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?

1975, What a Crazy Year in Music

SONGS

Nights on Broadway (Bee Gees). Was tempted to skip this one since Main Course already appears in Tim’s album list, and I’ve mentioned this track before in a previous theme. But this song has one of my favorite bridges, and, remember, I was a living, breathing, hardcore AM radio listener in 1975. This song takes me back like no other.

30 Seconds Over Tokyo/Heart of Darkness (Pere Ubu). How would my life be different if I’d picked up this single in 1975 instead of, what, America’s “Sister Golden Hair?” What would I have thought of it if I had? Can’t select one of these songs over the other, they are both so utterly ground-breaking. Not my favorite early Ubu single, that would be their next one released in early ’76, “Final Solution,” but this is close.

Shining Star (Earth, Wind, and Fire)

Love Rollercoaster (Ohio Players). Another one that took my head off in 1975.

Simple Twist of Fate (Bob Dylan). I have a hard time listening to the studio version of Blood on the Tracks ever since Bob sent me the boot of the New York recordings. Thought of listing that in albums, because it is one of my desert island records, but it wasn’t released as a boot until sometime in the 90s I think. This track is one of the five NY recordings that wasn’t re-recorded in Minneapolis, and appears on the original studio album. What a love song.

Desperadoes Waiting for a Train (Guy Clark)

Stranglehold (Ted Nugent). If you can get past the lyrics.

Muddy Mouse (c) which in turn leads to Muddy Mouth (Robert Wyatt)

Beat the Retreat (Richard & Linda Thompson)

Cortez the Killer (Neil Young)

ALBUMS

Bruce Cockburn–Joy Will Find a Way. 10 tracks delivered straight from heaven. And I’m not even religious.

Slapp Happy/Henry Cow–Desperate Straights. Like all the great ones, it took me a while to get this. Glad I did.

Julius Hemphill–‘Coon Bid’ness. The final 20 plus minute “Hard Blues” groove orgy turned me on to this initially. Have grown to appreciate the other tracks even more (“Skin,” “Lyric“), if that is possible. Two great groups that both include one of my favorite musicians of all time, Abdul Wadud, who always makes me wish the cello appeared more often in jazz, and that there was more of him on record. But you can be endlessly thrilled focusing on any of the musicians on this record, or the combination.

Eno–Another Green World

Joni Mitchell–The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Neil Young–Tonight’s the Night

Jerry Lee Lewis–Boogie Woogie Country Man. My favorite country album by the Killer.

Mary McCaslin–Prairie in the Sky. This album is a masterpiece of western country. I listened to one of Emmylou Harris’ 1975 releases and this one back to back. The songs on the much-lauded Elite Hotel don’t approach these. They really don’t.

Steely Dan–Katy Lied. I know they are not beloved by all here, especially their mid-70s records. I love everything about this and Aja. The studio precision and perfection and the incredible musicianship and arrangements don’t detract a bit from the great melodies and increasingly mature lyrics, they enhance them.

Budgie–Bandolier. To add a little balance this year that includes great music of every type, I’ve got to include one of the great hard rock albums here.

I tried to listen to every record in my collection released in 1975 last month, and might have made it had I not played these selections and others multiple times. There are dozens of other albums I might have listed on another day. I even tried to list my favorite 75 from 75, if you’re interested. I might have included any of the top 50 or so. Here’s every 1975 record in my collection, most rated on a scale of 1-5.

Madherb (Mike’s) 1972

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”.

1972

Theme for March is “1972”

Top ten albums and songs from this year in recorded history due the last week in March.