BAB – 1975

Albums

1) In Praise Of Learning – Henry Cow (Living In The heart Of The Beast) Second collaboration between HC & SH simply going by Henry Cow at this point.  Just for fun an earlier Henry Cow only version (Halstern), fantastic. 1b) Slapp Happy/Henry Cow – Desperate Straights (Riding Tigers, Apes In Capes) First collaboration between these two bands. Rumor has it that the Henry Cow folks asked Dagmar Krause to join and she refused so they merged bands. Most of this material is clearly Slapp Happy with Henry Cow as the backing band as opposed to the above In Praise of Learning which again is both bands but credited to Henry Cow and a more HC leaning vibe.

2) Tonight’s The Night – Neil Young (Borrowed Tune,  Tonight’s The Night)

3) Bongo Fury – Zappa/Mothers/Beefheart

4) Another Green World – Brian Eno (Sky Saw, Golden Hours)

5) Fish Rising – Steve Hillage – A delightful dish of the Canturbery! Dig how Hillage, Dave Stewert, Pierre Moerlin and company  go absolutely PROG during the “Hiram Afterglid meets the Dervish” movement (10:30 – 13:30) of Solar Mystik Suite…what a jam!

6) Hissing Of Summer Lawns – Joni Mitchell ( The Jungle Line)

7)  Voyage Of The Acolyte – Steve Hackett

8) Sunset Glow – Julie Tippetts (Sunset Glow)

9) The Mothership Connection – Parliament (Give Up The Funk) Parliament/Funkadelic attempt to conquer the world in 1975. Also see Chocolate City (Side Effects), Let’s take It To The Stage (Better By The Pound).

10) Warrior On The Edge Of Time – Hawkwind

Honorable Mention – Bob Dylan & The Band – The Basement Tapes (Tiny Montgomery, Lo And Behold!) Understood that this is not technically 1975, more like ’67/’68 but released officially in ’75.

Songs

1) Throw Back The Little Ones – Steely Dan (Katy Lied)

2) Cobrade – Eddie Palmieri (Unfinished Masterpiece)

3) Right – David Bowie*

4) Barstool Blues – Neil Young/Crazy Horse (Zuma)

5) Symptom Of The Universe – Black Sabbath (Sabotage)

6) Gary’s Step – Sonny & Linda Sharrock

7) ¾ -Carla Bley

8) Deixe Entrar Um Pouco D’água No Quintal – Os Mutantes (Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol)

9)  See Land – Neu (Neu ’75)

10) Minstrel In The Gallery – Jethro Tull (Minstrel In The Gallery)

* If you are in the unfortunate habit of disregarding Young Americans as I was guilty of please give this an honest listen.

The “Other 10”

1) Julius Hemphill – Coon Bidness – A left over track from the Dogon A.D. sessions, The Hard Blues is perhaps the heaviest thing ever…Jeez, could Abdul Wadud’s Cello burn and slower?

2)  Frank Lowe – Fresh –  Wadud from the above Hard Blues and Shaw from the below Rocket along with both Bowie brothers (Lester & Joseph…not David) can be found laying out the classic Fresh as well as a gloriously loose (sloppy?) take on Monk’s Epistrophy.

3)  Roscoe Mitchell – Quartet – A lot of overlap again as this features Abrams as well as the recording debut of George Lewis on trombone. Troona…I find this so very intense!

4)  Oliver Lake – Heavy Spirits – An unheralded and underappreciated absolute gem. Dig Charles Bobo Shaw’s rhythm on Rocket.

5)  Air – Air Song – Debut Lp from Henry Threagill, Steve McCall, & Fred Hopkins who would lay down some of the greatest composed and free music of the 70’s.

6)  The Revolutionary Ensemble – The Psyche – Leroy Jenkins and company…anything but your typical chamber jazz outfit.

7)  Creative Construction Company – Volume 1 – AACM heavy weights Anthony Braxton, Steve McCall,  Muhal Richard Abrams, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins,&  Richard Davis. Seen by many as THE representation of AACM it’s fitting two tracks are composed and named after the founder (Muhal Part 1, Muhal Part 2).

8)  Don Cherry – Brown Rice – That’s Don’s electric piano on the title track while Frank Lowe blows his guts out over the top.

9)  Peter Brotzmann, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink – Tschus

10)  Anthony Braxton Five – New York Fall 1974 (Composition 23a, Composition 23b) Wow Mr. Braxton hanging out at the bottom…who would have thought?

Mike’s 1978

Albums:

1. Pere Ubu—The Modern Dance. (“Non-Alignment Pact“)  Took my head off.

2. Talking Heads—More Songs about Buildings and Food.  (“Warning Sign“) This too is among my favorite albums of all time.

3. Rush—Hemispheres. I’m not a big Rush fan and this is the only album I ever play of theirs any more. They finally put it all together here. As melodic as anything they’d ever do and unapologetically prog. This grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Fun stuff.

4. Dire Straits—Dire Straits. (“Water of Love“) This deserves so much more love than it generally receives. Yes, Mark wears his influences on his sleeve (the recently departed JJ Cale mostly) and this is somewhat derivative, but it is just so well done. The songs are gorgeous and sometimes haunting and the playing throughout is both solid (that rhythm section) and spectacular (Mark). The perfect album for a hot summer night, under the stars, on the back porch.

5. Captain Beefheart—Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). (“When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy“) It’s a tough call whether this or Doc at the Radar Station is the greatest Beefheart. I grew up with the two on either side of a beloved dubbed cassette and while they are both strong start to finish, I adore every note on Shiny Beast. Love his painting on the cover too.

6. Elvis Costello—This Year’s Model. (“Pump It Up“) I listened to a lot of the stuff on this list when it came out. Yes, I’m that old. I’m also nostalgic. If I loved something once, doesn’t matter when, I love it forever. The Dire Straits, Rush and Tull picks apply here. The Styx “Pieces of Eight” and Genesis “And Then There Were Three…” albums would too if I had the balls to include them. I missed out on punk/new wave when it first arrived. It wasn’t until the following year, 1979, that Elvis Costello gave me my first glimpse, in 8^th grade, with the release of “Armed Forces”, the 8-track purchased or possibly stolen from the Van Leunen’s department store. I came to TYM much later and now hold it above everything else he ever did…except for Armed Forces that is.

7. The Stranglers—Black and White.  (“Outside Tokyo“) Another old fave. Brent, is there another album you and I listened to more often when I was in high school?

8. Pere Ubu—Dub Housing. (“Navvy“)

9. Blondie—Parallel Lines. (“Hanging on the Telephone“) Tim is so right. Hanging on the Telephone is amber perfection.

10. Genesis—…And Then There Were Three… (“Deep in the Motherlode“) Oh what the hell, I can’t deny it.

There are a ton of good/not great 1978 albums that contain great songs and so many great singles, making this year’s selection of ten songs just impossible. Here’s an attempt, but wishing I could list another 100 or so:

Songs:

1. Buzzcocks—I Don’t Mind. Right on Tim. Impossible for me to pick between this and “What Do I Get” and  “Ever Fallen in Love…” but this one has always pushed me over the edge.

2. The Albion Band—Poor Old Horse

3. Stiff Little Fingers—Suspect Device

4. The Police—So Lonely

5. Bruce Cockburn—Laughter

6. Robert Gordon—I Want To Be Free. Can’t play this without heartily singing along. Just can’t be done. The whole album is a delight (check also the lovely album closer “Blue Eyes”)

7. Todd Rundgren—Bag Lady

8.Kate Bush—Wuthering Heights

9. X—We’re Desperate

10. The Cars—All Mixed Up

Brent’s 1970 Picks

For the last list (1972) I really didn’t listen to everything and feel my list suffered as a result (heavy on the Krautrock). That being said I made an effort to listen to everything in my collection from 1970 and ended up with another list that was tilted to one genre (prog) with two offerings from Crimson and Van Der Graff making the list. Oh well.

Near misses were The Kink’s Lola vs …(If I were a relief pitcher Apeman would play as I walked to the mound), Joy Of Cooking’s S/T Lp (Hush), and Aguaturbia’s Vol.2 (Well Allright), and Les Ralliezes Denudes (Dansyo 1).

1970 Songs

 

1) Loose – The Stooges – Fun House

This is one of those points when rock could have stopped and no one could argue…”yeah…that’s it…enough…let’s move on to something else”.

2) Lizard (Prince Rupert Awakes, Bolero-The Peacock’s Tale, The Battle of Glass Tears) – King Crimson – Lizard

Never a big fan of the Crimson vocalists (Lake, Haskell, Burell, Wetton) so I love Jon Anderson’s fragile and restrained vocal on “Prince Rupert Awakes”. The entire suite (Side A) is such a fragile piece of music…teetering on collapse yet never going over the cliff. Appreciative of Keith Tippet’s guest spot on piano as well.

3) Sloth – Fairport Convention – Full House

This song always mesmerizes me. My favorite Richard Thompson effort here.

4) Killer – Van Der Graff Generator – H To He Who Am The Only One

The line “on a black day, in a black month, at the bottom of a black sea” would sound trite in anybodies hand but Hammill’s.

5) To Whom It May Concern Them/Us –  Tony Williams Lifetime – (turn it over)

No Rest…No Respite

6) Archangels Thunderbird – Amon Duul II – Yeti

7) Jack The Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots – Black Sabbath – Paraniod

See #1 (Loose)

8) Them Changes – Buddy Miles – Them Changes 

Too bad the Band Of Gypsys didn’t get to record this properly in the studio. Billy Cox’s fuzz bass puts this over the top….with Jimi’s guitar this would have been devastating. Feel a tinge of guilt placing this hear rather than “Macine Gun” from BOG.

9) Rain –The Pretty Things – Parachute

I swapped out 4/5 songs from this LP in here…kinda like too many great choices on the menu.

10) With You There To Help Me – Jethro Tull – Benefit

 

1970 Albums

1) The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie (Width Of A Circle)

So much of what I listen to is a result of my early infatuation with Mr. Bowie.

2) The End Of An Ear – Robert Wyatt (Las Vegas Tango Part 1)

I’ll take Robert Wyatt improvising vocals and playing around in the studio over most things on most days.

3) Shooting The Moon – Kevin Ayers (Rheinhardt & Geraldine/Colores Para Delores)

My favorite Ayers LP.

4) King Crimson – In The Wake Of Poseidon (The Devil’s Triangle)

Have to be true to my roots and place the second Crimson 70 release here. Recommended for fans of the mellotron.

5) The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other – Van Der Graff Generator (After The Flood)

Agian…a second LP by Van Der Graff….sorry…PROG.

6) Weasels Ripped My Flesh – Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention (Dwarf Nebula Processional March)

The last of the great Mother’s discs…Once Flo & Eddie joined the mix things were not quite the same.

7) Electronic Meditation – Tangerine Dream (Journey Through A Burning Brain)

Sooo good. Nothing they did lived up to the promise of this first LP. And I like the other Tangerine Dream catalog…it’s just not at this level for me.

8) Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow – Funkadelic (I Wanna Know If It’s Good to You)

Three offering from the Parliament/Funkadelic crew in ’70. Very drenched in psychedelia as is the S/T lp.

9) Tim Buckley – Lorca (Lorca)

10) A Tribute To Jack Johnson – Miles Davis (Yesternow)

I guess this was a 1971 release…So Bitches Brew gets the nod in this spot.