https://exchange.prx.org/p/575137
Once again we are sticking to the early Days of Confusion, as everything on this week's show was released by 1972. That includes tracks from debut albums by Blue Oyster Cult, Jethro Tull, Mountain and Wishbone Ash as well as one from the first Savoy Album to be released in the US.
Artist: Stevie Wonder
Title: Superstition
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Stevie Wonder
Label: Tamla
Year: 1972
Superstition was not originally meant to be a Stevie Wonder hit record. The song was actually written with the intention of giving it to guitarist Jeff Beck, in return for his participation of Wonder's Talking Book album. In fact, it was Beck that came up with the song's opening drum riff, creating, with Wonder, the first demo of the song. The plan was for Beck to release the song first as the lead single from the album Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, that album's release got delayed, and Motown CEO Barry Gordy Jr. insisted that Wonder go ahead and release his own version of the song first, as Barry saw the song as a potential #1 hit. It turned out Gordy was right, and Superstition ended up topping both the pop and soul charts in 1973, doing well in other countries as well. A 1986 live version of the song by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble continues to get a lot of airplay on classic rock radio.
Artist: Blue Oyster Cult
Title: Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll
Source: LP: Blue Oyster Cult
Writer(s): Pearlman/Roeser/Bouchard
Label: Columbia
Year: 1972
Blue Oyster Cult's first single, Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll, is proof that by the early 1970s top 40 radio had become irrelevant. The song failed to chart, yet B.O.C. went on to become one of the most well-known rock bands of the decade. The song itself has become a concert staple and was featured in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Vocals on the tune come from drummer Albert Bouchard.
Artist: Pink Fairies
Title: Prologue/Right On, Fight On
Source: CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: What A Bunch Of Sweeties)
Writer(s): Pink Fairies
Label: Polydor (UK import)
Year: 1972
While most rock musicians in the early 1970s were dreaming of becoming rich and famous, there were a few notable exceptions on both sides of the Atlantic. Among those were Detroit's MC5, whose radical politics were at the forefront of everything they did, and the New York City street band David Peel and the Lower East Side, who were more a musical guerrilla theater group than an actual rock band. In the UK, it was the Pink Fairies bucking the establishment, performing such anarchic acts as giving free concerts outside the gates of places where other bands were playing for pay, such as the 1970 Isle Of Wight music festival. Formed from the ashes of another anarchic band, the Social Deviants, the Pink Fairies recorded three albums from 1971-73, finally cutting a single for Stiff Records in 1976 before splitting up. The group has reformed several times since.
Artist: Savoy Brown
Title: You Need Love
Source: LP: Getting To The Point
Writer(s): Willie Dixon
Label: Parrot
Year: 1968
Savoy Brown's first LP, Shake Down, consisted mostly of blues covers and was not released in the US. Not long after its release the band underwent a major personnel shakeup, with only founder/lead guitarist Kim Simmonds left from the band's original lineup appearing on the group's second LP, Getting To The Point. Joining Simmonds were keyboardist Bob Hall (who had played on three tracks on the band's debut LP), vocalist Chris Youlden, rhythm guitarist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, bassist Rivers Jobe and drummer Roger Earl. Unlike Shake Down, Getting To The Point was made up mostly of original material, with only two cover tunes. The second of these was Willie Dixon's You Need Love, first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1962 and soon to become the inspiration for Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Savoy Brown's version of You Need Love, at seven minutes and forty seconds, is the longest track on Getting To The Point.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Beggar's Farm
Source: CD: This Was
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Parallels can be drawn between the early recordings of Jethro Tull and the American band Spirit. Both showed jazz influences that would be less prominent on later albums, but that helped both bands stand out from the pack on their respective debut LPs. An example of this can be heard on the track Beggar's Farm, an Ian Anderson tune from the first Jethro Tull album This Was.
Artist: Manfred Mann Chapter Three
Title: Time
Source: LP: Manfred Mann Chapter Three
Writer(s): Mike Hugg
Label: Polydor
Year: 1969
After a decent run as a successful pop group, Manfred Mann (the band) disbanded in 1969. That same year, Manfred Mann (the person) formed a new group with his longtime collaborator and bandmate Mike Hugg. This group was called Manfred Mann Chapter Three, and was much more experimental in nature than the previous group. Boasting a five-piece horn section, the group was probably inspired by Al Kooper's Blood, Sweat & Tears, which had released the album Child Is Father To The Man the previous year, as well as Miles Davis' recent forays into jazz-rock fusion and bands like the Flock, which was probably the closest to Chapter Three in actual style. Hugg was the primary songwriter for the group, as well as lead vocalists on the seven and a half minute long Time, which opens side two of the original LP.
Artist: Mountain
Title: For Yasgur's Farm
Source: LP: Climbing!
Writer(s): Gardos/Collins/Laing/Pappalardi/Rea/Ship
Release Year: 1970
Leslie West's first solo album was titled Mountain, and featured several prominent studio musicians, including Felix Pappalardi, who had played keyboards on Cream's Wheels of Fire, among other things. After the album was released, West, Pappaliardi and drummer Corky Laing decided to start a band. Naturally, they decided to call the band Mountain, and after a successful appearance at the Woodstock festival, a second album was released. All three band members (as well as several others, including Pappalardi's wife Janet Collins) share writing credit on this song about the Woodstock experience.
Artist: Traffic
Title: Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave
Source: LP: Welcome To The Canteen
Writer(s): Dave Mason
Label: United Artists
Year: 1971
The 1971 album Welcome To The Canteen is a bit of an oddity in the Traffic catalog. For one thing, nowhere on the album cover or label does the word "Traffic" actually appear, although their trademark Traffic logo does show up on the back cover. For another, half the songs on side one of the original LP are by Dave Mason, who had only made six appearances in his third and final stint with the band. Both of those songs, including Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave, had previously appeared as studio tracks on Mason's first solo LP, Alone Together.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Handy
Source: CD: Wishbone Ash
Writer(s): Turner/Turner/Upton/Powell
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to feature two lead guitarists working in tandem, Wishbone Ash rose to fame as the opening act for Deep Purple in early 1970. After guitarist Andy Powell sat in with Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during a sound check, Blackmore referred Wishbone Ash to MCA, the parent company of the US Decca label. The band's first LP came out in December of 1970, with several extended-length tracks like Handy showcasing the band's strengths. Although Wishbone Ash went on to become one of Britain's top rock bands of the 1970s, they were never as successful in the US, despite actually relocating to the States in 1973.
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