1975

Here's where things really start to get... different.  The new generation takes over and some bring it back, some take it somewhere else new.  Mostly they do both.  A lot of the older guys come back with something very new and unexpected.  Either way, this year is maybe the biggest turning point in rock and here are ten of the best examples.

10.  Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Dylan's first "comeback" album of many (and probably most-deserved after some of the inexplicable dreck he had mad earlier in the decade) is the birth of divorce rock.  It became something of a fad as the hippie generations beliefs on love prove faulty.  It still happens today and does produce some great records, check out the Apples in Stereo's 2010 Travelers in Space and Time (I don't feel like waiting another 35 or more days to recommend it).  It is a return not only to form but to his folk roots and a high point in terms of songwriting.  The talk-singing is at its best here with some of the songwriter's best lyrics that can't stop, making for some of his longest and most energetic work.  "Idiot Wind" and of course "Tangled Up In Blue," are some of his most cherished songs and their wild style continues throughout.  "A Simple Twist of Fate," is a personal favorite.

9.  The Dictators - The Dictators Go Girl Crazy
More proudly Jewish rock here from the Bronx.  The Dictators, still often placed in the metal category, inexplicably may be the definitive New York punk band.  For one there's the accents, for another Punk magazine was formed with the sole intention of meeting the makers of this record, and yet another, they're hilarious.  The album art revolving around the band and "secret weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba says all that, as do brilliant songs like "Teengenerate" with it's opening lyrics "who's that boy with the sandwich in his hand?" and "(I Live For) Cars and Girls."  It's the sound of a teenage sausage fest complete with plenty of beer-soaked pro-wrestling theatricality.  It's even got great musicianship all around on top of all that.  Where were Americas teenage boys in 1975?  Clearly not interested in any fun or eating eggs all day, otherwise this band would have been as big as the Stones.  Ideal music for eating at McDonald's for lunch or doing your homework at the bar.

8.  Sparks - Propoganda
Sparks albums often come in pairs and this one is at least the equal of Kimono My House.  Musicianship increases to an even higher level and lyrics move into stranger territory, found immediately on the vocal workout that is the title track.  After that the album kicks in hard with the stalker theme "At Home At Work At Play." The humor is as high as ever, as seen on titles like "Don't Leave Me Alone With Her," but there is more drama on the story of a family devastated by divorce "BC."  That plus the cinematic adventure of "Bon Voyage" which sets a standard in closing tracks that only Sparks themselves could outdo a few years later.  Even with all the growth, the brothers keep their feet on the ground with the glam of "Achoo" and Russell's flamboyant falsetto stretches on "Who Don't Like Kids?"  This is as essential as any other Sparks record.

7.  John Cale - Slow Dazzle
Cale's days at the top were beginning to end (after the follow-up Helen of Troy I sadly still have yet to hear) thanks to his coke addiction at this point.  This album certainly sounds like it.  It's all over the place, gets dark, gets innocent, gets funny, and is always very weird.  It is best known for its heavy proto-goth cover of "Heartbreak Hotel," but this is just a minor detail.  The Western piano of the Springsteen-esque "Ski Patrol," and the Kevin Ayers revenge slam of "Guts," are even better tunes.  Even in the search for classic sounds "Dirtyass Rock 'n' Roll excels  best at that, completely living up to its title.  Then there's "I'm Not the Loving Kind," and his most successful attempt at the mainstream "Taking It All Away."  Ending with "The Jeweller" hearkens back to some of his work on White Light/White Heat making this perhaps Cale's most well-rounded work... plus Manzanera and Eno.

6.  Be Bop Deluxe - Futurama
Glam, prog, and power-pop all come together on this huge album produced by Roy Thomas Baker.  His over-the top style is in full effect, but only enhances the brilliant songwriting and guitar virtuosity of the young Bill Nelson.  Nelson's rhythm section of New Zealand bassist Charles Tumahai and drummer Simon Fox.  Fox's playing sticks out in particular on the transcendent centerpiece of the album "Sound Track," on which the many elements behind this record's strength come out into one of rock's hugest songs of all time.  Immediately after is the one that says it all, "Music In Dreamland," with its unfathomable lead that keeps the progressive complexity in melodic territory.  Pop is at is peak on the concise romance of "Maid in Heaven," a catchy little rocker that belongs on any and every 70s mix.  The prog is most evident on "Between the Worlds" and "Sister Seagull," but every track emits the kind of youthful attitude that keeps Nelson and company firmly in the world of punk.

5.  Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Finally my home state makes it's debut (well, there was already Funkadelic, but their originas are a little more transient) on this list!  Of course, there will be plenty more where that came from.  Well, what else can I say?  It's not how much you like the Boss, it's how big the part of you that LOVES the boss is.  This will always  be his definitive work.  Its sound is as big as the  last album on this list yet its themes and creator are as down to Earth as a rotting boardwalk post in the man's home town (if there are any left now).  "Thunder Road," will forever be the theme of escape and the title track will always be one of the greatest songs ever created.  Springsteen takes a cue from hero Dylan ending the album with the nine and a half-minute "Jungleland" and his working class romantic poetry covers all his words on this album.  The E Street Band is no joke either.  Album cover co-star Clarence Clemens' sax may really be what broke this one through, but one can never give enough credit to all-star stick man Max Weinberg either.  This is New Jersey.

4.  Pink  Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Going even further into the theme of their lost mate, Floyd make their third masterpiece in a row.  Now one of the most successful bands in the world, their music reflects on the darker sides of the rock star life, most famously on "Have a Cigar," but their take is still sincere and yet to fall into the well of pretension.  While the concept is Waters' four members still function as a single unit, with Mason and Gilmour just as much a part of the songwriting process.  The nine-part "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," would not have been such a success otherwise.  Barrett's appearance at the sessions may have had a lot to do with the album's achievement, but the full-circle effect may have been the band's undoing.  The fortuitous, "Welcome to the Machine," may have signaled the beginning of the end as Waters' control on the band increases, eventually to ill effect.  Regardless of what happened next (or more accurately, after next) this is one of rock's greatest bands at its peak.

3.  Van Der Graaf Generator - Godbluff
Even darker is the return of Van Der Graaf Generator.  After four years, Peter Hammill formally reunites with keyboardist/studio bassist Hugh Banton, drummer Guy Evans, and sax man David Jackson to create their finest work.  Julian Cope has said that Hammill came close to "THE TRUTH" on this album and with all its hellish arrangements and more direct lyrics, he may be right.  Either way, his statement says a lot about the four epics that make up this album.  "Scorched Earth" opening the album should confirm that.  The guitar-less group uses their instrumental prowess and unusual approach to maximum effect on this album with Evans keeping the beat simple enough at times to let the music speak for itself.  On the other end, "Arrow" begins with a free-jazz introduction that signals the second side will be no easier than the first.  Then it concludes with "The Sleepwalkers," probably the group's best piece of music.  It's apocalyptic beat and organ build and build until Jackson's blaring saxophone and Hammill's howling vocals lead the listener beyond Armageddon into the new world with its new world of post-punk followers.

2.  NEU! - NEU! 75
The krautrock professionals finish up their run on a high note with this album.  The year in its title functions as to show that two years have past since the last album, and the evolution heard on it clearly has doubled.  This one is their best-realized with the range of styles growing even more than on the last.  "Isi," with it's gentle piano and joyful synthesizers achieves a relaxed beauty beyond that of even Faust's most tender moments.  The following "Seeland" continues the beauty with its symphonic build.  The album has much more of a synthesizer presence which is played with such careful delicacy it gives NEU! a feminine quality rare in krautrock (and probably all German music).  "Leb' Wohl" continues with this soft side, but the second side does get more aggressive, although not without the added charm of vocals.  Those are heard quite differently than on the previous track on "Hero," a song with an echo heard in many of the post-punk groups that followed, particularly Devo's "Beautiful World."  The band returns to their classic tried and true form on the ten-minute "E-Musik," before more punk fury on "After Eight."  Forget what else you hear, this is their best album.

1.  Brian Eno - Another Green World
Another one of those impossibly-perfectly-titled albums.  Eno's greatest and most-cherished work evokes that image of a fresh, untouched class-M planet after the trying journey though, dark, unfriendly space.  The sounds heard here are without peer, before or after, perhaps as this is Eno's most personal work, with only minimal contributions from frequent collaborators Robert Fripp, John Cale, and Phil Collins.  While still a pop record, its many instrumental tracks foreshadow his move into purely ambient music.  They have a lot more life to them than that, best seen in the lift to the heavens that is "The Big Ship," a minimalist masterpiece that transmits right to the heart.  In fact, Eno's heart is bared as much as his chest on the back cover contrasting from his image as a robot/alien, with songs like "Everything Merges with the Night," and the adorable "I'll Come Running."  The self-proclaimed "non-musician" pays extra-close attention to every note and every sound, making this album as much a work of modern classical music as rock, avant-garde, or the burgeoning electronica form.  It is all the finest music ever made, but no review would be complete without mention of "St. Elmo's Fire," with some of Robert Fripp's finest playing, and Eno's most ethereal synthesizer work.


I would like to take this opportunity to say that I do like Steely Dan and to not apologize for any Star Trek references.  I think they are helpful, even without much familiarity with the show.