5 Outstanding Albums Released 50 Years Ago This Month

The year 1974 was outstanding for music, with landmark albums seeming to arrive one after another. It was an era that was especially fruitful for the classic rock and singer/songwriter genres, and June of that year delivered some excellent records in those genres.

Let’s look back at the LPs that were playing on turntables all over the country and world back in June 1974, albums that still get quite a few spins today.

Paradise and Lunch by Ry Cooder

Cooder had a knack for updating classic blues roots music and making age-old songs come out sounding like fresh singer/songwriter material. Paradise and Lunch highlights this skill in fantastic ways. In his hands, “Married Man’s a Fool” by Blind Willie McTell feels very much simpatico with Bacharach/David’s “Mexican Divorce.” It helps of course that Cooder’s nimble guitar is weaving all around the proceedings, tying things together nicely. His arrangement of “Tattler,” which benefits from fantastic backing vocals, is the standout on a downright flawless album.

From the Mars Hotel by the Grateful Dead

Don’t get caught up in the nonsense that Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty are somehow way above the rest of the Dead’s studio catalog. From the Mars Hotel stands out as a mid-period highlight for the band. It’s more of a song-oriented record than you might expect from these legendary jammers. The Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter writing combo is responsible for six of the eight songs on the album, and the batting average for the duo is awful high: The rollicking opener “U.S. Blues,” the effortlessly pretty “Scarlett Begonias,” and the mournful closer “Ship of Fools” are all wonderful.

Caribou by Elton John

Considering this was John’s first studio album after the highly regarded 1973 double LP Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, it would have been natural to expect a letdown or lessening of energy. Instead, Caribou comes charging out of the gate with turbo-charged guitars and John belting out “The B—h is Back” like he was raring to go. The Tower of Power horns add some pep on a few of the up-tempo tracks, while also lending some extra pathos to “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” Even the album cuts sparkle with ingenuity and vigor. No signs of fatigue here.

Holiday by America

The third album is supposed to be the sweet spot, but America faltered with the album Hat Trick in 1973. Enter none other than George Martin in the producer’s chair, and the band turned it around in a big way on Holiday. Martin seemed to encourage the band to base their songs more around piano, to which he added his trademark strings and horns. That meant the album was more cohesive and compelling from back to front. Give credit, however, to the band for the two big hits “Tin Man” and “Lonely People,” because they’re right at home with their early ‘70s acoustic classics.

Land’s End by Jimmy Webb

You can tell Webb’s reputation in the industry by the quality of the players he gets to help him out on this record. Among others, Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, and several members of Elton John’s band all pitch in. But what sells this album, as you might expect, is the high quality and ambition of Webb’s songwriting. He strikes a nice balance between the ballads and peppier stuff here. Among the gems on this set are the wonderful weeper “Crying in My Sleep” and the urgent, richly melodic “It’s a Sin.”

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Photo by David Redfern/Redferns