We’ve had a truly revolting day trying to open a new account for my son with one of our main High Street banks. We then spoke to a mobile phone company, followed by a trip to PC World. This all left me more convinced than ever that most of our major businesses are deeply autistic - at one stage the woman at the bank (she may have been a cyborg) actually said "I'll ask the computer". Guess what the computer said. My son has gone off to a party to wipe the horror of these various encounters from his mind and I intend to start the psychic healing process with a blast of self-indulgent musical nostalgia, as this ofte works for me.I happened upon a list of the best albums from 1970 earlier today (I turned 18 that year, and was utterly obsessed by music). I simply can't believe how many truly great LPs were released during those twelve months - the quality and the originality on display are astonshing. Here's a partial list of those I bought at the time and a few I acquired subsequently. Just to be clear: I don’t just like the following albums - I absolutely love them.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon
Bridge Over troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel
Moondance, Van Morrison
American Beauty, Grateful Dead
Workingman’s Dead, Grateful Dead
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Derek and the Dominos
Déjà Vu, CSNY
Cosmo’s Factory, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Bryter Later, Nick Drake
Morrison Hotel, The Doors
Sunflower, Beach Boys
Sweet Baby James, James Taylor
Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, The Rolling Stones
Fire and Water, Free
Ladies of the Canyon, Joni Mitchell
His Band & Street Choir, Van Morrison
Gasoline Alley, Rod Stewart
12 Songs, Randy Newman
Stephen Stills, Stephen Stills
Stage Fright, The Band
Fotheringay, Fotheringay
Ry Cooder, Ry Cooder
Indianola Mississippi Seeds, B.B. King
Tony Joe, Tony Joe White
After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
Okay, on to terrific singles (specifically not ones included on any of the above-listed LPs):
Let's Work Together, Canned Heat
Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum
Voodoo Chile, Jimi Hendrix
My Sweet Lord, George Harrison
Instant Karma, John Lennon
Lola, the Kinks
The Green Manalishi, Fleetwood Mac
Black Night, Deep Purple
Peaches en Regalia, Frank Zappa
Ohio, CSNY
Question, The Moody Blues
War, Edwin Starr
Your Song, Elton John
Black Magic Woman, Santana
Band of Gold, Freda Payne
Solitary Man, Neil Diamond
25 or 6 to 4, Chicago
Ride a White Swan, T-Rex
Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynne
Double Barrel, Dave & Ansel Collins
I Hear You Knockin’, Dave Edmunds
The Witch’s Promise, Jethro Tull
If You Could Read My Mind, Gordon Lightfoot
Can’t Find My Way Home, Blind Faith
In a Broken Dream, Python Lee Jackson (Rod Stewart)
Chestnut Mare, The Byrds
Mama Told Me Not to Come, Three Dog Night
The Witch, The Rattles
The Resurrection Shuffle, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke
Don’t Play That Song, Aretha Franklin
Up the Ladder to the Roof, The Supresmes
When I’m Dead and Gone, McGuinness Flint
Rivers of Babylon, The Melodians
Groovin’ With Mr. Bloe, Mr. Bloe
Fancy, Bobbie Gentry
Fresh Air, Quicksilver Messenger Service
Streets of London, Ralph McTell
Down the Dustpipe, Status Quo
Tulane, Chuck Berry
Montego Bay, Freddie Notes & The Rudies
You Can Get It If Your Really Want, Desmond Dekker
A Good Year for the Roses, George Jones…
I’ll stop there, because the list could go on forever.
The scary part is that this was also the year when record companies got their act together releasing compilations of blues, rockabilly and garage-band classics. No wonder I spent every spare penny on vinyl, and every spare moment listening to music. Bliss was it in that very dawn etc.
The strange thing is that I’ve just had a quick glance at 1971 – and it was ever better!
If anyone can think of a better all-round music year than 1970 or '71 - epecially one in which the quality was spread across so many genres - speak out.
This post made me rummage through the wardrobe to see if I still had those cool flares and the figure-hugging cheesecloth shirt.
ReplyDeleteIt's a total myth that the 70s marked the end of musical innovation, perpetuated by people who see music as a fashion statement. I have at least half of the 1970 albums you name (plus several others like Deliverin' by Poco that might well have made your list) and still play them rather more frequently than most of my 60s stuff, which hasn't dated well other than, in my view, the Motown and Atlantic soul classics which seem timeless. I find most of Sgt Pepper, for example, irritating now, much as I loved it at the time.
I shall wait for your 1971 list before offering my own choices, other than to say that if What's Going On isn't included, then I'm a Scottish Norwegian.
I also owned Deliverin' and would have included it had it been on the list I was working off.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on Sergeant Pepper - but I must disagree on the Sixties generally: you must have bought unwisely (though I doubt it - apart from SPLHCB, what do you now find disappointing?).
Agreed on Motown (which sounds even better as time goes on) and Atlantic/Stax - and, despite the rumours, a huge number of brilliant singles were produced in the US between 1960 and 1963.
As for including What's Going On in the 1971 list - I'm sorry to have to tell you that you have Scots-Norwegian ancestry. Not a patch on his earlier stuff.
I should have been more specific. I can't really work out why so much of British pop music, broadly defined, sounded great up to about 1966 and then didn't any more. Was it drugs, the triumph of crude early stereo recording over mono or my discovering US bands like Steve Miller, Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds that were doing far more interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteTo these ears, very little beats the thrill of the opening of Stay by the Hollies and all the early Beatles but I can't remember the last time I played anything later than early 60s British, other than bits of Revolver and the odd Who and Yardbirds track. Listen to the glorious Jack Nitzsche string arrangement and production of Expecting to Fly and you realise that the shock of the British beat invasion must have inspired a generation of US producers and artists to reclaim the crown and do rather more than strum the Rickenbacker and say 'Orrigh' Wack?' We stood still, largely. They moved on.
You're right about the 70s. I'm looking forward to your next post.
Having looked into the 70s, most of my tunes are American. Looking forward to yours.
You make an interesting point about British pop music post-1966.The freshness had gone (along with the cool duds) - but the White Album was decent, Abbey Road a masterpiece, and what the Stones produced in the late '60s was simply wonderful, and I'm a huge fan of the Zombies' "Odyssey and Oracle". I shall have to investigate your claims and reply at greater length. Certainly, by 1970, the Americans were back on top in terms of AOR - but the Brits were about to roar back on the pop front (Slade, Glam etc.)
ReplyDelete