 | Close to the Edge by Yes
Buy used from: $3.19 Not what the kids expect when they hear the term "'70s music"
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 | Live at Leeds by The Who
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $3.69 Reviewers say 'Best live rock album ever made' - listen to 'em, it's the truth. Don't bother w/the 2-CD version; the 2nd CD is Tommy done just OK
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 | One Size Fits All by Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention
Buy used from: $10.75 One of the most creative rock albums ever, true musicianship with Zappa's sense of humor. The lyrics will mostly leave you scratching your head (but they're just window dressing for the music anyway)
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 | Hunky Dory by David Bowie
Buy new: $11.94 / Used from: $7.37 The first half of what should have been a double album. 'Ziggy Stardust' is the required 2nd half
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 | My Goals Beyond by Mahavishnu John McLaughlin
Buy used from: $45.00 This is an UNDESERVEDLY obscure album. A camel caravan on the Silk Road followed by great solo jazz guitar
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 | Edgar Winter's White Trash by Edgar Winter's White Trash
Buy used from: $4.22 Forgotten but THANKfully still available. Loud, in-your-face American blues-rock with a tight horn section. This is NOTHING like the throw-away Top 40 Edgar Winter of 'Frankenstein'
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 | The Inner Mounting Flame by John McLaughlin & Mahavishnu Orchestra
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $3.95 The loudest meditative album ever made; volume must be Cranked UP
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 | Blows Against the Empire by Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship
Buy used from: $6.57 Technically not the '70s but close; Let the babies lie there in a pile
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 | Waiting for Columbus by Little Feat
Buy new: $22.99 / Used from: $13.00 Great 'roll in the mud with your girlfriend and a jug of wine' (don't forget your rubbers) music... You won't be in the mood for this after Close to the Edge
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 | Beginnings by The Allman Brothers Band
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $5.99 If someone only gave me half of this album, it would have to be 'Idyllwild South'
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 | Free Hand by Gentle Giant
Buy used from: $17.99 English rocker w/equal parts of J. Tull (minus flute), Chant, poly-rhythms and surprise. Don't buy the 2-CD version; the 'Interview' half's lousy. Buy 'Glass House' & 'Power & Glory' if you like this
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 | Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit
Buy used from: $20.00 It's Nature's Way of telling you something's wrong. Must be played back to back with Sopwith Camel (below)
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 | The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon by The Sopwith Camel
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $22.99 Happy happy happy! How can you deny an album containing 'Monkeys on the moon?' Great jazzy album
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 | Wake of the Flood by Grateful Dead
Buy used from: $5.29 Not the first Dead album you'd think of but trust me; goes real well with 'Blues for Allah'
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 | Caravanserai by Santana
Buy used from: $2.47 Not the Top-40 Santana of Winter 1971 - Any album which opens with crickets chirping is gonna be different!
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 | Millennium Party: Funk by Various Artists
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $4.99 All those damn songs the guys down the hall in your dorm used to play - that you just used to HATE - somehow sound really great now!
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 | Innervisions by Stevie Wonder
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $4.99 Put on a cop show, turn down the TV and put this on instead, as the TV's soundtrack
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 | Mysterious Traveller by Weather Report
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $4.74 Great electric jazz - One of Weather Report's two peaks, the other being 'Mr Gone'
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 | The Very Best of Dr. John by Dr. John
Buy new: $8.97 / Used from: $2.61 Most of this is from the 1970s. A Party classic! But the best Dr John is 'Gris Gris' from 1968, which is a mystic dream, not a rocker
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 | Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 by Miles Davis
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $1.85 Remixes of early-mid '70s Miles Davis - if Techno or IDM were jazz, this is what it would sound like (a 2nd choice would be 'Big Fun' which is 'out there' but not techno-ish)
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 | Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $3.40 Really commercial but great; 'Hejira' and 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter' are darker & also great
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 | There Goes Rhymin' Simon by Paul Simon
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $6.94 Also really commercial but great; the other half of this is the eponymous 'Paul Simon' album
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 | Midnight on the Water by David Bromberg
Buy used from: $9.21 Why doesn't anyone know this guy? Tough to classify. American folk music mixed with blues and pop, sort of irish electric bluegrass and a little sadness? I dunno
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 | Last Train to Hicksville by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $5.45 This is a very tough choice - either this one or 'Striking it Rich' or 'Where's the Money' - buy em all and then you decide. Creaky old 1940s sound combined with western swing and Leon Redbone
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 | Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan
Buy used from: $1.27 One of the few Dylan albums where he was musical and not just annoying. Incisive lyrics: 'Yer an EEyyyiiidddddiot, babe... its a wonder that you still know how to breathe"
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