Tag: 1970sPage 2 of 14

Stephane Grappelli, Uptown Dance, 1978 on Columbia

Only available on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track, Grappelli is joined here by two different bands – one with Jimmy Rowles, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, and Jay Berliner and…

ABBA (Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida), Waterloo, 1974 on Atlantic

Originally released by Polar in Sweden but by Atlantic in the US, this is the debut album for ABBA, made famous when they won the 1974 Eurovision Song…

Black Nasty, Talking To The People, 1973 on Enterprise

Enterprise was a sub-label of Stax, and released the early solo work of Isaac Hayes. It is actually named after the Star Trek spaceship – Al Bell was…

Dr. John, Desitively Bonnaroo, 1974 on ATCO

Dr. John’s seventh solo LP, Desitively Bonnaroo is the source of the name for the Bonnaroo music festival. It was produced by Allen Toussaint, who is also credited…

Leo Kottke, Ice Water, 1974 on Capitol

Although he was born in Georgia, I think of Kottke as another Minneapolis folkie. He’s one of the folks who, when I find an album I don’t have,…

David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972 on RCA Victor

I came to this album indirectly and backwards – from the Bauhaus cover (“Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilley, and the Spiders from Mars”). But…

Pink Floyd, Animals, 1977 on Columbia

What a fantastic album – from the opening note to the closing. I came to Pink Floyd later – not discovering their albums in the sequence they came…

David Bowie, Aladdin Sane, 1973 on RCA Victor

Bowie’s sixth studio album, this was the followup to Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It features Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, and Woody Woodmansey (aka the Spiders…

Bob Dylan / The Band, Before the Flood, 1974 on Asylum

This was the first released live album by Dylan, though of course since then many earlier live recordings have been released. After this came out Dylan went back…

Bob Dylan, Self Portrait, 1970 on Columbia

Another of the “difficult” Dylan albums, which he later himself said was something of a joke, designed to relieve some of the pressure he felt from the sixties…

Van Halen, Van Halen, 1978 on Warner Bros

The debut, self-titled album. Certainly one of the most recognizable band logos, and one millions sketched on notebooks, jackets, and the like when I was growing up. Hard…

Dylan, Dylan, 1973 on Columbia

This was the album Columbia famously released without Dylan’s authorization after he signed with Asylum Records. (He would release Planet Waves and Before the Flood on Asylum before…

Oscar Peterson, Return Engagement, 1974 on Verve

Double LP compilation from the mid-seventies, collecting tracks from: The Trio: Live From Chicago, Very Tall, West Side Story, Affinity, Night Train, We Get Requests, Something Warm, Night…

Parliament, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, 1976 on Casablanca

One of my rules of thumb is that any 70s Parliament or Funkadelic vinyl I find that is in reasonable shape and not too expense I just buy….

Bruce Cockburn, Circles in the Stream, 1977 on True North

I came to Cockburn through the activist tours of the 80s and his hit “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” from Stealing Fire. But he had a decades…

Gary Numan, The Pleasure Principle, 1979 on ATCO/Beggars Banquet

The cover and title echo back to Magritte’s 1937 painting Le Principe du Plaisir. Most people know this album for the track “Cars” but it’s really a more…

David Bowie, Diamond Dogs, 1974 on RCA Victor

Bowie’s eighth studio album, recorded following the disbanding of the Spiders from Mars, working (again) with producer Tony Visconti. The recording band includes Tony Newman and Aynsley Dunbar…

Leon Russell, Leon Russell and the Shelter People, 1971 on Shelter Records

There’s been a resurgence of interest in Leon Russell lately, with a tribute album (A Song For Leon) and a biography (Leon Russell: The Master of Space and…

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, So Far, 1974 on Atlantic

I didn’t realize until many years later this was a compilation album – basically [Greatest Hits] So Far because I was coming to their music so many years…

Ry Cooder, Boomer’s Story, 1972 on Reprise

I love Ry Cooder’s career – so many different threads, all of which are wonderful. This was his third studio album in a roots/Americana/blues tradition. Randy Newman guests…