Counting down my favorite 25 albums of 1970:
Badfinger - No Dice
The song "No Matter What" with it's crunchy guitar riff, sweet "ooh girl" harmonies, and catchy hand-clap percussion, sounds positively Beatlesque; Pete Ham's vocals could easily be mistaken for McCartney himself. The album is a diverse mix of straight-forward rockers, catchy pop tunes, and sweet ballads, each handled with surprising facility. In the year that The Beatles broke up, Badfinger stepped in looking like their heir apparent.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
21. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Counting down my favorite 25 albums of 1970:
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
As a big fan of George Harrison, it's hard for me to be objective in rating his music. When I first started listening to this album over 20 years ago, I would even defend the third record of this three record box set - a set of jam sessions that I now acknowledge is completely disposable. I'll even admit that the second version of "Isn't It A Pity" is unnecessary. But every other track on the album is indispensable, including the hits "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life", as well as the lesser known "Art of Dying" and "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)".
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
As a big fan of George Harrison, it's hard for me to be objective in rating his music. When I first started listening to this album over 20 years ago, I would even defend the third record of this three record box set - a set of jam sessions that I now acknowledge is completely disposable. I'll even admit that the second version of "Isn't It A Pity" is unnecessary. But every other track on the album is indispensable, including the hits "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life", as well as the lesser known "Art of Dying" and "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)".
Saturday, July 10, 2010
22. Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Counting down my favorite 25 albums of 1970:
Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Spirit is an inspired band at the peak of their creativity on this album. Although they have some fun experimenting on this album, they never wander into pretentious prog-rock territory. The most popular track on this album is the environmental ballad "Nature's Way", a sweet folk-rock melody that's atypical of the trippy psychedelia that makes up most of the other tracks, but since the album explores so many different styles and genres, it's impossible to define any one of them as typical.
Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Spirit is an inspired band at the peak of their creativity on this album. Although they have some fun experimenting on this album, they never wander into pretentious prog-rock territory. The most popular track on this album is the environmental ballad "Nature's Way", a sweet folk-rock melody that's atypical of the trippy psychedelia that makes up most of the other tracks, but since the album explores so many different styles and genres, it's impossible to define any one of them as typical.
Friday, July 9, 2010
23. Argent - Argent
Counting down my favorite 25 albums of 1970:
Argent - Argent
I've always been mystified that The Zombies weren't more popular; their music was consistently good - literate, adventurous, but always accessible and pop-friendly.
Rod Argent's first post-Zombies album not only gives him a chance to show off his top-notch organ and piano skills, but also showcases his under-appreciated pop instincts; well timed riff changes, organ solos, breakdowns, and other stylistic flourishes keep the songs constantly interesting. The tracks "Free Fall" and "Lonely High Road" are particularly good examples of his Brian Wilson caliber popcraft.
With a few notable exceptions (particularly "Liar" which Three Dog Night would famously cover), the album's songwriting isn't on par with its music, but even then, the lyrics are merely unobtrusive, and allow the groovy jazz-influenced music to speak for itself.
Argent - Argent
I've always been mystified that The Zombies weren't more popular; their music was consistently good - literate, adventurous, but always accessible and pop-friendly.
Rod Argent's first post-Zombies album not only gives him a chance to show off his top-notch organ and piano skills, but also showcases his under-appreciated pop instincts; well timed riff changes, organ solos, breakdowns, and other stylistic flourishes keep the songs constantly interesting. The tracks "Free Fall" and "Lonely High Road" are particularly good examples of his Brian Wilson caliber popcraft.
With a few notable exceptions (particularly "Liar" which Three Dog Night would famously cover), the album's songwriting isn't on par with its music, but even then, the lyrics are merely unobtrusive, and allow the groovy jazz-influenced music to speak for itself.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
24. Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Counting down my favorite 25 albums of 1970:
Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Three months before releasing this album, Eric Clapton released his first solo album. The self-titled album would set the standard for his subsequent 70s studio albums - mannered, mature, pop-friendly songs performed with impeccable technique. This makes the raw emotion with which he tears through the songs on this album all the more exciting by comparison. His vocals have never been this passionate, his guitar playing never this searing. He bares his soul on every track of this album, which includes two bona fide classics: Layla, and Bell Bottom Blues.
Critical consensus (according to Acclaimed Music) rates this album in the top 5 of 1970, and if I was making this list 20 years ago, I would doubtlessly agree. Back then I couldn't get enough of Clapton's long jammy versions of blues standards, and the three such songs on this album (Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, Key to the Highway, and Have You Ever Loved a Woman) are longer, jammier, and bluesier than usual. Listening to the album now though, I'm finding that these tracks, as great as they are, put an unwelcome damper on the intensity of the rest of the album.
Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Three months before releasing this album, Eric Clapton released his first solo album. The self-titled album would set the standard for his subsequent 70s studio albums - mannered, mature, pop-friendly songs performed with impeccable technique. This makes the raw emotion with which he tears through the songs on this album all the more exciting by comparison. His vocals have never been this passionate, his guitar playing never this searing. He bares his soul on every track of this album, which includes two bona fide classics: Layla, and Bell Bottom Blues.
Critical consensus (according to Acclaimed Music) rates this album in the top 5 of 1970, and if I was making this list 20 years ago, I would doubtlessly agree. Back then I couldn't get enough of Clapton's long jammy versions of blues standards, and the three such songs on this album (Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, Key to the Highway, and Have You Ever Loved a Woman) are longer, jammier, and bluesier than usual. Listening to the album now though, I'm finding that these tracks, as great as they are, put an unwelcome damper on the intensity of the rest of the album.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
25. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Counting down my favorite 25 albums of 1970:
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
The plaintive vocals and deliberate tempo sets a tone that's a little weary, a fitting allegory to the Woodstock generation that a few years prior believed they could change the world overnight, only to have the luster of their idealism fade as the Vietnam war continued its downward spiral, and the culture war escalated into bloody confrontations at Kent State and Jackson State. Yet Young's lyrics have a tendency to become stridently hopeful at unexpected times, as if to reiterate that it's not naive to believe you can change the world, it's only naive to think it would be easy.
This is exemplified by the albums best track and thematic core, Don't Let it Bring You Down, where Young starts by setting a squalid scene of an "old man lying by the side of the road", ignored by passersby and left to the elements, he ends up dead by morning. The initial refrain of "Don't Let it Bring You Down" at this point could be interpreted as cynical apathy, but later versus, when he sings "Blind man walking by the river at night with an answer in his hand. Come on down to the river of sight where you can really understand." reveal what (I think) is the intended interpretation: Don't lose faith, things will "turn around". He uses this formula throughout the album alternating the "bring downs" (Southern Man, Tell Me Why) with the "uplifts" (Till the Morning Comes, I Believe in You).
The consensus among rock critics (according to Acclaimed music, which compiles reviews from numerous sources and combines them) is that this is the best album of 1970. While that validates it's inclusion on my list, I think I need to explain why I don't rate it higher...
Not every track on the album works for me. The tone of the album is consistent throughout and the lesser songs don't interrupt the flow, but they certainly don't stand on their own, either. Particularly the album's highest charting single, Only Love Can Break Your Heart. I find the lyrics a little trite, and when the piano thunks out a dirge-tempo waltz with easy rhymes on the downbeat, I can't help but think of Sesame Street's Prairie Dawn playing the song for a muppet pageant. Another miss for me is another of the album's most popular songs, Southern Man. Even though I sympathize with the sentiment (the history of racial intolerance in the South is an easy target), I find the tongue clucking a tad sanctimonious.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
On Deck for 1960
Movies in my NetFlix queue this month:
Spartacus - This is one of those classics that I somehow never got around to seeing. It's directed by Stanley Kubrick and features Kirk Douglas.
The Apartment - The year's best picture winner is a Billy Wilder comedy featuring Shirley MacLaine. It's another classic I hadn't gotten around to seeing yet.
Inherit the Wind - I saw this movie years ago, and I don't remember it very well. If anything, I remember it being talky and pedantic (that it is to say, directed by Stanley Kramer). But this impression doesn't reconcile with it's popularity and high rating on IMDb, so I think it deserves a refresher viewing.
The Time Machine - I'm a sucker for science fiction. I'm also a fan of the special effects of George Pal.
Purple Noon - I'm particularly looking forward to seeing this one. I've never read the Patricia Highsmith novel from which this is adapted (The Talented Mr. Ripley), but I loved the Anthony Minghella version.
Virgin Spring - I always like Ingmar Bergman films. I'm also intrigued by the fact that this is the inspiration for Wes Craven's shock/gore film The Last House on the Left.
Testament of Orpheus - The third film in Jean Cocteau's Orpheus trilogy (conveniently spaced in ten or twenty year increments so I could watch them in the same calendar year). I never get tired of Cocteau's distinctive otherworldly mood.
Never on Sunday - I was really impressed with Night and the City last month. Director Jules Dassin was on quite a streak with his fourth fantastic movie in four consecutive years (1947 - Brute Force, 1948 - The Naked City, 1949 - Thieves' Highway, 1950 - Night and the City). This film is a departure from those noir films and might not have caught my attention if it wasn't for my recent Dassin obsession.
Can-Can - I always try to put a musical on my queue each month. This one has several things going for it: it was the second highest grossing film of 1960 after Ben Hur; it features songs written by Cole Porter; it features Frank Sinatra singing those songs; and it stars Shirley MacLaine so it would make a good double feature with The Apartment.
Primary
Jazz on a Summer's Day - I always try to put a documentary on my queue each month, too. This month, I couldn't narrow it down to just one. Primary is a political documentary following John F. Kennedy's campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in 1960. Jazz on a Summer's Day is a concert film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival featuring Louis Armstrong. Both films are in the National Film Registry.
If time permits:
Psycho is definitely the most famous movie from 1960, but I've already seen it several times, and there are several other horror films from 1960 that appeal to me, including:
Peeping Tom - I've only seen two other movies by Michael Powell, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, both had impressive color cinematography. The trailer for this one promises more of the same.
Village of the Damned - I've seen so many spoofs and other references to this movie, I feel like I've already seen it. There must be good reasons why this film has endured.
TV Shows in my NetFlix queue this month:
The Flintstones - This animated classic debuted in 1960.
Danger Man - Secret agent drama starring Patrick McGoohan who would follow this show up with his iconic role in The Prisoner.
Although I couldn't find a way to squeeze it into my schedule this month, The Andy Griffith Show was another notable TV debut this year.
Novels I loaded onto my Kindle:
Eight Keys to Eden - A science fiction novel by Mark Clifton. From the reviews I read, I expect it to be somewhat philosophical with a libertarian slant.
Deathworld - Another science fiction novel. This one promises to be more action oriented than cerebral. It's the first of Harry Harrison's Deathworld trilogy.
There's no Kindle edition of To Kill a Mockingbird - what's up with that?
Radio Programs I downloaded:
The Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show - By 1960, the Golden Age of Radio was well into it's twilight, but Bing Crosby, who had had a series of radio shows continuously since 1931 was determined to be the last to leave the party. This 20 minute weekday morning program with Rosemary Clooney would be his last. It began in February 1960 and ended in 1962.
Spartacus - This is one of those classics that I somehow never got around to seeing. It's directed by Stanley Kubrick and features Kirk Douglas.The Apartment - The year's best picture winner is a Billy Wilder comedy featuring Shirley MacLaine. It's another classic I hadn't gotten around to seeing yet.
Inherit the Wind - I saw this movie years ago, and I don't remember it very well. If anything, I remember it being talky and pedantic (that it is to say, directed by Stanley Kramer). But this impression doesn't reconcile with it's popularity and high rating on IMDb, so I think it deserves a refresher viewing.The Time Machine - I'm a sucker for science fiction. I'm also a fan of the special effects of George Pal.
Purple Noon - I'm particularly looking forward to seeing this one. I've never read the Patricia Highsmith novel from which this is adapted (The Talented Mr. Ripley), but I loved the Anthony Minghella version.Virgin Spring - I always like Ingmar Bergman films. I'm also intrigued by the fact that this is the inspiration for Wes Craven's shock/gore film The Last House on the Left.
Testament of Orpheus - The third film in Jean Cocteau's Orpheus trilogy (conveniently spaced in ten or twenty year increments so I could watch them in the same calendar year). I never get tired of Cocteau's distinctive otherworldly mood.
Never on Sunday - I was really impressed with Night and the City last month. Director Jules Dassin was on quite a streak with his fourth fantastic movie in four consecutive years (1947 - Brute Force, 1948 - The Naked City, 1949 - Thieves' Highway, 1950 - Night and the City). This film is a departure from those noir films and might not have caught my attention if it wasn't for my recent Dassin obsession.
Can-Can - I always try to put a musical on my queue each month. This one has several things going for it: it was the second highest grossing film of 1960 after Ben Hur; it features songs written by Cole Porter; it features Frank Sinatra singing those songs; and it stars Shirley MacLaine so it would make a good double feature with The Apartment.
PrimaryJazz on a Summer's Day - I always try to put a documentary on my queue each month, too. This month, I couldn't narrow it down to just one. Primary is a political documentary following John F. Kennedy's campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in 1960. Jazz on a Summer's Day is a concert film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival featuring Louis Armstrong. Both films are in the National Film Registry.
If time permits:
Psycho is definitely the most famous movie from 1960, but I've already seen it several times, and there are several other horror films from 1960 that appeal to me, including:
Peeping Tom - I've only seen two other movies by Michael Powell, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, both had impressive color cinematography. The trailer for this one promises more of the same.
Village of the Damned - I've seen so many spoofs and other references to this movie, I feel like I've already seen it. There must be good reasons why this film has endured.
TV Shows in my NetFlix queue this month:
The Flintstones - This animated classic debuted in 1960.Danger Man - Secret agent drama starring Patrick McGoohan who would follow this show up with his iconic role in The Prisoner.
Although I couldn't find a way to squeeze it into my schedule this month, The Andy Griffith Show was another notable TV debut this year.
Novels I loaded onto my Kindle:
Eight Keys to Eden - A science fiction novel by Mark Clifton. From the reviews I read, I expect it to be somewhat philosophical with a libertarian slant.
Deathworld - Another science fiction novel. This one promises to be more action oriented than cerebral. It's the first of Harry Harrison's Deathworld trilogy.
There's no Kindle edition of To Kill a Mockingbird - what's up with that?
Radio Programs I downloaded:
The Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show - By 1960, the Golden Age of Radio was well into it's twilight, but Bing Crosby, who had had a series of radio shows continuously since 1931 was determined to be the last to leave the party. This 20 minute weekday morning program with Rosemary Clooney would be his last. It began in February 1960 and ended in 1962.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
