Category b) Seventies [1970 – 1979]
CATHEDRALS, SONGS AND NABS (CSN)
Funny how bits of music-related fluff stick in the old bonce. Something passes through the cranium and waves a vague kind of greeting to the odd neurone or two, quickly fading into obscurity like the second Kajagoogoo single. Then, when you’re having a pleasant browse through the racks of your favourite recorded music emporium, this […]
COUSIN HOOKER
Earl Hooker was an unsung hero of electric blues guitar. Born near Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1930, Earl (middle name Zebedee) moved to Chicago with his family but left home at an early age to go play music. And play he certainly did, adding his Robert Nighthawk influenced slide playing to recordings by Sonny Boy Williamson, […]
IDES OF MARCH
9 MARCH 1970: Black Sabbath appear at The Roundhouse in London. There’s something special about debut albums, so yesterday I got a real Birmingham blast from this lovely Rhino re-issue. 10 MARCH 1973: The US release of Dark Side Of The Moon A ‘trying to be funny’ post on Dark Side of the Moon was […]
ODES OF MARCH
On a recent visit to Goldmine Records, respected Melbourne purveyor of albums both new and recycled, in addition to a couple of interesting LPs I scored a little extra something in my carrier bag. It was a calendar produced by the good folk at Rhino Records to mark—nay, celebrate—their fortieth birthday. It’s great fun for […]
LET IT GROW
When 461 Ocean Boulevard was released in July 1974, it is extraordinary to note that Eric Clapton, at twenty-nine years of age, was a veteran of The Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos. Not to mention two solo albums. Under 30 with more than fifteen album credits. Not bad, […]
HEAVY SCENE AT BRUTON LIBRARY
While scouring a local charity shop last year, I happened across a bunch of Library recordings. Though some were scuffed and careworn, I hoovered them up, knowing that sometimes these anonymous, often nondescript albums can be unexpectedly entertaining. It also occurred to me that they could be candidates for the occasional ‘Curiosity Corner’ category. First […]
PLAY IT AGAIN, TIM
Video may well have killed the radio star, but the song also came very close to provoking the death by strangulation of my friend Tim. Released in September 1979, “Video Killed The Radio Star” was co-written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley a year earlier. Fans of Yes will know the first two […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT, SO CLEAR
It’s a Friday night in the late nineties. Steven and I are lounging around talking shit about music. A single slice of Capricciosa sits uneasily in the grease-stained box and half a bottle of red stands on the coffee table. The pizza gets ignored; we’re either too full or too polite to take it. Not […]
ARE YOU THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE?
It opens with a delicate piano piece, an ambient overture. “The struggle of the magicians, part three”. Credited to composer Thomas De Hartmann and mystic cum guru Gurdjieff (1866 – 1949), this is a lovely neo-classical piece that seduces with a gently pastoral beauty suggesting the magicians aren’t straining too hard. Next is a wispy […]
VARIOUS ARTISTS GO DECADE DIVING
1957 Folk, Pops ‘n Jazz Sampler [Elektra SMP-3] Country tunes rub shoulders with calypso jazz in this time capsule from the early days of long-playing records, when tracks were known as ‘Bands’ and the previous volume was available for $2 from your dealer. At $17.50 in today’s money, that seems quite expensive. Love the album […]
POWER PLANT BACK ON LINE
Are you onboard with Kraftwerk? The Deutsche electronic music pioneers are far better known now than when they created their definitive romantic/ascetic albums in the seventies. In fact a halo of electronic divinity now surrounds a band whose membership grew then shrunk and at one point even toured a set of robotic dummies instead of […]
SEVEN FROM 77 – READER’S CHOICE
Here we are at the last post (cue mournful bugle) of the 1977 series. And how better to wrap it up than by highlighting albums named by Vinyl Connection readers as favourites from that fruitful and varied year. Enjoy. * 7 Talking Heads—Talking Heads: 77 A strange yet fascinating oddity; tense with studied nonchalance like […]
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