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Agreed, that's my favorite album by him by far. Great year for soul/r&b and jazz.

I have them all except the Desmond (have the earlier box set with the same material). Every one of them is well done. There are other sets which could/should also be reissued. Weather Report Vol. 1, Woody Shaw, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Brubeck come immediately to mind.

I hear that. I like the Steely Dan albums and love the Who and Springsteen albums. The Springsteen actually didn't sell at all in 1973 (despite the "New Dylan" push), sold big as a catalog title once Born to Run hit in 1975. The Rundgren, Elton John, and McCartney albums are find for what they are, but not thrilling. The Kinks, Bowie, Fleetwood Mac albums were disasters compared to what they had been doing even the year before. A couple of (way) under the radar gems from 1973 are John Martyn's 'Solid Air' and the Buckingham/Nicks album. Santana's 'Welcome' is pretty great, but not sure it's really a "rock" album.

Totally agree it was a great year/era for Jazz and Soul/R&B. Just not for rock.

Here's a similarly-vibed pic of the Gram Parsons era Byrds, just to complete the set. Parsons is in front, Roger McGuinn is over his left shoulder, all the way to the right in the photo:

Stunningly beautiful. Best historical release of 2022?

Staggeringly beautiful. Best historical release of 2022?

Thinking about this more. 1973 seems like a tipping point of "Rock" taking itself oh so seriously, setting up the Punk rebellion ca. 1977 and the (admittedly often cynical) fun of New Wave and the early MTV years shortly thereafter. Another thing I notice. We only are talking about the first tier "heavyweights" when analyzing 1973. One of the great joys of the late 60's and early 70's were countless fabulous albums made by what were considered second and third tier groups. The self-titled debut album by It's A Beautiful Day, 'Goodbye and Hello' by Tim Buckley, 'Forever Changes' by Love, 'Realization' by Johnny Rivers, 'Argus' by Wishbone Ash and albums and artists much more obscure than that were all wonderful and great pleasures . There were some of those in 1973 I'm sure, but they don't jump to mind.

Some albums I do love from 1973: Genesis 'Selling England By The Pound', Doobie Brothers 'The Captain And Me'. By far the best albums those groups would ever make. Also really like Blues Project 'Reunion In Central Park'.

Totally with you on that Crimson album - stunning then and now. Mahavishnu and Soft Machine sit on my jazz shelves, but they are really good albums, though to me a step down from their immediate predecessors. I'm not a Reggae fan, have some token Bob Marley, and that's it. I like the other albums you mention, but as you correctly indicate, they were a step towards the softer side. My idea of a great Dead was/is 'Live/Dead' and "The Other One". As Mr. Duckworth indicates, IMHO, the fun and excitement at that point was gone from Rock, but was very alive in the early Jazz Fusion (RTF, Weather Report, Mahavishnu, Miles, etc.) and Soul/R&B (TSOP and much more). Or something to play while watching the first 20 minutes of The Wizard of Oz (by the way, the synch IS eerily amazing).

Totally with you on that Crimson album - stunning then and now. Mahavishnu and Soft Machine sit on my jazz shelves, but they are really good albums, though to me a step down from their immediate predecessors. I'm not a Reggae fan, have some token Bob Marley, and that's it. I like the other albums you mention, but as you correctly indicate, they were a step towards the softer side (except the Neil Young, which was intentional commercial suicide). My idea of a great Dead was/is 'Live/Dead' and "The Other One". As Mr. Duckworth indicates, IMHO, the fun and excitement at that point was gone from Rock, but was very alive in the early Jazz Fusion (RTF, Weather Report, Mahavishnu, Miles, etc.) and Soul/R&B (TSOP and much more). Or to watch the first 20 minutes of 'The Wizard of Oz' (BTW, it works!).

'Houses of the Holy' is a very good album, but a long drop off from the spectacular 'Led Zeppelin IV', so was another disappointment to me at the time. It does sound better now. DSOTM is an album I respect more than enjoy, and the clap trap it caused lesser artists to produce is terrible. BTW, Jethro Tull's 'A Passion Play' was yet another deeply disappointing 1973 album.

A Love Supreme at 17 was the turning point for me, late 1972. Transition came a little later, I think late '73, and remains my favorite Trane album of all.

And then they broke up (for a while).

They definitely changed direction post-Terry Knight. I actually quite enjoy the Terry Knight-era albums (their first ones), especially their second, just called "Grand Funk". Granted, I was in the perfect age group for that response to those albums (14 years old in 1969), and I'm not saying they're really good or anything, just that I really like them. They're fun to me. Regardless of whether you like the original albums or not, "We're an American Band" the album is quite a different beast. And "We're an American Band" the song is misogynist AOR garbage - another one of those songs I hope I never hear again.

1973 was a lousy year for rock music in a lot of ways, quality fell off a cliff. Horribly disappoint album by the Allman Bros. (Brothers and Sisters - hope I never hear "Rambin' Man" again), horribly disappointing album by the Rolling Stones (Goat's Head Soup), horribly disappointing album by Chicago (VI), horrible album by Grand Funk (We're An American Band), etc. Good year for Soul/R&B, but rock fell off a cliff. Over-Nite Sensation fit right in with the slop.

They've been favorites of mine for almost 50 years, especially 'Halfbreed' and 'The Time is Near'. Miller Anderson wrote, sang, and played guitar on great songs for them, they had first call british horn players and keyboard players. Excellent stuff. I got the box and sold off my individual CD's. Five prime discs (with bonus cuts) with the Miller Anderson version, followed by two increasingly meh discs of later stuff. But the five discs are worth way more than the cost of admission. BTW, their manager refused to let them be filmed for Woodstock move - oops!

Same here (I like Apostrophe quite a bit more). To have all that firepower in that band and to use it to make AOR songs with dirty jokes is such a waste, and such a fall from what he was doing the year before, though he reached sales levels he had probably never imagined (or maybe he had, and that was the point of the album).

I liked Yes's albums prior to "Tales" a lot, even the first two prior to "The Yes Album" (especially like the 1969 debut with all those cover versions). "Tales" was the first one that didn't really click for me, but I kept listening and have everything recorded through the 70's on my primary shelves. I don't worry much about the lyrics, they're just there as a another sound ("Sharp! Distance! How can the wind with so many around me? I feel lost in the city" SOUNDS great on "Heart of the Sunrise", even if the meaning is, er, rather vague). "Tales" just struck me then and strikes me now as spectacularly overblown. The only time I saw them live (at Spectrum, ca. 1974) was when that album had just come out, and it was a tough listen when you were waiting for "Roundabout" and "Starship Trooper" and the like.

I was at a Dizzy Gillespie Big Band concert (which Gillespie himself missed due to medical issues) at Penn's Landing some time in 1992. David Sanchez, who had a "young lions" Columbia recording deal at that point, gave what he clearly thought was a hotshot solo on one of the old Dizzy warhorses. Mario Rivera, veteran sax player of many Afro-Cuban bands, soloed next. He stepped up, played Sanchez's solo perfectly, re-played it adding funny burlesque touches, then played his own solo, stepping back to thunderous applause. Same group/concert, the trumpet section was Jon Faddis, Freddie Hubbard, and Wynton Marsalis. Faddis and Hubbard were trying hard to out-clown each other, ripping off high notes and stuff while laughing and grinning, and Wynton was clearly disgusted by the whole display, playing his solos totally straight and controlled with a sober face and manner. Really interesting afternoon.

I like that Coleman album a lot!

Only time I ever saw Zappa live was that version of the band headlining the Spectrum in Philly April 28, 1973. Opening act was John Hammond, solo with an acoustic guitar, sitting on a stool. Second act was the classic Mahavishnu Orchestra (McLaughlin/Goodwin/Hammer/Laird/Cobham), who just killed it. Zappa & Co. played great, but to my ears couldn't compare to Mahavishnu. Quite a night. Tickets in those days were like $5-$6! Here's an article about the concert I found: https://jrirwin.com/remembering-zappa-and-mahavishnu-at-the-spectrum/

Pre-ordered the 2CD from Amazon a few weeks ago. This is the Beatles album for which I most look forward to the Giles Martin remix, and his others are marvelous.

I got it used cheap, $50, and ended up being very pleased by it. A lot of great music, though also a lot of what you mention.