https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/414954-dc-2215
This week we focus on the years 1974 and 1970 before settling down with the Moody Blues for the afternoon/evening/night.
Artist: Randy Newman
Title: Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
Source: LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: 12 Songs)
Writer(s): Randy Newman
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1970
Although it is best known as a Three Dog Night song, Randy Newman's Mama Told Me (Not To Come) was actually written for Eric Burdon, whose version appeared on the album Eric Is Here in early 1967. Newman's own version of the tune, written from the perspective of a strait-laced young man experiencing his first Los Angeles style party, was included on his 1970 LP 12 Songs, which came out at around the same time as Three Dog Night's cover of the tune. Newman's version features slide guitar work from Ry Cooder, supplementing Newman's own piano playing.
Artist: Steely Dan
Title: Pretzel Logic
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): Becker/Fagan
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1974
Steely Dan's third album, Pretzel Logic, was almost universally praised by the rock press, including NME magazine, which named it the 1974 album of the year, and Village Voice critic Robert Christgau, who ranked it at the top of his own annual list. The title track, according to co-writer Donald Fagan, is actually about time travel, and includes references to Napoleon Bonaparte and travelling minstrel shows.
Artist: Stealer's Wheel
Title: Star
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Joe Egan
Label: A&M
Year: 1973
Formed in 1972 in Paisley, Scotland by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan, Stealer's Wheel scored a huge international hit with Stuck in the Middle With You that same year. Their followup album, 1973's Ferguslie Park, did not have any hits to match Stuck's success, although two of the songs from the album made the top 40 charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The second of these was Star, a Joe Egan composition that hit the top 30 in 1974. After the duo split Rafferty went on to international fame for his 1978 hit Baker Street.
Artist: Firesign Theatre
Title: Excerpt from Part One: London; Chapter 2: An Outrageously Disgusting Disguise
Source: LP: The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra
Writer(s): Procter/Bergman/Austin/Ossman
Label: Columbia
Year: 1974
The Firesign Theatre never passed up an opportunity to make a good (or bad) pun, and on this short excerpt from The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra they make a whole series of them, all of which are dog related. The entire piece is a parody of Sherlock Holmes, taking place during England's Victorian Era.
Artist: Frank Zappa
Title: Cosmik Debris
Source: CD: Strictly Commercial (originally released on LP: Apostrophe ('))
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Discreet)
Year: 1974
One of Frank Zappa's most memorable tunes, Cosmik Debris first appeared on his Apostrophe(') album in 1974. The album itself was recorded at the same time as the Mothers' Over-Nite Sensation, and features some of the same musicians, including George Duke, Jean-Luc Ponty and Napoleon Brock. The song, like many Zappa compositions, tells a story, in this case one of a mystical con artist and Zappa's refusal to be conned. The song uses the repeated line "Look here brother. Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?", and contains references to other Zappa compositions, including Camarillo Brillo (from Over-Nite Sensation). The song was originally scheduled for release as a single, but instead appeared as the B side of an edited version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow when that track began gaining popularity due to excessive airplay on FM rock radio.
Artist: Grand Funk
Title: We're An American Band
Source: LP: Vintage Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: We're An American Band)
Writer: Don Brewer
Label: K-Tel (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1973
We're An American Band was a major turning point for the band originally known as Grand Funk Railroad. For one thing Terry Knight, who had guided the band's career as both manager and producer, was no longer associated with the band. Perhaps more importantly, the band itself had changed, adding keyboardist Craig Frost to the original trio. Guitarist Mark Farner, who had written the bulk of the band's material from 1969 to 1972, was now sharing songwriting and lead vocal duties with drummer Don Brewer, who is featured in both roles on the album's title track. The album itself was produced by Todd Rundgren, and has an entirely different sound than the band's previous releases. Finally, the band had shortened its name to Grand Funk, although this turned out to be a temporary change. Grand Funk Railroad would continue making records through 1976, when the band members decided to go their separate ways.
Artist: Mountain
Title: Mississippi Queen
Source: CD: The Best Of Mountain (originally released on LP: Mountain Climbing)
Writer(s): West/Laing/Pappalardi/Rea
Label: Columbia/Windfall
Year: 1970
One of the most overlooked bands of the mid-1960s was the Vagrants. Based on Long Island, the group made a specialty of covering popular R&B and rock songs, often slowing them down and featuring extended solos by guitarist Leslie Weinstein, inspiring fellow Long Islanders Vanilla Fudge to do the same. Although the Vagrants never were able to gain much national attention, Weinstein himself had established quite a reputation by the time the group disbanded. Meanwhile, keyboardist/producer/songwriter Felix Pappalardi had been working with the members of Cream as a producer, but with the demise of that band was looking for a new project to sink his teeth into. That new project turned out to be a solo album by Weinstein, who by then had shortened his last name to West. The album was called Mountain, and soon after its release West and Pappalardi decided to form a band of the same name. The group first got national attention performing at Woodstock, and in 1970 released the album Mountain Climbing, featuring the hit single Mississippi Queen.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Hard Lovin' Man
Source: LP: Deep Purple In Rock
Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
Inspired by hearing the first Led Zeppelin LP, Deep Purple members Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore decided that the band needed to start rocking out harder than they had on their previous three albums. Taking drummer Ian Paice into their confidence, the three of them, on June 6, 1969, went to see a local band called Episode Six, which was fronted by vocalist Ian Gillan. Taking advantage of his status as a recording artist, Blackmore convinced the band to let him sit in with them; after the gig he invited Gillan to join Deep Purple. As Episode Six bassist Roger Glover was an experienced songwriter (songwriting being one of Deep Purple's most glaring weaknesses), he was soon recruited as a new member as well. There was a problem, however. Deep Purple still had gigs lined up, and went about completing those gigs with their original vocalist, Rod Evans, and bass player, Nicky Simper, without telling them that they were about to be replaced. Meanwhile, Gillan and Glover continued to perform as members of Episode Six as well, with the new DP lineup practicing in secret. Deep Purple's original lineup made its final appearance on July 4, 1969; the new MkII lineup made its stage debut six days later, even though Gillan and Glover continued to perform with Episode Six through July 26th. The first record released by the new lineup was a single called Hallelujah. Studio time had been booked for the recording before the lineup change, and the B side was actually an excerpt from April, a track from the band's previous LP. This was followed by the band's September performance of Lord's Concerto For Group And Orchestra, an experimental piece that was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and released in December of 1969. The band had been touring extensively all through this time, and by October was ready to begin work on what would become their breakthrough LP, Deep Purple In Rock. The band's new hard-rock sound was on full display on the album's final track, Hard Lovin' Man.
Artist: Moody Blues
Title: The Afternoon/Evening/The Night
Source: LP: Days Of Future Passed
Writer(s): Redwave/Knight
Label: Deram
Year: 1967
In 1967 the Moody Blues went out on a limb and recorded an entire album using a symphony orchestra, creating an entire genre (classical rock) in the process. The album, Days Of Future Passed, is essentially a song cycle that covers a typical day, with side one covering the morning through lunchtime. The second side, which starts with the afternoon and continues into the night, includes two of the band's best known songs: Tuesday Afternoon and Nights In White Satin. Although Tuesday Afternoon charted in early 1968, Nights In White Satin did not hit the top 40 until an edited version was released in 1972. By 1972 the original master tape had deteriorated to the point that a new mix was made from the original multi-track tape. This mix was used for all subsequent pressings of Days Of Future Passed, including this 1981 Mobile Fidelity pressing of the LP. In 2017 a pristine copy of the original LP was found, and a new master tape was created from that copy, although I have not yet heard it. Apparently there are some differences between the two, including extra measures of music here and there that were left out of the newer mix.
Artist: Big Brother And The Holding Company
Title: Summertime
Source: LP: Cheap Thrills
Writer(s): Gershwin/Heyward
Label: Columbia
Year: 1968
Janis Joplin, on the 1968 Big Brother And The Holding Company album Cheap Thrills, sounds like she was born to sing Gershwin's Summertime. Maybe she was.
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