#20
BETTY DAVIS — NASTY GAL
Paradoxically, Nasty Gal is Betty Davis’s fiercest and most polished record. Produced by Davis herself, it fuses hard funk with glam-inflected edge: serrated guitar riffs, tight horn stabs over a rhythm section that struts and swaggers. Davis’s vocals are raw, confrontational and defiantly sexual, pushing beyond the already bold persona of her earlier albums. While the record didn’t chart strongly, it became a touchstone for funk-rock and stands as Davis’s most fully realised statement—uncompromising, electric, and years ahead of mainstream taste.
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#19
HELDON — ALLEZ-TÉIA
Having chatted on social media with Richard Pinhas—as much as language barriers and time differences allow—I can confirm what a first listen to this second Heldon album reveals: the Frenchman and King Crimson’s Robert Fripp were exploring similar guitar territory in the second half of the 70s. Indeed, M. Pinhas considers Fripp a close colleague. So it comes as no surprise that this LP blends recursive Fripp-style guitar loops with restrained synth textures and minimal percussion. Pieces such as “Fluence” build slowly through tape-loop layering, creating a drifting, unresolved atmosphere, while shorter tracks introduce hints of prog and musique concrète. To make things absolutely clear, the album’s first track is called “In the wake of King Fripp.” The overall mood is meditative but unsettled, as if testing out ideas that would become more aggressive on subsequent Heldon records. Allez-Téia is a great entry point to the world of the criminally under-appreciated Richard Pinhas.
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#18
JEFF BECK — BLOW BY BLOW
As the Seventies unfolded, Jeff Beck was drawn to the jazz-rock sounds making incursions into the rock mainstream. Drummer Billy Cobham’s Spectrum (October 1973, #16 in the ’73 Countdown) was hugely influential. “Spectrum changed my whole musical outlook,” Beck said. “I thought, ‘this is the shit we need’.” In 1974 he began recording instrumental pieces with a band including composer and keyboard whiz Max Middleton, the music being produced by George Martin. Blow By Blow is a feel-good slice of Seventies jazz-rock that is both accessible and, dare I say it, fun. It was a creative peak for the English guitarist, and a record I’ve been enjoying for decades. (More here)
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#17
HAWKWIND — WARRIOR ON THE EDGE OF TIME
Hawkwind’s sixth album is, for many fans, the most well-defined expression of their science-fantasy space themes and inventive music. Opening with Lemmy’s ascending bass line and Simon House’s mellotron, “Assault & Battery Part 1” sets out their stall and introduces us to the themes which follow. Power, melody, SF wizard Michael Moorcock, Lemmy, synths, cover art glory… Warrior on the Edge of Time is romantic, progressive, grooving, swirling space rock at its best. Without doubt one of the crown jewels in the Hawkwind catalogue. (More here)
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#16
KING CRIMSON — USA
VC’s long journey with this momentous KC live album has been periodically documented in these pages; here, for example, and briefly here. The material on USA was drawn primarily from a June 28 concert at Asbury Park, NJ, with some overdubs occurring later. This was an explosive band, surging together and straining apart, tight ensemble playing and rocket fuelled improvisations. Fripp’s guitar is jagged and dry, Wetton’s bass pushes into overdrive, and Bruford’s drumming is endlessly inventive. The album—in all its forms, but particularly the expanded 2025 two-LP vinyl re-issue—is an intense time capsule of the band’s ferocity and finesse; raw, physical and teetering on the edge of collapse. The text at the base of the back cover says it all: R.I.P.
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#15
HARMONIA — DELUXE
Drummer Mani Neumeier joins the core trio of Roedelius, Möbius (Cluster) and Rother (Neu!) for the second Harmonia outing. Rother’s melodic guitar lines glide over buoyant rhythms while the electronic elements feel more structured than on Musik von Harmonia. Tracks like “Monza (Rauf und Runter)” push into krautrock velocity, while “Walky-Talky” and “Immer Wieder” balance shimmer with gentle repetition. Deluxe stands as a bridge between Neu!’s momentum and Cluster’s ambience. It is Harmonia’s most accessible and kinetic statement and is a bona fide krautrock classic.
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#14
SPLIT ENZ — MENTAL NOTES
This ambitious, captivating debut blends art-rock theatricality with sharp, surreal songwriting. The album showcases the early Tim Finn—Phil Judd partnership, whose contrasting sensibilities give the record its tension: Judd’s angular, cabaret-tinged compositions sit beside Finn’s more melodic, emotive pieces. Arrangements are well thought out yet unpredictable; chamber-rock strings, jagged guitars, treated pianos and abrupt dynamic shifts create a sound closer to early Roxy Music than to the band’s later pop-rock clarity. Tracks such as “Stranger Than Fiction” and “Titus” highlight the group’s flair for eccentric narrative and off-kilter (yet memorable) hooks. Mental Notes is a distinctive example of 70s Australasian art-rock, brimming with imagination and youthful volatility.
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#13
PATTI SMITH — HORSES
Many consider Horses, produced by John Cale, a foundational work of New York punk. It’s a kind of lazy historical retro-fitting that adds nothing to a sparse and uncompromising record by an artist who emerged fully herself. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios, it blends rock minimalism with Beat-influenced poetry and improvisational openness; more art rock than snot rock. Smith’s delivery—half incantation, half street reportage—drives pieces like “Gloria” (which reframes Van Morrison’s lyric as a manifesto) and “Land,” a nine-and-a-half minute trip through desire, violence, and liberation. “Redondo Beach” sways to a reggae groove as it flickers like a beach bonfire. A landmark album with an iconic Robert Mapplethorpe cover.
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#12
KRAFTWERK — RADIO-AKTIVITÄT
The first album to feature the classic Hütter–Schneider–Bartos–Flür lineup, Radio-Aktivitat explores themes of radio communication and nuclear energy using a minimalist electronic palette that somehow incorporates ghosts of pop melody. It is exploratory and sparse; focussing less on radio as a connector than on the spaces between electromagnetic waves. There is a bereft, lonely beauty here—beeps and pulses reaching into space—that is not always found in later, more streamlined work. A special album by a unique band.
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#11
NEIL YOUNG — TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
Young’s most scarifying album is a raw, grief-soaked response to the drug-related deaths of roadie Bruce Berry and Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. Cut quickly in Los Angeles in 1973, the performances are loose, slurred, and emotionally unfiltered: guitars stray, voices crack, the rhythm section staggers. Although listeners were uncertain when the LP was first released in June 1975, Tonight’s The Night is now seen as one of Young’s most honest and powerful statements, claiming the shadowlands of his 1970s output.
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NEXT: The Top 10! (Though not in one hit)
vinylconnection.com.au 
I’m really enjoying these lists of yours. Quick thoughts: similar to TV’s Marquee Moon, I just can’t get into Horses, despite the iconic Mapplethorpe photography and Cale’s involvement. An “acquired taste,” maybe? However, big thumbs up for Lemmy-era Hawkwind, the live Crimson LP, and especially Blow by Blow, maybe in my top 5 for ’75, and my fave fusion LP. Keep ’em comin’!
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Delighted you are finding it interesting, Pete. Like you, I have struggled rather a lot with Patti—admiration but less enthusiasm than deserved—but it just seemed an imperative to include Horses here, at the business end of the list. Maybe that’s part of the mystique?
Keep working on that Top 5 (or 10) of yours!
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It probably won’t surprise you that Blow By Blow is my favourite from amongst these.
It’s not purely a matter of personal taste – ignorance makes a significant contribution too. If time permits (and memory holds) your reviews might help to remedy that.
Thanks Bruce,
DD
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No, I not exactly shocked by that, DD. 🙂
And why not? It’s a terrific album that holds up really well over five decades later!
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Aaahhh now I had to buy the King Crimson again. So many good ones here.
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Can one ever have too much KC? It’s my life’s work to test that postulate. 😉
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I’ve been testing that with the Grateful Dead this week it seems
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Ooh, the Dead’s catalogue of live recordings. (He starts to shake and cough, just like the old man in that book)
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Yea I’ve picked up several four boxes and this may become an obsession of sorts. Tonight’s the Night just got reissue that adds six tracks from a the sessions that is worth a look. Of course Neil Young is attempting to bankrupt me so I bought it.
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I’m particularly delighted to see Neil Young’s “Tonight’s the Night,” as well as Jeff Beck’s “Blow by Blow.” I’ve also listened to some of Hawkwind’s music before, and if I recall it correctly it was thanks to you! 🙂
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‘Warrior’ is certainly amongst my favourite Hawkwinds Christian. As for Neil’s ‘Tonight’, is there a better wonky woozy album around? ‘Blow by Blow’ is a deserved classic, not least for perhaps being the best selling jazz-rock album ever!
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So beautifully and lovingly compiled, thank you Bruce! Didn’t know Split Enz originated this far back in 75; I first saw them in the MTV of early 80s…then years later the Crowded House iteration of course. And did not know about the Moorcock/ Hawkwind connection, that’s funny. I was reading Elric or Melnibone stories in the 80s too. Such a list! Looking forward to the top 10.
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Thank you.
Loved Elric of Melnibone. Anti-hero supreme.
The first Split Enz album is an eccentric delight!
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Pleased to see Horses make the top twenty in a tightly packed year. As you may suspect, it’s a top 5 album for me *in history* and its impact on my life is immeasurable. Susan and I saw the Horses fiftieth anniversary tour a couple of weeks ago and man, that album holds up just fine over these decades. What a night that was.
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That concert sounds special, Jeff.
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It also wonder if Horses is one of those special albums that marks a generational divide. People for whom it was formative/figural album love and revere it. For those just a bit older it marked the beginning of change—not, as some would have it, a sweeping away, but of an emergence of a fresh, often angry voice. That doesn’t make it reviled, but perhaps just that bit harder to embrace.
I’d be interested in the thoughts of yourself and Joe (1537). And @greenpete58 too.
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Bruford/Wetton a favorite team. I think I’ll go have a listen.
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Yeah, CB!! Reckon I might too.
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At first, I thought this posting was about Kim Carnes.
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The ‘eyes’ have it.
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Hooray to see “Mental Notes” do so well . . . I have been LOVING the new “ENZyclopedia: Volumes One & Two” release with that one, “Second Thoughts,” early singles, and live material. Such an amazing band in those day. I like Neil-era Enz too, of course, but the Judd-Finn partnership was truly magical. “USA” was my entry portal into the wonderful world of “Crim” (See: https://jericsmith.com/2020/07/06/favorite-songs-by-favorite-bands-13-king-crimson/), so appreciate seeing it up on the chart too!! And agree that “Warrior” is the best album to introduce prospective BLANGA fans to Hawkwind in the vintage ’70s incarnation. (Then make them listen to “Hall of the Mountain Grill” and “Space Ritual” to see if the lesson stuck).
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Delighted me to the enz of my toes, this response J.Eric. Thank you.
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You probably have 2 of my top 3 here Bruce with Patti and Kraftwerk – has there ever been a sadder LP than Radioactivity? Warrior On The Edge (I own the shield version, natch) is pretty damn good too.
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Love that shield cover!
I wonder if your other top 3 entry will appear? Watch this space, kids!
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I don’t know the bottom half of this ten at all really, spinning Betty Davis now.
Mental Notes is a great pick.
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So much invention and spark on Mental Notes. One of my favourite debut albums, period.
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