The ranking of the 10 most pioneering electronic albums of the '70s, according to Far Out Magazine

A decidedly ambitious and perhaps even “impossible” list: that of the “ten most pioneering electronic albums of the Seventies“. That's what Far Out Magazine proposes in its new ranking, curated by Tom Phelan. “The Seventies were the true decade of the synthesizer – the magazine notes in its introduction – While inevitably associated with the pop trends of the following decade, it was in the Seventies that electronic music, still in its embryonic phase, finally broke out of the experimental counterculture niche to establish itself as a genre in its own right. The moment Dr. Robert Moog introduced his modular synthesizer to the rock and pop world, music changed forever. The synth became ubiquitous: from Pete Townshend's enthusiastic forays on the ARP 2500 in the stadium-sized rock opera of the Who, to Stevie Wonder immersed in the polyphonic possibilities of the Yamaha GX-1. Before long, it became part of the essential arsenal of countless bands. But it took a select circle of visionaries to grasp its full potential… Fascinated by its timbres and the richness of its resonances, enterprising musician-technicians engaged with these machines of cables and flashing lights, giving rise to foundational works that were often little recognized at the time but reassessed decades later as pioneering. Here is a selection of ten essential electronic albums of the Seventies that paved the way for new wave, dance music and beyond”, Phelan concludes on Far Out.

So here is the ranking of the ten most pioneering electronic albums of the Seventies, according to Far Out Magazine (full feature here).

10. Jean-Michel Jarre – "Oxygène"

9. Isao Tomita – “Snowflakes Are Dancing”

8. Kingdom Come – “Journey”

7. Cluster – “Zuckerzeit”

6. Brian Eno – “Another Green World”

5. Throbbing Gristle – “DoA: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle”

4. Tangerine Dream – “Phaedra”

3. David Bowie – "Low"

2. Suicide – “Suicide”

1. Kraftwerk – “Trans-Europe Express”

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