Back in July, I identified 25 of the best albums of 1973. As noted in that post, 1973 was the height of the so-called "classic rock" era, even though much of the best music of that time was/is not necessarily "rock" in the most strict sense. The majority of the artists were practicing a kind of musical gumbo, mixing and mashing together multiple genres from rhythm and blues to jazz to soul to heavy metal to folk and others. New recording technologies, FM radio, and social movements for freedom sparked an amazing burst of creativity that may never be matched.
I've written about this before, and I'll say it again: the importance of FM radio in creating an audience for boundary-pushing music cannot be overstated. Fifty years ago, the most popular artists attained that status not just because of their musical talents, but because FM radio music directors were committed to an ethic of expanding the musical tastes of listeners. They hired DJs to play the music who actually loved it. By the late 1970s that ethic would be gone, replaced by market survey driven playlists, canned shows hosted by bland jocks, and a kind of soft-censorship of creative art. MTV was probably the final nail in the coffin of progressive, ear opening rock radio. Music that pushes boundaries never went away, but finding it requires the patience to navigate streaming sites and (mostly) online guides to new music. In the early 70s you could get exposed to the creativity just by turning on your radio. Former DJ Richard Neer, one of the pioneers of the early FM radio format at WNEW-FM in New York, told CNN: "For a brief period, what we were doing was an art form. It didn't last . . . But it died a lot sooner than it had to."
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| The legendary Leland Sklar in his home studio, with the actual bass guitar that he played on the classic track "Stratus" from the 1973 Billy Cobham album "Spectrum" |
But enough lamenting the sad state of contemporary FM radio. Let's instead celebrate the music of 1973! Below are my personal top-25 from that year. The ranking is just for convenience and to make for easier reading; they are all relatively equal to me.
#25: Billy Cobham, "Spectrum." When discussing art, words like "remarkable," "iconic," and "groundbreaking" are frequently overused. However, those accolades actually do fit when discussing drummer Billy Cobham's epic "Spectrum" album. With Cobham and keyboardist Jan Hammer bringing their jazz chops to the table, and with bassist Leland Sklar and guitarist Tommy Bolin adding a blues/rock sensibility, the result was something unprecedented and extraordinary. This album supposedly so inspired the late Jeff Beck that it solidified his drive to record jazz-rock records in the mid-1970s.
Sklar's playing on "Stratus" is probably my all time favorite bass riff. Ever.
#24: Hall & Oates, "Abandoned Luncheonette." I've never been a great fan of Darryl Hall and John Oates, but as time has passed I've developed more appreciation for their unique pop sound--a sound that was much more musically ambitious and sophisticated than I was able to recognize at the time. These guys were thoroughly grounded in R & B and soul traditions, resulting in minor masterpieces like "She's Gone" from "Abandoned Luncheonette." Today, a moving ballad like that would probably have an electronic dance music beat and a "featured" rapper in the middle for no apparent reason.
#23: ELO, "On the Third Day." Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra is one of the true geniuses in rock history. There was no way the Beatles would reunite after the death of John Lennon, but if they had done so, it's entirely conceivable that Lynne would have been brought on board as John's stand-in. John Lennon himself was a huge fan of ELO, calling them "son of Beatles," and in 1974 he praised the song "Showdown" during an interview on WNEW-FM radio in New York.
#22: Paul Simon, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon." One of Simon's premier post Simon & Garfunkel records, featuring a number of songs that stayed in heavy FM radio rotation for much of the 1970s and 1980s. My favorite is probably "American Tune," Simon's Watergate scandal lament whose melancholy melody and lyrics I came back to frequently during the Covid crisis:
And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
#21: Renaissance, "Ashes are Burning." English progressive rock band Renaissance featured the lead vocals of Annie Haslam, one of the most underrated singer/songwriters in popular music history. "Ashes are Burning" received much FM airplay in the 1970s, with beautiful songs like "Carpet of the Sun" and "Can You Understand" becoming quite popular at the time.
Renaissance: Carpet of the Sun
#20: Bob Marley and the Wailers, "Burnin'." The sixth album by reggae gods Bob Marley and the Wailers, but the first to achieve commercial success in the United States. The album starts with "Get Up, Stand Up," which might be the most powerful musical call to action ever recorded.
#19: Genesis, "Genesis Live." Most people know the band Genesis as the Phil Collins led outfit with a string of pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s. The original Genesis featured Collins on drums, but the singing and most of the songwriting was done by the great Peter Gabriel. "Genesis Live" is an important album in the history of "progressive rock," with abstract lyrics, complex arrangements, and a theatrical live performance defining the genre about as well as any other recording of the time.
#18: Mike Oldfield, "Tubular Bells." There is only one movie that I've seen once and refuse to see a second time. That's William Friedkin's "The Exorcist," an amazing cinematic achievement that terrified me to the point of almost wanting to seek counseling. (People raised in a Catholic tradition will understand that.). Part of the soundtrack of that film was Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells," recorded when he was only 19 years old. Once attached to The Exorcist, the haunting melody became instantly iconic. Because I do not like being reminded of the terrifying scenes from that film, I do not often listen to Tubular Bells.
#17 Iggy and the Stooges, "Raw Power." Born James Osterberg in 1947 in Muskegon, MI, "Iggy Pop" became the "Godfather of Punk." "Raw Power" was a hard rockin' good time whose soaring guitars and playful zaniness represented a style that would ultimately be imitated by scores of punk bands in the USA and Europe throughout the 1970s and all the way up to today.
#16: David Bowie, "Alladin Sane." One of the classics of Bowie's "glam rock" period, featuring a number of songs that stayed in his concert set for decades, most notably "The Jean Genie" and "Panic in Detroit." (Both tunes reveal Bowie's Chicago electric blues roots.). This was the first album that Bowie wrote and recorded after he had become an international star, a stressful period for him in which he was truly "A Lad Insane."
#15: Nazareth, "Loud and Proud." How the fuck are Scottish hard rockers Nazareth NOT in the rock and roll hall of fame? Lead singer Dan McCafferty and guitar player Manny Charlton in the 1970s were right up there with Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osborne and Tony Iommi, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore for heavy metal histrionics. Loud and Proud has a number of original tunes on it, but Nazareth's cover of Bob Dylan's "Hollis Brown" and Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight" were remarkable reworkings of those classic songs. In fact, Nancy Wilson of Heart claims that she stole the riff for the hit song "Barracuda" from Nazareth's cover of "This Flight Tonight."
#14: Marvin Gaye, "Let's Get It On.' Unlike 1971's "What's Goin' On," Gaye's 1973 effort was not a politically charged recording. However, it did solidify his reputation as probably the greatest soul singer in the world not named James Brown, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, or Aretha Franklin. The title track remains as a soul classic.
#13: Al Green, "Call Me." Speaking of legendary soul singers, how about Al Green? If you ever watch the music competition shows like "American Idol" or "The Voice," it always seems like the majority of the contestants strive to imitate Al Green's falsetto style. A number of critics consider "Call Me" to be Green's masterpiece, in part because its links to later artists are so clear and easy to hear. Believe it or not, there was a time when a great song like "Here I Am" would actually be played on FM rock radio.
Al Green: Here I Am (Come and Take Me)
#12: James Brown, "The Payback." Hard to talk about soul masters without getting to the Godfather of Soul himself, Soul Brother #1 James Brown. In 1973 he released "The Payback," one of his many funk masterpieces of the era. The title song of the album has been sampled by hip hop and other artists over 400 (!) times.
#11: Black Sabbath, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." The 5th album by the original Black Sabbath line-up, and the last truly spectacular one they recorded in my humble opinion. The album is the epitome of the Sabbath brand: head bashing guitar riffs, socially conscious lyrics, a rhythm section that wakes you up like Vincent Vega giving Mia Wallace the adrenaline shot in Pulp Fiction, and Ozzy Osborne's extreme vocals that send bats into hibernation. Sabbath at that time had great appeal to alienated, socially awkward kids like me, and the fact that they were for the most part banned from FM radio made their mystique even greater.
Black Sabbath: Killing Yourself To Live
#10: Bachman Turner Overdrive, "BTO II." I think Canadian musician Randy Bachman, co-founder of 1960s iconic band The Guess Who and leader of BTO, is another one of those seriously under rated singers, songwriters, and guitar players. Unlike Black Sabbath, BTO did not play metal for the alienated kids as much as for the blue collar folks. There's a working class ethic to their early albums not only in the music, but in the band's image: "average" looking dudes with weight issues who rejected ANY pressure to conform to the more flashy "glam" images of the time. In that way they were actually quite refreshing.
#9: Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, "Brain Salad Surgery." Anyone old enough to have purchased this album in vinyl in the 1970s will remember what seemed like an intricate jacket/sleeve that reinforced the band's avant garde image. I remember being impressed by the fact that the album included a quote from Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (who wrote "Tocatta" that appears on the record): "Keith Emerson has beautifully caught the mood of my piece." To me that seemed to add some credibility to the album, as if ELP were saying, "see, even SERIOUS composers like our stuff." Portions of "Karn Evil 9" dominated FM radio for much of the 1970s, a fact that actually motivated punk rockers because they were known to hold up ELP as an example of the kind of music they were reacting against.
ELP: Karn Evil 9, First Impression Part 2
#8: The Who, "Quadrophenia." Pete Townshend's most ambitious project. "Quadrophenia" is an epic example of the "concept" album that Pete pioneered several years previously with "Tommy." Much more than Tommy, Quadrophenia had autobiographical elements; it calls forth the "mods v. rockers" battles in England that the band's members were literal participants in during the early 1960s. For me, Quadrophenia should be considered a central text in any discussion of the baby boomers: its themes of alienation, generational strife, striking out against authority, getting lost in sex/drugs/alcohol mirages, and desperately wanting to know LOVE are things that define that generation. I consider Pete Townshend's theme song on this record, "Love, Reign O'er Me," to be one of the most profound pieces of recorded music in global history. And I'm not exaggerating.
#7: Queen, "Queen." Not the band's best album by any means, but it holds a special place in the hearts of all Queen fans for being the one that introduced remarkable Freddy Mercury to the world. "Keep Yourself Alive" got the most radio attention, though "Great King Rat" and "Liar," I would argue, have the lyrical imagination and Brian May guitar theatrics that would define the band as they moved forward.
#6: ZZ Top, "Tres Hombres." My all time favorite ZZ Top record, and considered by most critics to be the masterpiece of the band's early days. When ZZ Top inducted Cream (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker) into the rock and roll hall of fame, it became clear how much TOP--like Cream--saw their music as an expression of love for American blues. "Tres Hombres" is the best example of that expression.
ZZ Top: Waitin' For the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago
#5: Stevie Wonder, "Innervisions." In 1973 Stevie Wonder was only 23 years old, and yet Innervisions was his 16th studio album. "Innervisions" is one of a string of early 1970s albums from Stevie that showcases socially conscious lyrics backed up by funky beats and soul arrangements. "Living For The City" is one of the most extraordinary songs ever to come out of Motown, a recording that forever put Stevie in the same ballpark as Marvin Gaye in "What's Goin' On."
Stevie Wonder: Living For The City
#4: Elton John, "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road." In vinyl terms, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road was a double album, and each of the four sides had a distinct personality. In that sense it was like the Beatles' White Album, and really the entire effort was extremely Beatles-esque. "Bennie and the Jets" remains a concert favorite to this very day, but Elton over the years has at various times included all the song on this album in shows at one time or another.
Elton John: Bennie and the Jets
#3: Led Zeppelin, "Houses of the Holy." The album Zep released previously to this one ("Led Zeppelin IV) included global sensation "Stairway to Heaven" and so there was little chance of the band topping that. And yet for me, "The Rain Song" from "Houses of the Holy" is far superior to "Stairway." "The Rain Song" is one of the few times Zep found a way to mix Jimmy Page's acoustic and electric sounds, along with Robert Plant's vocal range, with a touching set of lyrics that cut deep into universal human experience. Unlike "Stairway," the meaning of which has been debated ad nauseum for 50+ years, "The Rain Song" is a simple but powerful expression of what it means to be a human being in love.
#2: Tom Waits, "Closing Time." If there was a contest to nominate the most unique singer/songwriter of all time, I am quite sure that Tom Waits would get a substantial amount of votes. "Closing Time" was his first album, and his voice is not as deep and gravely as it would be in all future recordings. "Closing Time" gained popularity over the years, in part because almost all the songs on it have been covered by other artists who made them more well known. The best example is "Ol' 55, which Waits released as a single but became a hit for the Eagles. Waits did not appreciate the Eagles cover, calling it "antiseptic," and in an interview he went further: "I don’t like the Eagles. They’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all.” Ouch!
#1: Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon." An album that in its day was the most commercially successful rock album of all time, which was ironic given it was essentially an extended critique of the human condition. Whenever I teach "the Rhetoric of Rock and Roll," we usually listen to a couple of songs off this album, and there are ALWAYS a handful of students who ended up digging into the entire Pink Floyd catalogue as a result. Like The Who's "Quadrophenia," Dark Side of the Moon is another record that defines the baby boom generation; I've always loved the fact that for decades people searched for hidden messages in it, and the insistence that the album synchronizes perfectly with The Wizard of Oz (which Roger Waters calls Bullshit) is just hilarious. In all seriousness, Dark Side of the Moon is a brilliant record, with a musical integrity and thematic intelligence that is extremely rare to find in any era.
There you have my top 25 of 1973! Hope you enjoyed it!
See Also:
- Celebration of the Music of 1972, Part 1
- Celebration of the Music of 1972, Part 2
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes Series:
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part 1
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part II
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part III: Guitar Hero Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part IV: Dare to Cover Johnny Cash Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part V: I Won't Back Down Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part VI: Bring It On Home To Me Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part VII: The Kennedy Center Honors Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part VIII: Classical Music Covers Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part IX: Covering Spoken Words
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes, Part X: Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream Edition
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes Part XI: Original Tunes That Got The Twist And Shout Treatment
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes Part XII: Theme From Peter Gunn Edittion
- Ten Bold Cover Tunes Part XIII: Reggae Versions of the Classics
