https://exchange.prx.org/p/546258
Another week of early 1970s free-form rock radio, the way it actually sounded (except for the bonus Stephen Stills track that originally got left off the 4 Way Street album due to space limitations).
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Whole Lotta Love
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin II
Writer(s): Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones/Dixon
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
If any one song can be considered the bridge between psychedelic rock and heavy metal, it would have to be Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Released in 1969 as the lead track to their second LP, the song became their biggest hit single. Whole Lotta Love was originally credited to the four band members. In recent years, however, co-credit has been given to Willie Dixon, whose lyrics to the 50s song You Need Love are almost identical to Robert Plant's.
Artist: Ginger Baker's Air Force
Title: Don't Care
Source: LP: Ginger Baker's Air Force
Writer(s): Baker/Winwood
Label: Atco
Year: 1970
A lot of people assume that when supergroup Blind Faith broke up, the four members of the band, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, Rick Grech and Steve Winwood, all went their separate ways. Well, not exactly. Although Clapton did quickly hook up with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, the other three members of Blind Faith actually stayed together, and were joined by several other notable British musicians such as ex-Moody Blues and future Wings member Denny Laine, past and future Traffic member Chris Wood, saxophonist/keyboardist Graham Bond (who had a long history with Baker in the Graham Bond Quartet), Jamaican born saxophonist/flautist Harold McNair and an assortment of backup vocalists and percussionists to form Ginger Baker's Air Force. Unfortunately, this rather large group chose to record their debut album at the Royal Albert Hall, which like its American counterpart Carnegie Hall, is big on prestige value but is a flat-out horrible venue for making live recordings (just check out the live tracks on Goodbye Cream for proof of that). Due in large part to the poor recording quality (not to mention the fact that the double LP had two long tracks featuring drum solos), the album, released in March of 1970 was a commercial and critical flop, and this time the various musicians involved did indeed go their separate ways. Some, including Laine and Grech, would appear as "additional personnel" on a second Air Force album, but only Baker and Bond from the original lineup would be considered full band members on the studio recording released in December of 1970.
Artist: Chicago
Title: Someday (August 29, 1968)
Source: CD: The Chicago Transit Authority
Writer(s): Pankow/Lamm
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1969
In the months leading up to the 1968 Democratic convention the phrase "come to Chicago" was often heard among members of the counter-culture that had grown up around various anti-establishment causes. As the summer wore on it became clear that something was going to happen at the Convention that August. Sure enough, on August 28, with the crowd chanting "the whole world's watching", police began pulling demonstraters into paddy wagons, with a full-blown riot erupting the following day. Around that same time a local Chicago band calling itself the Big Thing hooked up with producer James William Guercio, who convinced them to change their name to the Chicago Transit Authority (later shortened to Chicago). It's only natural then that the band would include a song referencing the events of August 29th on their debut LP. The tracks begin with an actual recording of the chant itself (not included on this week's show), which leads into a tune written by James Pankow and Robert Lamm called Someday (August 29, 1968). The chant itself makes a short reappearance midway through the song as well.
Artist: Earth Disciples
Title: Bitter End-Part 1
Source: LP: Getaway Train
Writer(s): Rudy Reid
Label: Solid State
Year: 1970
There is no question that 1970 was a year of experimentation in music. The surface implication of such a statement might lead you to think of bands like Tangerine Dream, who were trying out all kinds of new electronic effects, or Renaissance, who were taking a classical approach to rock. But there were other types of experiments going on as well. New radio formats were developing. Artists were looking at new hybrid genres to explore, such as jazz-rock and soul-funk. One band that went that route was Earth Disciples from the Chicago area. Co-led by guitarist Jimmy Holloway (who also did some keyboard work), Earth Disciples were fond of jazz experimentation, which can be heard on instrumental tracks like Bitter End-Part 1. As to what happened to the band, your guess is as good as mine.
Artist: Stephen Stills
Title: Black Queen
Source: CD: 4 Way Street (bonus track)
Writer(s): Stephen Stills
Label: Atlantic
Year: Recorded 1970, released 1992
The individual members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were already working on solo albums when they recorded the double LP 4 Way Street in the early summer of 1970. This led to some of the songs from those upcoming albums being included on 4 Way Street, with several more left on the cutting room floor. In 1992 Neil Young assembled some of those missing tunes for the expanded CD release of 4 Way Street, including Stephen Stills's Black Queen, a song that shows Still's interest in country blues.
Artist: Graham Nash/David Crosby
Title: Immigration Man
Source: 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1972
Graham Nash and David Crosby decided to make an album without Stephen Stills or Neil Young in 1972. The two songwriters' compositions alternated on the album, with the final track, Nash's Immigration Man (based on his own real life experience at customs), being released as a single.
Artist: Doobie Brothers
Title: Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
Source: LP: Appetizers (originally released on LP: The Captain And Me)
Writer(s): Tom Johnston
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1973
Dark Eyed Cajun Woman is a Tom Johnston penned tribute to the blues, and to B.B. King in particular. It appears on the third Doobie Brothers album, The Captain And Me, and is often overlooked due to its placement immediately following two of the band's biggest hits, Long Train Runnin' and China Grove. Released in March of 1973, The Captain And Me spent over a year on the US Pop albums chart, peaking at #7.
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Title: Barandgrill
Source: LP: For The Roses
Writer(s): Joni Mitchell
Label: Asylum
Year: 1972
After releasing several albums for Reprise, Joni Mitchell signed with David Geffen's Asylum label in 1972. Her first album for the label was For The Roses, which includes several of her trademark slice-of-life songs such as Barandgrill. For The Roses was selected by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry in 2007.
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". I have to agree with him on that.
Artist: Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Title: Lucky Man
Source: CD: Emerson, Lake And Palmer
Writer(s): Greg Lake
Label: Rhino (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1970
By 1970 a trend was developing in rock music that continues to this day. That trend was for musicians to leave their original bands after a couple years and form new "supergroups" with other like-minded musicians. One example was Emerson, Lake and Palmer, made up of former members of the Nice, King Crimson and Atomic Rooster. Their first, and most recognizable, hit was Lucky Man, written by lead vocalist Greg Lake, who also played acoustic guitar on the song.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: Tales
Source: European import CD: The Magician's Birthday
Writer: Ken Hensley
Label: Sanctuary (original US label: Mercury)
Year: 1972
Uriah Heep is generally remembered for two albums that appeared in 1972: Demons and Wizards and The Magicians's Birthday. Although Demons and Wizards had a great title track, and included the hit single Easy Livin', The Magician's Birthday had a stronger overall lineup of songs, including Tales, written by keyboardist Ken Hensley.
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