Any Major Albums of the Year: 1975
In 1975 I was still too young to buy albums, so — unlike the Albums of 1985 I posted earlier this year — this set of 20 favourite albums from that year was accumulated post-factum. The first of these I bought was Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, still with the black wrap cover, around 1979 or 1980.
That album is an obvious choice — it is the best record of the year, after all — as is Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run, and perhaps also Earth, Wind & Fire’s Gratitude, Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, Steely Dan’s Katy Lied, or Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album, their first with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Some inclusions are less expected (Linda Lewis, Allen Toussaint, Michael Franks), but this is a collection of favourites, not a “Best of” ranking. That means some “obvious choices” didn’t make the cut: some because I don’t really know them (Patti Smith’s Horses), or I know but don’t like them as highly as others (Queen’s A Night At The Opera, Led Zep’s Physical Graffiti, Joni Mitchell’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, Jefferson Starship’s Red Octopus, or the two Neil Young albums).
Others landed up in 21st spot: Bowie’s Young Americans, Curtis Mayfield’s There’s No Place Like America Today, Roberta Flack’s Feel Like Makin’ Love, Emmylou Harris’s Pieces Of The Sky, The Isley Brothers’ The Heat Is On, and Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan. Then there was ABBA’s eponymous set, with a couple of killer tracks but also too much disposable material. Earth, Wind & Fire’s That’s The Way Of The World fell victim to my one-artist-per-list rule.
Speaking of EWF, the featured track is the incredible live version of Reasons, on which Philip Bailey duels with saxophonist Don Myrick, whom Bailey namechecks at the end of the solo. Myrick was shot dead by police in 1993, the officer having “mistaken” the cigarette lighter in his hand for a weapon…
One act here will be obscure to virtually everybody reading this. Josh Sithole was a South African jazz musician who, as a boy in the 1960s, cut his teeth playing kwela on the streets of Cape Town. In the 1970s the guitarist recorded a couple of albums, including the groove-filled Joshua Sithole’s Africa. The featured track is a Crusaders cover; the US jazz-fusion band could well have made use of a player like Sithole.
In the 1980s and ’90s, Sithole was a popular act on the Cape Town club and bar circuit — his version of Rodriguez’s I Wonder had crowds dancing on tables. In 1993, he had a residency in a student bar and was performing there on New Year’s Eve when terrorists attacked the venue, killing four and injuring seven. Sithole survived unharmed. He died in 1999.
The albums of 1975 had some strange covers (check Hall & Oates anticipating the New Romantics!), and I don’t think the photo of Marlena Shaw on her album is flattering, but maybe it goes well with the best of all 1975 LP titles: Who Is This Bitch, Anyway?
And if there was only one album I may keep from 1975? I think it would be Earth, Wind & Fire’s Gratitude. So, what are your albums of 1975?
This mix won’t fit on a CD-R but I’ve made covers anyway, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.
1. Parliament – Chocolate City (Chocolate City)
2. Allen Toussaint – What Do You Want The Girl To Do? (Southern Nights)
3. Bill LaBounty – Lie To Me (Promised Love)
4. Daryl Hall & John Oates – Alone Too Long (Daryl Hall & John Oates)
5. Fleetwood Mac – Monday Morning (Fleetwood Mac)
6. Bruce Springsteen – Backstreets (Born To Run)
7. Steely Dan – Any World (That I’m Welcome To) (Katy Lied)
8. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Trenchtown Rock (Live! At The Lyceum)
9. Joshua Sithole – Soul Ship (Joshua Sithole’s Africa)
10. Camille Yarbrough – Take Yo’ Praise (The Iron Pot Cooker)
11. Marlena Shaw – Loving You Was Like A Party (Who Is This Bitch, Anyway?)
12. Earth, Wind & Fire – Reasons (live) (Gratitude)
13. Linda Lewis – This Time I’ll Be Sweeter (Not A Little Girl Anymore)
14. Minnie Riperton – Baby, This Love I Have (Adventures In Paradise)
15. Michael Franks – Eggplant (The Art Of Tea)
16. America – Daisy Jane (Hearts)
17. Eagles – Lyin’ Eyes (One Of These Nights)
18. Bob Dylan – Simple Twist Of Fate (Blood On The Tracks)
19. Willie Nelson – Hands On The Wheel (Red Headed Stranger)
20. Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy (Part One) (Wish You Were Here)
Previous Albums of the Year mixes:
1971 Vol. 1
1971 Vol. 2
1972
1973
1974
1982
1983
1984
1985
I get that they aren’t cool but “Love Will Keep Us Together” was the hit of the year.
(And it inspired “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”)
A huge number of great albums were released in 1975. You’ve included several of my favorites. Here are some others that I’d include (in no particular order):
Brian Eno – Another Green World
Roxy Music – Siren
The Who – By Numbers
Heart – Dreamboat Annie
Guy Clark – Old No. 1
Aerosmith – Toys In The Attic
Richard and Linda Thompson – Pour Down Like Silver
Toots and the Maytals – Funky Kingston
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Zuma & Tonight’s The Night
Emmylou Harris – Elite Hotel & Pieces of the Sky
Patti Smith – Horses
Led Zeppelin – Physical Grafitti
Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan