Mahoney’s Guide to the 70′s: 1971

A brief look at what happened in ’71 plus my favourite records & films

1971

What was happening in ’71

• A stairway crush at the Rangers vs. Celtic football match in Glasgow, Scotland kills 66.
• Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders
• Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden.
• Jim Morrison, leader of The Doors is found dead in his bathtub in Paris, France.
• Val Venis, American professional wrestler is born

Favourite records of 1971

01: The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers 

Arguably their greatest album with every single song being a complete classic. The sound of the worlds greatest ever rock n roll band at their absolute best.

02: T. Rex – Electric Warrior

The album that made Marc Bolan a superstar & the album that caused the glam-rock era in the 70′s. Electric Warrior has always been seen as T-Rex’s finest work (though I prefer The Slider), fun, sexy, groovy songs topped off with Bolan’s uniquely bizarre lyrics. A stone cold classic.

03: Lee Hazlewood – Requiem for an Almost LadyAn underrated gem by a hugely under appreciated artist. Requiem for an Almost Lady originally was only released in the UK & Sweden which is goes a long way to explain why it isn’t widely considered one of the great records of it’s era. A record of heartbreaks & relationships gone wrong delivered with Hazlewoood’s usual wit & humour. Without a doubt one of Lee’s finest LP’s.

04: Al Green – Al Green Gets Next to You Outside of ‘Call Me’ this is my favourite record of Al Green’s. I’ve never been overly keen on the cover of Light My Fire but the rest of the record is pretty much perfect. What a voice.

05: Leonard Cohen – Songs of Love and HateHave recently got into the work of Leonard Cohen & this was the record that turned me onto him. I can’t think of a better album title in terms of trying to describe what’s on the record. The simplicity of these songs are what make them so appealing to me.

06: John Lennon – ImagineMost people seem to prefer Plastic Ono Band but for me this is Lennon’s best solo work & I’d go as far as to say it’s up there in terms of quality of some of The Beatles best work. I know people can be put off by the title track, it’s one of those famous songs that is almost as big as the artist that created it but I still absolutely fucking love it, lyrically it’s such a simple ideal that anyone with half an inch of soul inside themselves must of at least thought about a few times in their life. ’Oh Yoko!’ also gets some stick partially because it’s a cheesey love song & also because most people don’t like Yoko but still as far as cheesey love songs go it’s one of my favourites. The rest of the record being top notch also.

07: Curtis Mayfield – Roots
08: David Bowie - Hunky Dory 
09: Flamin’ Groovies – Teenage Head
10: Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
11: Sly and the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
12: Alice Cooper - Love It to Death 
13: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin [IV] 
14: Faces – A Nod Is as Good as a Wink… to a Blind Horse 
15: Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On 
16: Gil Scott-Heron – Pieces of a Man
17: Joni Mitchell – Blue 
18: Rory Gallagher – Deuce
19: Can – Tago Mago
20: Groundhogs - Split

Favourite Films of 1970:

01: Straw Dogs [Sam Peckinpah]One of my favourites of all-time. Hoffman at his best, Susan George at her hottest. Always felt the final 10 minutes felt a bit needlessly ‘Hollywood’ though the rest of the picture is a psychological masterpiece.

02: Vanishing Point [Richard C. Sarafian]Vanishing point pretty much defines what a cult movie should be. IMO the best car related film theres ever been. Kowalski trying to deliver a car on time being chased across America by the cops, such a fucking blast.

03: A Clockwork Orange [Stanley Kubrick]Just one of many of Kubrick’s films considered a masterpiece. I assume everyones seen it, if you’ve not sort your life out.

04: The Panic In Needle Park [Jerry Schatzberg]Not one of the first films people would mention when thinking of Al Pacino but for me it’s one of his best. A dark, bleak miserable film about drug addiction, happy days.

05: Duel [Steven Spielberg]Who’d of thought the directer of such huge hits as Indiana Jones, Jaws & E.T would of started out making a carsploitation film made for TV. Spielberg shows his talent with this simple film which is essentially a truck chasing a car for 90 minutes, astonishingly impressive the levels of tension built up with such a simple premise.

06: Get Carter [Mike Hodges]
07: Diamonds Are Forever [Guy Hamilton]
08: Dirty Harry [Don Siegel]
09: Fright [Peter Collinson]
10: Two-Lane Blacktop [Monte Hellman]
11: Play Misty For Me [Clint Eastwood]
12: Shaft [Gordon Parks]
13: A Fistful of Dynamite/Duck You Sucker [Sergio Leone]
14: Il gatto a nove code [The Cat o' Nine Tails] [Dario Argento]
15: The French Connection [William Friedkin]