Day 0302 - Bad Company

Bad Company "Bad Company" (1974)

 
Paul Rodgers, after he was in Free, but before he was in Queen (+Paul Rodgers).  Probably more of a straight-ahead, testosteroney rock album than I'd usually go for, but Rodgers has a great voice, and the album has its moments.  My own favourites being 'Don't let me down' and the majestic 'Seagull'.

Day 0301 - Here Come the Warm Jets

Brian Eno "Here Come the Warm Jets" (1974)

 
Eno having parted company with Roxy Music was spreading his wings.  He did so both with his album "No Pussyfooting" with guitarist Robert Fripp, and with this, his own solo debut. 

It really is a bit of a 'kitchen sink' approach to music making, with songs not a million miles from the jagged rock of the first Roxy Music album, boundary-pushing (for the mainstream at least) electronic sounds, and occasionally lush, layered vocal pop.

As I said with Todd Rundgren's "A Wizard, A True Star" THIS is what it feels like a solo album should be.  Releasing the shackles and just doing whatever you want to do.

Day 0300 - New York Dolls

The New York Dolls "The New York Dolls" (1973)

 
This is another band that I'd been interested to check out and have now been given an excuse to via by the list.

While the press dismissed the band as little more than Rolling Stones imitators in drag (there is some musical common ground with the band's sound having its roots in a raunchy, rocking iteration of 50s style rock n roll) the Dolls were adopted by Warhol's Arts Factory entourage and even touted by some as the next Velvet Underground.  It's a good, fun record with a suitable dose of snark and attitude.

They ended up disbanding a couple of years later due to various acrimonies built up through their Dolls lifestyle. At the end of their career, their manager Malcolm McLaren thought that they were on to something and decided to use their sound and attitude to put together his own band, the Sex Pistols.

Day 0299 - 3 + 3

The Isley Brothers "3 + 3"

The title was apparently to indicate the 3 new young members joining the original Isleys.  This new blood saw them moving away from the dinner jacket soul and doowop of their older material.  The group began to adopt a more mature funk/soul sound, akin to Marvin Gaye or Al Green but with lashings of fuzzy guitar not unlike their former guitar player Jimi... somebody.

Gorgeous voices, sultry grooves, and at 33-34 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Day 0298 - Raw Power

Iggy and the Stooges "Raw Power" (1973)

 
Things were not going well for the Stooges.  Electra weren't doing much with them, so Iggy split to hang out with David Bowie in England.  Bowie convinced Iggy to bring the Stooges over and record what ended up being 'raw power'.

Columbia were disgusted with the results, viewing them to be a step down from the Electra material (which they were also not impressed with) and instructed Bowie to do the best he could to clean up the material... Bowie though stuck with Iggy's original vision and delivered up the 8 tracks of raucous punky rock energy... raw power indeed!

Day 0297 - Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper "Billion Dollar Babies" (1973)

 
The penultimate album by Alice Cooper (the band) before the beginning of the career of Alice Cooper (the solo artist).

Producer Bob Ezrin helps the band find a rockier yet more polished sound. There are still hints of Zappa-esque touches of fusion and doowop, and AC's own touches of theatricality that had featured on past albums.  Certainly I could imagine that Jim Steinman and Meatloaf might have been listening to this album at some point when crafting their sound.

The album delivered a track, "No more mr nice guy" that would go on to remain Alice's unofficial anthem (regardless of subsequent golfing matches with Kenny G undermining his bad guy credibility somewhat).

Day 0296 - Next...

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band "Next..." (1973)

The bloody loony Scotsman who put together a band some 15 years his junior and started making interesting music. The band were on their second album here and picking up steam, though it sounds as though a series of bad decisions would eventually go on to leave them as one of rock's also-rans.

Here the band chuck out an album just over half an hour long but featuring a few extended jams, including the 7+ minute religious fervour of "Faith healer" and the genre-hopping closing track "The last of the teenage idols".

The title track (originally by Jacques Brel, and made famous again by Scott Walker) is transformed from a twitchy, half-remembered bad memory to an all-out, shouty PTSD flashback!

Day 0295 - Band on the Run

Paul McCartney and Wings "Band on the Run" (1973)

 
Seems as though all the Beatles were having dramas in the 70s.  For Paul, half his band quit before they were due to head to Lagos to work on this album.  When Paul and Linda arrived there, they were robbed at knife point. Yet from that adversity and stress comes a great collection of songs... a Paul solo album in all but name.

The first couple of tracks have the medley/song-suite approach of the second half of Abby Road (possibly my favourite Beatles album) laying out a musical journey between them. There are elements of music from around the world with hints of reggae and Afro-soul popping up.

The guy who reviewed the album for the 1001 albums book was not impressed with "Let me roll it" yet that song has been picked up as a cover by bands as diverse as Lake Street Dive and the Melvins (their version turns the song into a monster, anthemic rocker!).
 

Day 0294 - Tres Hombres

ZZ Top "Tres Hombres" (1973) - got it

 
This opens strong and just lays down a cool 33 minutes of groovy blues-rock with touches of 'Southern Rock'.  It's an uncomplicated album that doesn't overstay its welcome but doesn't sound dated at all. 

While I enjoy Zed Zed Top's later, more 'disco' work, and I like the fact that they were able to make such a stylistic shift and take fans with them, that era has not aged quite as well as this album.

My favourite fun fact about the Top, their drummer (the one guy without a 'mountain man' beard) is named Frank Beard
 

Day 0293 - Innervisions

Stevie Wonder "Innervisions" (1973) - got it

Stevie was working with synthesizer wizards Robert Margouleff and Cecil Malcolm who were very good at reigning in his tendency to wander.  The SW biography I've read paints a picture of Stevie being hugely talented but occasionally  undisciplined, a guy with a million song ideas in his head but constantl wanting to start new jams, or new compositions, rather than sitting down and finish enough tracks to complete and release an album.

That brings me to "Innervisions".  Stevie manages to mostly steer clear of schmaltzy love songs here, instead addressing drugs "Too high"; racism, and the hardships of growing up black in America "Living for the city"; political digs at Nixon "He's Misstra Know-it-all".

Romance is addressed in the song 'All in love is fair' which was covered by singers including Dionne Warwick and Bette Middler.
All up, it's a brilliant album with no weak spots.  Even the somewhat cheesy mock Latin-jazz opening to 'Don't you worry about a thing" holds up nicely.

It's an album laden with soul, underpinned with funk and using both Stevie's voice and the synthesizer technology to great effect.

Day 0292 - Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" (1973) - got it

In some ways it seems odd that this became a platinum-selling hit record.  It was created by the band members trying to shed the psychedelic image that they had become popular for.  They were sat around drummer Nick Mason's kitchen table and making a list of things that worried them (money, time, death, madness) put some songs together and took them on the road as "Eclipse: a Piece For Assorted Lunatics".

In the studio the funky grooves and spacey guitar solos were augmented with avant, wordless female vocals; a musique concrete approach, bubbly synthesizers, and ALL of the studio technology of the time thrown at it.  With all of these non-'pop' elements, in some ways it doesn't seem like it should be the most 'mainstream' album.. but there are enough melodies and catchy grooves for the record-buying public to hang their hats on and so this album helped usher in the next stage of Floyd's sound.

"Dark Side of the Moon" became a musically and visually iconic album.   Just for the record, I haven't done the "Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz" thing, though I am Dark Side-curious.

Day 0291 - Honky Tonk Heroes

Waylon Jennings "Honky Tonk Heroes" (1973)

 
Waylon had started out playing bass for Buddy Holly, though this gig was bought to an abrupt end by that fateful plane crash.   Jennings was supposed to be on the flight but gave up his seat.

Waylon had been slogging it out releasing albums throughout the 60s.  For Honky Tonk Heroes he took on production duties too, stripping away many of the trappings common to country records at the time.  Over top of this stripped-down music bed he laid his vocals, ranging from intimate croons to mighty bellows, but without the layers of harmonies and extraneous instrumentation often found in the genre up till that point.

Day 0290 - Countdown to Ecstasy

Steely Dan "Countdown to Ecstasy" (1973)

Just a short write-up today as I don't have much to say about this one.  Not quite up to the standard of SD's "Can't Buy a Thrill" but still a solid and listenable album combining pop, blues rock and a healthy dose of jazzy flavours.

Day 0289 - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973) - got it

 
That impressive feat of a double album that doesn't really sag under its own weight.  I wouldn't say that it is wall-to-wall brilliance, but there aren't really any songs that I feel the need to skip.

Elton had previously explored country, blues, pop, rock, honky-tonk,  and music hall... with this album he seems to merge it all into a new genre "Elton John" that takes those elements along with a little funk and rhythm and blues into a fairly cohesive sound.  Some of my favourites of his are on here, including the magnificent title track, 'Sweet painted lady' and 'Roy Rogers'.

Elton was originally set to record at a studio in Jamaica, but the facilities was not quite up to snuff.  As a result, Elton was holed up for a long time in hotels with time on his hands and with pages and pages of Bernie Taupin lyrics.  Elton wound up writing enough music for this double album (this situation also inspiring the track "Jamaica Jerk-Off"). 

Day 0288 - A Wizard, a True Star

Todd Rundgren "A Wizard, a True Star" (1973)

Aw hell yeah!  This is what a solo artist should sound like.  When you're in a band, if the singer likes jazz, pop and rock, the guitarist likes punk, metal and rock, and the drummer likes avant-garde, jazz and rock then the band will most likely stick to the common ground and play rock with a few extra flavours creeping in, otherwise they'll drive each other crazy.
But when you're a solo artist, unless you've got a fairly narrow taste in music, or you have a reason (commercial or artistic) to pursue one style, then you're likely going to be into a few different sounds and want to explore at least some of them.  That's what Todd does here, from art rock, to doo-wop, to pop, to rock n roll, to soul grooves, to noise-pop (that wouldn't sound out of place in the current alternative scene).  Todd had the motivation and talent to try it all!

Day 0287 - Tubular Bells

Mike Oldenfield "Tubular Bells" (1973)

An odd collection of sounds, background music for dinner parties, a prog masterpiece... apparently it can be whatever you want it to be.

I don't have much to say about this one; enjoyable enough with the occasional truly brilliant passage, but overall, not one that I'll be revisiting in a hurry (I’ll understand if saying this is borderline musical heresy to some).

Day 0286 - Mott

Mott the Hoople "Mott" (1973)

 
These guys sound so Bowie-esque it's not funny. They were coming off the back of the Bowie penned and produced "All the young dudes" (Bowie was a fan of the band) so maybe there was a little of that magic dust left in the air.  Definitely a kind of Bowie/Bolan glam flavour to the music and vocals.

Mott eked out their place in the music world at the time, but they were overshadowed by so many of the bands around them, including Bowie and the new young band who opened for them on tour; Queen.

It's a solid, fun, and not uninteresting pop-rock album, but I can also see why they didn't become as famous as some other groups.

Day 0285 - Head Hunters

Herbie Hancock "Head Hunters" (1973) - got it

 
Herbie has had quite an extensive musical history.  As a child prodigy, he was playing Mozart piano concertos on stage before he'd even hit puberty.  In his 20s was playing for Miles Davis' brilliant quintet for 'ESP' and other albums, and during that time he was already releasing solo albums on blue note records. He recorded with larger ensembles, made exploratory innovative jazz albums, recorded soundtracks... so by the time he gets to "Head Hunters", he's been around the block.

Herbie eschews a lot of his more experimental sounds to investigate a style that is kind-of-funk, kind-of-fusion and arguably the birth of one or two styles of electronic music.

Hancock described it that he'd spent enough time exploring the upper stratosphere of music and he wanted a return to earth. That plays out here, with the rhythm section keeping mostly to tight funky grooves with occasional bursts of wild jazz energy and Herbie ranging about over it all.

Day 0284 - Faust IV

Faust "Faust IV" (1973)

 
Faust is another of those bands where I'd vaguely heard the name but hadn't heard, so was keen to check them out with the 1001 albums list.

It is certainly an interesting listen from one of the early krautrock bands.  Faust not only weren't offended by this slightly deprecatory term, they used it as the title of the opening track of this album; an 11 or 12 minute wall of experimental sound.

The album contains a mix of more cohesive, melodic sections and sprawling experimental parts... in the case of the last track "It's a bit of a pain" it's both at the same time.  It's a nice melodic piece, but on the choruses, crazy noises suddenly kick in.

Day 0283 - For Your Pleasure

Roxy Music "For Your Pleasure" (1973)

 
When I was revisiting this album for the 1001 albums, my first thought was that it wasn't hugely different from the first, self-titled album (not a slight on it, as I love that album) which is also featured on the list.  I always wonder at them putting albums in the book that feel like a retread of previous entries, rather than putting in something a bit different.

Having given it a couple of listens, I realised that it differed in a number of ways:

1. While the first album was a glorious collision of glam, 50s-style rock n roll, electronic noise, theatrical art rock and a number of other styles... this album takes those elements and presents them in a less fractured, more integrated way.

2. The album has longer-form songs, with big build-ups on tracks like 'Strictly confidential' and the majestic, twisted 'In every dream home a heartache'
3. I didn't notice it at first but the songs generally aren't divided into verses and choruses, they just repeat around and round, building to climaxes or exploding into instrumental/solo sections.

The albums starts with a bang with "Do the strand" and takes you on a journey from there. The clash of musical personalities between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno created two great albums, but then Eno grew tired of the creative friction, and perceived restrictions on his creativity.  He split from the band to go out and do his own thing, and given the breadth and quality of his work since then, it would be hard to argue that as a bad thing.

Day 0282 - Solid Air

John Martyn "Solid Air" (1973)

One of those artists who I knew by name but couldn't really place musically.  I was so vague about him that I had to go and check the book to make sure that I hadn't already listened to any of his stuff (this is the fourth or fifth album he released); I hadn't.

This sounds like the kind of album you'd hear at a cafe/bar over a coffee, or maybe a nightcap.  It's a mostly mellow mix of jazz, blues and folk, with a murmuring gentle vocal. The instrumentation is sparse but often interesting; like the title track, which combines acoustic guitar, upright bass, vibraphone and saxophone in ways that tip their hat to jazz, but couldn't really be pigeonholed in that genre.

Day 0281 - Let's Get it On

Marvin Gaye "Let's Get it on" (1973) - got it

Marvin follows up his hugely successful, deeply political "What's Goin' On" with his deeply sexual "Let's Get it On".

Though the politics had gone, this is still not a totally laid-back affair, with Marvin at times desperate and pleading in his desire.  This albums has elements of the 'song suite' approach that Marvin had used on his previous album and would use again on 'Here My Dear'; but unlike the previous release, he doesn't reuse the same musical ideas/themes quite as much, there's a bit more variety, with the Get it On theme only reappearing later in the album.

I read a semi-autobiography on Gaye a while back, and apparently the woman who would go on to be his next wife walked into the studio just before he recorded the title track.  One of his musicians said that with her in the room, his vocals went from 80% to 100%!  That genuine lust and need (along with some loose, burning seductive grooves and slinky bass-lines) make this a benchmark bedroom album.

Day 0280 - Selling England by the Pound

Genesis "Selling England by the Pound" (1973)

Was surprised to find that this was Genesis' 5th album.  I didn't realise that they'd recorded so many with Peter Gabriel.

There seems to be a thing about prog albums using paintings as their album covers rather than photos or some other such thing.  Definitely bands like Gentle Giant, Genesis, some of Crimson's got on in on it.   Similar to the 50's jazz scene's flirtations with the modern artists.   It works for this album matching the parochial English vibe of the album.

Much as it's popular to jump on the 'Phil Collins bashing bandwagon', his drumming, while nowhere near as exploratory or virtuosic as some of his prog peers, is still pretty damned fine. Synths that sound like they're soundtracking a fox hunt, guitars that are at time frantic and unsettling and at others, majestic and grand, vocals that verge on the theatrical and playful.  This is definitely a long way from the poppy, sometimes slightly too-serious-for-its-own-good, later-era Genesis.

I would not be surprised if John Frusciate was into Genesis either.  There seem to be a lot of sounds that would not be out of place on some of his later work with the Chili Peppers or some of his mid-era solo work.

Day 0279 - Berlin

Lou Reed "Berlin" (1973)

Lou follows up the surprise success of glam-influenced pop hit 'Transformer' with this slightly mixed follow-up.  The book refers to it as having a cinematic scope and that is certainly true in places like with "Berlin" and "Sad song"; in other parts, the songs are fairly low-key, almost 'singer-songwriter' kind of material.

The album, with its downbeat lyrical themes and lack of 'big hits' met with mixed response from critics at the time (since revisited and reassessed)... which I find odd, because the idea of Lou plumbing the depths for his lyrics is not exactly a left-field move.  Neither is the music out of place for what was happening in the 70s, with the mix of more theatrical sounds contrasted with subdued acoustic tracks were reflected in other acts at the time.  The focus on the album-as-a-whole rather than on 'hit singles' was also not unusual for the time.

I guess that the two options are (a) that Lou was ahead of the game or (b) he became 'cool' in the right critical circles... eye of the beholder.

Day 0278 - Future Days

Can "Future Days" (1973)

 
I'd have to say, I prefer Can's "Tago Mago", but this is still an intriguing mix of sounds.  It's often sprawling and cinematic, with elements of world music percussion, guitar drone, exploratory synths and Damo Suzuki's eclectic and ambiguous vocals.

It's a weird mix between more coherent melodic passages and more droney loose sections... but loose in a good way.  That is to say, it never totally loses its way.

Day 0277 - Paris 1919

John Cale "Paris 1919"

 
I listened to this one when I first browsed the 1001 albums book 9 or so years ago.  I wanted to hear it, being a sometime Velvet Underground fan, having enjoyed Lou Reed's forays into pop, and wanting to see how a noise/avant maestro like Cale would take to pop... 'Very well' is the answer to that question!

This is a lusciously orchestrated album full of beautiful melodies, upbeat pop tracks, and suitably grandiose moments.  Though Cale may not be the greatest singer of all time, he doesn't seem out of his depth within the music.

Not every avant artist has pop DNA in them, but it's clear from this album that John did!

Day 0276 - Space Ritual

Hawkwind "Space Ritual" (1973)

 
Well that was an experience!  Near enough to 2 hours of almost unrelenting noisy psychedelic space rock, synthesizer noodling, and poetry readings.

It's a live album, but in a way it only gives you only a taste of how mind-blowing their live show must have been (you're missing the art, the lights, the naked trancey dancer)

The rhythm section are frenetic and fantastic.  As most people will know, the album features Lemmy Kilmister before he formed Motörhead.  You'd think that with his acrimonious split and the creation of Motörhead just on the horizon that Lemmy might seem at odds with, or out of place in the music but he plays with and against it nicely.

This is a sprawling mess of sound that manages to be engaging and cohesive.
 

Day 0275 - Catch a Fire

Bob Marley and the Wailers "Catch a Fire" (1973)

 
According to the book, a down-on-his-luck Marley walked into the offices of Chris Blackwell at Island records. Chris clearly knew a good thing when he saw it because he fronted up $6,000 to fly Bob and his band back to Jamaica to record an album. Blackwell then took the recordings and had some rocking wah-wah guitar and keyboard parts overdubbed throughout, creating an engaging hybrid of the Wailers' Jamaican grooves with a touch of rock fusion.  He stuck it in a rather ugly 'zippo lighter' album cover and sent it out into the world to become a hit.

The album would also go on to provide the name for New Zealand reggae band Katchafire.

Day 0274 - Larks' Tongues in Aspic

King Crimson "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" (1973)

What the hell did I just listen to? ...so much musical excess!

The opening (title) track is a journey from tinkling finger cymbals through various musical movements including some fantastic bass work.  Bass seems to be a featured instrument in many of the prog-rock albums I've listened to so far on the list.

This first track gives way to more mellow songs.  There's the delicate and beautiful "Book of Saturday", with it's graceful violin and backwards guitar duet; the proggy ballad of 'Exiles'; the rock riffs of 'Easy Money'; and again the proggy excesses of 'The Talking Drum' and the second part of the title track.

Brilliant album.