https://exchange.prx.org/p/605882
It's once again free-form time on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion, as we present a dozen tracks ranging from 1969 to 1975, including an opening set that asks some penetrating questions..
Artist: National Lampoon
Title: Deteriorata
Source: LP: Radio Dinner
Writer(s): Hendra/Guest
Label: MCA (original label: Blue Thumb)
Year: 1972
National Lampoon was a product of its time. Originally a magazine, NatLamp (as it was often referred to) grew to include a weekly radio show, a series of albums, and eventually, a series of movies. Some of the best bits from the radio show were assembled in 1972 on an album called National Lampoon's Radio Dinner. The opening track of this album was a piece written by Tony Hendra (with music by guitarist Christopher Guest) that parodied a 1971 spoken word recording by Les Crane of an early 20th century poem by Max Ehrmann called Desirata. The Lampoon piece, Deteriorata, was narrated by Norman Rose, with Melissa Manchester singing and playing keyboards on the track.
Artist: John Lennon
Title: How Do You Sleep?
Source: CD: Lennon (box set) (originally released on LP: Imagine)
Writer(s): John Lennon
Label: Capitol (original label: Apple)
Year: 1971
When it comes to pure vitriol, few, if any, songs in the history of rock can compare with John Lennon's How Do You Sleep. Released in 1971 on the Imagine album, How do You Sleep is nothing short of a full-scale attack on Lennon's former bandmate, Paul McCartney, in response to what Lennon perceived as a series of personal attacks included on Paul and Linda McCartney's album Ram, released earlier the same year. Musically, it's one of Lennon's most powerful pieces as a solo artist, and was singled out as one of the three best tracks on Imagine by Rolling Stone magazine at the time the album was released.
Artist: Golden Earring
Title: Are You Receiving Me?
Source: British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Moontan)
Writer(s): Kooymans/Hay/Fenton
Label: MCA/Track
Year: 1973
Even though they are only known for a couple of songs (Radar Love, Twilight Zone) in the US, Golden Earring is actually one of the world's most successful rock bands. Formed in 1961 in The Hague, The Golden Earrings (as they were then known) released their first single in 1965, going all the way to the #2 spot on the Dutch charts. Over the next few years they released four albums and several singles on the Polydor label before switching over to Kit Lambert's Track label in 1970. Their 1973 album Moontan gave the band their first international success, thanks to the inclusion of the single Radar Love. By then the band was known for their improvisational abilities, as can be heard on another track from Moontan, the nine and a half minute long Are You Receiving Me. With more than fifty years of recording and performing under their belt, Golden Earring continues to enjoy massive popularity in their native Netherlands.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: Who Needs Ya?
Source: 45 RPM single (promo copy)
Writer(s): Byrom/Kay
Label: Dunhill
Year: 1970
It's no secret that there are often clashes between members of talented bands. Sometimes these clashes turn pretty ugly, as was the case between Steppenwolf guitarist Michael Monarch and lead vocalist John Kay. On at least one occasion Monarch got so angry with Kay that he stopped playing in the middle of a performance. Finally it got to the point where one of them had to go. Since Steppenwolf was basically Kay's band, Monarch was the one to leave. He was replaced by Larry Byrom, who was a member of the Los Angeles band T.I.M.E. Byrom stayed with with the band for the next two years, co-writing the tune Who Needs Ya, which was released as a single in October of 1970 and appeared on the album Steppenwolf 7.
Artist: Black Sheep
Title: Encouraging Words
Source: LP: Encouraging Words
Writer(s): Mancuso/Turgan/Grammitico
Label: Capitol
Year: 1975
Next to raw talent, a rock band's most important asset is their equipment. It is also their greatest expense, and its loss can be devastating. Take the case of Black Sheep, an up-and-coming band from Rochester, NY. With two albums for Capitol Records under their belt, the group, featuring front man Louis Grammitico, seemed poised for major success when a traffic accident on an icy highway destroyed their equipment van and everything in it. Without the funds to replace the lost equipment, Black Sheep was forced to disband in early 1976. Not long after that Grammitico got a call from Mick Jones inviting him to join his new band, Foreigner. Grammitico accepted the offer, shortening his stage name to Lou Gramm.
Artist: Lou Reed
Title: Wild Child
Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Lou Reed and as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Lou Reed
Label: Sony Music (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1972
Lou Reed's first album after leaving the Velvet Underground was made up mostly of new recordings of songs the VU had already recorded but not released, using British session musicians and members of other bands such as Yes. Familiar names on songs such as Wild Child include Steve Howe and Caleb Quaye on guitars and Rick Wakeman on piano.
Artist: Blue Suede
Title: Hooked On A Feeling
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Mark James
Label: EMI
Year: 1973
By 1974, the novelty record was almost dead. Then again, the Blue Suede version of the 1969 B.J. Thomas hit, Hooked On A Feeling, is almost a novelty record. The single, release in May of 1973 in the band's native Sweden, went all the way to the top of the charts when it was released in the US in early 1974. Not bad for a band that recorded nothing but cover songs (even the famous "ooka-chaka" intro was swiped from a 1971 Jonathan King version of the song). If you are one of the many who hoped never to hear this record again, you can blame Quentin Tarantino, who revived interest in the song when he included it in the soundtrack of his film Reservoir Dogs.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Truckin'
Source: CD: Skeletons From the Closet (originally released on LP: American Beauty)
Writer: Garcia/Weir/Hunter/Lesh
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
After two performance-oriented albums that mixed live and studio material and one double live LP, the Grateful Dead decided to shift their focus in the studio to their songwriting skills. The result was Workingman's Dead, the band's most commercially successful album up to that point. Five months later the followup album, American Beauty defined the Grateful Dead's sound for all but the most dedicated of concertgoers (the legendary Deadheads), thanks to songs like Truckin', which would stand as the band's most successful single until the mid-1980s and probably the late Bob Weir's best known lead vocal performance.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Midnight Rambler
Source: LP: Let It Bleed
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: London
Year: 1969
1969 was, with a couple of rather significant exceptions, a good year for the Rolling Stones. Their Beggar's Banquet album, released late in 1968, had reestablished them as one of the world's premier rock bands, and their first single of 1969, Honky Tonk Women, was nothing short of a masterpiece. The song had introduced Stones fans to the band's newest member, Mick Taylor, who had replaced Brian Jones, who had left the band he founded just a few weeks before he was found dead in his swimming pool (the first of those exceptions) on the very night that Honky Tonk Women was recorded. The timing of it all gave fuel to all kinds of conspiracy theories, of course, but the band itself was already hard at work on what would be their final album for the British Decca label (and it's US counterpart, London) before starting their own label. One of the most enduring tracks on Let It Bleed was Midnight Rambler, which would become a staple of the band's live performances for years to come. The other previously mentioned huge exception, incidentally, was the infamous Altamont Speedway Free Festival, which Rolling Stone magazine later called "rock and roll's all-time worst day, December 6th, a day when everything went perfectly wrong."
Artist: Spirit
Title: Dark Eyed Woman
Source: CD: The Best Of Spirit (originally released on LP: Clear)
Writer(s): California/Ferguson
Label: Epic (original label: Ode)
Year: 1969
After a rather busy 1968 (two albums, a movie soundtrack and touring), the members of Spirit felt a bit rushed when working on their third LP, Clear. Nonetheless, the final product was one of their best, possibly because the lack of development time left them relying more on their considerable improvisational skills as musicians. Not all of the tracks were spontaneous creations, however. The opening track, Dark Eyed Woman, was a well-constructed piece that ended up being released as the first single from the album as well.
Artist: Climax Blues Band
Title: Shake Your Love
Source: Stereo 45 RPM promo single
Writer(s): Climax/Gottehrer
Label: Sire
Year: 1972
Although never a first-tier group, the Climax Blues Band (formed in 1967 as the Climax Chicago Blues Band) nonetheless had a decent career, releasing a total of 19 albums during their existence. Among those was the 1972 LP Rich Man, which included Shake Your Love, a song that was also released to radio stations in single form. The tune was co-written by the band and their producer, Richard Gottehrer. Gottehrer is probably best known for writing or co-writing several hit songs in the 1960s, including My Boyfriend's Back, Hang On Sloopy, and I Want Candy, the latter being credited to Gottehrer's own band, the Strangeloves.
Artist: Climax Blues Band
Title: Shake Your Love
Source: Stereo 45 RPM promo single
Writer(s): Climax/Gottehrer
Label: Sire
Year: 1972
Although never a first-tier group, the Climax Blues Band (formed in 1967 as the Climax Chicago Blues Band) nonetheless had a decent career, releasing a total of 19 albums during their existence. Among those was the 1972 LP Rich Man, which included Shake Your Love, a song that was also released to radio stations in single form. The tune was co-written by the band and their producer, Richard Gottehrer. Gottehrer is probably best known for writing or co-writing several hit songs in the 1960s, including My Boyfriend's Back, Hang On Sloopy, and I Want Candy, the latter being credited to Gottehrer's own band, the Strangeloves.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: Seven Stars
Source: CD: Sweet Freedom
Writer(s): Ken Hensley
Label: Sequel (original US label: Warner Brothers)
Year: 1973
I'm not exactly sure what Uriah Heep's David Byron had in mind when he started singing the alphabet at the end of Seven Stars. It could have even been the way Ken Hensley wrote the song in the first place, although Hensley never did anything else quite as silly before or after the Sweet Freedom album. Musically, Seven Stars sounds like an attempt to recreate the excitement generated by Heep's biggest hit, Easy Livin', but it falls far short of the earlier tune.
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