At one time I freely espoused the belief that music released in the 1970's was terrible. To me the seventies had few redeeming features and were largely devoid of any cultural advances. When people talk about music from this decade I think of Mud, Gary Glitter, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy; that sort of thing. As a consequence I considered this decade an artistic wasteland.
But even a cursory glance through my record collection will show I might not have been entirely correct in my notion. All ELO's records from the seventies are represented and I regard Jeff Lynne as a genius. Two of my favourite albums "Man Machine" by Kraftwerk and "Equinoxe" by Jean Michel Jarre were both released in 1978. So what else is in my record collection that finds its roots in the decade that style forgot?
A search for 1970 in Windows media player reveals "Time and a Word" by Yes (no recollection even listening to this), "Tone Float" by Organisation (Kraftwerk links here too) and "Let It Be" by The Beatles. Not the most auspicious of starts.
Things picked up a little in 1971 when Yes released "Fragile", Kraftwerk issued their first album and Bowie put out "Hunky Dory". 1972 saw more of the same embryonic Kraftwrk and early Yes releases that do little to inspire me. 1973 saw a slight upturn in fortunes as the seminal "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield and Vangelis's "Apocalypse Des Animaux" were released. 1974 is all about "Autobahn" and '75 is just more Oldfield and the massively overrated "Radioactivity". The second half of the decade opened with Jarre's "Oxygene" and Peter Gabriel's first solo outing in consecutive years.
The turning point seems to be 1978. The mood on the playlist I created changes here. Giorgio Moroder creates "The Chase" and there is a new yard stick. Jarre and Kraftwerk deliver their afore mentioned master works and one of my favourite Oldfield albums "Incantations" is released. Peter Gabriel steps things up with his second album and Yellow Magic Orchestra release their eponymous debut. Throw in "Warm Leatherette" and a smattering of Japan and you've got an interesting musical landscape.
1979 saw Gary Numan find his feet with "The Pleasure Principle", The Human League introduce "Reproduction", Japan record "Quiet Life" and Sparks release the Moroder masterpiece that is "No 1 in Heaven". The 80's become so close you can smell them. Type anything beginning with "198" in the search box of Windows Media on my laptop and we travel down a different rabbit hole entirely.
