I also am against compilations because even if it is a 70s release of just 70s material, this may dilute the votes for other albums you would have voted for otherwise. For example if you're voting for Neil Young's Decade, you may not vote for some of his albums, or they would be lower on your list than they would have otherwise. Then when we get to the final list the placement of Neil Young albums will seem lower than they should be. But I guess it's not a big deal. Whatever the case, I'm only voting for official albums and soundtracks.

On a slightly related note - even as big a Van Morrison fan as I am, I only just got It's Too Late to Stop Now, and these sorts of live albums I find impossible to rate. It's got a few covers of songs that aren't, to my knowledge, on his studio albums, but by and large it's all just rehashing, with slightly different instrumentation, his classic songs I've heard a million times before. Only now there's a different track ordering, different contrasts and transitions, except by now I know the studio albums too well to really try or want to try to unlock this album.

Im with Dreww on only having soundtracks and albums. As far as live albums go Tudwell, I think it depends on how one is listening to them. For me, I either look for improvisation of songs or how well the live performance has lived up to its studio counterpart. My favorite Zeppelin album is HtWWW simply cause I can appreciate how well they made the songs sound, and thats all that really matters to me when listening to a live album where I know the songs from beforehand.

im doing live albums for sure. i dont have that much of a prob with comps ( i havent added any to my list i think) but comps would really get to be an issue for 90's and 00's lists - some of the recent compilation work over the last two decades are so good that lps usually can't compete with them. thankfully there aren't too many amazing comps from the 70's so it wouldnt be too skewing i dont think

Yeah, I'm planning on listening to that, dreamcoil, and adding it to my list if it stacks up, but I've never listened to Townes van Zandt before, so it wouldn't just be a rehashing of all his studio material for me (if that's what it even is in the first place) the way other live albums can be..

It's probably also worth asking: when people list Live at Leeds really high, are they talking about the LP that was actually released in the 70s...

1. Young Man Blues
2. Substitute
3. Summertime Blues
4. Shakin' All Over
5. My Generation
6. Magic Bus

...or are they talking about the accumulated deluxe and bonus editions they started releasing in the 90s which... you know... contain the majority of the actually interesting material? Because if we're talking about the 1995 release, well, that's one placement, but if we're talking about the release that includes the performance of Tommy then that's another. And if it's just the 6 tracks above, then it probably doesn't chart for me at all.

1. The Clash - London Calling

The Stooges - Raw Power
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
Devo - Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!
Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material
The Clash - The Clash
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Stooges - Fun House
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
Elvis Costello - This Years Model
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Ramones - Ramones
Lou Reed - Transformer
The Who - Who's Next
Cheap Trick - At Budokan
Wire - Pink Flag
Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
Television - Marquee Moon
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
Ramones - It's Alive
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
The Germs - (GI)
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Talking Heads - More Songs about Buildings and Food
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
The Beatles - Let It Be
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
The Who - Quadrophenia
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Queen - A Night At The Opera
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box
Magazine - Real Life
T-Rex - Electric Warrior
The Undertones - The Undertones
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Yes - Fragile
Gang of Four - Entertainment!
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
The Velvet Underground - Loaded
Pere Ubu - Dub Housing
The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
Patti Smith - Horses

Can, more like Can not find a place on this list for them. King Crimson are def out too. Most shockingly after a re-listen I don't want to include LZ IV which was top 5 all time a while back and DSOTM which was top 50 at least.

I'm likely to find more places for Pere Ubu style weird art punkish new-waveish type albums as well as more early 70's albums by the blacks. Plus David Bowie and Neil Young and Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, FUCK.

Fair point here. The deluxe editions are what everyone really loves.

This is an early draft of my top 10, but it'll probably stay basically like this. I've decided to not include compilations that don't contain music solely from the '70s, so Hank Williams's 40 Greatest Hits is out (which would otherwise place at #3).

1. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
2. Leonard Cohen – Songs of Love and Hate
3. Neil Young – After the Gold Rush
4. The Velvet Underground – Loaded
5. Exuma – Exuma
6. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
7. Ramones – Road to Ruin
8. Big Star – Radio City
9. Igor Wakhévitch – Docteur Faust
10. Stiff Little Fingers – Inflammable Material

good shit, exuma will make my top 10, most likely

townes was an artist who was completely shorthanded by shitty producers who overdubbed and polished his work to oblivion. he wasn't even allowed to play guitar on his debut. when just left by himself and his guitar ( as it is on this ^ live album), it's not only completely different in atmosphere and aesthetic, it's also the way that townes was meant to be listened to, imo

if you want an example - the first song on the youtube above there, 'waiting around to die' - is just one of the greatest songs ever written. this is what one of the studio version sounds like:



not bad or anything, but a bit forced to make it radio-friendly.

A current top ten, subject to melodramatic revision. The awkward case of Elton John (the lack of an acceptable album vs. the extent of my love for his early singles) has forced my war against compilations to a close.

1. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
2. Luciano Cilio - Dialoghi del presente
3. Van Morrison – Moondance
4. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
5. Elton John - Greatest Hits
6. Freddie Hubbard - Straight Life
7. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Model
8. Charles Mingus - Let My Children Hear Music
9. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
10. Keith Jarrett – Solo Concerts: Bremen and Lausanne

Physical Graffiti as your #1 pretty much demands I listen to it again for the first time in two or three years

Loudly.

good God this is awesome