Classic Rock Bottom

Still early in the series, but the musical evolution is amazing! The difference from 70-73? Incredible! The styles are really all over the place as this playlist will try to showcase. Jazz, Ballads, Pop, Rock, Country-Rock - just a real feeling that everything was in play and everyone was buying into it all. Something in the air smells like significant change is coming... Stay tuned and I'm sure we'll hear it...


And I've found some more favorites of mine emerging from early 70's influences. In 1973 ...

  • My favorite Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy, was released
  • Framptons best song was recorded and released - Lines On My Face
  • Nazareths Loud N' Proud is released and still has a huge influence on my muscial tastes

This weeks Wiki-Facts are brought to you by JonsMindO'Pedia...

  • January 14 - Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite television special is broadcast in over 40 countries around the world.
  • January 30 – Kiss perform their first concert, at the Coventry Club in Queens.
  • February 2 - The Midnight Special makes its début as a regular series on NBC. Helen Reddy is the featured artist.
  • March 1 - Pink Floyd releases The Dark Side of the Moon, which goes on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time. The album debuts on the Billboard 200 on March 17, reaches #1 on April 28, and eventually logs the all-time record of 741 weeks on that chart.
  • May 4 – July 29 – Led Zeppelin embarks on a tour of the United States, during which they set the record for highest attendance for a concert, 56,800, at the Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The record was previously held by The Beatles. Performances for the movie The Song Remains the Same are also filmed.
  • May 25 – Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells becomes the first release on Richard Branson's newly launched Virgin label.
  • June 29 - The Scorpions play their first gig with Uli Roth at a festival in Vechta. Roth was originally intended as a temporary replacement for Michael Schenker, who had just been snapped up by U.F.O. earlier in the month.
  • July 3 – David Bowie 'retires' his stage persona Ziggy Stardust in front of a shocked audience at the Hammersmith Odeon at the end of his British tour.
  • July 13 - The Everly Brothers break up. Queen releases their debut album.
  • September 27 - Don Kirshner's Rock Concert premieres on syndicated television with a performance by The Rolling Stones.
  • October 19 – The Who release Quadrophenia, one of their most critically acclaimed albums.
  • December 3 - CBGB music club opens in Manhattan.
  • December 31 - Brothers Malcolm and Angus Young perform under the name AC/DC at the former Sydney nightclub 'Chequers' for their New Year's Eve party.



PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/avhiq9pc

The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band

1 - Can't You See

Taking a page from their Capricorn Records labelmates and Southern rock contemporaries the Allman Brothers, the Marshall Tucker Band issued a self-titled debut blending the long and winding psychedelic and jam band scene with an equally languid and otherwise laid-back country-rock flavor. Into the mix they also added a comparatively sophisticated jazz element -- which is particularly prominent throughout their earliest efforts. Their free-spirited brand of Southern rock was a direct contrast to the badass rebel image projected by the Outlaws or Lynyrd Skynyrd. This difference is reflected throughout the 1973 long-player The Marshall Tucker Band. The disc commences with one of the MTB's most revered works, the loose and limber traveling proto-jam "Take the Highway." The improvised instrumental section features some inspired interaction between Toy Caldwell and Eubanks. This also creates a unique synergy of musical styles that is most profoundly exhibited on the subsequent cut, "Can't You See."

Nazareth
Loud N' Proud

2 - Child In The Sun

With Roger Glover once again at the controls, the group added even higher levels of distortion and energy to create one of the hardest rocking items in their catalog: "Go Down Fighting" starts the album with a sonic boom thanks to its blend of furious riffing with a breathless tempo, and the group's cover of "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" transforms this Little Feat into a runaway locomotive of hard rock riffing. However, the album's definitive moment of heaviness is their extended reworking of Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown," which drenches the tune in ungodly levels of feedback to create an ominous, horror movie-style feel. Loud & Proud also produced another hit single for the group with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight," which transforms the wistful original into a throbbing rock song.

Steely Dan
Countdown To Ecstasy

3 - Your Gold Teeth

Can't Buy a Thrill became an unexpected hit, and as a response, Donald Fagen became the group's full-time lead vocalist, and he and Walter Becker acted like Steely Dan was a rock & roll band for the group's second album, Countdown to Ecstasy. The loud guitars and pronounced backbeat of "Bodhisattva," "Show Biz Kids," and "My Old School" camouflage the fact that Countdown is a riskier album, musically speaking, than its predecessor. Each of its eight songs have sophisticated, jazz-inflected interludes, and apart from the bluesy vamps "Bodhisattva" and "Show Biz Kids," which sound like they were written for the stage, the songs are subtly textured. "Razor Boy," with its murmuring vibes, and the hard bop tribute "Your Gold Teeth" reveal Becker and Fagen's jazz roots.

Elton John
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

4 - Midnight Creeper

Elton John became a true superstar with 1972's Honky Chateau. He followed that album with Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, his most direct, pop-oriented album to date. Designed as a pastiche of classic and contemporary pop styles, the album almost sounds like an attempt to demonstrate the diversity of the John/Taupin team. Though the hits are remarkable -- "Daniel" is a moving ballad and "Crocodile Rock" is a sly take on '50s rock & roll. Several of the album tracks, particularly the knowing "I'm Gonna Be a Teenage Idol" and the rocking "Elderberry Wine," are as strong as anything John had recorded. At its best, it is a very enjoyable piece of well-crafted pop/rock.

Montrose
Montrose

5 - Bad Motor Scooter

The '70s gave us a slew of classic hard rock albums -- the likes of which may never be equaled -- and though it hasn't had the lasting influence of, say, Boston's or Ted Nugent's first albums, Montrose's eponymous debut proved equally influential and important in its day. Released in 1973, the record also introduced a young Sammy Hagar to the world, but the explosive aggression of Ronnie Montrose's biting guitar left no doubt as to why it was his name gracing the cover. A rock-solid rhythm section featuring drummer Denny Carmassi and bassist Bill Church certainly didn't hurt, either, and unstoppable anthems such as "Rock the Nation" and "Good Rockin' Tonight" would lay the ground rules for an entire generation of late-'70s California bands, most notably Van Halen. Admittedly, tracks like "Make It Last" and "I Don't Want It" sound rather dated by today's sonic standards (no thanks to their ultra-silly lyrics), but no amount of time can dim the sheer euphoria of "Bad Motor Scooter," the adolescent nastiness of "Rock Candy," and the simply gargantuan main riff of the phenomenal "Space Station #5." A welcome addition to any respectable '70s hard rock collection.

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Can't You See is another of those songs that has that "feeling" I get with certain songs. I use these terms a lot, but they apply here. This song is "atmospheric", and "takes me away". Just a great tune. And a great album cover, as well, if you ask me. How often is a flute going to sound great in a rock song? It does here!

Nazareth is "up there" with UFO, in my opinion, of bands that made it...in terms of being known "world wide"...but still never received the success that was justly do. Long careers, many albums and tours...all great things, but Naz' (and UFO) should have been as big as AC-DC, Kiss, Def Lep...and the list could go on. For me, Nazareth has some absolute classic albums from the 70's. Everyone knows about "Hair Of The Dog", but "Loud N Proud", "Razamanaz", "Rampant" and "Expect No Mercy" were all just great, classic releases.

Never was much of a Steely Dan fan, but "Reelin' In The Years" definitely has a place among rocks greatest songs of all time. Absolute stellar guitar work in that tune. This tune here definitely has that "smooth jazz" vibe that the Dan does so well. Very clean, well placed, short lead on this track. The piano and bongos add so much texture...even though I still prefer wailing, distorted guitars, this is decent.

Never heard this Elton John before. To me, Elton gives a very good vocal performance here. He is definitely "feelin' it" as he sings. Some pretty good guitar fills here, between vocal lines. And the lead sections later in the song are good, too.

The Montrose track, and album, is an absolute hard rock classic. Don't even need to talk about it...it's musical history, and both track and album are in "high esteem" for rockers everywhere.

Marshall Tucker band is that way for me as well.  Their first 4-5 releases are stellar!  They're from Spartanburg SC, about an hours south of me.  I think they've recently become active again as well.  I need to catch them live and hopefully soon.

This album from Nazareth is my favorite from them, there's some real great songwriting on it.  Plays a big role still to this day.  The Remaster is really good as well, so much to hear that's fresh.  Highly recommend Loud N Proud if your missing it from your collection

Steely Dan is definitely an acquired taste.  But I like them a lot.  Most everything they do is so complex and layered in such a way that its fresh every time you hear it.  Love their work!

Couple things I've noticed going through these early 70's releases...  1)  Three Dog Night and Elton John were releasing pretty much non-stop.  While one started to fade, John just kept getting better and better ...

Cool stuff!

I want a pair of those headphones. They look like boobies.

And they look heavy...

.....yet stylish.

Heavy - Stylish - Boobies...   hmmmmm...

Actually, when I first saw that picture, I thought of this:

One thing that you didn't mention is that every one of these bands/artists (except one) are still around, making music. Actually, you could take the lead singer from that exception and include him even though nobody really talked about his last album for some reason. Nobody featured it on an NMC in 2013!

Funny that you mentioned jazz. Why? I won't tell you. Let's just say there was some really great jazz rock in the 70's. I'll leave it at that and won't say anything else at this time. As far as I'm concerned, this conversation is over and never actually began.

I currently have a couple Steely Dan studio albums. Through the years I've had one of them that I currently have plus another one, but have never picked up that other one and have a different one instead. What albums, you ask? Figure it out, I say. 

There's something about the featured Elton John album that doesn't make an impression om me. Maybe I have this album, maybe not. But I have heard it and it just doesn't grab me like "Captain Fantastic..." or that one about a bricks and a yellow road. The song here isn't bad, maybe it's "Crocodile Rock" that bugs me. I had to lip synch to it for some show when I was a kid. Maybe I heard the song too much back then. 

Like that Nazareth song, it's just the peacock. Just doesn't seem to fit. I've seen peacocks and they've never been loud, not really proud either. They just walk away. That doesn't show me any pride. 

Doesn't it seem like that Montrose album came out later than '73? It does to me.

That's all I want to write. Nice stuff here.

So, I have two of these albums and 3 of these songs. Which ones?

Enjoyed listening to that Scott.  All of the songs were enjoyable.  I have 3/5 of these albums.  I don't have the Marshall Tucker album or the Elton John album.  Wouldn't mind having both.  I know two of these tunes enough to recognize them easily (Can't You See and Bad Motor Scooter).

Here's how I would rank the songs:

1. Can't You See - Fantastic song, everybody is familiar with it.

2. Your Gold Teeth - Typical Steely Dan, no complaints here.

3. Bad Motor Scooter - A true rocker.

4. Child In The Sun - A real sleeper.  I picked up several Nazareth albums last year at the used cd store but haven't spent any time with them.

5. Midnight Creeper - Nice guitar on this track.

That debut album from Marshall Tucker is real good, a must have if you were to ask me.  One of the things I really wanted to come across in this play list is the variety that was out there ...  everyone was making music and everyone was absorbing it.  It was totally wide open... I can remember much about the early 80's and FM radio at night it had the same feel.  But (I think) Mtv put that to an end.... 

Ah the good ol' days!!

Guess everyone missed that "thing" you wanted them to come across. What an epic fail.

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