https://exchange.prx.org/p/637141
This week's show is sort of semi-free-form, with an opening set from the late 1960s followed by one from the early 70s. We move on to the middle of the decade to finish things out.
Artist: King Crimson
Title: The Court Of The Crimson King
Source: CD: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer: MacDonald/Sinfield
Label: Discipline Global Mobile (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1969
Perhaps the most influential progressive rock album of all time was King Crimson's debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The band, in its original incarnation, included Robert Fripp on guitar, Ian MacDonald on keyboards and woodwinds, Greg Lake on vocals and bass, David Giles on drums and Peter Sinfield as a dedicated lyricist. The title track, which takes up the second half of side two of the LP, features music composed by MacDonald, who would leave the group after their second album, later resurfacing as a founding member of Foreigner. The album's distinctive cover art came from a painting by computer programmer Barry Godber, who died of a heart attack less than a year after the album was released. According to Fripp, the artwork on the inside is a portrait of the Crimson King, whose manic smile is in direct contrast to his sad eyes. The album, song and artwork were the inspiration for Stephen King's own Crimson King, the insane antagonist of his Dark Tower saga who is out to destroy all of reality, including our own.
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Into The Fire
Source: LP: Deep Purple In Rock
Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
Deep Purple In Rock was the first studio album to feature what is now considered the "classic" Deep Purple lineup: Richie Blackmore on guitar, Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Jon Lord on organ and Ian Paice on drums. It was also the first Deep Purple to hit the top 10 on the British album charts, although the band had done much better in the US with the original lineup. The album is pretty much straightforward hard rock, especially on tunes like Into The Fire, one of the better-known tracks from the LP.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Winter And My Soul
Source: CD: Grand Funk
Writer(s): Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1969
Anyone who wants to know just what made Grand Funk Railroad the most popular arena rock band of the early 1970s needs only listen to GFR's second album, Grand Funk (usually just referred to as the Red Album). The 1969 album is pure...well, pure Grand Funk Railroad. It's loud, it's messy and, most importantly, it rocks. Hard. Case in point: Winter And My Soul, which opens the LP's second side.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Street Fighting Man
Source: Mono CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Beggar's Banquet)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1968
The Rolling Stones were at a low point in their career following their most psychedelic album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, which came out in late 1967. As a response to charges in the rock press that they were no longer relevant the Stones parted company with their longtime producer, Andrew Loog Oldham and began an equally long association with Jimmy Miller, who had already established himself as a top producer working with Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group and later Traffic. The first song Miller produced with the Stones was Street Fighting Man, which appeared on the 1968 LP Beggar's Banquet. Before that LP was released, however, the band recorded an even more iconic single, Jumpin' Jack Flash, which was the first Miller/Stones production to be heard by the general public.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Title: Breathe/Speak To Me
Source: CD: The Dark Side Of The Moon
Writer(s): Mason/Waters/Gilmour/Wright
Label: Capitol (original label: Harvest)
Year: 1973
Is there really anything I can say about Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon that hasn't been said a hundred times already? Probably not, so let's just kick back and enjoy the album's opening tracks, Breathe and Speak To Me.
Artist: Who
Title: Join Together
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Pete Townshend
Label: Decca
Year: 1972
Here's a trivia question for you: Which Who single was the last to be commercially released on the Decca label in the US? The answer is, of course, Join Together, one of their best-known tunes. Their next single, The Relay/Wasp Man was released on Decca in promo form to radio stations, but on Track in retail stores (although the Track release also had the Decca logo on the label). Subsequent Who releases were on Track/MCA, as Decca no longer existed as a separate label.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Nature's Way
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer: Randy California
Label: Epic
Year: 1970 (single version released 1973)
Nature's Way is one of the best-known and best-loved songs in the Spirit catalog. Originally released on the 1970 LP The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, the song was finally issued as a single in 1973, long after lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes had left the band. The single mix is a bit different from the album version, particularly at the end of the song, which originally ended with a tympani roll by drummer Ed Cassidy. The single version ends with the chord immediately preceding that roll.
Artist: Roxy Music
Title: Virginia Plain
Source: LP: Appetizers (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Bryan Ferry
Label: Reprise
Year: 1972
According to songwriter Bryan Ferry, Virginia Plain started off as a song about a place. Then his band, Roxy Music, got hold of it. Here is the result.
Artist: Norman Greenbaum
Title: The Day The Well Went Dry
Source: LP: Appetizers (originally released on LP: Petaluma)
Writer(s): Norman Greenbaum
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1972
Norman Greenbaum is most famous for the song Spirit In The Sky, which was a huge international hit in 1970 following it's December 1969 release as a single. Greenbaum himself, however, was not particularly interested in being a rock star, as can be plainly heard on songs like The Day The Well Went Dry, which quite possibly is based on a true story, considering the fact that Greenbaum was more interested in working his dairy farm than making music by 1972.
Artist: Steely Dan
Title: The Royal Scam
Source: CD: The Royal Scam
Writer(s): Becker/Fagen
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1976
By 1976 Steely Dan had evolved from being an actual band to being a pair of songwriters who recruited the best musicians available to play specific parts on their albums. The credits for their fifth LP, The Royal Scam, included two dozen names, including guitarist Larry Carlton, who is heard prominently on several tunes on the album, including the title track. Lyrically The Royal Scam, with its message that sometimes the American Dream ain't all it's cracked up to be, is consistent with the cynicism that had come to be associated with Steely Dan's songs at that point in time. The album itself, while not getting strong initial reviews, has since come to be regarded as a classic. Donald Fagen has since called the cover of the Royal Scam one of the most "hideous" album covers of all time.
Artist: Taj Mahal
Title: When I Feel The Sea Beneath My Soul
Source: LP: Music Keeps Me Together
Writer(s): Taj Mahal
Label: Columbia
Year: 1975
Taj Mahal is usually thought of as a blues singer, and a good one at that. So hearing a purely instrumental composition that he wrote himself might come as a bit of a surprise. If so, When I Feel The Sea Beneath My Soul from the 1975 album Music Keeps Me Together is a rather nice one. Enjoy.
Artist: Doobie Brothers
Title: Daughters Of The Sea/Flying Cloud
Source: CD: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
Writer(s): Simmons/Porter
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1974
When I got out of basic training in southwestern Texas I was told to report to duty at my tech school in northern Texas. Now this might seem a fairly short distance; apparently the people making my travel arrangements thought so, because, rather than a plane flight, they put me on a bus. This bus also had several other basic training graduates on it, all heading for the same tech school location. The ride took approximately six hours, as I recall, and one of the guys had used his initial paycheck to buy a boombox and an 8-track tape of the new Doobie Brothers album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. Apparently he didn't realize how big Texas is, as he did not buy any other tapes. And so, for six hours, we listened to the new Doobie Brothers album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, over and over. And over. And over. Luckily, it's actually a pretty decent album, although some songs are more listenable than others, of course. A personal favorite is (are?) the closing track of the original LP, which is actually two songs that merge together, Daughters Of The Sea and the short instrumental Flying Cloud. A good way to end what was probably their best album.
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