If You Think Things Are Bad in America Now...

...consider American music a half-century ago. No wonder Ira & Co. focused on "trans-oceanic" music in them days. If American rock had a worse year, I don't think I wanna know. I mean, what the holy hell was goin on in '75:

-Elvis was in his final decline
-Beach Boys/Brian Wilson, Iggy, NYDolls/former members, Capt Beefheart, the Residents, and Flamin Groovies released no recordings
- glam and funk were largely over
- some of the least-loved albums by greats like Lou Reed ("Metal Machine Music"), and Sparks
-"Feelings," "Love Will Keep Us Together," "Chevy Van," oh god I can't go on looking at the hit singles list

If a time-traveler sent me back to 1975 with a record store gift certificate, what American albums would I buy?
-Patti Smith "Horses"
- Dictators "Go Girl Crazy"
- Tom Waits "Nighthawks at the Diner"
-Neil Young "Tonight's the Night" and/or "Zuma" - not my faves from Neil, but it's still Neil.
-"The Tubes" (tho just for 2 songs)
ummm, maybe Zappa/Beefhearts' "Bongo Fury "...and then Alice Coopers "Welcome To My Nightmare," but only if I had few bucks left over that I didn't want to waste...

Not rock, but still some funky stuff a-happening with the Ohio Players, Herbie Hancock, and Parliament's classic "Mothership Connection." Looks like Curtis Mayfield had an album in '75. Not familiar with it, but can't be too bad, eh?

1975 also sported twin weak albums by fave icons like Roxy Music and David Bowie. Of the two I'd give "Young Americans" the edge. After decades of enforced listening, I now like half of it. The tracks taken off for "Fame" and [shudder] "Across The Universe" were two of the stronger ones in my opinion. I will rate "Fame" as a classic, though. The first Roxy Music song I heard was "Love is the Drug" and it rocked my world as a child, but apart from "Out Of The Blue," "Siren" was a terrible record. Dull and MOR. Too many drugs? The one Roxy album I can't find much love for. When it flows pretty copiously for everything else. Kraftwerk had the weak album from their imperial run in 1975 with "Radio Activity" as well. At least it inspired one of the best OMD records. Maybe it was down to the post-Nixon zeitgeist? "Futurama" is the one Be-Bop Deluxe album I've never had/heard. Based on trends, I'd expect that to be a weak one too. Not thrilled with "Another Green World." Yep. 1975 = doldrums.

Oopers. Didn't notice the "American" qualifier. My bad.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2025 07:28AM by Post-Punk Monk.

Post-Punk Monk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Futurama" is the one Be-Bop Deluxe
> album I've never had/heard. Based on trends, I'd
> expect that to be a weak one too.

It's an outstanding album. On any given day, my second favorite of theirs behind Sunburst Finish. You should check it out!

It's not "Trouser Press music," but I'd buy Steely Dan's KATY LIED and Miles Davis' AGHARTA.

The anguished shriek you just heard was Rolling Stone upon hearing someone dissing the year Born To Run was released.

Not American, but Ian Hunter's solo debut atones for a few of 1975's sins - including his old bandmates' Drive On, which I insist on having a perverse affection for despite its blatant wretchedness.

On the American front, Blood On the Tracks was also a bit of all right.

And Kiss blessed the world with both Dressed To Kill and Alive!

One of the advantages that comes with the passing of time is that most of the crap gets forgotten and the stuff that actually meant something substantial will find a way to endure (usually by influence or by its steadfast champions making sure later generations know about it).

It's not until I wade through something like Rhino's 70s collections that I realize how much of a wasteland the decade was, but otherwise, the only albums I ever hear about from 1975 are pretty great, so much I always thought it was a landmark year.

Yes, we got masterpieces from Parliament (and another one from Funkadelic), Neil Young (both are among my favorites) and Patti Smith, but I'd argue we also got them from Bob Dylan*, Willie Nelson, Burning Spear, Richard & Linda Thompson and Brian Eno (possibly my favorite of his vocal albums). More than a few would add John Cale, and even more would add Joni Mitchell (especially in the wake of a massive re-evaluation of her work). Keith Jarrett and Bob Marley released two of the greatest live albums ever. Kate and Anna McGarrigle's debut is great, I would never do without it. Neu! also made another great album.

Clifton Chenier released what may have been the greatest zydeco album ever. (Robert Christgau's backhanded compliment to him was that he's a big fish in a small pond, but that's an uncharitable and ignorant thing to say about any regionalist genre. Imagine the country without any regionalist music, especially around New Orleans - what seemed like small ponds is now replaced by a vast boring and uniform wasteland.)

Tony Bennett made his best (and his own favorite) work with his first album with Bill Evans. Duke Ellington released what may have been his last great work, The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse.

Not music I feel particularly passionate about, but popular "classic rock" staples like the Buckingham-Nicks-era Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and Roger Waters-era Pink Floyd all released one of their best albums in 1975.

They're usually not hailed as great album artists, but the Spinners and War both released the last album in what remains a commendable run of fine albums, and like the others they both featured some of their greatest singles. Earth, Wind & Fire also released another commendable studio album and what's arguably their best album, the mostly-live Gratitude, both with great singles. Emmylou Harris released two commendable albums from what was the beginning of her peak years in terms of popularity.

Hank Williams Jr. & Friends - yes, he may be deeply disliked for many reasons now, but that one album from 1975 is a country-rock classic and remains so.

And I also will vouch for Springsteen, Steely Dan and Roxy Music - obviously their albums from 1975 don't appeal to everyone here, but I think they're great albums. They may not be my favorites from them or even my favorite era from their career, but part of what I enjoy about them is how they capture something fairly different from another phase of their work.

What some have called disappointing but I still enjoy in ascending order of quality: Al Green, the Who and the Band. Green is one of my very favorite artists from the '70s, but even though he made plenty of great albums, that was not the case in 1975. He still came up with a good single and a truly great deep cut - the rest is still an enjoyable way to pass the time. The Who were in decline, but they were still pretty high up on the hill, and I think what they came up with is a fascinatingly personal album, save for a silly novelty hit that doesn't bother me so much anymore. And as far as their studio albums go, I think the Band went out on a high note (not counting the contractual vault-clearing Islands). Northern Lights-Southern Cross has some of their best cuts and excellent musicianship from start to finish, especially Garth Hudson (RIP) who was still growing by leaps and bounds.

*Dylan especially had a great year - besides Blood on the Tracks, the "Basement Tapes" finally came out (which tbf was still missing crucial tracks, had unnecessary post-production that tainted it a bit, and Robbie Robertson shoved in eight Band tracks that didn't actually belong even if they were good). He also closed out the year with the Rolling Thunder Revue which is beloved by many Dylan fans. Persoally, it's not my favorite Dylan music as I have some reservations about that tour and later Desire, but I agree with most fans that it's definitely the second best Dylan album recorded and released in the 1970s. And I also think "Abandoned Love" is a great song. Too bad it remained unreleased for ten years, but we do have a serendipitous recording of the only known live performance, and despite the low fidelity, it smokes the studio outtake.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2025 01:49AM by belfast.

I was specifically talking about American rock. Lots of British and non-rock albums on these lists, which only proves my point.

I was picking stuff like Parliament cuz I couldn’t find too many American rock n roll albums worth a damn. The popularity of Dylan and Brooce baffles me so that’s not gonna change my mind!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2025 03:35AM by MrFab.

Great year for experimental music:
Eno: Discreet Music, Evening Star
Neu!: 75
Harmonia: Deluxe
Tangerine Dream: Rubycon
Jan Hammer: The First Seven Days
Miles Davis: Agharta, Pangaea
Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic

Right, but again: none of that is American rock!

.

Let's see, let's see ... By my count, I have about 45 different albums from 1975.

But only about a fourth of them made their way into my collection during that year.

And, using the criterion of an existing review on this site, only two of those contemporaneous purchases are the work of TP bands.