Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1846 (starts 11/12/18)

This week's show kind of resembles last week's show. There are ten tracks, only three of which have been played on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion before, just like last week. However, they are entirely different songs by entirely different artists than last week (with one exception), so I guess that's where the similarity ends.

Artist:    Stealer's Wheel
Title:    Stuck In The Middle With You
Source:    45 RPM single (stereo promo copy)
Writer(s):    Egan/Rafferty
Label:    A&M
Year:    1973
    Stealer's Wheel was formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland by former schoolmates Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty in 1972. By the time their first album was released, however, Rafferty had already left the group for a solo career. The single Stuck In The Middle With You was such as success, however, that Rafferty was persuaded to rejoin the group. They were never able to duplicate the success of that first single, however, and by 1975 Stealer's Wheel had ceased to exist. Rafferty, once again a solo artist, would have a huge hit in 1978 with the song Baker Street.

Artist:    Black Sabbath
Title:    Black Sabbath
Source:    LP: Black Sabbath
Writer(s):    Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    This track has to hold some kind of record for "firsts". Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, from the album Black Sabbath is, after all, the first song from the first album by the first true heavy metal band. The track starts off by immediately setting the mood with the sound of church bells in a rainstorm leading into the song's famous tri-tone (often referred to as the "devil's chord") intro, deliberately constructed to evoke the mood of classic Hollywood horror movies. Ozzy Osborne's vocals only add to the effect. Even the faster-paced final portion of the song has a certain dissonance that had never been heard in rock music before, in part thanks to Black Sabbath's deliberate use of a lower pitch in their basic tuning. The result is something that has sometimes been compared to a bad acid trip, but is unquestionably the foundation of what came to be called heavy metal.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Aqualung
Source:    CD: Aqualung
Writer(s):    Ian & Jennie Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1971
    Arguably Jethro's Tull most popular song, Aqualung was the title track from the band's fourth LP and lifted the group into the ranks of rock royalty. Like nearly all of Tull's catalog, Aqualung was written by vocalist/flautist Ian Anderson, who also played acoustic guitar on the track. The lyrics of the song were inspired by photographs of homeless men taken by Anderson's then-wife Jennie, who received co-writing credits on the piece.

Artist:    Richie Havens
Title:    Handsome Johnny
Source:    Stereo 45 RPM single B side included with LP: Richie Havens On Stage
Writer:    Gossett/Gossett/Havens
Label:    Stormy Forest
Year:    1969
    When it became obvious that the amplifiers needed by the various rock bands that were scheduled to perform on the opening Friday afternoon at Woodstock would not be ready in time, singer/songwriter Richie Havens came to the rescue, performing for several hours as the new opening act. One of the highlights of Havens' performance was Handsome Johnny, a song that he had co-written with Lou Gossett and Lou Gossett, Jr. and released on his debut album. A new live recording of the song (along with Freedom, another Woodstock highlight) was included as a bonus single with the 1972 LP Richie Havens On Stage.

Artist:    Eagles
Title:    Desperado
Source:    LP: Their Greatest Hits (originally released on LP: Desperado)
Writer(s):    Henley/Frey
Label:    Asylum
Year:    1973
    The most popular Eagles song not to be released as a single, Desperado is the title track of the band's second LP. Well, that's not entirely true. Johnny Rodriguez released the song as a single in 1976, taking it into the top 5 on the country charts. Diana Krall also released the song as a single in the 1990s, taking it into the top 5 on the jazz charts. Linda Ronstadt's 1973 cover of Desperado was originally the more popular version of the tune, getting all kinds of airplay at the time. Eventually, though, the Eagles original, sung by Don Henley, came to be considered the definitive version of the tune.

Artist:    Premiati Forneria Marconi (PFM)
Title:    Is My Face On Straight
Source:    Italian import CD: The World Became The World
Writer(s):    Premoli/Mussida/Sinfield
Label:    Sony Music/RCA (original US label: Manticore
Year:    1974
    Progressive rock (sometimes referred to as "art-rock") was far more popular in Europe than it was in the US. This was especially true in Italy, where Emerson, Lake And Palmer was the most popular band in the country. They were followed closely by the homegrown Premiati Forneria Marconi (The Award Winning Marconi Bakery). Their popularity in their native Italy was such that Peter Sinfield, the poet who had provided lyrics for King Crimson's debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King), as well as Emerson, Lake And Palmer's Karn-Evil 9 (from the Brain Salad Surgery album), was brought in to write English lyrics for some of PFM's original material. These newly recorded tracks were then released in the US on ELP's Manticore label. One of the most popular PFM album's released in the US was The World Became The World, which hit the stands in 1974. Is My Face On Straight showcases the marraige of PFM's Italian brand of prog-rock and Sinfield's always cynical (or is that sardonic? Ask an English major) lyrics.

Artist:    Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title:    Pictures At An Exhibition-part two
Source:    LP: Pictures At An Exhibition
Writer(s):    Mussorgsky/Emerson/Lake/Palmer
Label:    Atlantic (original label: Cotillion)
Year:    1971
    After releasing a popular debut LP, you might expect a band to follow it up with a similar sounding album. If were a band led by someone other than Keith Emerson, that might indeed have been the case. But Emerson, Lake And Palmer instead took a more daring route, much to the displeasure of their UK label, Island Records. They insisted that their second album be a live performance of the band's adaptation of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition, a piece originally written for piano and then adapted for full orchestra. ELP's version of the suite differs radically from the original, especially the Baba Yaga sections, which are laden with feedback and electronic effects. Island, however, was frankly scared of the album, so much so that they insisted on releasing it on their classical subsidiary rather than the parent label. The band, however, felt that having the album appear on a classical label would be detrimental to the LP's sales, and withdrew the album entirely, instead releasing a second studio LP, Tarkus. After the success of Tarkus, the label (Island) agreed to release Pictures At An Exhibition on the parent label, but priced as if it were a single, thus exempting it from the UK album charts. The album, of course, sold well at that price and, surprisingly, did all right in the US as well, where it carried a standard sticker price.

Artist:    Chicago
Title:    Motorboat To Mars/Free
Source:    LP: Chicago III
Writer(s):    Seraphine/Lamm
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1971
    The Chicago Transit Authority was, to my knowledge, the first debut double-LP released by a rock band. The band, which soon shortrened its name to Chicago, then followed it up with not one, but two more double-LP sets. You might expect a band to feeling a bit burned out by this point, although, at a pace of one album per year, it's really no more than releasing two single LPs per year, which was quite common at the time. Although Chicago III did not have a hit single on a par with Make Me Smile or Colour My World (both from the second album), it did feature some strong material, such as Robert Lamm's Free, which is preceded on the album by a Danny Seraphine drum solo called Motorboat To Mars. The two songs were included, in the same order, on the band's next project, a four-LP set recorded live at Carnegie Hall.

Artist:    Rare Earth
Title:    I Just Want To Celebrate
Source:    British import CD: The Collection (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer:    Zesses/Faharis
Label:    Motown/Spectrum/Universal (original label: Rare Earth)
Year:    1971
    So it's mid-September of 1971 and Sunn has just regrouped after losing our lead guitarist/backup drummer (and primary chick magnet) Dave to the US Air Force (he wanted to get married and needed the money). Luckily, we had three guitarists in the band, which had come in handy when Mike the drummer went to Nebraska to make some college start up money working the harvest and Dave had taken over on the drums (he was no Mike but at least he could keep a beat). But now Mike was back, Dave was gone, and after a monthlong hiatus we had just scored our first gig: a one-shot at a little club in Weatherford, Oklahoma, where DeWayne (the rhythm guitarist) and Mike were enrolled as freshmen at a small liberal-arts college (Southwestern State). We had not practiced at all since losing Dave (and Mike hadn't played with us in almost two months) and were a bit rusty for the first set, but by the end of the third set we were cookin'! During the break the club manager asks us if we would be interested in becoming the house band, to play every Friday night. About that time, the jukebox plays the current Rare Earth hit, I Just Want To Celebrate, and we take to the stage and begin jamming along to the song. The jukebox gets unplugged and we just keep on jamming, a rather impromptu way to start the final set of the night. It could have been a seminal moment in the history of rock and roll if it weren't for the fact that it had already been decided a few days earlier that this was to be Sunn's farewell performance.

Artist:    Santana
Title:    No One To Depend On
Source:    45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Carabella/Escobida/Rolie
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1971
    Santana's third LP (which like their debut LP was called simply Santana), was the last by the band's original lineup. Among the better-known tracks on the LP was No One To Depend On, featuring a guitar solo by teen phenom Neal Schon (who would go on to co-found Journey). The version here is a rare mono promo pressing issued as a single in 1972. It is obviously not a true mono mix, but what is known as a "fold-down" mix, made by combining the two stereo channels into one. It sounds to me, though, like one channel (the one with Neil Schon's guitar) got shortchanged in the mix.