Tag Archives: 1974 Music

1974 COUNTDOWN | #5 — #1

It has certainly been a long, strange trip yet here we are near the end of the 74 FROM ’74 album countdown. With a dozen-and-a-half days of 2024 still remaining. What efficiency! Before launching into the final five albums, it is timely to recall that this is neither a ‘Best of’ list, nor a ‘Greatest […]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #49 — #45

#49 JETHRO TULL — WARCHILD After Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play, some Jethro Tull fans were no doubt relieved that the band had moved back to standard song lengths and un-concept albums. Some of the songs do seem a little pedestrian, but the hits are irrefutable evidence that Ian Anderson and the […]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #74—#70

#74 MACKENZIE THEORY — BON VOYAGE How fitting to begin another COUNTDOWN voyage with an album called Bon Voyage. How ironic saying “Hello” to another epic trek through more than six dozen albums (selected from a pool of around three hundred) with a ritual phrase of farewell. How ambivalent was your correspondent about attempting this […]

HEAVEN EARTH RELAY

Rock and roll will never last, you know. Gone in a couple of years. That’s what they said back in the early 60s. Yet not only has the beast survived, some of its protagonists have notched up multiple decades in the biz, inviting today’s extraordinary mission: Reviewing two albums by the same artist, released four […]

CAMEL CUTLETS

There is a very special feeling when you miss a joke and realise – alas, too late – you have appeared as thick as a brick. I was responding to 1537’s post on a T Rex album and commented that I’m not a big fan. Sure, the singles are great, but I find the albums […]

ART ON YOUR SLEEVE #1 − PROCOL HARUM

An occasional series featuring LPs boasting ‘fine art’ on their covers, with words about the music and something about the art   #1 PROCOL HARUM – Exotic Birds and Fruit [1974]   THE MUSIC By 1974, the massive success of Procol Harum’s debut single was a long time gone. Not that the band had disappeared; more gently but […]

YOU’LL NEVER COME BACK

I was thrown out of Melbourne’s signature university at the end of 1976, having accumulated an impressive collection of ‘F’ grades. That’s not ‘F for Fail’ – though it certainly is well below the plimsoll line of the good ship Pass Mark – but the F at the end of the series A – B […]

SKYHOOKS CALLING [COVERART #57]

 The debut album by Australian pop-rockers Skyhooks was released on 28th October 1974. Artwork was by Niels Hutchison. Read a memoir and album reflection here (previous post). When the first of several re-unions eventuated in the early 80s the band toured and – surprise surprise – released an album Live in the 80s in 1983.  What […]

[RE-] LIVING IN THE SEVENTIES

When Skyhooks played Melbourne Uni’s Wilson Hall in 1974 they were just about to erupt into the charts with their game-changing debut album. There was a buzz around the band and the big hall was packed with the ‘I’ve heard they’re good’ curious, the ‘saw them at Martini’s ages ago’ hip, and the ‘Who’s playing […]

STRANGE FANTASTIC DREAM

The legendary Australian progressive band Spectrum went into cryogenic storage in mid-1973. When you think of the departure of a band – especially a well-regarded one with a series of albums to its credit – you tend to think of record company neglect or audience indifference. That image doesn’t quite fit the last year in Spectrum’s […]