Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1715 (starts 4/12/17)

So you think the early 70s was all about guitars? Well, you're absolutely right, and we've got a bunch on this week's show, starting with Clapton and ending with Trower. Rock on!

Artist:    Eric Clapton
Title:    After Midnight
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    J.J. Cale
Label:    Atco
Year:    1970
    After his attempt at being "just another band member" (Derek and the Dominos) ended up only increasing his superstar status, Eric Clapton at last bowed to the inevitable and released his first official solo album in 1970. For the single from that album Clapton chose his cover of a 1966 J.J. Cale song, After Midnight. Clapton had become aware of Cale's music while touring with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends (yet another attempt at being "just another band member"), and recorded After Midnight with the help of Bobby Whitlock on organ and vocals, Jim Gordon on drums, Delaney Bramlett on rhythm guitar, Carl Radle on bass, Leon Russell on piano, Jim Price on trumpet, and Bobby Keys on saxophone. Clapton later said that learning Cale's rhythm guitar part was particularly challenging, even with Bramlett's help, adding that "I still don’t think we got it right." Cale himself was thrilled that Clapton scored a hit with the song. As Cale himself put it "I was dirt poor, not making enough to eat and I wasn’t a young man. I was in my thirties, so I was very happy. It was nice to make some money." Cale went on to re-record the song for his own album Naturally, released in 1972.

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:    Grand Funk Railroad
Title:    Mean Mistreater
Source:    CD: Heavy Hitters! (originally released on LP: Closer To Home)
Writer(s):    Mark Farner
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1970
    By the 1980s the power ballad was becoming a rock music cliche. In 1970, however, it was still a pretty new concept, and one of the first bands to record power ballads was Grand Funk Railroad. Mean Mistreater, from the album Closer To Home, was actually the group's second power ballad. The first, Heartbreaker, had appeared on the album Grand Funk (aka the Red Album), and was already a fan favorite when Closer To Home was released in 1970. Mean Mistreater proved to be even more popular, and remained part of Grand Funk's stage repertoire for the remainder of the band's existence.

Artist:    John Lennon
Title:    Remember
Source:    CD: Lennon (box set) (originally released on LP: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
Writer(s):    John Lennon
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1970
    Many of today's digital recordings utilize a virtually infinite number of tracks to piece together short pieces of sound into a coherent whole. Such productions may take weeks and even months to record and put together before a final product is achieved. In 1970, however, things were much different. Generally, each instrument had its own track, and each track was recorded as an entire performance (although in many cases sections of two or more different takes would be spliced together, but this was a difficult task that could not be undone once a splice was made in the master tape). John Lennon's Remember, from his first solo studio album, is a good example of this "real time" method of recording. The instrumentation is simple: Lennon on piano, Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voorman on bass. Lennon, of course provided the vocals for the song, which was a direct result of his primal therapy sessions. Remember is a somewhat revealing song, particularly about Lennon's own upbringing in a world where children were taught that everything was black and white, and the good guys always beat the bad guys in the end. He is particularly critical of parents who attempt to live out their own dreams through their children instead of letting those children find their own way. The album itself is considered to be one of Lennon's finest efforts, and has shown up on several "best of" lists over the years.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title:    1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away)
Source:    LP: Electric Ladyland
Writer:    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1968
    1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) from the Electric Ladyland album is the longest work created purely in the studio by Jimi Hendrix, with a running time of over 16 minutes. The piece starts with tape effects that lead into the song's main guitar rift. The vocals and drums join in to tell a science fiction story set in a future world where the human race has had to move underwater in order to survive some unspecified catastrophe. After a couple verses, the piece goes into a long unstructured section made up mostly of guitar effects before returning to the main theme and closing out with more effects that combine volume control and stereo panning to create a circular effect. As is the case with several tracks on Electric Ladyland, 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)/Moon Turn The Tides (Gently, Gently Away) features Hendrix on both guitar and bass, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and special guest Chris Wood (from Traffic) on flute.

Artist:    Neil Young/Crazy Horse
Title:    Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Source:    CD: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Writer(s):    Neil Young
Label:    Reprise
Year:    1969
    After releasing a fairly well produced debut solo album utilizing the talents of several well-known studio musicians in late 1968, Neil Young surprised everyone by recruiting an unknown L.A. bar band and rechristening them Crazy Horse for his second effort, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The album was raw and unpolished, with Young's lead vocals recorded using a talkback microphone normally used by engineers to communicate with people in the studio from the control room. In spite of, or more likely because of these limitations, the resulting album has come to be regarded as one of the greatest in the history of rock, with Young sounding far more comfortable, both as a vocalist and guitarist, than on the previous effort. Although the album is best known for three songs he wrote while running a fever (Cinnamon Girl, Cowgirl In The Sand, and Down By The River), there are plenty of good other songs on the LP, including the title track heard here.

Artist:     Grateful Dead
Title:     Truckin'
Source:     LP: American Beauty
Writer:     Garcia/Weir/Hunter/Lesh
Label:     Warner Brothers
Year:     1970
     After two albums that mixed live and studio material and one double live LP, the Dead decided to make a serious effort to record an album entirely in the studio that was built around the songwriting rather than the performances. The result was American Beauty, the band's most commercially successful album up to that point. Along with the followup album, Workingman's Dead, American Beauty defined the Grateful Dead's sound for all but the most dedicated of concertgoers (the legendary Deadheads).

Artist:    Robin Trower
Title:    Bridge Of Sighs/In This Place
Source:    CD: Bridge Of Sighs
Writer(s):    Robin Trower
Label:    Chrysalis/Capitol
Year:    1974
    One of the most celebrated guitar albums of all time, Bridge Of Sighs was Robin Trower's second solo LP following his departure from Procol Harum. Released in 1974, the LP spent 31 weeks on the Billboard album charts, peaking at #7. Bridge of Sighs has served as a template for later guitar-oriented albums, especially those of Warren Haines and Gov't Mule.

Artist:    Robin Trower
Title:    Little Bit Of Sympathy
Source:    CD: Bridge Of Sighs
Writer(s):    Robin Trower
Label:    Chrysalis/Capitol
Year:    1974
    Released in 1974, Bridge Of Sighs was the second solo LP by former Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower. The album was Trower's commercial breakthrough, staying on the Billboard album charts for 31 weeks, peaking at #7. In addition to Trower, the album features James Dewar on lead vocals and bass, along with Reg Isidore on drums. The album was a staple of mid-1970s progressive rock radio, with several tunes, including album closer Little Bit Of Sympathy, becoming concert favorites.