November 14, 2025 • 9 mins
In this new mini episode of In Service Of, a regular Friday feature for season two, co-host and veteran music journalist Steve Baltin celebrates the 50th anniversary of Patti Smith’s Horses and makes the case for 1975 as the greatest year in album history. He breaks down the landmark releases—from Born to Run and Blood on the Tracks to Physical Graffiti, A Night at the Opera, and the first Buckingham/Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac—while sharing personal favorites, industry memories, and why these records still matter today.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, how's it going. It is Steve Fulton again. I'm
the Coast of vin Service sub weekly podcast. I am
also a longtime music journalist, too long at this point,
but that's a whole other story. And each week on
Fridays now I and both myself and Sage Baba, the
(00:26):
other coast of the Service UB, we'll be talking to
you about twfferent music related topics and stage. We'll be
here in a few minutes, but before she joins, I
want to talk to you about new music, not new music.
The biggest release this week being five Seconds the Summer
Everybody's a Star, and in fact we will hear them
(00:48):
on the podcast in coming weeks, all four members. But
the biggest music news this week I think was the
fiftieth anniversary of Patti Smith's Horses, one of the greatest
albums of all time. In fact, a personally, he's in
my top five of all time. And you know, with
Patty's new book out which I just have rank here
(01:13):
Bred of Angels, there's been a lot of focus on
her and the fifteenth anniversary of Horses and Horses well
in my top five of all time, it's probably not
even my number one of nineteen seventy five, because nineteen
seventy five has three of my top five albums ever released.
(01:35):
That first one being Bruce Springsteen boor to One, my
favorite album of all time, second being Dylan Blown on
the Tracks, probably my second favorite album of all time,
my favorite Dylan album. Nineteen seventy five was the best
year for albums ever. I mean, you know there's three
(01:56):
then of course you got the first album for Cleveland,
mac Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham, the first Buckingham nixt
collection with them, you have Aerosmith, Walk This Way, Queen
Died at the Opera, which means the fiftieth anniversary of
Bohemian rhaps Today. And oh, I don't know, by the way,
Led Zeppelin's fucking physical Graffiti, so the album with Kashmir
(02:19):
was ten years gone, was trampled underfoot in my time
of dying. Led fucking Zeppelin the Album of the Year
at the Grammys in seventy six, meaning the album that
won from nineteen seventy five. Paul Simon's still crazy after
all these years. That's a Grammy, a winner you can't
even complain about. I mean, the number of great releases
(02:43):
in seventy five. The Eagle is one of these knights.
It goes on and on and on, and in fact,
there are so many that I don't want to forget
any so I will be cheating here and looking at
Google because I can't even remember every album really since
seventy five. Let's see what are some of the other
biggest ones. Bowie Young, Americans, Aerosmith was in the Attic,
(03:12):
as I said, Alan John Captain fantastic as Cooper welcomed
My Nammare another incredible one from that year. Neil Young
Tonight's The Night with Needle and the Damage Don one
of his greatest songs. And by the way, the Jam
recording this today is November twelfth, Neil Young's eightieth birthday,
(03:34):
So happy fucking birthday to Neil Young. Were the greatest
of all time, I mean Roxy Music, Siren Wings with
Paul McCartney, Venus and Mars, the Who by Numbers, Neil Young, Zuma, Parliament,
Mother's Connection, Wad Stewart, Atlanta Crossing, the Aisley Brothers, That
(03:57):
Heat is on Willing, Classic Redheaded Stranger, Tom Waite's Nighthawks
at the Diner. The number of great albums in seventy
five is mind blowing. So but again, if you're gonna
go back and pay attention or you know, pay respects
to the greatest albums of that time, I gotta go
(04:18):
Springsteen Born to Run first. I gotta go Dylan Blood
on the Track second. And Patty Smith, who is deservedly
getting her moment as the greatest living musical or the
greatest living female artists. Right now, it's either her, Jenny Mitchell,
Dolly Parton, any one of the three. And I mean
(04:38):
either there's no point in competition. They're all amazing, they're
all among the mass. But it's really nice to see
Patty get her moment. She recently was on CBS Sunday morning,
she was on Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and you know,
of course she's also one of the greatest authors in
the world. National Book Award winner, and Horses is an
(05:02):
album that's just the raw energy of that, the defiance
of that, the passion of that album. It's so timeless
and it's something that never goes out of style. And
here's she is today, fifty years later doing it live.
In fact, I'm seeing her do it live tomorrow night
at Disney Hall in La, which I cannot be more
(05:23):
excited about, So that definitely is one of them. Sorry,
there's a really annoying fucking fly here, but I think again.
You know, a lot of people talk about sixty seven
as being one of the greatest years for music, Summer
of Love. I personally find it really fucking overrated. I'm
so sick of all the hippie ship and that's just me.
(05:44):
But if I were to pick the best year for
albums ever, it's nineteen seventy five, fifty years ago. There's
great stuff also from Earth Wind and fire Al Green.
The list goes on and on and on. You should
go and find yourself to seventy five playlists and you
should check out those albums. And by the way, let's
give special crops as well. The Dylan Blood on the Tracks,
(06:06):
What a mind boggling album that is. It's so beautiful,
so vulnerable. If you say say hello, it's probably my
favorite Dylan song of all time. It's so perfect, so beautiful.
That definitely is up there for me. As I say,
my favorite album Born to Run, because I mean, how
the hell can you go wrong with Backstreets? I mean,
(06:28):
I'm Born to Run and Thunder Road and she's the
one jungle Land Born to run under Road, backstreets in
jungle Land, all on the same album Come On and Again.
As I mentioned Zeppelin, a lot of people are partially
being Floyd wish you were here. Personally, I think maybe
the most overrated band of all time. But that's just me.
(06:49):
You know again, bowie, young Americans, and go back and
check out Paul Steim. It's still crazy after all these years.
The album that won the Grammy in seventy six, as
I say, for Best Album seven five, there's a lot
of albums you could have given it to based on
Grammy criteria and how they vote and things they do.
And by the way, don't gonna started on this year's nominations,
(07:11):
and it is an abomination that Noah Sirus did not
get nominated, among others. There are some other people who
absolutely I'll talk about in the coming weeks who were
among the best of twenty twenty five who should have
been nominated, including Anastasia and Mylilah and Best Do Artists.
But whatever, you know, these are albums that will be
(07:33):
recognized years from now, the same way that we're looking
at the best albums of seventy five. So God, that
fly is fucking annoying. As I told you last week,
I'm just gonna be me. There is no script, there
is no you know it's funny ad Someone asked me
(07:54):
have questions for an interview today. I've already had questions
for an interview since two thousand and seven when I
was intervie Aretha Franklin and her team asks for them,
and I would have done anything to interview Aretha. And
I got onto the phone with her and I said,
I know you've seen the questions and she's like, I
haven't seen the questions. You can ask me anything, and
she got offended. And after that, fuck that, no writing
(08:16):
up questions. If Aretha didn't need them, then no one
else does. I just like having just talking about music.
And again, if you fuck up, you fuck up, because
that's music, it's human. But just wanted to pay respect
to some of the best albums of seventy five. In
coming weeks we will look at the best music of
this year, because there was a lot of great albums
(08:39):
this year, a lot of great music. And I will
turn over now to stage Bava to talk about gender equality.
So hope you all have a good one. Go back
to check out some music from seventy five. A lot
of great music in eighty five too, ninety five, but
there's some great stuff this year as well. And again
(09:00):
in coming weeks, we'll have Sarah McLoughlin, we will have
five Seconds of Summer. We will have a Meal on
the Stiff first. I mean, there's so many great people
coming up on the show. I can't even get track.
So I hope you tune in every Wednesday, and I
hope you tune in every Friday to learn something new
(09:20):
about music. And if there are things that you want
us to talk about, let us tell. Thanks so much,
have a good one,
Hey, how's it going. It is Steve Fulton again. I'm
the Coast of vin Service sub weekly podcast. I am
also a longtime music journalist, too long at this point,
but that's a whole other story. And each week on
Fridays now I and both myself and Sage Baba, the
(00:26):
other coast of the Service UB, we'll be talking to
you about twfferent music related topics and stage. We'll be
here in a few minutes, but before she joins, I
want to talk to you about new music, not new music.
The biggest release this week being five Seconds the Summer
Everybody's a Star, and in fact we will hear them
(00:48):
on the podcast in coming weeks, all four members. But
the biggest music news this week I think was the
fiftieth anniversary of Patti Smith's Horses, one of the greatest
albums of all time. In fact, a personally, he's in
my top five of all time. And you know, with
Patty's new book out which I just have rank here
(01:13):
Bred of Angels, there's been a lot of focus on
her and the fifteenth anniversary of Horses and Horses well
in my top five of all time, it's probably not
even my number one of nineteen seventy five, because nineteen
seventy five has three of my top five albums ever released.
(01:35):
That first one being Bruce Springsteen boor to One, my
favorite album of all time, second being Dylan Blown on
the Tracks, probably my second favorite album of all time,
my favorite Dylan album. Nineteen seventy five was the best
year for albums ever. I mean, you know there's three
(01:56):
then of course you got the first album for Cleveland,
mac Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham, the first Buckingham nixt
collection with them, you have Aerosmith, Walk This Way, Queen
Died at the Opera, which means the fiftieth anniversary of
Bohemian rhaps Today. And oh, I don't know, by the way,
Led Zeppelin's fucking physical Graffiti, so the album with Kashmir
(02:19):
was ten years gone, was trampled underfoot in my time
of dying. Led fucking Zeppelin the Album of the Year
at the Grammys in seventy six, meaning the album that
won from nineteen seventy five. Paul Simon's still crazy after
all these years. That's a Grammy, a winner you can't
even complain about. I mean, the number of great releases
(02:43):
in seventy five. The Eagle is one of these knights.
It goes on and on and on, and in fact,
there are so many that I don't want to forget
any so I will be cheating here and looking at
Google because I can't even remember every album really since
seventy five. Let's see what are some of the other
biggest ones. Bowie Young, Americans, Aerosmith was in the Attic,
(03:12):
as I said, Alan John Captain fantastic as Cooper welcomed
My Nammare another incredible one from that year. Neil Young
Tonight's The Night with Needle and the Damage Don one
of his greatest songs. And by the way, the Jam
recording this today is November twelfth, Neil Young's eightieth birthday,
(03:34):
So happy fucking birthday to Neil Young. Were the greatest
of all time, I mean Roxy Music, Siren Wings with
Paul McCartney, Venus and Mars, the Who by Numbers, Neil Young, Zuma, Parliament,
Mother's Connection, Wad Stewart, Atlanta Crossing, the Aisley Brothers, That
(03:57):
Heat is on Willing, Classic Redheaded Stranger, Tom Waite's Nighthawks
at the Diner. The number of great albums in seventy
five is mind blowing. So but again, if you're gonna
go back and pay attention or you know, pay respects
to the greatest albums of that time, I gotta go
(04:18):
Springsteen Born to Run first. I gotta go Dylan Blood
on the Track second. And Patty Smith, who is deservedly
getting her moment as the greatest living musical or the
greatest living female artists. Right now, it's either her, Jenny Mitchell,
Dolly Parton, any one of the three. And I mean
(04:38):
either there's no point in competition. They're all amazing, they're
all among the mass. But it's really nice to see
Patty get her moment. She recently was on CBS Sunday morning,
she was on Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and you know,
of course she's also one of the greatest authors in
the world. National Book Award winner, and Horses is an
(05:02):
album that's just the raw energy of that, the defiance
of that, the passion of that album. It's so timeless
and it's something that never goes out of style. And
here's she is today, fifty years later doing it live.
In fact, I'm seeing her do it live tomorrow night
at Disney Hall in La, which I cannot be more
(05:23):
excited about, So that definitely is one of them. Sorry,
there's a really annoying fucking fly here, but I think again.
You know, a lot of people talk about sixty seven
as being one of the greatest years for music, Summer
of Love. I personally find it really fucking overrated. I'm
so sick of all the hippie ship and that's just me.
(05:44):
But if I were to pick the best year for
albums ever, it's nineteen seventy five, fifty years ago. There's
great stuff also from Earth Wind and fire Al Green.
The list goes on and on and on. You should
go and find yourself to seventy five playlists and you
should check out those albums. And by the way, let's
give special crops as well. The Dylan Blood on the Tracks,
(06:06):
What a mind boggling album that is. It's so beautiful,
so vulnerable. If you say say hello, it's probably my
favorite Dylan song of all time. It's so perfect, so beautiful.
That definitely is up there for me. As I say,
my favorite album Born to Run, because I mean, how
the hell can you go wrong with Backstreets? I mean,
(06:28):
I'm Born to Run and Thunder Road and she's the
one jungle Land Born to run under Road, backstreets in
jungle Land, all on the same album Come On and Again.
As I mentioned Zeppelin, a lot of people are partially
being Floyd wish you were here. Personally, I think maybe
the most overrated band of all time. But that's just me.
(06:49):
You know again, bowie, young Americans, and go back and
check out Paul Steim. It's still crazy after all these years.
The album that won the Grammy in seventy six, as
I say, for Best Album seven five, there's a lot
of albums you could have given it to based on
Grammy criteria and how they vote and things they do.
And by the way, don't gonna started on this year's nominations,
(07:11):
and it is an abomination that Noah Sirus did not
get nominated, among others. There are some other people who
absolutely I'll talk about in the coming weeks who were
among the best of twenty twenty five who should have
been nominated, including Anastasia and Mylilah and Best Do Artists.
But whatever, you know, these are albums that will be
(07:33):
recognized years from now, the same way that we're looking
at the best albums of seventy five. So God, that
fly is fucking annoying. As I told you last week,
I'm just gonna be me. There is no script, there
is no you know it's funny ad Someone asked me
(07:54):
have questions for an interview today. I've already had questions
for an interview since two thousand and seven when I
was intervie Aretha Franklin and her team asks for them,
and I would have done anything to interview Aretha. And
I got onto the phone with her and I said,
I know you've seen the questions and she's like, I
haven't seen the questions. You can ask me anything, and
she got offended. And after that, fuck that, no writing
(08:16):
up questions. If Aretha didn't need them, then no one
else does. I just like having just talking about music.
And again, if you fuck up, you fuck up, because
that's music, it's human. But just wanted to pay respect
to some of the best albums of seventy five. In
coming weeks we will look at the best music of
this year, because there was a lot of great albums
(08:39):
this year, a lot of great music. And I will
turn over now to stage Bava to talk about gender equality.
So hope you all have a good one. Go back
to check out some music from seventy five. A lot
of great music in eighty five too, ninety five, but
there's some great stuff this year as well. And again
(09:00):
in coming weeks, we'll have Sarah McLoughlin, we will have
five Seconds of Summer. We will have a Meal on
the Stiff first. I mean, there's so many great people
coming up on the show. I can't even get track.
So I hope you tune in every Wednesday, and I
hope you tune in every Friday to learn something new
(09:20):
about music. And if there are things that you want
us to talk about, let us tell. Thanks so much,
have a good one,
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