One would have thought our coronavirus spring would have yielded more time for this ongoing, intermittent personal project, where I relisten to my entire music collection and catch up on some things I missed along the way.

But with work unabated, parenting demands increased and the existential fatigue felt by all of us lucky enough to continue existing, that has not been the case. 

So, some quick notes and then the list:

1970: A new decade.

Decades are arbitrary, but in retrospect, if not at the time, this year has a transitional feel. 

The Beatles went caput, with John Lennon immediately releasing what would remain the greatest of the group’s solo offshoots. (1969’s Abbey Road is the true swan song; the recorded earlier but released later Let it Be is a near-miss here and the singles comp Hey Jude not considered.) The Stones took a break amid an historic four-albums-in-five-years peak run and Bob Dylan reemerged in minor form with New Morning. 

Meanwhile, the best American bands of the Sixties (Velvet Underground, CCR) released their last great albums (and just last in the Velvets case). Four of the greatest solo artists of the Seventies — Neil Young, Van Morrison, Randy Newman, Al Green — opened the decade with major statements and, in the case of Morrison and Newman, perhaps still career peaks. 

That Newman record — a personal chart-topper in a year with lots of competition and no clear No. 1 — is quiet and short and weird and mean and perfect. 

With Spirit in the Dark, Aretha Franklin followed Isaac Hayes’ lead (via 1969’s Hot Buttered Soul) in the transition from singles-oriented Sixties soul to the more conscious album-making of Seventies R&B, beating Marvin and Sly by a year and Stevie by a couple, though Curtis Mayfield’s Curtis also qualifies here. (Sly’s Greatest Hits, an avalanche of singles released in a tight tumble, makes the know-it-when-you-see-it cut as a compilation that functions as an album.)

Semi-popular music: The Stooges with the best American punk album before “punk” knew its name (and maybe still the best regardless). Delany & Bonnie (times two) and the Tracy Nelson-led Mother Earth with some roots lessons Americana should have better learned. Swamp Dogg with some idiosyncratic soul. The Insect Trust with a musical bohemia that unites Up North and Down South. 

Albums

1. 12 Songs – Randy Newman
2. Loaded – The Velvet Underground
3. Fun House – The Stooges
4. Plastic Ono Band – John Lennon
5. Moondance – Van Morrison
6. After the Gold Rush – Neil Young
7. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs – Derek & the Dominoes
8. Greatest Hits – Sly & the Family Stone
9. Spirit in the Dark – Aretha Franklin
10. Cosmo’s Factory – Creedence Clearwater Revival
11. To Bonnie From Delaney – Delany and Bonnie
12. Total Destruction to Your Mind – Swamp Dogg
13. Mother Earth Presents Tracy Nelson Country – Mother Earth
14. Al Green Gets Next to You – Al Green
15. Gasoline Alley – Rod Stewart
16. Part Time Love – Ann Peebles
17. His Band and Street Choir – Van Morrison
18. Sex Machine – James Brown
19. Curtis – Curtis Mayfield
20. On Tour – Delaney and Bonnie
21. Hoboken Saturday Night – Insect Trust
22. New Morning – Bob Dylan
23. Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround – The Kinks
24. Struttin’ – The Meters
25. Bitches Brew – Miles Davis

Singles

1. “Pressure Drop” – Toots & the Maytals
2. “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” – Sly & the Family Stone
3. “Don’t Play That Song’ – Aretha Franklin
4. “Lookin’ Out My Backdoor” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
5. “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” – James Brown
6. “Yes We Can” – Lee Dorsey
7. “Ohio” – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
8. “Up Around the Bend” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
9. “Help Me Make it Through the Night” – Sammi Smith
10. “Vietnam” – Jimmy Cliff
11. “Domino” – Van Morrison
12. “Who’ll Stop the Rain” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
13. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” – Stevie Wonder
14. “Band of Gold” – Freda Payne
15. “ABC” – Jackson Five
16. “I Can’t Get Next to You” – Al Green
17. “I’ll Be There” – Jackson Five
18. “Part Time Love” – Ann Peebles
19. “Super Bad” – James Brown
20. “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” – The Delfonics
21. “Daddy Come and Get Me” – Dolly Parton
22. “Once More With Feeling” – Jerry Lee Lewis
23. “Rivers of Babylon’ — The Melodians
24. “Turn Back the Hands of Time” – Tyrone Davis
25. “It’s a Shame” – The Spinners
26. “Shocks of Mighty” – Dave Barker & the Upsetters
27. “Run Through the Jungle” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
28. “Stealing in the Name of the Lord” – Paul Kelly
29. “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” – John Lennon
30. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” – Loretta Lynn
31. “Cinnamon Girl” – Neil Young
32. “All Right Now” – Free
33. “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath
34. “Patches” – Clarence Carter
35. “Duppy Conqueror” – Bob Marley & the Wailers
36. “A Good Year for the Roses” – George Jones
37. “Wake the Town” – U.Roy
38. “Give Me Just a Little More Time’ — Chairmen of the Board
39. “Heaven Help Us All” — Stevie Wonder
40. “Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe” — Swamp Dogg

MOVIES

Taking a pass at a movies list at the end of these — there’s no “rewatching” project — is always an exercise in realizing how many blind spots I still have. Oh, I still haven’t seen Claire’s Knee or Patton or Little Big Man or … . 

But here are some 1970 films I have seen that I think that I like, based on the memories of when I saw them, in rough order of preference, starting with an easy No. 1:

• Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)
• Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh)
• Husbands (John Cassavetes)
• M*A*S*H (Robert Altman) 
• King: A Filmed Record … Montgomery to Memphis (Sidney Lumet)
• Tristana (Luis Bunuel)
• The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Sam Peckinpah)
• Gimme Shelter (Albert and David Maysles)