The Albums I Didn’t Buy in 1971

by James Wallace Harris, 8/30/21

[The above photograph is the only one I have of myself from 1971.]

I’m old enough that every year I live is also the 50th anniversary of a year I remember. This year, I keep seeing remembrances of 1971, especially lists of albums that claim to be the best of 1971.

This got me to thinking. How many great 1971 albums did I buy when they first came out? Then how many 1971 albums did I buy on LP or CD before switching to streaming music? Then how many albums have I discovered since having streaming music? Finally, how many albums from 1971 do I still need to play? Spotify has turned out to be a wonderful time machine.

It’s kind of overwhelming the number of memorable albums that came out in one year. The number is impressive, and it’s taken me fifty years of listening to find most these albums, and I’m still not done. Thanks to Spotify I’m still at it.

Albums I Bought When They Came Out

These two albums by Marvin Gaye and The Allman Brothers Band are among my lifetime favorites. I’ve never stopped playing them. I’ve bought them on CD, and even got the Fillmore East on SACD, and they are still repackaging those concerts, and I’ve bought them too. One thing that’s very special in my memories, is I got to see the Allman Brothers in concert in 1971 before Duane was killed.

These next three were major albums for me, and I played them for years, but I eventually got tired of them. I did buy them again when CDs came out, and I play them once every couple of years. Most of the albums listed below held my attention for just a short while. Many I only played once. A great record buy was one I’d play for a couple weeks straight. A very good record would hold my attention for days. Maybe the best albums are the ones we keep playing for the rest of our lives.

Back in 1971 I loved going to record stores. I’d usually visit two or three a week. I didn’t have much money then, so I didn’t buy that many albums in the year 1971 – I’d guess less than fifty, and most of those were from earlier years. Mostly I flipped past albums I wished I could buy. I used to have a fantasy of robbing Peaches back in the late 1970s. It was the biggest record store I had ever seen up to that time, maybe since. Having streaming music is like owning the biggest record store ever.

Eventually I did buy over a hundred albums that came out in 1971. I’d love if I could remember when and where for each one, but I can’t. I also wish I could remember those I bought on LPs in the 1970s and early 1980s, and which ones I bought when they were reissued on CDs, but I can’t do that either. Over the years I’ve gotten rid of my LPs, and most of my CDs. Here’s the list of 1971 albums I owned at one time or another. I’ll bolded the albums I still own (I think). I saved about 500 CDs, but I seldom play them. I’ve forgotten what I own. I bought thousands of LPs and CDs, but I moved around a lot, and sold my collections. There are many albums I bought more than once when I got money to rebuild my collection.

Here are the albums from 1971 that I bought after 1971. I’d say most of them were bought before 1980. It’s funny how a year in pop culture can linger. By the way, I got to see many of these acts in concert.

1. Tapestry – Carole King
2. L. A. Woman – Doors
3. Every Picture Tells a Story – Rod Stewart
4. American Pie – Don McLean
5. Crazy Horse – Crazy Horse
6. The Concert for Bangladesh – George Harrison & Friends
7. 4 Way Street – Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
8. Chicago III
9. Quicksilver – Quicksilver Messenger Service
10. Bob Dylan’s Great Hits Vol. II – Boy Dylan
11. Anticipation – Carly Simon
12. Rough & Ready – The Jeff Beck Group
13. Byrdmaniax – The Byrds
14. Farther Along – The Byrds
15. Electric Warrior – T-Rex
16. If I Could Only Remember My Name – David Crosby
17. Santana
18. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys – Traffic
19. 4 Way Street – Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
20. Tarkus – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
21. Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren – Todd Rundgren
22. Deuce – Rory Gallagher
23. In Search of Space – Hawkwin
24. Nantucket Sleighride – Mountain
25. John Prine – John Prine
26. Rory Gallagher – Rory Gallagher
27. America – America
28. Who’s Next – The Who
29. Hunky Dory – David Bowie
30. Aqualung – Jethro Tull
31. Imagine – John Lennon
32. Ram – Paul & Linda McCartney
33. The Yes Album – Yes
34. Pearl – Janis Joplin
35. Madman Across the Water – Elton John
36. The Inner Mountain Flame – The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin
37. Songs for Beginners – Graham Nash
38. Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon – James Taylor
39. Pictures at An Exhibition
40. The Electric Light Orchestra – Electric Light Orchestra
41. A Space in Time – Ten Years After
42. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour – The Moody Blues
43. Cold Spring Harbor
44. Little Feat – Little Feat
45. Deuce – Rory Gallagher
46. Osibisa – Osibisa
47. Osibisa – Woyaya
48. Free Live! – Free
49. Future Games – Fleetwood Mac
50. Broken Barricades
51. Link Wray – Link Wray
52. Live in Cook County Jail – B. B. King
53. Gonna Take a Miracle – Laurya Nyro & Labelle
54. Welcome to the Canteen – Traffic
55. 11-17-70 – Elton John
56. All Day Music – War
57. Music – Carole King
58. Sittin’ In – Loggins & Messina
59. Stephen Stills 2 – Stephen Stills
60. New Riders of the Purple Sage – New Riders of the Purple Sage
61. Gather Me – Melanie
62. ZZ Top’s First Album – ZZ Top
63. A Clockwork Orange – Various Artists
64. Survival – Grand Funk Railroad
65. Flying Burrito Brothers – The Flying Burrito Brothers
66. Bonnie Raitt – Bonnie Raitt
67. Cahoots – The Band
68. Album II – Loudon Wainwright III
69. Other Voices – The Doors
70. If Not for You – Olivia Newton-John
71. Linda Ronstadt – Linda Ronstadt
72. Street Corner Talking – Savoy Brown
73. Stoney End – Barbra Streisand
74. Carly Simon – Carly Simon
75. In The Garden – Gypsy
76. Barbra Joan Streisand – Barbra Streisand
77. Thirds – James Gang
78. Edgar Winter’s White Trash – Edgar Winter’s White Trash
79. I Don’t Know How to Love Him – Helen Reddy
80. Leon Russel and the Shelter People – Leon Russell
81. Moments – Boz Scaggs
82. Collaboration – Shawn Phillips
83. Boz Scaggs & Band – Boz Scaggs
84. Meddle – Pink Floyd
85. Blue – Joni Mitchell
86. Teaser and the Firecat – Cat Stevens
87. The Cry of Love – Jimi Hendrix
88. White Light – Gene Clark
89. Carpenters – Carpenters
90. Weather Report – Weather Report
91. The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions – Howlin’ Wolf

This puts me just under a hundred albums I remember owning. To trigger my memory I had to look at the list of Top 1000 albums sold in 1971. I’m pretty sure I owned more albums from 1971 because their covers look very familiar. I think I owned them, but I’m not sure, so I’ve added them to the to stream soon list.

Albums Streamed Recently

These are the albums I remember streaming in the past couple of years. I’m sure there were more, but I just don’t remember. Maggot Brain and Pieces of a Man are albums I wished I had discovered in 1971. They are classics. I’ve added them to my most played play list.

1. Melting Pot – Booker T. & The MG’s
2. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic
3. Surf’s Up – The Beach Boys
4. Nilsson Schmilsson – Harry Nilsson
5. A Nod is a Good as a Wink… To a Blind Horse – Faces
6. Coat of Many Colors – Dolly Parton
7. Black Moses – Isaac Hayes
8. Shaft – Isaac Hayes
9. Pieces of a Man – Gil Scott-Heron
10. Roots – Curtis Mayfield
11. Al Green Gets Next to You – Al Green
12. All Day Music – War

Albums I Plan to Stream Soon

1. Performance Rockin’ The Fillmore – Humble Pie
2. McDonald and Giles
3. Man in Black – Johnny Cash
4. The Bill Evans Album – Bill Evans
5. Randy Newman Live – Randy Newman
6. Earth Wind and Fire – Earth Wind & Fire
7. Yesterday’s Wine – Willie Nelson
8. Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old) – Elvis Presley
9. Where I’m Coming From – Stevie Wonder
10. The Sun, Moon and Herbs – Dr. John
11. Live Johnny Winter And – Johnny Winter
12. Super Bad – James Brown
13. Distant Light – The Hollies
14. Wildlife – Mott the Hoople
15. Sugar – Stanley Turrentine
16. Church of Anthrax – John Cale & Terry Riley
17. Nose Roses – Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band
18. Givin’ It Back – The Isley Brothers
19. Where’s the Money? – Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
20. Nick Drake – Nick Drake
21. Seven Tears – Golden Earring
22. Fillmore East – June 1971 – The Mothers
23. A Message to the People – Buddy Miles
24. Back to the Roots – John Mayall
25. Alone at Last – Gary Burton
26. So Long, Bannatyne – The Guess Who
27. The Doobie Brothers – The Doobie Brothers
28. Manna – Bread
29. Doctor Hook – Dr.Hook and the Medicine Show
30. Sunwheel Dance – Bruce Cockburn
31. Patchwork – Bobbie Gentry
32. Rock Love – Steve Miller Band
33. Rudy the Fifth – Rick Nelson
34. Someday We’ll Look Back – Merle Haggard & the Strangers
35. From the Inside – Poco
36. Merry Clayton – Merry Clayton
37. Nancy & Lee Again – Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
38. Lovejoy – Albert King
39. Gypsies, Tramps, & Thieves – Cher
40. Ruby – Buck Owens & His Buckaroos
41. Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream – Mason Proffit
42. Elegy – The Nice
43. Rita Coolidge – Rita Coolidge
44. David Bromberg – David Bromberg
45. Sunfighter – Paul Kantner & Grace Slick
46. Take Heart – Mimi Farina and Tom Jans
47. Dave Mason & Cass Elliot – Dave Mason & Cass Elliot
48. 1969 – Julie Driscoll
49. Nice Feelin’ – Rita Coolidge
50. Garden in the City – Melanie
51. Can I Have My Money Back? – Gerry Rafferty
52. Me & Bobby McGee – Kris Kristofferson

Lists Used to Remember

• Best Albums 1971 (1000 top selling albums)
• 100 Greatest Albums of 1971
• The 50 Best Albums of 1971
• The 30 Best Albums of 1971

JWH