1971 ups the variety of music in the top 10 even more, let's take a look!
Led Zeppelin [IV] - Led Zeppelin
Number 1 for 1971. Number 23 overall.
Ok well this is a very hot take: This is my least favourite of Led Zeppelin's self-titled albums. The oomph and energy from previous albums feels diminished on many of the songs and a lot of them are quite repetitive (looking at you 'Four Sticks'). I love 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'When the Levee Breaks' though, but the rest doesn't do it for me like Led Zep I and III do.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating: 4.12 from 31,625 ratings.
Genre: Hard Rock, (Blues Rock, Folk Rock)
Master of Reality - Black Sabbath
Number 2 for 1971. Number 51 overall.
My favourite Black Sabbath album. Nearly every song is a perfect doomy heavy metal song with riffs that can (as one rym-er put it) 'devour cities', it's insane. Tony Iommi is literally perfect on this album, with an immense and crushing guitar tone, due to a combination of him losing the tips of two of the fingers on his right hand (changing his playing style) and down tuning his guitar.
Master of Reality opens with the iconic cough cough, preceding the brilliant 'Sweet Leaf'. 'Children of the Grave' is my favourite song on this album and easily a top 3 Black Sabbath song, everything about it is perfect. 'Solitude' is a really nice surprise, showcasing Ozzy's surprisingly impressive traditional singing skills. Quite crazy that Sabbath perfected heavy metal two years and three albums in.
My Rating: 10/10
RYM Rating: 4.13 from 21,053 ratings.
Genre: Heavy Metal, (Traditional Doom Metal, Doom Metal)
Tago Mago - Can
Number 3 for 1971. Number 74 overall.
I really love the first four songs, brilliant psychedelia, amazing atmosphere. Then Aumgn comes along being really long and annoying. And then Peking O. is one of the most insane songs I've ever heard. It's mindbogglingly weird. Even more insane is the fact that this is 1971. It's certainly something...and I actually kind of like it? It grew on me and it's better than Aumgn. The first half of Tago Mago is amazing, the second half is less so. However, this is an album I definitely want to revisit.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating: 4.09 from 19,464 ratings.
Genre: Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock, Experimental Rock, (Sound Collage, Experimental)
Meddle - Pink Floyd
Number 4 for 1971. Number 77 overall.
This is a weird album. It has 2 amazing songs (One of These Days and Echoes), 2 good ones (A Pillow of Winds and Fearless) and 2 bad ones (San Tropez and Seamus). The two bad songs are short as well, so remove them and the album would be a suitable length and better, maybe even a 9/10. As it stands though, these songs are a really irritating blemish on this otherwise fantastic album (and One of These Days and Echoes really are fantastic).
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating: 3.97 from 24,094 ratings.
Genre: Progressive Rock, (Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Folk Rock)
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Number 5 for 1971. Number 90 overall.
Veeeeery chill. Love the title track, very groovy and chill. The rest is pretty great too! Not much to say here really.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating: 4.10 from 15,269 ratings.
Genre: Soul, (Smooth Soul)
Hunky Dory - David Bowie
Number 6 for 1971. Number 97 overall.
The first David Bowie album on this list, one of the most well-regarded musicians of all time! I don't adore this album but it's still great. I love 'Oh! You Pretty Things' with its incredible vocal performance and piano, the iconic 'Life on Mars?' for obvious reasons (more amazing piano and vocals as well) and the psychedelic 'The Bewlay Brothers'. The rest is really really solid, just not amazing to me. It's a great start though and I'm really looking forward to listening to more Bowie.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating: 4.06 from 23,911 ratings.
Genre: Glam Rock, Pop Rock, Art Rock, (Singer/Songwriter, Art Pop, Piano Rock, Baroque Pop)
Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones
Number 7 for 1971. Number 120 overall.
Yet again, The Rolling Stones open their (highest rated) album with an absolute banger that is better than every other song on the album, 'Brown Sugar'. The rest of the album is just pretty good blues-y, sometimes country, rock. The Rolling Stones are a weird band (and I still prefer Beggars Banquet).
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating: 4.04 from 14,909 ratings.
Genre: Blues Rock, (Country Rock, Hard Rock, Rhythm & Blues)
Who's Next - The Who
Number 8 for 1971. Number 124 overall.
I don't get it. This is really really really bland and boring. Inoffensive, but boring as hell.
My Rating: 4/10
RYM Rating: 3.99 from 17,370 ratings.
Genre: Hard Rock, (Art Rock)
Blue - Joni Mitchell
Number 9 for 1971. Number 167 overall.
Pretty nice but not very interesting to me. I find the instrumental arrangements a lot less interesting than most other singer/songwriter folk I've listened to previously. Her voice is nice but doesn't wow me. Overall, pretty decent.
My Rating: 7/10
RYM Rating: 4.02 from 12,306 ratings.
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Folk
Songs of Love and Hate - Leonard Cohen
Number 10 for 1971. Number 174 overall.
I think I really love Leonard Cohen. I love the intimidating and symphonic 'Avalanche', the beautiful backing vocals on 'Famous Blue Raincoat' and the emotional 'la la la's on 'Joan of Arc. I love the whole dreary atmosphere of this album, it's very visceral.
My Rating: 9/10
RYM Rating: 4.05 from 10,452 ratings.
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Folk
Bonus: Other albums I've listened to from this year:
Budgie - Budgie
Number 123 for 1971. Number 3,941 overall.
7/10
Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, (Progressive Rock, Folk Rock, Heavy Psych)
Bang - Bang
Number 306 for 1971.
8/10
Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, (Blues Rock, Heavy Psych).
Read more about these two albums in my other post: @comparestore/every70smetalalbumratedandreviewedpart2-1970-caine3wo9x
Thanks for reading! What do you think of these albums?