1971 Albums

"Babbacombe" Lee > Fairport Convention

Artist: Fairport Convention

Label: A&M Records

Catalog#: SP-4333

Format: Vinyl

Country: United States

Released: 1971

Artist: Magma

Label: Philips

Catalog#: 9101 286

Format: Vinyl

Country: France

Released: 1971

Artist: Eulenspygel

Label: Spiegelei

Catalog#: 28 760-7 U

Format: Vinyl

Country: Germany

Released: 1971

Strawberry Bricks Entry:

Founded in 1965, the Royal Servants was a beat-era band from Reichenbach, Swabia, in the southwest of Germany. Like most groups of the era, their music matured from beat to psychedelic to something a little more progressive. We, the group's first album, was recorded in 1970 for the Swiss Elite Special label. A curious mix of organ, driving rhythm and English-language lyrics, it was a competent work of the era.

Artist: Gentle Giant

Label: Vertigo

Catalog#: VEL-1005

Format: Vinyl

Country: United States

Released: 1971-08

Strawberry Bricks Entry:

The title of Gentle Giant’s second album, Acquiring The Taste, was of course a reference to their musical oeuvre. The liner notes insist, “It has taken every shred of our combined musical and technical knowledge… to expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music.” And there you have it: the progressive ethos! The band plays what seems to be an orchestra of instruments over the course of the album. From the baroque recorders on “Wreck” to the alto and tenor saxophones of “The Moon Is Down,” Giant extend the range of their music in a genuinely eclectic way.

Artist: Tangerine Dream

Label: Ohr

Catalog#: OMM 56.012

Format: Vinyl

Country: Germany

Released: 1971-04

Strawberry Bricks Entry:

Born in 1944 in Tilsit, East Prussia, Edgar Froese came to Berlin in the mid-60s as a student. A guitarist, he formed The Ones, a predictably beat-era combo that recorded one single. The band were fortunate to spend two summers in Catalonia, Spain, at the invitation of surrealist Salvador Dali.

Artist: Fairport Convention

Label: A&M Records

Catalog#: SP-4319

Format: Vinyl

Country: United States

Released: 1971

Artist: Jethro Tull

Label: Reprise Records

Catalog#: MS 2035

Format: Vinyl

Country: United States

Released: 1971-03

Strawberry Bricks Entry:

On Aqualung, the lines began to blur between myth and man: Is Jethro Tull Ian Anderson? Is Anderson Aqualung? Is Aqualung Jethro Tull? Like the disheveled character on the album’s cover, or the band’s portrait on the gatefold, Anderson and the rest of Jethro Tull become larger than life with Aqualung-and in fact, became all three.