Led zeppelin’s third album, cleverly titled Led Zeppelin III, marked a shift in their style from harder-edged rock to a more acoustic sound. The first side, which kicks off with the hit ‘Immigrant Song,’ is a bit more electric, while the second side is extremely mellow.
The album was met with confusion and didn’t perform very well critically or commercially at first, but over time it has come to be regarded as one of the band’s better efforts.
When compiling my list of favorite 1970 albums, I was tempted to include Grateful Dead’s American Beauty. Every time I listen to this record I’m reminded just how great it is.
The problem is, I almost never listen to it. Maybe three times in the last decade. Granted, I don’t pull out Let It Be or Watertown on a weekly basis either, but I know both of those albums by heart because I did give them that level of attention at some point. American Beauty never earned its own obsessive phase.
Last week I counted down my five favorite albums of 1970, and while it was an excellent group of albums, the truth is I didn’t have many runners-up. I have a very cursory knowledge of that year’s music.
So over the next three weeks I’ll feature songs from other 1970 albums that received widespread acclaim. Could some of these crack my own top five if given the chance?
Famous music critic Robert Christgau called Randy Newman’s 12 Songs “a perfect album,” and I can’t disagree. That’s why it was an easy pick as my best album of 1970.
I consider this record and Newman’s follow-up, 1972’s Sail Away, his very best albums and that makes them two of my very favorite albums of all-time. This one is as simple a distillation of Newman’s songwriting as you can imagine. Nothing fancy, just a brilliant lyricist and musician spinning tales both acidic and sweet.
My second favorite album of 1970 is Frank Sinatra’s little-known but no less classic concept album Watertown.
The album tells the tale of a man picking up the pieces after being left by his wife. He raises his two children, earns the sympathy of his neighbors, and quietly tries to win her back. The record ends with him waiting in the rain at a train station, the wife having gone back on her promise to return.
Meet Me In Montauk 