1975 is the battle of the behemoths. I kept my list at seven albums because it was so strong at the top. I didn't even bother including Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. For a change, I will give you my whole list of contenders so you understand the magnitude of my decisions. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here, Bruce Springsteen Born to Run, Queen Night at the Opera, Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti, RUSH Fly by Night, Paul McCartney and Wings Venus and Mars and ELO Face the Music.
In the past 24 hours, I have changed my number one. It was always going to be Zeppelin, but at the last minute I'm going with Springsteen. I know they always say to stick with your first instinct, but Born to Run is the best and most important album of 1975. I have posted before about "Thunder Road". It's arguably the number one song in the American songbook. The opening line is so evocative; "Screen door slams, Mary's dress waves. Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays". And the title track isn't far behind. The last verse is so powerful. "1,2,3,4 The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive. Everybody's out on the run tonight, but there's no place left to hide. Together Wendy we can live with the sadness. I'll love you with all the madness in my soul. Someday girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun. But til then tramps like us baby we were born to run". I love count in's. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out", "She's the One" and "Jungleland" ain't bad either. Oh, I almost forgot Clarence Clemons. He's pretty good too.
So, number two is Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin. It's safe to say this is the best double album of the Seventies. Sure, it would have been a better single album, but I'm not going to be that guy today. To me, this is peak Zeppelin. "Custard Pie", "The Rover", "Houses of the Holy" and "Trampled Under Foot" is the band at their most confident. One of my personal favorites is "In My Time of Dying". I mostly love it for the ending when Robert Plant sings "My dying, dying...cough". I love that kind of screwing around on records. Obviously, the standout track is "Kashmir". It's epic.
Number three is Pink Floyd. The title track is Gilmour-tastic. The interesting thing about the recording of Wish You Were Here is Syd Barrett showing up in the studio while they were laying down "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", which was about him. At first, the band didn't even recognize him, because he was fat and bald. This is my favorite Pink Floyd album.
Finally, Night at the Opera by Queen. This is on my Mt. Rushmore solely on the strength of "Bohemian Rhapsody". That was the first song I heard as a kid that blew mind mind. All the movements and dynamics were crazy. There was nothing else like it at the time, at least that I was aware of.
Looking ahead to 1974, definitely not as good as 1975. I will come up with four albums, but none of them would have cracked 1975, or most of the other years in the Seventies. I think I have a number one nailed down, though. Peace.
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