My Music Library - 1976
The Ramones? Oh they were already playing CBGB's and other clubs. They were leading the way.
Meanwhile, Deep Purple went into a death spiral. Blackmore's departure (to form Rainbow with Dio) was too much for the band. Their live shows went into total disarray. Bolin, Blackmore's replacement, wasn't what fans wanted and they let him know it. Unable to deal with the heckling, Bolin's performance suffered. Coverdale, who had replaced Ian Gillan, reportedly left the stage in tears realizing the band had played its last gig. Bolin died in December from "multiple drug intoxication."
There are albums from this year that I still need to track down: Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny, Led Zeppelin's Presence, and maybe that Tom Petty album. When I do, I'll come back and revisit this list. So don't bite my head off just yet.
I probably owe Rainbow's Rising another listen, though it didn't really work for me when my friend Ted (the biggest Dio fan in the world) raved incessantly about it.
AC/DC gave us High Voltage and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap but I've been more of a fan of their singles. And if I really want to hear them, there's always the radio. The same can be certainly said of The Eagles and Hotel California.
So what does that leave us? Not much, but really good stuff anyway.
The Scorpions shed the last of their psychedelia on this album. The guitars are harder (showing early signs of metal) and the songs rock out instead of carrying you away ("Catch Your Train"). "Crying Days" is a mix of the harder guitars with the older flower child lyrics. Oh, and their penchant for ballads begins here ("In Your Park"). These tracks were written by Rudy Schenker and Klaus Meine and highlight the future of the band.
The title track and "Hell Cat" are the more wild numbers (both from Roth). The former song type would evolve into their later fast numbers ("Dynamite") while the latter is just strange. Roth also wrote "Polar Nights" and "Yellow Raven". "Polar Nights" is Rudy's attempt to bridge past and future and he does a good job with it, particularly the intro. "Yellow Raven" closes the album and says goodbye to the band's musical past.
While the band was still a couple of albums away from radio success, the foundation had been laid.
And on it goes. Hit 'em fast and get out. With every song clocking in at 2:35 or less (Six of the fourteen tracks were under 2 minutes), there was no lingering around for waxing poetic or self-indulgent guitar solos.
The album just seemed to encapsulate growing up fast in the seedy New York urbanscape of the 70's: drugs, prostitution, horror movies, violence, and attitude. But the band wasn't trying to hurt anyone or make a statement. It was all about keeping it simple and making rock fun again. And on that, they succeeded.
I was in junior high when I was introduced to this album (a few years after its release) and oh man it spoke to me. I had recently read Ayn Rand's Anthem in my Sociology class and was moved by it. Then my friends told me about this band where the drummer wrote lyrics and was influenced by Rand. And so began my forays into Rush and libertarianism.
Musically, the band found a way to perfectly merge their hard rock sound with their progressive influence. Keyboards make their first appearence but are done more for texture and effect. They lie squarely in the background. Gone were any accusations of being Zeppelin clones or Yes wannabes. Their identity was forged, not to mention their logo: naked man standing in front of the Red Star of the Solar Federation.
And the second half of the album is great too! "A Passage to Bangkok" is a global trip in search of grass. "The Twilight Zone" is obvious homage to the TV show.
"Lessons" and "Tears", lyrics by Lifeson and Lee respectively. While "Lessons" fits both musically and lyrically, "Tears" is an odd sort. It's a ballad driven by keyboards. It's the only song that doesn't fit on the album.
The album closes on "Something For Nothing", as in you can't get something for nothing. Apparently Peart got the idea when he saw graffiti stating, "Freedom isn't Free." It's a song that tells the listener to get off their ass and make their own destiny. Yeah, it was inspiring to me back then.
The first cd issue of the album is lame. The lyrics, story notes, and artwork are all missing. There's just the story blurb from the back cover. I've held onto the vinyl for nostalgia sake, and until I pony up the money for a reissue that does it right.
\_/
DED
3 Comments:
On 1/31/2012 11:37 AM, Mike wrote:Comments?
Good stuff. I think I like Boston more than you, but agree it was played to death in the mid to late 70s.
2112, indeed. My high school yearbook quotation was "You Don't Get Something For Nothing." Like you, words can't do justice to how much I loved that album (along with Permament Waves and a few other of their albums) in high school.
By the way, didn't Alex and Geddy each write a song on Permament Waves? "Different Strings" and "Entre Nous"?
On 1/31/2012 12:31 PM, DED replied:
Ack! You're right about "Different Strings." Geddy wrote the lyrics for that one. And "Cinderella Man" on AFTK. I've edited the blog post to correct that mistake.
Boston is still overplayed around here. The band's other albums (I didn't even know they did anything after Third Stage) don't get airplay, maybe the occasional "Don't Look Back", so this is it. It's a cornerstone of the local rock station. I loved the artwork, very sci-fi a la Cities in Flight by Blish.
On 1/31/2012 12:36 PM, Mike replied:
Yeah, those album covers were iconic. Part of the landscape, you might say, of that 1976-80 period that is so imprinted in my brain.
Baltika is one of
While Baltika went with an
English-style recipe, BOSS Browar Witnica went Baltic, a stronger, more robust
version.



A snow storm in
October? You've got to be kidding me. Oh, we'll only get two to four inches.
Nothing serious.
We weren't surprised when
the power kicked off at around 5. We watched helplessly all that afternoon as
trees sagged under the weight of the snow. The weaker branches began to snap.
After the kids went to bed, Tammy and I stayed up and read by candlelight and
our wind-up LED lantern. Every so often, we'd hear a tree limb crack and then a
mighty thud. We'd then take my best flashlight (a Craftsman, with the
rechargeable battery pack you can use for power tools) and shine it outside in
hopes of seeing something. We could see some damage but we knew we wouldn't
grasp the full extent of the damage until the morning.




Getting power back proved to be more
problematic this time. While our street was clear of damaged lines, there was
plenty of carnage elsewhee. But this time we had the generator from the start.
No ice runs. Fortunately, I had enough water left over from Irene that we were
ok. While the snow gradaully melted over the next few days, the power didn't
come back as fast. This time we went six days without power. If we didn't
have the wood stove, we would've had to abandon the house from the cold.


Fly by Night was the first Rush album recorded
with Neil Peart. Peart's impact upon the band can not be overstated. Not only
was Peart ten times better on the drums but he would become the band's main
lyricist. Eschewing the standard rock music subject matter, Peart would go on to
incorporate fantasy, science fiction, philosophical and political themes into
the band's songs.
With
Caress of Steel, Rush dove headlong into the concept album idea. They get
their regular songs out of the way first. "Bastille Day" starts the album with
a homage to the French Revolution. "I Think I'm Going Bald" and "Lakeside Park"
are reflections of aging and life gone by. The former is a defiant rocker while
the latter is a drive by rocker that slows down for the chorus and the last
refrain.
Led Zeppelin continued on their juggernaut with the double
album, Physical Graffiti. As this album has received its fair share of
press, I'll try to be brief.




