My favourite albums from 1970
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30
Afreaka!
Progressive rock | Funk | Jazz fusion
- Past, Present, and Future
- Disillusioned Man
- Another Country
- Hymn to Mother Earth
- Mercy (Variation No. 1) ●
Tracks:
Demon Fuzz's one-and-done cult album mashes funk, jazz, Afro-leaning grooves and psychedelic rock into something a bit wild and messy, but so bold it still sounds the least 1970s album of the 1970s.
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29
... Very 'Eavy ... Very 'Umble
Hard rock | Progressive rock
- Gypsy ●
- Walking in Your Shadow
- Come Away Melinda
- Lucy Blues
- Dreammare
- Real Turned on
- I'll Keep on Trying
- Wake up (Set Your Sights)
Tracks:
A scrappy, loud blast of crunching riffs, big organ swells, and theatrical wails, this is an early blueprint for heavy rock and metal.
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28
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Psychedelic rock | Progressive rock
- Prelude — Nothin' to Hide
- Nature's Way ●
- Animal Zoo
- Love Has Found a Way
- Why Can't I Be Free
- Mr. Skin
- Space Child
- When I Touch You
- Street Worm
- Life Has Just Begun
- Morning Will Come
- Soldier
Tracks:
A cult classic packed with off-kilter hooks and endlesss psychedelic grooves; this is a bit all over the place, but infinitely inventive.
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27
Just for Love
Psychedelic rock | Acid rock
- Wolf Run (Part 1)
- Just for Love (Part 1) ●
- Cobra
- The Hat
- Freeway Flyer
- Gone Again
- Fresh Air
- Just for Love (Part 2)
- Wolf Run (Part 2)
Tracks:
Warm grooves mixed with boogie and a smidgen of Latin swing make this an uneven but hugely enjoyable album.
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26
Sweet Baby James
Folk | Country
- Sweet Baby James
- Lo and Behold
- Sunny Skies
- Steamroller
- Country Road
- Oh, Susannah
- Fire and Rain ●
- Blossom
- Anywhere Like Heaven
- Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me
- Suite for 20 G
Tracks:
A cosy, bittersweet, and intimate album that is probably best enjoyed by the fireside; a seminal album for singer-songwriters.
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25
Atomic Rooster
Progressive rock
- Friday the 13th
- And So to Bed
- Broken Wings
- Before Tomorrow
- Banstead
- S.L.Y.
- Winter ●
- Decline and Fall
- Play the Game
Tracks:
A guitar-less and organ-led debut that blends heavy rock with complex, classical-influenced arrangements.
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24
Climbing!
Blues rock | Hard rock
- Mississippi Queen ●
- Theme from an Imaginary Western
- Never in My Life
- Silver Paper
- For Yasgur's Farm
- To My Friend
- The Laird
- Sittin' on a Rainbow
- Boys in the Band
Tracks:
Huge, fuzzy riffs and a swagger the size of their name, this is the prototypical heavy blues.
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23
Bitches Brew
Jazz fusion | Jazz rock
- Pharaoh's Dance
- Bitches Brew
- Spanish Key ●
- John McLaughlin
- Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
- Sanctuary
Tracks:
Hypnotic and chaotic, this is jazz colliding with rock and it's just flat-out bonkers.
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22
Cricklewood Green
Blues rock | Psychedelic rock
- Sugar the Road
- Working on the Road ●
- 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain
- Year 3,000 Blues
- Me and My Baby
- Love Like a Man
- Circles
- As the Sun Still Burns Today
Tracks:
An unsung example of blues rock showcasing Alvin Lee's formidable guitar histrionics.
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21
If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You
Progressive rock
- If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You
- And I Wish I Were Stoned / Don't Worry ●
- As I Feel I Die
- With an Ear to the Ground You Can Make It / Amrtinian / Only Cox / Reprise
- Hello Hello
- Asforteri
- Can't Be Long Now / Françoise / For Richard / Warlock
- Limits
Tracks:
Often satirical, this is a quietly weird album full of odd, subtle, and dreamy moments (and a fair amount of noodling).
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20
Third
Jazz rock | Progressive rock
- Facelift
- Slightly All the Time
- Moon in June ●
- Out-Bloody-Rageous
Tracks:
Four epic songs that owe more to jazz than rock, this is an experimental, heady, and a weirdly hooky album.
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19
H to He, Who Am the Only One
Progressive rock
- Killer ●
- House with No Door
- The Emperor in His War Room
- Lost
- Pioneers Over c
Tracks:
An unhinged, tense album with a looming organ sound cut through by saxophone via songs that ebb and flow with wild abandon.
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18
UFO 1
Hard rock | Psychedelic rock
- Unidentified Flying Object
- Boogie ●
- C'Mon Everybody
- Shake It About
- Melinda
- Timothy
- Follow You home
- Treacle People
- Who Do You Love
- Evil
Tracks:
Spacey psych-rock with bluesy roots, delivered with full of swirling atmosphere and charm.
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17
Idlewild South
Southern rock | Blues
- Revival
- Don't Keep Me Wonderin'
- Midnight Rider ●
- In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
- Hoochie Coochie Man
- Please Call Home
- Leave My Blues at Home
Tracks:
The prototypical southern rock album with a perfect balance of warm grooves and elegant instrumentation.
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16
Fun House
Proto-punk | Hard rock
- Down on the Street
- Loose ●
- T.V. Eye
- Dirt
- 1970
- Fun House
- L.A. Blues
Tracks:
A raw, rough, and rowdy slice of proto-punk that sounds absolutely timeless.
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15
Morrison Hotel
Blues rock | Psychedelic rock
- Roadhouse Blues
- Waiting for the Sun
- You Make Me Real
- Peace Frog
- Blue Sunday
- Ship of Fools
- Land Ho!
- The Spy
- Queen of the Highway
- Indian Summer
- Maggie M'Gill ●
Tracks:
Grimy, bar-room blues rock with a serious bite and swagger.
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14
The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other
Progressive rock
- Darkness (11/11)
- Refugees
- White Hammer
- Whatever Would Robert Have Said?
- Out of My Book
- After the Flood ●
Tracks:
A nervy, dramatic set of songs, this is Van Der Graaf Generator's finest album from 1970 — and perhaps their finest overall.
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13
Abraxas
Latin rock | Jazz fusion
- Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
- Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen ●
- Oye cómo va
- Incident at Neshabur
- Se a cabó
- Mother's Daughter
- Samba pa ti
- Hope You're Feeling Better
- En Nicoya
Tracks:
Featuring their biggest songs, this is an album full of searing guitars, tumbling Latin percussions, and sweaty organ grooves.
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12
Déjà vu
Folk rock
- Carry on
- Teach Your Children ●
- Almost Cut My Hair
- Helpless
- Woodstock
- Déjà vu
- Our House
- 4 + 20
- Country Girl
- Everybody I Love You
Tracks:
Four singer songwriters at the top of their game delivering 10 ill-fitting but outstanding tunes.
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11
Fire and Water
Blues rock | hard rock
- Fire and Water ●
- Oh I Wept
- Remember
- Heavy Load
- Mr. Big
- Don't Say You Love Me
- All Right Now
Tracks:
The quintessential British blues rock record, with barely a second wasted in a barrage of grooves and soulful melodies.
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10
Argent
Progressive rock | Hard rock
- Like Honey
- Liar ●
- Be Free
- Schoolgirl
- Dance in the Smoke
- Lonely Hard Road
- The Feeling's Inside
- Freefall
- Stepping Stone
- Bring You Joy
Tracks:
A trippy and endlessly hooky album with Russ Ballard showing early glimpses of what a fine songwriter he will end up to be.
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9
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Blues rock
- I Looked Away
- Bell Bottom Blues
- Keep on Growing
- Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out ●
- I Am Yours
- Anyday
- Key to the Highway
- Tell the Truth
- Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?
- Have You Ever Loved a Woman
- Little Wing
- It's Too Late
- Layla
- Thorn Tree in the Garden
Tracks:
The only release from Eric Clapton's post-Cream supergroup is also arguably the highlight of his career (and, yes, it's more than just that song).
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8
Black Sabbath
Heavy metal
- Black Sabbath
- The Wizard
- Behind the Wall of Sleep
- N.I.B. ●
- Evil Woman
- Sleeping Village
- Warning
Tracks:
A blues-infused journey through occult and drug-fuelled shenanigans — this is where 'metal' started (and it's also a great album to boot).
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7
Led Zeppelin III
Blues rock | hard rock
- Immigrant Song ●
- Friends
- Celebration Day
- Since I've Been Loving You
- Out on the Tiles
- Gallows Pole
- Tangerine
- That's the Way
- Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
- Hats off to (Roy) Harper
Tracks:
Boasting some of the most interesting songs of their career, this is when the band really started to take blues rock to heights never seen before or since.
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6
After the Gold Rush
Folk rock | Blues rock
- Tell Me Why
- After the Gold Rush
- Only Love Can Break Your Heart
- Southern Man ●
- 'Till the Morning Comes
- Oh, Lonesome Me
- Don't Let It Bring You Down
- Birds
- When You Dance I Can Really Love
- I Believe in you
- Cripple Creek Ferry
Tracks:
A perfect mix of old-time folksy tunes, lenghty blues-rock jams, and socially-conscious lyricism.
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5
Tea for the Tillerman
Folk rock
- Where Do the Children Play?
- Hard Headed Woman
- Wild World
- Sad Lisa ●
- Miles from Nowhere
- But I Might Die Tonight
- Longer Boats
- Into White
- On the Road to Find out
- Father and Son
- Tea for the Tillerman
Tracks:
Even though the tracklist includes loads of his career-best songs, it's also just a consistently beautiful collection — eloquent, heartfelt, and properly affecting throughout.
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4
Bridge over Troubled Water
Folk rock
- Bridge over Troubled Water ●
- El condor pasa (If I Could)
- Cecilia
- Keep the Customer Satisfied
- So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
- The Boxer
- Baby Driver
- The Only Living Boy in New York
- Why Don't You Write Me
- Bye Bye Love
- Song for the Asking
Tracks:
Their final studio album before they called it a day is like a greatest hits album many bands would be dying to have in decades-long careers.
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3
Paranoid
Heavy metal | Doom metal
- War Pigs
- Paranoid
- Planet Caravan
- Iron Man
- Electric Funeral
- Hand of Doom
- Rat Salad
- Fairies Wear Boots ●
Tracks:
The follow-up to their milestone debut album paved way to a brand-new subgenre (doom metal) and features some of the greatest metal songs that are still on heavy rotation in every metal radio / playlist.
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2
Benefit
Blues rock | Progressive rock
- With You There to Help Me
- Nothing to Say
- Alive and Well and Living in ●
- Son
- For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me
- To Cry You a Song
- A Time for Everything?
- Inside
- Play in Time
- Sossity; You're a Woman
Tracks:
Transitioning from their blues roots to a more progressive sound, this is the unsung pinnacle of a career that features plenty of genuine masterpieces.
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1
In Rock
Heavy metal | Hard rock | Progressive rock
- Speed King
- Bloodsucker
- Child in Time ●
- Flight of the Rat
- Into the Fire
- Living Wreck
- Hard Lovin' Man
Tracks:
Happy to argue that this is the album that influenced more heavy rock related genres than any other, as the band effortlessly weaves jazz, old school rock 'n' roll, nascent heavy metal, progressive rock, and blues into a formula that is often imitated but never matched.