That Wonderful Year in Music... 1973 (Redux)

Longtime readers will recall that for a span of 4 1/2 years, mostly by milestone I reviewed every year in music from 1963 to the then-present. There are some lists I'm perfectly fine with, while others had glaring oversights and omissions. (Look at my #5 pick below. I’m ashamed.) A lot of my earlier lists would have benefited from Spotify it were around at the time, and that is definitely the case for my 1973 rundown.

As I implied nearly a decade ago, '73 was stacked. Growing up on classic rock, I know almost all of these albums like the back of my hand. Most of my lists are a top 20, and I simply couldn't whittle it down from 25. Ditto for the list of singles. At the same time, since I first wrote this list in 2009, I’ve witnessed some shifts in my musical tastes, and discovered some new bands and albums in the interim.

(Parentheses note original rankings)

BEST ALBUMS:

1. Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd. (3) As much as I love Brick Road (it's one of my top three favorite double albums) my original list did a disservice to far-reaching cultural impact and commercial success of the Floyd's breakthrough. Call it overrated or a relic of its time, this was one of those albums that launched a thousand imitators and acolytes.

2. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John (1)

3. Innervisions, Stevie Wonder (12)

4. Raw Power, The Stooges (7)

5. Aladdin Sane, David Bowie (NR)

6. Countdown to Ecstacy, Steely Dan (2)

7. Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin (13)

8. Berlin, Lou Reed (11)

9. The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen (5)

10. Quadrophenia, The Who (6)

11. For Your Pleasure, Roxy Music (8)

12. Band on the Run, Paul McCartney & Wings (20)

13. Headhunters, Herbie Hancock (15)

14. (Pronounced 'Leh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), Lynyrd Skynyrd (NR)

15. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Black Sabbath (NR)

16. Selling England By the Pound, Genesis (NR)

17. New York Dolls, New York Dolls (4)

18. Closing Time, Tom Waits (NR)

19. Catch a Fire, The Wailers (NR)

20. Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, Bruce Springsteen (14)

21. Future Days, Can (NR)

22. Larks' Tongues in Aspic, King Crimson (NR)

23. Paris 1919, John Cale (10)

24. Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson Lake & Palmer (18)

25. The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get, Joe Walsh (19)

BEST SINGLES:

"La Grange," ZZ Top

"Kodachrome," Paul Simon

"You're So Vain," Carly Simon 

"Frankenstein," The Edgar Winter Group

"Heartbreaker (Do Do Do Do Do)," The Rolling Stones

"Captain Jack," Billy Joel 

"Ecstasy," The Raspberries

"Right Place, Wrong Time," Dr. John

"Dancing in the Moonlight," King Harvest

"She's Gone," Hall & Oates

"Killing Me Softly (With His Song)," Roberta Flack

"Love Train," The O-Jays

"Let's Get It On," Marvin Gaye

"Midnight Train to Georgia," Gladys Knight & The Pips

"Here I Am (Come and Take Me)," Al Green

"Stir It Up," Johnny Nash

"Drift Away," Dobie Gray

"One of a Kind Love Affair," Spinners

"Keep on Truckin'," Eddie Kendricks

"Masterpiece," The Temptations

"The World is a Ghetto," War

"Tubular Bells," Mike Oldfield

"Hocus Pocus," Focus

"Street Life," Roxy Music

"Just One Victory," Todd Rundgren

Dedicated to the memory of Mark A. Peterson

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