Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…
Last week I named Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here as one of my favorite 1975 albums and noted that the band was a staple of my high school days. Well, the other band my friends and I obsessed over was, of course, Led Zeppelin. Forgive me for being a walking cliché.
Something about Floyd and Zeppelin, different as they are, made them catnip for teenage boys, at least in the late 80s.
Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…
I did a deep dive into David Bowie’s catalog shortly after he died in 2016. Among the albums I covered was 1975’s Young Americans, Bowie’s ninth studio album. This record marked a shift away from his glam rock phase and into what he called “plastic soul.”
Bowie left England to record for the first time in the U.S., in both Philadelphia and New York. While the sessions resulted in plenty of material, only eight tracks ended up on the final tracklist.
Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…
I did an Elton John deep dive a few years ago after watching the movie Rocketman. I listened to most of his albums but skipped a stretch between 1974 and 1983 that includes his work without lyricist Bernie Taupin and several releases widely considered his worst.
I gave a cursory listen to 1975’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy but in retrospect should have given it more time. It is purportedly John’s own favorite of his albums, and having given it a few spins myself now, I’m a fan.
As I continue my ‘Decades’ look back at the year 1975, this week I’ll focus on five albums I’ve heard but don’t know well. The two weeks after that will be reserved for albums I’ve never heard in their entirety.
Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow was the fifth studio album by the British-Australian chanteuse and her first non-compilation album to reach #1 (If You Love Me, Let Me Know, featuring hits from her first three releases, had reached the top spot a year before).
Continuing my look at 1975, first by counting down my own top albums of that year.
#1 – Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
I once named Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks my favorite album of the 70s, so it follows that it would be the best album of 1975. No surprise here.
First, though, I want to give an honorable mention to another great Bob Dylan album that came out the same year. The Basement Tapes, recorded in 1967 with The Band after Dylan’s motorcycle accident, was released eight years later. This double album is a gloriously laid back collection of roots rock ramblings. It likely would have cracked my top five but I figured I’d spread the love and note it here instead.
Meet Me In Montauk 