My Favourite Albums of the 1970s

I was nearly 13 by the time the 1970s ended but my "record collection" - played on my dad's Sanyo Music Centre (soon to be mine!) - consisted of children's music, odd presents, and Greatest Hits. Yet the seventies seems now to have been the golden age of the album. How I came to it was secondhand though (literally so in some cases, though "midprice" might be the best word to describe why I got so many seventies records so early on.) So artists such as Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Joni Mitchell were still making just-about-acceptable music by the 80s, or I'd hear an old track - say, by Neil Young - and investigate further. I was a little young for punk, so most of the punk and post punk records I've got - like my 60s collection - are on CD - so came along later. That's why you won't find "The Ramones" or "Never Mind the Bollocks" in this list - I get the feeling you had to be there to truly love them. It was such a fecund decade that a top 50 wasn't enough - after all how do you encompass reggae, disco, funk, punk, early electronica, prog rock (in small doses), heavy metal, glam, singer songwriters etc etc? It was also the golden age of the album really - and even minor artists would release at least an album a year. More recently I've been picking up things from secondhand record shops and I'm amazed at the decades diversity. A few artists - Joni, Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Marvin, Neil Young, Steely Dan - could probably have filled a top 50 on their own so I've been relatively selective there, but it still required a top 100 to do it justice - and I've still missed things out! My number one might come as a surprise, but its been pretty much my all time favourite albums since I first heard it in the mid-80s.

1	Rock Bottom	Robert Wyatt
2	Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust	David Bowie
3	Blue	Joni Mitchell
4	After the Goldrush	Neil Young
5	Horses	Patti Smith
6	There's a Riot Goin' On	Sly and the Family Stone
7	Innervisions	Stevie Wonder
8	Unknown Pleasures	Joy Division
9	Funhouse	Iggy and the Stooges
10	For Your Pleasure	Roxy Music
11	A Wizard a True Star	Todd Rundgren
12	Fear of Music	Talking Heads
13	Mott	Mott the Hoople
14	Superfly	Curtis Mayfield
15	Loaded	Velvet Underground
16	Whos Next	The Who
17	Here Come the Warm Jets	Brian Eno
18	Solid Air	John Martyn
19	I am	Earth Wind and Fire
20	Entertainment	Gang of Four
21	Headhunters	Herbie Hancock
22	Trouble Man Soundtrack	Marvin Gaye
23	Berlin	Lou Reed
24	Bitches Brew	Miles Davis
25	Diamond Dogs	David Bowie
26	Aja	Steely Dan
27	Rust Never Sleeps	Neil Young
28	Luxury Liner	Emmylou Harris
29	Court and Spark	Joni Mitchell
30	Low	David Bowie
31	Exodus	Bob Marley and the Wailers
32	Stretchin Out in Bootsys Rubber Band	Bootsy Rubber Band
33	Motor Booty Affair	Parliament
34	B-52s	B-52s
35	Travelogue	Human League
36	Live at the Counter Eurovision 79	Misty in Roots
37	That’s the way of the world	Earth Wind and Fire
38	Man Machine	Kraftwerk
39	1st	Big Star
40	Rufusized	Rufus and Chaka Khan
41	Here, My Dear	Marvin Gaye
42	A nods as good as a wink	Faces
43	Another Green World	Brian Eno
44	Hunky Dory	David Bowie
45	Hell	James Brown
46	Pearl	Janis Joplin
47	Handsworth Revolution	Misty in Roots
48	Desire	Bob Dylan
49	All Day Music	War
50	Games, Dames and Guitar Thangs	Eddie Hazel
51	John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band	John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
52	Tumbleweed Connection	Elton John
53	Tapestry	Carole King
54	Hissing of Summer Lawns	Joni Mitchell
55	Harvest	Neil Young
56	Risque	Chic
57	The Placebo Syndrome	Parliament
58	Tusk	Fleetwood Mac
59	Back in the USA	MC5
60	Marquee Moon	Television
61	Wish You Were  Here	Pink Floyd
62	Lark Tongues in Aspic	King Crimson
63	The Payback	James Brown
64	Parallel Lines	Blondie
65	Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy)	Brian Eno
66	The Royal Scam	Steely Dan
67	Clear Spot	Captain Beefheart
68	The Captain and Me	Doobie Brothers
69	Electric warrior	T. Rex
70	Machine Gun	Commodores
71	Fly Like an Eagle	Steve Miller Band
72	All Things Must Pass	George Harrison
73	Talk of the Town	Rod Stewart
74	Roxy Music	Roxy Music
75	Radio City	Big Star
76	Roxy and elsewhere	Frank Zappa
77	Sister Lovers	Big Star
78	Psychedelic Shack	Temptations
79	Rickie Lee Jones	Rickie lee jones
80	Stranded	Roxy Music
81	The End	Nico
82	Holland	Beach Boys
83	Music of the Mind	Stevie Wonder
84	Lick my decals off baby	Captain Beefheart
85	Performance Soundtrack	Various Artists
86	Slow Dazzle	John Cale
87	Neu 2	Neu
88	Grievous Angel	Gram Parsons
89	Todd	Todd Rundgren
90	Something/Anything	Todd Rundgren
91	Station to Station	David Bowie
92	Approximate Infinite Universe	Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
93	Sunflower	Beach Boys
94	Zuma	Neil Young
95	Argus	Wishbone Ash
96	Hejira	Joni Mitchell
97	Blows Against the Empire	Jefferson Starship
98	You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish	REO Speedwagon
99	Sunfighter	Paul Kantner & Grace Slick
100	Exposure	Robert Fripp