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1975 1975. A new president. The end of the Vietnam War. Preparations for the upcoming Bicentennial. This for me was a special year in terms of my own personal listening history. 1975 was the year I started high school. I remember buying the Stones' Hot Rocks and Queen's A Night At the Opera and listening to them, over and over, that summer. I also remember listening to a new station, WPLJ FM and then going out to buy the music that they played. Later that fall, I inherited my brother's old stereo, and began staying up later and later listening to 70s rock. Thank goodness for headphones. Tiny Dancer: I know we landed in St. John's, Newfoundland, in '75, so that marks my first rock concert (Streetheart and Teaze), the first album I purchased with my own money ( Capt. Fantastic) and my first job (Tim Horton's). This was a year that saw the release of two epic LPs: Springsteen's Born To Run, and Led Zep's Physical Graffiti. Tiny Dancer: Ahem ... gotta stick up for Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy here, the first album to enter the Billboard charts at number one. Pretty darn epic if you ask me! :-) Carry on ... Both were wildly successful, and Springsteen achieved the legendary status that Zeppelin already had. This was also the year of Frampton Comes Alive. (TD Note: My sources tell me this was released in '76) Yet at the same time, a musical/cultural revolution was about to happen; Patti Smith put out her seminal LP Horses. Tom Verlaine and Television put out the underground single "Little Johnny Jewel," and with Smith, The Ramones, the Talking Heads and others, participated in a scene in a little bar on the Bowery called CBGB's; and Lou Reed flipped everyone the bird by releasing the pure noise double LP Metal Machine Music, paving the way for everything for a later music which would be noisier and more abrasive. Some outstanding LPs this year: Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic, Dylan and the Band's The Basement Tapes, Bowie's Young Americans, Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, Elton John's Captain Fantastic, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Eno's Another Green World, King Crimson's USA, Little Feat's Last Record Album, Roxy Music's Siren, War's Why Can't We Be Friends?, and of course, the big releases by Springsteen, Led Zep, and Patti Smith. - Tom Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic ("Walk This Way," "Sweet Emotion") Bachman Turner Overdrive - Four Wheel Drive ("Hey You") Tiny Dancer: They also released Head On with the smash hit "Lookin' Out For #1". Bad Company - Straight Shooter ("Feel Like Makin' Love") The Band - Northern Lights, Southern Cross Be Bop Deluxe - Futurama Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow Big Youth - Dreadlocks Dread Black Sabbath - Sabotage Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Tommy Bolin - Teaser David Bowie - Young Americans ("Fame") John Cale - Slow Dazzle ("Heartbreak Hotel") John Cale - Helen of Troy Can - Landed Eric Carmen - Eric Carmen ("All By Myself") Eric Clapton - There's One In Every Crowd Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare (anyone recall this TV special?) Charlie Daniels Band - Nightrider Deep Purple - Come Taste The Band John Denver - Windsong ("I'm Sorry," "Fly Away," "Calypso") Tiny Dancer: Excellent album, I agree. Three of his biggest and most beautiful hits including a personal fave, "Fly Away", backed by the soaring vocals of 70s songbird Olivia Newton-John. Rick Derringer - Spring Fever The Dictators - Go Girl Crazy Doobie Brothers - Stampede Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks ("Tangled Up In Blue") Bob Dylan and the Band - The Basement Tapes (recorded earlier, but released this year) The Eagles - One Of These Nights ("Take It To The Limit," "Lyin' Eyes") Earth, Wind and Fire - That's The Way of the World ("Shining Star") Dave Edmunds - Subtle As A Flying Mallet ELO - Face The Music ("Evil Woman," "Strange Magic") Brian Eno - Another Green World Brian Eno and Robert Fripp - Evening Star Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac ("Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," "Over My Head") Gentle Giant - Free Hand Grateful Dead - Blues for Allah Henry Cow - Desperate Straights Jeff Troutman: A collaboration with the band Slapp Happy. Sometimes they're credited on the back cover, sometimes not. Jefferson Starship - Red Octopus Jethro Tull - Minstrel in the Gallery Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy ("Someone Saved My Life Tonight") Tiny Dancer: This one's still in my personal Elton top ten. I was 11 in '75, barely two years into my lifelong love affair with his music, this was manna from the gods! If the music itself wasn't a revelation, the album package was sublime with a great collection of old pictures and revised Bernie lyrics in the Scrapbook and the poster of the freaky and fantastic cover art (which finally had to be taken down from my walls years later when it fell apart). I spent hours looking at the cover to spot all the songs' characters. "Writing" is a poppy fave and the double-shot of "We All Fall In Love Sometimes/Curtains" at the end is a knock-out. Long live, Captain Fantastic! Elton John - Rock of the Westies Tiny Dancer: Two hit singles off this one, "Island Girl" and "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own", also a major hit for the fans (don't think it charted), "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)". Jeff Troutman: My sources tell me it went to #18. It was part of a double A-side with "Grow Some Funk...", which hit #14. Tiny Dancer: Whoa, really? Thanks, Jeff, I didn't realize it hit the charts at all nevermind making the top twenty. Pretty darn good year for EJ then, two big albums, one a record-breaker and four hit singles, not to mention the sold-out concerts and all. Journey - Journey King Crimson - USA The Kinks - Soap Opera Kiss - Dressed To Kill ("Rock and Roll All Night") Shawn: Let's not forget about Kiss Alive! - the greatest live album of all time! (at least in my opinion... maybe Lori will back me up on this! :-)) Kraftwerk - Radio Activity Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti Tim: Kashmir!!!!! Da-da-dant, Da-da-dant ... Da-da-dant, Da-da-dant ... Da-da-dant, Da-da-dant. I don't care about the argument over Beatles vs. Stones ... Zeppelin was the best rock band ever. John Lennon - Rock and Roll John Lennon - Shaved Fish (greatest hits) Little Feat - The Last Record Album Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping ("Sweet Home Alabama," "Free Bird") Tim: Second Helping had a copyright of 1974 ... another great album. BTW, Free Bird was on their first album, Pronounced ... Big songs from the album ( Second Helping): "Sweet Home Alabama" (obviously!), "Workin' For MCA", "The Needle and the Spoon", (I would also add "The Ballad of Curtis Loew", but it wasn't a big hit like the others) Phil Manzanera - Diamond Head Nazareth - Hair of the Dog Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here ("Shine On You Crazy Diamond") Queen - A Night At the Opera ("Bohemian Rhapsody") Lou Reed - Lou Reed Live Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music Roxy Music - Siren ("Love Is The Drug") Todd Rundgren - Initiation Bob Seger - Beautiful Loser Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years ("My Little Town" with Art Garfunkel, "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover") Patti Smith - Horses Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run ("Born To Run," "Thunder Road") Steely Dan - Katy Lied ("Bad Sneakers") Supertramp - Crisis? What Crisis? James Taylor - Gorilla ("How Sweet It Is" with Carly Simon) Thin Lizzy - Fighting Richard Thompson - Pour Down Like Silver Jeff Troutman: Jointly credited to Thompson and then-wife Linda, IIRC. Tower of Power - In the Slot ("You're So Wonderful, So Marvelous") Loudon Wainwright - Unrequited Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner War - Why Can't We Be Friends? ("Low Rider") The Who - The Who By Numbers ("Squeeze Box") Gary Wright - The Dream Weaver Neil Young - Zuma Neil Young - Tonight's The Night Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart - Bongo Fury 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 
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