So that was 1973!

My guess was 1973 was going to be nothing like anything we'd ever seen before - and I think it's safe to say I was not disappointed on that front.

I was not expecting the ownership ratio to be high this year - I said I thought I'd be lucky to claim ownership of three and actually I managed a big fat zero of the albums I wrote about from the year, but I can claim ownership of 2 albums (Pink Floyd and Simon & Garfunkel) we saw throughout the year.  Which I'll have to take - it all meant I met a lot of albums I'd never even heard of, let alone heard.

Looking at the best selling albums of the year, Elton John is top with the second of his albums we met this year (which didn't get written up because we'd already met it) and a fine album it is too.  #2 was Bowie with another fine album - and one I liked more than I was expecting.  And the next two are hardly slouches - Simon & Garfunkel and Pink Floyd, and I think it's safe to say that Pink Floyd have won the longevity award.  It's interesting that out of the top four, Elton John's album probably loses the longevity competition - I suspect that's partly because he's still at it and partly because there are SO MANY Elton albums (36 studio and collaboration efforts and counting), although it's interesting that a load of them are absolutely rubbish and totally forgotten about.

Peters & Lee at #5 is definitely an album that very few people listen to these days - because it's just horrible.   The Beatles are at #6 (red) and #7 (blue) - albums that probably aren't listened to so much because there are a million other alternatives, but I suspect the tracks still get the odd run out or two.    And I don't think any of rest trouble too many turntables (or other audio sources) these days - Perry Como, Gilbert O'Sullivan and the That'll Be The Day soundtrack (which isn't available on streaming).  And, because it's 1973, you only get a top ten for the year, so that's your lot.

So looking at the albums I was subjected to, let's talk about the women first - it shouldn't take too long.  Throughout the entire year, there were only eight women named on albums in the entire chart (with another four appearing as part of groups) so I think we did well to see six of them with only Nana and Suzi missing out on me listening to them - it would have been nice to listen to Suzi but I can live without Nana.  Of the ladies contributions I did hear, Karen, Shirley and Carly were my favourites, Liza and Diana were fine in places and I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Dianne Lee's effort was really rubbish (although I'm not sure I can really blame her too much).  I also have to mention Linda popping up as part of Wings, but it was, unfortunately, not a great album.

So, 1973 was most definitely the men's year - considering the solo artists first, Elton and David held the top spot for 17 weeks of the year (all fine albums except for Pin Ups).  Rod Stewart also did surprisingly well with three weeks at #1 with an album I didn't feel the need to subject myself too, but he did give me another one as punishment.  Another couple of guys we have to mention despite their lack of #1 albums were Donny Osmond who was on FIVE of the albums I listened to (3 solo and 2 Osmonds "efforts") and David Cassidy who only made me suffer twice.  And I guess I should also mention Gilbert O'Sullivan, Yes and Status Quo here who I met twice as well - with varying degrees of success (Yes came out best, Status Quo didn't).

So, did I like any other of the solo male efforts?  I specifically remember liking Paul Simon and (to my surprise) Roger Daltrey (what I could find of it, anyway) and, checking my notes, I see I quite liked Cat Stevens as well, although I can't remember too much about either this or this.  I'm also going to mention Harry Nilsson for an album that I was a bit harsh on because of all the copycats that have followed along behind it and Bryan Ferry for an interesting (if not always great) selection of covers.  Apart from Donny and David's offerings, there weren't really any albums I specifically didn't like, but I will also mention Perry Como's offering for just being so dated that I imagine it must have been dated back then - but people still bought it (by the wheelbarrow load).  I'm also going to mention Mike Oldfield because I really don't see what people see in that - it's boring and downright odd in places.

And what about the groups?  Slade take the honours with 3 weeks at the top with an album that I enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting, with Roxy Music, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin all having 2 weeks.  My favourites throughout the year were the surprising combination of Mott The Hoople and Strawbs - I didn't mind T Rex or either of Yes' contributions either - this or this.  Dislikes for me were Hawkwind (I REALLY didn't like this), Wings and Alice Cooper - and I'm also going to mention Focus for not being terrible, but being mystifyingly popular - both this and this, which bizarrely I met in the same week.

I'm also going to talk about compilation albums because they were much more popular than I was expecting, holding the #1 spot for 12 weeks of the year and we met a load more of them in the top fives of the year.  They were nearly all retro compilations as well - I was wondering whether such things are popular nowadays so checked out the current compilations chart.  And no, not really - once I'd waded through the Xmas compilations, I only managed to find one 80s compilation.  It does seem like people just really loved the old days back then.

And I'm going to mention one last album - A Clockwork Orange OST, which I would have liked to listen to but it wasn't anywhere to be found.  Can someone please sort out the streaming rights to Wendy Carlos' stuff? - it'd be great to hear it again.

Looking at the other statistics of interest, the number of #1 debuts this year was eight, which continues the downward trend from 1983 (ten) but was more than I was expecting.  We also saw 19 #1 albums throughout the year, which is less than we saw in 1983 (22) but exactly the same as we saw in 1996.  Unlike modern times when albums come in at #1 and disappear, they hung around much longer which meant I only listened to the #1 album once, which was Yes and doesn't really count because it was the first week of the year, so wouldn't have been met if I was doing this properly!

The generally accepted (by the internet) best albums from the year that we never got close to seeing are Larks' Tongues In Aspic by King Crimson (it peaked at #20), Raw Power by Iggy Pop and The Stooges (#44), Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock (didn't chart), Catch A Fire by Bob Marley and The Wailers (didn't chart), Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye (#39), Solid Air by John Martyn (#88 - in 2009!), Berlin by Lou Reed (#7 - it was unlucky!), Countdown to Ecstasy by Steely Dan (didn't chart), New York Dolls by New York Dolls (they've NEVER charted!), Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ by Bruce Springsteen (#41, but in 1985) and Innervisions from Stevie Wonder (#8).

Overall, it just feels like there were actually surprisingly few albums around this year - yes, we have a massive turnover nowadays and the chart was only half the size back then (on the site I use anyway) but it just feels like there were about twenty or so albums that were around all year.  It was also not uncommon to have one or two new entries and eight or nine re-entries on the chart - I've tried thinking of a reason for this and all I can come up with is that a lot of people didn't really like listening to new music.  I'm not sure how true that is, but I've already mentioned the huge number of retro compilations and there was also an awful lot of "easy listening" stuff in the charts - James Last, Max Bygraves, Perry Como, etc, etc.  It's also interesting how close musically a lot of the teen idol stuff is to that lot.  Whatever the reason, it contributed to us getting to an all time low of #20 in the chart before reaching an album that I hadn't already met or was a dreadful compilation effort.

So, did I enjoy 1973?  Yes and no - a lot of it was utter tripe, but it was certainly educational tripe and there were the odd discoveries and surprises that made it all worthwhile.  Picking a top three at random, I'd go for Strawbs' Bursting At The Seams, Bowie's Aladdin Sane and Carly's No Secrets - all of which I'd be quite happy to listen to again (and I really should).

So, where to next?  Well, I'm going to take a bit of a break until next year - The Guardian have finally started putting out their "Best of 2022" album list, so I can get round to listening to some more modern stuff.  And when I do restart on a year, I'm going to go for a more modern sound as well - I've yet to do a year from the 00s or the 10s, so it'll probably be one of those, depending upon how the mood takes me.  See you in the new year!

07/01/73 - Not the best end to the year
31/12/06 - My faves to start a new year off