https://exchange.prx.org/p/529795
It's free-form time again, with live tracks from Lou Reed and Jimi Hendrix and studio tracks from a variety of artists, including Procol Harum, Focus and, believe it or not, Tina Turner covering Led Zeppelin.
Artist: Focus
Title: Harem Scarem
Source: 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Thijs van Leer
Label: Atco
Year: 1974
From a purely artistic perspective, Focus's 1974 album Hamburger Concerto is one of the Amsterdam band's best efforts. However, none of the tracks on the album had the commercial appeal of songs like Hocus Pocus or Sylvia. The nearest it came was keyboardist Thijs van Leer's composition Harem Scarem, which had to be edited from its nearly six minute LP length down to slighly more than three minutes for single release. The song failed to get any top 40 airplay, however.
Artist: Lou Reed
Title: Intro/Sweet Jane
Source: CD: Rock N Roll Animal
Writer(s): Hunter/Reed
Label: RCA/BMG
Year: 1974
Lou Reed's career did not exactly take off following his departure from Velvet Underground in 1970. According to Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone magazine, Reed's first live appearance as a solo artist (with a pickup band) was, "tragic in every sense of the word". As a result, it came as a bit of a surprise when his appearance on December 21, 1973, at Howard Stein's Academy of Music in New York City, was a major success, thanks in large part to his new, well-rehearsed band consisting of Pentti Glan (drums) and Prakash John (bass), Ray Colcord (keyboards), and Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter on guitars (all of which would eventually become the second incarnation of the Alice Cooper band). The performance was recorded and released on two albums, the first of which was Rock N Roll Animal, released in 1973. The opening track is a perfect example of how the band and Reed himself were equally responsible for the concert's success. The first half is an instrumental Intro written by Hunter that seques smoothly in one of Reed's most popular songs, Sweet Jane. This version has come to be considered the definitive version of Sweet Jane, despite its lack of similarity to the original Velvet Underground recording from the Loaded album.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix/Band Of Gypsys
Title: Machine Gun
Source: LP: Band Of Gypsys
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: Capitol
Year: 1970
In 1965 Jimi Hendrix sat in on a recording session with R&B vocalist Curtis Knight, signing what he thought was a standard release contract relinquishing any future claim to royalties on the recordings. Three years later, after Hendrix had released a pair of successful albums on the Reprise label with his new band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Capitol records issued the Knight sessions as an LP called Get That Feeling, giving Hendrix equal billing with Knight. Additionally, Capitol claimed that the guitarist was under contract to them. Eventually the matter was settled by Hendrix promising to provide Capitol with an album of new material by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, although it was not specified whether the album be made up of studio or live recordings. While all this was going on, the Experience disbanded, leaving Hendrix bandless and under pressure to come up with new material for his regular label, Reprise, as well as the Capitol album. The solution was to record a set of concerts at the Fillmore East on December 31st, 1969 and January 1st, 1970, and release the best of these recordings as a live album on the Capitol label, freeing Hendrix up to concentrate on a new studio album for Reprise. The live album, Band Of Gypsys, ended up being the last album of new material to be released during the guitarist's lifetime. It features bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles on Hendrix originals such as Machine Gun, as well as material written by Miles.
Artist: Tina Turner
Title: Whole Lotta Love
Source: British import CD: Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (originally released in US on LP: Acid Queen)
Writer(s): Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones/Dixon
Label: Stateside (original US label: United Artists)
Year: 1975
Tina Turner got rave reviews for her performance as the Acid Queen in the 1975 film version of the Who's rock opera Tommy. She followed it up with an album called Acid Queen. The entire first side of the LP was made up of covers of songs originally recorded by British rock bands, two each from the Who and the Rolling Stones. The longest track on the side, however, is her version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, slowed down enough to give the track a strong R&B flavor.
Artist: Savoy Brown
Title: Sunday Night
Source: CD: Looking In
Writer(s): Kim Simmonds
Label: Deram (original label: Parrot)
Year: 1970
Despite being a British blues-rock band, Savoy Brown released their sixth LP, Looking In, to a US audience nearly two months before it was available anywhere else, including their native England. The album, which put more emphasis on hard rock than any other Savoy Brown LP, ended up being their most successful, hitting #50 in the UK and doing even better (#39) in the US. Songwriting duties were spread out among band members, with founder and lead guitarist Kim Simmonds supplying the instrumental Sunday Night, among other tunes. Not long after Looking In was released, Simmonds let the entire band go due to differences in opinion about the band's future musical direction. Savoy Brown, with an ever-changing lineup, would remain solidly based in the blues, while the new band formed by the other three members, Foghat, would continue in a more hard rocking vein.
Artist: David Bowie
Title: After All
Source: LP Metrobolist (originally released as The Man Who Sold The World)
Writer(s): David Bowie
Label: Parlophone (original label: Mercury)
Year: 1970
The Man Who Sold The World was the first David Bowie album to be produced entirely by Tony Visconti. As such, it is often considered the true beginning of the David Bowie legend. It is also the album with the most different covers; not cover songs, but cover artwork. The album, whose working title was Metrobolist, was originally released in the US in November of 1970 with a hand-drawn Michael J. Weller cover depicting a cowboy carrying a rifle, with a shot-up church clock tower in the background. Curiously, the artwork included an empty comic-book style word balloon, with no explanation of what it was there for. Bowie at first disliked the cover and insisted that a new one featuring Bowie himself lying on a bed wearing a "man dress" be used for the British release of the album the following April. Meanwhile, a completely different cover entirely appeared in Germany. Rather than try to describe this one I'll just refer you to the Stuck in the Psychedelic Era Facebook page. It'll be worth the effort I promise, as this cover is literally too cool for words. When RCA Victor reissued the album in the US in 1972, The Man Who Sold The World had yet another cover, this one depicting Bowie as Ziggy Stardust in a black and white photograph. The mystery of the empty word balloon was finally solved with the 50th anniversary release of the LP in 2020 under its original working title, Metrobolist. The words "Roll up your sleeves take a look at your arms" appear within the balloon. Viscontio remixed the entire album for the 2020 release with the exception of the last song on side one, After All, which Visconti called "perfect as is".
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Bourée
Source: CD: Stand Up
Writer: J.S. Bach, arr. Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1969
The second Jethro Tull album, Stand Up, saw the band moving a considerable distance from its blues-rock roots, as flautist Ian Anderson asserted himself as leader and sole songwriter for the group. Nowhere is that more evident than on the instrumental Bourée, an adaptation of a Johann Sebastian Bach piece that successfully melds jazz and classical influences into the Jethro Tull sound.
Artist: Doors
Title: The Mosquito
Source: Mono 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Krieger/Densmore/Manzarek
Label: Elektra
Year: 1972
Following the death of Jim Morrison, the remaining members of the Doors attempted to carry on as a three-piece group, but met with relatively little success. One of their best known songs is The Mosquito, but not as a Doors recording. Not long after the song's initial release as a single (and LP track on the album Full Circle), the song was translated into French by Pierre Delanoe, whose Le Moustique went into the top 10 in at least two European countries, and was also released in Canada. Sadly, the line "Just let me eat my burrito" was lost in translation. At least Robby Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek got some royalties out of it.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Still There'll Be More
Source: LP: Home
Writer(s): Brooker/Reid
Label: A&M
Year: 1970
Before there was Procol Harum, there was the Paramounts. In fact, after three albums, Procol Harum actually was the Paramounts, although they continued to use the name Procol Harum. The Paramounts had gone through countless personnel changes before disbanding in 1967, when pianist Gary Brooker and dedicated lyricist Keith Reid left to form Procol Harum with organist Matthew Fisher. Other members at the time included guitarist Robin Trower, bassist Chris Copping and drummer B.J. Wilson, all of which would be members of Procol Harum on their fourth LP, Home. Working with producer Chris Thomas, the album, including songs like Still There'll Be More, was completed at Abbey Road Studios in early 1970 and released in June of that year.
Artist: Mahogany Rush
Title: Tryin' Anyway
Source: Canadian import CD: Strange Universe
Writer(s): Frank Marino
Label: Just A Minute (original label: 20th Century)
Year: 1975
Since the tragic death of Jimi Hendrix in 1970, there have been plenty of guitarists that have come along using a similar style to the Experienced One. Only one or two have been able to truly recreate the total Hendrix sound, however, and the most notable of these is Canadian Frank Marino, whose band, Mahogany Rush, was patterned after the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In essence, Mahogany Rush represents one of the many possible directions that Hendrix himself might have gone in had he lived past the age of 27. The album Strange Universe, released in 1975, features tunes like Tryin' Anyway, which manages to capture the Hendrix sound without sounding like any particular Hendrix track.
Artist: Sugarloaf
Title: Mother Nature's Wine
Source: LP: Spaceship Earth
Writer: Corbetta/Phillips/Reardon
Label: Liberty
Year: 1971
Despite being a better album overall than Sugarloaf's first LP, Spaceship Earth did not sell particularly well, only making it to the #111 spot on the Billboard albums chart. This is probably due to the lack of a hit single on a par with Green-Eyed Lady. Of the two singles that were released from Spaceship Earth, the one more similar in style to Green-Eyed Lady was Mother Nature's Wine. The song stalled out in the # 88 spot however, and Sugarloaf did not have another charted single until 1974, when the semi-novelty tune Don't Call Us, We'll Call You made the top 10.
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