All photo credits in feature photo collage are listed at the end of the article
1975’s Best Classic Rock Albums list was one of the most challenging to compose. So many landmark and career defining albums were released by some of the greatest legends of classic rock history such as Led Zeppelin, Queen, David Bowie, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Paul Simon and many more. We faced a similar challenge in our 1973 article. Because of the difficulty of choosing only ten we argued that we would make an exception for that year and compose a top twenty five. For this article we will once again make an exception. However, this time we were forced to write a top fifty because there were just to many fantastic and important records that needed to be showcased. Even just choosing fifty was tough. And of course, we also included a chronological supplemental list of all the other great 1975 classic rock albums.
While 1974 was a transitional year, 1975 set the tone for the second half of the classic rock era of the 1970s. Rock music changed from 1973 to 1975. There was less jamming and more focus on song structure and production. It wasn’t that way all across the board as many bands especially those labeled progressive or southern continued to explore in many musical directions. However, the focus on hit singles is clearly evident among many bands and artists as rock music is about to break all previous sales record in the following year.
# 50 – Frampton – Peter Frampton
# 49 – Red Octopus – Jefferson Starship
# 48 – Hair of the Dog – Nazareth
# 47 – Come Taste The Band – Deep Purple
# 46 – Four Wheel Drive – Bachman Turner Overdrive
# 45 – Siren – Roxy Music
# 44 – Rock ‘n’ Roll – John Lennon
# 43 – The Last Record Album – Little Feat
# 42 – Nighthawks At The Diner – Tom Waits
# 41 – For Earth Below – Robin Trower
# 40 – There’s One in Every Crowd – Eric Clapton
# 39 – Relayer – Yes
# 38 – Ted Nugent – Ted Nugent
# 37 – Face the Music – Electric Light Orchestra
# 36 – The Tubes – The Tubes
# 35 – Extra Texture – George Harrison
# 34 – The Original Soundtrack – 10cc
# 33 – Bongo Fury – Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart
# 32 – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow – Rainbow
# 31 – Fly By Night – Rush
# 30 – Fandango – ZZ Top
# 29 – One of These Nights – The Eagles
# 28 – Horses – Patti Smith
# 27 – Tonight’s The Night – Neil Young
# 26 – Blow by Blow – Jeff Beck
# 25 – Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac
# 24 – Rock Of The Westies – Elton John
# 23 – The Who By Numbers – The Who
# 22 – Dreamboat Annie – Heart
# 21 – Stampede – The Doobie Brothers
# 20 – Nuthin’ Fancy – Lynyrd Skynyrd
# 19 – Welcome to My Nightmare – Alice Cooper
# 18 – Caress of Steel – Rush
# 17 – Straight Shooter – Bad Company
# 16 – Alive! – Kiss
# 15 – The Hissing of Summer Laws – Joni Mitchell
# 14 – Venus and Mars – Paul McCartney & Wings
# 13 – Sabotage – Black Sabbath
# 12 – Katy Lied – Steely Dan
# 11 – One Size Fits All – Frank Zappa
# 10 – Fool For The City – Foghat
# 9 – Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon
# 8 – Blood On The Tracks – Bob Dylan
# 7 – Young Americans – David Bowie
# 6 – Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy Elton John
# 6 – Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy 
# 5 – Toys In The Attic – Aerosmith
# 4 – A Night At The Opera – Queen
# 3 – Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
# 2 – Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen
# 1 – Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
Other Great Classic Rock Albums Released in 1975
These are listed in chronological order in which they came out throughout the year
Best Rock Albums – January 1975
Promised Land – Elvis Presley
Commoners Crown – Steeleye Span
New Year, New Band, New Company – John Mayall
The First Minute of a New Day – Gil Scott-Heron
Modern Times – Al Stewart
Street Rats – Humble Pie
Best Rock Albums – February 1975
On the Level – Status Quo
Ambrosia – Ambrosia
For Earth Below – Robin Trower
Mad Dog – John Entwistle
Song for America – Kansas
Best Rock Albums – March 1975
Blue Jays – Justin Hayward and John Lodge
That’s the Way of the World – Earth, Wind & Fire
Dressed to Kill – Kiss
Hearts – America
Rubycon – Tangerine Dream
Chicago VIII – Chicago
Slow Dazzle – John Cale
I’ll Play for You – Seals & Crofts
Best Rock Albums – April 1975
Fish Rising – Steve Hillage
Ain’t Life Grand – Black Oak Arkansas
The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table – Rick Wakeman
Tomorrow Belongs to Me – Sensational Alex Harvey Band
New City – Blood, Sweat & Tears
The Snow Goose – Camel
Playing Possum – Carly Simon
Best Rock Albums – May 1975
Gorilla – James Taylor
Soap Opera – The Kinks
America’s Choice – Hot Tuna
Coming Down Your Way – Three Dog Night
Spirit of ’76 – Spirit
Ian Hunter – Ian Hunter
Journey – Journey
Beautiful Loser – Bob Seger
Warrior on the Edge of Time – Hawkwind
Best Rock Albums – June 1975
Metamorphosis (outakes album ) The Rolling Stones
Initiation – Todd Rundgren
Why Can’t We Be Friends? – War
It’s My Pleasure – Billy Preston
Dream Weaver – Gary Wright
The Basement Tapes – Bob Dylan and The Band
Stills – Stephen Stills
Cut the Cake – Average White Band
HQ – Roy Harper
E. C. Was Here – Eric Clapton
Best Rock Albums – July 1975
Ride a Rock Horse – Roger Daltrey
Metal Machine Music – Lou Reed
Outlaws – The Outlaws
Rhinestone Cowboy – Glen Campbell
Best Rock Albums – August 1975
Atlantic Crossing – Rod Stewart
Daryl Hall & John Oates – Hall & Oates
Caught in the Act – Grand Funk Railroad
Searchin’ for a Rainbow – The Marshall Tucker Band
So Fine – Loggins & Messina
Win, Lose or Draw – The Allman Brothers Band
Best Rock Albums – September 1975
Blues for Allah – The Grateful Dead
Minstrel in the Gallery – Jethro Tull
Fighting – Thin Lizzy
Crisis? What Crisis? – Supertramp
In Trance – The Scorpions
Another Green World – Brian Eno
Captured Angel – Dan Fogelberg
Hotline – The J. Geils Band
John Fogerty – John Fogerty
Landed – Can
Masque – Kansas
Prisoner in Disguise – Linda Ronstadt
Symphonion Dream – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Warner Bros. Presents – Montrose
Best Rock Albums – October 1975
Against the Grain – Rory Gallagher
Godbluff – Van der Graaf Generator
Radio-Activity – Kraftwerk
Come Taste The Band – Deep Purple
Best Rock Albums – November 1975
Northern Lights – Southern Cross – The Band
Fish Out of Water – Chris Squire
Zuma – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Schoolboys in Disgrace – The Kinks
Mustard – Roy Wood
Nomadness – Strawbs
Pour Down Like Silver – Richard and Linda Thompson
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan – Rufus
Best Rock Albums – December 1975
Equinox – Styx
Mothership Connection – Parliament
Head On – Bachman Turner Overdrive
Feature Photo Credits
Brice Springsteen Photo: Helge Øverås [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]
Joni Mitchell – Capannelle [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
David Bowie – Kymi [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Freddie Mercury – Carl Lender [CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]
Elton John – Bert Verhoeff / Anefo [CC0]
Jimmy Page – Jim Summaria, http://www.jimsummariaphoto.com/ [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Robert Plant – Jim Summaria, http://www.jimsummariaphoto.com/ [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Updated August 4, 2024
1975’s Best Classic Rock Albums article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2024
