https://exchange.prx.org/p/559545
This time around, after a return visit from Frank Zappa's 1974 Apostrophe (') album, we have two sets: one from 1971 and the other from 1970. Yep, that's it. Just the two sets. And it's all good stuff.
Artist: Frank Zappa
Title: Don't Eat Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast/Father Oblivion
Source: CD: Apostrophe (')
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Zappa (original label: Discreet)
Year: 1974
Despite being one of the most prolific composer/performers of the 20th century, Frank Zappa only put three songs on the top 100 charts in his career. The first of these was an abbreviated version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow, the opening track on his 1974 LP Apostrophe ('). On the album itself the song segues directly into the next three tracks, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast and the instrumental Father Oblivion to form the suite heard here.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: One Of These Days
Source: CD: Works (originally released on LP: Meddle)
Writer(s): Waters/Wright/Gilmour/Mason
Label: Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year: 1971
In their early years Pink Floyd was a band that was talked about more than heard, at least in the US. That began to change with the release of their 1971 LP Meddle and its opening track, One Of These Days, which got a significant amount of airplay on FM rock radio.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience (II)
Title: In From The Storm
Source: LP: The Cry Of Love
Writer: Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
Although nobody knows for sure what the final track lineup would have been for Jimi Hendrix's first studio album since 1968's Electric Ladyland, most everyone associated with him agrees that it would have been a double LP and that In From The Storm would have been included on it. The song was first released on The Cry Of Love, the first posthumus Hendrix album, and subsequently was included on Voodoo Soup, Alan Douglas's first attempt at recreating that legendary fourth album. The song also appears on First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, the CD that has replaced Voodoo Soup in the Hendrix catalog. The recording features Hendrix on guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums and Hendrix's longtime friend Billy Cox on bass. Before Hendrix's death in September of 1970 the trio had often been billed as the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Artist: Traffic
Title: The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
Source: CD: Smiling Phases (originally released on LP: The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys)
Writer(s): Winwood/Capaldi
Label: Island
Year: 1971
Traffic was formed in 1967 by guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Steve Winwood, drummer/vocalist Jim Capaldi, flautist/saxophonist Chris Wood and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Mason. Winwood, at 18 the youngest member of the band, was already an established star as lead vocalist of the Spencer Davis Group, and it was in part his desire for more creative freedom that led to Traffic's formation. From the beginning there was creative tension within the band, and less than two years later the group broke up when Winwood left to join Blind Faith. In early 1970, following the demise of Blind Faith, Winwood began working on a solo album that ended up being a new Traffic album, John Barleycorn Must Die, instead. This was followed in 1971 by the band's most successful album, The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys. The long title track (eleven minutes' worth) shows a more relaxed sounding band, with Wood, Capaldi, new bassist Rich Grech and percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah creating a moody backdrop for Winwood's interpretation of Capaldi's somewhat cynical lyrics. Despite its length, The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys became a staple of FM rock stations for many years.
Artist: Gypsy
Title: Around You
Source: LP: In The Garden
Writer(s): Enrico Rosenbaum
Label: Metromedia
Year: 1971
Minneapolis at first might seem like an unlikely place for a thriving music scene. Nonetheless, the city has been home to a number of successful artists from the Castaways (Liar Liar) to Prince. One of the lesser-known bands to come out of the twin cities was Gypsy, led by Enrico Rosenbaum and James Walsh. After being moderately successful with a self-titled double LP (priced as if it were a single LP), the group decided to go with a standard-length album as a follow-up. In The Garden had no hit singles and was soon relegated to the budget bin, despite having some listenable tunes such as Around You. Like most of the tracks on the album, Around You was written by Rosenbaum.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young
Title: Country Girl
Source: LP: déjà vu
Writer(s): Neil Young
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
The second Crosby, Stills and Nash album, déjà vu, was enhanced by the addition of singer/songwriter/guitarist Neil Young, along with bassist Dallas Taylor and drummer Greg Reeves. The LP itself was printed on textured cardboard with gold offset lettering, giving the package a unique look. But it was the music itself that made the album one of the top sellers of 1970, with three singles going into the top 40. One of the non-single tracks was Country Girl, a medley of three uncompleted Neil Young songs that would not have been out of place on a Young solo album.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Friend Of The Devil
Source: CD: Skeletons From The Closet (originally released on LP: American Beauty)
Writer(s): Garcia/Dawson/Hunter
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
The Grateful Dead spent three years and four albums trying to capture the energy of their live performances on vinyl. Having finally succeeded with the 1969 Live Dead album the group began to focus more on their songwriting capabilities. The result was two outstanding studio albums, both released in 1970: Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Of the two, American Beauty is made up almost entirely of songs played on acoustic instruments, including pedal steel guitar, which was played by Jerry Garcia. One of the best-known tracks on American Beauty is Friend Of The Devil, which lyricist Robert Hunter referred to as "the closest we've come to what may be a classic song."
Artist: Doors
Title: Close To You
Source: LP: Absolutely Live
Writer(s): Willie Dixon
Label: Elektra
Year: 1970
When the Doors were first starting out their repertoire included several covers of blues classics by artists like Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. Of these, only Willie Dixon's Back Door Man made it onto their first LP. Over the next couple of years they focused entirely on their own songwriting, but following the over-produced Soft Parade album, the band made a deliberate attempt to get back to their blues roots, as can be heard on both the Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman LPs. In between those two studio albums the band released a two-disc live album that included not only Back Door Man, but another Willie Dixon tune, Close To You, that had been originally recorded by Muddy Waters in 1958. The Doors' live version of Close To You includes a spoken introduction in which Jim Morrison alludes to his arrest for allegedly exposing himself to a Miami audience the previous year. The lead vocals on the song itself are by keyboardist Ray Manzarek.
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 compilation anthems since its initial release.
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