|
1973 1973, it turns out, was an awesome year for music. Along with 1970, 1977, and 1978, it is, IMHO, one of the four great years for music. What really stands out is the great variety, energy, and innovation of the music of this, the year of the Watergate crisis. Lots of groups, including Queen, Aerosmith, 10cc, and NY Dolls released their debut records this year. Others, like Brian Eno, left bands and started solo careers. Among the year's great lps: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, The Who's Quadrophenia, David Bowie's Aladdin Sane, Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets, Lou Reed's Berlin, and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions. - Tom Aerosmith - Aerosmith ("Dream On," "Mama Kin") The Allman Brothers - Brothers and Sisters ("Ramblin' Man," "Jessica") The Band - Moondog Matinee The Beatles - 1962-1966 The Beatles - 1967-1970 Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation David Bowie - Aladdin Sane ("Watch That Man," "Jean Genie," "Panic in Detroit") David Bowie - Pin Ups (Bowie covers the British Invasion hits) Jackson Browne - For Everyman John Cale - Paris 1919 Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies ("No More Mr. Nice Guy") The Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me ("China Grove") Dr. John - In The Right Place ("Right Place Wrong Time") The Eagles - Desperado ("Desperado," "Tequila Sunrise") Emerson Lake and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets ("Baby's On Fire") Fairport Convention - Fairport Nine Fleetwood Mac - Penguin Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On Genesis - Selling England By the Pound Grand Funk - We're An American Band Hall and Oates - Abandoned Luncheonnette ("She's Gone") Henry Cow - Legend Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power J. Geils Band - Bloodshot Jethro Tull - A Passion Play Billy Joel - Piano Man ("Piano Man," "You're My Home," "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid," "Captain Jack") Elton John - Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player ("Crocodile Rock," "Daniel") Tiny Dancer: I practically wore this one out, what a fantastic album! Also contains "Have Mercy On The Criminal", a powerful rocker that still gets cranked in my house and "High Flying Bird", a gorgeous ballad I never could figure out. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ("Candle In The Wind," "Bennie And The Jets," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting") Tiny Dancer: This and '75's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy are Elton's quintessential 70s albums and both have certainly stood the test of time. Other than the huge radio hits, it contains THE concert opener, "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" (nothing like it to get the juices flowing, I've seen him start 5 concerts with it and it still gives me chills!), the naughty rocker "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n' Roll)" (first time my tender young ears heard the word "shit" on an album, how bold!) and the lovely "Harmony" among many others. No Elton collection is complete without this classic album. King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic The Kinks - Preservation, Act I Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy ("D'yer Ma'ker" "Over the Hills and Far Away") John Lennon - Mind Games Little Feat - Dixie Chicken Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd ("Free Bird") Lynyrd Skynyrd - Nuthin' Fancy ("Saturday Night Special") Bob Marley and the Wailers - Catch A Fire The Marshall Tucker Band - The Marshall Tucker Band Paul McCartney and Wings - Band On The Run ("Jet") Steve Miller - The Joker Montrose - Montrose Van Morrison - Hard Nose The Highway Elliott Murphy - Aquashow New York Dolls - New York Dolls ("Personality Crisis") Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (the theme from "The Exorcist") Orleans - Orleans Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon ("Time," "Money") Queen - Queen ("Keep Yourself Alive") Lou Reed - Berlin Rolling Stones - Goat's Head Soup ("Angie") Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure Roxy Music - Stranded Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ ("Blinded by the Light," "Spirit in the Night") Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle ("Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)") 10cc - 10cc ("Rubber Bullets") Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get ("Rocky Mountain Way") The Who - Quadrophenia ("The Real Me," "The Punk Meets The Godfather," "I'm One," "I've Had Enough," "5:15," "Dr. Jimmy," "Love Reign O'er Me") Tiny Dancer: Made you want to buy a scooter, doff a coat, drive to Brighton and hang with the mods. Or it made you want to off yourself depending on your mental state ;-) Can't get enough of "5:15" myself but the whole album is solid and still makes the old blood boil. Johnny Winter - Still Alive and Well Stevie Wonder - Innervisions ("Living For the City," "Higher Ground") Yes - Yessongs Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans Neil Young - Time Fades Away Billy adds: Ahem. Two words, if I may please sir, Tres Hombres. This album was sorta like ZZ Top's breakout album just on the strength of "La Grange". My understanding (as I was not into this music back then, just what I have learned over the years) is this is the first song of theirs to break out of the Texas, Southern States circuit & to be heard by the national audience. It starts out really strong with "Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago" & goes right into every genre of music that they were influenced by, which of course is the Blues. Evidenced with cuts like those mentioned & "Hot, Blue & Righteous," & "Have You Heard". They can also rock with the best of them with tracks like "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" & "La Grange" & "Move Me On Down The Line". I just wanted to add this fine example of Texas Blues to the already fine list of albums from 1973. THX!! (BTW in the album jacket it opens up to reveal a plate of mexican food. The food is from a restaurant here in Houston called Leo's. I don't believe it is opened anymore tho as Leo passed on a few years ago. He used to run with Pancho Villa & there was a pic of them on the wall. Also on the wall were 45's of ZZ's first single & 45's from The Movin' Sidewalks. Had REALLY GREAT food there). DavisK adds: I'd like to add MFSB's album Love Is The Message to that list, since it featured the first Disco song to go to Number One (I don't really think of The Spinners tunes as disco - more soulful) which was 'TSOP - The Sound of Philadelphia'. 1973 also saw the release of the Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes album 'Black & Blue' that featured the early disco tune 'The Love I Lost'. On the Jazz funk side of things, it really started to heat up with albums such as Headhunters by Herbie Hancock, Blacks & Blues by Bobbi Humphrey, and Blackbyrd by Donald Byrd. And on the funk side of things, James Brown released the album The Payback. Kool & The Gang released Wild & Peaceful, an album that featured the tracks 'Hollywood Swinging' and 'Jungle Boogie'. On the soul side, Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra released the album (the name of which I forget) that featured the instrumental 'Love's Theme'. Tiny Dancer: That was Rhapsody In White. andy749 adds: I believe I've read somewhere that the artist that sold the most albums in the USA in '73 was none other than: DEEP PURPLE Tiny Dancer: Anyone know if this was indeed the case? Go to the next page for Tiny Dancer's additions. Choose a year or click on Next 1970/ 1971/ 1972/ 1973/ 1974 1975/ 1976/ 1977/ 1978/ 1979 
Visit us all at alt.culture.us.1970s Website designed and maintained by Tiny Dancer (tinyd@bell.net) Graphics courtesy of 
|