1975 – Jones Dylan (2025)

A myth persists that the long, dark days before punk were filled with legions of British progressive rock groups, with bands such as Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull roaming the country and soiling its culture like university-educated Orcs. This book argues that the mid-seventies were instead dense with extraordinarily sophisticated, mature rock music made by singers, songwriters and musicians who had no problem calling themselves artists. The records they created aspired to artistic status: everyone was trying to make their own masterpiece, and the competitiveness was unlike anything seen since the mid-sixties. Three-minute pop singles gave way to concept albums, pop-package tours were replaced by rock festivals, and rock regained a sense of ambition. 1975 was the apotheosis of adult pop and, according to Dylan Jones, the most important year in the narrative of post-war music. It produced a wealth of masterpieces, including Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan, The Who by Numbers by The Who, Young Americans by David Bowie, Another Green World by Brian Eno, The Hissing of Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell and A Night at the Opera by Queen, alongside countless other legendary albums.