A Century of Music

[Zeeba Neighba]

Chicago - Chicago (aka Chicago II) (1970)
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
Allman Brothers - Idlewild South (1970)
Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
Badfinger - No Dice (1970)
Fanny - Fanny (1970)

Nice mix today. As I've said earlier, not a big Traffic fan, but John Barleycorn... is great. Saw Chicago a few years ago when they were doing Chicago II in entirety to start their show - have always enjoyed this one.
Why do I have an original No Dice LP (with its fold out revealing a Salome-like figure) since college. Who knows? No regrets - good stuff
To add to the mix - Fanny. Recently missed a trivia question about the first all woman group signed to a major label influencing The Runaways and The Bangles. Had heard of the group (they had two lesser top 40 hits in the 1970s) but had never played them. Coincidentally, their first album was 1970, the next year I was doing. Allmusic compares the album to Badfinger's pop rock. Solid stuff - interesting cover of Cream's "Badge"

 

[Nickyboy]

Recently missed a trivia question about the first all woman group signed to a major label influencing The Runaways and The Bangles. Had heard of the group (they had two lesser top 40 hits in the 1970s) but had never played them. Coincidentally, their first album was 1970, the next year I was doing. Allmusic compares the album to Badfinger's pop rock. Solid stuff - interesting cover of Cream's "Badge"

I've never heard of them. Sounds like something to check out.
Also trivia: "fanny" is not just American slang for "butt". In England, it's the slang word for a woman's private parts. Interesting choice of names for an all woman band.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

I've never heard of them. Sounds like something to check out.
Also trivia: "fanny" is not just American slang for "butt". In England, it's the slang word for a woman's private parts. Interesting choice of names for an all woman band.

American woman named Fanny moves to the UK. Hilarity ensues!

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Some more today:
Funkadelic - Funkadelic (197)
Funkadelic - Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow (1970)
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (1970)

Started the afternoon with the first two albums of my favorite funk band - lots of Sly & the Family stone here, but less funk and more LSD-fueled freakouts here. Eddie Hazel's guitar is other-worldly

Have I ever listened to all of Atom Heart Mother - I'm sure I have but if so, cant remember when (not in this decade at least). Seemed like a good time to listen it - such divided opinion about this one and certainly now one to break out at parties, but some interesting stuff here.
Love this Roger Waters quote from 1984:

If somebody said to me now – right – here's a million pounds, go out and play Atom Heart Mother, I'd say you must be fucking joking

And what better place to go after Pink Floyd than Syd

Just realized never got to Ummagumma back in 1969 - actually have that one on vinyl but don't break it out too much (despite it having their best song title). Just too many great albums last year.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Some more today:
Funkadelic - Funkadelic (197)
Funkadelic - Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow (1970)
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (1970)

Started the afternoon with the first two albums of my favorite funk band - lots of Sly & the Family stone here, but less funk and more LSD-fueled freakouts here. Eddie Hazel's guitar is other-worldly

Have I ever listened to all of Atom Heart Mother - I'm sure I have but if so, cant remember when (not in this decade at least). Seemed like a good time to listen it - such divided opinion about this one and certainly now one to break out at parties, but some interesting stuff here.
Love this Roger Waters quote from 1984:


And what better place to go after Pink Floyd than Syd

Just realized never got to Ummagumma back in 1969 - actually have that one on vinyl but don't break it out too much (despite it having their best song title). Just too many great albums last year.

I love Atom Heart Mother. It's not as lighthearted as the Syd stuff (but was Floyd every really lighthearted?), but not as dark and depressing as Roger Waters in full bloom (don't get me wrong, the Roger Waters' stuff is a major part of my musical life). I've never listened to AHM where I didn't listen to the whole thing. It's playful and experimental, before the stakes got really big for the band and they had to be more careful.

Also, I would like use of a time machine so I can live in the year 1970, permanently.

 

[axolotl]

I love Atom Heart Mother. It's not as lighthearted as the Syd stuff (but was Floyd every really lighthearted?), but not as dark and depressing as Roger Waters in full bloom (don't get me wrong, the Roger Waters' stuff is a major part of my musical life). I've never listened to AHM where I didn't listen to the whole thing. It's playful and experimental, before the stakes got really big for the band and they had to be more careful.

Also, I would like use of a time machine so I can live in the year 1970, permanently.

Marmalade. I like marmalade.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Stooges - Fun House (1970)
Van Morrison - His Band and the Street Choir (1970)
Randy Newman - 12 Songs (1970)
Jethro Tull - Benefit (1970)
Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley (1970)
The Beach Boys - Sunflower (1970)
Stephen Stills - Stephen Stills (1970)

Got some nice listening done today as I head into the last couple of days of 1970 listening
I've hit most essential albums of the year with Fun House (one more, really, Bitches Brew which I will get done over the next couple) but all the others today have some great merit. Van's His Band often gets overlooked as it's the same year as Moondance but I love it. Stills' debut is a good rocker - he shows off his guitar chops on songs like "Go Back Home". Randy Newman really came into his own with 12 Songs

Others like Benefit and Sunflower better than I do, and I really like Rod Stewart's style from this era (and covers of "Country Comfort" and "It's All Over Now" are good) but his next two albums would be much better.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Bob Dylan - New Morning (1970)
Rodriguez - Cold Fact (1970)
Free - Fire and Water (1970)

As always some intriguing listens as my 1970 listening winds down. New Morning isn't a great album but I've always enjoyed it - a lot of great tracks
Like many, I had not heard of Rodriguez Cold Fact until after his albums were rereleased 10 years ago and following the 2012 doc Searching for the Sugar Man. But after heavy listening many years ago on the old MG, haven't played it in years. Very chill

 

[Nickyboy]

New Morning isn't a great album but I've always enjoyed it - a lot of great tracks

My parents played that one (and "Blood on the Tracks") a lot, so it has a special place in my musical up-bringing.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Bob Dylan - New Morning (1970)
Rodriguez - Cold Fact (1970)
Free - Fire and Water (1970)

As always some intriguing listens as my 1970 listening winds down. New Morning isn't a great album but I've always enjoyed it - a lot of great tracks
Like many, I had not heard of Rodriguez Cold Fact until after his albums were rereleased 10 years ago and following the 2012 doc Searching for the Sugar Man. But after heavy listening many years ago on the old MG, haven't played it in years. Very chill

I bought Fire and Water at the old Wherehouse store in Westwood Village when it came out and played the grooves off of it. Like many other songs, the album version of "All Right Now" running five and a half minutes blew away the single.

Not Westwood but close enough. Now I buy fountain pens across the street from the Wherehouse location from a lady I went to high school with. Small world, even in Big L.A.

Flax Pen to Paper

Flax Pen to Paper is a small family owned stationery store in Los Angeles, California. We specialize in Pens, Ink, Paper and so much more! We also offer customized stationery, greeting cards, gift wrapping, notebooks, children toys, Bellroy, and more ever changing selections.

www.flaxpentopaper.com

 

[Nickyboy]

Now I buy fountain pens across the street from the Wherehouse location from a lady I went to high school with. Small world, even in Big L.A.

Flax Pen to Paper

Flax Pen to Paper is a small family owned stationery store in Los Angeles, California. We specialize in Pens, Ink, Paper and so much more! We also offer customized stationery, greeting cards, gift wrapping, notebooks, children toys, Bellroy, and more ever changing selections.

www.flaxpentopaper.com

Glad to hear I am not the only person who still uses a fountain pen instead of ball point.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Chicago - Chicago (aka Chicago II) (1970)

Nice mix today. Saw Chicago a few years ago when they were doing Chicago II in entirety to start their show - have always enjoyed this one.

I always remember the "Producer's Note" on the gatefold LP: "This endeavor should be experienced sequentially." Before Terry Kath died and they faded into Ceteraland, Chicago made sprawling LP's like this one that showed the full potential of the format, both aurally and visually.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)
Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson (1970)
Delaney and Bonnie - On Tour with Eric Clapton (1970)
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James (1970)

Four more for this afternoon's listening.
Spirit's Twelve Dreams still sounds so great. "Nature's Way", "Animal Farm", "Life Has Just Begin". Love this one

Kristofferson's debut which has not only "Me and Bobby McGee" but a song I love even more "Sunday Morning Coming Down" ("Help Me Make It Through the Night"'s wonderful too). I hear a lot of Leonard Cohen here (not sure if that's coincidental). Couldn't let the year pass without this early outlaw country album. Johnny Cash wrote the liner notes

In addition to Layla, Clapton's solo debut was this year (and I may get to it this weekend) but if I have to choose between the two, I'm going Delaney & Bonnie's live set with Clapton. A gem seldom remembered these day. Nice cover too with its picture of a Rolls Royce Silver Dawn

James Taylor is one of my least favorite artists - you should see my fingers move quickly to switch his songs off when they come on the radio. He just has always seemed tremendously bland compared with other singer-songwriters of the era (I far prefer John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce and Harry Chapin from the era). I feel bad too because I've read interviews and he seems like a really nice guy who has overcome some tough demons. So I felt it unfair to pass over his often-well regarded breakthrough sophomore effort. I've heard it before a couple of times but not in awhile - going in with an open mind

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark (1970)
The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (1970)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)
Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention - Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970)
Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction To Your Mind (1970)

Closing out 1970 this weekend - had to get to Bitches Brew but wanted to make sure I got to a gem in Aretha's catalog. Finished up with some Zappa with late Mothers' instrumentals and a lesser known soul/funk album by Swamp Dogg that's really good.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Monday AM and here I am at 1971 - as always playing a length playlist of the year's top singles and album tracks including:

"Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones
"American Pie" by Don McLean
"Bang A Gong (Get It On)", "Jeepster" by T.Rex
"What's Going On"; "Mercy Mercy Me" by Marvin Gaye
"Changes", "Life on Mars" by David Bowie
"Just My Imagination" by The Tempations
"Theme from 'Shaft'" by Isaac Hayes
"Let's Stay Together" by Al Green
"Imagine" by John Lennon
"Stairway to Heaven", "Rock and Roll", "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin
"Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Reilly" by The Who
"Aqualung", "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull
"Roundabout", "I've Seen All Good People" by Yes
"It's Too Late", "I Feel the Earth Move" by Carole King
"Maggie Mae", "Reason to Believe" by Rod Stewart
"Another Day", "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers (R.I.P. )
"L.A. Woman", "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors
"Family Affair" by Sly & The Family Stone
"Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Lennon
"Without You" by Harry Nilsson
"Wild Night" by Van Morrison
"I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After
"Stay with Me" by Faces
"Peace Train" by Cat Stevens
"Rainy Days and Mondays", "Superstar" by The Carpenters
"Sooner or Later" by The Grass Roots
"Tiny Dancer", "Levon" by Elton John
"One of these Days" by Pink Floyd
"I Am...I Said" by Neil Diamond
"River" by Joni Mitchell
"Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)" by The Hollies
"Coat of Many Colors" by Dolly Parton
"Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight
"It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr
"A Horse with No Name" by America
"Slippin' Into Darkness" by War
"Have You Seen Her" by The Chi-Lites
"Betcha By Golly Wow" by The Stylistics
"Hot Pants" by James Brown
"Spanish Harlem" by Aretha Franklin
"Gypsies Tramps and Thieves" by Cher
"Want Ads" by Honey Cone
"Hocus Pocus" by Focus
"The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" by Traffic
"I Gotcha" by Joe Tex
"The Story in Your Eyes" by The Moody Blues
"Sam Stone" by John Prine (R.I.P. )
"I Just Want to Celebrate" by Rare Earth
"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees
"She's A Lady" by Tom Jones
"The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" by Joan Baez
"If You Really Love Me" by Stevie Wonder

 

[Ojai Sam]

^
I never heard of "Jeepster".

 

[Ojai Sam]

Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark (1970)
The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (1970)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)
Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention - Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970)
Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction To Your Mind (1970)

Closing out 1970 this weekend - had to get to Bitches Brew but wanted to make sure I got to a gem in Aretha's catalog. Finished up with some Zappa with late Mothers' instrumentals and a lesser known soul/funk album by Swamp Dogg that's really good.

This batch really illustrates how diverse popular music was during the early 70's.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)
Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson (1970)
Delaney and Bonnie - On Tour with Eric Clapton (1970)
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James (1970)

Four more for this afternoon's listening.
Spirit's Twelve Dreams still sounds so great. "Nature's Way", "Animal Farm", "Life Has Just Begin". Love this one

Kristofferson's debut which has not only "Me and Bobby McGee" but a song I love even more "Sunday Morning Coming Down" ("Help Me Make It Through the Night"'s wonderful too). I hear a lot of Leonard Cohen here (not sure if that's coincidental). Couldn't let the year pass without this early outlaw country album. Johnny Cash wrote the liner notes

In addition to Layla, Clapton's solo debut was this year (and I may get to it this weekend) but if I have to choose between the two, I'm going Delaney & Bonnie's live set with Clapton. A gem seldom remembered these day. Nice cover too with its picture of a Rolls Royce Silver Dawn

James Taylor is one of my least favorite artists - you should see my fingers move quickly to switch his songs off when they come on the radio. He just has always seemed tremendously bland compared with other singer-songwriters of the era (I far prefer John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce and Harry Chapin from the era). I feel bad too because I've read interviews and he seems like a really nice guy who has overcome some tough demons. So I felt it unfair to pass over his often-well regarded breakthrough sophomore effort. I've heard it before a couple of times but not in awhile - going in with an open mind

Now that's funny. I loved James Taylor during this period, though he did admittedly jump the shark not long afterward. However, I couldn't stand Kristofferson's singing, then or now. To my ears, his material always sounded much better in the hands of others. Here is a lesser known example, by the guy who cut this song before Janis:

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

^
I never heard of "Jeepster".

“Jeepster” is a wonderfully upbeat song off Electric Warrior - classic T. Rex. Simple, goofy lyrics. Fuzzy power chords. Great song. Special place in my heart as I used to call my then girlfriend now-wife “Jeepster” (made little sense in retrospect as in the song the singer is the Jeepster for the woman’s love not the other way around. I now have driven a Jeep for 7-8 years and not sure I remember playing the song in my Jeep - gotta remedy that tomorrow

 

[axolotl]

^ I always wanted to be an adult and stay up late.

I'm arguably one now and can barely keep my eyes open. It must be midnight somewhere, maybe in LA.