#1975 countdown

Here is the obligatory index of the albums covered in 2025’s 1975 COUNTDOWN. Over 100 albums have featured. * #1 — #5 1  PINK FLOYD — WISH YOU WERE HERE 2  NEU! — NEU 75 3  BRIAN ENO — ANOTHER GREEN WORLD 4  BOB DYLAN — BLOOD ON THE TRACKS 5  LED ZEPPELIN — PHYSICAL GRAFFITI * #6 — #10 6 JONI MITCHELL — THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS 7  GRATEFUL DEAD — BLUES FOR ALLAH 8 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN — BORN TO…

#5 LED ZEPPELIN — PHYSICAL GRAFFITI Zepp’s first release on their own Swan Song label was eagerly anticipated, expectations being further heightened by delays due to challenges in the production of the die-cut cover. A studio double album, it is either expansive or sprawling depending on your mood. The epic tracks—”Kashmir” and “In my time of dying”—are widescreen statements of artistic vision…

Finally we arrive at the Top 10. The first of two parts… * #10 POPOL VUH — EINSJÄGER UND SIEBENJÄGER Probably my favourite Popol Vuh album, Einsjäger und Siebenjäger is also one of their most rock-orientated, with guitars well in evidence. This more muscular sound serves the music well and pulls the pieces back from the kind of misty spirituality that, for some, undermines Hosianna Mantra.…

It’s December 1975, less than a week out from Christmas. What to get your teenage niece? Her parents gave her a small record player for her birthday and have been complaining about the noise emanating from her bedroom ever since. And the last time they visited she sat with her ear pressed against a tiny transistor radio for most of the afternoon. Music, then. A trip to the local suburban record…

#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…

#10 GEORGE DUKE — THE AURA WILL PREVAIL  [MPS] This enthralling album has so many styles you run out of fingers. Jazz, of course; it’s George Duke. There is also funk and soul, some progressive rock colours (especially the synth work), a touch of latin… and every permutation implied by the preceding list. It’s a bright, melodic record; less arch and self-conscious than Frank Zappa’s work at this…

It is not entirely clear whether 1975 was an exceptional year for jazz or whether Vinyl Connection was simply more into the form at this time. Either way, it was quite a struggle to reduce the contenders to twenty. Those who are unmoved by America’s gift to music may still find things to enjoy in the album art, as the Top 20 contains a generous proportion of recordings on ECM, the legendary jazz…

#30 NEIL YOUNG — ZUMA After the grim soul scouring of Tonight’s The Night, Young reformed Crazy Horse with new guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro replacing Danny Whitten. Zuma blends wistful reflection with raw electric power. “Don’t Cry No Tears” and “Barstool Blues” evoke rough-edged tenderness, while “Cortez the Killer” stands among his finest works—a thunderhead dream, mournful and mythic.…