Tag: 1970s
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Michael Franks, The Art of Tea, 1975 on Reprise
Franks is an interesting figure – from my pov very over looked these days, but quite successful at the time. He was the center of the so-called “Quiet Storm” movement – jazz influenced, sooth vocals – sort of adjacent to Yacht Rock but with a more R&B / smooth jazz base. (There was a “Quiet…
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Duke Ellington, The Intimate Ellington, 1977 on Pablo Records
Recorded in NYC between 1969 and 1971, with a variety of players. Includes “Moon Maiden” with just Ellington singing and accompanying himself on Celeste, and also some great renditions of “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” and “Sophisticated Lady” but also some less well known songs. Pablo Records was Norman Granz’s label created…
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Paul Collins’ Beat, The Beat, 1979 on CBS / Columbia
Paul Collins’ Beat was originally just called “The Beat” (as is evident in the artwork) but was renamed Paul Collins’ Beat to avoid confusion with that other “The Beat” (itself renamed to The English Beat in the US). Collins’ legacy includes the Nerves and the Plimsouls, both with Peter Case. Columbia could not use the…
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Butterfield Blues Band, Live, 1970 on Elektra
Paul Butterfield and band (sometimes labelled as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, here just last name) live at the Troubador in Los Angeles, produced by Todd Rundgren, engineered by Rundgren and Ray Thompson. Great live blues album – Chicago Blues with a horn section and more jazz foundations mixed in. The lineup here does not…
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The Clash, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, 1978 on CBS / Epic
The follow up to the self-titled debut, and the first with Topper Headon on drums. It was actually the first Clash album released in the US – the debut album did not get a US release until 1979. “English Civil War” is a reworking of “Johnny Comes Marching Home” – the rest are all written…
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Kris Kristofferson, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, 1971 on Monument
This was Kristofferson’s second album, following what was originally released as Kristofferson but later retitled Me and Bobby McGee to capitalize on the hit version released on Janis Joplin’s Pearl. This was a more commercially successful release, including one of my favorite Kristofferson songs “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).” It’s…
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Stephane Grappelli, Uptown Dance, 1978 on Columbia
Only available on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track, Grappelli is joined here by two different bands – one with Jimmy Rowles, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, and Jay Berliner and the other with Richard Tee, Anthony Jackson, Steve Gadd, Hugh McCracken, and Rubens Bassini. For my ears, this album veers at times into easy listening / fusion,…
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ABBA (Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida), Waterloo, 1974 on Atlantic
Originally released by Polar in Sweden but by Atlantic in the US, this is the debut album for ABBA, made famous when they won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo.” I’m surprised one does not find more ABBA in used record stores – maybe everyone’s holding on to their copies? My copy via Beverly…
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Black Nasty, Talking To The People, 1973 on Enterprise
Enterprise was a sub-label of Stax, and released the early solo work of Isaac Hayes. It is actually named after the Star Trek spaceship – Al Bell was a big fan. Black Nasty cut three singles and an album (this one) for Enterprise before being dropped by the label. Johnnie Mae Matthews, the “Godmother of…
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Dr. John, Desitively Bonnaroo, 1974 on ATCO
Dr. John’s seventh solo LP, Desitively Bonnaroo is the source of the name for the Bonnaroo music festival. It was produced by Allen Toussaint, who is also credited with keyboards, percussion, and backing vocals, and a band including George Porter Jr, Art Neville, Joseph Modeliste, and Leo Nocentelli (aka The Meters). Not sure if Dr.…
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Leo Kottke, Ice Water, 1974 on Capitol
Although he was born in Georgia, I think of Kottke as another Minneapolis folkie. He’s one of the folks who, when I find an album I don’t have, I just buy it without question. He’s also still out touring and well worth seeing if you get a chance. This was his fifth full length on…
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David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972 on RCA Victor
I came to this album indirectly and backwards – from the Bauhaus cover (“Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilley, and the Spiders from Mars”). But what a magnificent album it is. I think Bowie was at his greatest creative height in the early 70s (as much as I do love his later…
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Pink Floyd, Animals, 1977 on Columbia
What a fantastic album – from the opening note to the closing. I came to Pink Floyd later – not discovering their albums in the sequence they came out, but starting with The Wall and then branching out, eventually getting back to the Syd Barrett days. This record was their 10th studio LP and came…
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David Bowie, Aladdin Sane, 1973 on RCA Victor
Bowie’s sixth studio album, this was the followup to Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It features Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, and Woody Woodmansey (aka the Spiders From Mars). It was recorded during breaks in the Ziggy Stardust tour. Includes a cover of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” as well as “The Jean Genie”…
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Bob Dylan / The Band, Before the Flood, 1974 on Asylum
This was the first released live album by Dylan, though of course since then many earlier live recordings have been released. After this came out Dylan went back to Columbia records, having recorded only Planet Waves and this LP for Asylum – later reissues starting in the 80s are actually on Columbia or imprints of…
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Bob Dylan, Self Portrait, 1970 on Columbia
Another of the “difficult” Dylan albums, which he later himself said was something of a joke, designed to relieve some of the pressure he felt from the sixties and his enormous popularity – to do something his fans could not relate to. It is a sprawling double album, including live versions of “Like a Rolling…
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Van Halen, Van Halen, 1978 on Warner Bros
The debut, self-titled album. Certainly one of the most recognizable band logos, and one millions sketched on notebooks, jackets, and the like when I was growing up. Hard to overstate the importance of Eddie Van Halen’s playing on Eruption here and the impact it had on guitar players from then on: Also included on their…
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Dylan, Dylan, 1973 on Columbia
This was the album Columbia famously released without Dylan’s authorization after he signed with Asylum Records. (He would release Planet Waves and Before the Flood on Asylum before returning to Columbia, who later reissued both). In short these are outtakes from the Self Portrait and New Morning sessions widely considered part of Dylan’s inconsistent early…