51-108

51. Mountain — Climbing

52. Alice Cooper — Love It To Death

53. Beach Boys — Surf’s Up

54. Dwight Twilley Band — Sincerely

55. MC5 — Back In The USA

56. Big Star — #1 Record

57. Bruce Springsteen — Born To Run

58. Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures

59. John Cale — Slow Dazzle

60. Television — Marquee Moon

61. XTC — Drums and Wires

62. Pere Ubu — Modern Dance

63. Free — Heartbreaker

64. Roxy Music — Stranded

65. PIL — Second Edition

66. Led Zeppelin Houses Of The Holy

Singing of Tolkien’s Gollum and fair, foxy damsels in distress, goldilocks Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant continued to infuse his pensive, folky side into these metal gods’ catalog. HOTH also features amusing attempts at funk like “The Crunge” wherein the rhythm section of John Bonham and John Paul Jones truly step out. — Kandia Crazy Horse

67. Clash — London Calling

68. Radio Birdman — Radios Appear

69. Johnny Thunders — So Alone

70. Fairport Convention — Full House

71. Fleetwood Mac — Rumours

72. Beatles — Let It Be

73. DEVO — Q: Are we not men? A: We are devo!

74. The Jam — This Is The Modern World

75. Van Halen — S/T

76. Kinks — Muswell Hillbillies

77. McCartney/Wings — Band On The Run

78. David Bowie Hunky Dory

Before Ziggy and Aladdin were the Kooks, Queen Bitches and Pretty Things populating Hunky Dory. This queer little LP — part glam-slam, part folk-cabaret — likened contemporary existence to living on Mars, ultimately declaring, in a flourish of rock odditude, “All the strangers came today/ And it looks as though they’re here to stay.” — Fred Mills

79. Faces — A Nod Is As Good As A Wink..

80. Spirit — Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus

81. CSN&Y — Deja Vu

82. Rolling Stones — Exile on Main Street

83. Gang Of Four — Entertainment

84. Wire — Pink Flag

85. Funkadelic — Maggot Brain

86. Curtis Mayfield — Superfly

87. Cheap Trick — In Color

88. Byrds — Untitled

89. Tom Petty — Damn The Torpedoes

90. Gram Parsons — GP

91. Velvet Underground — Loaded

92. Grateful Dead — American Beauty

93. Neil Young Tonight’s The Night

Typically considered his “dark” album, this record spotlights an almost vulnerable Neil Young, as he tries to come to terms with the drug-related deaths of two close friends — especially Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. Spooked and unguarded, Young spins raw emotions into grungy riffs, as a frustrated artist grappling with fame. — Lynn Farris

94. Randy Newman — 12 Songs

95. Pink Floyd — Meddle

96. Traffic — Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys

97. Peter Tosh — Equal Rights

98. The Who — Who’s Next

99. Lou Reed — Transformer

100. Rod Stewart — Never A Dull Moment

101. The Cars — S/T

102. The Specials — S/T

103. Doug Sahm — Doug Sahm & Band

104. ZZ Top — Tres Hombres

105. Herbie Hancock — Head Hunters

106. Tom T. Hall — In Search of a Song

107. Can — Future Days

108. Chic C’est Chic

The monster hit “Le Freak” off C’est Chic is among five or six songs that defined the disco era, but Chic was more than a disco band. Producers/songwriters Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers made sure to funk up their polished sound, which was further rhythmically accented by percussionist Tony Thompson. A young up-and-coming crooner named Luther Vandross even appeared as a back-up singer on the album. — Samir Shukla

Rocks Off

Top 200 albums of the ’70s

This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2006.