It wasn't uncommon in the early days of recorded music for artists to put out more than one album a year. By the 70's, this was less common, but there are two bands in my 6-10 group who released two albums in 1974. It's amazing that they were all well produced, original studio albums. When Bowie did it in 1973, one of the albums was all covers.
10. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack (4.5 Stars)
Queen released two albums in 1974, Queen 2 and Sheer Heart Attack. I rated Sheer Heart Attack higher because it's a stellar rock album; whereas Queen 2 is a prog album that I don't like as much as several other prog records that came out that year. Queen was probably able to put out two albums in 1974 because every member of the band was a songwriter. SHA has three classic Queen rockers, "Killer Queen", "Now I'm Here", and "Stone Cold Crazy". "Now I'm Here" is my favorite track. The performances by the band members and the composition of the song are mind blowing. In general, Queen is a "hits" band for me, but even the album cuts are excellent here. I could argue it's their best "album".
9. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (4.5 Stars)
One result of this deep dive is I listened to many albums for the first time. Consequently, Sweet's Desolation Boulevard and Bowie's Diamond Dogs were knocked out of my 1974 Mt. Rushmore. It's no knock on those records, I just hadn't listened to several classic 1974 records until this dive. Diamond Dogs is still a top 5 Bowie album for me. It marks the end of my favorite period of Bowie. The title track starts out with the disclaimer. "This ain't rock 'n' roll, this is genocide". Well, it's also rock 'n' roll. In fact, it's throwback 50's rock 'n' roll with insane Bowie lyrics. "As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent you asked for the latest party". The standout track though is "Rebel, Rebel". The riff is great, and it probably has the best pre-chorus ever. "They put you down, they say I'm wrong. You tacky thing, you put them on". Diamond Dogs is divisive album in Bowie's catalog, but I love it.
8. King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black (4.5 Stars)
I love prog, but King Crimson had always been a blind spot for me...until this dive. They released two albums in 1974 and they are both masterpieces. The lineup of Robert Fripp, John Wetton and Bill Bruford is brilliant. I was familiar with Wetton from his time in the supergroup Asia and Bruford is a prog drumming legend, but I had no appreciation for Robert Fripp. I knew of him, but never really listened to him. On the album Starless and Bible Black, he sounds like John McLaughlin from the Bitches Brew sessions. He's amazing. The parts I like most on this album are the ones that sound like Bitches Brew, "We'll Let You Know", "The Mincer", and the title track. This would be a 5-star album if the song "Trio" had been left off. Fripp does a lot of staccato playing on this album, especially on "Fracture" and the opener "The Great Deceiver". Musically, "Fracture" has a similar sound to parts of Genesis' Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which also came out in 1974. "The Great Deceiver" is a bonkers jam. Then Wetton keeps singing about cigarettes, ice cream, Cadillacs, blue jeans and the Virgin Mary. It's awesome. I can also see where this album was probably an influence on The Flaming Lips' Embryonic era.
7. Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (4.5 Stars)
Granted, there is a ton of Zappa that I haven't gotten around to listening to yet, but Apostrophe is my favorite of what I've heard. It starts out with a suite of songs where Frank dreams he's an eskimo named Nanook. His favorite seal is clubbed by a trapper with a lead-filled snowshoe. He gets revenge by rubbing yellow snow into the trapper's eyes. Then the trapper goes on a journey to restore his eyesight. This may sound juvenile, and it sort of is, but Zappa's delivery is hilarious, and the music is technically brilliant. The standout track on Apostrophe is "Cosmik Debris". The guitar solo is incendiary and the chorus of backup singers singing "Look here brother, who you jivin' with that cosmik debris" is exquisite. Another highlight is the nearly six-minute title track. It's a bombastic instrumental that features Jack Bruce and Jim Gordon. George Duke is featured on the gospel inspired track, "Uncle Remus". Seriously, the musicianship on Apostrophe is worth checking out.
6. Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (4.5 Stars)
This is an album, much like Carol King's Tapestry, that I had some kind of inexplicable bias against. I decided to give it a listen for the dive and it's phenomenal. I did remember the song "Help Me" and it certainly resonates with me more than it did when I was 10 years old. I have a vague recollection of "Free Man in Paris", which features backing vocals by Crosby and Nash. Joni's vocal performance is incredible on this whole record, as are her lyrics and piano playing. There is a jazz element as well, provided by guitarist Larry Carlton and Tom Scott on reeds. "Raised on Robbery" is an up-tempo rocker which features Joe Sample on electric piano and Robbie Robertson on guitar. There's also a crazy cover of "Twisted" which features Cheech and Chong on backing vocals. I've finally learned my lesson about unfounded biases. Peace.
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