I guess I’m slightly fanatical about music made in the late 1960s and early 1970s. There was so much wonderful music made during those days. So I thought I’d try constraining things differently in a pretend Desert Island DIscs selection.
I decided to choose exactly 50 albums from my collection.
Too difficult.
Still too many.
So I decided to choose only those albums that had a Wikipedia entry.
Still too many.
So then I said to myself, how about if I restrict myself to albums released in 1971?
Which is what I did. And then stopped when I got to 50. I could probably do 50 more. But here’s the list below, in no particular order:
Four Way Street: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Who’s Next: The Who
Aqualung: Jethro Tull
LA Woman: The Doors
The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys: Traffic
Blue: Joni Mitchell
Tupelo Honey: Van Morrison
At Fillmore East: Allman Brothers
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour: Moody Blues
Fog On The Tyne: Lindisfarne
New Riders of the Purple Sage: New Riders of the Purple Sage
Stones: Neil Diamond
Welcome to the Canteen: Traffic
The Yes Album: Yes
Weather Report: Weather Report
Teaser and the Firecat: Cat Stevens
Stephen Stills 2: Stephen Stills
Songs for Beginners: Graham Nash
Rainbow Bridge: Jimi Hendrix
Nilsson Schmilsson: Nilsson
Mud Slide Slim and The Blue Horizon: James Taylor
Pearl: Janis Joplin
Hunky Dory: David Bowie
Tumbleweed Connection: Elton John
Every Picture Tells A Story: Rod Stewart and the Faces
Led Zeppelin IV: Led Zeppelin
Songs Of Love and Hate: Leonard Cohen
Imagine: John Lennon
Santana (3): Santana
Surf’s Up: The Beach Boys
A Nod is as good as a Wink: Rod Stewart and The Faces
Cahoots: The Band
Little Feat: Little Feat
Tapestry: Carole King
American Pie: Don McLean
Sticky Fingers: The Rolling Stones
Meddle: Pink Floyd
The Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers
Fragile: Yes
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Poems, Prayers and Promises: John Denver
There’s A Riot Going On: Sly and the Family Stone
Wildlife: Mott the Hoople
What’s Going On: Marvin Gaye
The Concert for Bangla Desh: George Harrison and Friends
Madman Across The Water: Elton John
Electric Warrior: T.Rex
Chicago III: Chicago
Blessed Are… Joan Baez
Fireball: Deep Purple
There’s a lot I left out. 1971. What a year.