Category ACROSS THE DECADES
SOUL GOLD — DONNY HATHAWAY LIVE
Soul and R&B music was strong in the early 1970s. Although the decade came to be dominated by the peerless Stevie Wonder, there were other great artists reimagining the sounds of black America. Take, for example, the transition of Marvin Gaye from pop heartthrob to urban story-teller with his timeless 1971 LP What’s Going On. […]
THE PRINCE’S DIARIES
Day 1 Having suggested featuring a Prince album at the Discrepancy Records blog, I realised as I unwrapped the album that my knowledge of the small purple one’s music was rather limited. In fact the only Prince items in the VC collection are a double CD of his hits and the one where he’s being […]
BREAK DOWN THE WALL
When Mr Discrepancy Records mentioned a piece on The Wall, I confess my heart sank just a little. Although Pink Floyd are a lifetime favourite artist and my collection comprises well over fifty albums, Roger Waters’ 1979 psycho-drama is one I rarely reach for. This will stretch me, I thought. But the boss had not […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #55 — #51
#55 ALICE COOPER — SCHOOL’S OUT Alice Cooper’s fifth studio album built on the success of the two 1971 LPs that preceded it. In fact, on the back of the title-track-single, the album made it to #2 on the US Billboard chart (and #5 in Australia). The stable lineup of Alice (Vincent Furnier to his […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #60—#56
MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND — GLORIFIED MAGNIFIED The 1972 debut album by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band was a kind of rock ’n’ roll stew, with a range of styles. Country rock, blues rock, a ballad or two, AOR… it’s fine, but lacked focus. So it’s great to report that the follow up found the quartet […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #65 — #61
65 BRIAN CADD — BRIAN CADD There may well be a sidebar post on 1972 Australian albums at some point, but this first album by all-rounder Brian Cadd deserves a special mention. He appeared here recently as a contributor to the fabulous soundtrack Morning Of The Earth (there may be a special ’72 soundtrack post […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #69 — #66
69 NINA SIMONE — EMERGENCY WARD Part sermon, part social commentary, part lament on love, this odd semi-live LP is held in high regard. Certainly the first side, an extended melding of George Harrison’s “My sweet lord” with a poem by David Nelson, is an engrossing journey through soul funk to gospel refrain. The other […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #72 — #70
A new year, another trawl through some favourite fifty-year old albums, records that still have some pep in their step and are worth a listen for more than nostalgic reasons. Not to denigrate nostalgia, of course. Perfectly valid reason to look up an old friend. The VC holding from 1972 is edging towards the three […]
GREEN AND SUBMARINE
The first inkling that scuba diving was perhaps not going to be my new favourite thing came when I experienced an anxiety attack in the training pool. Spending the rest of the lesson sitting in the shallow end staring through a thin layer of chlorinated water above my head and trying to breath slowly and […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #2—#1
2 MARVIN GAYE — What’s Going On Soul gets serious with Marvin Gaye’s ground breaking album. In a year full of turbulence and change, the golden voiced hit-parader found a new groove, eschewing fantasy to write about what was really going on. The result was one of the great albums of its era, one that—amazingly, […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #4 — #3
4 ROLLING STONES — Sticky Fingers Sticky Fingers is the most consistent collection of quality songs and most satisfying overall album by the Rolling Stones. Discuss. Well, it was certainly no tossed off blues-rock pastiche. The songs on the Stones ninth (UK) studio album were laboured over across a two year period and show clear […]
NOT SUCH A COOL YULE… A SEASONAL OFFERING REVISITED
This piece was originally published at Vinyl Connection in 2014. It is re-posted because I still rather like it and hope others who have stumbled across the blog in the intervening years might enjoy it too. * The first half of 1977 was spent sitting in my room. It wasn’t locked; I just couldn’t find […]
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