Perhaps the greatest of 'rainy day' records, Neil Young's After the Gold Rush is a perfect blend of quiet Neil Young with the more rocking Crazy Horse sound. The album's title track "After the Goldrush" is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songs ever written. Good music: check. Good lyrics: check. Pretty much perfection.
1971: Electric Warrior - T. Rex
The Glam king...Bowie or Bolan? The band was fronted by boa wearing Marc Bolan (sadly died 11 years to the day before I was born). The album was produced by glam producer king Tony Visconti. The TOTP of Bang a Gong featured Elton John on piano....pretty glam indeed. Like After the Gold Rush, Electric Warrior is a perfect blend of acoustic songs ("God") with good old rock and roll "Jeepster." It is hard to find a better British record from the 1970's... that is unless you consider the top pick for 1972
1972: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stadust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie
So here we go...the greatest album ever recorded. Ziggy tells the tale of a doomed planet that is visited be a far superior species. The alien is capable of saving the world, but instead gets caught up in its hedonistic ways. From the fading drum into to "Five Years" to the big string finale of "Rock and Roll Suicide" every ounce of the album is perfection. Strangely enough it includes a cover of Three Dog Night's "It Ain't Easy." One of the strongest point of the Pitt produced (remember Tony Visconti left Bowie to produce Electric Warrior) album is Mick Ronson's guitar playing. Instead of over the top guitar solos, Ronson instead focuses on making a very concrete rhythm track. Don't get me wrong, the solos are fantastic, but you can tell that Ronno isn't sitting around waiting for them. Perfect. Pure and simple.
1973: Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite - Elvis Presley
One of the few live albums included on this list. Here we find Elvis at his performing peak. There is a fast paced version of "Suspicious Minds." There are the Elvis standards that you would expect. He does a selection of great covers including Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Harrison's "Something," and the most superior version of "My Way" that I have ever heard (I apologize to all of the Sinatra fans out there). Elvis is the KING, and we clearly can see him here filling those shoes without much effort.
1974: The Hoople - Mott the Hoople
The last Mott the Hoople record ever recorded. Paul Rodger's had convinced Mick Ralphs to leave and join Bad Company. Here we see new guitarist Ariel Bender. It sounds different from every other Mott record. Sure, you can tell the glam influence seeping in after Bowie wrote "All the Young Dudes" for them. Check out the first two tracks: "The Golden Age of Rock and Roll" and "Marionette." You won't be let down
1975: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Richard O'Brien
A great weird movie with a great soundtrack. Richard O'Brien was able to write an album that would have been able to stand the test of time without being a movie soundtrack (nod also goes to Curtis Mayfield's 1972 classic Superfly). Let's do the time warp again? Sure!
1976: Small Change - Tom Waits
No, that isn't a drunken homeless man attacking you from inside of your speakers -- its Tom Waits! Mr. Raspy himself presents a tale of an alcoholic. The album starts with an arrangement of Waltzing Matilda and then gets right into the boozing. The piano has been drinking ( a tale about the denial of a drunk man) is the album's highlight.
1977: One on One - Performed by Seals and Crofts, written by Paul Williams
This is a soundtrack from a film that has never made it DVD (I've never seen it either). My dad has a vinyl copy of the soundtrack and used to play it often when I was a kid. This is one of my all time favourite albums. When you take the song writing power of Charles Fox and Paul Williams and combine it with the vocal power of Seals and Crofts, you can't lose. One song in particular, John Wayne, is certainly worth a listen.
1978: Van Halen - Van Halen
This may very well be the greatest debut album of all time. Eddie Van Halen invented a style of guitar playing that would be unsuccessfully emulated for the next 20 years. Once we board the train, there is no looking back. I would name some of my favourite songs, but I'd wind up listing them all....just listen!
1979: At Budokan - Cheap Trick
Technically it was released in Japan in 1978, but didn't make it to the USA or UK until 1979, so I'll count it. It has always bothered me that Rick Nielsen is not on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. If you have heard him play, it is obvious that it should be. This album rocks like no other. There is some sort of mesmerizing clash between Rick's guitar and Tom Peterson's bass that I have never been able to figure out. The group covered Fats Domino's "Ain't that a Shame" on this record. When Fats heard it, he was so pleased that he gave Cheap Trick his ORIGINAL gold record for his single. If that doesn't speak enough about the album, check out "Big Eyes." You'll be a convert for sure!
