TURN THIS MUTHA OUT! It's the Alternate 1970s Albums Poll on ILX — Results Thread

This is the alternate 1970s album poll. We disqualified the 100 winners of the original 2004/05 poll that was held here. The object was to clear out the canonical albums from the 1970s, and make room for albums that could never make a typical Top 100 list. It doesn't mean those overly familiar albums aren't good, but they've already been voted on to death. Here is a poll for all the others.

We had 86 ballots submitted. I lost track at some point of how many were unordered and how many didn't vote a full list (40 albums), but most of the ballots were ordered and complete.

And now, without any further ado, I present the results...

100. ZZ Top - Tres Hombres (1973) [80 points, 7 votes]

http://i48.tinypic.com/2i2c65j.jpg

Why nobody has sampled the beat from "Master of Sparks" I have no idea.

― dave q, Sunday, May 5, 2002 8:00 PM (7 years ago)

tres hombres is just fantastic, and yes the nachos look delicious.

― The Notorious B.Y.O.B. (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, February 25, 2009 1:41 PM (10 months ago)

wow, quick turnaround

your image isn't embedded btw

I know, I'm trying to see if a mod will fix it.

100. ZZ Top - Tres Hombres (1973) [80 points, 7 votes]

http://i48.tinypic.com/2i2c65j.jpg

Why nobody has sampled the beat from "Master of Sparks" I have no idea.

― dave q, Sunday, May 5, 2002 8:00 PM (7 years ago)

tres hombres is just fantastic, and yes the nachos look delicious.

― The Notorious B.Y.O.B. (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, February 25, 2009 1:41 PM (10 months ago)

YES! Let's do this!

this will be much exciting. did not vote for ZZ

"La Grange" just missed making the Billboard Top 40 by a single slot (sez Wiki). Ouch. A-howl-howl-howl-howl.

v. excited for this, thanks Fever!

99. Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges - Clube de Esquina (1972) [80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]

http://i47.tinypic.com/2rcn66h.jpg

Milton Nascimento/Lô Borges, Clube de Esquina -- Perfect, sappy, or perfectly sappy...I haven't decided what this is yet. It has "San Vicente" which I've called the best song ever ever ever, and none of the tracks seem overshadowed by that little piece of heartbreak, and most of the tracks have this beautiful sunshowery feel to it...yet...

― Michael Daddino, Tuesday, January 29, 2002 8:00 PM (7 years ago)

And while Clube Da Esquina seems the obvious recommendation for Milton Nascimento, I think it's the Lo Borges stuff that stands out on that album.

― gnarly sceptre, Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:43 AM (1 year ago)

Milton's album "Clube Da Esquina" is so fucking fabulous. it totally takes a while to grow on you, but once it does, woo boy! and there's some great fuzzy guitar near the end.

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, August 26, 2004 12:57 PM (5 years ago)

awesome! so pumped for these results!!

The only Nascimento album I've heard is Minas. I'm going to have to check this one out asap.

never heard of them! something new.

Of which I am glad. I mean, what would be the point of an alternate 1970s poll if it didn't introduce some new things?

98. Chic - C'est Chic (1978)[80 points, 14 votes]

http://i49.tinypic.com/2h6vi82.jpg

i listened to c'est chic today and had to skip a few of the tracks because they're such wedding songs. i don't ever wanna hear more than half of those songs you listed EVER again, vahid

― jäxøñ (jaxon), Saturday, June 24, 2006 8:29 PM (3 years ago)

'C'est Chic' album. Top-10 of all-time material.

― Omar, Monday, April 30, 2001 8:00 PM (8 years ago)

Their rather daffy lyrics are never singled out for praise; sometimes their imagery and metaphor rival prime Dylan or Costello.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, March 24, 2007 10:34 PM (2 years ago)

97. John Lennon - Imagine (1971) [80 points, 15 votes]

http://i49.tinypic.com/2rzqtyf.jpg

I think I even prefer it to ... Plastic Ono Band. There's nothing wrong with sugar coating.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, January 30, 2005 5:15 PM (4 years ago)

Lennon post-Beatles was crap, full stop. Self-pitying crap as well, for the most part. Who in their right mind wouldn't swap JLPOB and Imagine in their entirety for a nanosecond of Twist and Shout?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, June 13, 2005 6:19 AM (4 years ago)

Well, Lennon worked quite self-consciously with a conception of himself as a persona and a celebrity throughout his solo career. *Plastic Ono Band* and *Imagine* and *Double Fantasy* are all organized around ideas about self and presentation. Maybe you don't think they're *good* ideas, but it's certainly a different--a more intellectual--way of working than McCartney seems to have, and I'd agree with Christgau that this gives Lennon's music a resonance that McCartney doesn't have access to.

― Martin Van Burne, Friday, July 13, 2007 3:04 PM (2 years ago)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After hunting down quotes for this, I'm surprised it even made the top 100. Based on what ilxors have written in the past about Imagine, you'd think it was completely terrible (which it isn't).

Glad to see Tres Hombres make the list. I was a late convert to ZZ Top; the over-the-top cheese of the Eliminator stuff didn't connect with me as a kid (I've since come around) so I didn't explore their back catalog until the last few years. I can't believe I had shut myself off to such tremendous licks and grooves! One of the bands who only grow in my estimation the more I hear.

It's not entirely your fault. If you'd bought any of the 70s albums on cd before 2006, you'd have gotten the piss-poor mismastered crap WB releases from the '80s. Rhino only recently went back to the original versions for their batch of reissues.

96. Patti Smith - Horses (1975) [80 points, 17 votes]

http://i46.tinypic.com/2afbudk.jpg

Burroughs was supposedly a major inspiration for Patti Smith's "Horses". Also David Bowie's experiments with cut-ups. And probably numerous other NY art-punks.

― scott, Wednesday, August 22, 2001 8:00 PM (8 years ago)

I like Patti Smith, don't get me wrong. Horses just gets all the praise because it came first. Albums like Easter and, more recently, Gone Again and Peace & Noise have much more depth and merit some actual attention.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, December 1, 2003 7:36 PM (6 years ago)

I don't care what Michael Stipe says, or Bono, or anyone else (including Alex in NYC). This was a truly life-changing, life-saving record for me back then, and it still holds up as a glorious messy confluence of art-rock, proto-punk, Catholic-guilt, French-Romantic gutter-speak, and tender pissy defiance.

You know, those of us who have loved this record, either back in the day, or since (although especially back-in-the-day), simply cannot ditch its brilliance just because there's now a backlash to its canonisation.

That's what I think, anyway.

― David A. (Davant), Tuesday, December 2, 2003 5:21 AM (6 years ago)

I've written this before on other threads, but Patti Smith works like the Clash in that every subsequent album (at least through whichever one came after Wave, after which I TOTALLY stop giving a shit) is duller and less rocking than the one before. And also her pre-Horses single "Piss Factory"/"Hey Joe" > Horses > Radio Ethiopia > Easter > Wave > Whatever she did after Wave. It's very simple. (Then again, I sort of LIKE songs about sweet young things leanin on the parkin meter humpin on the parkin meter and so on. Maybe you don't.)

ps) Horses is also way better than any album that Sleater Kinney, Bjork, Tori Amos, Sinead Oconnor, or PJ Harvey ever did. So there.

― chuck, Monday, December 1, 2003 8:15 PM (6 years ago)

(This entire thread is a treat: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=41&threadid=23225)

That's it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with some more!

Summarizing...

100. ZZ Top - Tres Hombres (1973) [80 points, 7 votes]
99. Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges - Clube de Esquina (1972) [80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
98. Chic - C'est Chic (1978) [80 points, 14 votes]
97. John Lennon - Imagine (1971) [80 points, 15 votes]
96. Patti Smith - Horses (1975) [80 points, 17 votes]

Sorry I missed the mod request and your email -- do you want the first post with the unembedded image taken out?

Also, thanks for doing the heavy lifting on this!

yeah, seriously, can't thank you enough.

Horses is the first album from my ballot to show up, don't like it nearly as much as I did in high school but it's still really good, funny to think that such a canonical '70s album would effectively be 196th place for ilx.

It's okay (about the post). The first '70s poll was wrought with the same kind of problem. Consider it an homage. xp

For a long time, I'd wondered if Horses was even going to make it. It was getting a lot of votes, but only in the 1-6 point range.

yeah considering that it got the same # of points but more than twice as many votes it seems like a pretty low-enthusiasm ballot-filler for most

compared to a couple other albums in those first 5, i meant obv

I have a button a record store employee gave me that says HORSES CHANGED MY LIFE. Zero percent of people assume it's about an album.

hahahahaha

http://www.squidoo.com/IfItWerentForMyHorse

95. Van Halen - Van Halen (1978) [81 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]

http://i45.tinypic.com/t6xbgm.jpg

Having relistened to [Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love] for the first time in a while right now:

1. That's one hell of an opening line.

2. The 'hey hey hey' part makes me think of both the Art of Noise and the Prodigy reuse of same now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, March 7, 2005 3:45 PM

[Eruption] just sounds like a bit of wank, but when the main riff of the song kicks in, it's like a thousand Christmas presents opening up on your birthday filled with squirtgun-wielding topless playmates covered in chocolate sauce waiting to play endless rounds of slippery Twister with you.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, May 6, 2005 1:55 PM (4 years ago)

if 'I'm the one' does nothing for you, then I pity you. then I hate you. and your children. and your children's pets. and their mangy fur/scales/carapaces.

― m the g (mister the guanoman), Thursday, January 25, 2007 8:46 PM (2 years ago)

(I had to spend my first place vote to get this one in, but it got in... at #95. This is a disaster for ILM!)

i love VH but for some stupid reason have never owned that album, so feel free to curse me

94. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (1975) [81 points, 8 votes]

http://i47.tinypic.com/1zn1vnr.jpg

I love how full of shit Lindsey Buckingham is on "Monday Morning" which gets my vote. First he's got travelin' on his mind; then he says "I'll be there if you want me to." But especially in the wake of the sexual revolution, there's not much he can do to prevent all the Rhiannons in his life from playing the same "hittin' the road" games. So he makes funky with his wounded machismo, resulting in the most charitable and joyfully resigned song in his oeuvre.

And as with so much great popcraft, we don't even have to process his words. All we really need is for him to make the next verse funkier than the previous which he does first by cramming more words into the third line ("then you get on down the line"), then with a scrumptiously placed "oh" before the last "first you love me."

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, August 25, 2009 11:07 AM (4 months ago)

"Crystal" from the s/t! It's devastatingly gorgeous, especially the vocal harmonies in the chorus... The synthed-out last 2 minutes or so is dizzy bliss, ohhh man...

― Clarke B., Thursday, January 23, 2003 4:23 AM (6 years ago)

Every once in awhile it occurs to me how amazing Christine McVie is, and I nearly go unconscious.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, March 19, 2005 5:24 AM (4 years ago)

"Rhiannon" still spooks me.

― otto, Sunday, February 29, 2004 3:19 PM (5 years ago)

i love VH but for some stupid reason have never owned that album, so feel free to curse me

Wow, really? Even the lesser tracks on VH are better than most of the rock singles of 1978.

(Anyway, I woke up and decided I'd do a couple more, but now I'm going back to bed...)

blimey has voting happened already? ;_;

also wow at horses not making the original 100

For the last 4 weeks! xp

well then i am the one that sucks.

yay at two of my voted albums appearing already!

VAN HALEN SHOULD BE HIGHER - DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS?

I couldn't fit Clube de Esquina to my top 40, but I'm glad it made it. It's such a treasure chest of beautiful songs! That said, I've always thought the sound on it is a bit anemic and thin... That's why I prefer the versions of those songs that appear on Milton, even if half of them are translated to English, with Milton singing them with a rather awkward pronounciation (which I personally find kinda endearing). The sound and arrangements on that album are simply better than on Clube de Esquina.

That's four of mine in already - finally I feel I'm making a mark on the world, even if it is by making Johnny's list a little blander than it might've been.

I think Fleetwood Mac deserved better, but I'm guessing that another album of theirs might've hogged their vote. Horses is really interesting - it looks like everyone thinks it's important somehow, but nobody actually likes it (which is kind of why I lent it a vote).

am willing to bet that about 10 of my choices came within 5 points of getting in *mopes*

Heh, Horses was in my top 50 or 60, but didn't make the 40 after I admitted to myself that I didn't really like it, or couldn't remember more than a small fraction of it.

Wd like to like it more - I don't mind it at all, and it's obviously important, or a supposed influence on various things I've liked more, or something that friends who were cooler than me seemed to be into. But mainly she just looked so damn cool that I wanted her to sound it too. I suppose this means I like Mapplethorpe's photography instead of her music, except she still looks pretty damn cool considering she's as old as my parents.

ilx: hates progressive rock, arty post-punk*; loves 'imagine' by john lennon

*remain in light is not very arty, or good :P

erm oh er patti smith! yeah. saw her live a couple of years ago. she was really good! great inter-song yammering.

ilx hates arty post-punk?

ILX is where I found out about 90% of the arty post-punk I've heard, so, dunno about that there, unless there's been a major shift in ILX since I first thought "you know, apparently there is this thing of arty post-punk, and I don't really have any", which is admittedly some time ago (same is true of prog too but my original 70s prog knowledge is pretty thin so I'll make no claims there)

I think my problem with Patti Smith is that she was not the arty post-punk she was sold to me as but some interminable wheedling guitar under spoken-word recitations of mundane activities in that arty, edgy tone which makes it clear that YOU the listener are not as cool as anyone whose mundane activities can be artily recounted over guitar solos and between cigarettes

admittedly she does this pretty compellingly at times, and got there FIRST, or at least before it became quite such an unbearable recurring theme of local band nights and coffee shops (guess the cigarettes thing has been removed from this theme these days, huh)

ILX loves Warty Pre-Punk

1. Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
2. Todd Rundgren – A Wizard, A True Star
3. Alice Coltrane – Journey In Satchidananda
4. Joni Mitchell – Court & Spark
5. Steely Dan – Aja
6. Roy Harper – Stormcock
7. Curtis Mayfield – Curtis
8. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III
9. Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick
10. The Residents – Duck Stab/Buster & Glen
11. Augustus Pablo – Original Rockers
12. Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Expansions
13. Comus – First Utterance
14. Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality
15. Randy Newman – Good Old Boys
16. Culture – Two Sevens Clash
17. Linda Perhacs – Parallelograms
18. Paul McCartney – Ram
19. Shoes – Present Tense
20. Al Green – I’m Still In Love With You
21. Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges – Clube Da Esquina
22. Funkadelic – Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
23. Pharoah Sanders – Thembi
24. Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom
25. Harmonia – Deluxe
26. Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some Action
27. Blue Öyster Cult – Agents Of Fortune
28. Elton John – Madman Across The Water
29. Joni Mitchell – The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
30. Neu! – Neu! 75
31. AC/DC – Highway To Hell
32. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmo’s Factory
33. David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name…
34. Françoise Hardy – La Question
35. Steely Dan – Can’t Buy A Thrill
36. Chic – C’est Chic
37. Earth, Wind & Fire – I Am
38. The Cars – Candy-O
39. Gene Clark – No Other
40. Cymande – Cymande

19 in, not bad. Lots to check out, starting with the 11 from the list I've never heard. Thanks Johnny!

I'm a bit surprised that Adventures in Paradise was the only Minnie Riperton album to even make it to the top 200. I wonder who was the thrid person besides me and Abbott who voted for it?

That would be me I guess. I had three Minnie albums on my ballot, fat lot of good it did. But hey.

1-40

XTC - Drums and Wires
ABBA - The Album
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Anne Briggs - The Time Has Come
Minnie Riperton - Come to My Garden
Wings - Back to the Egg
ABBA - Arrival
Derek & Clive - Live
Slade - Slayed?
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
Chicago - Chicago
T-Rex - Electric Warrior
Queen - Queen
Carole King - Tapestry
Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony
Paul McCartney - Ram
ABBA - Voulez-Vous
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
The Specials -The Specials
Chic - Risqué
John Lennon - Imagine
Hawkwind - Space Ritual
Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
Wings - London Town
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
10cc The Original Soundtrack
The Stylistics - The Best of The Stylistics
Wings - Venus and Mars
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything?
Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel
Minnie Riperton - Adventures in Paradise
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy
Queen - Queen II
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star
Steeleye Span - Hark! The Village Wait
Tubeway Army - Replicas
Wings - Band on the Run

(what on earth possessed me to put Imagine so high?)

Well, listening to a track from each album was fun. Although I did have to skip through the Van Morrison and Steely Dan tracks, and a couple of others - what are you people thinking, seriously? I gave them as much of a chance as possible, but just - NO. My favourite surprise track was probably '(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going To Go' from Curtis. I definitely need to dig further into the Alice Coltrane and Fela LPs, too. Also, I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed having Joni Mitchell and T-Rex on, two artists who I have never hated, but would never have put on of my own volition after my teenage years.

My ballot, unordered:

Amon Düül II - Yeti
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
David Bowie - Lodger
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
Cabaret Voltaire - Mix-Up
John Cale - Vintage Violence
Can - Soon Over Babaluma
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby
Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves
Cluster - Cluster (1971)
Cluster - Zuckerzeit
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
The Durutti Column - The Return of the Durutti Column
Brian Eno - Before and After Science
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
John Fahey - America
Faust - Faust IV
Robert Fripp and Brian Eno - Evening Star
Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (1977)
Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia
Jandek - Ready for the House
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
La Dusseldorf - La Dusseldorf
John Lennon - Imagine
Magazine - Secondhand Daylight
Neu - Neu! 75
Nico - Desertshore
Yoko Ono - Plastic Ono Band
The Pop Group - Y
Popol Vuh - In Den Gärten Pharaos
Lou Reed - Transformer
Roxy Music - Country Life
Siouxsie & the Banshees - The Scream
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
This Heat - This Heat
Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Various Artists - No New York
Tom Waits - Closing Time
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
XTC - Drums and Wires

^^^This ballot I like.

Yeah, it's one I can hang with too. Should have been ordered though! With 'Imagine' somewhere near the bottom.

Currently listening to that Devo debut. It's pretty good!

Here's my unordered list, with no shows in bold. Sixteen made it.

Barrett, Syd - The Madcap Laughs
Blue Öyster Cult - Agents of Fortune
Cale, John - Fear
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight
Davis, Miles - Get Up With It
Davis, Miles - Agharta
Dictators, The - Go Girl Crazy
Dylan, Bob - Desire
Dylan, Bob - New Morning
Ely, Joe - Honky Tonk Masquerade
Fahey, John - America
Faust - Faust IV
Funkadelic - Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
Germs, The - (GI)
Green, Al - I'm Still in Love With You
Jam, The - All Mod Cons
Mayfield, Curtis - Curtis
Mekons - The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen
Mingus, Charles - Let My Children Hear Music
Nesmith, Michael - Magnetic South
Newman, Randy - Good Old Boys
Newman, Randy - Sail Away
Nilsson, Harry - A Little Touch of Schmilsson In The Night
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
Pere Ubu - Dub Housing
Raincoats, The - The Raincoats
Saints, The - (I'm) Stranded
Stevens, Cat - Tea for the Tillerman
Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville
T.Rex - The Slider
T.Rex - Electric Warrior
Talking Heads - Talking Heads '77
Thompson, Mayo - Corky's Debt to His Father
Van Zandt, Townes - High, Low and In Between
Various Artists - No New York
War - The World is a Ghetto
Who, The - Quadrophenia
Who, The - The Kids Are Alright
X Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents

My Southern Singer/Songwriters didn't do so good, I think I'll console myself by using President Keyes' ballot as a S S/S shopping list. And then everyone else's, you people like a lot of great music. Thanks and hats off to Johnny Fever. And the same to whoever nominated North Star Grassman, thanks for tipping me off.

And his spirituality is so natural and subtle that he would have made more sense as a reverend than Al Green, the conflicted, tortured hedonist who eventually gave up secular music, but never seemed to have as deep a grasp of spiritual matters as Mayfield.

Hey Fastnbulbous,can't agree about Rev. Al - the testimony of tortured souls can be even more compelling (e.g. Raskolnikov, St Augustine, even Mother Teresa had doubts, etc). But definitely Rev. Curtis would have been perfect.

OK, kicking off my unlistened-to catch-up with Agharta.

I've been working my way through this era chronologically--made it through about 450 albums (from 1969 to 1972) in the past year. This poll shows me I've still got a lot of decade left to absorb.

You guys ever thought about doing a genre-specific one of these countdowns?

My ballot:

1. Ananda Shankar – Ananda Shankar and His Music (no other votes)
2. Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
3. Joni Mitchell – The Hissing of Summer Lawns
4. Yes – Close to the Edge
5. The Beach Boys – Sunflower (57 points, 6 votes)
6. 10cc – Sheet Music (17 points, 2 votes)
7. Pink Floyd – The Wall (13 points, 2 votes)
8. The Carpenters – The Singles 1969-73 (38 points, 7 votes)
9. Earth, Wind & Fire – I Am (23 points, 3 votes)
10. Tubeway Army – Replicas
11. Blondie – Eat To The Beat
12. Enoch Light – Permissive Polyphonics (no other votes)
13. Bob Marley and The Wailers – Live! (18 points, 2 votes)
14. Buzzcocks – Another Music In A Different Kitchen (33 points, 4 votes)
15. The Stylistics – Best of The Stylistics (15 points, 3 votes)
16. The Cars – The Cars
17. Sister Sledge – We Are Family (18 points, 2 votes)
18. The Stranglers – Rattus Norvegicus (21 points, 3 votes)
19. Todd Rundgren – A Wizard, A True Star
20. John Holt – 1000 Volts of Holt (no other votes)
21. Electric Light Orchestra – A New World Record (30 points, 3 votes)
22. David Bowie – Aladdin Sane
23. Andrew Lloyd Webber – Variations (no other votes)
24. Steely Dan – The Royal Scam
25. Lalo Schifrin – Dirty Harry (Motion Picture Score) (no other votes)
26. Aretha Franklin – Young, Gifted and Black (27 points, 4 votes)
27. The Sweet – The Sweet’s Biggest Hits (28 points, 2 votes)
28. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Blackboard Jungle Dub (???, not on list!)
29. Crass – The Feeding of the 5,000 (16 points, 3 votes)
30. Boz Scaggs – Silk Degrees (26 points, 4 votes)
31. David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name (66 points, 9 votes)
32. Steve Reich – Drumming / Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ / Six Pianos (58 points, 10 votes)
33. Supertramp – Breakfast in America (12 points, 4 votes)
34. Jerry Goldsmith – Alien (Motion Picture Score) (no other votes)
35. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (11 points, 3 votes)
36. Status Quo – 12 Gold Bars (no other votes)
37. X Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents
38. ABBA – Arrival
39. Various - K-Tel presents 20 Dynamic Hits (no other votes)
40. Various - K-Tel presents 22 Dynamic Hits, Vol.II (no other votes)

Aha, the other Sheet Music voter!

Yes, that came disappointingly low. Was my #6 placement worth so little in points terms? :(

Also was Blackboard Jungle Dub disqualified or something?

Anyway, thanks J Fever for doing this. And thanks to everyone who voted for my nominees (including the ones I didn't in the end vote for).

Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Blackboard Jungle Dub (???, not on list!)

I probably got complacent, read the artist, and credited it to an album that had already received other votes. Sorry about that.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (11 points, 3 votes)

This is clearly an ILM thing. Where else would an album like this get only 3 votes, all for low points?

i know, one of the first things i did when you put up the complete results was look up how many votes EJ's albums got and boggle at them

haha well my #1 vote for Elvis Country was its only vote. I'm not shocked but really, it's an absolutely stunning album. There's nothing indie about it: these are top-shelf songs with full arrangements, but Elvis' voice is in its fully mature bloom, and the ache in these songs is unsettling. It's definitely not an album for kids: Elvis sounds like a man who has seen things you people wouldn't believe. But it is a deep and rich album, and also shitloads of fun: between the heartache of "Faded Love", e.g. there's a band jamming and having a great time. That's probably the heart of Elvis' 70s work: brothers trying to work together through heartbreak, loss and physical decay, in most cases their own fault, by playing music together. Make the world go away, indeed.

^ will check this one out.

I love that album but I find the little snippets of "I Was Born A Thousand Years Ago" between every song totally bewildering.

Yeah, it's one I can hang with too. Should have been ordered though! With 'Imagine' somewhere near the bottom.

I spend too much time online/on ILM as is, I'd have happily ordered it but voting already took an hour or so (LONG nominations list!!) and I'd rather stay offline and do something else with my time than order my ballot. Priorities! :)

Top ten would have included (at a quick glance): Devo, Durutti, Fahey, Neu, Kraftwerk, Cluster 71, Gristle.

I HATE the born a thousand years snippets. but it is a great album.

My ballot, had I managed to get it in on time, wouldn't have changed much, I don't think:

1. Coltrane, Alice Ptah, the El Daoud
2. Tyner, McCoy Sahara
3. Cherry, Don Brown Rice
4. McPhee, Joe Nation Time
5. Sanders, Pharoah Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun)
6. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà Vu
7. Talking Heads Fear of Music
8. Sanders, Pharoah Black Unity
9. Alice Coltrane Journey…
10. Roxy Music Stranded
11. Hancock, Herbie Headhunters
12. Tyner, McCoy Song of the New World
13. Sparks Propaganda
14. Talking Heads Talking Heads '77
15. T.Rex Electric Warrior
16. Young, Larry Lawrence of Newark
17. Black Sabbath Vol. 4
18. Can Soon Over Babaluma
19. Little Feat Little Feat
20. Mott the Hoople Mott
21. Parton, Dolly Coat of Many Colors
22. Devo Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
23. Cars, The The Cars
24. Runaways, The The Runaways
25. X Ray Spex Germ Free Adolescents
26. Jackson, Joe Look Sharp!
27. Riley, Terry In C
28. Kraftwerk Autobahn
29. Davis, Miles Live Evil
30. Pere Ubu The Modern Dance
31. Funkadelic Funkadelic
32. Soft Machine Third
33. Thin Lizzy Jailbreak
34. A Certain Ratio The Graveyard and The Ballroom
35. Davis, Miles Agharta
36. Faces Long Player
37. Funkadelic Free Your Mind… And Your Ass Will Follow
38. Roxy Music Country Life
39. Rufus & Chaka Khan Rags to Rufus
40. This Heat This Heat

And since I think a fair number of choices that others big-upped that seem missing from my list are simply because of weird Never Owned blind spots (I'll go out and buy Sextant at first opportunity, honest), I assume that holds for other folks too—I just don't think Rufus or Twink or Terry Riley are as popular as some of the other choices, and that's reflected in the voting.

I like your list a lot, especially for including those two McCoy Tyner albums. Sadly I could only fit Sahara into my ballot, but Song of the New World is really good too, I love the cosmic big band sound on it.

Heh. Thank my father—most of that jazz was the soundtrack for my childhood road trips. I'd like little bits of it, heads mostly, and thought most of the rest was boring. I still wouldn't necessarily put it on to drive to, but I've come to really love it, especially as albums. From talking about the runs of five and the greatest jazz albums threads, I went back and listened to a lot of this stuff again and think there's an argument to be made for it really a high point of the album format.

And I don't recall if I voted in the original '70s poll or not, but my ballot wouldn't have been that much different.

Have you ever listened to the Larry Young album? I think you'd like it a lot.

This lurker's list:

1. Genesis - Selling England By the Pound
2. Cale, John - Fear
3. Eno, Brian - Before and After Science
4. Talking Heads - Fear of Music
5. Ben, Jorge - Forca Bruta
6. Yes - Close to the Edge
7. Sparks - Indiscreet
8. Nilsson, Harry - The Point
9. Genesis - Foxtrot
10. Chic - Risque
11. Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves
12. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
13. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
14. Mitchell, Joni - The Hissing of Summer Lawns
15. Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon
16. Cale, John - Helen of Troy
17. Nascimento, Milton & Lô Borges- Clube de Esquina
18. Residents, The - Meet the Residents
19. Gainsbourg, Serge - Vu de l'Exterieur
20. Bowie, David - Lodger
21. Penguin Café Orchestra - Music from the Penguin Café
22. Leão, Nara - Dez Anos Depois
23. Pop, Iggy - The Idiot
24. Residents, The - Duck Stab / Buster & Glen
25. Roxy Music - Country Life
26. Pop, Iggy - Lust for Life
27. Roxy Music - Stranded
28. Sparks - Propaganda
29. Thompson, Mayo - Corky's Debt to His Father
30. Talking Heads - Talking Heads '77
31. Cluster - Sowiesoso
32. Kraftwerk - Ralf and Florian
33. Ono, Yoko - Plastic Ono Band
34. Costa, Gal - India
35. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
36. Chic - C’est Chic
37. Teenage Jesus & The Jerks - Teenage Jesus & The Jerks EP
38. Blondie - Blondie
39. Oldfield, Mike - Tubular Bells
40. Sparks - Sparks

In compiling and ordering the list it was hard to decide how to weigh albums that had been favorites for, say, ten years or more vs. more recent discoveries. I tend to assume that my old favorites are going to be the same as everyone else's, due to greater overall exposure, but it didn't come out quite that way — for good and bad. I don't necessarily mind seeing Iggy and Roxy Music not make this list (much as I like them) if it makes room for something I don't know much about, like the Alice Coltrane or Yellow Magic Orchestra album (which I will investigate). I wish this had happened more often, but some of the individual ballots look really interesting. In comparison, my own seems a little boring, but maybe that's just because it's familiar to me.

I probably would have included Africa Brasil if I had known Jorge Ben wouldn't get any records in the final list otherwise, but while it's a vital album it doesn't move me as much as the lushly orchestrated stuff from earlier in the decade.

Individual lists are great, really interesting.

Nara Leao? second name i don't know here? tell me? (I know I could google but answers here are much better)

Nara Leao? second name i don't know here? tell me? (I know I could google but answers here are much better)

Her work spans a few Brazilian genres, but she's basically considered a bossa nova singer. Dez Anos Depois is a double album where she covers some of the classics of the genre (by João Gilberto et al) in a very understated way, mostly just with guitar accompaniment in a resonant acoustic. It luxuriates in a kind of rainy-day cool, as suggested by the album's cover; I love to play it late at night at low volume.

My faves by her are actually from the '60s — the Rogerio Duprat album (self-titled, 1968), and Nara (which is included on the Nara '67 CD from Él). The latter especially has marvelous orchestrations and a more heightened sense of drama than most of her work: it can be stomping and dangerous, joyous and maybe a tad flippant, mysterious, and/or melancholic; it is often very tender. In this context, her singing makes me melt like the chickens serenaded by Crosby and Sinatra in the Porky Pig cartoon "Swooner Crooner," but less abruptly.

The Slipcue writeup offers a decent overview (I discovered her through that site).

I just want to know the identity of the kindred spirit who put New York Dolls: In Too Much Too Soon at number one.

Thanks eatandoph. Reading that slipcue piece made me realise I didn't vote for Edu Lobo's Missa Breve (was it nominated?) - I keep noticing/ remembering things I missed.....

weird Never Owned blind spots

LOTS of those on my part

Thanks to this poll I picked up copies of Minnie Riperton's Come To My Garden and Orentte Coleman's Dancing In Your Head (and complete Science Fiction sessions). I also re-downloaded Riperton's next two albums (I can't hear "Loving You" without thinking of the South Park episode). Also re-listened to some Fleetwood Mac and ABBA. I still don't get it. People dismiss reggae albums because it was a strong singles genre, but there's many albums that have way less filler than those two MOR hit machines. It's also strange that the rest of the ballots were much different (full of interesting music I like), rather than, say, The Eagles, Gordon Lightfoot or Boz Scaggs.

7 of my top 8 made it.

1. Fela Kuti – Zombie
2. The Raincoats
3. Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
4. Toots & the Maytals - Funky Kingston
5. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off Baby
6. T. Rex - Electric Warrior
7. Tim Buckley – Starsailor
8. X Ray Spex - Germ-Free Adolescents
9. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - Clear Spot
10. Junior Murvin - Police & Thieves
11. Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You
12. Curtis Mayfield – Curtis
13. Perry, Lee "Scratch" & The Upsetters – Super Ape
14. Rico - Man From Wareika
15. Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
16. Justin Hinds & The Dominoes – Jezebel
17. Cedric Im Brooks - The Light Of Saba
18. Max Romeo & the Upsetters - War Ina Babylon
19. Junior Byles - Beat Down Babylon
20. The Abyssinians - Satta Massagana
21. Keith Hudson - Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood
22. Yabby You - Conquering Lion
23. The Mighty Diamonds - Right Time
24. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Catch A Fire
25. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Natty Dread
26. Pere Ubu - Dub Housing
27. Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation
28. George Faith - To Be A Lover
29. Patti Smith – Horses
30. Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
31. Van Morrison – Moondance
32. Harmonia – Deluxe
33. Neu! - Neu! 75
34. Alice Coltrane - Journey In Satchidananda
35. Gavin Bryars - The Sinking Of The Titanic
36. Tom Zé - Estudando O Samba
37. Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
38. The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari - Tales Of Mozambique
39. Max Romeo & the Upsetters - Revelation Time
40. Harmonia - Music Von Harmonia

looks like Chrome is another one that suffered from vote splitting.

if the raw data is available, could some maniac consolidate the points into an overall artist ranking?

Here's the excel file: http://www.box.net/shared/ku8ozxgd9x

OK I'm posting this to out the person who placed In Too Much Too Soon at #1.

1. New York Dolls in Too Much Too Soon
2. X Ray Spex Germ Free Adolescents
3. Various Artists The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Motion Picture Soundtrack)
4. Sweet The Sweet's Biggest Hits
5. Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill
6. Davis, Miles Dark Magus
7. Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
8. Zé, Tom Estudando o Samba
9. Culture Two Sevens Clash
10. Chic Risque
11. Parton, Dolly The Best of Dolly Parton (1975)
12. Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle, Volume 1
13. Sly & The Family Stone Fresh
14. ABBA Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
15. Roches, The The Roches
16. Bowie, David Changesonebowie (1976)
17. Steely Dan Katy Lied
18. Summer, Donna Once Upon a Time
19. Franklin, Aretha Young, Gifted and Black
20. Nelson, Willie Stardust
21. Insect Trust, The Hoboken Saturday Night
22. Davis, Miles Get Up With It
23. Wild Tchoupitoulas Wild Tchoupitoulas
24. Funkadelic One Nation Under a Groove
25. Mitchell, Joni For the Roses
26. Pere Ubu Dub Housing
27. Stewart, Rod Every Picture Tells a Story
28. Blue Öyster Cult Tyranny and Mutation
29. Young, Neil Time Fades Away
30. Roxy Music Siren
31. Shoes Present Tense
32. Stylistics, The The Best of The Stylistics
33. Poppy Family, The (featuring Susan Jacks) Which Way You Goin' Billy?
34. Ono, Yoko Fly
35. Green, Al Al Green is Love
36. Talking Heads Talking Heads '77
37. Summer, Donna Four Seasons of Love
38. Lucier, Alvin I Am Sitting in a Room
39. Jandek Ready for the House
40. McGarrigle, Kate & Anna Kate & Anna McGarrigle

the other person, that is

I ended up submitting this as an unranked list (bolded the ones that made it):

Colón, Willie & Ruben Blades Siembra
John, Elton Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
Kuti, Fela Sorrow, Tears and Blood
Kuti, Fela No Agreement
Coltrane, Alice Journey in Satchidananda
Electric Light Orchestra A New World Record
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac
John, Elton Honky Chateau
Haris Alexiou Ta Tragoudia Tis Haroulas
Fairouz Oriental Evening
Canales, Angel El Sentimiento del Latino en Nueva York
Feliciano, Cheo Cheo
Colón, Willie El Juicio
La Sonora Ponceña Explorando
Rivera, Ismael Eclipse Total
Valentin, Bobby Afuera
Lavoe, Héctor La Voz
Ronstadt, Linda Greatest Hits
Fripp, Robert & Brian Eno Evening Star
Fripp, Robert & Brian Eno No Pussyfooting
Eagles Their Greatest Hits (1971-75)
Burning Spear Garvey's Ghost
Burning Spear Marcus Garvey
Ashley, Robert Private Parts (The Record)
Cars, The The Cars
Scaggs, Boz Silk Degrees
Carpenters, The The Singles 1969-73
Pipes of Pan at Jajouka, The Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Jajouka
Raincoats, The The Raincoats
Palmieri, Eddie Unfinished Masterpiece
Armatrading, Joan Joan Armatrading
Lennon, John Imagine
Ono, Yoko Plastic Ono Band
Elvis Costello & The Attractions Armed Forces
Earth, Wind & Fire That's the Way of the World
Steely Dan Aja
Mitchell, Joni Hejira
Kraftwerk Autobahn
Soft Machine Third
T.Rex The Slider (except I changed this to Joan Armatrading s/t, forgetting I had already included that album, so not sure it was counted)

OK I'm posting this to out the person who placed In Too Much Too Soon at #1...

Hah! I just found the other weirdo person who voted for Hoboken Saturday Night

This was my ballot, unranked:

Adam & The Ants Dirk Wears White Sox
Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Les Stances a Sophie
Barrett, Syd The Madcap Laughs
Ben, Jorge África Brasil
Cale, John, Vintage Violence
Clash, The, Give 'em Enough Rope
Coltrane, Alice, Journey in Satchidananda
Damned, The, Damned Damned Damned
Dead Boys, The, Young, Loud and Snotty
Devo, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Electric Light Orchestra, Out of the Blue
Fahey, John, America
Gil, Gilberto, Gilberto Gil
Gorageur, Alain, La Planete Sauvage (Motion Picture Score)
Hazlewood, Lee, Cowboy in Sweden
Jam, The, All Mod Cons
Kinks, The, Muswell Hillbillies
Kraftwerk, Autobahn
Lowe, Nick, Jesus of Cool
Magazine, Real Life
Mayfield, Curtis, Curtis
Meters, The, Look-ka Py Py
Murvin, Junior, Police and Thieves
Nelson, Willie, Red Headed Stranger
Newman, Randy, Sail Away
Otis, Shuggie, Inspiration Information
Parton, Dolly, Jolene
Ramones, Rocket to Russia
Reed, Lou, Transformer
Rezillos, Can't Stand the Rezillos
Saints, The, I'm Stranded
Shoes, Black Vinyl Shoes
Stiff Little Fingers, Inflammable Material
Sun Ra, Lanquidity
Swell Maps, A Trip to Marineville
T.Rex, Electric Warrior
Toots & The Maytals, Funky Kingston
Undertones, The, The Undertones
Withers, Bill, Still Bill
Wonder, Stevie, Music of My Mind

1. New York Dolls in Too Much Too Soon
2. X Ray Spex Germ Free Adolescents

these were my top two also, tho ranked in reverse order. ;^) Ubu's Datapanik ep at no. 3, mofos.

This was my (ordered) ballot, 9 of which placed:

1 Yes Close to the Edge
2 Rolling Stones, The Black n' Blue
3 Gong Camembert Electrique
4 Genesis Selling England By the Pound
5 Gong You
6 Ayers, Kevin Whatevershebringwesing
7 Otis, Shuggie Inspiration Information
8 Martyn, John Solid Air
9 Undertones, The The Undertones
10 Abercrombie, John Gateway
11 Ayers, Kevin Bananamour
12 Morrison, Van Veedon Fleece
13 Davis, Miles Live Evil
14 Marley, Bob & The Wailers Rastaman Vibration
15 Faithfull, Marianne Broken English
16 Buzzcocks Another Music in a Different Kitchen
17 Mayfield, Curtis There's No Place Like America Today
18 Pere Ubu The Modern Dance
19 Queen Queen II
20 ABBA Waterloo
21 Eno, Brian Ambient 1: Music for Airports
22 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Clear Spot
23 Ramones Leave Home
24 Kraftwerk Autobahn
25 King, Carole Tapestry
26 Siouxsie & The Banshees The Scream
27 Little Feat Feats Don't Fail Me Now
28 Dury, Ian New Boots and Panties!!
29 Cockney Rebel The Human Menagerie
30 Carpenters, The The Singles 1969-73
31 Osmonds, The The Plan
32 Tangerine Dream Phaedra
33 Penguin Café Orchestra Music from the Penguin Café
34 Fleetwood Mac Tusk
35 Oldfield, Mike Ommadawn
36 Soft Machine Third
37 X Ray Spex Germ Free Adolescents
38 Marley, Bob & The Wailers Natty Dread
39 Chic C'est Chic
40 Ayers, Kevin Shooting at the Moon

How is this different from Kenny G or Grover Washington or what have you?

Give or take some alleged irony, I'm not sure it is that different from Grover Washington Jr. and what exactly is so wrong with Grover Washington, Jr. anyway? I think you'd be surprised by how many serious jazz cats respect Grover Washington Jr. I bet you Byard Lancaster slips on some Grover Washington Jr. now and then. I bet you Odean Pope doesn't mind Grover Washington Jr. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I wouldn't try putting down Grover Washington Jr. around jazz heavies in Philadelphia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oxb4LayC7A

But you're entitled to your opinion of course.

I'm not saying Grover Washington Jr. is bad, but I can't see any album of his ever placing in an ILM poll, so I was only wondering what makes Steely Dan so different that they always do?

Either this poll was held at an awkward time or there wasn't enough time given to nominate, but I missed sending in my noms

Late-period Steely Dan goes more deeply into the smooth jazz/funk stylings, but their albums are overall pretty diverse. Try some of these tunes: "Peg", "My Old School", "Reeling in the Years", "Barrytown", "Kid Charlemagne", etc. These are more poppy, I think.

Who else voted New York Dolls: In Too Much Too Soon as their #1???????????

Either this poll was held at an awkward time or there wasn't enough time given to nominate, but I missed sending in my noms

Noms only lasted a few days, but we came up with a master list of 1,258 albums. Surely something you like made the cut.

Goddammit tinypic, there are 10-12 year old posts all over the internet ruined by your wack service!