https://exchange.prx.org/p/499750
Every so often, when I have a little extra time, I record entire shows to be held back until needed. This one, recorded in 2018, contains a 1970 set followed by a short journey from 1968 to 1971 before ending with a semi a capella piece from Joni Mitchell. First, though, a tune from the first Queen album.
Artist: Queen
Title: Liar
Source: LP: Queen
Writer(s): Freddie Mercury
Label: Elektra
Year: 1973
Queen began their recording career by recording five demos at the then-new De Lane Lea Studios in London. One of those five, Liar, was a reworking of a song originally written for Freddie Mercury's previous band, Ibex. It is one of the few Queen tracks to include Hammon Organ (played by Mercury) and was a concert staple in the band's early days, often being extended to 10 minutes or more to finish out the band's set.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: She Lies In The Morning
Source: CD: Watt
Writer(s): Alvin Lee
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Deram)
Year: 1970
Although not as well received by the rock press as its predecessor, Cricklewood Green, Ten Years After's 6th LP, Watt, was very much in the same vein. One of the more interesting tracks on the LP, She Lies In The Morning, has several different sections, each with its own distinctive sound. Each time the song starts to get boring and/or repetitive, it changes into something completely different. The entire piece runs over seven minutes in length.
Artist: John Lennon
Title: Isolation
Source: CD: Lennon (box set) (originally released on LP: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
Writer(s): John Lennon
Label: Capitol (original label: Apple)
Year: 1970
Although John Lennon and Yoko Ono had already released a series of three experimental albums together (plus the Live Peace In Toronto LP), John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is generally considered Lennon's debut LP as a solo artist. Lennon had been undergoing primal scream therapy prior to beginning sessions for the album, and the songs on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band tend to express his emotional state at the time. Isolation, which ends the album's first side, stems from Lennon's feelings of being cut off from the rest of humanity due to his own celebrity. The instrumentation on Isolation is sparse, with Lennon of vocals and piano accompanied by Ringo Starr on drum and Klaus Voorman on bass.
Artist: Sugarloaf
Title: West Of Tomorrow
Source: LP: Sugarloaf
Writer: Corbetta/Raymond/Philips
Label: Liberty
Year: 1970
Although not particularly noted for its music scene, Denver, Colorado has contributed its share of successful bands over the years. One of the best known was Sugarloaf, led by keyboardist Jerry Corbetta (who was the only band member not named Bob when they signed with Liberty Records). West Of Tomorrow, from the first Sugarloaf album, is a somewhat typical track for the band, featuring tight harmony vocals and a scathingly hot organ solo.
Artist: Santana
Title: Hope You're Feeling Better
Source: CD: Abraxas
Writer(s): Gregg Rolie
Label: Columbia
Year: 1970
Gregg Rolie's Hope You're Feeling Better was the third single to be taken from Santana's Abraxas album. Although not as successful as either Black Magic Woman or Oye Como Va, the song nonetheless received considerable airplay on progressive FM rock stations and has appeared on several anthology anthems since its initial release.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Serenade To A Cuckoo
Source: CD: This Was
Writer(s): Roland Kirk
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Jethro Tull did not, as a general rule, record cover tunes. The most notable exception is Roland Kirk's classic jazz piece Serenade To A Cuckoo, which was included on their first LP, This Was. For years, the Kirk version was out of print, making Jethro Tull's cover the only available version of this classic tune throughout the 1970s.
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Title: Coming Into Los Angeles
Source: LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: Running Down The Road)
Writer: Arlo Guthrie
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Rising Son)
Year: 1969
Coming Into Los Angeles is one of Arlo Guthrie's most popular songs. It is also the song with the most confusing recording history. The song first came to prominence when Guthrie's live performance of the tune was included in the movie Woodstock. When the soundtrack of the film was released, however, a different recording was used. At first I figured they had simply used the studio version of the song, from the 1969 album Running Down The Road, but it turns out there are significant differences between that version (heard here) and the one included on Woodstock album. Complicating matters is the fact that the version included on The Best Of Arlo Guthrie later in the decade seems to be an altogether different recording than any of the previous releases. If anyone out there (Arlo, are you reading this?) can shed some light on this for me, it would be greatly appreciated.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: I'm Your Captain
Source: CD: Closer To Home
Writer(s): Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1970
I first switched from guitar to bass during my junior year in high school, when I joined a band that already had a much better guitarist than I was, but no bass player. Like Noel Redding, I started by using an old acoustic guitar with a pickup, turning the tone control to its lowest setting. It wasn't until spring that I finally got an actual bass to play (a Hofner Beatle that I paid the German equivalent of $90 for new at a small local music shop). The band itself was modeled on early power trios like Cream and Blue Cheer, which basically meant that I was playing pseudo leads in the lower register, hopefully in some sort of counterpoint to what the lead guitarist was playing. It wasn't until I returned to the States and hooked up with a band that had two guitarists and played actual songs that I learned what playing the bass was really about. One of those songs was I'm Your Captain by Grand Funk Railroad. Borrowing a copy of the Closer To Home album I listened closely to Mel Schacher's bass lines, especially the riffs on the intro to I'm Your Captain and during the transition to the song's second movement. To this day I credit Schascher as being the most important influence on my own bass playing (even though I haven't actually picked up a bass guitar since 1989).
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Four Sticks
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin IV
Writer(s): Page/Plant
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1971
One of the most difficult songs to record in the Led Zeppelin catalog, Four Sticks, from the fourth Zeppelin album, did not have a name until John Bonham's final drum track was recorded. He reportedly was having such a hard time with the song that he ended up using four drumsticks, rather than the usual two (don't ask me how he held the extra pair) and beat on his drums as hard as he could, recording what he considered the perfect take in the process.
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Title: Shadows And Light
Source: LP: The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
Writer(s): Joni Mitchell
Label: Asylum
Year: 1975
Following up on the success of her 1974 album Court And Spark, Joni Mitchell released The Hissing Of Summer Lawns in 1975. Although the album initially got mixed reviews from the rock press, it has since come to be regarded as a masterpiece. The final track on the album, Shadows And Light, features Mitchell's multi-tracked vocals accompanied only by an ARP String Machine.
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