Classic Rock Bottom

Hard to believe the harmonica hasn't been showcased here yet. Seems to be an overlooked part of my Blues re-connection I've gone through lately. So now it is fixed... And its a fun topic as well, I know some of the obvious choices I could have made here, one being Baba O'Riley (The greatest classic rock track ever recorded) but those songs and several others (Piano Man for example) I will leave up to you. I'm sure you can come up with songs like Train, Train... Take The Long Way Home, speaking of Supertramp... School is another great tune featuring harmonica, but lets not go too far, you have to chime as well...


Enjoy!


PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/sgabbert/avc9ychh

Alice Cooper
Billion Dollar Babies
1973

1 - Generation Landslide

With Billion Dollar Babies, Alice Cooper refined the raw grit of their earlier work in favor of a slightly more polished sound (courtesy of super-producer Bob Ezrin), resulting in a mega-hit album that reached the top of the U.S. album charts. Song for song, Billion Dollar Babies is probably the original Alice Cooper group's finest and strongest. Such tracks as "Hello Hooray," the lethal stomp of the title track, the defiant "Elected" (a rewrite of an earlier song, "Reflected"), and the poison-laced pop candy of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" remain among Cooper's greatest achievements. Also included are a pair of perennial concert standards -- the disturbing necrophilia ditty "I Love the Dead" and the chilling macabre of "Sick Things" -- as well as such strong, lesser-known selections as "Raped and Freezin'," "Unfinished Sweet," and perhaps Cooper's most overlooked gem, "Generation Landslide." Nothing seemed like it could stop this great hard rock band from overtaking the universe, but tensions between the members behind the scenes would force the stellar original AC band to split up after just one more album. Not only is Billion Dollar Babies one of Cooper's very best; it remains one of rock's all-time, quintessential classics.

Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
1970

2 - The Wizard

Circumstance certainly played some role in the birth of this musical revolution -- the sonic ugliness reflecting the bleak industrial nightmare of Birmingham; guitarist Tony Iommi's loss of two fingertips, which required him to play slower and to slacken the strings by tuning his guitar down, thus creating Sabbath's signature style. These qualities set the band apart, but they weren't wholly why this debut album transcends its clear roots in blues-rock and psychedelia to become something more. Sabbath's genius was finding the hidden malevolence in the blues, and then bludgeoning the listener over the head with it.

The Rolling Stones
Let It Bleed

1969
3 - Midnight Rambler

The Stones were never as consistent on album as their main rivals, the Beatles, and Let It Bleed suffers from some rather perfunctory tracks, like "Monkey Man" and a countrified remake of the classic "Honky Tonk Woman" (here titled "Country Honk"). Yet some of the songs are among their very best, especially "Gimme Shelter," with its shimmering guitar lines and apocalyptic lyrics; the harmonica-driven "Midnight Rambler"; the druggy party ambience of the title track; and the stunning "You Can't Always Get What You Want," which was the Stones' "Hey Jude" of sorts, with its epic structure, horns, philosophical lyrics, and swelling choral vocals. "You Got the Silver" (Keith Richards' first lead vocal) and Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," by contrast, were as close to the roots of acoustic down-home blues as the Stones ever got.

Led Zeppelin
II
1969

4 - Bring It On Home

Led Zeppelin II provided the blueprint for all the heavy metal bands that followed it. Since the group could only enter the studio for brief amounts of time, most of the songs that compose II are reworked blues and rock & roll standards that the band was performing on-stage at the time. Not only did the short amount of time result in a lack of original material, it made the sound more direct. Jimmy Page still provided layers of guitar overdubs, but the overall sound of the album is heavy and hard, brutal and direct. "Whole Lotta Love," "The Lemon Song," and "Bring It on Home" are all based on classic blues songs -- only, the riffs are simpler and louder and each song has an extended section for instrumental solos.

Views: 426

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

For some reason, the first thing I thought of was "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

That's a mighty fine first thought!

Some classic songs/albums!

AC - Because of spotify, i've been able to listen to all of AC's backcatalog, or most of it. It's much better than I expected, since the albums I bought was his mid- to late 80's albums, which I didn't like at all. This is a good album, but it's been a while since i heard it, because I can't really remember this song?! But like a lot of bands/artists, there are times, when I like to listen to their albums, and times where I don't. But I'm sure I will get back to this album another time. Not bad at all. Still, I'm no fan of his voice.

BS- But I AM a fan of Ozzy's voice. Even though AC was/is pretty good, BS is definitely one of alltimes best bands, up until 1982, that is. Amazingly strong debut, and still the band was able to deliver better albums. That makes me a big fan!! Is it really Ozzy on Harmonica? Probably.

RS - I would also call myself a fan of Stones, but they have only made one REALLY great album, and this is not the one, even though it's pretty good. I tend to be a bit bored, listening to a Stones-album (except for Exile), but obviously it's great music. Jagger was in fact pretty good on the harmonica. Keef said once, that the true Jagger was heard on harmonica. I agree, that he's much better than Ozzy on that instrument.

LZ - What's to say? LZ is only second to The Beatles imo, and this is a great song to end a great album. Plant was not in league with Jagger on the harmonica. sounds like, it was just because everybody else was doing it at the time.

The best ever on harmonica was/is Stevie wonder!!!

I do not own any Stevie Wonder...

The first song, I think of, is Piano-man.

And a lot of Dylan-songs. I don't really like Dylan on Harmonica, though.

Some guy named Neil Young used that harmonica thing every now and then.

Guess there's actually a lot of songs with harmonica but I never really paid attention to it. Well, except for maybe the intro to "Train, Train" because it was so cool. Not that I have anything against the harmonica since it is a great way to pass away that prison time. Heck, I even have one now and occasionally play around with it when I want to get really annoying.

The four songs here are really good, actually have three of these albums and had that fourth at one point of my life but will probably never buy it again because of that one song that is just horrible and it makes me cringe to even thing about it.

Really glad you've picked up more Stones albums. You're still missing a few. You need ti pick up more.

I still have Goats Head Soup, Beggars Banquet and Steel Wheels in my wish list.  Anything prior to BB sounds really dated to me so I'm not interested in those.  And the Bridge to Babylon, and Dirty Work got horrible reviews so I'm steering clear from those as well.  Not really intrigued by anything live other that Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! which has killer reviews...  but I've got enough to occupy my time for a good while...

RSS

Question Of The Week

CRB Features (Click photo to visit)

Birthdays

There are no birthdays today

CRB Staff Members

 

In Memory Of

Norma Jean Fox
(11/30/1945-9/7/2010)

Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

Videos

  • Add Videos
  • View All

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by RJhog (Admin).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service