# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album 1974 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358 "2014-11-11T17:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/1 "2014-11-11T17:34:30Z")
As I mentioned in the last thread, there are no polls for '72-‘73, so we’re jumping ahead here. I could easily have voted for Roxy Music or the New York Dolls, but in the end I had to give it to Stevie, if merely for "You Haven’t Done Nothin’ ", a classic of the era (also because I wasn’t able to vote for _Talking Book_ or _Innervisions_ due to there being no polls those years). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/2 "2014-11-11T17:55:06Z")
Grievous Angel for me. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/3 "2014-11-11T18:06:19Z")
Easy choice. **Court and Spark**! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/4 "2014-11-11T19:36:55Z")
I voted for Linda Ronstadt,but I don’t much like any of the albums nominated, and I’m SURE I could find a 1974 album better than any of these! ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/5 "2014-11-11T19:51:39Z")
In the absence of the overlooked prog classics, Roxy Music. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/6 "2014-11-11T20:01:54Z")
Honestly, I love Linda Ronstadt’s _Heart Like a Wheel_ best – no filler at all, just great music – but I’m pretty sure I used up my Linda vote on a Billboard #1s poll. Same with Stevie Wonder (though I also prefer _Innervisions_). So, time to give Joni Mitchell some love (though admittedly I’m not familiar with all the tracks on this disc). The Stones really were sucking in the 70s with _IORnR_ – I’m surprised it made the Village Voice list. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/7 "2014-11-11T20:05:13Z")
> [@Art\_Rock](#): > > In the absence of the overlooked prog classics, Roxy Music. Ditto. A \*lot \*of my favorite albums of all time came out in 1974, but these ain’t them. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/8 "2014-11-11T20:15:55Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > The Stones really were sucking in the 70s with _IORnR_ – I’m surprised it made the Village Voice list. Yeah - I think at the time, the Stones were still considered the Most Important Band in Rock, and critics were blind to what a shitty album it was. Same goes for Eric Clapton’s placing - I doubt in hindsight many critics would rate it nearly as high. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/9 "2014-11-11T20:35:51Z")
I can honestly say I’ve never owned any of these albums or heard them all the way through, so I’m going to vote for _Late For the Sky_, because “Fountain of Sorrow” is one of my favorite Jackson Browne songs. The best album of 1974 that I _have_ heard is _Secret Treaties_ by Blue Öyster Cult, which is actually kind of glaring in its omission from this list - BÖC were loved by rock critics in a time when “heavy metal” was generally used as a pejorative and Rolling Stone was dismissing Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as garbage. Every single song on that album is a classic, and they flow from one to another almost seamlessly. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/10 "2014-11-11T20:46:50Z")
Yeah, that album didn’t even make the list for the year. My favorite from '74 is probably Big Star’s _Radio City_, but that came in at #27 on the poll. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/11 "2014-11-11T21:02:16Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Yeah, that album didn’t even make the list for the year. My favorite from '74 is probably Big Star’s _Radio City_, but that came in at #27 on the poll. Ooo…that would’ve made an interesting vote for me. I think I still would have gone Gram Parsons, but “September Gurls” may well be the most perfectly crafted pop song ever. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/12 "2014-11-11T22:29:20Z")
I was tempted to go with Gram Parsons or Roxy Music, but I couldn’t not vote for Dylan & the Band live in concert. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/13 "2014-11-11T23:42:23Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I could easily have voted for Roxy Music or the New York Dolls, but in the end I had to give it to Stevie, if merely for "You Haven’t Done Nothin’ ", a classic of the era (also because I wasn’t able to vote for _Talking Book_ or _Innervisions_ due to there being no polls those years). Apparently I live in your brain. That was pretty much my exact thought process as I was reading the list. But yeah, given the choice Big Star would have won the year for me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/14 "2014-11-12T01:32:52Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Yeah - I think at the time, the Stones were still considered the Most Important Band in Rock, and critics were blind to what a shitty album it was. Same goes for Eric Clapton’s placing - I doubt in hindsight many critics would rate it nearly as high. I hear you…but, actually, that’s one of my favorite Clapton albums! A galloping “Motherless Children,” laid-back rocker “Mainline Florida,” summer of loveliness “Let It Grow,” and especially the poignant rural acoustic love tune “Please Be With Me,” with its exquisite harmonies. Being 1973-4, this could have descended into a druggie mess, but instead Eric moved deep into his love for America, in all its ragged glory (plus a pinch of Jamaican bud). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/15 "2014-11-12T01:51:11Z")
Oops – I never knew until now that “Please Be With Me,” right down to the details of those gorgeous, wistful harmonies, was a cover – of a song written by Scott Boyer, and recorded by the composer’s band Cowboy with Eric’s friend Duane Allman soon befor Allman’s death. Well, that diminishes my praise for _461 Ocean Boulevard_ a bit, but props to Eric for his heartfelt tribute. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/16 "2014-11-12T01:53:21Z")
I voted for Grievous Angel, but my “other” choice would be _Secret Treaties_. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/17 "2014-11-12T05:17:49Z")
Yep, that’s the beginning of the long, slow end for the Rolling Stones, IMHO. It’s hard to vote against Ry Cooder, but _Grievous Angel_ is the better record. My “wish it was on this list” is Eno’s _Here Come the Warm Jets_ ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/18 "2014-11-12T07:18:25Z")
Since I can’t vote for either of the best two albums of the decade (_The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway_ from this year, and _Quadrophenia_ from 1973), I thought about voting for _Pretzel Logic_. Unfortunately that album includes “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”, which is a vortex of suck on an otherwise excellent album, that I instead decided to go with _Court And Spark_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/19 "2014-11-12T12:22:04Z")
A favorite 1974 album of mine is Zappa and the Mothers’ _One Size Fits All_. It’s when Zappa’s own basic but beautiful guitar chops (as in the “Inca Roads” solo) meshed best with his complex compositions, his humor (the misogyny is kept under wraps this time), and especially his appreciation for skilled prog rock/jazz fusion musicians to work with. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358/20 "2014-11-12T13:35:53Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > A favorite 1974 album of mine is Zappa and the Mothers’ _One Size Fits All_. OSFA was 1975. Zappa’s 1974 albums were _Apostrophe_ and _Roxy and Elsewhere_; the former being brought down a bit by the silliness factor (“Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”) while the latter is a stone classic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1974/704358.md?page=2)