185 Black Sabbath – Paranoid

Paranoid was not only Black Sabbath’s most popular record, it also stands as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. This makes us rethink recording a second album so close to the first because this album rules!

184 Crosby Stills Nash and Young – Deja Vu

One of the most hotly awaited second albums in history Déjà Vu lived up to its expectations and rose to number one on the charts. Those achievements are all the more astonishing given the fact that the group barely held together through the estimated 800 hours it took to record Déjà Vu and scarcely functioned as a group for most of that time.

183 John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band

The cliché about singer/songwriters is that they sing confessionals direct from their heart, but John Lennon exploded the myth behind that cliché, as well as many others, on his first official solo record.

182 Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills

Stephan Stills created a number one hit with “Love the One You’re With.” but this album leaves a lot to be desired with the amount of talent that was included on the album including the presence of Hendrix and Clapton on two cuts.

181 Carpenters – Close to You

This second album saw the carpenters come into their own with Richard’s light, airy melodies and meticulously crafted, clean arrangements that appealed to a wide variety of audiences. Karen Carpenter’s calm, crystal bell like voice was distinctive and fit perfectly with the music. The result was a well crafted pop gem that gave them super stardom while at the same time confounded critics and the 1960’s rock n roll scensters.  Is it Too clean?  too pop?  Too soft?  We will discuss.

180 The Doors – Morrison Hotel

The Doors returned to crunching, straightforward hard rock on Morrison Hotel, an album that, despite yielding no major hit singles, returned them to critical favor with hip listeners.  For as much as they returned I don’t know that the Doors were ever the same.

179 Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath’s debut album is the birth of heavy metal as we now know it. Compatriots like Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple were already setting new standards for volume and heaviness in the realms of psychedelia, blues-rock, and prog rock. Yet of these metal pioneers, Sabbath are the only one whose sound today remains instantly recognizable as heavy metal, even after decades of evolution in the genre.

-AllMusic Review by Steve Huey-

178 Spirit – Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus

An overlooked album that still has some great songs that should be heard. The band’s lowest charting album to that point, it peaked at #63 on the Billboard 200 in February 1971, spending only fourteen weeks on the chart. However, it sold well as a catalog item and became the band’s only album to ultimately attain a RIAA gold certification in the U.S., achieving that status in 1976

177 Miles Davis – Bitches Brew

One of the most revolutionary albums in jazz history to some.  We try and formulate our opinions for an album that is made to be all things and nothing at the same time.

176 Derek and the Dominos – Layla Other Assorted Love Songs

Formed by guitarist/singer Eric Clapton with other former members of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, in the spring of 1970. From late August to early October, they recorded the celebrated double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with guitarist Duane Allman sitting in. Powerful record but not everyone in the club is excited about more Clapton.

175 Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmos Factory

With the release of Cosmo’s Factory in July 1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival hit their commercial zenith. It was their fifth album in two years and became an international smash, topping the album charts in six countries. They sold millions of records, but never had a #1 hit. They did score five #2 hits on the Hot 100, the most of any act without a #1.

174 Frank Zappa – Hot Rats

Hot Rats’ genius lies in the way it fuses the compositional sophistication of jazz with rock’s down-and-dirty attitude — there’s a real looseness and grit to the three lengthy jams. Frank is out there but some of the group don’t know that they want to be there.  We also end with a Zappa True/False.

173 Alexander Spence – Oar

The album is sometimes called a “soundtrack to schizophrenia” and a “visionary solo effort,” but  became delegated to bargain bins shortly after its release in the spring of 1969. However, those who did hear it were instantly drawn into Spence’s inimitable sonic surrealism.

172 The Stooges – the Stooges

The Stooges soon gained a reputation for their wild, primitive live performances. Pop, especially, became known for his outrageous onstage behavior—smearing his bare chest with hamburger meat and peanut butter, cutting himself with shards of glass, and flashing his genitalia to the audience. Pop is sometimes credited with the invention or popularization of stage diving.

171 Scott Walker – Scott 4

Walker wasn’t on the chart with his fourth album, but the result was probably his finest ’60s LP.  The over blown production and his subversive non commercial friend lyrics stand by a relatively stripped-down approach that works in way that is unexpected.   It’s hard to pinpoint what was or wasn’t engaging about this album but we will try.

170 Fairport Convention- Liege and Lief

In the decades since its original release, more than one writer has declared Fairport Convention’s Liege & Lief the definitive British folk-rock album. We are pleasantly surprised with this seminal Fairport Album.

169 Leonard Cohen – Songs From a Room

In the 1960s, Cohen lived on the Greek island Hydra with his girlfriend Marianne Ihlen, the woman depicted on the back cover of Songs from a Room. She has related how she helped him out of a depression by handing him his guitar, whereupon he began composing “Bird on the Wire”, inspired by a bird sitting on one of Hydra’s recently installed phone wires, followed by memories of wet island nights. Another classic from a poet of a musician.

168 King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King

In the Court of the Crimson King was the masterpiece that essentially launched progressive rock, which was the dominant genre in high-end British pop for the next seven years. Until The Dark Side of the Moon, it was the definitive prog-rock album. Also we find out what is really going on at the end of “Moon child”.

167 The Kinks – Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire

Kinks frontman Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to a Granada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist Julian Mitchell; however, the television programme was cancelled and never produced. The rough plot revolved around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer, who was based on Ray and guitarist Dave Davies’ brother-in-law Arthur Anning. Come along as we sing along to the Kinks.

166 Grateful Dead – Live Dead

The Grateful Dead’s fourth title was likewise their first extended concert recording. Spread over two LPs, Live/Dead introduced all to the world to what it was like to experience a dead show for better or worst.

165 Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul

Hot Buttered Soul set the precedent for how soul would evolve into a funky groove.  It remains an seminal record that many would consider the starting point for “baby making music”.

164 Youngbloods – Elephant Mountain

After their breakout hit “get together” the Youngbloods moved to Northern California and started blending affective pop/rock melodies and lyrics with their good time jug band roots, the Youngbloods were instantly embraced by the already blossoming Bay Area music community, but they won’t be embraced by our group.

163 Fairport Convention – Unhalfbricking

Considered one of the greatest English folk bands of the 1960’s  Fairport Convention drew upon traditional styles and combined them with contemporary sounds to great effect. News flash Rob doesn’t like folk music.