How many really great albums are out there? Too many to count, too many for any one person to hear. For every album that becomes a big hit, there are dozens every bit as good or better that never found a big audience. The “star-maker machinery,” as Joni named it, is complicated and erratic. Some records click with the public, lots more don’t. Even having one smash hit record is no guarantee that your next one, or six, will sell in big numbers.
This series is going to look at a year at a time and give a quick shout-out to a half dozen records that didn’t crack the public consciousness to any great degree. Most are referred to as “cult favorites” these days, meaning not enough people found them to make them a hit, but the ones who did treasure them. There are a lot more undiscovered gems than my top six in any given year, so I’d recommend a quick search for yourself. Your next favorite album just might be waiting.
I’m starting with 1975, the year I graduated from high school. It was also the year I moved from a small Michigan city to the craziness of beachside southern California. I had a job and access to some of the greatest record stores in the country – I practically lived at Wherehouse, Music+, and Licorice Pizza. My time there was Ground Zero for the music-buying obsession that continues to this day. When I finally returned to Michigan, I had to ship a big box of records in addition to buying a plane ticket. Pricey, but totally worth it.
THE ONES YOU KNOW: 1975 was the year of Sir Elton. He had three #1 albums between January and December – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Greatest Hits, and Rock of the Westies. Dylan’s “comeback,” Blood on the Tracks was his biggest hit in too many years, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin ruled hard rock with Toys in the Attic and Physical Graffiti. Sir Paul scored big with Venus and Mars and the enormous world tour that followed. Olivia Newton John’s Have You Never Been Mellow hit #1 on both the US pop and country charts, while Born to Run was making Bruce Springsteen a star. Kiss Alive! made a hard rock army out of a generation of young stoners, most of whom are still enlisted in 2022. With Fleetwood Mac, a band formed in 1967 added Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and songs like “Monday Morning” and “Rhiannon,” and began their world domination. Two greatest hits albums, from Cat Stevens and Carly Simon, sold a gazillion copies each, and then, of course, along came Queen and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And I bet if I mention Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy, or the Eagles’ One of These Nights, they’ll get stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY:
• Ian Hunter – After Mott the Hoople finally reached the level of success in the U.K. he had been clawing after for five years, singer/songwriter/bandleader Ian Hunter left to start a solo career that he hoped would convince America. MtH’s last lineup included Bowie’s Spiders from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson, so Ian brought him along when he hit the bricks. Together they made one of my favorite rock albums of the 70s. Ian's always been a killer mashup of Bowie's glam-rock punch and Dylan's lyric style. It didn't hit a home run sales-wise, but Ian made some money from the record when hair metal band Great White released a cover of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” that hit Billboard’s Top 10 in 1989.
EARWORM: "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" - If you've only heard the 80s remake, you're in for quite a treat.
• Ronnie Wood, Now Look – Ronnie was in a volatile place in early 1974, when the songs on Now Look were recorded. He was still a member of the Faces with Rod Stewart, but was hanging out at his home studio and making solo albums with Mick and Keith, who happened to be looking for a second guitarist. By the time Now Look was released a year later, the Faces were no more. Ronnie had passed the audition and was on the road with the Stones. Needless to say, his second solo album was completely overlooked. It’s hard to say it’s better than his first one, I’ve Got My Own Album To Do, that’s another lost beauty, but it’s at least as good. Ronnie’s main collaborator on Now Look was Bobby Womack, who brought along some excellent R&B singing and swampy grooves to add to the rock and roll proceedings.
EARWORM: "I Can't Stand the Rain" - A great example of Ronnie's new-found funkiness.
• Crosby & Nash, Wind on the Water - After CSN&Y’s monster 1974 world tour, the boys were on each other’s last nerve, yet again. They tried to make another studio album together, but failed. Neil took off to make Zuma with Crazy Horse and Stephen made Stills, a reworked collection of demos he had sitting on the shelf. David and Graham hooked up with The Section, a roving band of L.A.’s elite studio musicians, and made the most tuneful and creative record of the bunch, Wind on the Water. They took their second solo record a bit more seriously than their first. They wrote songs together rather than apart, and the production is rich and sophisticated. Of the three “breakup” albums, it’s easily the one I play the most.
EARWORM: "To the Last Whale.../Critical Mass/Wind on the Water" - The album closer, and the most beautiful harmonizing the two ever did.
• Eno, Another Green World - Between his initial flash of fame as the quirky, feather-wearing keyboardist for Roxy Music and his later ambient music career, which some listeners (not me) equate with listening to paint dry, Brian Eno put out four of the greatest and weirdest pop albums of all time. Another Green World was the third, and started to point the way to the slower, quieter direction he would take. There are more pastoral instrumentals on this one than Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), but it has its share of delectably catchy pop songs, too. The overall sound is more like a collection of treated instruments and processed rhythms than a band playing, yet the songs are irresistibly warm and inviting from start to finish. And I'll tell anybody who'll listen that Eno's vocals are hugely underrated. The album is its own unique world, green or otherwise.
EARWORM: "St. Elmo's Fire" - If there's anything like a single on the record, it's probably this song. Just don't expect to know what he's singing about.
• Richard and Linda Thompson, Pour Down Like Silver - Richard met Linda Peters when she was a backup singer for his band, Fairport Convention. He left the band, took her with him as his wife, and the two made six memorable albums together, ending with the most brilliant divorce record of all time, Shoot Out the Lights. Around the mid-point of their time together, the two of them converted to the Sufi faith, and moved to a London commune with others of the same Islamic mystical bent. The one album they made before Linda got fed up with her second-class citizen status was Pour Down Like Silver. Its somber, austere beauty is unlike anything else in their catalog. Richard’s songs are calmer and more spiritual than previous, but not without a sly wink of playfulness. Linda’s singing over the stark, minimal arrangements is breathtaking. The closer, “Dimming of the Day,” is a gorgeous, modern-day hymn to love that’s been covered by musicians around the world.
EARWORM: "Dimming of the Day" - Linda sings like an angel, with Richard harmonizing oh-so-gently.
• Al Stewart, Modern Times – For a lot of his fans, Al’s career started with Year of the Cat in 1976, a surprise worldwide hit. Most Americans thought it was his debut album, not his seventh. His six previous albums were too quirky, too folky, too British to make any dent outside of his native England. Past, Present and Future, released in 1973 is one of my favorite psychedelic folk albums ever, but I get why songs about retired Royal Navy admirals, President Warren G. Harding, and the malaise of post-WWII England didn’t catch on here. Modern Times was the beginning of Stewart’s transition from regional folkie to global pop star. Alan Parsons produced the record, determined to put Al's songs on the charts for a change. It worked, to a degree, it hit the top 30 in the U.S. It’s not quite as smooth and focused as Year of the Cat, there are still traces of his captivating folk psychedelia that I greatly prefer to the slicker pop hits to come.
EARWORM: "Not the One" - Right in the sweet spot between his folkie past and pop star future. Really nice electric guitar solo, too.
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