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itwas50yearsagotoday · 4 months

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My Top 125 songs of 1973

12/31/23: Greetings! This is my last annual top songs list, the Top 125 songs of 1973, as I will be retiring the blog when I turn 50 in seventeen days. It's been an awesome journey all-around, but lets stick with '73 on this post. Only one song asterisked this year as a new-to-me song. All of these songs rate 82 out of 100 or higher (see previous post somewhere that describes my rating system). One of the themes I've been discussing over the year is decline, that is the decline in quality of mainstream artists' material--sometimes this is just slightly less, and other times it is a major decline. Probably the worst offender is Deep Purple, who released a huge stinker of a record following arguably their best effort; Yes also is in this category with their four-side ugly behemoth. Then there are just slightly inferior records like Houses of the Holy, Quadrophenia, and Goats Head Soup. That said, there are several artists that released excellent records like Pink Floyd, EL&P, Elton John, Neil Young, Blue Oyster Cult, Paul McCartney (Wings), Genesis, Steely Dan, Roxy Music (x2!), Caravan, Stevie Wonder, Black Sabbath, Mott the Hoople, the Stooges, and, of course, Gentle Giant. Finally, 1973 would feature many newbies including Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Joel. One may ask 'where are all the women?'… yes, it's a travesty, I know. Thankfully this would get much better over time. But for now, here's my top 125 of the year that was 1973:

10CC 'Rubber Bullets'…like Steely Dan and Sparks, some good old SmArt Rock here… great story song too about a jail riot

Abba 'Ring Ring'…too bad we can't get more into Abba on this blog, but at least you get a taste here

Aerosmith 'Dream On'… song wasn't a hit until a couple years later… probably the one Aerosmith song EVERYONE knows (even my teenage sons)

Aerosmith 'Movin' Out'… as sinister as B.O.C. but they mean it!

Aerosmith 'Somebody'… now there's a dirty-ass opening riff

Alice Cooper 'Unfinished Sweet'… I dig the James Bond shit in the middle; they shoulda used his song for The Man With the Golden Gun

Brian Auger 'Happiness Is Just Around the Bend'… in all the darkness of this year, a more friendly tune

Roy Ayers 'Coffy Is the Color'… blaxploitation fare at its best

Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Let It Ride'… I like the frequent mood changes in this essential Classic Rock tune

The Beach Boys 'Sail on Sailor'… the last Beach Boys song that we can take as serious art? maybe… but what about 'Kokomo'?

Black Sabbath 'A National Acrobat'… Iommi just tears it UP on this song, probably my favorite Sabbath song ever

Black Sabbath 'Killing Yourself to Live'… an anti-drug song, how ironic

Black Sabbath 'Sabbra Cadabra'… quintessential Sabbath riff and fast-paced melody

Blue Ash 'Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)'… Power Pop strikes again--if any interest in this genre, the album is a must-listen

Blue Ash 'Wasting My Time'… doing their Beatles impression, much respect

Blue Oyster Cult '7 Screaming Diz-Busters'… don't know what it means, don't care… the slow-down in the middle is too cool

Blue Oyster Cult 'Baby Ice Dog'… owoooooooo!!!

Blue Oyster Cult 'Hot Rails to Hell'… feels like it says it is

Blue Oyster Cult 'The Red & the Black', 'O.D.'d on Life Itself'… I usually combine these two songs as they flow into each other nicely… great way to open BOC's arguably best record

David Bowie 'The Jean Genie'… classic Bowie blues rock stomp

Tim Buckley 'Stone In Love'… a pretty good place to start with Tim Buckley, but don't expect the rest of his material to be this accessible

Budgie 'Breadfan'… Metallica's cover is great, almost as great as the original by this underrated power trio

Buffalo 'Sunrise (Come My Way)'… the only new song on this list that I didn't know before… it's pretty epic*

Captain Beyond 'Evil Men'… a little bit Sabbath, little bit BOC

Caravan 'C'Thlu C'Thlu'… one of my favorite songs ever, they get the marching of the beast during the bridge just right

Caravan 'Hoedown'… funny, EL&P had their own 'Hoedown' in '72, but a completely different song… not sure which is better, as both are fun little prog workouts

Caravan 'Memory Lain, Hugh Headloss'… this tune sounds like it could be the soundtrack of an epic journey, or maybe a lavish game show

Chicago 'Feelin' Stronger Every Day'… talk about a mood-booster, seriously… the song is an anti-depressant… the band's A.M. apex

Chicago 'Just You 'n' Me'… a Chicago love song before they sucked

Deep Purple 'Woman From Tokyo'… the Purple's last stand… forget anything else that follows it (even on the same album… especially on the same album!)

The Doobie Brothers 'China Grove'… Classic Rock perfectly distilled, I can recall a KSHE rival advertising their station using this song sometime around 1990

The Doobie Brothers 'Long Train Running'… almost didn't make the list, but it just such a seminal Rock tune… plus it feels like a fucking train

The Doobie Brothers 'Without You'… not as well known by the Doobs, but it's a total rocker, and Johnston's singing sounds great

Electric Light Orchestra 'Showdown'… knowing more about the Move now, I can tell this was an evolution from that sound

Emerson, Lake & Palmer 'Jerusalem'… English poetry turned into a song, turned into another song… if I were unabashedly British this would be my song of national pride

Emerson, Lake & Palmer 'Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression (part one)'… the part you probably don't know but should

Emerson, Lake & Palmer 'Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression (part two)'… the part you might know, if you're so inclined

Emerson, Lake & Palmer 'Toccata'… a modern classical music song (1960) turned into prog… it works

Faces 'Silicone Grown'… ode to fake boobs… how did THIS song not get airplay on Classic Rock radio? Seriously, they play the shit out of Rod's solo stuff (from Every Picture), but this is a sloppy, drunken masterpiece

Fleetwood Mac 'Hypnotized'… height of Bob Welch's involvement (he should be in the R&R HOF with the rest of the Mac incarnations, fucking morons)

Funkadelic 'Nappy Dugout'… not enough Black music on this list, but this is a great funk song--quite a title, ahem

J. Geils Band 'Did You No Wrong'… dig the tappy-tap shoes at the beginning

Genesis 'Dancing With the Moonlit Knight'… takes a minute to get going but worth the journey, excellent album opener

Genesis 'Firth of Fifth'… Genesis' best song, bar none… Hackett's guitar solo is something to behold--goosebumps, man

Gentle Giant 'Runaway'… clever intro with the glass breaking to the beat

Gentle Giant 'Way of Life'… progressive rock that defies description… the song's got this frantic, almost-Disco like, drumbeat at the beginning, but turns into a beautiful wall of sound by the end, one of this weirdo band's greatest

Gong 'The Pothead Pixies'… yep, they are

Grand Funk Railroad 'We're an American Band'… yep, they are!

Hall and Oates 'Abandoned Luncheonette'… besides kinda corny lyrics in the verses, it is the chorus that just rules with those faux-Buckmaster strings, holy shit the shiver

Hall and Oates 'She's Gone'… the duo's first hit, and wouldn't be their last (duh!)

Herbie Hancock 'Watermelon Man'… this whole jazz-funk album is uniformly excellent, but this workout is probably the most accessible

Hawkwind 'Brainbox Pollution'… perhaps one of the greatest B-side singles ever

Lee Hazlewood 'Poet, Fool or Bum'… "Bum!" (stole that from a critic describing a contemporary album review)

Billy Joel 'The Piano Man'… where it all started for Mr. William Joel

Elton John 'All the Young Girls Love Alice'… this album rocks, and this is a quintessential number from it

Elton John 'Bennie and the Jets'… a song I've both loved and loathed and loved again, one of EJ and Bernie's best

Elton John 'Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding'… an eleven minute epic worth every second… one of the best album-openers of all time

Elton John 'Grey Seal'… don't skip this very 1973-ish gem--crazy coda!

Kool and the Gang 'Hollywood Swinging'… happy slow funk, if that's possible

Led Zeppelin 'Dancing Days'… I think this side opener comes off as generic initially, but it rewards the listener over time

Led Zeppelin 'D'yer Mak'er'… that's "Jamaica" in Cockney… for 'reggae' it's not bad, and it actually reached #20 on the Billboard charts (!!)

Led Zeppelin 'No Quarter'… LZ not necessarily at their hardest, but perhaps their gloomiest

Led Zeppelin 'Over the Hills and Far Away'… I think this has something to do with Tolkien

Led Zeppelin 'Song Remains the Same'… great album opener for a great album, it rocks (surprised it doesn't get more airplay)

Led Zeppelin 'The Ocean'… perfect album closer (okay after their previous album closer)

Led Zeppelin 'The Rain Song'… can Zeppelin actually write a love song?? Yes they can!!

Lynyrd Skynyrd 'Free Bird'… you know it--the ending jam makes this song a bonafide CR standard

Lynyrd Skynyrd 'I Ain't the One'… kind of an unexpected first album opener for what is essentially THE Southern Rock band par-excellence, as it has all that weird Hendrix-like backwards shit, but then it turns swampy and it's awesome

Paul McCartney & Wings 'Band on the Run'… finally, McCartney making some consistent tunes again!

Paul McCartney & Wings 'Jet'… feels like a dinosaur wandering into your living room

Paul McCartney & Wings 'Live and Let Die'… one of the greatest James Bond themes ever

Paul McCartney & Wings 'Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five'… dig the Moog all over this one, and I like how it ties up the album as a loose concept

Mott the Hoople 'All the Way to Memphis'… some little known R&R that should be more well-known IMO (at least it was in that Scorsese movie)

Mott the Hoople 'Whizz Kid'… simple little song about poor twenty-somethings living in NYC… gotta great melody, and it rocks

The O'Jays 'For the Love of Money'… you probably know it as 'money money money mon-ay… MON-ay!', but don't dismiss because the song gets down and dirty quick… I can't believe this groovy funk-pop song wasn't in a Blaxploitation flick

Danny O'Keefe 'Madgalena'… this is just a purty song here… underrated singer-songwriter

Ozark Mountain Daredevils 'If You Wanna Get to Heaven'… yay, Missouri rock

The Pink Fairies 'City Kids'… some proto-punk fer ya, check out Lemmy's version on Motorhead's first album

The Pink Fairies 'Street Urchin'… the last stand for one of the most unknown-but-awesome bands… it even has kind of a finality to it

Pink Floyd 'Any Colour You Like'… a dream on headphones, Wright vs. Gilmour, then combined!

Pink Floyd 'Brain Damage / Eclipse'… perfect ending for a perfect album--turn the volume way up at the very end!

Pink Floyd 'Money'… always one of my top three favorite songs of all-time… I think it is the 7/4 time that just grabs me, and then the change to 4/4 at the bridge, and back

Pink Floyd 'Speak to Me / Breathe / On the Run'… must be heard together for full effect

Pink Floyd 'Time'… fun to scare the kids with the clocks at the beginning

Pink Floyd 'Us and Them'… Floyd would never again sound quite so lush and lovely

Alan Price 'Sell, Sell'… this ex-Animal has a talent for making somewhat unique and timeless music, and this is no exception… more sinister, kinda filthy and in the gutter

Queen 'Keep Yourself Alive'… where it all started for this World-famous band

REO Speedwagon 'Find My Fortune'… the only time the guitarist would sing on an REO tune, and it's totally sweet sounding

REO Speedwagon 'Ridin' the Storm Out'… original lead singer (sorta) is better on this one

REO Speedwagon 'Whiskey Night'…swampy, dig it, like the Doobies but better (usually it's the other way around)

The Rolling Stones '100 Years Ago'… IMO the most underrated Stones song ever--killer jam at the end

The Rolling Stones 'Coming Down Again'… love Taylor's wah-wahs on this one… the ultimate hangover song

The Rolling Stones 'Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)'… zeitgeist, baby!

The Rolling Stones 'Silver Train'… I think they're talking about heroin here… or maybe just trains, I dunno

Roxy Music 'Do the Strand'… look for the awesome video of this track on YT

Roxy Music 'Mother of Pearl'… over time this has been my go-to Roxy song--love Ferry's singing here

Roxy Music 'Street Life'… quintessential Roxy thumper

Roxy Music 'The Bogus Man'… Eno could create some crazy sounds back in the day

Seals and Crofts 'Diamond Girl'… blurs the boundaries of A.M. Gold and Classic Rock

Bruce Springsteen 'Kitty's Back'… kind of an unknown tune (overshadowed on the record by 'Rosalita') but I love the swift changes in tone throughout (whispers, then loud horns, etc.)

Bruce Springsteen 'The E Street Shuffle'… if all of Springsteen sounded like this I might be more interested--one of my favorite codas ever

Steely Dan 'Bodhittsava'… hard not to get swept up in the high-speed excitement on this album opener… LOOK OUT!

Steely Dan 'King of the World'… maybe my favorite Dan tune… has this 'cosmic game show score' feel to it

Steely Dan 'My Old School'… one of the first Steely Dan songs I ever heard (some retro-Bandstand video shown on VH1)--for whatever reason this song did not crack the Top 40, but I think it is probably the most representative song of the band's first three albums… great lyrics, great hook, dig the horns

Steely Dan 'Razor Boy'… some excellent lyrics about a woman who is trying to look classier than she is

Steely Dan 'The Boston Rag'… a slow burn of a song, but the guitar solo by Denny Dias (or it could be Skunk Baxter, not sure) just rips a hole in the pleasantness

Steely Dan 'Your Gold Teeth'… they did 'Do It Again' again, but better… much better!

Iggy & the Stooges 'Gimme Danger'… again, sinister is a theme in 1973 music… but somehow this song seems just a bit out of time, like it could have been made much later

Iggy & the Stooges 'Penetration'… when I first heard this song I didn't like Iggy's breathy growls but they've grown on me

Iggy & the Stooges 'Raw Power'… more proto-punk

Iggy & the Stooges 'Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell (Hard to Beat)'… even more proto-punk

Styx 'Lady'… the guiltiest of guilty pleasures, I absolutely know all the words

T. Rex 'Tenement Lady'… barely made this list, but I really like the groove of this tune

Three Dog Night 'Shambala'… perhaps the best A.M. Gold song of all time… it's that high note: "TELL ME HOW!!!"

The Who '5:15'… one of Keith Moon's greatest drumming performances

The Who 'Bell Boy'… Keith sings too!!

Wizzard 'Bend Over Beethoven'… this tune did not make the album (I think it was a UK single) but it's possibly the most accessible Roy Wood song out there

Stevie Wonder 'Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing'… another out-of-time song, from Stevie's masterpiece record… love the excited Spanish spoken intro

Stevie Wonder 'Higher Ground'… an unending argument in my head is which song is better, this one or the RHCP cover?

Neil Young 'L.A.'… Neil's snarky ode to Los Angeles

Neil Young 'Time Fades Away'… another theme of this year as there are a lot of 'best song by' fill-in-the-blank… here's another one, and I don't care if Neil hates it, it's one of his most depressing yet somehow upbeat songs… works perfectly in the live setting

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