Albums
1. Roxy Music—Roxy Music (“Chance Meeting“)
2. Al Green—I’m Still in Love with You (“Love and Happiness“)
3. Nick Drake—Pink Moon (“Horn“)
4. Randy Newman—Sail Away (“Dayton, Ohio 1903“)
5. Willis Alan Ramsey—Willis Alan Ramsey (“Northeast Texas Women“)
6. Genesis—Foxtrot
7. Deep Purple—Machine Head (“Space Truckin‘)
8. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band—Will the Circle Be Unbroken (“I Saw the Light“)
9. Steely Dan—Can’t Buy a Thrill (“Fire in the Hole“)
10. Yes—Close to the Edge
Songs
1. Julius Hemphill—”Dogon A.D.”
2. Argent—”Hold Your Head Up”
3. Van Morrison—”Almost Independence Day”
4. Annette Peacock—”I’m the One”
5. J.J. Cale—”Call the Doctor”
6. Stevie Wonder—”Maybe Your Baby”
7. Kevin Ayers—”Whatevershebringswesing”
8. Matching Mole–“Starting in the Middle of the Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away”
9. Rastus—”Lucy Bluebird” (excerpt)
10. Cymande—”One More”
All of these are car-wreck songs. That is, every individual song listed and every song off of each of these albums, when I hear one in the car the accelerator hits the floor and I either erupt in a dash-pounding shout-along or the tears generously flow. I hope you enjoyed revisiting this year as much as I did. It gave me an opportunity to revisit less stellar, but still enjoyable and occasionally invigorating stuff from the era as well as the many many greats. Still didn’t get through my entire collection of records from ’72 so in some cases relied on memory.
Enjoyed listening to a variety of folky stuff from the year like Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks (including his best ever song I Scare Myself, which just missed the cut here), Tir Na Nog, Steeleye Span, Morris On. Kevin Coyne’s first solo record (Case History—almost as good as it ever got for him, offering his cracked blues, empathetic character studies of the forgotten, lost souls of the street and of the institution). There is some dispute about whether it came out in 71 or 72. I have it as part of a ‘Dandelion’ box set that offers no help. I eventually decided it was 1971 so I could fit other things. Sure would have liked to include “God Bless the Bride” from that album. I understand the Willis Alan Ramsey is finally available on CD. If I had included songs off albums I selected, at minimum two of his would have made my top ten, but it would have been damn hard to choose them, every song off that album is so damn good. For starters, check out “Northeast Texas Women”. Same goes for any of the other album selections.
Some good hard rock stuff like Twenty Sixty Six, Randy California, Mick Abrahams Band, Atomic Rooster, West, Bruce & Laing, Blue Oyster Cult, etc. None of which of course comes within spitting range of Vol. 4 or Machine Head (not to mention Live in Japan). Only one could make it here. I’ve enjoyed acquainting myself with the hard rock since living in Cleveland from 97-03. There was a Saturday morning DJ who played only hard rock from the seventies. I listened to his show for several hundred hours and swear I never heard the same cut twice.
Some great psych and prog stuff of course. Aside from the classics—Foxtrot, Close to the Edge, Roxy Music (if that belongs in this category, but it doesn’t really belong in any category, does it?), Thick as a Brick, Focus 3, maybe even Argus and Trilogy—we get the first Scorpions album (more prog/psych than metal and maybe my favorite of theirs), two Gentle Giants, and my favorite Kevin Ayers (Whatevershebringswesing) and Captain Beyond albums. Trilogy is the only ELP I’ve listened to in 20 years and an album I continue to get a tremendous kick from, critical status thankgod notwithstanding. Then there’s all the Kraut stuff which I don’t have a great appreciation for, or collection of, I’ll admit. I do like the Amon Duul 2 album Wolf City and Faust So Far quite a lot though and considered a couple cuts off each album, “Green Bubble Raincoated Man”, especially. The Matching Mole song is a great opening cut off a weak album.
As far as jazz, fallouts include three of my favorite all-time cuts by Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Blacknuss, I Love You Yes I Do, Ain’t No Sunshine), one of my favorite Herbie records based only on spotify listens (forever on my LP wishlist), Space is the Place, a groundbreaking Joe Henderson (Black is the Color), a very fine Sonny Rollins (Next Step), and by far my favorite Santana album (Caravanserai) that moved them solidly into the jazz realm. The only Santana album I ever listen to. I’ve still never heard the entire Dogon A.D. album. Not a huge fan of Weather Report, but my favorite album of theirs is here (I Sing the Body). I was surprised that the first RTF record nearly made my top ten. This is just so damn fun, the melodies and ridiculous bass that is just so volcanic and prodigious it throws you on the floor and makes you giggle, I could play it all day long. Also, an unheralded (at least in this country) Neil Ardley album (Symphony of Amaranths).
We’ve also got the best albums by six of my favorite solo artists: T. Rex (really, how much are we attributing to his cohorts?), Al Green, Nick Drake, Annette Peacock, David Bowie and Randy Newman (happy to debate this, it’s a close call in all cases). And admirable and better efforts from other favorite all-time, first name artists: J.J. (two!), Joni, Van, Neil, Elton, Stevie (two!). (Aside, Stevie Wonder’s two 1972 releases represent the first two of what would be an unbelievable run of releases following his emancipation from the production/song selection strictures of Motown. As it happens, Waylon and Willie in 1972 began to release albums under their personal control for the first time, free from the hit-making, string-laden reaches of the Nashville studios. This artistic independence would reach its greatest fruition for all three artists in 1973 with the release of the seminal Innervisions (SW), Honky Tonk Heroes (WJ) and Shotgun Willie (WN).)
Country was still in a pretty bad state in 1972, although hope emerged: Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Young, and inklings from the aforementioned. But then The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band produced an historical document of America, and they sowed the future of Americana. I guess the Stones’ Exile fits in this category as well as any other. I keep giving it a try, but I simply don’t like it much aside from a couple songs.
Several other albums from 1972 that I don’t care for are short-list critical faves. I know I’m missing out, but at this point in my life I can only say I like Something/Anything, tolerate Ege Bemyasi, and cannot stomach On the Corner, in case you’re wondering about their exclusion. I am going to have to give Big Star another try as well someday, but have to admit I’ve tried a few times now and it’s never hit home with me.
Have to mention The Harder They Come and my favorite song off the album, “Many Rivers to Cross”. Alas, they are another casualty, along with another favorite dub song, Prince Jazzbo’s “Crab Walk”.
I nearly added a pop hit of the day, “Guitar Man”, even if it were to disqualify me from any further contributions here. That bridge, man, cheesy as it is, just takes me to a higher plane:
Then you listen to the music and you like to sing along,
You want to get the meaning out of each and ev’ry song
Then you find yourself a message and some words to call your own
And take them home.
Would have liked to include a couple of my other favorite pop songs, a should-have-been pop hit, the Raspberries’ “I Reach for the Light”, and Roy Wood’s “Wake Up”. Had to drop those along with one of my favorite Elton John songs, “Rocket Man”.
On the soul side, it doesn’t get much better than 1972, does it? Aside from the great Stevie albums, two all-time classics from Al Green, great Dramatics, Spinners and War albums, the all-time soul classic “Papa was a rolling stone” and the second consecutive start-to-finish classic from Bill Withers. Holy crap, “Backstabbers” and “Love train” too from the O’Jays and another near miss, Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th street”. Then, the early strains of disco in an unheralded Chakachas album, one cut of which I nearly selected (“Jungle Fever”). Imagine hearing that on the radio in 1972. Or, hell, any of this shit. Tell me, did it really happen? I gave serious consideration to doing just a soul top ten for the year. As it stands, the genre is underrepresented here. Seriously, “Superfly”.
Music Corner w/ Archive 