The 1970s truly stand as the golden era for the rock album.
It was a time when the LP format matured into an expansive artistic canvas. Record labels, flush with success, often granted bands unprecedented creative freedom, budget, and time to stretch out, explore ambitious concepts, and push musical boundaries far beyond the limits of the radio single. This led to a boom in inventive, long-form musical exploration, where the album artwork and thematic coherence were as vital as the music itself.
While we all know the classics by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac, a wealth of incredible albums from this decade still fly surprisingly under the radar. Here are ten hidden gems, one from each year, that deserve a fresh listen.
1. Spooky Tooth –The Last Puff (1970)
This album is a stunning example of how a band can reconstitute itself for an unexpected triumph. Following the departure of founding members (including Stevie Winwood), Spooky Tooth singer Mike Harrison was undaunted.
Instead, joined by members of Joe Cocker’s Grease Band (including Henry McCullough and Chris Stainton), Harrison redefined Spooky Tooth’s sound. The Last Puff is a masterclass in heavy, blues-tinged rock, anchored by Harrison's gospel-inflected, powerhouse vocals.
The album's centrepiece is a haunting, dynamic cover of the Beatles' 'I Am the Walrus', which they transform into a raw, psychedelic epic. This gritty, soulful effort captures the raw power and emotional depth of early 70s rock, often overshadowing their more famous LPs.
2. Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (1971)
This was the year that George Clinton’s Funkadelic delivered their psychedelic masterpiece, Maggot Brain, a record that defies simple genre categorization. It fuses the raw, distorted rock of Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath with deep, politically charged soul and funk grooves. The title track, an epic, emotional guitar solo played by Eddie Hazel, is a cornerstone of rock history, reportedly performed after Clinton told Hazel to play as if his mother had died.
The album is a vital, sprawling exploration of social commentary and musical exploration, grounding the fantastical Parliament-Funkadelic mythology in a fierce, acid-rock sensibility. It is a cornerstone of funk and a true psychedelic classic.
3. Bo Hansson – Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (1972)
Recorded in a remote summer house in Sweden, this instrumental masterpiece captures the true essence of Tolkien's Middle-earth better than any big-budget score. Hansson, a former jazz guitarist turned organist, utilizes the Moog and Hammond to create a mossy, mysterious atmosphere that feels both ancient and futuristic.
The album eschews technical flash for deep, hypnotic textures and pastoral melodies. It is a cornerstone of 'space rock' that manages to be deeply immersive without ever relying on lyrical exposition.
4. The Edgar Winter Group – They Only Come Out at Night (1972)
The Edgar Winter Group's debut is often unfairly reduced to two ubiquitous tracks: the blistering instrumental 'Frankenstein' and the smooth rocker 'Free Ride'. Beyond these hits, however, They Only Come Out at Night is a versatile and hard-hitting album that represents a high point of early '70s rock eclecticism. Edgar Winter, an extremely gifted multi-instrumentalist, guides the band through funk, R&B, progressive jams, and hard rock.
The lineup included the powerhouse duo of Rick Derringer (guitar) and Dan Hartman (bass/songwriter), creating a formidable musical unit. The quality of the songwriting and performance across the entire LP makes it one of the strongest debuts of its era.
5. Khan – Space Shanty (1972)
A brilliant intersection of space rock and the early 1970s Canterbury Scene, Space Shanty is the only album by this short-lived group. Featuring a young Steve Hillage on guitar and Dave Stewart (Egg, Hatfield and the North) on keyboards, the record is a masterclass in fluidity.
Unlike the rigid structures of some prog, Khan’s music breathes with a jazzy, improvisational lightness. The complex time signatures and cosmic themes are anchored by a warm, melodic core, making it one of the most accessible yet technically impressive artefacts of the 1970s underground.
6. Judee Sill – Heart Food (1973)
Judee Sill’s second and final album is a monumental achievement in country-cult-classical. A former outlaw turned 'musical mystic', Sill wrote complex, Bach-inspired orchestrations for her folk-tinged songs, which she arranged and conducted herself.
The result is a profoundly spiritual, often heartbreaking record that explores redemption and divinity through a lens of cosmic longing. Her voice is clear and unwavering, delivering lyrics of staggering poetic depth. It remains a singular, towering work that defies the standard singer-songwriter tropes of the seventies.
7. Gentle Giant – In a Glass House (1973)
Gentle Giant’s fifth album is an underrated classic that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its more widely praised predecessor, 1972's Octopus. This concept album, built around the fragility of appearances, fully embraces the band’s signature complex counterpoint and sudden, dramatic shifts in time and mood.
The album is brilliant for its sheer intensity and structural ambition, featuring dense vocal harmonies and instruments like the violin and vibraphone woven into impossibly tight arrangements. Tracks like 'The Runaway' showcase the Gents' baroque, multi-instrumental virtuosity while maintaining a dynamic edge that is often missing from more academic prog rock.
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8. Harmonia – Musik von Harmonia (1974)
Released way back in 1974, Musik von Harmonia is a masterwork of German 'krautrock' that feels like a transmission from a distant, peaceful future. A supergroup featuring members of Neu! and Cluster, Harmonia traded the motorik drive of the former for a shimmering, ambient electronic pulse.
An obscure gem, Musik... nonetheless helped to set down the blueprint for modern electronic music, influencing the likes of Brian Eno – who called Harmonia 'the world's most important rock band' – to David Bowie. Its beauty lies in its repetitive, organic textures and warm synthesizer washes, creating a meditative soundscape that remains remarkably fresh and timeless.
9. Renaissance – Turn of the Cards (1974)
Renaissance, featuring the angelic voice of Annie Haslam, perfected their symphonic and folk-infused progressive rock sound on this lush, gorgeous album. Turn of the Cards utilizes intricate, orchestral arrangements with genuine classical music foundations, primarily composed by the team of Michael Dunford (music) and Betty Thatcher (lyrics).
Tracks like the epic 'Running Hard' showcase Haslam’s incredible five-octave range and the band's ability to weave soaring melodies with complex, delicate instrumental textures. It's a remarkably beautiful and refined album that rarely gets mentioned alongside the usual prog giants, offering a softer, more elegant side to the genre.
10. Heart – Dreamboat Annie (1975)
The debut album from everyone's favourite Seattle-based hard-rocking sisters, Dreamboat Annie is one of the mid-70s' most compelling hard rock albums, yet remains relatively underrated compared to their later stadium hits. Led by the sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, the album perfectly balances acoustic folk delicacy (the title track, the intro to 'Crazy On You') with explosive, heavy rock power ('Magic Man').
Ann Wilson’s operatic vocal power and Nancy Wilson’s deft guitar work, which shifts effortlessly from folk fingerpicking to hard rock riffs, established Heart as a rare female-fronted powerhouse in a male-dominated genre. It's a cohesive record showcasing impressive versatility and emotional range.
11. John G. Perry – Sunset Wading (1976)
Formerly the bassist for Caravan and Quantum Jump, John G. Perry created a solo debut that is a quiet triumph of British progressive pop and fusion... and unlike anything else coming out in 1976 (or any year, for that matter).
Sunset Wading is a purely atmospheric, almost pastoral record that focuses on melody and texture rather than instrumental showmanship. With a soft focus on his melodic bass playing and subtle brass arrangements, the album evokes a sense of nostalgia and calm. It is a highly sophisticated, gentle work that bridges the gap between the Canterbury scene and the avant-pop of the late 1970s.
12. Be-Bop Deluxe – Sunburst Finish (1976)
Sunburst Finish is the high-water mark for British guitarist and visionary Bill Nelson and his band, art rockers Be-Bop Deluxe. This album brilliantly captures the transition from glam rock swagger to the slicker, more ambitious sounds of art rock and new wave. Tracks like the radio-friendly 'Ships in the Night' show their accessible side, while Nelson’s inventive, effects-laden guitar solos (often compared to Jeff Beck’s work) reveal a staggering technical depth.
The album is sparkling, futuristic, and witty, standing out for its sophisticated, clean production and Nelson's knack for blending intellectual lyrics with undeniable pop hooks: a true, gleaming gem of mid-seventies rock.
13. Peter Hammill – Over (1977)
One of the most stunning breakup albums ever made. Peter Hammill, the driving force behind the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, created this stunningly personal and intense solo work following some major personnel changes within the band. That's not the ending, though, to which the album's title refers.
Instead, Over is a raw, emotional concept album dealing with the pain and aftermath of a romantic separation. Musically, it ranges from sparse, acoustic confessionals to moments of dramatic, full-band energy. Hammill’s incredibly unique, quavering voice conveys a deep vulnerability, making the album an almost uncomfortably honest listen. It’s a testament to the fact that not all great 70s albums were about fantasy; some were about unflinching psychological self-examination.
14. Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance (1978)
This debut album by the Cleveland-based Pere Ubu is a crucial, unsettling work of American post-punk that remains wildly underrated outside of avant-garde and indie circles. Led by the unusual vocalizations of David Thomas, the music is jerky, abrasive, and highly experimental, built on repetitive, industrial rhythms, found sounds, and the screeching, unsettling presence of analogue synthesisers.
The Modern Dance is a deeply intellectual and challenging album that captures the confusion and decay of late 70s urban life. It paved the way for future noise rock and industrial music, proving that punk’s spirit could be expressed through complex, modernist dissonance rather than just three chords.
15. James Chance and the Contortions: Buy (1979)
The Contortions' 1979 debut album is a seminal, under-the-radar classic that sits at the intersection of three crucial genres: punk, funk, and free jazz.
Led by the confrontational, saxophone-wielding James Chance, the band pioneered the chaotic No Wave sound of late 70s New York. While most punk embraced simple noise, Buy layered it over complex, hyper-tight funk rhythms, creating a sound that was both intensely danceable and deeply abrasive. Chance's erratic, squawking sax lines inject a discordant, avant-garde jazz fury that subverts traditional rock structures.
Commercially ignored upon its independent release on ZE Records, the album's aggressive, minimalist 'punk-funk' vision became a vital blueprint. It directly influenced countless post-punk, dance-punk, and alternative artists, cementing its status as an influential, yet fiercely underground, masterpiece decades ahead of its time.
All pics: Getty Images
