To me, this was a real sweet spot in Classic Rock history. There are so many fantastic albums on this week’s countdown of the Top 10 Rock albums on October 20, 1970. See if you agree.
Joe Walsh’s band BEFORE The Eagles scored their first big hit with this song called, “Funk 49.” It’s taken from the James Gang’s second album, Rides Again.
This is a band that deserves to be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, for this song alone, “All Right Now.” It’s Free, and their album Fire And Water was #9 on October 20, 1970.
The Who’s first live album, and the first of two Who albums to appear on this week’s countdown, was, predictably, a mad affair, full of energy and excitement from the crowd at Leeds University. Live At Leeds is #9 on this week’s Thursday Top 10 Countdown.
The debut album by the foursome known as CSNY still stands as their best, and their biggest seller. Recorded largely separately, Deja Vu peaked at #1 and was still in the top 10 months later. This week it’s #7.
Well over a year after it was first released, The Who’s masterwork Tommy was still selling like crazy. It was enough to keep it in the top ten for months and, on October 20, 1970, it was still at #6.
While CSNY were working on Deja Vu, our #7 rock album on the countdown, Neil Young was moonlighting, putting together his solo album After The Gold Rush. This wonderful album is the #5 rock album on this week’s Thursday Top 10 Countdown.
While The Moody Blues’ albums were quite intricate and complex from a production and recording standpoint, some of their songs were difficult to pull off live, so they went back to basics with this album called A Question Of Balance and it was a big hit for them. One its way to peaking at #3, it was #4 on October 20, 1970.
Armed with a group of seasoned session musicians, Joe Cocker went on the road and put on some incredible shows back in 1970. They were recorded and released as Mad Dogs And Englishmen, the #3 rock album on the countdown this week.
Carlos Santana followed up his stellar debut with another work full of rock, jazz and latin rhythms. Abraxas was Santana’s first number one album and, on its way there, it stops for a bit at #2 on October 20, 1970.
Topping the charts this week is the fifth album by this legendary Bay Area band. It was their first of two albums they released in 1970, coming on the heels of putting THREE albums out the previous year! #1 on October 20, 1970 was Cosmo’s Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival!
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