely associative instrumentation. The story in French is in spoken words and is circling around the story of the androgynous person of Melody Nelson that Gainsbourg bumps into and falls in love with - creepy. What I like most about this album, though, is the stylistic consistency and similarity throughout the album that gives it qualities resemblant of a single extended musical piece with a number of progressions. "Histoire de Melody Nelson"'s mix of freewheeling guitar, funk style bass, spoken word vocals and lush, deep orchestrated string music together makes this one of my favorite albums."  [+]  Reply

- calsper | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (5 helpful | 2 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

437 charts

Rank Score:

2,902

Rank in 1971:

23

Rank in 1970s:

131

Overall Rank:

579

Average Rating:

 81 (474 votes)

Comments:

15

24.

Pearl 

 Janis Joplin

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"Raw and personal. Not as polished or focused as Cheap Thrills, but much more passionate. The overproduced, saccharine soaked popsters of today could learn a thing or two listening to Janis get every ounce out her voice."  Reply

- junodog4 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

504 charts

Rank Score:

2,690

Rank in 1971:

24

Rank in 1970s:

144

Overall Rank:

633

Average Rating:

 80 (576 votes)

Comments:

32

25.

Nursery Cryme 

 Genesis

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"nursery cryme was the first very good genesis album. The prior two albums were not as good -- 1969 debut from genesis to revelation was carved in a generic 60s-music template mold and follow-up trespass didn't yet carve out a unique identity for genesis yet (although sporting one of their better ...""nursery cryme was the first very good genesis album. The prior two albums were not as good -- 1969 debut from genesis to revelation was carved in a generic 60s-music template mold and follow-up trespass didn't yet carve out a unique identity for genesis yet (although sporting one of their better songs, "the knife") -- and will not be covered in following, previous-year music posts. nursery cryme was also the first album to show off the talents of phil collins and steve hackett. Highlights are "the musical box", "the return of the giant hogweed" (which takes on more significance in my current fight against a takeover of dandelions) and "the fountain of salmacis", all of which run about 8 minutes or more each. Hackett and collins shine on "hogweed", probably the best track of the bunch, an escalating war march sung savagely by gabriel. (i love his lines like "botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge!" and how he even identifies it by its latin name, "heracleum mantegazzianii" which makes it sound even more menacing, like a vampiric race that has been around for millenia.) "seven stories" is sadly poetic ruminating on a life focused on the wrong things ("despair that tires the world brings the old man laughter") underpinned by the darkly ominous moog (via tony banks). "harold the barrel" is the first really good "cornball" genesis song in a long line of really good cornball songs from "cuckoo cocoon" and "i know what i like" to "illegal alien" and "i can't dance". You can hear Phil's lead vocals in "for absent friends". "fountain of salmacis" closes the album leaving me question "hogweed"'s self-proclaimed title as album-best as it sounds as epic (catch that hackett guitar tear dueling with Phil's drums near-midway through or tony banks dueling with Phil nearer the end) and is more humanly-touching."  [+]  Reply

- paladisiac | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

391 charts

Rank Score:

2,388

Rank in 1971:

25

Rank in 1970s:

160

Overall Rank:

720

Average Rating:

 81 (592 votes)

Comments:

34

26.

Surf's Up 

 The Beach Boys

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"This album is a bit of a missed opportunity. Some of The Beach Boys' best songs are on this album, and some of most fantastic ballads as well. "Surf's Up" is the best song and the brainchild of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks and one of the best songs from the SMiLE sessions, "Long Promised Road"...""This album is a bit of a missed opportunity. Some of The Beach Boys' best songs are on this album, and some of most fantastic ballads as well. "Surf's Up" is the best song and the brainchild of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks and one of the best songs from the SMiLE sessions, "Long Promised Road", my personal favorite "Feel Flows" and the criminally short "'Til I Die". But songs like "Student Demonstration Time" hinders the album by not keeping with this soft and somber tone. "Take a Load Off Your Feet, Pete" sounds like it'd be more in place with Sunflower than with this album. It also took a while to get used to Rieley's vocals of "A Day in the Life of a Tree", but now I see it as kind of haunting. It was also a mistake not to put in some of Dennis' songs on the album, cause his songs during these session are fantastic, especially "(Wouldn't It Be Nice) To Live Again", calling in mind their hit Pet Sounds song, which including a more somber and morbid subject matter. It's ballads are the high point and worth a listen. Best Tracks: Surf's Up, Feel Flow, Long Promised Road, 'Til I Die, Disney Girls (1957) Worst Tracks: Student Demonstration Time"  [+]  Reply

- pranafilms | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

383 charts

Rank Score:

2,258

Rank in 1971:

26

Rank in 1970s:

168

Overall Rank:

761

Average Rating:

 79 (568 votes)

Comments:

31

27.

Construção 

 Chico Buarque

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"Chico Buarque is a genius. "Construction" is exactly what he does in this album, through his words and sounds he builds whole cities only to destroy them all and start again. It leaves you helpless, small and oddly strong after being able to connect to everything he says."  Reply

- patriciatoledo | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

210 charts

Rank Score:

2,053

Rank in 1971:

27

Rank in 1970s:

177

Overall Rank:

839

Average Rating:

 81 (226 votes)

Comments:

10

28.

Journey In Satchidananda 

 Alice Coltrane

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"Having Coltrane's name is for sure a heavy burden, but if you approach this album with reasonable expectations, it will most likely surpass them. The most obvious reason I can think of is it's eastern influences, but this was far more enjoyable than most jazz I've encountered (admittedly it hasn'...""Having Coltrane's name is for sure a heavy burden, but if you approach this album with reasonable expectations, it will most likely surpass them. The most obvious reason I can think of is it's eastern influences, but this was far more enjoyable than most jazz I've encountered (admittedly it hasn't been that much). The opening track is a journey, indeed - and what a journey, pure magic. Towards the end of the album I started to lose focus, but it has to do with the fact that I'm not used to this kind of music, not with the album itself."  [+]  Reply

- kokkinos | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

278 charts

Rank Score:

1,754

Rank in 1971:

28

Rank in 1970s:

200

Overall Rank:

986

Average Rating:

 81 (226 votes)

Comments:

15

29.

In The Land Of Grey And Pink 

 Caravan

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"A thoroughly enjoyable and easy to listen to record that makes you want to come back and discover all the things you missed on the last listen. There is so much to discover on this record and it is also quite a positive record and really lifts you up when you hear this album. The instrumentation ...""A thoroughly enjoyable and easy to listen to record that makes you want to come back and discover all the things you missed on the last listen. There is so much to discover on this record and it is also quite a positive record and really lifts you up when you hear this album. The instrumentation is fantastic on this record and really stands out amongst other prog rock work around that time. Despite this, I do not think the album as a whole can challenge with the greatest albums of the prog rock genre as it does have weaker tracks and moments where it is easy to get sucked out of the album. Definitely worth a listen and is still a great record though. "  [+]  Reply

- Untitled | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

298 charts

Rank Score:

1,712

Rank in 1971:

29

Rank in 1970s:

209

Overall Rank:

1,014

Average Rating:

 81 (334 votes)

Comments:

21

30.

Every Picture Tells A Story 

 Rod Stewart

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"With the release of “Every Picture Tells A Story” Rod Stewart solidified his career as a solo artist. Faces would release one more album before Rod The Mod swaggered off to a very lucrative and sometimes maligned solo career. For everything we think about Stewart after 1974-ish, this album stands...""With the release of “Every Picture Tells A Story” Rod Stewart solidified his career as a solo artist. Faces would release one more album before Rod The Mod swaggered off to a very lucrative and sometimes maligned solo career. For everything we think about Stewart after 1974-ish, this album stands as an absolute classic. The covers are perfect, the originals are perfect, the band is perfect and the recording itself is perfect while all of it is completely flawed. This is the true genius of the album. Without all the gloss and perfection, with a band that used a healthy dose of bang and smash on every song, sometimes even chopping up the tempo, the album is subtle, deep and wonderfully listenable. Musically and lyrically interesting, it’s a wonderful showcase for Stewart’s voice and it’s the pinnacle of his career."  [+]  Reply

- Rochmon | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

370 charts

Rank Score:

1,657

Rank in 1971:

30

Rank in 1970s:

217

Overall Rank:

1,049

Average Rating:

 78 (399 votes)

Comments:

25

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 3 of 100

Best Albums of 1971 composition

Top 1,000 Top 500 Top 250 Top 100

Artist	Albums	%
Various Artists	11	1%
Elvis Presley	5	0%
The Rolling Stones	4	0%
John Mayall	3	0%
Fleetwood Mac	3	0%
Melanie	3	0%
James Brown	3	0%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	392	39%
	244	24%
	52	5%
	44	4%
	29	3%
	27	3%
	22	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	960	96%
Yes	44	4%

Live?	Albums	%
No	961	96%
Yes	43	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	98%
Yes	16	2%