1972 Briefly Revisited: AotY
This is officially the year there's too much music to revisit.
If you only listen to one song: "What's Going On (Live)", Marvin Gaye
Too much music
I've been changing my approach to these Briefly Revisited posts for a while. This post, however, marks an official, conscious shift: there's too much music and I can't listen to it all. For the 1972 award cycle, I only listened to the albums I already knew I liked, or suspected I would like.
In some ways this is sad: I found a lot of good music by listening to albums I didn't know I would like, including Jazz på svenska by Jan Johansson, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane.
For this cycle, it means I skipped albums from bands including: The Who, Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull, The Doors, Yes, Alice Cooper, Santana, Funkadelic, James Taylor, and David Crosby.
I would love to have listened to all of those albums.
Albums, Revisited
Here are some albums I like, that also could have been nominated for the 1972 Album of the Year award.
What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
This album is amazing. (If you're reading this, there's a good chance you already know that.)
Blue, Joni Mitchell
I'm already deeply and forever in love with Joni Mitchell, so I didn't need to listen to this album at all. However, once upon a time, I tried to begin my Joni journey with Blue and that was a mistake; I bounced right off of the album. Starting with For The Roses and alternatingly listening to one album forward, and one album backward, got me to Blue, and through Blue, and firmly obsessed with the albums that came afterward.
Master of Reality, Black Sabbath
Is Black Sabbath heavy metal? I always assumed Black Sabbath was heavy metal. I also assumed I knew what heavy metal sounds like. But this album does not sound like my assumption of what heavy metal sounds like.
Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
It's album is silly good.
Also: while listening to this album I realized that I think of Rock as a distinctly different genre than Rock and Roll. Perhaps everybody does.
Tumbleweed Connection, Elton John
I only listened to this album because it was by Elton John and he's earned my trust. With a name like Tumbleweed Connection I was very skeptical... turns out this album is totally rad.
Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin is sick. I love Zeppelin I through IV. III is very good.
Albums For Later
Here are some albums I didn't listen to, but also could have been nominated for the 1972 Album of the Year award.
- Who's Next, The Who
- Every Picture Tells a Story, Rod Stewart
- Aqualung, Jethro Tull
- L.A. Woman, The Doors
- The Yes Album, Yes
- Love It to Death, Alice Cooper
- Santana III, Santana
- Maggot Brain, Funkadelic
- Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, James Taylor
- If I Could Only Remember My Name, David Crosby
- John Prine, John Prine
The current One Man Academy (OMA) project is listening to the Grammy's Album of the Year nominees and re-choosing winners, absent of historical context.
Featured songs from this post: Spotify