Attila
Artist: Attila

This is the solo album made by the group that consisted of Billy Joel and drummer Jon Small. Joel tries to make his organ sound like Jimi Hendrix's guitar, and the overall approach is proto-heavy metal, but occasional hints of Joel's later style peep through. [The Back-Trac album is a 1985 reissue of the original, Epic 30030, and the album was... Read More

The Best of Mountain
Artist: Mountain
Community Score: 9.00

Mountain's meteoric ride through the early '70s was as memorable as it was brief -- so much so that this excellent greatest-hits set was released less than four years after the band had inaugurated their career at Woodstock. In retrospect, its easy to understand why the strange chemistry (pun intended) struck between boogie-loving,... Read More

Back into the Future
Artist: Man

Rock music is littered with bands that wrecked on the studio/live double album concept; Man is rare in that their attempt, despite the departure of Clive John, brought them their first real success. The band's tight performance and increasingly ambitious musical experimentation made Back Into the Future the first Man album to chart in the U.K.;... Read More

Demons and Wizards
Artist: Uriah Heep
Community Score: 9.50

This is the album that solidified Uriah Heep's reputation as a master of gothic-inflected heavy metal. From short, sharp rock songs to lengthy, musically dense epics, Demons and Wizards finds Uriah Heep covering all the bases with style and power. The album's approach is set with its lead-off track, "The Wizard": it starts as a simple acoustic... Read More

16 Greatest Hits
Artist: Steppenwolf
Community Score: 10.00

Just what the name implies; "Born to Be Wild," "Magic Carpet Ride, " "The Pusher, " and "Rock Me" are just some of the highlights. Everything you're going to want to hear in one neat little package. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide Read More

Climbing!
Artist: Mountain
Community Score: 10.00

Mountain was the combined forces of Leslie West, a gigantic guitarist/vocalist who had played with New York garage-psych rockers The Vagrants, and Felix Pappalardi. Pappalardi had a slightly more impressive track record, coming from the modern East Coast folk-rock movement (The Youngbloods), before he applied his production skills to Cream.... Read More

Led Zeppelin IV
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Community Score: 8.52

Encompassing heavy metal, folk, pure rock & roll, and blues, Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is a monolithic record, defining not only Led Zeppelin but the sound and style of '70s hard rock. Expanding on the breakthroughs of III, Zeppelin fuse their majestic hard rock with a mystical, rural English folk that gives the record an epic scope.... Read More

Grand Funk
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Community Score: 8.33

Grand Funk Railroad's 1970 somewhat eponymous album, their second for Capitol, is characteristic of the classic rock radio sound that would permeate the airwaves of the late 20th century. Grand Funk Railroad was a seminal force in giving the friendlier side of the heavy-rock sound its charm and making it stick. Built on fuzzed-out blues riffs,... Read More

Rock & Roll Outlaws
Artist: Foghat
Community Score: 9.00

After establishing a new level of credibility on record with 1974's Energized, Foghat cranked out another album of boogie rock before the year ended. The result, Rock and Roll Outlaws, is not as consistently inspired as its predecessor but remains a worthwhile listen for the group's fans. This time out, the group settles for a more... Read More

Budgie
Artist: Budgie
Community Score: 9.00

Though not nearly as celebrated as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, or Deep Purple, Budgie was one of the finest heavy metal bands of the early to mid-'70s. The British power trio, formed in 1968, was influenced by Cream in the beginning, but by the time this self-titled debut album was released in 1971, Budgie was obviously paying close... Read More

UFO 1
Artist: UFO
Community Score: 10.00

Recorded on a shoestring budget, UFO has several challenging sonic moments. The uneven mixes and amateur performances that some listeners might find quaint or innocent could be distracting to others. In their pre-Michael Schenker days, the British band made a much more experimental noise that reflected psychedelic as well as R&B influences... Read More