10 DEEP PURPLE — MACHINE HEAD
1970’s Deep Purple In Rock and 1971’s Fireball set the bar high for British heavy rock. Yet Deep Purple managed to top those two fine records with their seventh long-player, Machine Head. Prosaically named after the metal gear arrangement that adjusts the tension on guitar strings, the music is anything but boring. Opening in fourth gear with “Highway Star” and closing with the incendiary “Space Truckin’”, Machine Head has more great songs in between. It is, in sum, much more than the immortal “Smoke On The Water”. For this young explorer it was the powerful yet restrained organ playing of Jon Lord that made as big an impression as Richie Blackmore’s guitar pyrotechnics. And when they combine, wow. As for Ian Gillian’s voice, Jesus wept! [Released March 1972]
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9 JETHRO TULL — THICK AS A BRICK
Considered by many to be an enduring highlight of progressive rock, the term ‘prog’ does Jethro Tull’s epic concept album no justice. Blending punchy rock with English folk influences and deploying thoughtful structures drawn from classical composition, this is a hugely entertaining work. The lavish packaging with its fold-out mock newspaper reflects the ambition of the LP. With lyrics as dense and evocative as any spotty young person could want (and we most certainly wanted them complex enough to match the music) the whole thing is a triumph. The conceit of a pre-teen writing epic poetry is preposterous but brilliant and the playing is uniformly spiffing. For those who enjoy rock music with aspirations, there is remains much to enjoy here, half a century later. As Vinyl Connection has always maintained, there should be no conflict embracing Prog and Punk. [Released March 1972]
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8 VARIOUS ARTISTS — NUGGETS
There are thousands of compilation albums out there, yet few that could be considered ‘essential’. I would place Lenny Kaye’s selection of 27 chunks of prime Sixties garage and psychedelia in the upper echelon of carefully curated collections you should own. Indeed, one of the small number of contenders for a higher placing would be the expanded four CD Nuggets boxed set that came out in 1998.
From the quite-well-known (Count Five “Psychotic Reaction”) to the iconic (The Knickerbockers “Lies”), from impassioned appropriations (The Blues Magoos “Tobacco Road”) to thrilling innovation (The Nazz “Open My Eyes”), the music on Nuggets retains a freshness and energy that remains as day-glow as the album cover. [Released October 1972]
vinylconnection.com.au 
Yay for “Thick As A Brick!” Agree with your assessments 100%. Especially being a prog (though we did not call it that at the time) and punk fan all at the same time, then and now . . .
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That’s right J.Eric! At the time it was simply great, interesting music. 🙂 More to come, I promise.
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Actually, I’m a big fan of Nuggets but for some reason I never think of it as being from a specific year. I don’t know why. Maybe because I’m thinking of all the different years that the different versions came out instead of one specific year. And I definitely have nothing against including compilations in my lists. They’re loaded with them as a matter of fact. I have Nuggets in an overall all-time list, but not a yearly one. I should add it though
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Certainly understand that musing, kingclover. I generally only consider compilations if they are exceptional… and this one is. But I absolutely agree – I think of this as ’66-’69!
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Same, I have the Nuggets boxset and I never thought of it as from a year either. It just rules.
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It does indeed. And the 50th anniversary of its release is really just an excuse to trumpet its greatness!
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So is the 50th just a re-print or are there extra tracks or something?
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Nope. Nothing special, just a re-issue.
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Still cool.
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Now we’re talking! As long as you allow me the four-disc 1998 version, we finally have a Vinyl Connection list for which I have full coverage. I am a big fan of all three of these and am happy to see them in your top 10 for ’72. As for prog and punk, count me in!
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Any colour you like, Vic. You are duly counted.
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Hallelujah, finally a post featuring albums I all know, including my favorite hard rock album of all time: Machine Head – love it! 🙂
I also like the Jethro Tull and “Nuggets” albums. For the latter, I have to thank Graham from Aphoristic Album Reviews and his related ongoing feature – some nice tunes on that collection!
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Alles gut, Christian. (Though I am hoping to pitch a couple of curve balls in the final posts!)
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One of my best friends in college, JD (yes named for Jack Daniels) cued up Space Truckin every time we got down to partying. It was really my initiation to Deep Purple as before that I only ever heard Smoke on the Water and that song irritates me. To this day it remains one of my favorite songs, and it possibly served as the laser beam that directed Eli’s descent into all things classic rock. I love the term incendiary as you’ve applied it.
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Deep Purple initiate partying and a love of classic rock. Love it.
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I LOVE that Nuggets collection! I even like the later one that was released… Great list.
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Cheers, Max. Yes, the Nuggets II boxed set (if that’s the one you mean) is magnificent, drawing tracks from around the world.
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Yes that is it… I have posted some off of that one and the second one that was released about the 70s and 80s alt bands. The first one though is probably the best.
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Machine Head! Oh the days I have spent listening to that record. It’s a masterclass. A perfect album perhaps.
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A classic without a doubt. Even ‘Maybe I’m a Leo’ has become smeared with the brilliance of the rest.
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Machine Head would be in my Top 10 too, even though I prefer In Rock and Fireball. I’ve kinda lost the love for Tull in recent years, not sure why. I was really into them at one point. Maybe I’ll come round to them again.
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I think that happens for music fans of the more omnivorous kind. I often find that with folk rock (which is not a million miles away from Tull),
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Jesus wept indeed. Mr. Gillian knew how to both wail and vocalize well… and in tune.
I’ve never quite figured out ‘ol Ian was making fun of prog specifically… or us the listeners, for taking it all a little too seriously. I suppose it doesn’t matter because the album is now certifiably a classic; so the laugh — if that’s indeed what he was going for — is on him! – Marty
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Well, he was coming off a stint as the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar, which took itself pretty seriously (hence my lil’ joke).
You may be onto something with Ian’s histrionics, but I rather think he was ‘of his time’, and that time was pushing everything into the red.
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Nuggets is a great call – I usually forget about compilations on lists like this.
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That’s where the massive spreadsheet helps (especially as my grey matter gets greyer!). I sort by year then create a separate file. Only problem is, that over the decades, some errors have inevitably crept in, leading to the occasional embarrassment.
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I use the website BestEverAlbums to keep track of all the scores from my site.
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No conflict with CB and ‘Brick’. Im going to listen to it right now. I love it. Thanks for the nudge as usual.
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Lovely. Enjoy, mate.
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You must have had your finger on the trigger. And yes I’m enjoying. Only 5 minutes in. Here for the duration. It’s called album listening.
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I’m certain I’ve commented previously–perhaps even multiple times–on the fact that my introduction to Deep Purple was via my oldest brother, who was a big fan. As it happens, my other brother introduced me to Jethro Tull when he requested Passion Play as a Christmas present; I think I’ve probably mentioned that here too. Sorry to sound like a broken record (see what I did there?) Thick As A Brick is one of the more rhythmically interesting LPs I’ve enjoyed over the years.
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I wonder if Bro#2 requested Passion Play (1973) on the back of enjoying Thick As A Brick (1972)?
Please don’t worry about recycling a memory or two. The current context is what matters! (And anyway, some of us struggle to remember which albums we’ve already written about!)
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I suspect that’s a real possibility, Bruce. Not to add gloom to the proceedings, but in a few days it’ll be 20 years since that brother passed away. (Thus I appreciated the fact that this post happened to invoke both brothers…)
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The welds that affix music to moments in life are strong, regardless of the patina of age that weathers them. Honouring in music can be powerful.
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Indeed it can…
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[…] acclaim upon release. No less a pundit than Lenny Kaye (compiler of Nuggets, as featured in the previous post) said, “if on the one hand they prove the group’s eternal constancy and appeal, it’s on […]
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“As Vinyl Connection has always maintained, there should be no conflict embracing Prog and Punk.” Someone had to say (or blog it). Always felt the same. In fact, there is a definite blending of the two in a lot of (especially) post-punk British bands. Anyway, enjoying the “Final Countdown.” (Your list, that is, not the song)
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Cheers Rick. Re ‘genres’, the other one that is pretty hard to define is Art Rock; another peculiarly British category into which Sparks were inducted (quite rightly).
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