The Best Albums of 1973
Pink Floyd’s 1973 release, The Dark Side of the Moon, was an immediate success, remaining in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, with an estimated 50 million copies sold. It is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. It has twice been remastered and re-released and has been covered in its entirety by several other acts. It spawned two singles, “Money” and “Time”. In addition to its commercial success, The Dark Side of the Moon is one of Pink Floyd’s most popular albums among fans and critics and is frequently ranked as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Aerosmith, the eponymous debut studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records. “Dream On”, originally released as a single in 1973, became an American top ten hit when re-released in December 1975. The album peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 album chart in 1976. Here are all of the 1973 albums ranked.
Relive the music of one of the most notable years of rock and roll. Click below and listen to the songs of the year 1973!
10. Future Days (Can)
“The initial sounds of the opening title track, which have always appeared to me to be a synthesised version of a teacher wiping a whiteboard(!) get louder in the most amazingly disciplined way over a full nine minutes, so that at the end Suzuki’s voice can be seen to have considerable intensity and passion. In addition, the lyrics – actually easy enough to decipher – really stand as a warning against so many cultural trends – both of instant gratification and of ecological destruction.”
9. Aladdin Sane (David Bowie)
“The sound is perfect, the songs are unbeatable, the cover art is amazing, and Bowie is . . . well, on this record he is Bowie at his best, and that is about all it takes to understand as a general statement of the quality of this record.”
8. Band On The Run (Paul McCartney & Wings)
“There isn’t a weak song on the album. “Picasso’s Last Words” is sorta weird and only skippable for about the last minute, and “Mamunia” and “No Words” are good tracks that probably would have been excellent standouts on “Red Rose Speedway” or “Wild Life”. The rest of the album really, REALLY cooks. There’s no doubt in my mind that Band On The Run represents Paul McCartney at his solo best. The album is beautifully produced, confident, and melodic.”
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7. Raw Power (Iggy And The Stooges)
“Raw Power is not simply a great album or even a classic piece of hard rock; it’s one of those rare albums that’s so incredible you’ll find yourself wondering how you survived without it. Like most everything that I’ve gone stark raving mad over, I’ve found myself enthusing about it with other apostles and fervently preaching its merits to the unconverted. I was in such a conversation with one of my buddies when he said, “Lemme guess…it’s raw and it’s powerful.”
6. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
“This is one of those albums that helped define a decade! Definitely a masterpiece of 70’s music! There are things about Elton John’s persona I may not agree with, but nobody can dispute his talent. It is a perfect album! There isn’t a flaw or throw-away song here. It is almost as if the Beatles had passed the torch of Anglo-American top 40 hit-making on to Elton.”
5. Quadrophenia (The Who)
“This album is a concept album about teenage angst sang from all different angles and perspectives. It’s flow is very similar to how “Tommy” worked in the sense that all the songs connect to a general theme and the music is arranged in an orchestral fashion. Sometimes this album can get pretty dark lyric wise and the music also sometimes reflects teenage frustration. The music has the rock and roll feel embedded in it but at the same time, psychedelic tendencies are found a lot throughout the album.”
4. Selling England By The Pound (Genesis)
“This album has a certain lively feeling that will immediately lift you up and carry you away. Whether it’s the soothing flute playing on “Firth of Fifth” or the amazing twists and turns in the story of “Battle of Epping Forest” or the magical instrumental that can either be extremely beautiful or extremely sad to the listener (“After the Ordeal”)… it’s a flawless record.”
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3. Innervisions (Stevie Wonder)
“One of Stevie’s best album. I like all of the songs on this album, which is an accomplishment. Most albums have one or two or more songs that were just fillers. Here, Stevie doesn’t have any “just fillers” and is conscience of the civil rights and drug use of the time when the album was issued. I would recommend this album for anyone!”
2. Houses Of The Holy (Led Zeppelin)
” This album is not only a great album but an important part of the history of Rock N Roll. It contained entirely original material and was a turning point for Led Zeppelin which was beginning to use more complicated layering. It has been certified 11x Platinum and was rated by Rolling Stone Magazine as number 148 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is essential to any comprehensive rock collection.”
1. The Dark Side Of The Moon (Pink Floyd)
“This album is pure perfection from the album artwork, to the lyrics, to the sounds and to the creators, Pink Floyd. This was the first album I happened to listen to one night when I met psilocybin for the first time. The sounds were so unique and every song had a different touch of its own to make the album a great listen from intro track to end track.”
