Wow an old album that rocked your world

Smiley Smile by The Beach Boys. Though I didn't yet know SS was a mere hint of what the album originally entitled Smile was to have been (which I learned in a 2-part story on the album in Crawdaddy magazine, the article later included in the author's book Outlaw Blues, by the great music critic Paul Williams), there was enough there to blow my little 17-year old mind.

Though Brian Wilson didn't finish Smile in 1967 (it's a long story, which a search will lead you to), what he had completed was finally stitched together in the early 2000's (2003, iirc) and released by Capitol in several forms, the most complete being a big ol' boxset. Smile is quite unlike any music you have ever heard, I guarantee you. Van Dyke Parks was Brian's collaborator on Smile, and his first album---Song Cycle---is another stunning work of art.

The Beach Boys: Sunflower. What a breath of fresh air when it arrived! Crisp, tuneful songs, a much-needed antidote to the heavy, ponderous, plodding sludge being made by most Rock bands in 1970.

Maria Muldaur: her s/t debut. A great, unique (and very sexy) singer (she's still at it), an album full of great songs, with world-class musicians accompanying Maria. 

Jesse Winchester: s/t debut on Bearsville Records (started by Dylan and The Band manager Albert Grossman). Cool songs, tasty, economical musical accompaniment, a rarity in 1970. Produced by The Band's Robbie Robertson.

Randy Newman: s/t debut. Incredible songwriting, sophisticated orchestration, not a trace of the corny "Rock" accompaniment he would later employ (Toto? Really??). I was led to this album by Van Dyke Parks having included Randy's "Vine Street" on his Song Cycle album (also done by Randy on this album).

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks: Striking It Rich. Dan was a real anachronism, totally unrelated to his contemporaries in late-60's San Francisco. Dan was (R.I.P.) a throwback to the 1930's and 40's, a one-of-a-kind songwriter and singer with great taste in musicians (preferring Jazz cats to Rock dudes) and the two fantastic girl singers in His Hot Licks. On this album, one of them sings a great version of Johnny Mercer's "I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)". The album also features unusually good recorded sound quality.

Doug Kershaw: 1971 s/t debut. Doug was a Cajun fiddle player and singer, and a hell of a live performer (I saw him in San Francisco around the time of this album's release. He was unfortunately provided with a horrid, 3-piece hard rock backup band, not-unlike Blue Cheer. Seriously!). This album includes his classic "Louisiana Man". A fun album! Doug was one of the sideman on Dylan's Blonde On Blonde album.

After the first two The Band albums, the next two albums that changed my life were:

Dave Edmunds: Get It

The Dwight Twilley Band: Sincerely

Both Dave and Dwight (along with partner/drummer/singer Phil Seymour and guitarist Bill Pitcock IV, both now deceased) drew from the Rock 'n' Roll of the 50's and the Pop of the early 60's. Dave's first half dozen albums are fantastic, as are The Twilley Band's only two (Phil left after no.2 for a solo career).

Moby Grape: Moby Grape '69 and 20 Granite Creek. While not up to the very high standard their debut established, still very good albums.

Crazy Horse: Crazy Horse. Known as The Rockets prior to being hired by Neil Young to be his band (and with one album released under that name), this is their first album after working with Neil. Danny Whitten was still alive, and the four members were joined by Jack Nitzsche on keys.

Nitzsche had been a studio guy, doing orchestration for Phil Spector. If you've heard the instrumental song "The Lonely Surfer", that was Jack. After his time in Crazy Horse, he went on to record an incredible semi-Classical album entitled St. Giles Cripplegate (Reprise Records, 1974). Kinda rare, if you see one buy it! He then moved on to soundtrack work, including the score to Chinatown.

@roberjerman, two fantastic Procol Harum albums! I saw them live in 1971 at the original Fillmore (on the Home album tour), and by that time the group's line-up had changed from that on those two albums. Gone was Matthew Fisher on organ (he created that incredible signature part in "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", "borrowing" heavily from J.S. Bach), the more pedestrian Chris Copping taking his place.

Also gone was bassist David Knights, Copping playing the bass parts on his Hammond B3 pedals. The were still good, but the playing of guitarist Robin Trower had come to the fore, and I found his Blues-based style to be not to my liking. The Home album suffered for it, as did the absence of Matthew Fisher. By the way, Fisher's first two solo albums are mighty fine.