GNMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1971

[CiG]

I like it (though it's overrated by fans of the band who seem to ignore other superior albums by them) but didn't include it because I thought it came too close to being (proto-)metal.

 

[Bloopy]

Yeah, Satori is metal enough to be saved for the hypothetical GMD 70s poll I'm looking forward to. Might've topped my list otherwise.

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

I think that Satori is even closer to metal than Deep Purple's Machine Head, which is why I'm leaning heavily towards not including it, especially since there's other good stuff that I'd like to include.

If you do choose to include it, however, the proper superingu is Furawā Toraberin Bando.

 

[CiG]

@Blurry_Dreams is Aqualung.

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

Top Ten

1. Salem Mass - Witch Burning
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
3. Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes - Ame debout
4. Steeleye Span - Please to See the King
5. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
6. Uriah Heep - Look at Yourself
7. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin [IV]
8. Françoise Hardy - La question
9. The Doors - L.A. Woman
10. Comus - First Utterance

Honourable Mention

• Jethro Tull - Aqualung
• Furawā Toraberin Bando - Satori

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

@HamburgerBoy get a real list; draft time is over!

 

[no country for old wainds]

nice, thought i'd be the only one to list ame debout.

as much as i adore steeleye span i can't bring myself to list albums i only really enjoy a third of (and that's most of their albums). debut will be ranking high when we do 1970 though.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i highly recommend the spirogyra album to the folk fans here:

 

[CiG]

i highly recommend the spirogyra album to the folk fans here:

I similarly highly recommend Tudor Lodge.

 

[Krow]

I dont think I made a list for this one. Will try to squeeze one in.

 

[CiG]

 

[Krow]

BANG

1. Alice Cooper - Killer
2. Led Zeppelin - IV
3. Salem Mass - Witch Burning
4. Blues Creation - Demon & Eleven Children
5. Satori - Flower Travellin' Band
6. Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself
7. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
8. Yes - Fragile
9. Atomic Rooster - In Hearing of
10. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

I guess HamburgerBoy is celebrating Valentine's early this year, so we don't get to have an actual finalized list, and I've closed the poll now. That's okay, though, since we've got good turnout this round. Oh, and I'm also not counting Kjetill's list because he hasn't made any new posts in about a month, after racking up a grand total post count of four. It doesn't look like he'll be a part of this forum.

 

[jimmy101]

The results for this should be interesting. Lots of variation amongst people's picks.

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

#10 Pink Floyd - Meddle
(15 Points)

Genre(s):
Progressive Rock
Psychedelic Rock, Space Rock, Folk Rock​

Pink Floyd-Meddle. One of my favourite album arts. Supposedly it is an ear underwater...

I can only listen to Ummagumma and Meddle now. All other Pink Floyd has been played out to where I hate it, or it sucked to begin with.

If non-metal, Pink Floyd, usually Meddle(actually only Echoes on repeat, that song can almost make you high)

I usually get made fun of for my '60s/'70s tastes, but whatever.

The essential Pink Floyd album is Meddle.

Those who voted:
@crimsonfloyd #9
@challenge_everything #8
@Einherjar86 #1

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

#8 John Coltrane - Sun Ship
(16 Points)

Genre(s):
Avant-Garde Jazz, Spiritual Jazz
Free Jazz​

Anyone like John Coltrane? Of the many brilliant jazz musicians I've been exposed to, this guy has impressed me the most. While his utilization of avant-garde stylings may be tame considered to todays standards no one has captured the origonality he brought to the scene so well. There have been many imitators, but none have done it so well (at least as I see it). What has impressed me most is his fusion of Indian music (also something I've become increasingly interested in lately).

'Intensity' has a lot of different forms and they just fit none for me. John Coltrane is very intense to me and so is Pink Floyd and so are WatchTower, just for some more divergent examples. What is Rush 'about' necessarily?

I'm not, but I've been exposed to a lot of it, since I've been around my jazzheads. Almost everyone that plays on a jazz CD is a great musician. I can totally appreciate the quality, complexity, and creativity of the music, but I simply cannot get into it since it lacks the dark nature, energy, or agression that is present in all the music I listen to. Though it is very skillyfully played high quality music, it just never "clicked" with me because it is too mellow and upbeat. That being said, I have found that Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Joe Pass, etc. were extraordinary musicians.

Jazz is a very cool style of music, and, having grown up with a great amateur jazz pianist like my father, its the very foundation from which I have built my taste in music. True, there is some boring jazz out there, the infinite recordings of standards that do nothing to advance the genre is something I`d rather not listen to. The stuff that`s great vastly outnumbers the bad stuff though. People like Michael Brecker, Mike Stern, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius and Gonzalo Rubalcaba blow my mind over and over again.

Those who voted:
@Oblivious Maximus #6
@jimmy101 N/A
@no country for old wainds N/A

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

#8 Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
(16 Points)

Genre(s):
Progressive Rock
Symphonic Prog, Jazz Rock​

Start with Godbluff. It's probably their most accessible and coherent album. Flows like butter.
Pawn Hearts is also brilliant, but it took me more effort to digest, since there are some elements that distract from the overall flow of the music at first.

They're cool but a bit cheesy at times. I love the saxophone work and the theatrics. Pawn Hearts is easily their most popular record as well as being a classic in general.

I used to love VDGG and they have some cool bits in their music, but their use of the saxophone as a main instrument(more like a weapon of mass destruction,lol) can be quite grating.Pretty much early King Crimson on a collision course with Genesis, all this taken to the nth level of psychedelia and weirdness.

Those who voted:
@crimsonfloyd #5
@Serjeant Grumbles #2
@Krow #10

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

#6 Genesis - Nursery Cryme
(18 Points)

Genre(s):
Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog
​

I'm not a big fan but I do like some of their material.

Last year, I got to work one of their reunion tour shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Was pretty awesome.

As early as Tresspass(70'-with first guitarist Anthony Phillips) and Nursery Cryme,(71'-Hacketts, and Collins first album in Genesis)they were doing guitar harmonies, along with a little tapping. Check out the song The Knife on their Tresspass album...it's a little on the heavy side. But as you know Razoredge, most 70's prog rock was way more melodic than rhythmic. A few bands such as Rush, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep were more rhythm minded. I forgot to mention Opeth being into Genesis as well. Almost every song or album title they have is based on the old 70's prog rock bands. On Deliverance, they have an instrumental titled For Absent Friends, which is on the Genesis album Nursery Cryme. And Mikaels main band Camel is influenced by Genesis...sound a bit like them. And some of the members of Camel are on that afformentioned Tribute album Suppers Ready.

I've seen a lot of people describe Genesis as bland, but then I've also caught a lot of people thinking that Genesis begins with Phil Collins and Duke - but that's where Genesis ends, for me. Between Trespass and Lamb, Genesis released some of the most structured and musically interesting, and occasionally even soothing, prog rock I think I've ever heard. They have a really incredible range.

Genesis has individual songs that I think are great, but I think there's too much balladry and whatnot trying to enjoy any of their albums on the whole. Which isn't to say soft = bad, King Crimson has some amazing more mellow or folky stuff, VDGG touched on a kind of minimal/ambient prog at points that was really unique, I love classic Yes, but Genesis kinda drops the explicit progishness. Like, I almost think it's silly that bands like Marillion are considered "neo-prog" and often inherently poppier/inferior when their stuff really isn't that different from what Genesis always did. But I'll admit that they have their moments, and that I do see potential for them to grow on me (although it's been going in the opposite direction for a while).

Those who voted:
@Oblivious Maximus #1
@Einherjar86 #3

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

#6 Salem Mass - Witch Burning
(18 Points)

Genre(s):
Heavy Psych
Psychedelic Rock
​

Salem Mass - Witch Burning
I like music with dark lyrics, not a common thing this early really but this album does it for me, baaaad. I've heard people say the occult lyrics cut out after the first couple songs but I really feel like the entire album deals with the occult. Some really catchy stuff here.

Those who voted:
@Serjeant Grumbles #1
@Krow #3

 

[Krow]

That quote looks like I typed it drunk. (Which given the timeframe of that post I probably was)

Still a great album.