My Music Library - 1972
1972 didn’t pack the wallop that 1971 did. While it had its share of classic albums, the volume of greatness was diminished. At least, that’s how it looks from over here.
The cultural impact of the 60’s came to an end. The Summer of Love had long since faded away in the miasma of the ghettos and failed hippy communes. The Boomers realized that Peace and Love didn’t pay the bills, and thus had to get jobs.
The drugs carried on though. While they were said to expand the horizons of artistic expression in the 60’s, all they represented in the 70’s (and the 80’s) was the hedonism of rock stardom. Having already claimed the lives of Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin and many others, they would go on to wreck the careers of those they didn’t consume.
Black Sabbath was a case in point. Success made drugs and alcohol all too accessible for the band members. As they went into the studio to record their fourth album, Bill Ward’s drug use was so great, it’s a miracle he survived. “Snowblind” is a track on the album that makes the now obvious cocaine reference. It was also supposed to be the name of the album, but the record company chickened out and renamed it Volume 4. But as there was no Volume 1, 2 or 3, it really didn’t make sense. Maybe they were going for a Led Zeppelin 4 marketing riff.
Neil Young sang about “The Needle and the Damage Done” on Harvest. Songs like “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man” spurred the album’s sales but, for me, there really isn’t much else to listen to.
ZZ Top wallowed around with the Blues in Rio Grande Mud. David Bowie, when he wasn’t hanging with the Mott The Hoople crowd, became the cosmic glammer Ziggy Stardust and told of us of The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The Eagles, Styx and Blue Oyster Cult released their eponymous debuts. Steely Dan also got their start with Can’t Buy A Thrill.
Occasionally, I’ll pick up the greatest hits album from a band if all I know (and like) is their material from the radio. Then, if I really like it, I’ll go back and explore their catalog to see if I can find some hidden gems. Sometimes it works. Other times, it doesn’t.
I liked Steely Dan’s collection A Decade of Steely Dan. So when BMG followed Columbia House into oblivion, I picked up a few albums cheap. This exploration mission was a bust. I’ve discovered that I only like their singles. From Can’t Buy A Thrill, that means “Do It Again”, “Dirty Work” and “Reelin’ In The Years.” The other stuff is just run of the mill 70’s studio dreck.
I liked Jethro Tull’s compilation Living In The Past, but I haven’t really explored much of their catalog. Thick as a Brick also came out in 1972, but I don’t really have strong feelings for it. It’s one of those albums where Ian Anderson just sounds too smart for the rest of us and he’s letting us know it.
But back to bands making their debut.
The Scorpions (yes, them) released Lonesome Crow. Long before they were rocking us like hurricanes, they wandered around Germany trying to pick up on the beat vibe in their own way. By 1972, they found their way into the studio. What they came up with was a long way removed from the music that would help them fill arenas, but the foundation was there: solid guitar riffs and dynamic vocals.
Yes squeezed two albums out this year: Fragile and Close to the Edge. Fragile built upon the success and song stylings of The Yes Album, however, keyboardist Tony Kaye departed the group and was replaced by Rick Wakeman. Why? Well, the story goes that Kaye wasn’t a big fan of the Moog synthesizer and other modern keyboards. Wakeman was not only proficient at it but his technical chops were more advanced. As such, he was able to bring up the level of play of the bands keyboards to that of its bass and guitar players.
The opening track, “Roundabout”, was also the lead single. Coupled with “Long Distance Runaround”, the album brought in new fans that hadn’t jumped aboard the Yes train with their previous work. I don’t know why exactly. While Classic Rock Radio had fully embraced The Yes Album which had several songs that got airplay, maybe back in the day radio stations were slow to come around to it due to the length of the songs.
Besides the two singles, “South Side of the Sky” and “Heart of the Sunrise” round out the long tracks on the album and they are great. The band each had their solo pieces to highlight their skills. Even Jon Anderson experimented with the multi-track vocals on “We Have Heaven.”
Oh and Roger Dean did the album artwork, the first of many for Yes.
The band would take the long song concept to the next level on Close to the Edge. The title track is almost 19 minutes long (a whole album side) with the other two (“And You and I” and “Siberian Khartru”) clocking in at about 10 and 9 minutes. Being able to ignore the tyranny of radio, the band were afforded the opportunity to explore the bounds of progressive rock. Well, it still had to fit on a side of vinyl (or pause like Thick As A Brick).
While the music is exceptional, with twists and turns in dynamics and progression, the lyrics wander into obtuse mystical babble. If one thinks of Anderson’s vocals as just another instrument accompanying the medley rather than trying to decipher their meaning (without the aid of Eastern philosophy), then one can just enjoy an otherwise excellent album.
Deep Purple reached the pinnacle of the their career with Machine Head. It serves as one of the foundation stones for hard rock and metal. It's chock full of blistering riffs, driving beats and soaring vocals. And it's a great album to play along to (assuming you can keep up). "Smoke on the Water" has to be one of the most popular songs that aspiring guitarists cut their teeth on.
The album opens with "Highway Star". The listener is thrown into the back seat to cling for dear life as Blackmore's guitar and Lord's keyboards race down a wide open road trying to outrun the other. Ian Gillian's vocals scream in overhead while Glover and Paice bring the engines to life. It's all freedom, fast cars and faster women and what could be better than that.
After the breakneck pace of the opener, the listener gets to take a breather with "Maybe I'm a Leo", a bluesy number. "Pictures of Home" picks up the pace with soliloquy of some poor chap marooned in some distant, cold land. Blackmore and Lord take turns with some great solos. Glover is given a chance to show his skills while Paice adds in some nice fills here and there. After a funky intro, "Never Before" moves into an upbeat parlance though Gillan croons about how a woman stomped all over him, "She took my name, she took my body, then she threw away my soul."
Everyone knows "Smoke on the Water", a song telling the tale of how the album came to be made. For a song that barely made the cut, it's ironic that it became such a big hit. That opening guitar riff is a chunka chunka monster.
Jon Lord's shows off his keyboard chops at the opening of "Lazy". The rest of the band pick up the beat and the whole thing evolves into this great up tempo blues rock number. Vocals are minimal and don't show up until midway through the seven minute number, but Gillan uses the brief spot to shine, as well as lay down a harmonica solo.
The album closes with "Space Truckin'", a sci-fi romp through the heavens. While the lyrics weren't anything to trip to, they got the job done. The driving chorus with Gillan imploring the listener "Let's go space truckin'" while the music cascades down scale with a grinding sound that recalls rocket laden semis barreling their way through the solar system.
A live album, Made in Japan, followed. It's a must have for Deep Purple fans who either never got to see this lineup of the band or want to have something to remember them by. The tough part will be deciding which version to get: the 1, 2 or 3 CD version.
\_/
DED
The cultural impact of the 60’s came to an end. The Summer of Love had long since faded away in the miasma of the ghettos and failed hippy communes. The Boomers realized that Peace and Love didn’t pay the bills, and thus had to get jobs.
The drugs carried on though. While they were said to expand the horizons of artistic expression in the 60’s, all they represented in the 70’s (and the 80’s) was the hedonism of rock stardom. Having already claimed the lives of Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin and many others, they would go on to wreck the careers of those they didn’t consume.
Black Sabbath was a case in point. Success made drugs and alcohol all too accessible for the band members. As they went into the studio to record their fourth album, Bill Ward’s drug use was so great, it’s a miracle he survived. “Snowblind” is a track on the album that makes the now obvious cocaine reference. It was also supposed to be the name of the album, but the record company chickened out and renamed it Volume 4. But as there was no Volume 1, 2 or 3, it really didn’t make sense. Maybe they were going for a Led Zeppelin 4 marketing riff.
Neil Young sang about “The Needle and the Damage Done” on Harvest. Songs like “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man” spurred the album’s sales but, for me, there really isn’t much else to listen to.
ZZ Top wallowed around with the Blues in Rio Grande Mud. David Bowie, when he wasn’t hanging with the Mott The Hoople crowd, became the cosmic glammer Ziggy Stardust and told of us of The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The Eagles, Styx and Blue Oyster Cult released their eponymous debuts. Steely Dan also got their start with Can’t Buy A Thrill.
Occasionally, I’ll pick up the greatest hits album from a band if all I know (and like) is their material from the radio. Then, if I really like it, I’ll go back and explore their catalog to see if I can find some hidden gems. Sometimes it works. Other times, it doesn’t.
I liked Steely Dan’s collection A Decade of Steely Dan. So when BMG followed Columbia House into oblivion, I picked up a few albums cheap. This exploration mission was a bust. I’ve discovered that I only like their singles. From Can’t Buy A Thrill, that means “Do It Again”, “Dirty Work” and “Reelin’ In The Years.” The other stuff is just run of the mill 70’s studio dreck.
I liked Jethro Tull’s compilation Living In The Past, but I haven’t really explored much of their catalog. Thick as a Brick also came out in 1972, but I don’t really have strong feelings for it. It’s one of those albums where Ian Anderson just sounds too smart for the rest of us and he’s letting us know it.
But back to bands making their debut.
The Scorpions (yes, them) released Lonesome Crow. Long before they were rocking us like hurricanes, they wandered around Germany trying to pick up on the beat vibe in their own way. By 1972, they found their way into the studio. What they came up with was a long way removed from the music that would help them fill arenas, but the foundation was there: solid guitar riffs and dynamic vocals.Yes squeezed two albums out this year: Fragile and Close to the Edge. Fragile built upon the success and song stylings of The Yes Album, however, keyboardist Tony Kaye departed the group and was replaced by Rick Wakeman. Why? Well, the story goes that Kaye wasn’t a big fan of the Moog synthesizer and other modern keyboards. Wakeman was not only proficient at it but his technical chops were more advanced. As such, he was able to bring up the level of play of the bands keyboards to that of its bass and guitar players.The opening track, “Roundabout”, was also the lead single. Coupled with “Long Distance Runaround”, the album brought in new fans that hadn’t jumped aboard the Yes train with their previous work. I don’t know why exactly. While Classic Rock Radio had fully embraced The Yes Album which had several songs that got airplay, maybe back in the day radio stations were slow to come around to it due to the length of the songs.
Besides the two singles, “South Side of the Sky” and “Heart of the Sunrise” round out the long tracks on the album and they are great. The band each had their solo pieces to highlight their skills. Even Jon Anderson experimented with the multi-track vocals on “We Have Heaven.”
Oh and Roger Dean did the album artwork, the first of many for Yes.
The band would take the long song concept to the next level on Close to the Edge. The title track is almost 19 minutes long (a whole album side) with the other two (“And You and I” and “Siberian Khartru”) clocking in at about 10 and 9 minutes. Being able to ignore the tyranny of radio, the band were afforded the opportunity to explore the bounds of progressive rock. Well, it still had to fit on a side of vinyl (or pause like Thick As A Brick).While the music is exceptional, with twists and turns in dynamics and progression, the lyrics wander into obtuse mystical babble. If one thinks of Anderson’s vocals as just another instrument accompanying the medley rather than trying to decipher their meaning (without the aid of Eastern philosophy), then one can just enjoy an otherwise excellent album.
Deep Purple reached the pinnacle of the their career with Machine Head. It serves as one of the foundation stones for hard rock and metal. It's chock full of blistering riffs, driving beats and soaring vocals. And it's a great album to play along to (assuming you can keep up). "Smoke on the Water" has to be one of the most popular songs that aspiring guitarists cut their teeth on.The album opens with "Highway Star". The listener is thrown into the back seat to cling for dear life as Blackmore's guitar and Lord's keyboards race down a wide open road trying to outrun the other. Ian Gillian's vocals scream in overhead while Glover and Paice bring the engines to life. It's all freedom, fast cars and faster women and what could be better than that.
After the breakneck pace of the opener, the listener gets to take a breather with "Maybe I'm a Leo", a bluesy number. "Pictures of Home" picks up the pace with soliloquy of some poor chap marooned in some distant, cold land. Blackmore and Lord take turns with some great solos. Glover is given a chance to show his skills while Paice adds in some nice fills here and there. After a funky intro, "Never Before" moves into an upbeat parlance though Gillan croons about how a woman stomped all over him, "She took my name, she took my body, then she threw away my soul."
Everyone knows "Smoke on the Water", a song telling the tale of how the album came to be made. For a song that barely made the cut, it's ironic that it became such a big hit. That opening guitar riff is a chunka chunka monster.
Jon Lord's shows off his keyboard chops at the opening of "Lazy". The rest of the band pick up the beat and the whole thing evolves into this great up tempo blues rock number. Vocals are minimal and don't show up until midway through the seven minute number, but Gillan uses the brief spot to shine, as well as lay down a harmonica solo.
The album closes with "Space Truckin'", a sci-fi romp through the heavens. While the lyrics weren't anything to trip to, they got the job done. The driving chorus with Gillan imploring the listener "Let's go space truckin'" while the music cascades down scale with a grinding sound that recalls rocket laden semis barreling their way through the solar system.
A live album, Made in Japan, followed. It's a must have for Deep Purple fans who either never got to see this lineup of the band or want to have something to remember them by. The tough part will be deciding which version to get: the 1, 2 or 3 CD version.
\_/
DED
Labels: music
posted by DED at 3:35 PM
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