In the thorough 1973: Rock at the Crossroads, Andrew Grant Jackson examines the music of the year that he says is responsible for more songs played on classic rock radio than any other.
Jackson (1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music) breaks 1973 into sections named for the seasons, and takes readers through themed chapters on the year's major musical events. Two chapters focus on singer-songwriter upstarts Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. Jackson devotes individual chapters to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark and other now-canonized albums recorded or released in 1973. Throughout his analysis, Jackson makes room for the odd Spinal Tap-ian detail. For one: while discussing the making of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Jackson notes that during his downtime, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi liked to listen to the Carpenters and Peter, Paul and Mary.
Jackson admits that he leaned on unscholarly online sources like Wikipedia for his research, but chapter notes make clear that he also turned to print, and lots of it, especially the featured artists' memoirs. (Most seem to have written one.) While 1973 is an invaluable reference work, complete with black-and-white photos, reading it like a novel provides one of that literary form's great payoffs: empathy with a story's characters. What's more, skipping around in 1973 could mean missing one of Jackson's debatable declarations ("The album would have a better reputation today if it opened with..."). For rock purists, these may be fightin' words, and Jackson should watch his back: upon finishing 1973, some readers may reach for their turntables, needles blazing. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer