Five excellent albums from the 1970s you may have overlooked 

I loved the music from the 1970s. It had so much to offer. Rock, soul, glam, folk, funk, and indeed punk then new wave. When it comes to classic albums there were loads of them. Many of those still stand the test of time today too. 

You can probably stick a pin in any week’s album charts that decade and have a real chance of finding a superb record. Even if it is a rather random way to go about it. Kind of like an old-school pre-technology equivalent of a streaming service algorithm picking music you’ll like. 

Among all those 1970s albums though are quite a few that might have been overlooked. They didn't sell in huge numbers, nowhere near the millions. For whatever reason, some albums just won’t have made it onto your music radar. Here are five you might have missed. The artists aren't huge superstars, but were all great performers and these all deserve to be heard by more listeners. 

Five 1970s albums you may have missed hearing

Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool 

What a great title for the debut album from musician Nick Lowe! Although that’s the UK name, in the US it came out under Pure Pop For Now People. That feels like a lame and somewhat bland attempt to avoid any offense, I’m sure none was intended!

Lowe is a great songwriter and producer, working closely with Elvis Costello in particular and as an in-house producer for Stiff Records. This 1978 album showed he could do it at the mic himself too. It hails back to his pub rock background but brings in a variety of clever pop and new wave songs with catchy choruses. 

It’s another album that deserved better chart success and more attention, only as far as 127 on the Billboard 200 and 22 on the UK album charts. The tracks included and their order varied from UK to US.  There were further variations with a 2008 deluxe release and a special World Record Store Day version in 2022. 

“So It Goes” was Lowe’s first single, it was also the first single for Stiff Records. Another great tune. On the initial release though the main track on all versions was the standout “I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass”. When I say standout track, this doesn’t mean the only great song in the album. If you like it though, you’ll like the rest as the quality is very high throughout the album. It really is a cool album, and maybe pure pop is a decent description to use in an album title.