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My Nine Favorite Albums from 1971
I wore these albums completely out.
1. Led Zeppelin IV, aka ZOFO
2. Crosby Stills Nash and Young, 4 Way Street
3. Carole King, Tapestry
4. George Harrison and Friends, Concert for Bangladesh
5. Paul McCartney, Ram
6. Beach Boys, Surf's Up
7. Joni Mitchell, Blue
8. Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Fire Cat
9. Van Morrison, Tupelo Honey
But wait, there's more!
Here are nine personal runners-up from this astonishing year.
• John Lennon, Imagine
• Graham Nash, Songs for Beginners
• T Rex, Electric Warrior
• Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story
• Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
• The Who, Who's Next
• Yes, Fragile
• Jethro Tull, Aqualung
• Don McLean, American Pie
Hey hey mama
Led Zeppelin IV shot right through me like a lightning bolt. "Hey hey mama, gonna make you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove" and "Been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time". What teenage boy doesn't reverberate to that? Clinching the deal, "Battle of Evermore" was riddled with Lord of the Rings references—my favorite book of the time.
When the dream came
Crosby Stills Nash and Young's live double album 4 Way Street in 1971 has a photo on the cover that made acoustic guitar playing look irresistible to me. I wanted to BE one of those guys. "When the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed" sang Neil Young, and that's when my dream came along too.
Daylight always comes at the right time
George Harrison made some phone calls that brought together Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr and Bob Dylan for his Concert for Bangladesh. George stepped out of the shadow of Lennon and McCartney in his shining white suit and emerged as a charismatic bandleader. Like 4 Way Street, the Concert for Bangladesh was sparked by social consciousness, and both albums have a special sense of purpose. Both albums also led me to so much additional music of the various singer/songwriters involved.
Imagine all the monkberry moon delight
John Lennon released his most popular song, Imagine, and album of the same name, in 1971. But I remain just as big a fan of the lesser known 1971 album by Paul McCartney, Ram. It has a wonderful set of songs and ripping lead guitar work by Paul and plenty of Beatlesque touches.
A year of contrasts
Yes created classic progressive rock (and The Who joined that trend by weaving hypnotic synths into their guitar rock), but Van Morrison got back to the country. Cat Stevens strummed folk rock and Carole King got jazzy with her acoustic piano pop gems. CSNY played "wooden music" and rocked out as well, as did Led Zeppelin (although we should put the emphasis the other way around for them).
Look out world, I've arrived!
That's what I remember thinking when I was 13, turning 14 during that fateful year of 1971. The story of my post-child grown-up life began that year, and holey moley, what a soundtrack I had!
