1973 vs. 1974: Which year fared better, musically?

inspired by listening to my local rock station's "10 at 10" last night -- the theme was 10 songs from 1973. these were the songs, if yer interested:

My Old School - Steely Dan
Do You Want to Touch Me - Gary Glitter
Living for the City - Stevie Wonder
Space Station #5 - Montrose
Takin' Care of Business - BTO
I Know What I Like - Genesis
Bennie & The Jets - Elton John
What is Hip? - Tower of Power
Mama Kin - Aerosmith
Life on Mars - David Bowie

except they played skynrd's "simple man" and some jackson browne song in there too. the list isn't really relevant, it just got me thinkin baout things.

1973: Look Over Your Shoulder (a CDR 700 Go! by Elvis Telecom)

Pick one album from the year 1974!

Retroactive Pazz & Jop: 1973

Best 1974 P&J Album (POLL Closes 5 May)

Without checking anything, it's gotta be '74; '73 was the apex of K-Tel junk.

74 had two great Enos, Red by Crimson, Silent Corner by Hammill, Autobahn, and Kimono My House, I think it's clear

Odd-numbered years always better...1973 it is

Quadrophenia came out in '73. Ergo, '73.

OTOH, '74 also gave us Secret Treaties, Get Up With It and all those great initial disco singles. But just tono contradict clemenza, I think that '74 really set some kind of novelty-hit standard, what with "The Streak" and "The Lord's Prayer" and "Kung Fu Fighting" and "The Night Chicago Died" and "Life Is A Rock" and etc.

xpost

(make that "just TO contradict clemenza"...this keyboard sucks)

Well played, Myonga. I'll give you those and raise you:

"Playground in My Mind," Clint Holmes
"Half Breed," Cher
"The Morning After," Maureen McGovern
"Oh Babe, What Would You Say," Hurricane Smith
"Daisy a Day," Jud Strunk
"Also Sprach Zarathustra," Deodato
"Wildflower," Skylark (or maybe it was "Skylark" by Wildflower, how should I know?)
"Daytime Nighttime," Keith Hampshire (homegrown)
"Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat," DeFranco Family (ditto)

and etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJdkCs5RdQg

haha, wish I had my copy of I Wanna Be Sedated handy to consult!

any year with "half breed" and the defranco family gets my vote.

I remember most of those 74 singles, stuff my sisters listened to on transistor radios or on the shitty little record player we had

i can even narrow it down to the month when 1974 fared better:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kxdNW8ls1fM/TVHnQ0ZfA3I/AAAAAAAACRY/i_cRoWSlJYY/s1600/37.Taj+Mahal+Travellers+-+August+1974+%25281974%2529.jpg

dark side of the moon – '73. ergo, '73.

'74 had just 4 albums I considered nearly perfect, while '73 had 14.

Toots & the Maytals - Funky Kingston (Mango)
Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets (EG)
Al Green - Call Me (Hi)
The Stooges - Raw Power (Columbia)
Donald Byrd - Black Byrd (Blue Note)
Harmonia - Music Von Harmonia (Brain)
New York Dolls - New York Dolls (Mercury)
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (Rykodisc)
Herbie Hancock - Sextant (Columbia)
Pink Fairies - Kings Of Oblivion (Polydor)
Can - Future Days (Spoon/Mute)
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (Tamla)
João Gilberto (Polydor)
Lee Perry & the Upsetters - Blackboard Jungle Dub (Upsetter/Trojan)

In 1974 I took my mom's advice and went to "summer school," which was supposed to be "fun," as opposed to the certainly not-fun regular school, although my dear mom perhaps might just have been looking for relief from my precocious yammerings, which probably became unbearable once the temperature hit a certain degree point. And indeed, the courses were more like extension school for kids, even including one course in which we were all taught how to do "The Bump" while The Ohio Players' "Fire" played (wait, I must have attended in 1975 too because the dates on this don't work out!) - and a more easy-listening type of course, which consisted solely of a teacher sharing his exhaustive set of slides documenting his airstream vacations around America while we gently fell asleep in the sweet, air-conditioned darkness.

The second most important thing that happened during this summer session occurred on the playground, where at last, ending a profound sense of unease that had begun in fourth grade, inside of a safely insulated concrete tunnel in the sandbox, I was at last told what the word "fuck" meant, by a generous and patient fellow student whom I had previously regarded as a complete non-entity. This was important: it gave me the confidence to return to fifth grade in the fall, knowing that no one could make references to "fuck" that went over my head. My parents had already given me permission to grow my hair so what was left to stop me.

The first most important thing that happened to me was the bus ride from west Chula Vista to the then-country area of Bonita (now of course it is all end-to-end dismal crap housing), which took something like an hour. The bus driver played KCBQ, San Diego's top 40 station, and over the course of these wonderful rides I became conversant with the wonderful world of early 70s Top 40 radio. And that's about all I should say for now - this short era is deeply personal to me, and if I later try to be a critic about it this acknowledgement should only be fair.

My favorite songs during this season were "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "Radar Love," "Bennie and the Jets," "Band on the Run," "Then Came You," "Spiders and Snakes," "The Night Chicago Died," "Rock the Boat," "Rock Your Baby." I didn't always know the names of groups. There was something so nice about looking out the school bus window and finding out that I liked all this long hair music.

"Houses of the Holy" - 1973. Enough said.

Zep tops my next batch, the close to nearly perfect albums ;)

Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy (Atlantic)
Lonnie Liston Smith - Astral Traveling (RCA)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Burnin' (Tuff Gong/Island)
Esther Phillips - Black-Eyed Blues (Kudu)
John Martyn - Solid Air (Island)
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (Columbia)
Funkadelic - Cosmic Slop (Westbound)
Miles Davis - On The Corner (Columbia)
Toots & the Maytals - In The Dark (Trojan)
John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana - Love Devotion Surrender (Columbia)
Donny Hathaway - Extension Of A Man (Atlantic)
The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire (Columbia)
Fela Kuti - Gentleman (Universal)
Serge Gainsbourg - Vu De L' Exterieur (Philips Fr)
Jobriath (Elektra)
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (EG)
Augustus Pablo - This Is Augustus Pablo (Kaya/Heartbeat)
Larry Marshall - Presenting Larry Marshall 1968-73 (Heartbeat)
Etta James (Chess/Hip-O Select)

other awesome '73 albums not already mentioned:

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
The Isley Brothers - 3 + 3
Thin Lizzy - Vagabonds Of The Western World
Queen - Queen
The Who - Quadrophenia
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
Sun Ra - Space Is The Place
Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

"Billy Don't Be a Hero," "The Night Chicago Died," "Seasons in the Sun." These are three huge hits of 1974 that are amongst the most hated songs of the 70s, or ever, I guess. But I think they just make people uncomfortable, in ways that reflect poorly on the people rather than the songs. They are bubblegum songs about death, and the death of bubblegum.

"Billy Don't Be a Hero" is probably the most unpatriotic song to ever go number one in the USA. No hit song, no not "Fortunate Son" or "Sky Pilot" or "Fixing to Die Rag", so completely expressed the idea that war was just completely pointless, an activity for ill-advised toadies looking to distinguish themselves - "we've got to hold this piece of ground, I need a volunteer" - and nitwit Billy's hand is up, all set to go die for nothing. It's borderline treasonous, this song. The female heroine of the song throwing her dead boy's death notice letter away is the climax of the song - said letter proving his ill-advised heroism and telling her "she should be proud he died that way." This is how different the early 70s were from almost any other time in American history: this expression of complete disengagement with everything passing for nationalist idealism constituted mainstream entertainment, the attitudes expressed in this "dumb" song not worth even thinking about. There's no redemption here, it's the kind of tragedy best described by a nihilist. Or better yet, by "Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods," in stupid shiny outfits and swarmy singing style. Paper Lace had first done it in England, but their version was just bad, and never could have been a hit in the US...instead, their big moment was:

"The Night Chicago Died" - mostly upbeat and absurd, with the backdrop of a hundred dead cops, "in the land of the dollar bill," the ending moment where the husband/father comes back safe and "kissed my momma's face and brushed her tears away" used to make us giggle with embarrassment in grade school because it was kind of a raw expression of passion for us to deal with.

And "Seasons in the Sun," while it was played that year often enough to even make a ten year old tired of it, nevertheless captured a kind of brute expectation of young death, which we naturally thought of as some kind of drug overdose. Terry Jacks' work in The Poppy Family is almost considered cool nowadays, but letting this song in requires considerably more collateral damage to whatever passes for your standards. Tell me that spacey guitar opening isn't one succinct statement of dread, the tremolo knock of death on your 74 door. It's hard to die, when all the birds are singing in the sky.

Sextant, Future Days, Raw Power alone are enough to make me vote '73.

I still stand by the track listing of my 1973 CD-R GO comp upthread. Right now, it's A Wizard, A True Star, Tres Hombres, Stranded, and the O Lucky Man! soundtrack that's doing it for me.

(1973 over 1974 anyway - it was the first year I experienced music as some kind of independent thing that belonged to me and not something my brother and sister were into.

why is this not a poll

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Burn, Tres Hombres, Brothers and Sisters, Quadrophenia, Billion Dollar Babies, Mott etc. etc. etc.

'73

and of course the album my handle came from: Tyranny and Mutation

as awesome as on the beach and red are, there's no question '73 was the better year. houses of the holy is the best sep album

naw this is 74 for sure

Because 1974 had all the albums made in 1973 as well as the albums made in 1974

naw this is 74 for sure

― can you believe they put a man otm (loves laboured breathing), Friday, June 29, 2012 10:40 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Compelling argument

74. Any year with Red and Secret Treaties in it, come the fuck on. Was Sabotage 74 as well?

75

On the other hand Pretzel Logic is my least favorite Steely Dan... hmph

Lol thx Bill

Is Sabotage 74? I can look it up

OK dang I take it back. I surrender before the cumulative fury of 1973.

Aladdin Sane
Bananamour
Countdown to Ecstasy
Future Days
Houses of the Holy
In A Glass House
Innervisions
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Lifemask
mekanik destructiw komandoh
Paris 1919
Raw Power
Tyranny & Mutation

Lol thx Bill

Is Sabotage 74? I can look it up

― can you believe they put a man otm (loves laboured breathing), Friday, June 29, 2012 12:11 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

1975

Okay yeah I changed my mind--Taking Tiger Mountain and Omn the Beach are two of my favorite albums ever, but 73 has Space Ritual, Faust IV, Neu! 2, Blackboard Jungle Dub. Straight up unfuckwithable.

1973 for me. My top 10:

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
John Cale - Paris 1919
Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds
Hawkwind - Space Ritual
Frank Zappa - Over-Nite Sensation
Willie Nelson - Shotgun Willie
Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon
Secos & Molhados - Secos & Molhados
Neil Young - Time Fades Away
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres

More 1973

Curtis Mayfield - Back To The World (Curtom)
The Temptations - 1990 (Motown)
Larry Harlow - Orchestra Harlow Hommy A Latin Opera (Fania)
The Temptations - Masterpiece (Motown)
Buffalo - Volcanic Rock (Vertigo/Repertoire)
Wishbone Ash - Wishbone Four (MCA)
Granicus (RCA/Free)
Betty Davis (Just Sunshine/Light in the Attic)
Billy Paul - War Of The Gods (Philadelphia International/EMI)
The Silvertones - Silver Bullets (Trojan)
Eddie Kendricks (Motown)
T. Rex - Tanx (Mercury/Repertoire)
Bob Seger - Back In '72 (Capitol)
Eddie Kendricks - Boogie Down (Motown)
Roxy Music - Stranded (EG)
Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie (EMI)
Magma - Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (Vertigo/Seventh)

Emitt Rhodes - Farewell To Paradise (A&M)
Necromandus - Orexis Of Death (Vertigo/Rise Above)
Zap Pow (Island)
Herman Chin-Loy - Aquarius Rock (Pressure Sounds)
Impact Allstars - Java Java Java Java (Impact!/VP)
Gloria Jones - Share My Love (Reel/Universal)
Cymande - Second Time Round (Janus/Sequel)
Free - Heartbreaker (A&M/Island)
Procol Harum - Grand Hotel (A&M)
Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (MCA)

Tres Hombres is a total killer as well.

"Seasons in the Sun," while it was played that year often enough to even make a ten year old tired of it, nevertheless captured a kind of brute expectation of young death

the "we are young" of 1974

1974
Standin' on the Verge of Gettin' It On
Mars Hotel
Court and Spark
Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley
On the Beach

No doubt 1974 was a great year too. But 1973 was so epic, both Led Zep and Sabbath had to rest 1974 out.

This probably 73 overall but don't forget these 74 albums

Jorge Ben- a Tabua de Esmeralda
Genesis- the lamb lies down on broadway
Gene Clark- no other
Richard and Linda Thompson- I want to see the bright lights tonight
Joni Mitchell-court and spark
Sparks- kimono my house
Gram parsons- grievous angel
Randy Newman- good old boys
Leonard Cohen- new skin for the old ceremony
Stevie wonder- fulfilling ness first finale
Lucio Batista- anima Latina
Willie Nelson- phases and stages
John Cale- fear
Kraftwerk- autobahn
Tangerine dream- Phaedra
Tom waits- heart of a Saturday night
Meters- rejuvenation
Cluster- zuckerzeit
Herbie Hancock- thrust
Jackson Browne- late for the sky
Gil Scott heron- winter in America
Harmonia- music Von harmonia
Ann peebles- I can't stand the rain
Ry colder- paradise and lunch
Raspberries- starting over
Linda ronstadt- heart like a wheel
Eric Clapton- 461 ocean blvd
Can- soon over babaluma
Aerosmith- get your wings

So basically we can all agree that the pre-punk 70s DID NOT SUCK

(p.s. A+ post up there from Vic Perry)

So basically we can all agree that the pre-punk 70s DID NOT SUCK

― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Saturday, June 30, 2012 10:02 PM (5 minutes ago)

(Now to read the rest of the thread where I will no doubt find a counterexample)