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1972 1972. An election year, in which "70s rock" seems to actually begin. It's interesting that you can see 70s rock going in about 5 or 6 different mainstream directions: LA singer-songwriter/soft rock, Southern guitar-boogie, hard/arena rock/heavy metal, prog rock, glam/proto-punk, and a 5th, more general and all encompassing 60s derived, 70s rock category - i.e., the superstar artists (Stones, Elton John, etc.) category. Also, with releases by The Meters and Bob Marley, we see the influence of Jamaican Reggae and New Orleans roots music, both of which would come to be more pervasive later on. Finally, soul music more or less turned into funk at this time, with bands like War and artists like Curtis Mayfield laying down some very funky grooves The year's masterpieces: Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, Nick Drake's Pink Moon, Lou Reed's Transformer, The Stones' Exile on Main Street, and Roxy Music's debut. - Tom The Allman Brothers - Eat a Peach ("Melissa," "Blue Sky") The Band - Rock of Ages (live) Jeff Beck - The Jeff Beck Group Big Star - #1 Record Black Sabbath - Volume IV David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust ("Ziggy Stardust," "Suffragette City") Jackson Browne - Jackson Browne ("Doctor My Eyes") Can - Ege Bamyasi Jeff Troutman: Yes! One of the best psychedelic outfits of all time. 1971's Tago Mago is worth checking out, too. Captain Beefheart - Clear Spot Harry Chapin - Heads and Tales ("Taxi") Tiny Dancer: Debut album of one of my all-time faves. Harry was another one that couldn't sing like an angel but, man, he wrote like a demon. "Taxi" was his biggest hit and he wrote the sequel to it ten years later on what would be his last album, Sequel. Eric Clapton - History of Eric Clapton (compilation) Alice Cooper - School's Out Deep Purple - Machine Head ("Smoke On The Water") Deep Purple - Made in Japan John Denver - Rocky Mountain High Derek and the Dominoes - In Concert The Doobie Brothers - Toulouse Street ("Listen to the Music," "Rockin Down the Highway," "Jesus Is Just Alright") The Doors - Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine (compilation) Nick Drake - Pink Moon (a great artist, only beginning to be discovered) The Eagles - The Eagles ("Take It Easy," "Witchy Woman," "Peaceful Easy Feeling") Electric Light Orchestra - II ("Roll Over Beethoven") Emerson Lake and Palmer - Trilogy Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees Focus - Moving Waves Free - Free At Last Jerry Garcia - Garcia Genesis - Foxtrot The Grateful Dead - Europe '72 The Harder They Come - soundtrack Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick Elton John - Honky Chateau ("Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time)," "Honky Cat") Tiny Dancer: Also contains the gospel-flavored "Salvation" and the wonderful "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters" (another of his tunes used to great effect in "Almost Famous", I wasn't the only one in the theatre crying!). The Kinks - Everybody's in Showbiz, Everybody's a Star ("Celluloid Heroes") Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk John Lennon - Sometime in New York City (John and Yoko's political lp) Little Feat - Sailin' Shoes Curtis Mayfield - Superfly soundtrack ("Pusherman," "Freddie's Dead") The Meters - Cabbage Alley Van Morrison - St. Dominic's Preview Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds Bonnie Raitt - Give It Up Lou Reed - Lou Reed ("Wild Child", "Berlin") Lou Reed - Transformer ("Walk on the Wild Side," "Sattelite of Love") Return To Forever - Return To Forever (one of the great jazz-rock fusion bands) Jeff Troutman: Yep, though the lineup on this one is slightly different from the classic one. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street ("Tumblin Dice," "Happy") Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks (greatest hits) From Rolling Stone (2/17/72): "They are the most creative and self-sustaining rock & roll band in history, and, despite what some observers say, not tired at all yet." Roxy Music - Roxy Music ("Virginia Plain") Jeff Troutman: "Virginia Plain" wasn't on the original LP, owing to the band's short-lived policy of keeping single cuts off of the albums. It got added later. Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything ("I Saw The Light") Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles - Live Santana - Santana 3 Bob Seger - Smokin' OPs Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill ("Do It Again," "Reelin in the Years") Rod Stewart - Never A Dull Moment ("You Wear It Well") T-Rex - The Slider ("Telegram Sam," "Metal Guru") James Taylor - One Man Dog ("One Man Parade" with Carole King & Carly Simon) Richard Thompson - Henry, The Human Fly (an early record from an underrated musical genius) Traffic - Welcome to the Canteen The Velvet Underground - Live At Max's Kansas City (one of the greatest early 70s cheaply recorded lps - a precursor to the 'lo-fi' movement) Loudon Wainwright - Album III ("Dead Skunk") War - The World Is a Ghetto ("The Cisco Kid") Edgar Winter Group - They Only Come Out At Night ("Frankenstein," "Free Ride") Stevie Wonder - Talking Book ("Superstition," "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life") Yes - Close To The Edge Jeff Troutman adds: Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (a fusion masterwork) Tiny Dancer adds: America - Homecoming ("Ventura Highway," "Don't Cross The River," "Only In Your Heart") Does it get any more 70s than the breezy cool of "Ventura Highway"? April Wine - On Record Two big hits from Canada's April Wine this year, both covers. "You Could Have Been A Lady" was a minor hit by Hot Chocolate ("You Sexy Thing") and "Bad Side Of The Moon" was an Elton John song, possibly the first cover of one of his tunes and certainly one of the best. (NOTE: Oops! Turns out Three Dog Night beat them to this distinction on 1969's Suitable For Framing where they covered "Lady Samantha") Bread - Baby I'm-a Want You ("Mother Freedom," "Baby I'm-A Want You," "Down On My Knees," "Everything I Own," "Diary") Bread - Guitar Man ("The Guitar Man," "Aubrey") Other than two greatest hits packages, these are the last two hit albums for Bread in the 70s. They certainly left behind some great melodic memories with "Diary", one of their finest tunes, and the lovely "Aubrey". David Gates (recently inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame) contributed a ton of tunes to the soundtrack of the 70s. The Carpenters - A Song For You ("Top Of The World," "Goodbye To Love," "Bless The Beasts And Children," "I Won't Last A Day Without You") David Cassidy - Cherish David's first solo album while he was still with The Partridge Family produced a massive hit in the title track. Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim ("You Don't Mess Around With Jim," "New York's Not My Home," "Photographs And Memories," "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)," "Time In A Bottle," "Rapid Roy (That Stock Car Boy)") Jim's third album was his breakthrough with a bunch of huge hits proving he was a songwriting force to be reckoned with. Little did we know he'd be gone in a year's time. One of the real heart-breaking "What If" stories of the times, he had so much more to give. Neil Diamond - Moods ("Song Sung Blue," "Play Me") Kris Kristofferson - Jesus Was A Capricorn ("Why Me") Gordon Lightfoot - Don Quixote ("Don Quixote," "Christian Island (Georgian Bay)," "Alberta Bound," "On Susan's Floor") This was my first Lightfoot album and it was a revelation. Olivia Newton-John - Olivia The Partridge Family - Shopping Bag ("It's One Of Those Nights") The Partridge Family - The Partridge Family Notebook ("Walking In The Rain," "Looking Through The Eyes Of Love") It's not often the Partridges covered The Animals but they do on this album with "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", groovy! Paul Simon - Paul Simon ("Mother And Child Reunion," "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard") Paul's first solo album after the break-up of Simon and Garfunkel, noteable for two of his biggest hits. Three Dog Night - Seven Seperate Fools ("Black & White") The first big hit of theirs I remember, it still holds up. 1970/ 1971/ 1972/ 1973/ 1974 1975/ 1976/ 1977/ 1978/ 1979 
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