1974

While glam giants ROXY, BOWIE, and T REX are all synonomous with outlandish guitar-driven androgeny, SWEET's "Desolation Boulevard" (and it's European relative "Sweet Fanny Adams") is perhaps the most consistent collection of hooks and handclaps of the decade. "Ballroom Blitz" has been covered by every band with a molecular structure, but few have been able to match the silver-boots charm of the original. Andy Scott's hot axework peppers this first-class collection of toe tappers, but exudes particular brilliance in "Set Me Free" and "Solid Gold Brass". The glass-shattering vocals, the thundering chords, and exemplary songwriting made SWEET's mid-70s discs irresistable fodder for budding metalheads.

1974 also saw the album debut of psychedelic and neoclassical guitar guru Uli Jon Roth with the SCORPIONS on the "Fly to the Rainbow" album. Very much like PRIEST's "Rocka Rolla", this album was a blues-based, experimental record. Caught somewhere between the total stoned guitar masterpiece of "Lonesome Crow" and later, more accessible releases like "Taken By Force", the album shows that Roth was just as formidable a guitar hero as Ritchie Blackmore.

Picks of the litter, 1974: