DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... 1971: Musics Greatest Year?

I received a PM awhile back from another poster that had a video breaking down Roundabout by Yes. It was a great video all the way around. One of the things that struck me was when the narrator mentioned all the great songs and albums that were released that year. I recently read another article that claimed 1971 was the greatest year for musical releases ever. I think that may be true.

Before I proceed, I want to say that I am NOT a musical expert. In fact, I know next to nothing about music. I was accused of getting upset if other people prove they know more about music than I do on another forum. That is not true. I have never once said I know a damn thing about music. I will reiterate that by saying I am a musical dummy.

With that said, I do like music. I listen to it almost all day long every day of the year. That is not an exaggeration. I listen to it while working out, doing yard work, doing my art, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I listen to it at night while posting on here. I mean......I seriously listen to music all the time because while I know nothing about it........I just enjoy it.

So, that was a backdrop for this...........I want this thread to be a "celebration of music" and not a contest of who knows the most. Thanks for playing along.

Now, about 1971. Consider these albums: [they are not in order] of my favorites. Just randomly thinking.

Led Zepplein IV
Tapestry by Carol King
Aqualung by Jethro Tull
Fragile by Yes
Meddle by Pink Floyd
Who's Next
What's Goin On by Marvin Gaye
Paranoid by Black Sabbath
L.A. Woman by the Doors
Blue by Joni Mitchel
Santana III
There's a Riot Goin On by Sly Stone
Madman Across the Water by Elton John
Nilsson Schmilsson
Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart
Pearl by Janis
Just as I Am by Bill Withers
Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
Stick Fingers by the Stones
Hunky Dory by David Bowie
Imagine by John Lennon

Here are a couple of links to check out albums in 1971:

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/albums_by_year/albums_1971.html

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/oldno1/top_60_albums_of_1971/



How about some of these songs?

Stairway to Heaven
Let's Get it On
Roundabout
Won't Get Fooled Again
Brown Sugar
Behind Blue Eyes
Rock and Roll by LZ
Wild Horses
It's Too Late
American Pie

And so many more. Here is a link to top songs: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-top-200-songs-of-1971-as-voted-by-shf-members.661074/

I think that this thread could go in a couple of different directions at the same time.

--Discuss how great the albums/songs were of that year

--Share memories of when you were listening to an album/song of that particular year

--Share another year that you think was better

So...........what do you think?

Interesting topic. I've had three albums on your list: Zeppelin 4, Who's Next and LA Woman.

That is a very impressive list you have there.

1967 would be another great one but I'm not sure it'd top '71.

Thanks lamp. I know you know your music.

'67 was a great year. I think '69 was, too.

1971 was the year before I was born, but my collection leans heavily towards the 70s. As far as that specific year and the albums listed, my favorites are Meddle and What's Going On.

I'd add Islands by King Crimson.

I have the vinyl of most of my early 70's stuff and really enjoy looking at the liner notes and artwork. Gotta wear the headphones when the opportunity is there.

Sticky Fingers is one of the Stones' best, I'll say that.

Wow, I just did a quick search on why 1971 was music's greatest year and check this page out. Man, I'm not the only one who thinks that it was the greatest year in music.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=why+1971+was+musics+greatest+year

Thanks for adding the King Crimson album. I meant to add it, but forgot. Hell man.............I didn't list a ton of them that intended to. It was truly a remarkable year.......in my opinion.

There were no computers per se, no internet, telephones belonged to a building and room, not an individual person, there were no video games, no arcades in 1971, Things may have been invented, but they didn't proliferate into the general population's experience.

There was, a strong grip by a nano portion of the population on any motion picture camera access

But musical instruments were available all over the world,

Get this, even in 1971, real access to long range airline travel, was limited, it was for the rich, (imo), and the real value of "one" trip was probably 10-25 times the cost it is today,

So the world, the whole world was completely less interconnected than it is or even has been since 99 for example.

So if Memphis, and Knoxville, and Atlanta, were as far and separated from Arizona, or Southern Cal, or Upstate New York, or Denver

As China, Australia, the middle east, and Europe and the USA are today,

Music was the #1 venue for expression, then books and news print whatever,

All of these things contributed, think of Devon Super tramp, think of keyboard cat, or viral videos, you tube stars,

if they had been born in 1951, they would have only music for their expression, or conformity to whatever Hollywood would require or exclude, I mean tv or movie making access was a "nano" percentage of the population, I believe that.

I started to post to make this point:
hehe, looking back, I could make the point of taking music from the 70's up through about 1981 or 82,
skipping a few years

and picking it up again about the time Grunge came out of Seattle but for about 8 years it seems all musicians went tone deaf.

I don't think there was a better year, but ceratinaly a better decade.<--

(That reminds me, What did JFK mean by "and the other thing", in his most famous speech? )
decade- pff, who pronounces it like that John?

I’ll add that The Grateful Dead released a really solid, very listenable album in ‘71. While not their best album as a whole it wasn’t a studio album. It was a two album collection of live tracks. All of them stellar performances. A really good collection of originals such as Bertha, and The Other One. It also has some great covers. I love the Me and Bobby McGee.

Your list seems focused on rock,

There was enough to make your case even if you threw your whole genre out, and made it with ballads, country, international,
There was a ton of better music back then, like 50-1

Most of your list is rock. Let's not forget that some amazing soul came out in '71 too. "What's Going On" being the big one, but some other key releases came out that year too. Same with funk, which was the grittier sound of soul. And, there are some killer jazz records released in '71.

But, as most are talking rock music...for about a year Grand Funk Railroad were the biggest rock band in the US. Their star burned brightest between 70-71 and almost as fast as it arrived it was snuffed out just as quickly. But, we still have this video of them at their pinnacle from Shea Stadium. Check out the crowd of boys on the ledge at around the '55sec mark...you think they were having fun?

Portland, my favorite Dead years are '68-72, but I feel in my comfort zone up until about '77/78. That said, if I had to choose a favorite year it would be '71. It's often overlooked by a lot of deadheads due to the massive 70 and 72 bookends, but I love how they return to rock and roll and just have a lot of fun during that year. Plus, Garcia and Hunter and Weir and Barlow were hitting magic that year as well. But, it's also a sad year with Pig having a lot of health troubles and Mickey Hart leaving in February.

"You cannot talk about rock in the 1970s without talking about Grand Funk Railroad!" ~ David Fricke, Rolling Stone senior editor.

Two Fun Facts:

Grand Funk sold out Shea in 72 hours... it took the Beatles a week.

Grand Funk is touring for their 50th anniversary right now.

I have their first 4 albums + their Live Album. I remember hearing the Live one when I was like 8 or 9 and it crushing my skull. My favorite LP of theirs though are 'Closer To Home' and 'Survival'.

All of that said...read ANY review of them back then and they were massacred! Especially by Lester Bangs and Creem. I have a few of his books that collects his writings from back then and man, he annihilated them and often said they were rock for dummies. When I listen to the lyrics on the two albums I highlight, however, I don't hear a dumb Friday night parking lot/pub rock band, I hear a band speaking fairly introspectively about their times.

Looking at it as someone who wasn’t born yet: It seems like the years 67-72 is the HEIGHT of music in America ... things in society were SO revolutionary and the music symbolized that movement.

Some great, transcendent stuff from that chunk of 5 years

Chick Corea's "A.R.C." and Miles Davis' "Jack Johnson" were '71 as well. My Chick Corea was taken by an ex girlfriend, so that's a disc.

Love the earlier fusion stuff.

Thanks Vers,,, you've done a terrific job of making me feel as old as I actually am....YIKES.....LOL

Right on! A fantastic, but often forgotten album in his back catalogue!

Stephen Stills' self-titled first solo album after leaving CSNY was released in late 1970, but it charted in 1971, peaking at #3 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It had two "hits" on it, the best known being "Love The One You're With" and the other lesser known, "Sit Yourself Down". But the two cuts that really blew me away were "Go Back Home" with Eric Clapton, and "Old Times, Good Times" with Jimi Hendrix. I read that its the only album to ever feature both of the legendary guitarists. Even if you hadn't read the liner notes, you would know it was them by their playing.

The album also demonstrates the considerable vocal and instrumental skills of Stills, and features a who's who of musical contributors:

Stephen Stills – vocals, guitars, bass, piano, organ, steel drum, percussion; horn and string arrangements on "Church," "To a Flame," and "Cherokee"; electric sitar on "Cherokee"

Jimi Hendrix – electric guitar on "Old Times Good Times"

Eric Clapton – electric guitar on "Go Back Home"

Booker T. Jones – organ on "Cherokee"; backing vocal on "We Are Not Helpless"

Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuel – bass on "Love the One You're With," "Church," "Old Times Good Times," "Go Back Home," and "Sit Yourself Down"

Conrad Isidore – drums on "Church" and "Old Times Good Times"

Johnny Barbata – drums on "Go Back Home" and "Sit Yourself Down"

Ringo Starr – drums on "To a Flame" and "We Are Not Helpless"

Dallas Taylor – drums on "Cherokee"

Jeff Whittaker – congas on "Love the One You're With" and "Old Times Good Times"

Sidney George – flute, alto saxophone on "Cherokee"

Rita Coolidge, David Crosby, Priscilla Jones, John Sebastian – backing vocals on "Love the One You're With," "Go
Back Home," "Sit Yourself Down," and "We Are Not Helpless"

Cass Elliott, Claudia Lennear – backing vocals on "Go Back Home," "Sit Yourself Down," and "We Are Not Helpless"

Graham Nash – backing vocals on "Love the One You're With," "Sit Yourself Down," and "We Are Not Helpless"

Judith Powell, Larry Steele, Liza Strike, Tony Wilson – backing vocals on "Church"

Sherlie Matthews – backing vocals on "We Are Not Helpless"

In 1967 rock and roll was technically only 12 years old and it had the addition of drugs, especially LSD, that musicians used as a catalyst to explore. But, keep in mind, the sounds they were creating were also all new. There wasn't much in the wheelhouse to borrow. These days, however, there is so much one can borrow from. For example...when grunge exploded in 89-91 those bands culled from 60s, 70s psychedelic rock, heavy rock, metal and punk. Even the most psychedelic bands in 1967 were still pulling from the blues, R&B, folk, country, bluegrass and pop.

I think Vers has circled in on a good year...1971 is when rock music really exploded. No longer were rock bands just copying the blues...they were taking the blues, borrowing a bit of Jimi and mixing it up with different types of distortion pedals and turning the volume up to 11. But, they were also singing about different things. Post Altamont and Manson...the hippie dream was dead. Black Sabbath are the perfect example. They were from Birmingham, an industrial town rising out of the ashes of WW2 with little going for it and not much hope. It couldn't be further from San Francisco. Flowers in your hair? Peace and Love amongst its suffocating industrial smokestacks and dour grey skies? It was the perfect breeding ground for their drone heavy, doom laden nihilism. I actually think Sabbath changed rock music more than most think or give credit.

But, soul, funk and jazz were also hitting their strides by 1971 too. The lyrics of soul music were much more of a world weary reflection of the black perspective in a way that 60s soul never was. It was now the sound and voice of the inner city and the ghettos left behind due to white flight in NYC, Philly, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis etc. Add some heavy bottom, a grooving rhythm & beat and some killer wah and fuzz & you have Funk. Jazz at this time was also incorporating more rock and funk into its sound, which is super cool.

Yeah, '71 was a good year.

When my niece and nephew asked me if I used to be a hippy in high school and college, I said "No, we didn't do "peace-love-doves". I'm from the "Won't Get Fooled Again" generation.

Was "Who's Next" from 1971?


*Edit* "Who's Next" was released in June, 1971.

This song was the answer to a trivia question I used to ask people at parties.

What was the first big song by a former Beatle?



1971

Great song. "Ram" is a good album to boot.

Actually, I believe the correct answer to that trivia question would be "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney, from his self-titled album in 1970 (aka, the "Cherries Album"), although George Harrison's "What is Life?" might be in there too.

What a cute (and talented) ~ 14 year old girl.

The Doors: their two best albums were their first one and their last one.

So they went in through the out door? Oh wait, wrong band...

Jim Morrison was on another level ... Light My Fire is just incredible to me.

I may have missed it, but Simon and Garfunkle's Bridge Over Troubled Water was the album of the year.

1971 Grammy nominations and winners. The hometown Cleveland Orchestra won 2-3.

http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1971-220.html

I had to check, Bridge Over Troubled Water came out in 1970.

What a fascinating topic.
Has someone brought up the Stones,Sticky Fingers?
Rod Stewart-Every Picture tells a story
Van-St.Dominics Preview
Black Sabbeth-I think it was titled Masters of Reality(masters of something,maybe it was putting worms on hooks-bating)

Somebody say Simon & Garfunkle?



1971 (+ 4 years)

Sorry,you had these covered

I'm one of those rare people who like George's solo stuff more than McCartney's.

Me too. I'm not a fan of sappy, saccharine ditties like "Silly Love Songs" or "My Love Does It Good" ... and don't even get me started about "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time". AAARGH!

Depends on my mood whether I go with McCartney or Harrison solo stuff.

Lennon stuck in some good stuff with deeper tracks as well.

Many folks knock Wings (maybe rightly so), but McCartney really did do some quality material with Denny Laine in that band. Imo.

I prefer Harrison's solo stuff, and his work with the Traveling Wilburys really swings it in his favor - JMO.