Part of me has a hard time accepting a given year as the best for music when both John Coltrane and Otis Redding had already died, for instance.
Yes, but the rest of the world kept turning. No offense to the deceased, but just because Coltrane died didn't mean that all the great musicians stopped playing altogether.
And as for Otis....well, he passed on in December, by which time most of that year's essential music had already come out.
This is a great thread topic, and it's difficult to answer. I have to go with 1972 since so many albums I love were released during that year. Here are some representative examples:
-"People Hold On"-Eddie Kendricks.
-"Eat a Peach"-The Allman Brothers.
-"S/T"-Maxayn.
-"Something/Anything?"-Todd Rungren.
-"Harvest"-Neil Young.
-"Superfly"-Curtis Mayfield.
-"Last Days and Times"-Earth, Wind, and Fire.
-"The World is a Ghetto"-War.
-"Can You Feel It?"-S.O.U.L.
-"Stop and Go"-Bohannon.
-"Carney"-Leon Russell.
-"Talking Book"-Stevie Wonder.
-"America Eats Its Young"-Funkadelic.
-"Summer Breeze"-Seals & Croft.
-"No Secrets"-Carly Simon.
-"Crossings"-Herbie Hancock.
-"Let's Stay Together"-Al Green.
-"S/T"-Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway.
-"Round 2"-The Stylistics.
-"Still Bill"-Bill Withers.
-"Young, Gifted, and Black"-Aretha Franklin.
-"Natural Illusion"-Bobby Hutcherson.
I'll stop there, but you get the idea.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Plus it was the birth of Technics SL-1200, and DJ Kool Herc started doing the 'Merry-Go-Round' - one of the pivotal and formative events leading to the birth of hippety hop, y'all !
Comments
Yes, but the rest of the world kept turning. No offense to the deceased, but just because Coltrane died didn't mean that all the great musicians stopped playing altogether.
And as for Otis....well, he passed on in December, by which time most of that year's essential music had already come out.
Plus it was the birth of Technics SL-1200, and DJ Kool Herc started doing the 'Merry-Go-Round' - one of the pivotal and formative events leading to the birth of hippety hop, y'all !