{"id":1794,"date":"2025-06-22T01:40:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T01:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/06\/22\/eight-legendary-albums-from-the-year-1975-reviewed\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T01:40:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T01:40:35","slug":"eight-legendary-albums-from-the-year-1975-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/06\/22\/eight-legendary-albums-from-the-year-1975-reviewed\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight legendary albums from the year 1975, reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>We love music, especially the kind our dads listen to. The eight legendary albums below have reached half-centennial status, and we couldn\u2019t resist the urge to examine whether these albums still hold up or if they were worth the acclaim in the first place. Are you ready to take a look with us?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Amaya Choudhury and Ben Luu, Daily Arts Writer and Summer Managing Arts Editor<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n<p><strong><em>Blood on the Tracks<\/em><\/strong><strong> \u2013 Bob Dylan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Blood on the Tracks<\/em> has felt 50 years old since its release. Following Bob Dylan\u2019s numerous musical escapades \u2014 be it <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2025\/03\/communists-folk-dylan-guthrie-seeger\">Guthrie<\/a>-style, electric or plain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicradar.com\/news\/bob-dylan-making-of-nashville-skyline\">country<\/a> folk \u2014 <em>Blood<\/em> finds Dylan mixing and matching all those sub-genres to form (perhaps) the best and most longing album of his career. On \u201cSimple Twist of Fate,\u201d the guitar is bare, a bit wobbly. The shy bass twinkling behind the naked guitar provides a bit of structure to the track, and together, they set the dim and nostalgic stage for Dylan\u2019s pained voice. Here, Dylan relays a heartbreak he\u2019s seemingly contained for far too long, using the simple, age-old archetypes of sailors and women by the docks: \u201cPeople tell me it\u2019s a sin \/ To know and feel too much within \/ I still believe she was my twin but I lost the ring.\u201d <\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cShelter from the Storm\u201d and \u201cBuckets of Rain\u201d are similarly rustic, instrumentally sparse and emotionally heavy. The tracks recall the warmth of \u201cOne Too Many Mornings\u201d from <em>The Times They Are A-Changin\u2019<\/em> but with the plain, emotional directness of tracks like \u201cTonight I\u2019ll Be Staying Here with You\u201d from <em>Nashville Skyline<\/em>. Their imagery, paired with Dylan\u2019s stripped-back acoustics, brings an old-timey fairytale wonder to the tracks.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the other memorable cuts from <em>Blood <\/em>are denser. The opening \u201cTangled up in Blue\u201d features a vivid narrative about two lovers across space and time \u2014 and some of Dylan\u2019s best one-liners. In one moment, Dylan finds himself in his bed, his lover beside. Next, he\u2019s outside of Delacroix. At once, he\u2019s uneasy and amorous at a strip club, and then hopelessly alive \u2014 \u201cThe only thing I knew how to do \/ Was to keep on keeping on, like a bird that flew.\u201d Driving this narrative home is a sprawling guitar lick, upbeat but deeply nostalgic \u2014 the sort of rhythm that accompanies you when you flip through an unorganized family album. \u201cMeet Me in the Morning\u201d sees Dylan reducing his lyricism to short phrases, but the sprawling guitar takes on a busy, bluesy inflection to make up for it. And on \u201cLily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts,\u201d Dylan relentlessly but brilliantly blabbers about a convoluted trio \u2014 as he is wont to do. The harmonica brightens the sound, while the understated organ lends formality and grandeur.<\/p>\n<p>That organ on \u201cLily\u201d likely represents the entire record: <em>Blood <\/em>is not Dylan\u2019s most political, most groundbreaking, or any other superlative, but the album feels as grand and timeless as a century-old record.<\/p>\n<p><em>Summer Managing Arts Editor Ben Luu can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:benllv@umich.edu\"><em>benllv@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Born to Run <\/em><\/strong><strong>\u2013 Bruce Springsteen<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Bruce Springsteen\u2019s <em>Born to Run<\/em> is every bit as restless as the title suggests. There are a number of reasons for this: <em>Born to Run<\/em> epitomizes heartland rock and surveys the life of the blue-collar worker; <em>Born to Run<\/em> careens through the rush of coming-of-age in Midwestern America; <em>Born to Run<\/em> was Bruce Springsteen\u2019s last attempt to prove himself after receiving critical acclaim but little commercial success on his previous two albums. Whatever the reason, come 1975, Springsteen\u2019s restlessness culminated in the now larger-than-life <em>Born to Run<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But <em>Born to Run<\/em> isn\u2019t larger-than-life in a grandiose sense. Part of the album\u2019s charm is the intimacy Springsteen captures when navigating through slice-of-life anecdotes of the heart rush and heartbreak of young midwesterners. <em>Born to Run<\/em> feels real, and it feels American; beneath grand power chords and looming sax solos is the cherubic flush of a quintessentially American life. Regarding the now iconic opening track, \u201cThunder Road,\u201d Springsteen states that the song is more than just an introduction. In an <a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Bruce-springsteen-thunder-road-lyrics\">interview<\/a>, he explains: \u201cThe music sounds like an invitation. Something is opening up to you.\u201d<strong> <\/strong>Born to Run brims with the sun-bleached warmth of a hot American summer, fireflies, fireworks and first kisses.<\/p>\n<p>This is the beating, burning heart of <em>Born to Run<\/em>: Springsteen\u2019s storytelling. Throughout the album, Springsteen pieces together stories of love, of loss, of being free and of feeling trapped. It\u2019s unyielding. Eventually, the album approaches a still and draws to a close, bowing out in a nearly ten-minute-long swansong, \u201cJungleland.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJungleland\u201d is pure magic. A boundless love story and a senseless loss, it typifies the spirit of the entire album in a sweeping saxophone solo and vivid lyricism. Everything becomes a contradiction: heightened yet <em>real<\/em>. Despite the presence of a fictionalized magical rat,\u00a0\u201cJungleland\u201d dramatizes a grounded story of greasers and gangs all roaming about, tethered to a very real emotional core; these are the lives of the unseen, whispered exchanges on dark streets and children growing into their place in the world. When the track does fizzle out into ruminations of anger at a senseless loss, the magic never dissipates, just hardens.<\/p>\n<p><em>Born to Run<\/em> was Springsteen\u2019s last-ditch effort before striking out for good. Springsteen harvested and honed his nervous energy, his tireless tension, and sculpted <em>Born to Run<\/em>, batting a home run and running for the hills, wind rushing over the next great American record. 50 years later, Bruce Springsteen is still the voice of a generation for blue-collar Americans to finally feel seen.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Amaya Choudhury can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:amayach@umich.edu\"><em>amayach@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Fleetwood Mac<\/em><\/strong><strong> \u2013 Fleetwood Mac<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The debut of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac\u2019s self-titled album changed the legacy of the band forever. Before their arrival, Fleetwood Mac was a haggardly blues-adjacent outfit. Tracks like \u201cWithout You\u201d from <em>Then Play On<\/em> represent the best of their groovy, rough aesthetic; there, a lulling bass accompanies a similarly droopy voice. Fleetwood Mac wastes no time in wiping the slate clean and rebranding the band as soft rock. The eccentric Buckingham embodies the energy of a sprinter with the opening \u201cMonday Morning.\u201d There\u2019s a carefree spirit in his guitar playing, with each riff radiating pure sunshine, almost in defiance of the lull in previous albums. Buckingham sounds infectiously unbothered: \u201cBut you know, it\u2019s true \/ You only want me when I get over you.\u201d Buckingham\u2019s \u201cBlue Letter\u201d is likewise a riot, showcasing his boisterous attitude. But on the ending track, \u201cI\u2019m so Afraid,\u201d Buckingham\u2019s guitar takes on a fuzzy, dramatic inflection while Mick Fleetwood\u2019s drums, heavy as loneliness, have the doom and gloom appropriate for the end of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Nicks is stupendous. Leading the vocals only on two songs \u2014 compared to Buckingham\u2019s four \u2014 she dims Buckingham\u2019s sunshine with the melancholy of youth, sauntering through a forest in the haunting \u201cRhiannon.\u201d The drums are dark with some sparse piano keys sparkling behind them, adding a false sense of hope to lyrics like \u201cShe rules her life like a fine skylark \/ And when the sky is starless.\u201d<strong> <\/strong>John McVie\u2019s gliding bass makes for a woodlandy delight. \u201cLandslide\u201d evokes the same melancholy, but instead of being in the forest like \u201cRhiannon,\u201d Nicks seems to have found a perch on a rock, looking down at the path she\u2019s taken. Her voice is reflective, soft and a bit naive \u2014 the perfect combination to make your heart crack but not break.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, as impressive as Buckingham and Nicks are, the debutants have nothing on Christine McVie, who had been in the band for <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/how-christine-mcvie-became-a-member-of-fleetwood-mac\/\">four years<\/a> at this point. On \u201cWarm Ways,\u201d McVie\u2019s writing is as bright as Buckingham\u2019s guitar, and her soulful contralto longs and loves. \u201cI, I am waiting for the sun to come up \/ I can\u2019t sleep, with your warm ways.\u201d On the other tracks she leads \u2014 \u201cWorld Turning\u201d and \u201cSugar Daddy\u201d \u2014 her jovial piano bounces with the joy that only true, requited romance brings. There\u2019s a strange sense of maturity in McVie\u2019s voice, even at her most lovesick, that helps balance out the ruckus of youth from the debutants.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>With these three leading, Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass, <em>Fleetwood Mac<\/em> is something of a cohesive, best hits record \u2026 except the debut of Buckingham and Nicks gave the band an uplifting facelift. That duo, in collaboration with the existing members of Fleetwood Mac, would soon change <a href=\"https:\/\/thecorchronicle.com\/2025\/02\/19\/a-study-in-perfection-the-musical-brilliance-of-fleetwood-macs-rumours\/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CRumours%E2%80%9D%20is%20not%20only%20a,of%20beauty%20that%20was%20transcendent.\">rock history forever<\/a>, and this self-titled album is both a wonderful project and teaser for the magic to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Summer Managing Arts Editor Ben Luu can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:benllv@umich.edu\"><em>benllv@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Young Americans<\/em><\/strong><strong> \u2013 David Bowie<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Born out of a desire to chase the sound of soul, David Bowie\u2019s <em>Young Americans<\/em> is a British man\u2019s pastiche of America \u2014 particularly Black America. Bowie was aware of the inauthenticity behind his self-described \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/david-bowie-plastic-soul-young-americans\/\">plastic soul<\/a>\u201d: a white man\u2019s attempt at harnessing sounds rooted in black pain. Both the term and the musical movement it described would soon catch like wildfire, with a wave of white rockers returning home to the sound that birthed the genre in the first place. Most notably was Paul McCartney\u2019s admission that 1965\u2019s <em>Rubber Soul<\/em> was a blue-eyed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beatlesebooks.com\/rubber-soul?sitecookie=3fe4a6161796a86f58cadbc2efbd99fa\">take<\/a> on Black music, but the incorporation of soulful and funk elements was prominent in other white musicians of the time; Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones were another chief <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/mick-jagger-inspired-title-beatles-album\/\">example<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bowie ushered in this homecoming by collaborating with none other than the pinnacle of British rock royalty himself, John Lennon. His first appearance on the album is on Bowie\u2019s soulful rendition of the Beatles\u2019 \u201cAcross the Universe.\u201d Lennon contributes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bowiebible.com\/songs\/across-the-universe\/\">a small guitar part<\/a> to the cover. Though sonically lush, the track exemplifies the <em>plastic<\/em> of plastic soul: shiny, smooth and a little empty. Lennon\u2019s second appearance on the album is admittedly much more successful; <em>Young American\u2019s<\/em> star-studded closer, \u201cFame.\u201d An aptly titled, funk-rock rumination on stardom, \u201cFame\u201d would ironically be Bowie\u2019s first No. 1 hit, shooting to the top of the <a href=\"https:\/\/kslx.com\/on-this-day-september-20-1975-david-bowie-lands-his-first-us-1-with-fame\/\">charts<\/a> in September of 1975. Sleazy and textured, \u201cFame\u201d also pokes at the plastic of reality, this time at the hollow nature of fame in all its artificial glory. The track moves and grooves, winds and weaves \u2014 a living, breathing entity that would eventually become synonymous with Bowie\u2019s excellence and a hallmark of the rock genre as a whole.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>This excellence is found all over the remainder of the album, Bowie upholding the pillars of rock through a funky bassline, one track at a time. Skating between the spider-like gossamer of \u201cWin\u201d and the full-bodied lush of \u201cSomebody up There Likes Me,\u201d Bowie is brilliantly cohesive yet fresh throughout the entirety of Young Americans. Today, the album is unshakable. In its time, it was novel in the way that only Bowie standing on the shoulders of brilliant Black artistry could have been. <em>Young Americans<\/em> is a love letter to soul and it is rock music\u2019s homecoming. Upon reflection, it is difficult to laud Bowie for his beautiful homage to Black music without also acknowledging that the album <em>is <\/em>in fact an homage. Bowie never loses sight of what he\u2019s coming home to. 50 years later, neither should we.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Amaya Choudhury can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:amayach@umich.edu\"><em>amayach@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Still Crazy After All These Years <\/em>\u2013 Paul Simon<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>Paul Simon\u2019s fourth solo album, following his departure from Simon &amp; Garfunkel, feels perpetually premature. The title track, \u201cStill Crazy After All These Years,\u201d is initially ripe with cute irony. \u201cAnd we talked about some old times \/ And we drank ourselves some beers \/ Still crazy after all these years.\u201d Keyboardist Barry Beckett lends the track a childish, naive sort of twinkle as Simon contrasts mundanity with craze. It\u2019s a pleasant \u2014 if a bit ho-hum \u2014 affair until the strings creep in, granting the track some much needed variation. But then suddenly, Simon bursts out with some awkward high notes following the second verse: \u201cFour in the morning \/ Crapped out, yawning.\u201d And then, an extravagant sax solo follows, paralleling Simon\u2019s burst but lacking any sense of cohesion. The track feels performatively grand.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the same can be said of the next track, \u201cMy Little Town,\u201d which sees Simon &amp; Garfunkel reuniting. The song starts off promising enough: The duo\u2019s harmonies, after all these years, are still heavenly. Then, the track explodes, as the horns take center stage and Simon and Garfunkel repeat, \u201cNothing but the dead and dyin\u2019 \/ Back in my little town.\u201d<strong> <\/strong>Unfortunately, the duo is merely gesturing at grandiosity here, as the track feels much too short. Being a breezy three-minute affair means that Simon and Garfunkel\u2019s sudden reflections on death feel purely theatrical rather than earned.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-6    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>No. 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stereogum.com\/2055734\/the-number-ones-paul-simons-50-ways-to-leave-your-lover\/columns\/the-number-ones\/\">hit<\/a> \u201c50 Ways to Leave Your Lover\u201d is disastrous. With wince worthy lyrics like \u201cSlip out the back, Jack \/ Make a new plan, Stan\u201d and \u201cHop on the bus, Gus \/ You don\u2019t have to discuss much,\u201d there isn\u2019t much redeeming besides the haunting title and Simon\u2019s delivery of it. Worse, the supposedly groovy drum beat and corny vocals backing its chorus accentuate Simon\u2019s directionless writing. He sounds like a self-help author, testing out post-divorce catchphrases for his next book. \u201cGone At Last\u201d attempts to mix gospel and piano rock, and it fails at both. Simon genuinely attempts to produce a sound that David Bowie would caricature that very same year with <em>Young Americans<\/em>. <em>Still Crazy After All These Years <\/em>slips further into awkward blandness with \u201cHave a Good Time.\u201d But there\u2019s at least more personality in the song\u2019s funky horn arrangements and Simon\u2019s nonchalant delivery of the chorus than the last two drab cuts, \u201cYou\u2019re Kind\u201d and \u201cSilent Eyes.\u201d Perhaps, what\u2019s crazy after all these years is how this album was ever highly regarded at all. Nearly every cut attempts to summit, but Simon tumbles further down the emotional mountain the more he tries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Summer Managing Arts Editor Ben Luu can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:benllv@umich.edu\"><em>benllv@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Horses<\/em><\/strong><strong> \u2013 Patti Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before Riot Grrrl giants Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney hit the punk scene, shredding with a purpose, there was Patti Smith. She rollicked in Lou Reed\u2019s drawl, fiery and drenched in an unmatched jubilance and sense of urgency. The title of \u201cthe grandmother of punk\u201d rests heavy on her shoulders \u2014 and nowhere is she more capable than on 1975\u2019s <em>Horses<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Horses<\/em> rolls like the hills, sweeps like the wind, crashes like the tides \u2014 Smith is a force of nature. It\u2019s no wonder her oeuvre would become the blueprint for punk. Penultimate \u201cLand: Horses \/ Land of a Thousand Dances \/ La Mer(de)\u201d exemplifies this core groundbreaking nature to a tee. The singular track actually contains three separate movements; Colloquially (and spiritually), the track is the album\u2019s title track \u2014 officially shortened to \u201cLand,\u201d but often referred to as \u201cHorses.\u201d Throughout the epic\u2019s nine minute runtime, Smith doesn\u2019t stop moving, rushing onwards like a stampede of, well, horses. Even the roiling percussive and pianistic underpinnings mimic a horse\u2019s gallop as the track devolves into a frenzy. Under her velvety fog of poetic lyricism, Smith regales the story of an attack on a boy named Johnny and his subsequent surreal, absurdist journey.<\/p>\n<p><em>Horses<\/em> is a scholarly work. It\u2019s apparent in the penultimate track, and it\u2019s apparent in the gloriously noisy \u201cBirdland.\u201d Inspired by Peter Reich\u2019s \u201cBook of Dreams,\u201d Smith retells an anecdote in which Reich\u2019s father passes. Things take a surreal turn in the midst of a family gathering, when he believes he sees his late father captaining a spaceship in the distance. When the light fizzles out and disappears, Reich sobs beneath the stars, devastated. On \u201cBirdland,\u201d Smith does quiet just as well as she does loud. She oscillates between the quiet intensity of an observer, transfixed by a mysterious light, and the potent magnitude of a grieving son, mourning beneath the blanket of night.<\/p>\n<p>50 years later, <em>Horses\u2019<\/em> influence is inescapable. Smith ushered in a new era of music: poetic, lyrical, driving and arresting. Patterned throughout the throes of contemporary rock lie <em>Horses<\/em>\u2019 glorious bones. Go ahead. Listen for them. I dare you.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Amaya Choudhury can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:amayach@umich.edu\"><em>amayach@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Metal Machine Music<\/em> \u2013 Lou Reed<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>A noise record, and plainly that, <em>Metal Machine Music<\/em> is a tough listen. Little distinguishes one track from another, unless my inability to concentrate (or frankly, hear) counts as a genuine critique of the record. It drones on and on, with static scratches and shrieks resonating across a hellish hour-long soundscape. At times, like the ending of \u201cMetal Machine Music, Pt. 4,\u201d the album accomplishes a noddable, approvable rhythm \u2014 even if that rhythm simply repeats four beeping noises for three minutes. But Reed doesn\u2019t do much to curry favor, designing the album to alienate. While this article supposedly celebrates albums reaching their 50s, I think Lou Reed would much prefer a middle finger.<\/p>\n<p><em>Summer Managing Arts Editor Ben Luu can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:benllv@umich.edu\"><em>benllv@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Wish You Were Here<\/em> \u2013 Pink Floyd<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>To love is to lose, and the quintessential depiction of loss takes sonic shape in Pink Floyd\u2019s <em>Wish You Were Here<\/em>. With a 44-minute runtime, <em>Wish You Were Here<\/em> is a five-act orchestral machination that unfolds theatrically, soaring over critiques of fame, the music industry and grief.<\/p>\n<p>While thematically diverse, the beating heart of <em>Wish You Were Here<\/em> is guided by a profound sense of absence, a gaping hole in the entity that is Pink Floyd. Indeed, the patchwork of <em>Wish You Were Here<\/em> is seemingly held together by this driving ache, threaded throughout each track and haunting like a ghost. The album is bookended by twin \u201cShine On You Crazy Diamonds,\u201d segmented into twinkling halves, lamenting the enigmatic Syd Barrett. A founding member of Pink Floyd and childhood friend of bassist Roger Waters \u2014 as well as his own replacement, David Gilmour \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sydbarrett.com\/syds-life\/\">Barrett<\/a> departed the band a mere three years after its inception.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Though physically absent from the ensemble, Barrett\u2019s influence would continue to ripple amongst the remaining members, culminating in the sprawling, tragic opener and outro of <em>Wish You Were Here<\/em>. Here, Barrett is not frozen in time as the deteriorating recluse who severed ties with Pink Floyd in 1968, but rather a creative spirit, a visionary, Pink Floyd\u2019s very own crazy diamond.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The titular track, while not explicitly centering on Barrett like \u201cShine On You Crazy Diamond\u201d does, holds echoes of him too. Lyrically and sonically, the track explores distance. When the track opens, this distance crackles in the form of radio static, sound waves traversing and rushing through clean air, underpinned by a far-away riff. Lyrically, the opening verse exemplifies distance as well: \u201cSo, so you think you can tell \/ Heaven from Hell \/ blue skies from pain \/ Can you tell a green field \/ from a cold steel rail? \/ A smile from a veil? \/ Do you think you can tell?\u201d Juxtaposition is distance, multitudes of contrast separating two disparate halves. And certainly this too ties back to Barrett: the forked pathway between him and the remainder of Pink Floyd has grown too wide \u2014 it\u2019s a desperate plea for Barrett to turn back.<\/p>\n<p>When Pink Floyd took to song to ask Barrett to come home, they discovered that to love is to lose. Perhaps the greatest loss, then, is one that sinks its teeth in and never lets go.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Amaya Choudhury can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:amayach@umich.edu\"><em>amayach@umich.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n<p><em>50 years later, it\u2019s clear that the dusty vinyl sleeves and the records they house haven\u2019t become obsolete. For better or worse, each of these albums have survived the winding passage of time. Today, they are relics of a different era. While some of the albums may have held up better than others, their influence still lingers, whether that is in little ripples or sweeping waves.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Amaya Choudhury and Summer Managing Arts Editor Ben Luu can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:amayach@umich.edu\"><em>amayach@umich.edu<\/em><\/a> <em>and <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/eight-1975-albums-50-years-later\/mailto:benllv@umich.edu\"><em>benllv@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>, respectively.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We love music, especially the kind our dads listen to. The eight legendary albums below have reached half-centennial status, and we couldn\u2019t resist the urge to examine whether these albums still hold up or if they were worth the acclaim in the first place. Are you ready to take a look with us? \u2014 Amaya [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[2003,2002,2004,750],"class_list":{"0":"post-1794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-albums","9":"tag-legendary","10":"tag-reviewed","11":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1796,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}