The Best 1972 Albums according to Acclaimed Music (Poll ends 12. May)

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At a request, I'm doing 1972 too. Didn't include the ones bubbling under in this case, as there is more than enough to choose from anyway.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St 7
David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars 4
Curtis Mayfield: Superfly 4
Big Star: #1 Record 3
T. Rex: The Slider 3
Nick Drake: Pink Moon 3
Roxy Music: Roxy Music 3
Yes: Close to the Edge 2
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: Clear Spot 2
Black Sabbath: Vol. 4 1
Dave Holland: Conference of the Birds 1
Slade: Slade Alive! 1
Slade: Slayed? 1
Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M 1
Can: Ege Bamyasi 1
Genesis: Foxtrot 1
Elton John: Honky Chateau 1
Carla Bley: Escalator over the Hill 1
Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick 1
Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges: Clube da esquina 1
McCoy Tyner: Sahara 1
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Will the Circle Be Unbroken 1
Neil Young: Harvest 1
Stevie Wonder: Talking Book 1
Al Green: I'm Still in Love with You 1
Paul Simon: Paul Simon 1
Popol Vuh: In den Gärten Pharaohs 1
Donny Hathaway: Live 0
Van Dyke Parks: Discover America 0
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: The Spotlight Kid 0
Weather Report: I Sing the Body Electric 0
The Temptations: All Directions 0
Carmen McRae: The Great American Songbook 0
Ornette Coleman: Skies of America 0
Ornette Coleman: Science Fiction 0
Eric Andersen: Blue River 0
Stephen Stills: Manassas 0
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Blacknuss 0
Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D. 0
Cat Stevens: Catch Bull at Four 0
Gilberto Gil: Expresso 2222 0
Elvis Presley: He Touched Me 0
Sandy Denny: Sandy 0
Rory Gallagher: Live! In Europe 0
Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Manfred Mann's Earth Band 0
Bill Withers: Still Bill 0
Matching Mole: Matching Mole 0
Bonnie Raitt: Give It Up 0
Bread: Baby I'm-A Want You 0
The Eagles: The Eagles 0
Ash Ra Tempel: Schwingungen 0
David Ackles: American Gothic 0
John Cale: The Academy in Peril 0
Fela Ransome Kuti: Roforofo Fight 0
Carly Simon: No Secrets0
Santana: Caravanserai 0
Stevie Wonder: Music of My Mind 0
Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes 0
Chick Corea: Return to Forever 0
Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace 0
The O'Jays: Back Stabbers 0
Randy Newman: Sail Away 0
Al Green: Let's Stay Together 0
Van Morrison: Saint Dominic's Preview 0
Little Feat: Sailin' Shoes 0
Deep Purple: Made in Japan 0
Steely Dan: Can't Buy a Thrill 0
Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything? 0
Deep Purple: Machine Head 0
Original Soundtrack: The Harder They Come 0
Miles Davis: On the Corner 0
The Band: Rock of Ages 0
The Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds of Fire 0
Klaus Schulze: Irrlicht 0
Townes Van Zandt: The Late Great Townes Van Zandt 0
Faust: Faust 0
Faust: Faust So Far 0
Planxty: Planxty 0
Tim Buckley: Greetings from L.A. 0
Dr. John: Dr. John's Gumbo 0
Rod Stewart: Never a Dull Moment 0
Jackson Browne: Jackson Browne 0
The Allman Brothers Band: Eat a Peach 0
War: The World Is a Ghetto 0
Alice Cooper: School's Out 0
Aretha Franklin: Young, Gifted and Black 0
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses 0
Lou Reed: Transformer 0


Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 08:55 (eighteen years ago)

And I did of course vote for "Foxtrot". After all, it's the one with "Supper's Ready" on it. :)

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 08:56 (eighteen years ago)

never heard never heard never heard, can we get on to the present day already, ilm feels so fucking dusty these days with all these polls from before the dawn of time

lex pretend, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:00 (eighteen years ago)

TULL

electricsound, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:01 (eighteen years ago)

Nice. Nothing can really top Exile for me, but there are quite a few other greats on there. In particular, I really hope On the Corner does well. Wonder if Ziggy will come out on top?

BTW, thanks, Geir.

JN$OT, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:03 (eighteen years ago)

XP: Yeah, why couldn't we have all been born during the '90s? Greatest decade ever!

JN$OT, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:05 (eighteen years ago)

nah i think the 00s are better than the 90s

lex pretend, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:06 (eighteen years ago)

WHY DO KIDS HANG AROUND ON OLD PEOPLE'S MESSAGEBOARDS?

Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:10 (eighteen years ago)

Anyway, Escalator.

Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:10 (eighteen years ago)

Or old-man poll threads, such as this one?

xp

JN$OT, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:11 (eighteen years ago)

The 80s, 70s and 60s were all better than the 90s and 00s.

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:12 (eighteen years ago)

i knew mcmc would go for bley

this is actually the best one yet for years, nice to see bette midler and david ackles on there.

i disagree with lex, most of this stuff is around 40 years more modern than most of the music i play

600, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:15 (eighteen years ago)

ie, for geir

30s were better than 60s, 70s, 80s

600, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:16 (eighteen years ago)

Well, 1972 was when things were beginning to get good again after a few weak years. 1966-68 were excellent years while 1969-71 were way disappointing. 1972 did at least have quite a dose of good prog, and other stuff started to get better too.

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:17 (eighteen years ago)

no you are wrong once again lil nazi. 68-71 were the soft pop years. which is the best modern genre. and fans of inferior genres should accept this

600, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:19 (eighteen years ago)

Or old-man poll threads, such as this one?

because almost every bloody thread on new answers is an old man poll now! i don't actually have anything against polls but i wish someone would start one from, i dunno, last year and work back

lex pretend, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:06 (eighteen years ago)

You start one Lex!

Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:08 (eighteen years ago)

i don't understand how and also i don't have time and i don't know where all of these end of year lists are kept :(

lex pretend, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:08 (eighteen years ago)

i could do one based on MY OWN one!

lex pretend, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:09 (eighteen years ago)

Didn't work in the Scottish elections last week.

Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:10 (eighteen years ago)

i could do one based on MY OWN one!

YES let us vote on and rate the Lex's end-of-year faves!

braveclub, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:16 (eighteen years ago)

all these polls from before the dawn of time
before the dawn of time

i'd like to introduce you to the music of Guillaume de Machaut.

Frogman Henry, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:18 (eighteen years ago)

it's like that c4 "millenium" poll that had no-one before 1980 in teh top ten.

Frogman Henry, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:19 (eighteen years ago)

Close to the Edge

Joe, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:21 (eighteen years ago)

Channel 4's Top 100 Medieval Composers:
1. Robbie Williams ("'cos he's fit)

Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:22 (eighteen years ago)

robbie williams isn't fit though

lex pretend, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:25 (eighteen years ago)

Slayed? by Slade (at least this morning) over Miles, Mott, The Harder They Come, Curtis Mayfield, and whichever ones I won't notice until the next time I look at that impossible list.

xhuxk, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:26 (eighteen years ago)

xp lol

Frogman Henry, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:26 (eighteen years ago)

Perotin's well buff tho, right lex?

Frogman Henry, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 11:27 (eighteen years ago)

torn between CTTE and Roxy Music, too close to call.

Just got offed, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 12:00 (eighteen years ago)

Pink Moon

M.V., Tuesday, 8 May 2007 12:25 (eighteen years ago)

Nice list! Had to choose Exile, though.

Jiminy Krokus, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:25 (eighteen years ago)

Geir, I'm kind of surprised you didn't pick Close to the Edge. Wasn't that on your top 10 of all time list?

JN$OT, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:34 (eighteen years ago)

Exile, by far.

kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:46 (eighteen years ago)

This is quality list, wow. I didn't realize '72 was that good. It's tough but I have to go with Dave Holland's Conference of the Birds. It was the first jazz album I ever owned and is still one of my favorites. Holland's bass playing is probably the best it's ever been and Anthony Braxton's and Sam Rivers' reeds are outstanding. Barry Altschul's drumming is fantastic, too. It's a great mix of free jazz, bop, with some quieter ECM-sounding parts here and there. Very underrated, though there are clearly so many great albums from '72.

Mark Clemente, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:48 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, fantastic jazz year, though I went with Sahara.

I eat cannibals, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

Lots of good stuff on this list. I'm going with Talking Book.

o. nate, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:07 (eighteen years ago)

God, what a wonderful list. I consider essential: Stones, Roxy, both Purple, Steely Dan, Yes, Miles, Mahavishnu, Allmans, both Ornette, and Weather Report and also love: Drake, Mott, and Tull. And I expect there are at least 5-10 more I'd love to death if I heard them in their entirety. It's between Yes, Miles, and Weather Report.

Sundar, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:20 (eighteen years ago)

I really need to catch up on soul and funk in this era.

Sundar, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:22 (eighteen years ago)

Clube da Esquina was the very definitive winner for me.

Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:29 (eighteen years ago)

I surprised myself by voting for Elton John. (Lately I've found myself wanting a copy of it.) Some of the other albums reach to greater heights though. If you could combine my favortie tracks from the two Stevie Wonder albums into one album, that's what I would vote for.

Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:33 (eighteen years ago)

But I'm kind of amused that I am waving the banner for real pop from the 70s.

Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:33 (eighteen years ago)

(by voting for EJ.)

Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 20:33 (eighteen years ago)

Geir, I'm kind of surprised you didn't pick Close to the Edge. Wasn't that on your top 10 of all time list?

"Close To The Edge" is in my top 20 of all time. "Foxtrot" is my #4 of all time.

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 21:40 (eighteen years ago)

I went with I'm Still in Love with You very narrowly over Superfly.

Matos W.K., Tuesday, 8 May 2007 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for The Slider, but it was pretty arbitrary. Really, it could've been just about anything on the list. I mean, how am I supposed to pit Slider against On the Corner against Thick as a Brick against Ziggy Stardust?

It's just not a fair comparison. All four represent the artists arguably making some of the best music of their careers, to say nothing of all the other people in the poll.

I just don't think I can hold them up and say that one is necessarily "better" than the rest, because it's all so disparate.

novaheat, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 22:08 (eighteen years ago)

Not surprising with the well-known ILM love for the terribly overrated "Exile...."

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:27 (eighteen years ago)

well done exile:)

didnt vote for it, but its a good one

696, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:29 (eighteen years ago)


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