Greetings From California
We continue our look back the music of 50 years ago..... I have kept a number of albums I originally purchased back in the early 70's and "Homecoming", the 2nd Lp from the group America is one of them. I was a sucker for three part harmonies and layered acoustic guitars that came out of my radio and the singl...
Nov 10, 2022
Little Known But Still Good
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... 1970's jazz was a fertile field. The genre was making the move into a fusion of straight jazz, funk, R&B and rock. One of the artists that I discovered in the stacks at 90fm in Stevens Point was flautist Bobbi Humphrey. She released the LP "Dig This&q...
Nov 09, 2022
Leaving On Top
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was their first #1 album in America spending five weeks on top of the charts. It spawned two hit singles. And it was the last original LP the group would record for five years. It was 'Seventh Sojurn" from the Moody Blues. The recording of the LP was d...
Nov 08, 2022
Keep On Truckin'
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They were always a touring band. And in the spring of 1972 the Grateful Dead headed to Europe for a series of concerts in a number of different countries. To offset some of the cost the band's label sent along a 16 track machine to catch the band in it's natur...
Nov 07, 2022
Too Much Chaff, Not Enough Wheat
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... There is probably one side of a good LP among the ramblings of "One Man Dog", the 4th Lp from James Taylor, released in late 1972. This is no Mud Slide Slim or Sweet Baby James although there are echoes of those classics in some of these tracks. The ...
Nov 04, 2022
Rock & Rave
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was described by one critic as "a total body assault, leaving the mind free to wander in the void where the meaning ought to be". Noted British music mag New Musical Express called it "one of the greatest rock n roll releases ever". It w...
Nov 03, 2022
What A Surprise!
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... By 1972 the only Hollies songs I heard were the radio hits and they had two that year. The monster smash "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" which peaked in October, and the follow up, "Long Dark Road", an underrated gem. The problem was both...
Nov 02, 2022
Is It Good? Great??
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Is it as good as the critics said? Of course, music quality is in the ear of the beholder. One man's trash is another's gold. Some call this one of the greatest albums of all-time. I'm skeptical. How do you rate "Transformer", the second studio solo ...
Nov 01, 2022
Some More Hits
We continue our look back at the music of 1972 with some hit singles of the latter part of the year... Papa Was A Rolling Stone-Temptations....the song was their last #1 and their last Grammy winner (it won three)...and they didnt even do it first. The song was first recorded by the Undisputed Truth and released as a s...
Oct 31, 2022
Divine Madness
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... This may be the strangest debut Lp to hit the Top Ten ever...but man, is it a gas. Girl Group anthems and heart string pulling ballads....new songs from hot writers.... a solid take from the Great American Song Book...and a swing classic from 1941 that became ...
Oct 28, 2022
Battling On
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... For their second album in 6 months the James Gang delivered another set of meat and potatos rock with a funkier edge than before on the LP "Passin Thru" It was the second album after the departure of Joe Walsh and once again features the soulful voic...
Oct 27, 2022
Band In Transition
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was a band that would carry the torch of English folk-prog rock through the 1970s...but in 1972 Renaissance was a band in transition. The band had started in the late 60's but by the time the album "Prologue" was released in fall of 1972 it was no...
Oct 26, 2022
Getting Away From A Formula That Worked
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... This band was one of the top concert draws of the early 70's. They were the first white band that had hits for Motown...and that was the formula. Doing long rock jams of hits from the Temptations. But by late 1972 the band Rare Earth was bored with that. They ...
Oct 25, 2022
A Plethora Of Riches
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... 1972 saw an unbelieveable amount of singer-songwriter LPs. An many of them were outstanding in their own ways. The creative environment was rife with subject matter and no end of the folks who wanted to comment on the human condition. Few did it better than Ca...
Oct 24, 2022
Songwriting 101
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Any list of the best singer-songwriters of the 1970s has to include Harry Chapin in a high position. He specialized in story-songs featuring troubled folks dealing with all kinds of problems...loneliness, despair, loss, but he could also bring the lightness on...
Oct 21, 2022
English Blues-Rock Vets Deliver Again
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It really didn't matter who was in the band as long as Kim Simmonds brought his ax. The English band Savoy Brown reliably delivered slabs of blues-rock music through the 70's and beyond (still playing today, I think) including 1972's "The Lions Share"...
Oct 20, 2022
70's Muse Does Her Own Thing
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The story's been well-told. She was the muse of many of the early 70's rockers. Stephen Stills & Graham Nash had a falling out over her that probably caused CSNY to splinter. She had been with Leon Russell, drummer Jim Gordon and others before marrying Kri...
Oct 19, 2022
New Lineup, New Sound
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... The band Atomic Rooster was formed in 1969 when Vincent Crane & Carl Palmer left the Crazy World of Arthur Brown to form their own group. They released a number of prog-rock LPs in the early 70's but by 1972 they were a much different band. Palmer had left ...
Oct 18, 2022
Two Is Better Than One
We continue our look back the music of 50 years ago..... After their first LP went from a Loggins solo project to a duo LP featuring producer Jim Messina both of the musicians and the record company realized thay had something that should be explored. The second, self-titled LP was released in the fall of 1972 and imme...
Oct 17, 2022
Is That Bob Dylan? Nope
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Did you ever hear a band and go...these guys sound like (fill in the blank)? May I present Stealers Wheel fronted by the duo of Gerry Rafferty & Joe Egan. Before he became a big solo star later in the decade, Rafferty along with Egan released a few decent ...
Oct 14, 2022
A Songwriter's Songwriter
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago... You may not be familiar with him but I guarantee that you've heard his songs and the singer-songwriters that fill your record collection know and revere his material. He's Texas born Townes Van Zandt who died early in 1997 after long struggles with alcohol &...
Oct 13, 2022
Still Solid Despite Changes
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... You would think losing a vocalist the caliber of David Clayton-Thomas along with founding members Fred Lipsius and Dick Halligan would have slowed down Blood, Sweat & Tears. Not so much as they released their fifth album, "New Blood" in 1972. Jer...
Oct 12, 2022
A Vanity Project That Scored
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... It ran too long...it played fast and loose with the truth...it skipped over big portions and big people in her life...but the 1972 bio-pic "Lady Sings The Blues", at least gave us the music. The movie was the supposed story of the life of jazz great...
Oct 11, 2022
Delayed Gratification
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... The band was splintering...several members who helped record the debut LP earlier in 1972 had left and the group owed their record label one more. Craig Fuller said he would write and record the next Pure Prairie League album with George Ed Powell and William H...
Oct 10, 2022
Soul Man Strikes Again
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... He just kept on delivering. The Reverend Al Green was in the midst of a run of some of the greatest soul music ever recorded when he released his 2nd LP of 1972, "I'm Still In Love With You", in October. He had already given us "Let's Stay Togth...
Oct 07, 2022
Sure Havin' Fun Tonight
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They are one of those bands that I wish I would have seen live. It seemed like, even on their studio recordings, they were having a blast. The group was Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen and in 1972 they gave us "Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truc...
Oct 06, 2022
Woodstock Warbler Soldiers On
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... In late 1972 Melanie was coming off a big year. The album "Gather Me", released in late 1971 had produced the novelty #1 smash "Brand New Key" and another Top 40 hit, "Ring The Living Bell. Her old record company, Buddah, had also rele...
Oct 05, 2022
Prog-Rock Masterwork
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... With earlier efforts by the English prog-rock band Genesis, there seemed to be more prog than rock. That was one of the differences in their 1972 LP "Foxtrot". The band achieved a break-through for many fans and critics by balancing, as one critic pu...
Oct 04, 2022
The Master Strikes Again
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... Maybe listeners first discovering this today will not be as blown away as we were back in 1972 when Stevie Wonder dropped his fifteenth studio LP, "Talking Book"...the first in a stretch of four albums as good as any artist in music history. It's the ...
Oct 03, 2022
Spreading His Wings
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... After he left the James Gang, Joe Walsh decided he wanted to expand his range of material from power trio boogieing and even though he formed another trio, this one gave us something different. Walsh, along with bass player Kenny Passarelli and drummer Joe Vit...
Sep 30, 2022
Pure Pop
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... In 1972 the LA based hit machine known as the Grass Roots was nearing the end of their run. The LP "Move Along" was the last LP to contain what could be called hit singles. The band, which began in the mid 60's as a studio creation of PF Sloan and St...
Sep 29, 2022
Expanding The Palette
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... The first Columbia Records LP for the band Earth, Wind & Fire shows a group honing their sound and expanding the colors that they would work with. Although the band welcomed new members Phillip Bailey, Larry Dunn,Ralph Johnson and Jessica Cleaves...it woul...
Sep 28, 2022
Underrated Power Trio
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... One of the more pleasant surprises in the rock world of the early to mid 70's was the emergence of a band from Wales called Budgie. The trio from Cardiff released a number of highly listenable records and developed a small but loyal core of fans. In 1972 thei...
Sep 27, 2022
Working Outside The Box
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Columbia Records President Clive Davis said he was "committing career suicide". In 1972 when Carlos Santana released his 4th LP titled "Caravanserai" you could tell immediately that he wasn't resting on past laurels. If you were expecting &...
Sep 26, 2022
Acoustic Sound Works Well
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... By this time you knew what you were going to get from a John Denver album. Some good originals mixed with some uneven covers...tasty acoustic playing from Denver and his band...and the sameness of his voice. In 1972 the album Rocky Mountain High was more of t...
Sep 23, 2022
Debut Is A Home Run
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Even though the debut LP from the English band Babe Ruth was called "First Base" it was more like a three-run homer. But just like a pheenom baseball player, the band could never match it. OK, enough with the baseball analogies. The songs were more a...
Sep 22, 2022
Soul Man Extraordinaire
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... After making his bones as "the Fifth Beatle", keyboard ace Billy Preston released a series of funky solo LPs in the early 70's including 1972's "Music Is My Life". It's a funky collection filled with Preston's keys and soulful vocal work. he...
Sep 21, 2022
Familiar Voice Progresses
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The blue-eyed soul man from Texas goes to Muscle Shoals and delivers another set of tasty tunes. Boz Scaggs released his fifth LP in September of 1972 called "My Time". It wasn't quite 'his time" yet, but there is alot to like here. Not only is ...
Sep 20, 2022
"Live" As It Gets
We continue our look back at the music of 5o years ago.... Before they polished up their act for pop radio & MTV in the 80s, the J.Geils Band was a down & dirty blues-rock band that delivered a high energy set whenever they played live. In 1972 they released a live album from some performances in Detroit that c...
Sep 19, 2022
A Change Is Gonna Come
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When his fourth album, "Orange" did not do well in 1972, Al Stewart decided a change was in order. He would start writing songs based on his love of history on his next record "Past, Present & Future" and would be on his way. That's not...
Sep 16, 2022
On The Way To Stardom
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was their second LP released in 1972 and Manfred Mann's Earth Band's "Glorified Magnified" was an interesting mixture of styles. Short hooky songs for the most part built on Mick Rogers guitar riffs and Mann's organ and synth fills. They also adde...
Sep 15, 2022
Blues Man In Good Voice
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was another one of those albums trying to capitalize on the popularity of the old blues men with the young British rock stars of the day. "The London Muddy Waters Sessions" found the old man in great voice and he delivers some stinging slide licks...
Sep 14, 2022
Another #1
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... 1972 saw singer-songwriter Cat Stevens bring forth another record that his fans sent to #1 on the charts. That it wasnt as strong as Teaser & The Firecat or Tea For The Tillerman didn't seem to matter although you could sense, if you listen close to the so...
Sep 13, 2022
Some Tasty Hits & One Bit Of Weirdness
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....with some Top 40 hits from the late summer-early fall of 1972..... It Never Rains In Southern California-Albert Hammond....written by the British born Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. It's one of many tunes about a artist heading to the LA with high hopes only to lan...
Sep 12, 2022
Solid Sophomore Effort
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... She avoided the dreaded sophomore jinx with a really good record in 1972. Bonnie Raitt delivered with "Give It Up". Three Raitt originals join a nice mix of covers on this one. The originals are fine including what turns into a Dixieland jam on the o...
Sep 09, 2022
Party Like It's 1699
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... This was another band I discovered in the stacks at 90fm...and got turned on to the voice of Maddy Prior with their mid 70's tune "All Around My Hat" Steeleye Span was an English folk-rock band that made their bones by re-making traditional English f...
Sep 08, 2022
Great Addition To The Singer-Songwriter Oeuvre
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... He did it his way. Layering harmony vocals and polishing them to a high sheen. Massing acoustic & electric guitars in a wall of sound. But not on this debut LP. Dan Fogelberg, who of course, died young, released his quiet & beautiful debut LP "Hom...
Sep 07, 2022
Adding Some Color
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... One of the most popular bands of the early 70s had split from their long-time manager/producer Terry Knight and produced their next record by themselves. They also added keyboard player Craig Frost and he added much to the sound. Grand Funk Railroad released th...
Sep 06, 2022
NewGrass Pioneer
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Some of you will remember the bluegrass revival of the 1970s. It led to alot of guys re-inventing themselves or bringing back a style of music that had been popular in the Appalachian Mountains through the 30's, 40's and 50s and freshening it for a newer, youn...
Sep 02, 2022
Sweetened Memphis Nitty Gritty
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... He may the most prolific artist I will cover in these pages. Jazz flautist Herbie Mann released well over 100 albums in his long and varied career. In the late 60's and early 70's he released a number of albums recorded in Memphis with the crack session men a...
Sep 01, 2022
Get Funkifized!
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They were hard to miss throughout the 1970's and 80's. The horn section from the Bay area group Tower Of Power became the one's to call when you wanted tight, funky horn sections are your record. The group they anchored released their second album, "Bump ...
Aug 31, 2022
No Autotune Needed
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... There are some great voices in pop music but you would be hard pressed to find one better than Daryl Hall. Hall and his partner John Oates, released their debut LP, "Whole Oats", in 1972 and it showed alot of what helped them become superstars later ...
Aug 30, 2022
Crunching Metal Attack
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... I've said before...I was not a Black Sabbath fan. Oh, I knew some of the songs from Paranoid but never really dug in deep to their catalog. Some fan reviews of "Vol 4", their 1972 release, say its the second best Sabbath album. I'll take their word f...
Aug 29, 2022
The Fifth Eagle
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The story goes that JD Souther was offered a job with the Eagles and turned it down as he considered himself more of a loner and didn't think he would be a good fit in the band. That said, he collaborated with them over the years co-writing a number of their h...
Aug 26, 2022
Smooth As Glass
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Before he became a pop-star crooner in the late 70's, George Benson released a series of jazz albums which featured his clean, crisp guitar lines backed by the cream of the jazz world. The 1972 LP "White Rabbit" on CTI Records was one such example. B...
Aug 25, 2022
A True Original
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... He had released one of the greatest debut LPs in history the previous year and had survived the dreaded "next Dylan" label. And, in 1972 John Prine released his underrated second album "Diamonds In The Rough". This album, while more polished...
Aug 24, 2022
Let's BOOOOOGIE!
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... There is something to be said for a band that knows its strengths and doesn't vary too far away from them. If you like straight-ahead meat & potatoes rock & roll and boogie....Cactus fits the bill. The 1972 Lp "Ot & Sweaty" is the band's ...
Aug 23, 2022
Following A Masterpiece
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It's always problematic when a rock band has to follow-up what many consider their magnum opus. Rock fans can be fickle...what have you done for me lately. And record companies can want more of the same while musicians like to expand their creative muscles so ...
Aug 22, 2022
Rejuvenation Leads To Hit
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They were toast. A band that had released a number of albums since 1969 had reached the end. Until David Bowie threw them a lifeline. Mott The Hoople had tried many different styles since forming but nothing had ever really jelled with an audience. In 1972 Bow...
Aug 19, 2022
Early Raps Not For Everyone
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Here is another artist I didn't discover until college. Gil Scott-Heron was a singer-songwriter-poet best remembered for his work with Brian Jackson and his polemics about the "black" experience in America during the 1970's. I first discovered him fr...
Aug 18, 2022
On The Brink
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Back in the 70's "Smokin OPS" was a term known as Smoking Other Peoples...whether it meant cigarettes or something else...in the case of the 1972 LP from Bob Seger, it stand for Other Peoples Songs...as this is an LP of mostly covers...and it's prett...
Aug 17, 2022
My Favorite Guitarist is.....
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The 1970's were a golden age for guitar players. The record stacks were filled with thrilling music from the greats...Clapton, Page, Beck, Allman and countless more. The styles varied and if you had to choose a favorite it was tough. I was always partial to cl...
Aug 16, 2022
There's No Business Like Show Business
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... As much as everybody might like to embrace the life of a rock star, at least for awhile, the truth of the matter is that it can be as mindnumbing and boring as any other job. When that's the topic for the lyrics of Ray Davies of the Kinks you know you're in fo...
Aug 15, 2022
Top Notch Harmonies
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... If you like harmony singing, acoustic guitar and tasty mandolin, you'll love "Summer Breeze" the 4th LP from the duo of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts. The album was a huge breakthrough for them and included their first two big hits...'Hummingbird" a...
Aug 11, 2022
Blues Legends Get Together
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... In 1972 I was a freshman in high school in Wausau Wisconsin. I did not have an older brother or sister to turn me on to new music. I got what emanated from my transistor radio. It really didn't pull in the big stations from Chicago and elsewhere so I did not g...
Aug 10, 2022
Hard Rock Icon In Training
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... If you weren't repulsed by the LP cover of the debut album from Elf you would find a mostly straight forward blues-rock LP in the style of Faces. What sets this album apart from a plethora of others is the voice of Ronnie James Dio who fronted this band under...
Aug 09, 2022
The Sound Of Philly
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... TSOP...shorthand for "The Sound Of Philadelphia"....the production team of Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff...the duo who gave us some of the greatest soul music of the 70's....also gave us the great soul LP "Back Stabbers" from the O'Jays in t...
Aug 08, 2022
Masters Of Their Craft
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... A "live" album in the 70's was pretty straight-forward. It usually gave a faithful rendering of an act's songs. There may be some additions and covers...and some tunes could be longer with extended solos and jamming built in. But there usually wasn't...
Aug 05, 2022
Ms. Bullock Uses Her Pen
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It's an album that screams 1972. Full of fuzztones and wah-wah peddle. Driving bass and skittery drums. And the high-energy yowling of Ms. Anna Mae Bullock aka Tina Turner. The album called "Feel Good" is a break out album in the sense that while it ...
Aug 04, 2022
Riding High
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It produced a #1 hit that was also nominated for Grammy Record and Song of the Year..it got a Grammy nomination for Album of The Year...Billboard called it "brilliant and divirsified. It was Neil Diamond's eighth studio LP "Moods" released in J...
Aug 03, 2022
Refusing To Be Pigeon-Holed
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Capricorn Records in Macon Georgia was the home of so-called "Southern Rock". The label made their bones on bands like the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker . And yet, there were times when they tried to expand the palette of their offerings. Such ...
Aug 02, 2022
Surprisingly Good
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Who would have thought that two years after the death of Jim Morrison that The Doors could release a fairly entertaining record. Certainly not as intense as they were when Morrison's savage imagery was driving their lyrics but 1972's "Full Circle" de...
Aug 01, 2022
A Hidden Treasure
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... This is one you probably didn't hear back in the day...and it never gets played today on classic rock stations. It's the British band Vinegar Joe and their self-titled dbut from 1972. And it's a treat! The band is funky and tight led by Pete Gage on guitar, St...
Jul 29, 2022
It's Glam Baby!
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They called it "T Rextasy". The band's publicists trying to capitalize on the popularity of the band T Rex, fronted by Marc Bolan who from 1970--1973 had a run of 11 singles in the UK Top Ten. They weren't nearly as popular in America but they did ha...
Jul 28, 2022
A Bunch Of Weird Top 40 Hits
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....today revisiting some hits from the summer of 1972.... Troglodyte-Jimmy Castor Bunch....This funky tune made it to #6 on the pop charts and sold over a half-a-millon copies. It also introduced us to the the Butt Sisters who would get their own tune in 1975. Cast...
Jul 27, 2022
Trying Something New
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... If you only know the band Nazareth from "Hair of The Dog" you will not even recognize the band on their 2nd LP "Exercises" which came out in July 1972. The hard rockin from the debut has been replaced for the most part by acoustic ballads so...
Jul 26, 2022
"Can't Be Like The Rest"
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... One of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time was released in july of 1972. The movie was "Superfly" and the soundtrack was produced and recorded by Curtis Mayfield. The movie tells the tale of Harlem drug dealer Youngblood Priest played by Ron O...
Jul 25, 2022
When More Is Less
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When a band loses a superstar, it makes it tough to carry on. When Joe Walsh left the James Gang, the remaining members, bassist Dale Peters and drummer Jim Fox soldiered on by adding two members to replace him. They were guitarist Dominic Troiano on guitar an...
Jul 19, 2022
Shiny & Fun
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Prog-rock might have been at it's peak in 1972 when the trio of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer released their fourth LP. "Trilogy". It's a gem with goodness abounding. If "shiny" were a sound...this would be it. The keyboard prowe...
Jul 18, 2022
Iconic Voice Delivers Again
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Before he became "sexy"...before he became a parody of himself...before he decided to make a living ransacking the Great American Songbook....Rod Stewart was a rocker. And when you backed him up with his old bandmates from Faces, the results were pre...
Jul 15, 2022
Under The Radar Prog Rock
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... When you think of early 70's prog rock you obviously think of bands like ELP, Yes and Genesis. A band you might not have heard of also released their self-titled debut LP in 1972. The band was called Captain Beyond. The band's pedigree was strong. Vocalist Ro...
Jul 14, 2022
Simple & Direct
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... From the opening notes of the first song, a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To Make Love To You", you know what youre getting from the self-titled debut LP of the band Foghat. Straight ahead "meat and potatoes blues-rock. Tightly played...s...
Jul 13, 2022
Weirdness Squared
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When you just had a smash album with hits....and youre hanging out with John Lennon & Ringo Starr...and you can indulge all of you bad habits...what do you do for an encore? Well, if you are Harry Nillson you release "Son of Schmilson" in 1972. H...
Jul 06, 2022
Quality Rather Than Quantity
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was the first #1 LP for the band from the Windy City who had made it their trademark to release double-albums the first four times around, full of long, jammy tracks. This one was more compact...a single record filled with pop-rock-jazz goodness in shorter ...
Jul 05, 2022
Engines Are Sputtering
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The album cover folded over to become a stash box. Does anything scream early 70's more than that. The Jefferson Airplane released their final LP "Long John Silver" in July of 72' before finally splintering into the Hot Tuna camp (Jorma & Jack) a...
Jul 01, 2022
Diversity Leads To Another Winner
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... How do you describe the music of Van Morrison? The singer-songwriter released his sixth LP, "St. Dominic's Preview" on July of 1972 and it's another gem. I've always loved "Tupelo Honey" and "Moondance" as my favorite Morrison rec...
Jun 30, 2022
The Best Band You've Never Heard Of
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The critics were effusive in their praise. Other musicians knew that this was great music. And yet, the Memphis based band Big Star disappeared almost without a trace until they were "re-discovered" years later. Their 1972 debut was called "#1 R...
Jun 29, 2022
Injuries Lead To A Change
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Frank Zappa spent most of 1972 in a wheel chair after being pushed off a stage at a concert. He decided to compose some tight jazz fusion charts and concentrate on studio work, so he fired his touring band, which included Flo & Eddie and had been responsib...
Jun 28, 2022
Stepping Up
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... This is the LP where most people discovered the Doobie Brothers. Their first Lp was OK but not polished and this one shows the difference some experience can bring. Especially after the augmented the sound with second drummer Michael Hossack and new bass pla...
Jun 27, 2022
Singles Both Weird and Wonderful
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It's another day to take a look at some of the singles that cracked the airwaves and the pop charts in 1972....back when all kinds of music could become a hit on the radio. Motorcycle Mama-Sailcat....a classic one-hit wonder....produced by southern rock studio...
Jun 24, 2022
Re-Introduction To A Classic Sound
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Sometimes it takes awhile for an audience to find a band. Such is the case with Jethro Tull in America. The English group took some time to get popular in the US but after the success of "Aqualung" and "Thick As A Brick", the band's record ...
Jun 23, 2022
Proto Southern Rock That You've Never Heard
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... It annoys me to no end that there were so many excellent bands in the late 60's and early 70's that we never heard up here in the wilds of Wisconsin. The one you are going to meet today was a new one for me as well. They are a Texas band called "Eric Quinc...
Jun 22, 2022
The Bible As Rock Music
We continue our look back at music of 50 years ago...... Jesus was big business in the late 60's-early 70's music industry. Everyone has heard Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. Spirit in The Sky was a big hit. There was even a pop hit version of the Lords Prayer by a nun named Janet Mead. You may not be familiar wit...
Jun 21, 2022
A Stellar Beginning
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When they met in the bar at the Troubador in LA, both Texan Don Henley and Michigan native Glenn Frey knew what they wanted. A kickass rock & roll band. What they got, was a country-rock success story like no other. Joining up with Randy Meisner and Bernie...
Jun 20, 2022
Message Music
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... He was called a genius by many including Frank Sinatra. Others knew him as simply Brother Ray. But whatever you called him ,most everyone agreed that Ray Charles was an American treasure. After melding R & B, jump blues and gospel to help form the "sou...
Jun 17, 2022
Clean And Tight
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... There is something to be said for pop-rock music that sounds good on the radio. In fact, producers back in the 60's and 70's would go out of their way to produce records that sounded good on AM radios. With the growing popularity of FM radio and better speakers...
Jun 16, 2022
"We Can't Even Think Of A Word That Rhymes"
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... As many of you already discerned by the title of this piece...we are reviewing the concept LP "Schools Out" from Alice Cooper which came out in June 1972. An album dealing with juvenile deliquents thumbing their nose at school, adult authority & s...
Jun 15, 2022
No Frills Blues-Rock
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... You may only know the English rock outfit Free by their massive 1970 hit "All Right Now" The band featured one of the great rock voices of all time in Paul Rodgers. They also had an excellent young guitar player named Paul Kossoff. The band had splin...
Jun 14, 2022
Searching For An Identity
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... For many American kids...it was a revelation when they saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. How many thousands of kids picked up guitars the next day. For a confused, disenfranchized collection of British kids, a similar moment happened on July 6th 1972, when the st...
Jun 13, 2022
Top Of The Pop World
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... The brother picked the songs, did the arranging and played all of the various keyboards...the sister provided the angelic vocal stylings. The results took them to the top of the pop music business and in 1972 they released a really solid record called 'A Song...
Jun 10, 2022