https://exchange.prx.org/p/640889
Once again we spend much of the show in the early 1970s, moving into the middle of the decade toward the end.
Artist: Alice Cooper
Title: Elected
Source: CD: Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: Billion Dollar Babies)
Writer(s): Cooper/Smith/Dunaway/Bruce/Buxton
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1972
Alice Cooper's 1969 debut LP, Pretties For You, included a song called Reflected. Three years later the band decided to poke fun at the current presidential election by reworking the song into something called Elected, implying that lead vocalist Vince Furnier (now also known as Alice Cooper) was a better candidate than either of the major party candidates that year. Well, the guy who actually did win the election ended up resigning in disgrace before his term ended, so maybe Cooper was onto something after all.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Sugar Magnolia (live)
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): Hunter/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1972
One of the most popular songs in the Grateful Dead catalog, Sugar Magnolia also has the distinction of being the second-most performed song in the band's history, with 596 documented performances. The song, written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, first appeared on the 1970 album American Beauty, but was not released as a single. A live version two years later, however, did see a single release, charting in the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
Artist: Uriah Heep
Title: Lady In Black
Source: British import CD: Salisbury
Writer(s): Ken Hensley
Label: Sanctuary
Year: 1971
Although never released as a single either in the US or UK, Uriah Heep's antiwar ballad Lady In Black made the top 5 on three separate occasions in Germany, with the song going into the top 5 in two of those runs and winning the Golden Lion award (the German equivalent of a Grammy). The song, also popular in Russia, features four acoustic guitars played in unison.
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young
Title: Almost Cut My Hair
Source: CD: déjà vu
Writer(s): David Crosby
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
Almost Cut My Hair could have been the longest track on the Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young album déjà vu. As originally recorded it ran about 10 minutes in length. However, it was decided to fade the cut out starting at around the four-minute mark, leaving Neil Young's Country Girl (which was actually a suite of song fragments) as the longest track on the LP. Nonetheless, even at its shorter-than-recorded released length, David Crosby's counter-cultural anthem stands out as one of the band's most memorable recordings, and is arguably the single track that best incorporates Neil Young's unique lead guitar style into a group that is known mostly for its vocal harmonies.
Artist: Badfinger
Title: Rock Of All Ages
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Evans/Ham/Gibbons
Label: Apple
Year: 1972
Badfinger's first hit, Come And Get It, was written by Paul McCartney, so it's entirely appropriate that the B side of that single, Rock Of All Ages, sounds a lot like the Beatles' cover of Little Richard's Long Tall Sally. According to bassist Tom Evans, the band was recording material for the film Magic Christian, and hadn't come up anything that really rocked out. When producer McCartney asked them what they knew that was "really exciting" they told him Long Tall Sally, and went on to write Rock Of All Ages on the fly with McCartney on piano. McCartney then left the band to come up with lyrics and the song's final structure while he went shopping, and by the time he got back the band had finished recording what became the song's backing track.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: As The Sun Still Burns Away
Source: CD: Cricklewood Green
Writer(s): Alvin Lee
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Deram)
Year: 1970
Generally considered to be Ten Years After's best album, Cricklewood Green featured such FM radio staples as Me And My Baby, 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain and Love Like A Man. Another song to get airplay was As The Sun Still Burns Away, the final track on the album. Like Love Like A Man and other popular TYA tunes, As The Sun Still Burns Away is built on a repeating bass riff that is paralleled and sometimes embellished by Lee's guitar and Chick Churchill's keyboards.
Artist: Yes
Title: Heart Of The Sunrise
Source: CD: Fragile
Writer(s): Anderson/Squire/Bruford
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1971
Although it is the fourth most played song in the Yes catalogue, Heart Of The Sunrise, from the 1971 album Fragile, was never issued as a single. This is due mostly to the fact that the track runs over ten minutes in length, far exceeding even such lengthy tunes as Paradise By The Dashboard Light, American Pie or MacArthur Park. The song was written by Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman, but due to contractual reasons, Wakeman's name had to be left off the credits.
Artist: Genesis
Title: After The Ordeal
Source: CD: Selling England By The Pound
Writer(s): Hackett/Rutherford
Label: Rhino/Atlantic (original label: Charisma)
Year: 1973
As was the case with all the early Genesis albums, all the songs on the 1973 LP Selling England By The Pound are credited to the entire band. More recently, however, the individual members of the band have been given credit for their specific contributions. For example, After The Ordeal, the four-minute long instrumental piece that precedes The Cinema Show, was actually written by guitarist Steve Hackett, with help from bassist Mike Rutherford. The piece almost got left off the album, but Hackett insisted that it be included. The original vinyl release of Selling England By The Pound, which runs in excess of 53 minutes, suffered from the limitations of LP vinyl records, which normally can only contain about 20 minutes per album side before sacrificing overall sound quality.
Artist: Mahogany Rush
Title: Thru The Milky Way
Source: LP: Child Of The Novelty
Writer(s): Frank Marino
Label: 20th Century
Year: 1974
The second Mahogany Rush album saw the addition of keyboardist Phil Bech (who had played on one track on the band's first LP) as an official member. His playing can be heard (if barely) on tracks like Thru The Milky Way.
Artist: Queen
Title: The Prophet's Song/Love Of My Life
Source: CD: A Night At The Opera
Writer(s): Brian May
Label: Hollywood (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1975
When Queen's landmark LP, A Night At The Opera, was released in 1975, much attention was focused on the album's penultimate track, Freddy Mercury's Bohemian Rhapsody, which went all the way to the top of the British top 40 charts and is one of the most recognizable recordings of the 20th century. With all this attention focused on one song (albeit deservedly), several other outstanding tracks on the album have been somewhat neglected. Perhaps the best of these overlooked tracks is The Prophet's Song, a Brian May composition that opens side two of the vinyl LP. At over eight minutes in length, The Prophet's Song is Queen's longest song with vocals, and, like Bohemian Rhapsody, features layered overdubs by Mercury, including a lengthy layered acappella section in the middle of the piece. The song also has powerful dynamics, ranging from the almost inaudible acoustic guitar and toy koto introduction to high volume electric lead guitar work set against a heavy metal background. The song ends with an acoustic guitar solo by May that leads directly into Mercury's piano introduction to his Love Of My Life. The two tracks combined take up about half of an album side.
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