Hard Rock 1970s Albums - Page 2

Rising rebuilds Rainbow with a new lineup and turns Ritchie Blackmore’s hard riffs and Ronnie James Dio’s fantasy-driven voice into a larger story.

2112 joins Rush’s large-scale storytelling to the focused power of three musicians.

Nine on a Ten Scale gives Sammy Hagar his first clear solo identity after leaving Montrose.

Virgin Killer joins Scorpions’ hard-rock attack to Uli Jon Roth’s fluid, classically colored guitar sense.

Jailbreak finds Thin Lizzy using Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham’s twin guitars not simply for technique, but as a force that moves each song forward.

Johnny the Fox expands Thin Lizzy’s storytelling and tonal range after the success of Jailbreak.

Yesterday and Today captures the band later known as Y&T playing Bay Area hard rock with direct commitment on its debut.

High Voltage (Australian) captures AC/DC at a point where the later image is not yet fully fixed.

T.N.T.

Toys in the Attic joins Aerosmith’s blues-rooted roughness to sharper riffs and more immediate melodies.

Come Taste the Band finds Deep Purple welcoming Tommy Bolin in place of Ritchie Blackmore and mixing more funk, soul and blues feeling into its established heavy-rock fou

Dreamboat Annie is Heart’s debut, joining the softness of acoustic guitar, hard-rock force and beautiful vocal harmony.

Dressed to Kill keeps KISS’s early raw energy while sharpening it into more compact, memorable songs.

Physical Graffiti lets Led Zeppelin move freely through heavy riffs, blues, funk and acoustic shadow across a double album.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow is the debut in which Ritchie Blackmore, newly away from Deep Purple, met Ronnie James Dio’s rich voice and gave hard rock a mythic color.

Caress of Steel takes Rush further away from blues-based hard rock and puts long structures and fantasy-driven storytelling at the front.

Fly by Night finds Rush gaining a new language through the arrival of Neil Peart.

In Trance moves Scorpions away from the longer progressive turns of its earliest work and toward tighter, sharper hard rock.

Fighting finds Thin Lizzy making a harder, more identifiable sound around Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson’s twin guitars.

Get Your Wings finds Aerosmith keeping the raw charge of its debut while taking a major step forward in songwriting, playing, and sound.

Burn is the opening statement of Deep Purple’s Mark III lineup, with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes turning a personnel change into fresh momentum rather than a defensi

Stormbringer takes the Mark III Deep Purple sound beyond the framework of traditional hard rock and captures the individual instincts of its members in especially vivid f

Hotter Than Hell keeps the debut album’s direct momentum but moves KISS into a darker, heavier, more humid sound world.

Kiss captures KISS before the giant stage productions and worldwide fame, reducing the distinct personalities of four musicians to short, sharp rock-and-roll songs.

Rush is the debut on which the group that would later build elaborate suites and conceptual worlds first appears as a direct, hard-rocking three-piece.

Fly to the Rainbow finds Scorpions before its later, streamlined heavy-metal identity, using Uli Jon Roth’s fluid guitar to blend psychedelic space, blues, and hard

Nightlife is Thin Lizzy’s fourth album and the point at which Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson begin building the twin-guitar foundation of the band’s later golden e

Aerosmith begins with the rough feel of blues rock, yet it already reveals the streetwise instinct and vocal power that would support the band’s later success.

Who Do We Think We Are finds Deep Purple retaining the tension and virtuosity of its classic lineup while letting the members collide inside tighter, more compact songs.

Houses of the Holy finds Led Zeppelin moving easily beyond the limits of heavy blues rock, using the four players’ chemistry to gather a wide range of musical landsc

Vagabonds of the Western World captures Thin Lizzy before the later twin-guitar style was fully formed, moving freely among blues, folk, soul and hard rock while str

Machine Head is a defining Deep Purple album from the Mark II lineup, joining riff, improvisation, vocal power, and groove with astonishing economy.

Lonesome Crow is the Scorpions debut, far removed from the sharp melodic hard rock the band would later make its own.

Shades of a Blue Orphanage is Thin Lizzy’s second album, made before the later twin-guitar attack and city-bred rock-and-roll identity had fully arrived.

Fireball finds Deep Purple’s Mark II lineup building on the fierce hard-rock language established on In Rock while testing speed, blues, folk-like quiet, and extende

Led Zeppelin IV is the band’s fourth album, a record that joins the explosive force of hard rock, the earthiness of blues, the shadow of British folk, and a mythic a

Thin Lizzy is the debut made by the trio of Phil Lynott, Eric Bell, and Brian Downey before the band reached the twin-guitar attack and fast-moving hard rock of its later

Deep Purple in Rock is the record on which Deep Purple’s Mark II lineup turns decisively away from the earlier phase that crossed psychedelic ideas with orchestral e

Led Zeppelin III preserves the electric force of Led Zeppelin’s first two albums while moving much further into acoustic instruments, folk texture, and quiet space.