Tag: 1970s
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Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger, 1975 on Columbia.
This was the follow up to Shotgun Willie, and was a commercial and critical breakthrough as Nelson moved away from RCA (with two albums on Atlantic in between) and into the Outlaw Country phase. At Columbia he got the creative control he’d been after. It’s an early concept album with a continuous story running through…
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Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel, 1978 on Atlantic.
The second in the series of self-titled albums Gabriel put out between 1977 and 1982, this one is sometimes called Peter Gabriel 2 or known as “Scratch” to differentiate it from the others, based on the cover art (by Hipgnosis). Produced by Robert Fripp, with Frippertronics on “Exposure.” In the UK this was on Charisma,…
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The Who, The Kids Are Alright, 1979 on Polydor
The Soundtrack LP to the 1979 rock documentary The Kids Are Alright, with performances from 1965 to 1978. It was originally released on MCA Records in the US and Polydor in the UK – my copy is a reissue from 2019 on Polydor based on a 2017 remastering by Jon Astley. Note the record labels…
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Erroll Garner, Feeling is Believing, 1970 on Mercury
Garner’s first album in the 1970s, with five of his own compositions plus recordings of the Beatle’s “Yesterday;” Blood, Sweat, & Tears’ “Spinning Wheel;” “For Once In My Life;” “Strangers in the Night;” and the Hal David Burt Bacharach “The Look Of Love.” Listed as “A Product of Octave Records” – who are currently reissuing…
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Boogaloo Joe Jones, No Way!, 1971 on Prestige
Jones is joined by Grover Washington, Jr, Sonny Phillips, Butch Cornell, Jimmy Lewis, and Bernard Purdie. Recording by Rudy Van Gelder with Bob Porter. Great early seventies soul/jazz fusion. My copy is the Vinyl Me, Please reissue in the Classics track from 2022, via Craft Recordings (CR00476).
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Doug Sahm, Groover’s Paradise, 1974 on Warner Bros
Doug Sahm’s quite an interesting figure I knew little about until Vinyl Me Please introduced me to this LP. He was a founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet (formed in San Antonio but named to suggest they were part of the British invasion, like The Buckinghams), who moved out to California and were part…
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The Oscar Peterson Trio, In a Mellow Mood, 1973 on MPS-BASF
This 2xLP set is actually a reissue of The Way I Really Play and Mellow Mood, which were volumes III and V of the Exclusively For My Friends series. Makes it very confusing when I’m in a record store and trying to determine whether I’ve completed the series or not. (I have not – still…
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Weather Report, I Sing The Body Electric, 1972 on Columbia
Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Miroslav Vitous, Eric Gravatt, and guests, in a foundational fusion album from the early 70s. This was their second album after a self-titled debut. Side A is new studio work, Side B is live from a concert in Tokyo. I’m certain I actually had a copy of this back in the…
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Steve Goodman, Steve Goodman, 1971 on Buddah Records
Steve Goodman’s an under-appreciated American singer songwriter, mostly known as the guy who wrote “City of New Orleans” (as in, Good Morning, America, how are ya? Don’t you know me I am your native son . . . ). He also hung out with John Prine and Kris Kristofferson in the Chicago folk scene before…
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Washboard Sam, with Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Slim, Feeling Lowdown, 1971 on RCA Victor
Released as part of the RCA Victor Vintage Series, “created to bring you selected reissued performances, unavailable for some years, by great personalities of the popular, jazz and folk music worlds.” Washboard Sam, aka Robert Brown, recorded for Victor and Bluebird between 1935 and 1949 – these recordings all come from sessions in 1941 and…
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Stephane Grappelli, with The Hot Club of London, I Got Rhythm, 1974 on Black Lion
Recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London November 1973, and featuring Diz Disley, Denny Wright, and Len Skeat along with Grappelli. Liner notes by Alan Morgan. My copy via Mystery Train Records in Gloucester MA, which has a pretty impressive Jazz selection
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Stephane Grappelli, Just One of Those Things: Recorded Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1973 on Black Lion Records
Recorded July 4th, 1973, this is Grappelli with Jack Sewing, Daniel Humair, and Marc Hemmeier. My copy via Mystery Train records in Gloucester MA. Black Lion was a label Alan Bates created in 1968 – in 1973 they started to have distribution through Audiofidelity (the AFE logo on the rear cover here). Lots of great…
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Brinsley Schwarz, Silver Pistol, 1971 on United Artists
Brinsley Schwarz is one of those acts that challenges discogs users, because there is both an individual named Brinsley Schwarz, bottom right photo on the rear jacket, and a band that released albums under that name. So does it get filed under Schwarz, Brinsley (as I would for the individual artist) or Brinsley Schwarz as…
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Al Kooper, Naked Songs, 1973 on Columbia
I’m a big fan of Al Kooper‘s work throughout his long career: from the Blues Project and the first Blood, Sweat and Tears album to Super Session and his production work. He’s also a Rock N Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 2023. This album includes a cover of John Prine‘s Sam Stone as well…
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Neil Young, Harvest, 1972 on Reprise
Definitely one of my desert island discs (unless I can cheat and count Decade as one release), Harvest came out in 1972. This would be an absolute classic even if you took out two or three songs: Out on the Weekend, Harvest, A Man Needs a Maid, Heart of Gold, Old Man – then closing…
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ZZ Top, Rio Grande Mud, 1972 on London Records
Second album from the Texas blues/rock trio of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard. London Records basically represented Decca in the US from 1947 to 1980. I love all of their output up to (and including) Eliminator in 1983 – after that I feel like there is a bit of a fall off into…
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Johnny Cash, I Walk the Line, 1971 on Hilltop / Pickwick.
Labelled as Pickwick/33 on the cover, by arrangement with Share records, but then with Hilltop yellow labels – discount reissue of material previously released on Sun Records. (Share acquired Sun’s catalog in 1969; Pickwick/33 was a subsidiary of Pickwick International which also owned Hilltop – Hilltop focused on country/western.). There are so many reissues of…
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John Mayall, Jazz Blues Fusion, 1972 on Polydor
Mayall is joined here by Larry Taylor, Freddy Robinson, Ron Selico, Clifford Solomon and Blue Mitchell – adding sax and trumpet to his traditional blues approach. Recoded in Boston (venue unstated) November 18th, 1971 and then at Hunter College in New York on December 3rd and 4th. My copy via a record fair at Mill…