Best Albums of the 1970s

Listed below are the best albums of the 1970s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 6 hours ago).
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1970s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder and The Who.
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"How much does originality count when grading an album? Normally I go by songs, but an album is more the sum of parts than grading an artist by singles. There's a feel to this album that you only get from a few records. "Opera" is usually graded on the strength of Bohemian Rhapsody but the entire ..." [More]
- daftpunter | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (5 helpful | 2 unhelpful) Help 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:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,593
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"I remember one summer when when I was a kid, I came home to my family, who were outside by the barn shucking corn. It was one of those balmy, late summer afternoons in south Georgia. After helping out for a while, I walked into our hundred year old house and got some iced tea. I walked upstairs a..." [More]
- Jthomp81 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,357
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Top rated album (85/100 - 2061 votes)  85 (2,061 votes)
Comments:
"Overrated. I recognize how these boys were game changers, but their songs aren't memorable, they have no lasting impact on the listener, and they've sounded dated quickly. I'll give them credit for reflecting the malaise of the day, and for slapping us out of our arena-rock and disco stupor, but ..." [More]
- junodog4 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (7 helpful | 2 unhelpful) Help 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:
1977
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Rank Score:
10,442
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""can you tell me where my country lies? said the unifaun to his true love's eyes." Thus begins the delicate opening to "dancing with the moonlight knight" which takes on more ominous tones as the song progresses. I love the moog and synth (and stole the sound of the keyboard at the bridge for one..." [More]
- paladisiac | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (7 helpful | 1 unhelpful) Help 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:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,378
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"The song "Starless" is edited on most compilation albums so you must get that album. Probably the best prog jam ever. Adding a saxophone (or winds) to a good rock album is something that catapults it from good to awesome (e.g. Dark side of the Moon, Born to Run)."
- Robert Anton Wilson | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,892
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Top rated album (86/100 - 1108 votes)  86 (1,108 votes)
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Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,577
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Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,199
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Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,192
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"Not enough can be said about the impact that Bitches Brew has had on music. With it's dark sound and incredible musicians, such as John McLaughlin and Chick Corea (musicians who are incredibly sucessful in their own right), Bitches Brew was the start of fusion jazz. On first listen, Bitches Brew ..." [More]
- zonrod | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,124
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"The first half of the album draws you in with catchy studio jamming, cradling your brain in its fun and cerebral jam-oriented accessibility, just in time for the second half to take your now cradled brain and clamp down on it with a cestus filled with 24-karrot gold dust. It returns to recognizab..." [More]
- | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
Rank Score:
9,120
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 4 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition