Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1716 (starts 4/19/17)

This week it's all about the darkness, from the antics of elves (who knows what they're really all about, anyway?) to the sadistic practices of Tommy's Cousin Kevin, with all kinds of dark matter in between.

Artist:    Steeleye Span
Title:    Seven Hundred Elves
Source:    LP: Now We Are Six
Writer(s):    Trad. arr. Steeleye Span
Label:    Chrysalis
Year:    1974
    One of Steeleye Span's most popular albums, Now We Are Six had a title with a double meaning: it was the band's 6th LP and with the addition of drummer Nigel Pegrum the band now had six members. Not that previous albums had been drumless. Studio drummers had been used extensively on previous albums, but it was felt that the time was right for the addition of a full-time drummer to further the group's move towards a blend of tradition English folk music and rock. The final track on side one of the original LP, Seven Hundred Elves, combines traditional lyrics with music written by the band members to create a unique hybrid. Steeleye Span's popularity continued to grow until the advent of punk rock turned British audiences against anything perceived as old-fashioned, including the various folk-rock bands that had flourished earlier in the decade.

Artist:    Pink Floyd
Title:    Dark Side Of The Moon-part two
Source:    CD: Dark Side Of The Moon
Writer(s):    Gilmour/Mason/Waters/Wright
Label:    Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year:    1973
    Usually when you hear Pink Floyd's Money, from the album Dark Side Of The Moon, on the radio, that's pretty much it. As the song fades out, you maybe hear a jingle, or a DJ talking, or even another song from some other group. What you rarely, if ever, hear is the rest of the album side, even though the next song, Us And Them, actually overlaps the end of Money on the album itself. In fact, all the songs on side two run together as one piece, which is how it is being presented on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion. So if you want to hear Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage and Eclipse, don't touch your radio dial (except to turn up the volume, of course).

Artist:    Uriah Heep
Title:    Tales
Source:    LP: The Magician's Birthday
Writer(s):    Ken Hensley
Label:    Mercury
Year:    1972
    In a sense, The Magician's Birthday can be seen as a sequel to Uriah Heep's fourth album, Demons And Wizards. Both albums have fantasy themes, augmented with cover art from Roger Dean, and feature songs from various band members. The dominant songwriter was Ken Hensley, who, in addition to providing the album's concept, wrote several fine tunes such as Tales, a personal favorite of mine (that somehow has escaped being on any HermitRadio playlists before now).

Artist:    Deep Purple
Title:    Child In Time
Source:    LP: Deep Purple In Rock
Writer(s):    Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    One of the most powerful antiwar songs ever recorded, Child In Time appeared on the LP Deep Purple In Rock. The album is generally considered to be the beginning of the band's "classic" period and features the lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ian Gillan (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums). The song itself (which runs over ten minutes in length) was a mainstay of early 70s rock radio stations, but is rarely heard on modern classic rock stations.

Artist:    King Crimson
Title:    The Court Of The Crimson King
Source:    CD: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer:    MacDonald/Sinfield
Label:    Discipline Global Mobile (original label: Atlantic)
Year:    1969
    Perhaps the most influential progressive rock album of all time was King Crimson's debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The band, in its original incarnation, included Robert Fripp on guitar, Ian MacDonald on keyboards and woodwinds, Greg Lake on vocals and bass, David Giles on drums and Peter Sinfield as a dedicated lyricist. The title track, which takes up the second half of side two of the LP, features music composed by MacDonald, who would leave the group after their second album, later resurfacing as a founding member of Foreigner. The album's distinctive cover art came from a painting by computer programmer Barry Godber, who died of a heart attack less than a year after the album was released. According to Fripp, the artwork on the inside is a portrait of the Crimson King, whose manic smile is in direct contrast to his sad eyes. The album, song and artwork were the inspiration for Stephen King's own Crimson King, the insane antagonist of his Dark Tower saga who is out to destroy all of reality, including our own.

Artist:    Who
Title:    Cousin Kevin
Source:    CD: Tommy
Writer(s):    John Entwhistle
Label:    MCA (original label: Decca)
Year:    1969
    Although most of the rock-opera Tommy was written by guitarist Pete Townshend, a few select tracks came from other sources. One such track was bassist John Entwhistle's composition Cousin Kevin, one of a series of songs about Tommy's growing-up years. Kevin is a bully who sees an easy target in his blind, deaf and mute cousin, and in the song muses about the various tortures he can inflict upon him.