https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/379589-dc-2132
What starts out as a free-form show this week ends up being dominated by a mixture of long and short tracks from the year 1970. Not sure how that happened, but that is the nature of free-form.
Artist: Jeff Beck
Title: Jailhouse Rock
Source: LP: Beck-Ola
Writer(s): Lieber/Stoller
Label: Epic
Year: 1969
Nobody disputes the fact that Jeff Beck is one of the most talented guitarists in the history of rock music. He has, however, throughout his career been criticized for a lack of a consistent musical direction. Perhaps Beck himself put it best on the back cover of his second LP, Beck-Ola: "Today, with all the hard competition in the music business, it is almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't... However, at the time this album was made the accent was on heavy music. So sit back and listen and try and decide if you can find a small place in your heads for it." Jailhouse Rock, from that album, illustrates both points. Obviously, being a cover song, it is not totally original, but it definitely qualifies as heavy. In addition to Beck on guitar, the track features Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Tony Newman on drums.
Artist: Doors
Title: The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)
Source: LP: L.A. Woman
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1971
Following a downward slide starting in 1968, the Doors ended their original run on a high note in 1971 with the L.A. Woman album. Among the strong blues-based tracks on the album is The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat), an anthemic number that ranks up with other Doors album classics such as Five To One, When The Music's Over and The End. Big Beat indeed.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Strange Kind Of Woman (live version)
Source: CD: Made In Japan
Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label: Rhino/Purple (original US label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1972
Vocalist Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore hit a high note...or rather several high notes, whenever Deep Purple performed Strange Kind Of Woman live. Although the band had been reluctant to release a live album, they finally relented and recorded a series of performances on their Japanese tour in August of 1972. The best of those performances were released on a double album called Made In Japan in December of 1972, including a nine and a half minute long version of Strange Kind Of Woman that has come to be considered one of the best live tracks ever recorded.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Hey, Hey, What Can I Do
Source: British import LP: The New Age Of Atlantic (originally released in US as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
In their entire existence Led Zeppelin only issued one non-album track. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do was originally released as the B side of Immigrant Song in 1970, and was included on a British anthology album called the New Age Of Atlantic the following year. The song was not available in any other form in the US until 1990, when it was included in the first Led Zeppelin box set. It has since been made available as a bonus track on the Led Zeppelin III CD.
Artist: Rare Earth
Title: (I Know I'm) Losing You
Source: LP: Ecology
Writer: Grant/Holland/Whitfield
Label: Rare Earth
Year: 1970
Although Rare Earth was not the first white act signed to Motown, it was the first successful one. When the band was signed in 1969 it was decided to retool (and rename) one of Motown's existing labels and put Rare Earth on that label. During discussions about what to rename the label one of the band members joking suggested Rare Earth Records. Oddly enough, Motown went with that suggestion, and the band soon scored two consecutive top 10 singles with remakes of previous Motown hits. The first, Get Ready, used virtually the same arrangement as the Temptations original and actually did better on the charts. The follow-up, (I Know I'm) Losing You, was more adventurous, and showed that the group was more than just one hit wonders. The LP version of the song shows Rare Earth at its creative peak.
Artist: Blues Image
Title: Clean Love
Source: CD: Open
Writer(s): Blues Image
Label: Sundazed (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
The story of Blues Image is tied closely with the legendary south Florida nightclub Thee Image. Blues Image was the house band there (and had helped set up the club itself) and were already well known and respected in musicians' circles by the time they released their first LP in 1969. Although the LP sold moderately, it failed to generate any airplay on either top 40 or progressive FM radio. The group came up with a genuine hit single, Ride Captain Ride, in 1970, but their second LP, Open, charted even lower than their first one, despite having some outstanding tracks, including Ride Captain Ride and one of the best blues-rock tracks ever recorded, the eight-minute long Clean Love. Frustrated by the lack of success, guitarist Mike Pinera left the band to replace Eric Brann in Iron Butterfly, and after an even less successful third LP Blues Image called it quits.
Artist: Firesign Theatre
Title: Sodom And Jubilee (excerpt)
Source: LP: Dear Friends
Writer(s): Proctor/Bergman/Austin/Ossman
Label: Columbia
Year: Recorded 1970, LP released 1972
In addition to their albums and live performances, the Firesign Theatre had their own nationally syndicated radio show from September 1970 through February 1971. In 1972 they released the album Dear Friends, which collected the best skits from that show, including Sodom And Jubilee, recorded on Dec 9, 1970.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: War Pigs
Source: CD: Greatest Hits 1970-1978 (originally released on LP: Black Sabbath)
Writer(s): Iommi/Osborne/Butler/Ward
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
Originally titled Walpurgis, Black Sabbath's War Pigs, the opening track on their second LP, Paranoid, started off being about the Witches' Sabbath (Walpurgis being the Satanists' analog to Christmas). As Bill Butler's lyrics developed, however, the song ended up being more about how the rich and powerful declare the wars, but send the poor off to die in them. Either way, it's about evil people doing evil things and the rest of us suffering for it. Only the names have changed to protect the guilty.
Artist: Neil Young
Title: I've Been Waiting For You
Source: LP: The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook (originally released on LP: Neil Young)
Writer(s): Neil Young
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although Neil Young's first album is generally considered to be uneven, compared to his later efforts, there are a few songs that stand out from the rest. One of these is I've Been Waiting For You. Although not released as a single, the song was selected for inclusion on the first album in the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders series.
Artist: James Gang
Title: Ashes The Rain And I
Source: CD: James Gang Rides Again
Writer(s): Joe Walsh
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1970
For their second LP, James Gang Rides Again, the band decided to devote the entire second of the LP to some new acoustic tunes that guitarist Joe Walsh had been working on. The grand finale of the album was Ashes The Rain And I, a tune that embellishes Walsh's guitar and vocals with strings tastefully arranged by Jack Nitzsche.
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