Greatest albums of the 1970s year by year: The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week
Welcome to Far Out’s weekly vinyl corner feature, where we look to bring you a tempting selection of records from some of our favourite artists, bargain vinyl deals to look out for, and unmissable limited-edition releases. This week, we’re going back to the 1970s to pick out the best album from each year of the decade.
Last year, the vinyl comeback enjoyed another milestone year as record sales surpassed that of CDs for the first time in three decades. The return to plastic has steadily climbed since the invasion of streaming services in the late 2000s. While the weightless, highly accessible and practical format is great for discovering and consuming swathes of new music while you’re out and about, there’s nothing like coming home to a bit of vinyl.
Fellow collectors out there will agree if there’s an artist or album you love, there’s always a good reason to have the turntable at the ready and a 12” slot reserved on the shelf for inevitable expansion. The sound quality of vinyl brings something more hearty and vibrant with its analogue warmth and crisp definition that there really isn’t a substitute for.
So if, like me, you have a soft spot for these groovy discs of plastic, allow me to walk you through ten hot picks for this week. We have some folky picks from Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, alongside some pioneering rock classics from Talking Heads and David Bowie.
The following selections have been handpicked by Far Out Magazine, and as a result, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon:
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass [50th-anniversary edition] (1970)
The first year of the 1970s saw some truly brilliant albums. The Velvet Underground released Loaded, their final album with Lou Reed front and centre. Meanwhile, The Beatles released their final album, Let It Be. For this selection, I was close to choosing Let It Be, but, at the time, George Harrison was working on something astonishing in solo sessions.
George Harrison’s solo masterpiece, All Things Must Pass, seems to embody so passionately everything the “Quiet Beatle” stood for. This special anniversary edition is pricey, but with 23 songs over three LPs, this box set is sure to please as a gift this Christmas.
Available for purchase here for £86.29.
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (1971)
Funkadelic were the ultimate pioneers of psychedelic funk; they caught the gravy train with Maggot Brain, their 1971 third studio album. Best known for its ten-minute title track, the George Clinton-produced masterpiece embodies the dark and dingy miasma of urban decay and hedonism that cloaked many US cities in the 1970s.
The experimental sound blended the psychedelic rock sound of Jimi Hendrix with funk, folk blues and flecks of gospel music. This is one of those rare experimental albums you can keep coming back to without skipping any of the absorbing songs – at this price, it makes for quite the stocking filler.
Available for purchase here for £14.99.
The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St. (1972)
The Rolling Stones were churning out increasingly impressive albums over the late 1960s, and as they entered the ‘70s, they were undoubtedly the biggest thing in rock music. For me – and most others, as I glean – The Stones reached their absolute peak between 1971-72 with Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.
This beautiful double LP release is the better of the two on a good day. Its raw, live feel fits in so perfectly with the circumstances of the band at the time while they were living in Paris on tax exile. It has no shortage of hits with ‘Sweet Virginia’, ‘Rocks Off’, ‘Rip This Joint’, and ‘Shine a Light’ on its roster.
Available for purchase here for £31.08.
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
This 1973 classic is seen by many as Pink Floyd’s greatest achievement; it marries the maturation of Roger Waters’ conceptual songwriting with the band’s blossoming instrumental chemistry. Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure and David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane were the only albums that came close to usurping this selection.
While containing elements of jazz, gospel and blues music, The Dark Side of the Moon runs seamlessly from start to finish as a deeply absorbing journey through the cheery themes of greed, death, mental illness and the relentless attrition of time – what more could you want?
Available for purchase here for £18.15.
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark (1974)
Joni Mitchell released this sixth studio album to a chorus of critical and commercial acclaim, having established herself as a mainstay of the early ‘70s singer-songwriter wave with Ladies of the Canyon and Blue earlier in the decade. Court and Spark saw a distinct shift in style to a highly accessible jazz-infused folk sound.
The album was highly influential on subsequent pop acts of the 1970s, especially Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, who once recalled taking LSD while listening to the album: “I was with my producer, at his house, with a set of speakers that were taller than that fireplace, and I was in a safe place. And I sat there on the floor and listened to that record… That was a pretty dynamic experience.”
Available for purchase here for £23.95.
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks (1975)
Bob Dylan’s most important and successful run through the mid-1960s was proceeded by a dry patch, which was remedied in the mid-1970s, first with 1974’s Planet Waves and then a year later with Blood on the Tracks. This was a no-brainer selection for 1975.
The mid-decade masterpiece came like a bolt from the blue in a triumphant return to form both instrumentally and lyrically. Includes hits like ‘Tangled Up in Blue’, ‘Simple Twist of Fate’, ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ and ‘Shelter from the Storm’.
Available for purchase here for £19.92.
David Bowie – Station to Station (1976)
David Bowie hit an artistically fruitful peak in the 1970s following the release of Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. On another day, this list may have featured Ziggy Stardust or Low, but today, I want to show my undying love for this mid-decade masterpiece.
Station to Station saw the birth of a new alter ego for the Starman, The Thin White Duke, who is stylishly introduced in the album’s eponymous ten-minute opener. The remainder of the record is near faultless, with a great balance between the upbeat (‘Golden Years’/‘Stay’) and the slower and introspective (‘Wild is the Wind’/‘Word on a Wing’).
Available for purchase here for £22.95.
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (1977)
With Rumours, Fleetwood Mac created one of the 1970s’ most popular albums. The pop-rock release is a masterclass from start to finish, with the endlessly talented, feuding bunch of musicians pouring pure emotion into the cauldron. What resulted was a finely balanced selection of timeless classics.
David Bowie’s Low was close to making the grade for 1977, but Rumours takes the top spot for being bulletproof, both commercially and artistically. The album is home to the likes of ‘Dreams’, ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Go Your Own Way’, ‘You Make Loving Fun’ and ‘The Chain’.
Available for purchase here for £18.98.
Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy (1978)
Warren released his most commercially accessible album, Excitable Boy, in 1978. The songs present his clever comical lyricism over jaunty piano-driven music. Highlights include ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’, ‘Excitable Boy’ and ‘Werewolves of London’.
Bob Dylan is among Zevon’s keen admirers. “There might be three separate songs within a Zevon song, but they’re all effortlessly connected. Zevon was a musician’s musician, a tortured one. ‘Desperado Under the Eaves’. It’s all in there,” he once said. “‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’, ‘Boom Boom Mancini’, ‘Down Hard Stuff’, ‘Join me in L.A’ sort of straddles the line between heartfelt and primaeval. His musical patterns are all over the place, probably because he’s classically trained.”
Available for purchase here for £26.63.
Talking Heads – Fear of Music (1979)
In 1978, Talking Heads became well acquainted with master artist and producer Brian Eno. With the former synth-man of Roxy Music, the New York new-wave legends created a trilogy of brilliant albums. The middle effort was Fear of Music, which was home to beloved hits like ‘Life During Wartime’, ‘Mind’, ‘Cities’ and ‘Heaven’.
In a recent interview with Far Out, Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth picked the album out as one of her favourites alongside Remain In Light. “Fear of Music. I really loved that one. That was our most ‘rock’ record, and I really enjoy it. I really enjoyed playing Fear of Music live, it was really nice and thriving. It had a lot of meat to it.”
Available for purchase here for £23.94.
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