4 Standout Albums From 1970 That Were Career Peaks for Their Artists

The start of a new decade often inspires musicians to do the best work of their career. At least that’s the hypothesis that we formed based on what we noticed when looking back at the year 1970 in albums.

We’ve listed four albums from 1970 here that stand tall among the best records to be released that year. And each of them represents a career pinnacle for the acts who recorded them.

‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel spent a quick five years or so in the limelight following the sudden success of their “The Sound Of Silence” single in 1965. They improved with each successive album. By the time they reached Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1970, the two men were no longer giving personally as they once did. Professionally, however, the album marks the culmination of their efforts to combine Simon’s songwriting savvy with sounds that captured the sweep and scope of those wondrous lyrics and melodies. Every song presents a new sonic twist. Monumental achievements like the title track and “The Boxer” seem effortless. The album represented a peak and a last hurrah all at once.

‘All Things Must Pass’ by George Harrison

It’s understandable that George Harrison delivered his finest solo album right off the bat after The Beatles’ breakup. For years, he’d been presenting top-notch songs to his former group, only to have them either neglected or turned down outright. As such, he went into the process of making All Things Must Pass teeming with material, so much so that he needed four sides to contain it all. (Six, if you count the somewhat forgettable instrumental jams on the third disc.) Harrison drops his pearls of wisdom and unfurls his slide guitar over Phil Spector’s echoey production. The songs alternately surge and sigh, with Harrison all-in at a level he would never again quite reach.

‘American Beauty’ by Grateful Dead

We love an endless Grateful Dead jam as well as the next person. They found ways to transport their live audiences and themselves when they improvisationally reimagined familiar songs. But in terms of their studio releases, we don’t think they ever topped American Beauty. (Although they came close with Workingman’s Dead, also released in 1970 in a similar style.) The band went mostly acoustic, all the better to show off the wonderful songwriting of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. That stylistic change also gave them a chance to put their underrated (to that point) vocal blend at the forefront. They continued to wow audiences live for many years. But they never topped this one in the studio.

‘John Barleycorn Must Die’ by Traffic

John Barleycorn Must Die began as what was supposed to be Steve Winwood’s first solo album. His supergroup Blind Faith came and went after a single album. The timing seemed right for him to finally go for the brass ring as a solo artist. But he called in former Traffic members Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi because he preferred the give-and-take. Not only did Traffic suddenly reunite, but they also found a whole new way of doing things. Instead of taking a more pop-oriented approach, they let the songs drift off into inspired musical flights of fancy. They’d continue in that vein for several more excellent albums in the early 70s. But John Barleycorn Must Die stands as their undisputed masterpiece.

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