I wanted to give this year a better listen overall, but alas I didn’t in time to make a real list. I do want to throw a number one vote: Neil Young - On the Beach which is the greatest of Neil’s albums, and my number 1 album for the decade. It’s as perfect a combination of the melodic folk writing of the first few solo records with the darkness of his other 70s work as he ever accomplished. Every song is excellent, the closing trio in particular. I think Motion Pictures gets slept on as a contender for best Neil song given its placement directly in between the two heavy hitters, but it’s no less fantastic than those. also have to call out the guitar playing - the title track is my ideal, particularly the run from 3:00-3:19. It’s fun if you listen to the crazy horse Neil records or have seen him live because you know he can shred, but he just says so much with so relatively little on the song On the Beach. I feel like I’ve seen two or three recent records where the artists call out deliberately trying to write a Jeff Tweedy solo, long and not showy but with emphasis in exactly the right places, and for my money that style peaked with what NY did on On the Beach. Frickin masterful
seems pretty safe to say Neil's On the Beach will win with 17 pts. Stevie came in 2nd with 12 and Big Star with 11. '75 tomorrow yay
Sorry for not getting my votes in this week y’all. It was my moving week, moved from TX back to PA. Really didn’t get a chance to revisit anything from ‘74, but my votes wouldn’t have changed the top 3 anyway from the sounds of it. Will still throw my list on here when I get a chance, and will rejoin the convo once I get settled here this week.
1. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack 2. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs 3. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic Placeholder for the rest when I finally get settled.
The New RS 500: #490 Linda Ronstadt — Heart Like a Wheel i had never heard the linda ronstadt album from this year before. jesus christ it's good! the willin' cover!!!
Nice list as always. Have you ever heard "Someone's Been Telling You Stories" by Dan Fogelberg? I think you'd dig that riff.