Hello and welcome to the 1970s. After a visit to Planet Video and to a record fair, I have had my love for vinyl renewed. I have decided I'll be looking at upgrading to a better turntable soon and shopping for more records. In the meantime, getting back into vinyl has sparked a taste for the 70s and great albums of that decade. So I'm doing an all 70s list this week and probably an all 80s next week and so on until the 00s.
- James Brown- Black Caesar : Not too long ago on a Friday night, I put this 70s Blaxploitaton flick on and marveled at the mission brown fashion, the funky pimp hats, the broken up bricks of Harlem and the killer James Brown soundtrack. Why can't films have whole funky LPs made especially for them anymore instead of throwing in 60s music or the hip tunes of the day? I blame The Big Chill and Quentin Tarantino.
- Joni Mitchell - Blue : I am an unashamed Joni Mitchell fan and this is one of her very best. Blue made Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time and has been heaped with similar accolades by a ton of critics - such as the NY Times who put it amongst the 25 pivotal turning points in popular music. The lyrics alone are laudable while Joni's expert playing of piano, imaginatively tuned guitars and dulcimer is exemplary.
- Fleetwood Mac - Rumours : Honestly, putting aside why anyone would want to be in a band with their lover, who exactly makes the greatest album of their career (and possibly the entire 1970s) while in the middle of a breakup? Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, that's who. When Homer Simpson said 'rock achieved perfection in 1975', I choose to believe he forgot about 'Dreams' in 1977.
- Ramones - Ramones : America's answer to the Punk explosion from the UK. Except Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee were already playing ramshackle, blisteringly paced gigs at CBGBs while John Lydon was shoplifting from Malcolm McLaren's shop. This album was released a full year and a half before Nevermind the Bollocks.... took Punk to the world.
- Miles Davis - On The Corner : The legendary Miles takes it to the street and switches up his signature cool post bop jazz for something a little funkier with a load of bass and a feel for disco-esque rhythm. Critics panned it while Miles went looking for new fans more into Funk than Jazz. The record is a challenging but rewarding mix of both styles and then some.
- Pink Floyd - The Wall : Besides getting One Of My Turns stuck in my head on Friday, no 1970s list would be complete without the decade's biggest seller (even if most of its multi-million sales occurred in the 80s and beyond). Really a little bit of a self-indulgent, wank-rock concept album, but damn if it doesn't make for a good listen - and are Dave Gilmore's solos in Comfortably Numb and Hey You not among the best of all time?
- Billy Joel - The Stranger : To paraphrase Sickboy of Trainspotting fame 'Billy Joel : Had it. Lost it. The Stranger is a well-crafted, intricately lyrical album with million dollar melodies and jauntily upbeat or at times solemn piano playing. It's a broken bottle against a Jersey shore wall of an album. Everything Joel ever did in the 90s and beyond... not so much.
- Bob Dylan - Desire : Coming just six months after the release of The Basement Tapes and a year after the scorchingly brilliant Blood On The Tracks, Desire is part of arguably another Holy Trilogy for his Bobness (the original trilogy encompassing Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde). Dylan released this gypsy-tinged storyteller and then embarked on the Rolling Thunder tour with a swag of guest stars including Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Roger McGuinn.
- David Bowie - Hunky Dory : Released in 1971 as Bowie's fourth studio album, Hunky Dory is a trademark dose of androgynous, now classic rock from the Granddaddy of Glam Rock. Hunky Dory offers everything from the anthemic Changes to the pleading fanboy croon of Song For Bob Dylan. The album peaked at number 3 in 1972 and was followed by the career-defining Ziggy Stardust...
- Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town : The Boss' biggest offering in the 70s was of course the massively successful Born To Run, but Darkness has a darker heart and more introspective lyrics. Where Born was full of stories about the colorful urchins and hustlers of the Jersey streets, Darkness is more about the man himself.
- Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel : Dying of a drug overdose just two months before his 27th birthday in 1973 (and so saved from joining 'that awful club'), Gram Parsons was a fast-living rock star who happened to play country. Giving American country music a much needed jolt of hard rock and blues, Gram Parsons and band The Flying Burrito Brothers were the precursors to Alt Country and are owed much by Ryan Adams, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Whiskeytown and any number of country flavoured rock acts.
- Iggy Pop - The Idiot : Once head of embryonic punk act The Stooges and then seen as largely a pet project of David Bowie, Iggy released this, his debut solo cut, in 1977. Featuring the co-written China Girl, which Bowie later went on to have a huge hit with in the 80s, The Idiot had a a strong influence on a lot of electronic acts to come. Standout track Nightclubbing is apparently inspired by the nightlife of David Bowie.
- Van Morrison - Moondance : Van the Man is what my memories of the 1970s sound like. I'm most definitely painting everything with broad strokes of rose-coloured nostalgia, but things seemed eternally like lazy Spring days and quite a bit more laid back. I blame the Internet. There are quite a few grooves of mellow sunshine and sugar here, including the titular hit Moondance, Crazy Love and Into The Mystic.
- Carol King - Tapestry : Again, a sound of the 1970s come to life. Was it just me that heard I Feel The Earth Move and You've Got A Friend a million times as a child? This is a monstrously popular and pervasive LP, has sold more than 25 million copies, is the best selling album by a solo female artist and was still in the Billboard charts as of June 2010. Why? King's fantastic tunes and heartfelt lyrics. One song, the wonderful (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman was stolen by Aretha Franklin the way she stole R.E.S.P.E.C.T. And that's the highest compliment there is, in my book.
- Lou Reed - Transformer : Rounding out the David Bowie and Iggy Pop albums nicely, Lou Reed's Transformer was produced by Bowie and released in 1972. This is the LP that contains Reed's most well known song, Walk On The Wild Side, but also the superior Satellite Of Love and Perfect Day - even if the movie Trainspotting has tainted every listen of Perfect Day for me.
So that's my 1970s list. I will most likely also try and hook up with some Boston, ELO and T-Rex on the recommendation of several friends. Next week I'll look to the 1980s for musical inspiration, so get your dweely-boppers and your flouro socks ready to do the Huckelbuck.
Don't get hung up man, stay cool.
Don't get hung up man, stay cool.
