The 1970s had plenty of albums hailed as classics of their time. Lauded by critics, these albums were seen perhaps as changing the face of music. They may have launched or refocused musical careers or genres. But just how good were they really?
I see this a bit like the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson. Lots of music people in the know have said these are great albums. Have people just followed that lead and agreed? I’ve got five albums in mind that are overrated. It’s my own view and you probably won’t agree with me on all five of them. You might agree with me about some. Let me explain what I mean here by overrated first though.
These aren't bad albums. All five were received well and chart successes on Billboard 200 and in the UK. There are gold and platinum albums on the list. They all have amazingly good songs on them too. Some absolute classic tracks in their own right.
Why these five 1970 albums are overrated
Are the complete albums, across all or enough of their content, as good as they’ve been made out to be? These days with streaming and playlists prevailing, people are more selective in what they listen to. Less people listen now to complete albums as they did back in the 1970s. And for those who used to skip some tracks, it's now more about the few they still choose to select and play.
If you are only picking a couple of tracks from an album, it questions just how good that whole package is. No matter how well-regarded it is. For a real test - as you go through the list of all five, ask yourself if you would play the whole complete album now or have done so recently.
Let’s explore these five overrated albums from some big names.
Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bo***cks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Never Mind The Bo***cks, Here’s The Sex Pistols is already a controversial album. That was always the intention. Without doubt it has an important place in music history. It broke barriers, changed music history, got banned, had a legal case, attracted enormous publicity and demand. Released in November 1977, it caused mayhem before and after it came out.
This was one of the forerunners of punk rock releasing a commercial album. Sticking two fingers up to the world as they did so. Anarchy, in more ways than one, was to the fore with this release.
Four previously released singles were included on the album, despite objections from the Pistols about ripping off their fans. “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” and “Holiday In The Sun”. These were all great songs, and still are. The raw energy, the noise, Johnny Rotten and his sneering, snarling voice, guitar crashes and thrashes, it’s all there. Apart from polished musical performances, that's of course part of the charm here and maybe part of the problem too.
Beyond the four singles there are more songs in a similar vein, but they don’t grab you quite as much as the hits did or still do. I loved the Pistols and that time when punk emerged. I still love hearing the singles, but the rest of the album is too much of the same. It doesn't take long before the rawness starts to become a drawback, the odd drum pattern out of step and all those quirks are soon less appreciated.
You do start to wonder if it was all about the commerciality really, cramming in those four hits, riding the wave of publicity feeding success. Maybe not so much for the band, but for those who were taking the money. It's a milestone and seminal album for punk rock and music generally for sure. It is though, overrated in my view as a complete album filled with great songs to listen to in its entirety.
Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard
This was a recovery record from Eric Clapton. It rescued his musical career after three years out due to his drugs addiction. In addition to putting him back on the music trail again there was perhaps some life saving too as he refocused and rebuilt.
461 Ocean Boulevard was released in July 1974 and quickly became one of Clapton’s most successful albums, and he's had plenty of those. This one had plenty of critical acclaim and was number one on the Billboard 200 with a US Platinum disc to follow.
There were a couple of singles, in a fairly straight cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot The Sheriff” and the somewhat dull, slowed-down version of “Willie And The Hand Jive”. A high point is “Let It Grow” which became my favourite from this album. It grows nicely from a quiet and laid-back start with a great guitar break at the end.
Laid back can be good, but this album in places feels almost horizontal. There are some ok songs, but they lack the real strength of Clapton, exquisite guitar playing, and more of the Blues. Rolling Stone magazine summed it up nicely: “Clapton returned from heroin addiction with a disc of mellow, springy grooves minus guitar histrionics"
That's not enough for me for a Clapton album rated so highly. Maybe it suffers from him only having written three of the songs. As an album, it’s ok, it’s not bad, but where's the thrills?
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Pink Floyd are one of the great bands. That's undoubted. They have had several classic albums which I love and play often, as complete albums. For Pink Floyd it almost seems to have to be that way. You can play individual, songs, but they come together so well on each album.
But then there's The Wall. It’s been an enormous success. Written in the main by Roger Waters, he is still touring regularly with songs from it. And who can blame him. “Comfortably Numb” is an amazing song and a live highlight. “Another Brick In The Wall” parts one and two, are well known and yielded a Christmas number one as a rarity for the band.
The album and concept is pretty dark and bleak though. Deliberately of course. That's what Waters intended from the outset and underpinned his many and ongoing disagreements with David Gilmour about the band’s musical direction.
Released in November 1979, The Wall was perhaps more of an eighties impact with the elaborate staged concerts and the film with Bob Geldof in the lead role Pink to follow. The impact was huge in many ways. Waters went on to hold one of the biggest concerts ever when he played The Wall - Live in Berlin to over 450,000 people in 1990. Just eight months after the fall of that city’s famous wall.
All that history and commercial success isn't enough for me. It's a double album of largely bleakness and despair. There are some great tracks, though “Another Brick In The Wall” feels like one brick too many these days, it’s tiresome and overplayed and isn't one of their best anyway.
Unlike the others, this isn’t a Pink Floyd album I play in its entirety. The Wall isn't even one I select many tracks from at all if I just want a simple Floyd playlist fix. I can't see what all the fuss is about for the album as a whole.
Queen - Jazz
I'm a huge fan of Queen. Their early albums were among the first I bought. I saw them live at their early pomp and majesty in 1977. It was such sad news when the world lost Freddie Mercury, surely one of the best frontmen ever.
Which makes it harder to not rate one of their albums. But what was that Jazz thing all about? I bought their seventh album Jazz when released in November 1978 and rushed home to play it. No easy downloads or streams back then. I can still remember the disappointment and bemusement now.
There were notable songs on the album. “Don’t Stop Me Now” became an anthem and a hit single. “Bicycle Race”/”Fat Bottomed Girls” was a fun tongue in cheek double A side, out just before the album. That was about it for the UK and US anyway.
The rest of the songs were notable for being either odd or ordinary. There seemed more attempts to be loud than musical, in my view anyway. I spent a couple of weeks playing the album trying to convince myself they grow on me and I’ve not played it again since. Have a listen to the bizarre opening track “Mustapha” below for example.
At the time there were many positive reviews and a few less so. Surprisingly, to me anyway, if you look at many later rankings of Queen albums, Jazz features highly at the ‘Best’ end. Often top five or higher. Maybe time has been kind to the album. I dug it out this week to see if my views had softened, and immediately regretted doing so. Which saddens me as an otherwise stalwart Queen fan.
Eagles - Hotel California
Now here’s a really successful album, Hotel California by the Eagles sold millions. Over 30m so far and just behind their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, which perhaps unusually was released before it. It’s won awards and accolades, it's got a massively strong single hit as the title track.
Released in December 1976, the album probably represents a peak for the Eagles. Things slid from there for various reasons and their follow up album, The Long Run, suffered from huge fall outs, arguments and line up changes. That was their last album for a long while as they disbanded in 1980, before reforming many years later. They are currently on their final live tour, The Long Farewell.
Looking back at Hotel California now, it’s one of those albums which hasn't aged well. The title track with its famous guitar solos now attracts criticism as overplayed and overdone. “New Kid In Town” and “Life In The Fast Lane” are the other big songs from the album. Those three songs are the opening tracks of the album, leaving less less incentive to carry on listening.
The rest of the tracks on the album are probably only known to ardent fans. They are fairly ok Eagles songs in the usual style and format, but not exceptional. Sadly they don't seem to have the same hooks and ear worm capabilities of the band's big numbers.
Hotel California is another of those albums which probably won’t be getting many plays as a whole these days. This was a must have album back in the day, swept along by demand and a couple of guitar solos. It had its successes, but an album that huge, which doesn't demand regular listening, is surely overrated now.