Category GENRE SPECIFIC
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… #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 […]
COVER ART | ON THE CHAIR II
Sharing some of the spins that have been enjoyed at Vinyl Connection HQ over the past little while. Any favourites amongst these? The third LP in the ‘trilogy’ of this particular period of King Crimson. While not as startling as Discipline, it remains an under-rated album from Robert Fripp’s Jedi knights. Rick Wakeman’s solo debut […]
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 […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #10 — #8
10 KING CRIMSON — Islands Perhaps the most misunderstood album in the King Crimson catalogue, Islands signalled a change in direction for Robert Fripp’s merry band. With Keith Tippet on piano and compositions that took elements of the band’s live improvisational style into the studio, the pieces on Islands stretch and search, incorporating woodwinds and […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #15 — #11
#15 FLEETWOOD MAC — Future Games Mick Fleetwood described Danny Kirwan as “an exceptional guitar player”, and so he was. Kirwan joined the band in August 1968 and appears on the albums from Then Play On to Bare Trees, contributing many excellent songs. One of his absolute best opens Future Games, the shimmering, mesmeric “Woman […]
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 […]
COVER ART | ALBUMS AL FRESCO
It’s Spring in Melbourne. The weather tends to be varied—drizzle, downpours, showers, storms, occasional sun—but when time and inclemency allow, I’ve been taking some records for walks. They need a change of scenery after the long lockdowns. * The adventure began in the back garden, celebrating Joni Mitchell’s 78th birthday (7 November) during a break […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #34 — #30
34 TANGERINE DREAM — Alpha Centauri In some ways the most psychedelic of the early Tangerine Dream albums, Alpha Centauri is as powerful as a neural freight train and as spacey as a black hole. This is powerful cosmic music. It starts with a brief preamble, “Sunrise in the third system” before launching into the […]
COVER ART | A HALLOWEEN COLLECTION
I partook of a #Halloweenvinyl challenge over at the ‘gram. Here is a selection… * JEAN MICHEL JARRE — Oxygene [1976] * GOBLIN — Suspiria [OST 1976] * Two Suspirias being better than one, hello Radiohead’s Thom Yorke… THOM YORKE — Suspiria [2018] * A kind of a black magic vibe, also marking Peter Green’s […]
1971 COUNTDOWN: #39 — #35
39 EMERSON LAKE & PALMER — Tarkus The twenty-one minute “Tarkus” suite is the best side of vinyl in the EL&P catalogue. Powerful, cohesive, with brilliant playing and a suitably dramatic sci-fi-ish story about warlike robot-animal hybrids, it is one of the pinnacles of progressive music. Co-written by Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, this second […]
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