Category Records
1975 COUNTDOWN | FESTIVE BEST OFS
It’s December 1975, less than a week out from Christmas. What to get your teenage niece? Her parents gave her a small record player for her birthday and have been complaining about the noise emanating from her bedroom ever since. And the last time they visited she sat with her ear pressed against a tiny […]
1975 COUNTDOWN | #30 — #21
#30 NEIL YOUNG — ZUMA After the grim soul scouring of Tonight’s The Night, Young reformed Crazy Horse with new guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro replacing Danny Whitten. Zuma blends wistful reflection with raw electric power. “Don’t Cry No Tears” and “Barstool Blues” evoke rough-edged tenderness, while “Cortez the Killer” stands among his finest works—a thunderhead […]
1975 COUNTDOWN | #75 — #66
Welcome to the sixth annual 50 year countdown. Beginning in 2020 with 70 FROM ’70 we’ve sampled music from each year and attempted to find the ‘keepers’. This year is no exception, though the fragmentation of rock music into sub-genres makes any attempt at ranking increasingly fraught. In this initial set we have keyboard-based prog, […]
I RUN TO YOU
September 23rd is the forty-eighth anniversary of the release of Steely Dan’s Aja. ♥ From its striking cover—timeless in its enigmatic simplicity—to the fadeout of the final song, Aja resides comfortably in classic album territory. Several other ‘classics’ came out in 1977, commercial monsters including Fleetwood Mac Rumours and the Eagles Hotel California. But where […]
ALBUMS COVERS | WOMEN IN MUSIC
As mentioned previously, I’ve been transitioning from IG to Bluesky. A March “Vinyl Challenge” caught my eye. Using the grammatically clunky (but instructive) hashtag #31GreatWomenMusicians, the idea is to post one artist a day for the month. It has been such fun delving into the Vinyl Connection Collection that I thought I’d share a few, […]
1974 COUNTDOWN | FIVE MORE LIVE
Five more 1974 live albums, including two appearances by a British organist and two with ‘oblivion’ in the titles. What are the chances? * VELVET UNDERGROUND — 1969 Released in September 1974 when Lou Reed was a star (if that’s the right word), this rambling double-LP live album is really rather a delight for Velvet […]
1974 COUNTDOWN | FIVE LIVE
Although several ‘in concert’ recordings have made it into the 74 FROM ’74 Countdown, there are lots that didn’t. Here are a handful. * BIRTHCONTROL — LIVE Almost a quintessential 70s prog rock band, Birthcontrol released this live double album to please their many German fans. It is energetic, with familiar songs getting extended treatments […]
10 SUPER CTI ALBUM COVERS
Creed Taylor’s CTI record label was founded in 1967, separating from parent company A&M in 1970. Specialising in a style of jazz that boasted instrumental excellence while keeping an eye on the pop and rock scenes, the label used staff arrangers such as Don Sebesky and Bob James to add orchestral silkiness to the jazz-based […]
WATCH THAT MAN
David Bowie’s performance personas were many and varied. They were a source of endless fascination to his fans and a reflection of his restless creativity. From glam icon Aladdin Sane to the soul man of Young Americans, from the Thin White Duke to Scary Monsters’ Pierrot, the artist born David Robert Jones was as adventurous […]
COLD HARD FACT
Sixto Rodriguez has appeared in these pages twice. Once as part of the 70 FROM 1970 series (where the album featured today placed at a very creditable #22) and once earlier this year when he made an untimely appearance on the Departures board. This post expands on the 70 FROM 70 paragraph and first appeared […]
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