Best 1971 P&J Album (POLL Closes 5 May)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Pick your favorite from that year's choices.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
David Bowie: Hunky Dory	15
Led Zeppelin: IV	13
Sly and the Family Stone: There's a Riot Goin' On	13
Joni Mitchell: Blue	9
Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame	8
Yes: The Yes Album	7
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers	6
Alice Cooper: Killer	4
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson	4
The Beach Boys: Surf's Up	4
The Kinks: Muswell Hillbillies	3
The Allman Brothers: Live at the Fillmore East	2
The Who: Who's Next	2
Carole King: Tapestry	2
Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story	2
John Lennon: Imagine	2
Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead	2
The Move: Message from the Country	1
Procol Harum: Broken Barricades	1
The Concert for Bangladesh: The Concert for Bangladesh	1
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Lost in the Ozone	1
Delaney & Bonnie: Motel Shot	0
Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey	0
The Band: Cahoots	0
Jeff Beck Group: Rough and Ready	0
Jethro Tull: Aqualung	0
Traffic: The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys	0
Joy of Cooking: Joy of Cooking	0
Randy Newman: Live	0
Janis Joplin: Pearl	0

― JN$OT, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

Tapestry

― DavidM, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:46 (eighteen years ago)

There's a Riot Goin' On for me.

― JN$OT, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:46 (eighteen years ago)

haha who's gonna vote for the Joy of Cooking?!?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:50 (eighteen years ago)

I probably pick Sly but oof tuff choice

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:50 (eighteen years ago)

God that's a strong year, and I was only 3 so this isn't, "Cool, all my favorite bands from when I was in college!"

I could barely get a top 10, let alone #1. Practically speaking, Muswell Hillbillies is the one that I'm most likely to play these days.

― dlp9001, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:55 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, not picking the Zep and Rod lp's kinda felt like kicking mom out in the cold. But hey, that's life.

― JN$OT, Monday, 30 April 2007 17:58 (eighteen years ago)

Classic rock definitely peaked in 1971. Odd to see no Bob or Neil, they were strangely quiet that year.

After much agonizing I picked Sticky Fingers.

― kornrulez6969, Monday, 30 April 2007 18:01 (eighteen years ago)

Where's Master of Reality? Either Yes or Mahavishnu, haven't decided yet.

― Bill Magill, Monday, 30 April 2007 18:26 (eighteen years ago)

Hunky Dory definitely my most revered among these, so that it is.

Runners-up would be (not in order): Joni, Carole, Sly, Zeppelin, Rod, Yes, and Alice (and maybe the Who and Stones, though I'm as tired of those as I am of any classic rock touchstones). The rest I either don't know well or don't care for. I don't think it's a great year-end list.

― sw00ds, Monday, 30 April 2007 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

Not that I woulda chosen it, but is anyone else astonished that What's Going On is nowhere in sight?

Other than that omission, yeah it's a pretty boring list, one predictably brilliant classic after the next, ZepYesSlytheWhoJoniMahavishnuEtc. Hunky Dory is the one I'm currently most interested in, as one I could POTENTIALLY love someday if I devoted a little more time to listening. But Zep IV has undeniably received the most of my love over the years. So, that one.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 30 April 2007 19:43 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, gotta go w/Zep

― darin, Monday, 30 April 2007 19:52 (eighteen years ago)

Killer, easy.

― xhuxk, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

"Surf's Up" all the way. I don't think I'm able to find my favourite album from the year in all P&J year-end polls, but in this case there was no doubt. :)

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

xp: Okay, maybe not THAT easy (considering I ranked Zoso 199 places higher in my metal book.) But still.

― xhuxk, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:15 (eighteen years ago)

What a great list. Why is it 70s revivalists tend to focus about six years later?

― dad a, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:39 (eighteen years ago)

who's next, followed closely by there's a riot goin' on. unlike, say, zep IV, neither record has been caught up to/surpassed yet.

Not that I woulda chosen it, but is anyone else astonished that What's Going On is nowhere in sight?

astonishing isn't the word. where is there a list of critics who participated in that year's poll?

― Lawrence the Looter, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:47 (eighteen years ago)

It's not P&J, but just realized that John Kongos' Elektra album also came out in 1971. I think that may be the '71 release that I still listen to the most...

― dlp9001, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:52 (eighteen years ago)

Zep IV isn't even a zit on Master of Reality's ass.

― Bill Magill, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:58 (eighteen years ago)

wow ... tough list. Went with Sticky Fingers ... but several of those are also all-timers. And yes, Masters of Reality kicks ZoSo's ass.

― Jiminy Krokus, Monday, 30 April 2007 21:00 (eighteen years ago)

where is there a list of critics who participated in that year's poll?

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj71.php

― Matos W.K., Monday, 30 April 2007 22:27 (eighteen years ago)

Ha ha

Mike Saunders (Who Put the Bomp). Black Sabbath: Master of Reality 10. David Bowie: The Man Who Sold the World 10. Flamin' Groovies: Teenage Head 10. Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey 10. Alice Cooper: Love It to Death 5. Daddy Who? Daddy Cool! 5. Detroit 5. Doors: L.A. Woman 5. Marvin, Welch & Farrar 5. Ian Matthews: If You Saw Through My Eyes 5. MC-5: High Time 5. Mother Earth: Bring Me Home 5. Randy Newman: Live 5. Siren: Strange Locomotion 5. T. Rex 5. T. Rex: Electric Warrior 5.

― xhuxk, Monday, 30 April 2007 22:42 (eighteen years ago)

Wonder how The Dean feels Joy Of Cooking held up...

― NYCNative, Monday, 30 April 2007 22:55 (eighteen years ago)

"Maggie May" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" ran neck-and-neck in the sporadic balloting for best single of the year, with "Brown Sugar" third and "It Don't Come Easy" fourth. Other popular choices included "So Tired of Being Alone," "Inner City Blues," and "I'm Eighteen" . .

― xhuxk, Monday, 30 April 2007 23:04 (eighteen years ago)

"It Don't Come Easy" in fourth--that's a pleasant surprise, actually, sort of like the "Missing You" of '71 or something.

― sw00ds, Monday, 30 April 2007 23:10 (eighteen years ago)

[Removed Illegal Link]

more astonishment: dave marsh put grand funk, but not marvin gaye, in his top ten.

"Maggie May" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" ran neck-and-neck in the sporadic balloting for best single of the year

as a single, wgfa wasn't much; about five minutes were edited out of it. it just sounded disjointed, and not in the fun way.

― Lawrence the Looter, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 00:08 (eighteen years ago)

There's another Riot goin' on.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:40 (eighteen years ago)

Good christ there are at least 10 albums there that I probably like more than anything from the 1990s.

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:43 (eighteen years ago)

Why are we in italics?

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:43 (eighteen years ago)

[/i] fixed?

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:43 (eighteen years ago)

I love the way Who's Next is at the very top. And the rest of the entire list never even touches it.

― Bimble, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:46 (eighteen years ago)

RONG

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:51 (eighteen years ago)

What a great year!

― Sundar, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 03:01 (eighteen years ago)

Still waiting for the apparently mandatory "No _______, no credibility" post...

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 03:07 (eighteen years ago)

Damn, I didn't mean to vote for Skull and Roses! What the hell is that doing on here?!

― Saxby D. Elder, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 03:21 (eighteen years ago)

curses

― JN$OT, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 07:24 (eighteen years ago)

Against perhaps better judgment, went with Riot. Hunky Dory woulda been a second.

― I eat cannibals, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:29 (eighteen years ago)

This is a poll that's a little fun. Wow. Sometimes it seems like things were better then, because they were. I don't like to live in the past, but I don't think that there are ten records in the past decade that can hang with the top 75% of that list. Damn, but a lot of famous people were at or near the top of their game in 1971.

I choose Blue because it's the best Joni album, and I listen to it more than the best Led Zeppelin album or the best Rod Stewart album (out of two candidates) or the most commercial Stones album, and because by the spring of 1972 I never wanted to hear another note of Tapestry ever again. And I never liked Who's Next.

― Vornado, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:01 (eighteen years ago)

(Also, a question: Who the hell ever liked Joy of Cooking? As I remember, it scored quite high in P&J that year, which is amazing given (a) the competition and (b) the fact that I can barely remember part of the chorus of the single. Does anyone have Joy of Cooking nostalgia? Did they ever do anything actually interesting?)

― Vornado, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:04 (eighteen years ago)

I heard it only last year for the first time. I liked it. A lot. Kinda reminded me of the old Delaney & Bonnie records. But somewhat funkier (in a post-hippie sort of way). Maybe you had to be there. I wasn't and still I liked it. So...

― JN$OT, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 08:43 (eighteen years ago)

Yes. Fixed at last.

― JN$OT, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:43 (eighteen years ago)

I just recently downloaded Joy of Cooking, ending years of mild curiosity (I was surprised, looking at the poll again, that both Marcus and Christgau had it at #1) (you don't hear either of them still talk about it though, do they?). Only flipped through it quickly, but it sounded okay enough to eventually give it a proper listen. I notice Christgau, in a couple pieces, focuses as much on the album's beats (its "polyrhythms") as he does on its feminism, so from that angle it sounds promising.

― sw00ds, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:36 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I definitely need to hear it some more myself.

― JN$OT, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:41 (eighteen years ago)

from country thread, a month or two ago, after I noted that I'd found a thrift store copy of Joy of Cooking's Castles LP for $1:

Joy Of Cooking, all of who's albums are worth check ing out (they also did a good semi-reunion album, unlikely enough, as The Joy, mainly with Toni & Terry or Terri, who also billed themselves under own first names when recording with Nashville cats, to mixed results. Toni tried to go more mainstream country-pop with Good For You Too, but haven't heard that, and Terri or Terry Garthwaite did more folk-rock-reggae-blues-wah-wah stuff, not so typical in late 70s as now, esp. for designated folkies, although Joy were known for their congas etc as well as songs that might harsh your early 70s mellow, like about having babies in trailer parks; they seemed to represent their earlier lives in blue collar Bay Area as much as Berkeley feminists in ponchos etc
-- dow, Saturday, April 7, 2007 3:23 PM (3 weeks ago)

Album I bought seems pleasant or better, though more for the instrumentation than for the singing (which generally hits me as merely tasteful to stodgy, but then I never really got Bonnie Raitt either) and the lyrics (which haven't really connected with me, and didn't the last time I tried with this band, I'm remembering). Instrumentation parts I like best are the ones that remind me of Quarterflash a decade or so early. In fact I swore I heard a saxophone on there, and some flutes (did Quarterflash have flutes?), though none seem to be credited anywhere. Either way, more folk-rock bands should feature congas, obviously. LP's nice enough. I'd just like it more if Marv and Rindy Ross were singing (and writing, and Rindy playing saxophone).

-- xhuxk, Saturday, April 7, 2007 8:25 PM (3 weeks ago)

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:47 (eighteen years ago)

(Okay, less than a month ago. Time doesn't fly.)

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:48 (eighteen years ago)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think I've ever even seen any of their albums in a dumpster or anywhere.

Damning with faint praise?

― o. nate, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

my revision: Little Feat's debut is one of 71's best LPs.

― QuantumNoise, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:00 (eighteen years ago)

Having said that, I'm going with The Allman Brothers: Live at the Fillmore East

― QuantumNoise, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:02 (eighteen years ago)

definitely Killer...those guys RULED in '71!

― henry s, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:04 (eighteen years ago)

I've gotta say that "Joy Of Cooking" is a downright inspired name for a female-fronted band of that era with a touch of feminist consciousness. I don't think I've ever even seen any of their albums in a dumpster or anywhere.

You'll find all of their albums over at my place! (not an invitation...)

There is a great reference to them in "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy", one of my favorite songs of all time!! (NRPS, Old and In The Way, Peter Rowan).

Funny how many of these albums I was actually into at age 10. Personally, I was probably most into "Mud Slide Slim" and I see no reason for it not to be listed on this original P&J. It was just as good as Tapestry, maybe better.

Also, shocking that "Young, Gifted and Black" didn't make it. (well, not really since a lot of great records made by people of color did not).

They really should have just dispensed with the whole "Pazz" pretention. I can't be bothered to but I am sure I could name loads of jazz and soul records that should be on this list. Just of the top of my head, I can think of Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Staple Singers, Curtis Mayfield. Um, "Maggot Brain" came out that year (except in territories where it didn't). I think there was a really nice Dennis Brown album that year.

Bunch of racist cunts... P&J my ass.

― Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 4 May 2007 04:14 (eighteen years ago)

Um, wasn't Young, Gifted and Black released in '72?

― JN$OT, Friday, 4 May 2007 07:34 (eighteen years ago)

I don't really see how 1971 was all that fantastic. Surely there was the beginnings of prog, but generally I would say music got better towards the mid 70s. There was still too much of this short-lasting "back to the roots" thing that had started around 1969 in 1971.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 4 May 2007 08:34 (eighteen years ago)

They really should have just dispensed with the whole "Pazz" pretention

The poll was named in homage to Jazz & Pop magazine, whose poll used the same 5-30 points per album/100 points total system. It never had any pretentions to being anything other than a rock critics' poll.

― Matos W.K., Friday, 4 May 2007 17:10 (eighteen years ago)

i hope that this poll is YESSED OUT.

― Eisbaer, Friday, 4 May 2007 17:24 (eighteen years ago)

I kinda doubt it. After all, not even Geir voted for Yes.

― JN$OT, Friday, 4 May 2007 17:25 (eighteen years ago)

Geir,
who gives two craps about prog.? Blue, There's a riot, Who's Next, Inner Mounting, Imagine, IV,Every Picture, are all arguably the best records of those legends careers. then to add Sticky, Tupelo, Motel Shot, pearl, joy of cooking, hunky dory, tapestry...like it or not it's a veritable list of some of the top records of the early seventies. this is coming from someone that thinks yes and tull can kiss my arse, so....

― outdoor_miner, Friday, 4 May 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)

I keep misreading this as 'best PJ & Duncan album'.

― chap, Friday, 4 May 2007 18:18 (eighteen years ago)

(x-posts galore...) FWIW, one of the first national-act concerts I ever saw was Joy of Cooking, at the Minnesota State Fair Teen Center pavilion, maybe '72 or '73; I was 14-ish. I also owned a 45 of "Closer To The Ground" by them, but this many years after the facts I can't remember which event led to which.

― Dan Peterson, Friday, 4 May 2007 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

They really should have just dispensed with the whole "Pazz" pretention

The poll was named in homage to Jazz & Pop magazine, whose poll used the same 5-30 points per album/100 points total system. It never had any pretentions to being anything other than a rock critics' poll.

Interesting... OK, fair enough.

― Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 4 May 2007 23:05 (eighteen years ago)

1. David Bowie: Hunky Dory 15
2. Led Zeppelin: IV 13
2. Sly and the Family Stone: There's a Riot Goin' On 13
4. Joni Mitchell: Blue 9
5. Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame 8
6. Yes: The Yes Album 7
7. The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers 6
8. Alice Cooper: Killer 4
8. Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson 4
8. The Beach Boys: Surf's Up 4

interesting top 10

― Matos W.K., Friday, 4 May 2007 23:07 (eighteen years ago)

kind of surprising too--I figured Bowie would do very well but not best. I thought Sly or Zep would take it.

― Matos W.K., Friday, 4 May 2007 23:08 (eighteen years ago)

Wow. Bowie on top is really surprising. Also unexpected, Mahavishnu with 8 votes and Alice's Killer with 4. Nice.

― JN$OT, Saturday, 5 May 2007 06:38 (eighteen years ago)

Um, wasn't Young, Gifted and Black released in '72?

Um, no. Depending of course what territory you're in. I am exhausted over that issue!

US Poll, US release dates, people. Country code #1. George Bush, the genius... leader of the free world.

We decide when the Aretha shit comes out, OK?

You can decide then the APB shit came out, fair enough?

― Saxby D. Elder, Saturday, 5 May 2007 06:43 (eighteen years ago)

*when*

― Saxby D. Elder, Saturday, 5 May 2007 06:43 (eighteen years ago)

ok...

― JN$OT, Saturday, 5 May 2007 06:46 (eighteen years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young%2C_Gifted_and_Black

― JN$OT, Saturday, 5 May 2007 07:44 (eighteen years ago)

January 24, 1972

― JN$OT, Saturday, 5 May 2007 07:44 (eighteen years ago)

crap result

― DavidM, Saturday, 5 May 2007 08:49 (eighteen years ago)

Recorded August 1970 - February 1971
Released January 24, 1972

Yes, because (1) Wikipedia is the ultimate authority
(2) It always takes Atlantic nearly two years to get a potentially popular album out (3) I HAD the goddam album then (4) There are singles off the album which I defy anyone to prove came out in 1972. (5) I remember all this shit like it was yesterday.

Admittedly, you can't go by the copyright dates on albums which are 1971 in this case but AMG has it down as 1971 too and lord knows they never get anything wrong, especially on editorial payday.

That live at the fillmore shit didn't mean shit compared to getting this album to market (or in any way at all for that matter).

Roffly that someone pulls out a wikipedia link to support anything anyway.

― Saxby D. Elder, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:09 (eighteen years ago)

i voted for bowie because that album is pure diamond dust just like the milky way

― lfam, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:12 (eighteen years ago)

Actually, you're right about one thing: it really does seem to be a mystery why Atlantic held off so long from releasing the album in the US. Admittedly, I have no idea when it was released in the UK or elsewhere. However, you must understand, this is an American poll voted on by American critics following American release dates. It really is just that simple.

x-post

― JN$OT, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:18 (eighteen years ago)

No actually, I am right about the whole thing blud.

― Saxby D. Elder, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:20 (eighteen years ago)

you know I have WLS charts I could scan to prove this if necessary.

― Saxby D. Elder, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:26 (eighteen years ago)

whatever

― JN$OT, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:27 (eighteen years ago)

clev.

― Saxby D. Elder, Sunday, 6 May 2007 04:44 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think I've ever even seen any of their albums in a dumpster or anywhere.

Damning with faint praise?

-- o. nate, Thursday

Hahaha, WTF?! I meant to type "dollar bin"! No idea where "dumpster" came from.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Sunday, 6 May 2007 12:09 (eighteen years ago)

you know I have WLS charts I could scan to prove this if necessary.

hell, scan them anyway, just for fun. wls rocked.

― Lawrence the Looter, Sunday, 6 May 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.