Category Jazz & Jazz-Rock
SOFT MACHINE 1975 – 1978
There is so much change and restless creativity in the Soft Machine catalogue it can take quite a while to get one’s head around it. Took me years. The first two albums explode with Sixties eccentricity, mischief, and brain-pinging energy. But then there is an apparent u-turn into the sprawling, magnificent Third; an album demanding […]
1972 JAZZ — THE TOP 10
10 THE CRUSADERS — 1 Unlike Miles, The Jazz Crusaders and others in the jazz community, I was not listening to Sly and the Family Stone in the early 1970s. Fact is, I wasn’t really listening to anything other than Top 40 AM radio station 3XY on my transistor. So when, much later, I stumbled […]
1972 | A JAZZ SIX-PACK
Before the end of the 72 From ’72 series there will be a selection of my favourite jazz albums from the year in question. In the meantime, here is a somewhat random half-dozen 1972 albums that have tickled the jazz fancy over the years. * When I acquired this from Bentleigh Sewing & Records in […]
MOSE KNOWS
In the early 1970s jazz labels started to mine their back catalogues by re-issuing material repackaged for a new, younger audience. These compilations were often priced lower than a new release and provided opportunities to explore less familiar styles and artists. It was a fine idea and it worked. Well, for me, anyway. Just recently […]
1972 COUNTDOWN — #35 – 31
35 CHICAGO — LIVE IN JAPAN Coming out the year after their epic four LP set Chicago Live At Carnegie Hall, this is a far superior document of the brass-driven outfit in concert. The playing is energetic and powerful while the recording is much, much better than the tinny sound of the 1971 release. The […]
1972 COUNTDOWN — THE STORY SO FAR
As a warm-up to a possible resumption of play in the 72 FROM ’72 countdown, here is a summary of the posts and albums so far. GREEN AND SUBMARINE kicked things off in mid-January. Summer Downunder is a time for thinking about beaches and oceans and spinning one of my favourite film soundtracks ever. It […]
ALBUM COVERS | 10 MORE ARTIST PORTRAITS
More album cover art with an emphasis on art. Here are ten record covers with portraits of the artist. Some are from the Vinyl Connection collection, a couple were sourced from the internet. Several were suggested in the comments section of the initial post and are gratefully included. Let’s continue the pattern of starting with […]
1972 COUNTDOWN… #50 — #46
50 PENTANGLE — SOLOMAN’S SEAL The last album in Pentangle’s original run, Solomon’s Seal is not well regarded by critics who, in my opinion, are being too hard by half. Yes, this LP does seem a little light on the bubbling invention and restrained exuberance of earlier works, but it is solid and thoroughly enjoyable. […]
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… #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 […]
FOCUS ON JAN AKKERMAN
In the post 1971 COUNTDOWN: #29 — #26, an instalment in the seemingly endless Vinyl Connection series, Focus’s second album, Moving Waves, was featured. Scott, veteran blogger at HMO, expressed his appreciation of the album, mentioned my other favourite Focus LP, and revealed his acquisition of a boxed set of solo albums from the band’s guitarist, […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #29 — #26
#29 FOCUS — Moving Waves The second album from the Dutch progressive rock band contained their surprise hit “Hocus Pocus”. Who knew yodelling could be cool? The side-long “Eruption” suite is a highlight in the Focus catalogue and the album is consistently inventive and entertaining as the music dances between Jan Ackerman’s mercurial guitar and […]
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