The Man Who Sold the World
Artist: David Bowie
Community Score: 8.08
On the Third Day
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra
Community Score: 10.00

The group's third album showed a marked advancement, with a fuller, more cohesive sound from the band as a whole and major improvements in Jeff Lynne's singing and songwriting. This is where Electric Light Orchestra took on its familiar sound, Lynne's voice suddenly showing an attractive expressiveness reminiscent of John Lennon in his early... Read More

Sheer Heart Attack - BONUS TRACK
Artist: Queen
Community Score: 9.00

Queen's second album of 1974 (and third overall), Sheer Heart Attack, helped bridge the gap between the mystical heavy metal of their early years and the hard rock/pop perfection of future releases. The main reason why Queen issued another album so soon after Queen II (only eight months apart) was due to guitarist Brian May's hepatitis, which... Read More

John Barleycorn Must Die
Artist: Traffic
Community Score: 8.20

At only 22 years old, Steve Winwood sat down in early 1970 to fulfill a contractual commitment by making his first solo album, on which he intended to play all the instruments himself. The record got as far as one backing track produced by Guy Stevens, "Stranger to Himself," before Winwood called his erstwhile partner from Traffic, Jim Capaldi,... Read More

Fragile
Artist: Yes
Community Score: 8.40

The band's breakthrough album, dominated by science-fiction and fantasy elements and new member Rick Wakeman, whose organ, synthesizers, Mellotrons, and other keyboard exotica added a larger-than-life element to the procedings. Ironically, the album was a patchwork job, hastily assembled in order to cover the cost of Wakeman's array of... Read More

The Night the Lights Went On (In Long Beach)
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra

This album, recorded at Long Beach Auditorium on May 12, 1974, appeared as a limited release in a handful of countries in the mid-1970s, and showed up as a remastered, somewhat improved LP in 1985. But this marks its debut as a compact disc, made from the upgraded 1980s master. The resulting CD is, for starters, really, really loud, a far cry... Read More

Closer to It!
Artist: Brian Auger's Oblivion Express
Community Score: 6.50

The strongest studio recording by the Oblivion Express, Closer to It is Brian Auger's classic. Featuring his best-known composition, "Happiness is Just Around the Bend," this album soars on the strength of Auger's multiple keyboard attack. Auger himself takes the lead vocal slot for the first time on this recording, and though he relies on... Read More

The Yes Album
Artist: Yes
Community Score: 8.37

The album that first gave shape to the established Yes sound, build around science-fiction concepts, folk melodies, and soaring organ, guitar, and vocal showpieces. "Your Move" actually made the U.S. charts as a single, and "Starship Trooper," "Perpetual Change," and "Yours Is No Disgrace" became much-loved parts of the band's concert repertory... Read More