Top 34 Music Albums of the 1970s by 
Repo 
- Chart updated: 11/02/2020 13:45
- (Created: 05/10/2017 17:34).
- Chart size: 34 albums.
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AMERICAN STEEL
Life ain't fair. You know it. I know it. It just ain't. Never has been. Never will be. Despite that, kids, particularly my kids, spend a gazillion hours lamenting about how things just aren't fair. How they’ve gotten the proverbial shaft. How their friends have it so much better. “Why do Hana and Jay get iPhones? And we don’t? Huh? Why, Dad?!?! Why? Why? Why? It’s NOT fair."
To which I always reply, “Yes, life isn’t fair. Get used to it!” And then I just start laughing like the crazy person I am. That shuts them up pretty quick, I tell ya. Hard to worry about life being unfair, when your Dad’s losing his grip on reality right before your eyes. And then I tell them this very story. This story about geography. The world is a big place. And our boys Riot were in the wrong place at the right time. New York City instead of Anywhere, UK.
Riot were one of the first bands to inject some molten metal into the 70s hard blues kettle mash. Along with Motorhead and Priest, they invented the whole NWOBHM sound. Yet, they've been excluded from the club! Just because some bozo rock critic from London didn't think how unfair it would be to exclude - oh, I don't know- THE REST OF THE WORLD from his pithy acronym. How imperliastic can you get? It's enough to send me into a tantrum.
So. If one band in the history of late 70s rock besides UFO have the right to squawk, it's Riot.
Riot put out an album in 1977 called Rock City that is a NWOBHM classic years before NWOBHM had even materialized. They did it again in 1979 with Narita. And then unleashed their best in 1981 with Fire Down Under. Three NWOBHM classics in a row!
And then their inimitable singer left them for a career as an exterminator. (That’s how metal his voice was! Black Flag has nothing on that!) And then they sank back down into bluesy generic rock on Restless Breed. Hell, the title track sounds like a cover of Bad Company's eponymous track. I ain’t kidding! Bad Company! That’s a slide. Luckily, they would reinvent themselves in a couple of years into one of the most influential power metal bands. But, that’s a story for another time. I got kids to tuck in. Squawking about water & melatonin gummies. Life ain't fair!
The THREE U Need!
1. Fire Down Under (1981) (E)
2. Rock City (1977) (HR)
3. Narita (1979) (R)
Life ain't fair. You know it. I know it. It just ain't. Never has been. Never will be. Despite that, kids, particularly my kids, spend a gazillion hours lamenting about how things just aren't fair. How they’ve gotten the proverbial shaft. How their friends have it so much better. “Why do Hana and Jay get iPhones? And we don’t? Huh? Why, Dad?!?! Why? Why? Why? It’s NOT fair."
To which I always reply, “Yes, life isn’t fair. Get used to it!” And then I just start laughing like the crazy person I am. That shuts them up pretty quick, I tell ya. Hard to worry about life being unfair, when your Dad’s losing his grip on reality right before your eyes. And then I tell them this very story. This story about geography. The world is a big place. And our boys Riot were in the wrong place at the right time. New York City instead of Anywhere, UK.
Riot were one of the first bands to inject some molten metal into the 70s hard blues kettle mash. Along with Motorhead and Priest, they invented the whole NWOBHM sound. Yet, they've been excluded from the club! Just because some bozo rock critic from London didn't think how unfair it would be to exclude - oh, I don't know- THE REST OF THE WORLD from his pithy acronym. How imperliastic can you get? It's enough to send me into a tantrum.
So. If one band in the history of late 70s rock besides UFO have the right to squawk, it's Riot.
Riot put out an album in 1977 called Rock City that is a NWOBHM classic years before NWOBHM had even materialized. They did it again in 1979 with Narita. And then unleashed their best in 1981 with Fire Down Under. Three NWOBHM classics in a row!
And then their inimitable singer left them for a career as an exterminator. (That’s how metal his voice was! Black Flag has nothing on that!) And then they sank back down into bluesy generic rock on Restless Breed. Hell, the title track sounds like a cover of Bad Company's eponymous track. I ain’t kidding! Bad Company! That’s a slide. Luckily, they would reinvent themselves in a couple of years into one of the most influential power metal bands. But, that’s a story for another time. I got kids to tuck in. Squawking about water & melatonin gummies. Life ain't fair!
The THREE U Need!
1. Fire Down Under (1981) (E)
2. Rock City (1977) (HR)
3. Narita (1979) (R)
1
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FOLK ROCK FOR MARSHALL STACKS
Stormcock stands alone. No other folk rock album rocks quite as hard as Stormcock. Any of these four songs could pop up on the classic rock radio station of my youth, and I would never even batted an eye. It is totally of its time (i.e. early 70s) - epic and grandiose. But without being pretentious or overwrought or falling into any of the other pitfalls of some prog rock from this period. Of course this is not prog rock. It’s just epic folk rock that really wants to turn the amps up to eleven. This is folk rock for Marshall stacks. Hell, even J Mascis would jizz his pants to this stuff (and probably has if know my boy J). If the extent of your folk rock listening experience so far is Led Zeppelin III (lol) then this is the next album for you. I mean Jimmy Page even guest stars as a certain S. Flavius Mercurius (you just have to love that name. How 70s!) The guitar dual between Harper and Page to end “The Same Old Rock” will give any classic rock aficionado their own personal stormcock. Rocky & JasonConfused, if you haven’t checked out this album yet (& you’re listening) you positively need to. In fact I’m pretty sure all the dad rockers of the world would pretty much dig this album. And, I’ll have you know, I’m no closet Dad rocker. I wear that badge with pride as my two little girls would be happy to tell you. We rock all the time. lol. And lately this is what we’ve been rocking out to in the car. The kids totally love it.
Roy Harper has a voice that is just a natural for hard rock. His voice also changes quite a bit from song to song. In “Hors D’ouervres” I swear he channels Donovan singing Hurdy Gurdy Man from time to time.And in One Man Rock and Roll Band, I swear their are flashes of Roger Waters at his most tormented. In fact, Roy may just have missed his true calling. Because he clearly would have been the prefect front man for any 70s hard rock band and become a bona fide Rock Gawd with groupies galore lined around his massive tour bus caravan. Instead he toiled away in relative obscurity. Loved by those in the know but never a becoming a big commercial success. I’m an unabashed 70s hard rock enthusiast, and I just wish I discovered this sooner because it’s become an instant fave.
Grade: A+. An epic folk ROCK masterpiece with the emphasis clearly on the rock. Despite the epic song lengths, it never feels overlong or meandering. The songs feel just the right length. This has become a mainstay in my car over the last month. Again, this is the ideal entry point for any 70s’ classic rock enthusiast out there who’s just itching for the perfect gateway drug into Folk Rock oblivion. The perfect gift for your Dad for this quickly dawning Father’s day, kids. (Hint, hint.) And this hard hitting, immediate album folk n’ rolls itself all the way to number 10. [First added to this chart: 06/07/2017]
Stormcock stands alone. No other folk rock album rocks quite as hard as Stormcock. Any of these four songs could pop up on the classic rock radio station of my youth, and I would never even batted an eye. It is totally of its time (i.e. early 70s) - epic and grandiose. But without being pretentious or overwrought or falling into any of the other pitfalls of some prog rock from this period. Of course this is not prog rock. It’s just epic folk rock that really wants to turn the amps up to eleven. This is folk rock for Marshall stacks. Hell, even J Mascis would jizz his pants to this stuff (and probably has if know my boy J). If the extent of your folk rock listening experience so far is Led Zeppelin III (lol) then this is the next album for you. I mean Jimmy Page even guest stars as a certain S. Flavius Mercurius (you just have to love that name. How 70s!) The guitar dual between Harper and Page to end “The Same Old Rock” will give any classic rock aficionado their own personal stormcock. Rocky & JasonConfused, if you haven’t checked out this album yet (& you’re listening) you positively need to. In fact I’m pretty sure all the dad rockers of the world would pretty much dig this album. And, I’ll have you know, I’m no closet Dad rocker. I wear that badge with pride as my two little girls would be happy to tell you. We rock all the time. lol. And lately this is what we’ve been rocking out to in the car. The kids totally love it.
Roy Harper has a voice that is just a natural for hard rock. His voice also changes quite a bit from song to song. In “Hors D’ouervres” I swear he channels Donovan singing Hurdy Gurdy Man from time to time.And in One Man Rock and Roll Band, I swear their are flashes of Roger Waters at his most tormented. In fact, Roy may just have missed his true calling. Because he clearly would have been the prefect front man for any 70s hard rock band and become a bona fide Rock Gawd with groupies galore lined around his massive tour bus caravan. Instead he toiled away in relative obscurity. Loved by those in the know but never a becoming a big commercial success. I’m an unabashed 70s hard rock enthusiast, and I just wish I discovered this sooner because it’s become an instant fave.
Grade: A+. An epic folk ROCK masterpiece with the emphasis clearly on the rock. Despite the epic song lengths, it never feels overlong or meandering. The songs feel just the right length. This has become a mainstay in my car over the last month. Again, this is the ideal entry point for any 70s’ classic rock enthusiast out there who’s just itching for the perfect gateway drug into Folk Rock oblivion. The perfect gift for your Dad for this quickly dawning Father’s day, kids. (Hint, hint.) And this hard hitting, immediate album folk n’ rolls itself all the way to number 10. [First added to this chart: 06/07/2017]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
844
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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THE TROUBLE WITH DESIRE
Somewhere else in the universe - exactly where I do not know - there is a planet and civilization not unlike our own. They’re busy with jobs and making ends meet mostly. But they are also vastly curious about life. Chiefly whether they are all alone is this vast universe. Whether the entire universe exists just for them.
So just like us, they built a space program. But this being science fiction and all, theres is a bit more advanced than ours. And they built and coded this amazing android. It is capable of learning how to create any and all languages, dialects & tongues. Given enough time it would be able to communicate with any creature in the entire world. No matter how big or small. How complex or simple. Insects, humanoids, birds, amoebas... you name it. Essentially, if a life form, or even another droid, can communicate, this droid will learn how to communicate with it. The people on this planet - let’s call them Clusterferians just for fun - were naturally quite proud of their creation. And they built a moderate sized space vessel such that their droid could comb the universe looking for any sign of life to communicate with. And then report back to them.
To give the mission the best chance of success, the Clusterferians gave this robot something new. Something they had never encoded into a robot before. A strong message that this mission was critical. Vital. In a word they gave it Desire.
Time passes. Millions of years. The droid performs its tasks and tries to carry out its mission. Sending out signals. And waiting for a response. Sending out more signals. Trying to communicate. To connect. To anything. It creates endless variations of sounds. But nothing ever comes back. Just the vast emptiness of space. And him.
And then the unthinkable happens. The unimaginable. He develops feelings. After eons and eons of trying and trying to fulfill its mission with that strong desire encoded in him, he starts to grow sad. This desire to connect to something, ANYTHING, overwhelms him. The years of sending and sending, trying and trying and getting nothing back in return changes him. He becomes what we would call depressed. He preservers on with his mission of course. He’s a robot after all. But a shade of loneliness, of mourning now pervades the sounds he creates. A lament. The lament of being lonely. Of being human.
Grade A+: Cluster makes sounds better than anyone. Eno enhances sounds better than anyone. So together this is a dream team. And they amply fulfill the promise such a collaboration would suggest. This is one of the greatest dark ambient albums of all time. Considering its pedigree, I’m quite surprised it’s bit undiscovered. Don’t let it stay lonely anymore! Seek out and connect with this major ambient gem. There’s a lonely robot just waiting to hear from you. And this LP hurdles through space all the way to number 11. [First added to this chart: 06/04/2017]
Somewhere else in the universe - exactly where I do not know - there is a planet and civilization not unlike our own. They’re busy with jobs and making ends meet mostly. But they are also vastly curious about life. Chiefly whether they are all alone is this vast universe. Whether the entire universe exists just for them.
So just like us, they built a space program. But this being science fiction and all, theres is a bit more advanced than ours. And they built and coded this amazing android. It is capable of learning how to create any and all languages, dialects & tongues. Given enough time it would be able to communicate with any creature in the entire world. No matter how big or small. How complex or simple. Insects, humanoids, birds, amoebas... you name it. Essentially, if a life form, or even another droid, can communicate, this droid will learn how to communicate with it. The people on this planet - let’s call them Clusterferians just for fun - were naturally quite proud of their creation. And they built a moderate sized space vessel such that their droid could comb the universe looking for any sign of life to communicate with. And then report back to them.
To give the mission the best chance of success, the Clusterferians gave this robot something new. Something they had never encoded into a robot before. A strong message that this mission was critical. Vital. In a word they gave it Desire.
Time passes. Millions of years. The droid performs its tasks and tries to carry out its mission. Sending out signals. And waiting for a response. Sending out more signals. Trying to communicate. To connect. To anything. It creates endless variations of sounds. But nothing ever comes back. Just the vast emptiness of space. And him.
And then the unthinkable happens. The unimaginable. He develops feelings. After eons and eons of trying and trying to fulfill its mission with that strong desire encoded in him, he starts to grow sad. This desire to connect to something, ANYTHING, overwhelms him. The years of sending and sending, trying and trying and getting nothing back in return changes him. He becomes what we would call depressed. He preservers on with his mission of course. He’s a robot after all. But a shade of loneliness, of mourning now pervades the sounds he creates. A lament. The lament of being lonely. Of being human.
Grade A+: Cluster makes sounds better than anyone. Eno enhances sounds better than anyone. So together this is a dream team. And they amply fulfill the promise such a collaboration would suggest. This is one of the greatest dark ambient albums of all time. Considering its pedigree, I’m quite surprised it’s bit undiscovered. Don’t let it stay lonely anymore! Seek out and connect with this major ambient gem. There’s a lonely robot just waiting to hear from you. And this LP hurdles through space all the way to number 11. [First added to this chart: 06/04/2017]
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An absolute fantastic & fun straight-up punk album that should be mentioned in the same sentence as The Damned's Damned Damned Damned, The Saints (I’m) Stranded and... dare I even say it... The Clash's debut!
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Jonathan is not afraid. He tailored punk after himself not the other way around. Making something exuberant, youthful and full of wild-eyed joy. He is is the Tyler Herro of the class of '77. Undaunted by the rules. Not afraid of being it’s own thing. And that’s punk as fuck in my book.
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Lo-fi DIY. Defiantly un-PC. Stupid & smart at the same time. Hardcore punk rock begins here, brothers & sisters with this band of fuck-ups from Washington DC! No wonder DC had such an amazing hardcore scene so early! An entire scene of 80s punk rock stems from the sound these guys created on this here platter. Do u like The Angry Samoans?! Then what are u waiting for? Throw this fucker on NOW!
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Spiritual Love
This album does not work. Not because the songs are weak. The songs in fact are all magnificent. It's that the two sides two not gel at all. After listening to 6 of the most intensely spiritual songs ever sung, the love songs just sound selfish, childish and pathetic even. Shit. God, knows that I've been tossed around by love a gazillion times and maudlin in my bed a time or two. II love songs like that. It's just that back to back those those emotions get exposed. And you realize just how selfish, needy and immature the feelings are compared with true spiritual.
"Happy in Love" is the sort of song that Leland Palmer would positively crush. I wonder if I can make a request. Who else out there would love a Leland Palme covers the Classics sort of album. I'd totally buy that! [First added to this chart: 07/11/2017]
This album does not work. Not because the songs are weak. The songs in fact are all magnificent. It's that the two sides two not gel at all. After listening to 6 of the most intensely spiritual songs ever sung, the love songs just sound selfish, childish and pathetic even. Shit. God, knows that I've been tossed around by love a gazillion times and maudlin in my bed a time or two. II love songs like that. It's just that back to back those those emotions get exposed. And you realize just how selfish, needy and immature the feelings are compared with true spiritual.
"Happy in Love" is the sort of song that Leland Palmer would positively crush. I wonder if I can make a request. Who else out there would love a Leland Palme covers the Classics sort of album. I'd totally buy that! [First added to this chart: 07/11/2017]
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[First added to this chart: 11/02/2020]
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[First added to this chart: 09/22/2019]
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Country
Essential [First added to this chart: 03/13/2018]
Essential [First added to this chart: 03/13/2018]
Total albums: 33. Page 1 of 4
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Top 34 Music Albums of the 1970s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1970 | 2 | 6% | |
| 1971 | 4 | 12% | |
| 1972 | 4 | 12% | |
| 1973 | 4 | 12% | |
| 1974 | 3 | 9% | |
| 1975 | 5 | 15% | |
| 1976 | 4 | 12% | |
| 1977 | 7 | 21% | |
| 1978 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1979 | 1 | 3% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Eagles | 2 | 6% | |
| Marvin Gaye | 1 | 3% | |
| Scorpions | 1 | 3% | |
| はっぴいえんど [Happy End] | 1 | 3% | |
| Bob Dylan | 1 | 3% | |
| Doug Sahm | 1 | 3% | |
| The Modern Lovers | 1 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
19 | 56% | |
 |
6 | 18% | |
 |
2 | 6% | |
 |
2 | 6% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 34 Music Albums of the 1970s chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 22 from 25th to 3rd Cluster & Eno by Cluster & Eno |
| Up 21 from 23rd to 2nd Stormcock by Roy Harper |
| Up 13 from 21st to 8th The 2 Sides Of Sam Cooke by Sam Cooke |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 8 from 1st to 9th 風街ろまん [Kazemachi Roman] by はっぴいえんど [Happy End] |
| Down 8 from 2nd to 10th Doug Sahm And Band by Doug Sahm |
| Down 8 from 3rd to 11th All American Music by Jimmy Dale And The Flatlanders |
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| Top 21 Music Albums of 1976 |  21stCenturySchiz | 1976 year chart | 2020 | |
| Top 25 Music Albums of 1976 | Giant2015 | 1976 year chart | 2019 | |
| Top 27 Music Albums of 1976 | blueandthemoon | 1976 year chart | 2020 | |
| Top 34 Music Albums of 1976 |  RoundTheBend | 1976 year chart | 2021 | |
| Top 26 Music Albums of 1975 |  buzzdainer | 1975 year chart | 2020 | |
| Top 20 Music Albums of 1976 |  eclab | 1976 year chart | 2016 |  |
| Top 29 Music Albums of 1975 | mlgprounicorn | 1975 year chart | 2020 | |
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Top 34 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings
85/100 (from 2 votes)
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| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 70/100  | 02/05/2019 15:36 | hailey | | 81/100 |
| 95/100 | 07/07/2018 23:03 |  rockinsteve | | 90/100 |
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95/100
From rockinsteve 07/07/2018 23:03
rockinsteve 07/07/2018 23:03
Wonderfully eclectic chart! I'm an Eno and Fripp fan, it was great to see Evening Star on your list. That one is my favorite collaboration of the two geniuses. Also wonderful to see that you included Desperado by The Eagles. That one is probably my favorite one by them. Great chart!
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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.