GNMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1974

[Serjeant Grumbles]

1 9 7 4



Obviously make sure to hit up RYM yourself and search your favourite genres.

The deadline is 20th of December 2019.

The rules:
- submit at least 5 releases.
- first place in your rankings gets 10 points, 2nd gets 9, etcetc, 10th gets 1.
- feel free to post more than 10, but only the top 10 will get points.
- feel free to post less than 10, the same scoring will apply.
- feel free not to rank your picks, in which case all ten picks will get 5.5 points.

GNMD = General Non-Metal Discussion, so NO UNAMBIGUOUSLY METAL ALBUMS are to be included in anybody's list.

 

[Slammed]

1. Skyhooks – Living In The 70’s
2. Buffalo - Only Want You for Your Body
3. Stevie Wright - Hard Road
4. Dragon - Universal Radio
5. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
6. Suzi Quatro - Suzi Quatro
7. Queen - Queen II
8. KISS – KISS
9. Elf - Carolina County Ball
10. Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill

 

[Einherjar86]

YES. Loving this thread already, what a great year for prog (and a bunch of other shit).

1. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (by the longest of long shots, love this fucking album)
2. Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
3. Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony
4. Yes - Relayer
5. King Crimson - Red
6. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
7. Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
8. Jethro Tull - War Child (probably one of their weakest pre-1980 albums, but still... it's Tull)
9. Camel - Mirage
10. King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black

Might think on this order (haven't listened to several of these in a long time); but if I don't get around to it, this order can stand.

 

[Bloopy]

Bit of a slump year in my dad rock books, need to discover some shit.

 

[jimmy101]

Amazing year for jazz fusion. Gonna have to re-listen to a few albums before posting my list. Maybe even chop up a fresh mix beforehand too.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

1. Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
2. King Crimson - Red
3. Scorpions - Fly to the Rainbow
4. Gil Scott-Heron/Brian Jackson - Winter in America
5. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
6. Queen - Queen II
7. Lucifer's Friend - Banquet
8. Funkadelic - Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
9. Sparks - Propaganda
10. Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
Four Tops - Meeting of the Minds
Parliament - Up for the Down Stroke
Sparks - Kimono My House
Rufus - Rags to Rufus
Kansas - Kansas
Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon Three

Awesome year.

The Scorpions album is metallic but we're not doing a 1974 metal list so whatevs, if it shouldn't count I'll remove it.

Priority listens/relistens:

Area - Caution Radiation Area
Bill Withers - +'Justments
Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black
John Cale - Fear
The Meters - Rejuvenation
Miles Davis - Get Up With It
Nico - The End...
Peter Hammill - In Camera
Peter Hammill - The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage
Renaissance - Turn of the Cards
Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness' First Finale

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Lot I still need to hear from this year, but Steely Dan's likely to stay #1.

1. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
2. King Crimson - Red
3. Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
4. The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
5. Camel - Mirage
6. Budgie - In for the Kill
7. Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill
8. Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
9. Magma - Kohntarkosz
10. Kraftwerk - Autobahn

 

[Bloopy]

The Scorpions album is metallic but we're not doing a 1974 metal list so whatevs, if it shouldn't count I'll remove it.

I figure if RYM users voted against heavy metal as secondary then surely it fits here. There are some albums which have metal as secondary that I'd still put on this side of the fence. Planning to listen to it myself and see what I think though.

Budgie - In for the Kill is definitely metal though. I actually already did my metal list for the 1970s as a decade and it's #12 on there.

 

[no country for old wainds]

no order:
blue oyster cult - secret treaties
king crimson - red
scorpions - fly to the rainbow
dadawah - peace and love
camel - mirage
cluster - zuckerzeit
tangerine dream - phaedra
steeleye span - now we are six
sparks - kimono my house
neil young - on the beach

 

[CiG]

 

[Krow]

1. Camel - Mirage
2. King Crimson - Red
3. UFO - Phenomenon
4. Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill
5. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
6. Carl Zittrer - Black Christmas
7. King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black
8. Yes - Relayer
9. Queen - Queen II
10. Kansas - s/t

might have added that Scorpions album in here if it’s counted.

 

[Sirjack]

no order:
blue oyster cult - secret treaties
king crimson - red
scorpions - fly to the rainbow
dadawah - peace and love
camel - mirage
cluster - zuckerzeit
tangerine dream - phaedra
steeleye span - now we are six
sparks - kimono my house
neil young - on the beach

Dadawah Peace and Love - awesome roots trance thing! Great pic
also Phaedra! Good taste numb nuts

 

[Sirjack]

I'm gonna get properly fucking stoned and do this tonight - 74 is a great fucking year for music!

 

[Sirjack]

1 - Return To Forever - Where Have I Known You Before
2 - Billy Cobham - Total Eclipse
3 - Terje Rypdal - Whenever l Seem To Be Far Away
4 - Frank Zappa - Apostrophe!
5 - King Crimson - Red
6 - Mahavishnu Orchestra With The London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas - Apocalypse
7 - Premiata Forneria Marconi - Cook (or Live In The USA)
8 - Zappa/Mothers - Roxy & Elsewhere
9 - Billy Cobham - Crosswinds
10 - Edgar Froese - Aqua

Crickey l didn't even have a joint
.

 

[CiG]

1. Koen De Bruyne - Here Comes the Crazy Man!
2. Nico - The End...
3. Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
4. Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill
5. KISS - KISS
6. Residents - Meet the Residents
7. King Crimson - Red
8. Coloured Balls - Heavy Metal Kid
9. Kopperfield - Tales Untold
10. New York Dolls - Too Much Too Soon

Spoiler

11. KISS - Hotter Than Hell
12. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
13. Funkadelic - Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
14. John Cale - Fear
15. Kraftwerk - Autobahn
16. Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
17. Thin Lizzy - Night Life
18. Kansas - Kansas
19. Tower of Power - Back to Oakland
20. Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon Three

I've had a weird recent obsession with playing Dr. Mario every night before bed, and Koen De Bruyne's sole album has been one of my go-to albums while doing so. It really is a schizophrenic jazz fusion masterpiece. His piano improvisations MLP is also amazing.

Regarding Nico's The End... apparently before the recording of this album she had tried to reach out to Jim Morrison only to find out that he had died, so she decided to name the album after and record a cover of "The End" by The Doors, and it's one of the most dismal and emotionally bleak things I've ever heard. Probably controversial but I actually prefer her version.

These albums were excluded due to metallic concerns:

Budgie - In for the Kill
Buffalo - Only Want You for Your Body
Deep Purple - Stormbringer
Montrose - Paper Money
Rush - Rush
Scorpions - Fly to the Rainbow
UFO - Phenomenon

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

1. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
2. Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
3. Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (')
4. Waylon Jennings - This Time
5. David Allan Coe - Once Upon a Rhyme
6. Waylon Jennings -The Ramblin' Man
7. Miles Davis - Get Up With It
8. Residents - Meet the Residents
9. Nico - The End
10. John Coltrane - Interstellar Space

 

[Slayed Necros]

1. Moe Bandy - I Just Started Hatin' Cheatin' Songs Today
2. Waylon Jennings - The Ramblin' Man
3. Scorpions - Fly to the Rainbow
4. Gene Clark - No Other
5. Mickey Newbury - I Came to Hear the Music
6. Tompall Glaser - Take the Singer With the Song
7. Gram Parsons - Grevious Angel
8. David Allan Coe - The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy
9. UFO - Phenomenon
10. Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages

 

[Bloopy]

1. Residents - Meet The Residents
2. Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties
3. Scorpions - Fly to the Rainbow
4. Heins Hoffman-Richter - Music to Freak Your Friends and Break Your Lease
5. Rush - Rush
6. Aerosmith - Get Your Wings
7. Basil Kirchin - Worlds Within Worlds [parts 3-4]
8. Lucifer's Friend - Banquet
9. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
10. Kiss - Kiss

HM:
Slade - Slade in Flame
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping

While the Scorpions album has a few tracks on the metal side, I decided the majority is rock and it can stay. A bit trickier to evaluate than an album that's consistently heavy throughout, or a band that established themselves as metal enough from the beginning.

 

[jimmy101]

Good to see what I consider to be BOC's best album getting its share of love in here.

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

I've extended the due date, which may yet be extended further.