https://exchange.prx.org/p/616642
This week we just kinda hang around the early 1970s, with tracks ranging from 1968 (Spirit) to 1974 (Backman-Turner Overdrive). We finish out the show with a track from the seldom heard Rare Earth album One World.
Artist: Savoy Brown
Title: Made Up My Mind
Source: British import CD: A Step Further
Writer: Chris Youlden
Label: Polygram/Deram (original US label: Parrot)
Year: 1969
To coincide with a US tour, the fourth Savoy Brown album, A Step Further, was actually released in North America several months before it was in the UK, with Made Up My Mind (a Chris Youlden tune that borrowed heavily from Arthur Gunter's mid-50s classic Baby Let's Play House) being simultaneously released as a single. Luckily for the band, 1969 was a year that continued the industry-wide trend away from hit singles and toward successful albums instead, at least among the more progressive groups, as the single itself tanked. Aided by a decent amount of airplay on progressive FM radio, however, the album (the last to feature Youlden on lead vocals) peaked comfortably within the top 100 in the US.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Straight Arrow
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer(s): Jay Ferguson
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Spirit was born when high school students and garage rockers Randy California, Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes and John Locke started jamming with California's stepfather, jazz drummer Ed Cassidy. The result was one of the earliest examples of jazz-rock, although the jazz element would be toned down for later albums. Unlike the later fusion bands, Spirit's early songs tended to be sectional, with a main section that was straight rock often leading into a more late bop styled instrumental section reminiscent of Wes Montgomery's recordings. Vocalist Jay Ferguson wrote most of the band's early material, such as Straight Arrow from their 1968 debut album.
Artist: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Title: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Source: CD: Crosby, Stills and Nash
Writer: Stephen Stills
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
After the demise of Buffalo Springfield, Stephen Stills headed for New York, where he worked with Al Kooper on the Super Session album and recorded several demo tapes of his own, including a new song called Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (reportedly written for his then-girlfriend Judy Collins). After his stint in New York he returned to California, where he started hanging out in the Laurel Canyon home of David Crosby, who had been fired from the Byrds in 1967. Crosby's house at that time was generally filled with a variety of people coming and going, and Crosby and Stills soon found themselves doing improvised harmonies on each other's material in front of a friendly, if somewhat stoned, audience. It was not long before they invited Graham Nash, whom they heard had been having problems of his own with his bandmates in the Hollies, to come join them in Laurel Canyon. The three soon began recording together, and in 1969 released the album Crosby, Stills and Nash. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was chosen as the opening track for the new album and was later released (in severely edited form) as a single.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: That's The Way
Source: CD: Led Zeppelin III
Writer(s): Page/Plant
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
I read somewhere that Jimmy Page came up with The Rain Song (from the album Houses Of The Holy) in response to someone asking him why Led Zeppelin hadn't recorded any ballads. Apparently that person had never heard That's The Way, from the album Led Zeppelin III. Setting aside my own view that "rock ballads" aren't really ballads in the first place, if That's The Way isn't one of them, I don't know what is.
Artist: Marvin Gaye
Title: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
Source: Mono 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Marvin Gaye
Label: Tamla
Year: 1971
Released as the second single from the 1971 LP What's Going On, Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) is considered one of Marvin Gaye's greatest songs and an anthem of the environmental movement.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: Planet Caravan
Source: LP: Paranoid
Writer(s): Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
Many rock musicians are also science fiction fans. Why this should be is a bit of a mystery, but it is a fact nonetheless. As a result, some of the coolest rock songs have science fiction overtones. A case in point is Black Sabbath's Planet Caravan, from their second LP, Paranoid. The use of minor and diminished chords, along with weird studio effects like running Ozzy Osbourne's vocals through the rotating horns of a Leslie cabinet, gives Planet Caravan a decidedly otherworldly feel (the song's title and lyrics don't hurt, either).
Artist: Doors
Title: Crawling King Snake
Source: LP: L.A. Woman
Writer(s): John Lee Hooker
Label: Elektra
Year: 1971
Although it had been part of the Doors' stage repertoire for several years, Crawling King Snake was actually recorded on the last day of sessions for their sixth studio album, L.A. Woman. Jim Morrison had designated the final day of recording for the album to be "blues day". Of the three songs recorded that day, Crawling King Snake was the only actual blues cover song, the others being Doors originals. The song itself was a 1949 R&B hit for John Lee Hooker, who was given songwriting credit for the piece, although earlier versions of the tune, dating back to the 1920s, are known to exist. L.A. Woman was the final Doors studio album to feature Morrison on vocals, and the singer expressed pleasure in being able to finally record a blues album with the band.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: Gary's Song
Source: British import CD: The Magician's Birthday (bonus track)
Writer(s): Gary Thain
Label: Sanctuary
Year: Recorded 1972, released 2003
One of the least talked about members of the infamous "27 club" is bassist Gary Thain, a New Zealand native who joined Uriah Heep midway through sessions for their 1972 album Demons And Wizards. His first songwriting credits with the band appeared on Uriah Heep's next LP, The Magician's Birthday, as co-writer of the album's two singles, Sweet Lorraine and Spider Woman. His only solo composition for the album, Crystal Ball aka Gary's Song was never completed, although several different versions have since surfaced, including this bonus track from the 2003 British reissue of The Magician's Birthday. During the band's 1974 US tour, Thain suffered a serious electric shock, that, combined with his drug addiction, affected his ability to play. He was dismissed from the band in early 1975 and died of respiratory failure due to a heroin overdose at the age of 27 later that year.
Artist: Faces
Title: Cindy Incidentally
Source: 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): McLagen/Steward/Wood
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1973
By 1973, vocalist Rod Stewart had achieved superstar status, creating a rift between himself and the rest of his band, Faces. In practical terms this meant that Stewart's participation in the making of the band's fourth and final album, Ohh La La, was minimal at best. As a result, in the words of Ian McLagen, Ooh La La was "Ronnie Lane's album". To make matters worse, Stewart publicly expressed his disdain for the album to the rock press, calling Ooh La La a "stinking rotten album". Lane took the comments personally, and soon left the band that he himself had co-founded in 1965 (as the Outcasts). The group found a replacement bass player and cut a couple more singles, but by 1975 Stewart was showing no interest at all in the band, while guitarist Ronnie Wood was already well on his way to becoming a member of the Rolling Stones, thus ending the saga of one of England's most popular bands. Ironically, Cindy Incidentally, from Ooh La La, ended up being the Faces' biggest British hit single.
Artist: Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Title: Rock Is My Life, And This Is My Song
Source: LP: Not Fragile
Writer(s): Randy Bachman
Label: Mercury
Year: 1974
As of 1974, Bachman-Turner Overdrive had achieved considerable success on the top 40 charts with Let It Ride and Takin' Care Of Business, but had yet to gain an audience on FM rock radio. That changed, however, with the release of Not Fragile in September of 1974. Bolstered by the addition of Blair Thornton on "second lead guitar", Not Fragile lived up to its title with hard-rocking tunes like the autobiographical Rock Is My Life, And This Is My Song. Bandleader Randy Bachman later said "Not Fragile was when it all came together for us. We captured the album-oriented rock audience as well as the singles audience with that album. Not Fragile made BTO recognized around the world."
Artist: Mothers
Title: Montana
Source: CD: Over-Nite Sensation
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Zappa (original label: Discreet)
Year: 1973
Montana is quite possibly the most recognizable song Frank Zappa ever wrote. The track first appeared on the Mothers album Over-Nite Sensation and quickly became a concert staple. On the original album version Zappa's guitar solo is followed by a series of vocal gymnastics performed by none other than Tina Turner and the Ikettes, who were recording with Turner's husband Ike in an adjacent studio. According to Zappa it took the singers two days to master the complex melody and timing of the section. Reportedly Tina was so pleased with the result that she invited her husband into the control room to hear the finished section, only to have Ike say "What is this shit?" and walk back out.
Artist: J. Geils Band
Title: Whammer Jammer
Source: Mono 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Juke Box Jimmie
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1971
First they were a Boston bar band called Snoopy and the Sopwith Camel. Then they became the J. Geils Blues Band. Finally they dropped the "blues" from the name and became famous. Whammer Jammer, an early B side showcasing "Magic Dick" Salwitz on lead harmonica, shows why the "blues" part was there in the first place.
Artist: Rare Earth
Title: Someone To Love
Source: British import CD: The Collection (originally released on LP: Get Ready)
Writer(s): Gil Bridges
Label: Spectrum (original label: Rare Earth)
Year: 1969
Rare Earth was not the first white band to sign with Motown, but they were the most successful. Formed in 1960 as the Sunliners, the band was one of the most popular groups on the Detroit club circuit by 1968, when they recorded their first LP for the Verve label. Not long after that they came to the attention of Barney Ales, a vice president of Motown who was in charge of developing a new label that would specialize in white acts. After seeing the Sunliners perform, he immediately signed them up as the flaghip band for his as-yet unnamed new label. Ales and the band felt that the group needed a new name, and the name Rare (for the fact that few white bands were signed to black labels at the time) Earth (because they were down to it) was quickly adopted. When Ales mentioned that he still didn't have a name for the new label, one of the band members joking suggested using Rare Earth for that as well. To everyone's surprise Ales (with the approval of Motown president Barry Gordy) did exactly that. Rare Earth's first record was the 1969 LP Get Ready, which featured an extended version of the title track (a former Temptations hit) taking up an entire side. An edited version of Get Ready was released as a single and hit #4 on the Billboard top 100, a strong outing for a debut single. The LP itself peaked at #12 on the album charts. They followed that album up with Ecology, which included their second consecutive top 10 single, (I Know) I'm Losing You. Their third and final top 10 single, I Just Want To Celebrate, came from their 1971 LP One World. Up to this point, all Rare Earth's singles had come from songwriters who were not members of the band. This would change with their next single, Someone To Love, the opening track of the One World album. Written by the band's woodwind player, John Persh, the song failed to chart, as did their next single, Any Man Can Be a Fool, written by bassist John Persh. By 1972 it was becoming obvious that the band had passed their peak of popularity, but Rare Earth would continue to release records into the 1990s, albeit with substantial personnel changes.
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