DAY 242.
Deep Purple.............................Machine Head   (1972)









Got to be honest and admit I'm no' a great lover of the screechy type vocalist, in which capacity Mr Gillan excels, but to be fair on this album he's a bit more subtle, it may have something to do with him suffering from Hepatitis at the time, and without wishing him any ill, he sounded a lot better for it.


I enjoyed this more than the previous offering "In Rock," but to be honest probably because "Highway Star" and "Smoke On The Water" takes me back on a nostalgia trip, the rest of the tracks for me were your standard Deep Purple fodder, which is no' really my cup of tea.


If guitary, screechy music is your bag, by christ, embrace it man!  but as it's no mine I'll be giving this one a miss.



Bits & Bobs;


Wrote about Deep Purple in post #755    (if interested)




About the making of the album and that "Smoke On The Water" story;
Every person that has ever picked up a guitar is surely familiar with the famous Smoke on the Water riff composed by Ritchie Blackmore.
 There is a reason why Deep Purple’s Machine Head is greatly praised throughout rock ‘n’ roll history.

 Various amusing stories lie behind the making of this much-celebrated rock album.

 The famous album was recorded throughout December 1971 in Montreux, Switzerland, and was released in March 1972.

 Within seven days of its release, the album skyrocketed to #1 on the British music charts, remaining at its well-deserved place for two weeks.

 It is often regarded as a fundamental influence on the heavy metal genre and it is Deep Purple’s most successful album to date.

 It was recorded in three weeks in The Pavillion theater, and a Swiss hotel lobby, with the help of a mobile recording unit. Machine Head was recorded in an old hotel at Montreux Casino in Switzerland in December 1971. Apparently, Claude Nobs, the owner of the complex, was a huge fan of Deep Purple.unfortunately for the recording process, Deep Purple’s main vocalist, Ian Gillan, contracted hepatitis at this time.


 Despite the doctor’s strict recommendation to rest and take it easy, Gillan whole-heartedly soldiered on during the recording of the album.

 The band already booked the Swiss hotel, as well as using a mobile recording studio for the album, the same one that had been used by the Rolling Stones.





 After being kicked out of the Pavillion theater, they settled for recording in the empty grand hotel lobby room. Apparently, the band had to use more than a 100 ft of cables because of the impractical mobile recording unit that was sitting outside of the hotel. Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist, commented on the complicated recording process:

 “We had the Rolling Stones’ mobile recording unit sitting outside in the snow, but to get there we had to run cable through two doors in the corridor into a room, through a bathroom and into another room, from which it went across a bed and out the veranda window, then ran along the balcony for about 100 feet and came back in through another bedroom window.

 It then went through that room’s bathroom and into another corridor, then all the way down a marble staircase to the foyer reception area of the hotel, out the front door, across the courtyard and up the steps into the back of the mobile unit.

 I think that setup led to capturing some spontaneity, because once we got to the truck for a playback, even if we didn’t think it was a perfect take, we’d go, ‘Yeah, that’s good enough.’ Because we just couldn’t stand going back again.”


 The story of the Smoke on the Water single is as amusing as it is famous. Frank Zappa, the prominent virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist, had a concert on the 4th of December in the Casino theater.

 The gig was made infamous when an audience member fired a flare gun aimed at the roof of the building during Don Preston’s synthesizer solo.


 The shot caused a giant fire, destroyed much of Zappa’s equipment, but luckily, there were no serious injuries. Due to the damages from the fire, Deep Purple had to relocate to the Pavilion theater.

 Sadly, the locals didn’t have much appreciation for witnessing rock ‘n’ roll history that was being made. There were many noise complaints that notified the police throughout the recording, as many of the nearby inhabitants were disturbed by the loud guitars.


 After so many police warnings, the band’s roadies made sure that no police officers entered the building. They held the doors shut while the band was trying to record the track for Smoke on the Water before getting thrown out of the building. After that, they finished the recording in a hotel lobby.




Reportedly, bass player Roger Glover murmured “smoke on the water” while waking up one morning, days after the Casino fire. This prompted Gillan to write the lyrics, and Blackmore to compose the riff, inspired by the legendary events in Montreux.



"Highway Star"


 
This song is about a man and his love for his high-powered car, which he says can out-race every other car.


 
This was written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, and Roger Glover. It may have been inspired by Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild," and along with "Radar Love" is one of the most famous driving songs in rock.


 
According to Roger Glover, they wrote this song on their tour bus on the way to a gig at the Portsmouth Guildhall (in the UK), on September 13, 1971, where they debuted the song. They wrote it because they were getting sick of their opening number, "Speed King," and "Highway Star" became the new opener for their shows. The song evolved through live performances, and was recorded for the Machine Head album in December 1971.


 
Many people consider this the first "Speed Metal" song, a division of Heavy Metal and a genré later popularized by bands such as Motorhead and Metallica.


 
The guitar solo in this song was ranked #19 in the List of 100 Greatest Guitar Solos by Guitar World magazine.


 
This has been featured in several episodes of That '70s Show. 

DAY 244
Black Sabbath.......................Vol 4   (1972)









The band has long said the writing and recording of the album coincided with their most hedonistic and substance-heavy period.


The records original title "Snowblind" was binned by the label execs for it's obvious reference to cocaine.

Last edited by arabchanter (10/4/2018 11:24 am)

arabchanter wrote:

I had to rush that Big Star album, and forgot to add that, Teenage Fan Club were heavily influenced by Big Star!

I recall a few of the posters on here saying they liked TFC, and thought it would be interesting to know if they think there's a likeness?

I like Teenage Fanclub and would say there is a definite tip of the hat towards Big Star from them. Particulary the slower more melancholic stuff.

The Fannies have more electric, faster and power pop songs though that put them on another level (for me).
 

DAY 245.
Steely Dan...............................Can't Buy A Thrill   (1972)









In 1972, nobody really knew quite what to make of Steely Dan and their debut album Can't buy a thrill, not even founding members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

However, those that saw them as just another polished West Coast rock outfit were missing the point. Although the album was just the first step of a voyage of musical discovery, there was already plenty to distinguish Steely Dan from the pack.



Will listen to Sabbath and this one tonight.

DAY 244
Black Sabbath.......................Vol 4   (1972)









Having listened to this album, I reckon I could have been listening to one of the previous two albums from this book, I do find Sabbath to be much of a muchness, and out of the three albums, the debut album is the one I would buy if I take it off of the subbees bench where it resides at the moment.


From this album I found "Changes " a good track verging on the emotional side, and the instrumental "Laguna Sunrise" plus the catchy "let's start headbanging" number "Under The Sun/ Everyday Comes And Goes" to be quite passable, as for the rest pretty meh.


As said before if any album by Black Sabbath was to go into my collection it wouldn't be this one.


Can I just say, f'kn hats off to Ozzy Osbourne, who on his "Speak Of The Devil" tour, reveals a bit of the bitterness that he still had toward his old Sabbath bandmates and their new singer at the time with the presence of a dwarf who pops up several times during the show to bring Ozzy a drink or some other menial task. Ozzy refers to him as Ronnie, an obvious dig at Sabbath singer Ronnie James Dio, known for his short stature as well as his incredible vocals. The dwarf also meets an unpleasant end, being hung from a noose above the stage during “Goodbye to Romance.”







Bits & Bobs;

Have wrote about this band twice already  (if interested)



"FX"


This is a short instrumental song consisting of echo noises from lead guitarist Tony Iommi's crucifix, worn around his neck, knocking against his guitar with added echo "effects" - hence the title "FX.", Lommi explained "We were mostly naked at the time when we recorded [FX]... We started playing and were dancing around half naked, just being stupid. I hit my guitar with my cross, it went 'boing!' and we went: 'Ooh!' Everybody then danced past the guitar, hitting it."



"Snowblind"


This song is about addiction to cocaine. The "Snowflakes" are baked goods, "Snowblind" is the addiction, and when "My eyes are blind but I can see" it can either mean the trip, going cold turkey, or an overdose.


 
The band did a lot of drugs, including a lot of cocaine while they were making this album. Ozzy was in and out of rehab clinics, including Betty Ford, for a long time before going sober in 1991.


 
The band was going to use Snowblind as the title to the album, but their record company would not let them because of the drug reference.


 
In the liner notes of the album, the band thanks "The COKE-cola Company," a reference to the drug.


 
System of a Down covered this on the 2000 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity In Black II.


 
Styx also did a song by the name of "Snowblind" about cocaine. Different songs, same names, same subject matter.


 
At least two Black Sabbath tribute bands were named Snowblind. One is from Long Island and the other is from the Maryland/Pennsylvania area.


 
This was covered by Sleep, Converge, Golgotha, Evoken, and After Forever (who are named after a Sabbath song).


 
Frank Zappa, despite disliking drugs himself, told the band he enjoyed this song. Zappa also surprised Sabbath by covering "Iron Man" with his own band live.



"Laguna Sunrise"



"Laguna Sunrise" was inspired by a sunrise Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi saw at Laguna Beach in California after a night of partying.


 
Spock, a crew member who could play guitar and write music, helped Tony write out the orchestral parts for this track.


 
Disc jockey Alan Freeman, aka Fluff, used this song to open his radio show. Tony Iommi later gave a nod to this with his instrumental track "Fluff" on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.



Bit late to listen to Steely Dan, will listen in the morning
 

Last edited by arabchanter (11/4/2018 11:48 pm)

DAY 245.
Steely Dan...............................Can't Buy A Thrill   (1972)








Having just listened to this one,  I don't think this one has aged well as I'm feeling stuck back in the '70s.
Maybe it's because "Do It Again" and "Reelin In The Years" seemed to be a staple diet in pubs/discos back in the day.

Can't Buy A Thrill (the title, of course, was lifted from a line in Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh") was a no' bad listen, probably one I would download for Sunday mornings to use as background music, whilst getting a cooked breakfast prepared for the tribe.


For a debut album, this was well polished, professional and very well produced, and honed to perfection, but there's the rub for me, it's just too calculated and meticulous, if you get my drift.


"Do It Again" and "Reelin In The Years"  were the obvious stand outs, the rest were as I said good for background but easily forgettable, this album wont be getting added to my collection (but probably downloaded)




Bits & Bobs;


They're named after a dildo from the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch. Donald Fagen recalled to Mojo magazine: "We had to come up with a name in a hurry and Walter and I were both Burroughs fans, though he was not known at the time. It was an in-joke- who's going to know what Steely Dan was? And we figured that, like most of our bands in the past, it would fall apart after three months, so we didn't think much about it."

"The name had less to do with sex than a rebel spirit, a beat consciousness that we grew up with."


 
When they were all attending Bard College in the late '60s, Chevy Chase was a drummer in one of Fagen and Becker's early bands, Bad Rock Group.


 
Becker and Fagen met while they were students at Bard College in upstate New York. You can hear references to these times in their song "My Old School."


 
They were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001, 4 years after they were eligible.


 
In 1981, they stopped recording. They got back together in 2000 and released Two Against Nature, which won the Grammy for Album Of The Year.


 
In 2001, they received honorary degrees from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where their music is a large part of the curriculum.


  
Donald Fagen grew up in South Brunswick, NJ - he hated it there. In his time it was all soy bean and potato fields and there was nothing to do. Now it's very developed and there's still nothing to do.


 
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, who played guitar on many of their records, is a self-taught expert on mobile missile defense systems. He wrote a paper on the topic in the early 1990s which caught the eye of conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He has subsequently testified before Congress and is a consultant to the Pentagon.


 
Jeff Porcaro was a drummer for Steely Dan, and later left to form Toto. Michael McDonald was a keyboard player and did background vocals, and later he and Skunk Baxter joined the Doobie Brothers. Mark Knopfler, from Dire Straights, plays guitar on "Time Out Of Mind." Legendary sax player Wayne Shorter even played with them.


 
Steely Dan released seven studio (non compilation) albums from 1972-1980. Over 100 session musicians contributed to their songs. Other than Donald Fagan and Walter Becker, the duo that is Steely Dan, the only musician who played on all seven albums was the late Victor Feldman. Feldman was a British Jazz legend who actually played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra when he was 13 years old.


 
They entered the corporate music world in the Brill Building, where they briefly became members of Jay and The Americans and recorded some songs that group member Kenny Vance produced. Kenny told us: "They were just two guys that had a band that were steeped in jazz and Duke Ellington. Becker always had a book with him, and, you know, drugs were around. They were different. But then as time went by, at some point I discovered the depth that was contained there, and I always believed that they were going to be huge."


 
Unlike most songwriting duos, Fagen and Becker worked together on the music and lyrics at the same time.


 
In 2017, Becker was diagnosed with esophageal cancer during a routine checkup. He fought it with intense chemotherapy, but the cancer proved very aggressive, and four months later it killed him. Only his closest friends and family knew of his condition.



"Do It Again"


This was the breakout hit from Steely Dan's first album. Like many of their songs, it's hard to make sense of the lyrics, which seem to be about some combination of addiction, second chances and the inevitability of fate. It's an example of a Steely Dan song that doesn't make literal sense, but creates a mood.


 
The instrument used on the first instrumental break is an electric sitar, which was played by Steely Dan mainstay Denny Dias (who later became a computer programmer). This is followed by an organ solo, which was played by Donald Fagen. This was described in the album liner notes as "an inexpensive, imported plastic organ (an instrument which long ago fell into disuse in most rock circles)." This was later revealed to be a Yamaha YC-30 with something called a portamento ribbon, which could create the slide effect.


 
This was Steely Dan's first single. It became a hit in both the US and UK, earning the group a lot of press coverage. The group's sound was very unusual, and when asked to explain it, they sometimes described it as "smart rock."


 
In 1983, an Italian act called Club House released a mash-up of this song with Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" which was released as "Do It Again (Medley With Billie Jean)." It made #75 US and #11 UK.


 
On the original release of Can't Buy A Thrill, this song is credited as "Trad" (meaning "traditional," like many folk songs) in the album credits. This is a fairly typical Donald Fagen/Walter Becker prank.



"Reelin In The Years"

This song is about recalling times with a girlfriend and a romantic breakup. It's one of the most popular Steely Dan songs, but also one of their least favorite. In Rolling Stone, September 17, 2009, Donald Fagan said, "It's dumb but effective." Walter Becker added, "It's no fun."


 
Steely Dan are known for their meticulous sound - every note must be perfect. This song is sometimes criticized for bringing on overly polished mainstream '70s music.


 
Elliot Randall, who was not a member of Steely Dan, stopped by on an invite from Skunk Baxter while they were recording this and ended up playing the guitar solo. This was one of the first of many times Walter Becker and Donald Fagen would use studio musicians, and by their fourth album, nearly every player was a studio musician. Randall also played on their albums Katy Lied and The Royal Scam.


 
The quadraphonic mix of this song has extra Elliot Randall guitar fills not heard on the familiar stereo version.


 
Randall's guitar solo earned high praise from Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. According to Classic Rock magazine (January 1999), Page has said it is his favorite guitar solo of all time.
 

I think I've got two scratchy copies of Harvest in the loft, never bought it myself. Yellow vinyl too. I think the technology wasn't great for producing coloured plastic albums in 1972.

DAY 246.
Neil Young................................Harvest   (1972)









Can't say I was over impressed with this one, I've come to believe that Neil Young is a total tosspot, reading about how he wont say thank you after applause from his audience, as if  "That's the least you can do you plebs" to his pontificating about how to sort out the worlds woes, absolute fuddery of the first order.


He reminds of that situation (we've all been there eh?), when you're walking down the road, and you see that certain person, and habit makes you say "how's it going ?" and as soon as the words leave your mouth, you think FUCK!!  why did I say that, because unlike most folk who would say "eh no' bad" this cunt gives you all their problems, misfortunes and general shite you don't want to hear, and see that person, that's Neil Young, that is.


"Heart Of Gold" is about the only track I would maybe want to listen to again, but that's no' gonna happen live 'cause "cream puff Young" has purposely omitted it from live sets, "This song put me in the middle of the road" he wrote "traveling there soon became a bore and I headed for the ditch" what a "Ravi Shanker"


This one wont be coming near my collection.

And just a quick word from "Rick"  that sums it up;








Bits & Bobs;



Already posted about Young in post #537 (if interested)




"Out On The Weekend"


Neil Young sings of a longing for love on this Harvest number, which he recorded at Nashville's Quadrafonic Sound Studio's in April 1971. He laid it down with a group of country session musicians, which he christened The Stray Gators.


 
The songs on the Harvest album often shift perspective and vary in degree of melancholy, making them difficult to grasp at times. Young offered some insight on this song when he explained in the book Zero To Sixty that this song isn't necessarily a sad one, as the singer is disguising his happiness. (no' very well, in my humbles)




Regarding the lines:

Can't relate to joy
He tries to speak and
Can't begin to say

Young said: "That just means that I'm happy so that I can't get it all out. But... the way I wrote it sounds sad."


 
Lee Ann Womack covered the song for her 2014 The Way I'm Livin' album as a musical gift of sorts to her husband Frank Liddell. Womack told NPR's Wade Goodwyn the story of the first time she performed the tune. "When Frank and I were dating, we were on a road trip. I don't remember where, but I remember I was asleep. It was night. I was asleep in the car, and I woke up. And he was playing the Neil Young record, the Harvest record. And I wasn't familiar with it. I didn't know it, and I had not grown up with it."




"But Out On The Weekend was playing. And I thought, well, whatever that is, that's a song I could do. I could - you know, I could hear it almost done bluegrass - real rootsy, real acoustic. And he just loved it. You know, he was telling me all about how important the song was to him and everything. So in a few weeks from then, I had a show with Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale and some friends at South by Southwest. So we worked it up, and I did it that night to surprise Frank."



"A Man Needs A Maid"

Neil Young wrote this about actress Carrie Snodgress, who was his girlfriend at the time. They had a child together named Zeke, who was born with cerebral palsy. They broke up a few years later and things didn't go well for Snodgress. She spent a lot of time caring for Zeke and went was never able to get her acting career back on track. She died in 2004.


 
Jack Nitzsche, who played piano with The Rolling Stones and wrote soundtracks for many famous movies, produced this track. He dated Snodgress a few years after she broke up with Young and was sentenced to probation after he beat her with a handgun in 1979.


 
The London Symphony Orchestra plays on the album version of the song, as well as another track from Harvest, "There's A World." These were the only tracks on the album that weren't recorded in Nashville; Young booked the orchestra and recorded them at Barking Town Hall in London while on a trip there to record a BBC special.


 
Some were upset with the characterization of a woman as a "maid," but the song meant no disrespect - Young wrote it in the spirit of the Robin Hood tale Maid Marion.




Critics have also interpreted the song as being more complex than it initially appears. Rather than being a straightforward expression of how badly a "man needs a maid," it's a heartbroken narrator trying to convince himself that he could be happy with something simple and emotionless - rather than the rocky ups-and-downs of a real relationship. The line "To live a love/you have to be part of it" hints at him realizing how this is an empty sentiment only concocted to try to ward off heartbreak.


 
Neil Young became smitten with Carrie Snodgress after seeing her on television while he was recovering from a back injury; her 1970 film Diary of a Mad Housewife was playing. This inspired the lyric, "I fell in love with the actress, she was playing a part that I could understand."





 British singer–songwriter Rumer covered this for the special edition of her Boys Don't Cry album. She explained to Q magazine why the song feels like a commentary on why, early in 2011, she broke up with A&R man Sam Winwood. (Rumer had lived with Winwood for several years). "As a travelling musician I couldn't take care of myself," she said. "Letters pile up, dishes pile up, you're not doing anything properly. So you're desperate to be taken care of. Emotionally, you're like a beggar going from door to door, but you can't give anything back. There's a line in the song, 'When will I see you again?' Well, I don't know. I can't commit. My ex-boyfriend said he felt like a field surgeon - putting me back together again."



"Heart Of Gold"


With a straightforward metaphor and complete lack of pathos, this not a typical Neil Young song. It finds him mining for a "heart of gold," which depending on your perspective, is either a touching and heartfelt sentiment, or a mawkish platitude. Rolling Stone took the churlish view, complaining that the album evoked "superstardom's weariest clichés." The listening public and Young's fans were far more accepting, however, and the song became his biggest hit.


 
Young wrote this in 1971 after he suffered a back injury that made it difficult for him to play the electric guitar, so on the Harvest tracks he played acoustic. Despite the injury, Young was in good spirits (possibly thanks to the painkillers), which is reflected in this song. The next few years were more challenging for Young, as he suffered a series of setbacks: his son Zeke was born with cerebral palsy, his friend Danny Whitten died, and he split with his girlfriend, Carrie Snodgress. His next three albums, which became known as "The Ditch Trilogy," expressed these dark times in stark contrast to "Heart of Gold."


 
This song was recorded at the first sessions for the Harvest album, which took place on Saturday, February 6, 1971 and were set up the night before.




Neil Young was in Nashville to record a performance for The Johnny Cash Show along with Tony Joe White, James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Elliot Mazer, a producer who owned nearby Quadrafonic Studios, set up a dinner party on February 5, inviting the show's guests and about 50 other people. Mazer was friends with Young's manager Elliot Roberts, who introduced the two at the gathering. Young and Mazer quickly hit it off when Neil learned that Elliot has produced a band called Area Code 615. Young asked if he could set up a session the next day, and Mazer complied.



Nashville has an abundance of studio musicians, but getting them to work on a Saturday could be a challenge. Mazur was able to get one member of Area Code 615: Drummer Kenny Buttrey. The other musicians he found were guitarist Teddy Irwin, bass player Tim Drummond, and pedal steel player Ben Keith. All were seasoned pros.




Keith, who had never heard of Neil Young, recalls showing up late and sitting down to play right away. He says they recorded five songs before they stopped for introductions.


 
By far, this was the biggest hit for Young as a solo artist. A very influential musician, he was never too concerned about making hit records.


 
James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt sang backup; they don't come in until the end of the song. Like Young, Taylor and Ronstadt were in town to appear on The Johnny Cash Show (the song's producer Elliot Mazer had produced Ronstadt's 1970 Silk Purse album). Young convinced them to lend their voices to this track, and they came in on Sunday, February 7, the day after the rest of the song was completed.




When it was their turn to add harmonies, the task proved rather arduous. Ronstadt recalled to Mojo: "We were sat on the couch in the control room, but I had to get up on my knees to be on the same level as James because he's so tall. Then we sang all night, the highest notes I could sing. It was so hard, but nobody minded. It was dawn when we walked out of the studio."


 
In the liner notes to his Decade collection, Young said: "This song put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch."




This statement reflected Young's aversion to fame, and was not meant to demean the song. In a later interview with NME, he clarified: "I think Harvest is probably the finest record I've made."


 
This was the song that tweaked Bob Dylan; Young had made no secret that he idolized Dylan, but when Dylan heard "Heart of Gold" he thought this was going too far. Dylan complained, "I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to "Heart of Gold." I'd say, that's me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me."


 
This song was recorded in just two takes. The musicians were not familiar with Young or the song, but knew how to play. This spontaneity created just the right feel for the track - something that would have never come about through additional tweaking. This style of recording, where top-tier studio musicians are asked to give total focus to a take with little instruction, is something Bob Dylan often did. It's also a throwback to the analog days when tape (which was expensive) was rolling, making additional takes costly and cumbersome.


 
"Heart Of Gold" is the name of the spaceship stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox in Douglas Adams' book, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy


 
Young became the first Canadian to have a #1 album in the US when Harvest topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks in April 1972.



 In 2005, the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version declared "Heart of Gold" to be the third best Canadian song of all time.


  
Young revived the guitar riff for this song on CSN&Y's "Slowpoke" in 1999.




"Alabama"

This song can be seen as a follow-up to Young's 1970 song "Southern Man" from After The Gold Rush. Canadian-born Young abhorred the idea of racism and spoke out - loudly - about his feelings. This song went unnoticed by most, but combined with the previous effort, it caused Lynyrd Skynyrd to pen their Southern Rock classic "Sweet Home Alabama" in response to Young's assertions. (don't know if anyone else thought this, but the beginning of Flamin Groovies  track "Yesterday's Numbers" that I posted a few days ago,could have been the embryo for the opening of Sweet Home Alabama" which came 3 years later?)



 1972 was an interesting year for Neil Young; his song "Heart Of Gold," also from the Harvest album, became the only #1 hit of his career. In September, seven months after this album was released, Young and then-girlfriend, actress Carrie Snodgrass, had a baby boy named Zeke who was born with cerebral palsy. He would later have a son named Ben with his wife Pegi, who also has cerebral palsy. This was the catalyst for Neil and Pegi to open the Bridge School, a highly regarded school for children living with severe verbal and physical disabilities.


 
In his 2012 autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, Neil Young said of this song, "I don't like my words when I listen to it today. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."


 
Neil Young said that "Alabama" was never meant to be specific to the state, he simply wanted a Southern state that seemed to fit what he had to say. "Actually, the song is more about a personal thing than it is about a state," he explained. "And I'm just using that name and that state to hide whatever it is I have to hide... I don't know what that means."




"The Needle And The Damage Done"



This song is about heroin use and what it will do to you in the end. Young wrote it about Danny Whitten, one of the original members of his band Crazy Horse. In 1971, Young went on tour and hired Crazy Horse and Nils Lofgren as backup. During rehearsals, Whitten was so high on heroin that he couldn't even hold up his guitar. Young fired him, gave Whitten 50 bucks (for rehab) and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles. Upon reaching LA, Whitten overdosed on alcohol and Valium, which killed him.




Whitten was one of the founding members of Crazy Horse and was very influential on much of Young's work preceding his heroin addiction. His influence is particularly noticeable on Young's second album, 1969's Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Leading up to Whitten's dismissal from the band and overdose, Young even attempted daily one-on-one lessons to try and rehabilitate his old friend.


 
 Neil Young says of the tragic death of Whitten: "I felt responsible. But really there was nothing I could do. I mean, he was responsible. But I thought I was for a long time. Danny just wasn't happy. It just all came down on him. He was engulfed by this drug. That was too bad. Because Danny had a lot to give. boy. He was really good."




Incredibly, this wouldn't be Young's only loss from heroin to be commemorated in song. Longtime friend and roadie Bruce Berry would also overdose on heroin just months after Whitten. Berry's song is "Tonight's The Night" on the album of the same name.


 
The song's first line mentions a "cellar door." Young and Crazy Horse, with Whitten, had played Washington DC's Cellar Door club in 1969.


 
Young's famous version was recorded live at the University Of California in January 1971, a year before it appeared on his Harvest album.


 
A solo, acoustic performance of this song by Young from Massey Hall in Toronto on January 19, 1971 features on his 2007 Live at Massey Hall 1971 album. He introduces it with a short explanation: "Ever since I left Canada, about five years ago or so and moved down south... found out a lot of things that I didn't know when I left. Some of 'em are good, and some of 'em are bad. Got to see a lot of great musicians before they happened, before they became famous - y'know, when they were just gigging. Five and six sets a night, things like that. And I got to see a lot of great musicians who nobody ever got to see, for one reason or another. But, strangely enough, the real good ones that you never got to see was... 'cause of, ahhm, heroin. An' that started happening over an' over. Then it happened to someone that everyone knew about. So I just wrote a little song."


 
This was one of the songs that Young performed at Live Aid in 1985.


 
Young made this succinct statement about the song in the liner notes to his album Decade: "I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men."


 
Flea, famed bassist of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, played the song frequently on a 1993 tour following the singer John Frusciante's temporary departure due to heroin addiction.


 
The song has struck a long-lived chord with broad range of musicians. Over the years, it's also been covered by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, and Jewel.


 
At Young's 1995 Bridge School benefit concert, the Pretenders sang this in honor of Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon, who died a week earlier from a drug overdose. Blind Melon was scheduled to play the event but canceled after Hoon's death.

arabchanter wrote:

PatReilly wrote:

I think I've got two scratchy copies of Harvest in the loft, never bought it myself. Yellow vinyl too. I think the technology wasn't great for producing coloured plastic albums in 1972.

Got a yellow vinyl, probs up the old mans loft, "Q:  Are We Not Men?" by Devo late '70s I think, played alright.
 

Great album that Devo one: I've got the first five Devo albums on vinyl, none coloured though.

Air Conditioning (Curved Air) was multi coloured plastic, and I mind it didn't play too well when released in 1970.
 

DAY 247.
Curtis Mayfield...............................Superfly   (1972)








Like "Shaft" this soundtrack didn't really appeal, a wee bit to woe is me, but that was probably the message that was meant to be relayed, a sort of take care or this could be you.


I much preferred him when he did this, sorry about the subtitles.






A DJ, and friend who has sadly has passed on RIP, loved this song and would play it at the drap o' a hat, this brings back good memories, but "Superfly" I can't see bringing back good feelings to anyone that bought it, considering the content.


I found this album very dated, there's not much debate or carbon dating to be done, this album I feel doesn't travel well outside it's "hood" or it's era, and track wise didn't give me any reason to deliberate over buying it, this most definitely wont be getting purchased.



Bits & Bobs;




Curtis Mayfield was born on June 3, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. He met singer Jerry Butler while performing in a church choir in 1956 and joined Butler's band, the Impressions. In 1970, Mayfield embarked on a solo career, with his most memorable project credited as the classic 1972 soundtrack to Superfly. Mayfield was paralyzed during a 1990 stage accident in Brooklyn, New York, but continued to record until his death in 1999.



In his four decades in the music business, Mayfield helped bring a unique racial consciousness to popular music and introduced an innovative sound that greatly influenced following generations of musicians.

Mayfield began singing by the age of 7. He also taught himself to play guitar, led his own gospel and soul group, the Alphatones, and began composing music and writing lyrics before he was a teenager. In 1956, Mayfield moved with his family to Chicago's North Side, where he met singer Jerry Butler while performing in a church choir. Butler convinced the 14-year-old Mayfield to join his soul band, then called the Roosters. Two years later, after renaming itself the Impressions, the group scored a No. 11 hit with "For Your Precious Love."
 

After Butler left the Impressions to pursue a solo career, the group reformed with Curtis Mayfield as its leader. Mayfield wrote the songs, produced the records, played guitar and sang lead. During the 1960s, the heyday of the Impressions, the group brought its potent mixture of gospel, soul, and doo-wop to a total of 14 Top 10 recordings, including "Gypsy Woman" and "It's All Right."


 In 1964, with the hit song "Keep on Pushing," Mayfield became one of the first R&B singer-songwriters to bring a racial and political consciousness to his music. "Keep on Pushing," along with other inspirational anthems such as "People Get Ready" and "I'm So Proud," established Mayfield as both a pioneer of soul music and a singular voice of the Civil Rights Movement.



In 1970, Mayfield began a solo career, recording a series of albums and working as a producer for artists like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight and the Pips. His most memorable solo project was the classic 1972 funk album Superfly, the soundtrack to the hit "blaxploitation" film of the same name. Superfly was the No. 1 album on the pop charts for four weeks and solidified Mayfield's legacy as one of the late-20th century's most innovative songwriters and performers.



 Though his popularity began to fade in the late 1970s with the rise of disco, Mayfield continued to record hopeful, inspirational music and tour actively in the United States, Europe, and Japan. In 1990, during an outdoor concert in Brooklyn, New York, a lighting scaffold fell on Mayfield; the accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. The amazingly indefatigable musician continued to compose and record music, learning to sing while lying flat on his back and letting gravity create the necessary pressure on his lungs. In 1996, the year after he received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Mayfield released his final album, New World Order.



 In the years following his accident, Mayfield's health continued to deteriorate, and in 1998, his right leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes. On December 26, 1999, Mayfield died at the age of 57, in Roswell, Georgia. A two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (he gained admission with the Impressions in 1991 and as a solo performer in 1999), Mayfield had been living in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Altheida. He had 10 children and seven grandchildren.





Curtis Mayfield's influence on other performers over the past several decades is undeniable. As early as the 1960s, performers like Sam Cooke, James Brown and Marvin Gaye had followed Mayfield's lead and brought a new kind of social awareness to their music. In the 1990s, the musician inspired two different tribute albums (including 1994's All Men are Brothers: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield, featuring Whitney Houston, Elton John, the Isley Brothers and Aretha Franklin). Over the past several years, his songs have been sampled or covered by a host of performers, from rappers like Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, Coolio and Dr. Dre to singers like Herbie Hancock, Deneice Williams, En Vogue and Mary J. Blige.


 

"Superfly"




This was originally an instrumental passage used in the 1972 movie Super Fly, but it ended up having a huge role in the film. It plays at the end of the movie after the drug-dealing lead character Priest takes a stand against the white deputy commissioner, telling him, "You don't own me pig!"

"It was a glorious moment for our people as blacks," Mayfield told Q magazine. "Priest had a mind, he wanted to get out. For once, in spite of what he was doing, he got away. So there came 'Superfly' the song. He was trying to get over. We couldn't be so proud of him dealing coke or using coke, but at least the man had a mind and he wasn't just some ugly dead something in the streets after it was all over. He got out."



 Mayfield, as a member of The Impressions, was a huge part of the '60s Civil Rights movement thanks to songs like "People Get Ready" and "This Is My Country." In the Super Fly film, he saw an opportunity to examine city life, and how drug culture affects African Americans. After seeing the screenplay, he jumped into the project and was given complete creative freedom. He wrote the songs to suit the scenes, but he made sure they could stand on their own, telling the stories even without the visuals. "Superfly" works very well outside of the film, as the character Mayfield describes could relate to anyone trying to survive and thrive under difficult circumstances.



 
Mayfield was working on the songs for the movie while it was shooting, and would often visit the set, bringing in demos so the cast and crew could hear how they would integrate into the film. He even appears in the movie, performing the song "Pusherman" in a bar scene.


 
This song popularized the word "fly," which means unusual and exceptional, particularly when it comes to fashion. "Super Fly" is thus even better, and very high praise. In the film, the main character Priest wears some super fly clothes and also supplies drugs that give that feeling.




"Fly" was especially big in the late '80s and early '90s: Will Smith asked about the "fly honies" on his show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; the TV show Living Color had a dance troupe called "The Fly Girls" (Jennifer Lopez was one of them); and Tone-Loc asked the question, "Why you so fly?" in "Funky Cold Medina."


 
Super Fly was part of a movie genre known as "Blaxploitation." When white people started leaving urban areas in the US for the suburbs, movie studios realized there was a large black audience near theaters, and began making films catering to them. Movies like Shaft and Foxy Brown were the result. Mayfield did the music for the 1988 film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, which is a send-up of the genre.


 
Unless Sidney Poitier was in the film, there was little chance of seeing a nuanced black character in a movie around this time. Super Fly's lead character appealed to Mayfield because he had a vivid backstory and was not just a stock drug dealer. In the song, Mayfield examines how he's really doing what we all are: trying to get over.


  Nelly sampled this on his 2004 song "Tilt Your Head Back."




"Pusherman"




"Pusherman" was first released on the soundtrack of the 1972 Blaxploitation film, Super Fly. Curtis Mayfield wrote and produced all the songs on the soundtrack, which went on to be one of the few movie soundtracks to out-gross its associated film. With a pair of million-selling singles, "Freddie's Dead" and "Superfly," Curtis Mayfield struck gold in 1972 for the album and in 1973 for the title track.


 
Curtis Mayfield used each song on the album, Super Fly, to demonstrate a different aspect of the problems he noticed were plaguing inner-city America. "Pusherman," the second track, takes on drug dealing. We see the Pusherman (the drug dealer) as a businessman, trying to make a living and a better life for himself in the tough situation. The Pusherman is both good and evil. Mayfield sings, "Ain't I clean, bad machine, super cool, super mean," to show the man's tough exterior, but he implies that the Pusherman is just as much a victim as he is a villain with, "A man of odd circumstance, a victim of ghetto demands."



 
Mayfield takes an observer's view on this song, refraining from judgment and showing the pusherman from the perspective of a potential client. To a kid on the street, the drug dealer shows up everywhere, and can take on many forms: mother, father, doctor, friend. Said Mayfield: "The first thing I wanted to do was not condone what was going down, but understand it, and speak in terms of how one can keep from getting locked into these things which youngsters and a lot of people see all around them."


 
Super Fly, was one of many albums that Mayfield produced on his own record label, Curtom. Curtom was founded by Mayfield and his manager, Eddie Thomas, in 1968 and was one of the first record labels to be owned by an African-American recording artist. Mayfield acquired an old RCA studios building in Chicago, Illinois for use in cutting demos. Most of the album was recorded in this tiny studio.


 
This is one of the first popular songs to use the N-word in the lyrics, as Mayfield sings, "I'm that ni--er in the alley." This didn't stop it from getting plenty of airplay on Album Oriented Rock (AOR) and R&B radio stations. The song wasn't released as a single and no "clean" edit was issued, but the word never posed a problem, as it was done not for shock value and fit in with the gritty subject matter.


 
The Curtis Mayfield Experience, made up of Mayfield and his backing band, appear in the film, Super Fly, performing "Pusherman" on a club stage. "Pusherman" was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City while the band was on location to make their cameo appearance. It was the only song to be recorded outside of Chicago, and the only song on the album not to feature Morris Jennings on the drums (Tyrone McCullen stepped in for the absent Jennings). Also, "Pusherman" was the only track on the album to be recorded without arranger, Johnny Pate, and a full backing orchestra.

DAY 249
Deep Purple...............................Made In Japan   (1972)









Having toured America during the summer, they visited Japan, where the local label pressed for a live set to satiate a fan-base that sang along to every word over three August nights in Osaka and Tokyo.


Ian Gillan who had been suffering with a throat ailment, was "ashamed" of his vocals, but his assessment was harsher than his tones. The set was issued without overdubs and demonstrates the raw majesty of Deep Purple at the peak of their powers....... Purple's definitive metal monster.



Will listen to Slayed this afternoon, and this double tonight.

Last edited by arabchanter (16/4/2018 10:30 pm)

Cannae think of Slade without visualising this sort of stuff from Vic and Bob: