With the recent 50th anniversary of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust I thought about what other albums from 1972 I enjoy, the more I looked the more 1972 seems like an outstanding musical year. Lots of talent across many genres, possibly due to no recording software and musical ability still counted above artist looks…
So much to choose from currently re enjoying this
And these
Do you have a 50 year favourite? Just so many to choose from…….
The Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach
So many to choose from…one of my most played albums of the last 50 years
Interestingly there have been a couple of 1971 appreciation threads - there were many good artists around at the end of the 1960s into the 70s - and of course many had releases both years. Overall I think I probably have more albums from 71 than 72, but 72 was still good! As well as those featured by the OP, these immediately come to mind:
Jethro Tull - Thick as a brick (my favourite of theirs)
Gentle Giant - Three friends
Edgar Broughton - Inside out
Genesis - Foxtrot
Deep Purple also released Made in Japan that year - I bought it, but overall preferred the studio albums (that changed some 40-45 years later, when a hi res digital version was released, which to me sounds so much better and gets far more frequent plays now than the LP did).
Those were great musical years, so much talent. And yes, it was okay to be ugly! Now, that’s no longer acceptable, so I wear a mask …
These two would be on my list.
Schools Out, was an anthem for my generation in school and it always makes me smile to hear it played on the radio, usually in July in the UK, when the school year ends.
Doremi, very different but from a very influential band who are still releasing new music.
I would also have included Transformer and of course Bowie’s classic album.
The year of John Williams’s most avant-garde and terrifying score for Robert Altman:
Listen to just the first 30 seconds of In Search of Unicorns (available as a taster on Quartet Records’ website) and you instantly know in your heart that some dreadful things are going to happen in this film. Three years later, Steven Spielberg wanted to use this track for the opening credits of Jaws, but Williams convinced him he could write something even better. He was right.
Stomu Yamash’ta and Williams worked together on new percussion instruments for Images, having to decide how to play them and how to notate for them. It’s an extraordinary achievement, all the more so for it being not well known outside film music circles and unavailable on CD or vinyl for decades.
Mark
Scrolling through Wikipedia’s 1972 in Music page reminded me of these releases as well:
Exile on Main Street (Stones)
Obscured by Clouds (Floyd)
I Sing the Body Electric (Weather Report)
On the Corner (Miles Davis)
All the Young Dudes (Mott the 'oople)
Zeit (Tangerine Dream)
Though I must admit, I’m looking forward to discussing 73 onwards, as jazz-funk really takes off.
Mark
I think 73 was wonderful.
More 1972 classics
Steely Dan - Can’t Buy a Thrill
Elton John - Honky Chateau
Neil Young - Harvest
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds
1973 - now that is closer than 1972 music-wise to the wonderful 1971…. Half a dozen great albums spring immediately to mind
Pink Floyd - DSOTM
The Who - Quadraphenia
Budgie - Never turn your back on a friend
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Deep Purple - Who do we think we are?
*Edgar Broughton - Oora
Hopefully not too controversial here, although it seemed to ruffle the feathers of some and particularly of whispering Bob Harris at the time.
Nearly everything mentioned in this thread is awesome.
You have all missed:
Ronnie Foster Two Headed Freap……boogie in the sunshine!
When I bought this, I was a little disappointed that “Virginia Plain” was not on it. However, had ir been, it would have one of the weakest tracks, imo.
FWIW I also have a Canadian copy including Virginia Plain, given to me by a guy I knew back in the 1990s who passed away at a relatively young age, reminding me of my own mortality. 
Something/Anything in my all time Top 10 along with 1974’s “Todd”
