My Top Favorite Albums per Year.

1976

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"My Top Favorite Albums per Year", will be a brief list of the albums I actually own and have in my personal vinyl, cassette, CD and mp3 collection. These will mostly be short reviews on full length albums, not just singles from the album. Maybe some of my favorites are your favorites too.

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The Year was 1976.

1) Stevie Wonder - Songs in the key of life.

Clearly a fantastic, classic double-album littered with many great songs. My favorite songs on this album are: "Contusion", "Sir Duke" and "I wish".

2) Steely Dan - The Royal Scam.

I have been a huge Steely Dan fan since "Aja" came out in 1977. This album: The Royal Scam boasts many classic Steely Dan songs, such as "The caves of Altamira", "Don't take me alive" and "Green Earrings".

3) Genesis - A trick of the tail.

I've been a backseat Genesis fan since the late 1980's. I don't know all of the songs on this album as well as I do many other albums, but there are two particular songs I have really enjoyed since hearing their live album in the early 1980's. Those two songs are "Dance on the volcano" and "Squonk".

4) Al Stewart - Year of the cat.

This album had two radio hits: "On the border" and the title track, "Year of the cat". So many artists of the 1970's used endless jazz chords in the songwriting in pop and rock music. It was a great time for American music.

5) Kansas - Leftoverture.

One of my all time favorite rock groups, Kansas was a staple in pop and rock music in the 1970's. "Carry on wayward son", is one of many hits from this iconic band.

6) Boston - Boston.

This debut album from legendary rock band Boston, forever changed what we understood about rock guitars and ultra high vocals. There is not one filler on this classic album. It is a near perfect album with hits like "More than a feeling", "Peace of mind", "Foreplay/Longtime" and "Rock and roll band". One of my all time favorite rock albums.

7) Aerosmith - Rocks.

This rock album is one of my two top favorite Aerosmith albums. The other of course, being "Toy's in the attic". Rocks had two big hits on this album: "Back in the saddles" and "Last child". However, "Rats in the cellar" is a fast, very heavy song that I think should have made it to the radio too.

8) Heart - Dreamboat Annie.

This album changed absolutely everything for me. Even though the album was released in 1976, I didn't really get to know it intimately until a year later when I started taking guitar lessons. I was hooked! "Magic man" was a rock song unlike anything I had ever heard before, with this weird new sound called a synthesizer. Then of course, the legendary rock guitar goddess herself, Nancy Wilson on the acoustic guitar intro to "Crazy on you", absolutely blew me away when I found out that it was indeed her playing this virtuoso masterpiece. I am a tremendous fan of Heart and Nancy Wilson.

9) Al Di Meola - Land of the midnight sun.

Back in the late 1970's when I was playing bass guitar in a bunch of bands, one of the guitarists in one of the bands turned me on to this album. It was during the jazz fusion era. I wanted to learn all that I could about this style of extremely difficult jazz rock. He made a copy cassette of this album for me. I listened to it all through high school. I had never heard anyone play guitar so fast and so precise in my life. Just an absolutely fantastic album.

10) Bob Seger - Night moves.

As a practicing teenage guitarist, I was constantly on the lookout for easy songs I could learn on my guitar. Night movers had a few songs that were well within my realm of play. The title track "Night moves" was nice and slow and easy to play, It was one of the first songs I ever learned to play using a capo on my guitar. "Mainstreet" was another very easy song to play on the guitar.

11) Stanley Clarke - School days.

Such an appropriate title for an album. This was because I learned of this album in my sophomore year in high school. I had just started playing bass guitar in the school jazz band, and I was getting more and more interested in this "jazz fusion" music that seemed to have every instrumentalist in that school listening to some of the most difficult to play music I had ever heard. "Life is just a game" made it to jazz radio. Such an out of this world song. I still have the original cassette.

12) Ted Nugent - Free for all.

I remember finding this album on cassette tape at a garage sale. I knew of Ted Nugent, and I had heard "Free for all" on the radio. So, I bought the tape for a couple dollars and listened to it on my portable tape player. What a crazy rock guitar maniac.

13) Boz Scaggs - Silk degrees.

This album reflects the early days of the band ToTo, with the immense talents of most of the musicians from that band, on this album. David Paich, Jeff Porcaro and David Hungate all lending their amazing efforts on this album, helped make Silk Degrees a monster album. My favorite songs are, "Lowdown", "It's over" and of course, "Lido shuffle".

14) Styx - Crystal ball.

One of the first 45's I ever bought was Styx - "Mademoiselle". I really like the high vocals in this song. I eventually bought the cassette tape of the album. The title track, "Crystal ball", highlights the amazing 12-string acoustic guitar work of one of my favorite musicians, Tommy Shaw. I was a big fan. So much so that I saved for about two years and bought myself a brand new 1979 Takemine 12-string acoustic guitar. This is one of my absolute favorite Styx albums, and I still have the original cassette.

15) Bob James - Three.

I must admit, I don't actually have this album. I have been trying to find it for years. However, one of my all time favorite jazz fusion songs is "Westchester lady". This song has solidified my memories of my trips to Chicago as a teenager. Just a great, great song.

16) Doobie Brothers, the - Takin' it to the streets.

I actually have the CD of this album. Favorite songs are, "Takin' it to the streets", "Losin' end", "Rio" and "It keeps you runnin". Anytime I am in the mood to "roll some Doobies", I have to play this album and one of my other favorites, "Toulouse street". 

17) Eagles, the - Hotel California.

Well, as a guitarist, learning songs like "Hotel California", "Life in the fast lane" and "New kid in town", were sort of a rite-of-passage for practicing instrumentalists. This, of course, is an absolute monster album; arguably The Eagles greatest, most influential album.

18) Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!

This double album was the catalyst for me wanting to become a guitarist. I heard the hits on the radio, "Show me the way", "Baby, I love your way" and "Do you feel like we do", and I knew that this album was something very special. I think that this may be the second most played album in my collection, next to Steely Dan - Aja. I have practiced and played this album several hundred times. Peter Frampton is an absolute legendary guitar hero for millions of fans, including me.

So, there you have it, my list of favorite albums from 1976. What are some of your favorite albums from that year?