Nineteen hundred and seventy-three is one of those rare years — like, say, 1968, 1969, 1971 and 1991— that saw the release of an impressive assortment of seminal rock albums.
As we wrote two years ago in our 1971 roundup, "Even for a year that falls squarely in the heart of the 'classic rock' era, it was a particularly classic year."
And while 1973 might not compare to 1971, it was the year of The Dark Side of the Moon, Quadrophenia and Houses of the Holy, albums that are such so iconic that we don't have to tell you who recorded them. We also got Deep Purple's Who Do We Think We Are, Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and self-titled debut albums from Queen and Aerosmith.
In the world of blues, two of the three ax-wielding Kings released new LPs; there was To Know You Is To Love You by B.B. King and Woman Across the River by Freddie King — not to mention Tres Hombres by King's fellow Texans, ZZ Top, and a truly classic album by the Allman Brothers Band.
The Allmans' release, plus the 1973 release of Lynyrd Skynyrd's debut disc and the Eagles' rootsy Desperado, are reminders of the era's affinity for Southern and country-flavored rock.
In the land of former Beatles, we got two albums from Paul McCartney (one of which is on this list) and one each from John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Starr's 1973 Ringo album includes the Lennon-penned "I'm the Greatest," which features Lennon on piano and backing vocals, Harrison on guitar, Starr on drums and vocals and Billy Preston on keyboards. It's the next best thing to a Let It Be-era Beatles reunion. If only McCartney were there. But we digress ... .)
Note the strong reggae releases of 1973 — and the fact that we've included Gram Parsons'GP and left off the Byrds' self-titled reunion album, which isn't particularly classic (and doesn't even feature the awesome Clarence White on guitar).
With that in mind, below is our list of 50 classic albums celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2013. Note that these 50 albums are not presented in any particular order. We'll be asking you to do that for us soon!
