Not done this for a while and since there's nothing else happening in CAFC world here goes
Pick your five favourite LPs of 1974
Veedon Fleece - Van Morrison's best IMHO
Before the Flood - Introduced me to the Band via Dylan
Natty Dread - The Wailers
Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan
Rock and Roll Animal - Lou Reed
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Apostrophe - Frank Zappa
Rock N Roll Animal - Lou Reed
David Live - David Bowie
Red - King Crimson
The Heart of Saturday Night - Tom Waits
Diamond Dogs - Bowie
Second Helping - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Kimono My House - Sparks
Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell
Sheet Music - 10cc
Planet Waves - Bob Dylan.
Sheer Heart Attack - Queen
Country Life - Roxy Music
It's only Rock and Roll - The Stones
David Live - David Bowie
461 Ocean Boulevard - Eric Clapton
Elton John Greatest Hits - Elton John (yes, really, 43 years ago was his first compilation)
Photographs And Memories - Jim Croce
Supertramp - Crime Of The Century
Gong - You
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Camel - Mirage
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
...and Abba's second LP, Waterloo
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Genesis - The Lamb lies Down...
Gong - You
For me 1974 was when a lot of creative bands started to run out of a ideas. After that things went shallow and paved the way for simpler music... IMHO
Frank Zappa: Live at the Roxy and Elsewhere:
Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic
Court and Spark: Joni
Slow Motion - Man
Kamikaze - Deke Leonard. RIP 30/1/2017. Wonderful man.
Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla
Sweet - Sweet Fanny Adams
Bowie - Diamond Dogs
Not a great year for music. Glam rock was dying and Punk hadn't started. I never got the Frank Zappa or Gong thing and i still don't understand why Tangerine Dream are seen as a heavy band, to me they are in the same league as Yes, just a lot of overlong instrumental drivel.
I've mentioned this before but one of the best things he did was take me to see Steve Marriott at the Tramshed in 84. I took my copy of performance and got it signed on the night.
Here Come The Warm Jets - Brian Eno
Diamond Dogs - Bowie
Kimono my House - Sparks
Before the Flood - Dylan/The Band
On The Beach - Neil Young
New Skin for Old Ceremony - Leonard Cohen
Fear - John Cale
David Live - Bowie
The Heart of Saturday Night - Tom Waits
Veedon Fleece - Van Morrison
Autobahn - Kraftwerk
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) - Brian Eno
Walls and Bridges - John Lennon
Apostrophe - Zappa
Roxy and Elsewhere - Zappa/Mothers
Doesn't look a bad year to me. Imagine what we'd think of 2017 if half of these albums came out this year!
On The Beach - Neil Young
Prezil Logic - Steely Dan
Its Only Rock And Roll - Rolling Stones
Its Too Late To Stop Now - Van Morrison
Veedon Fleece - Van Morrison
Before The Flood - Bob Dylan
461 Ocean Boulevard - Eric Clapton
Such a classic among Wombles albums, I'm really surprised no-one else has mentioned it.
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
David Shire - Taking of Pelham Soundtrack
Tomita - Snowflakes are Dancing
Feats don't fail me now - Little Feat
The irish tour 1972 - Rory Gallagher
On the Border - The Eagles
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Remember buying it the day it was came out in Boots, Woolwich. Curiously the 'record counter' used to be in the basement next to the home brew kits, strange! Anyway proper mysterious gatesfold sleeve, proper mysterious lyric booklet and proper mysterious music and lyrics - one of my all time favourites. For those unfamiliar or too young the Peter Gabriel led Genesis was a top band.
David Bowie - David Live
Got this one after work (as a young apprentice Electrican at the Dorchester Hotel) in the large HMV store in Oxford Street. It used to claim to be the biggest record shop in the world and I was a frequent visitor. Having already seen Bowie I was a devotee and loved this double album. What a cool guy, those cover photos, such style.
David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
Again the mysterious enthralling gatefold sleeve and weird cover artwork which made the news at the time. A strange collection of Bowie tracks but some real classic, tracks such as Sweet Thing, We are the Dead, The Candidate and Chant of the ever circling skeletal family which were probably pointers to the future Berlin period. Love the crazy first track which finishes with 'This ain't Rock & Roll, this is genocide'. Playing it now and it still sounds good, well it does to me, at least.
Lou Reed - Rock 'n Roll Animal
In truth probably didn't buy until a year or two later but a live rendition of one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Intro/Sweet Jane remains one of my all time favourites and certainly one of the best songs I have ever seen performed live.
Cockney Rebel - The Physcomodo
Even back then I didn't think it was a great album and nowhere near as good as their debut album, The Human Menagerie. This was the first time that I'd managed to latch onto a band before they 'broke'. I was with them before 'Judy Teen' was released and there might be a few who can associate with that 'I bought their first single years before...' type of mentality which is definitely sad but undoubtedly rewarding, at least for old blokes.
Happy days!!
Even though it represented a transition phase between the rock/pop of Ziggy/Aladdin and the "Plastic Soul" of Young Americans.
And of course it was a "rescue" job after Orwells widow nixed his request to make an album/show of 1984 with half the songs already done!
Still he comes up with his own dystopian fantasy world and with songs as strong as SweetThing/Candidate and then he out-riffs Keef on his Stones parody Rebel Rebel.
The "1984" songs on side 2 (of the original album) are brilliant and I really think if he'd been allowed to finish that project it would have been sensational.
To top it all, when the 40th (?) anniversary CD was released we got "Alternative Candidate", possibly my favourite "outtake" by anyone ever.
Cover art brilliant (airbrushed genitalia now restored on CD reissues!)
Artist Guy Paellart (sp?) was flavour of the month after doing the Stones IORNR cover and collaborating with Nik Cohn on "Rock Dreams".
Bowie was on a roll throughout the 70's