Reeling In The Years: 1971

by Jamie Summers

It would be really really easy to make this year seem better than just about every other that's going to be part of this Reeling In The Years shindig. '71 is a sort of sweet spot where you get some of the best of the 60s hangovers blending in with the start of some of the better 70s hard rock, metal, funk, disco, the seeds of hip hop and electronic music being planted. So much goodness! 71 was the year of Master Of Reality, Tago Mago, Blue, There's a Riot Goin On, Maggot Brain, Tapestry, Who's Next, ZOSO, Skull And Bones, Love It To Death AND Killer(!), Tribute To Jack Johnson, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, What's Goin On, Songs Of Love And Hate, Meddle, At Fillmore East, Histoire De Melody Nelson, Electric Warrior, Fragile, Live Evil, Stormcock, Every Picture Tells A Story, Faust and the list goes on. Holy shit. So yes, 1971 could beat whatever year you could come up with (except maybe 1984 - Purple Rain/Let It Be/Zen Arcade/Meat Puppets II OKAY I'LL STOP), so instead of going for obvious stuff or anything from the aforementioned pieces of genius, I decided to go for some personal favourites and fun obscurities. Hopefully you'll enjoy them, for now i'll just highlight a couple of things; the first song from the mostly forgotten Paul Parrish LP Songs, which even as a non religious type is one of the most beautiful things i've ever heard, and also the track i've picked from Bill Fay's The Time Of The Persecution. Not such an unknown name anymore after Jim O'Rourke/David Tibet/Wilco and some others namechecked him a whole lot; but it's still very much underappreciated and it's also possibly my favourite album, and why I picked 1971. Enjoy...

Anne Briggs - Willie O' Winsbury from Anne Briggs
Baby Huey - Hard Times from The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend
Todd Rundgren - Long Flowing Robe from Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren
Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Theme De Yoyo from Les Stances A Sophie
Paul Parrish - Many Years Ago from Songs
Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen from 666 (note: features Vangelis and Demis Roussos - this album is insane)
David Crosby - What Are Their Names from If I Could Only Remember My Name
Eugene McDaniels - Supermarket Blues from Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse (Spotify)
Junior Walker & the All-Stars - Way Back Home
Bill Fay - Tell It Like It Is from Time Of The Last Persecution (Spotify)


Master list