David Gates (1978) Drifter

A hit single if ever I heard one, this David Gates solo track, from his 78 Goodbye Girl Soundtrack album,bared a lot of country rock hallmarks in the brisk acoustic guitar shuffle beat and laid back vocals as well as a brilliant violin /electric guitar part where the two play together though intentionally not fully in sync more following each other. Drifting like the catchy hook of the song relates, free of the mellow, schmaltz that could occasionally seep into some of Gates' solo work. Instead a heartfelt ode to travelling delivered without the histrionic falsetto that Gates also indulged in at the expense of the complex emotions of his ballads.

Gerry Rafferty (1971) Didn't I

 From Rafferty's first solo album Can I Have My Money Back, using the band that would become Stealer's Wheel, this song has the strong country overtones that marked that band's work and would continue to crop up in his solo career like in City to City. There's still a folksy whimsy sound to it but also some of the fun and lightheartedness that would become less and less as his career went on. SO worth listening to for the range of influences and consistent quality of the album track by track from a still much underappreciated artist who proved himself time and time again.

Bloodstone (1972) Friendship‏

The 'Natural High' hit makers were a vocal group who picked up instruments and  became a mix of Sly Stone aggressive funk with a Temptations style group interplay on their debut album. This track off the Decca release is the best example with it's positive encouraging message and electric vocal operatics and mixture of a wicked groove of delicious funk guitars and a solid drummer as the band plays at its full powers.

Barry Gibb (1970) One Bad Thing

The catchiest tune from the never released first debut album The Kid's No Good, a mixture of their 60's ballad sound a new country direction that would appear on the following Bee Gees album Life in a Tin Can (1973). It's a mild album with this by far the most memorable along with the dark C and W track Clyde O Reilly. Nevertheless this is a fine single at the least with a strong back beat as well as a great refrain of "One Bad Thing leads to another, you don't need one more surplus lover. Leave me alone, I'm cold like stone."

Icarus (1972) Silver Surfer

From their 1972 album The Marvel World of Icarus, an album that used the classic canon of Marvel Comic book characters as the basis for a heavy Jazzy, Prog rock album in which each character is devoted a theme song; whether serious or mocking is uncertain but lightweight in comparison to the heavy musical arrangements of smooth flute, throbbing bass and crunching guitar. Strings and saxophones complete the staccato, tributes to each superhero encapsulating them with basic lyrics and stronger focus on the structure of the song. The key characters of the Marvel universe are here with odes ranging form the Hulk to Daredevil and including a super charged intro to Thor. The arrangements are quite samey but do feature nice tempo changes to establish each figure, Black Panther is  quite measured while Spiderman's bounds about at some pace. Of course Marvel caught on to this in the States and put a halt to what was a promising group particularly in their creative song ideas. All are cloaked in the bluesy vocals of the lead singer who conveys the gamut of emotions and precise characterisations quite well

The Fantastic Four is well Fantastic, The Thing is funny and, as they all are, adept at storytelling and setup thought The Man Without Fear has a nice quiet piano mid section but undoubtedly the psychedelic Silver Surfer is the best with its subdued mix of cascading flute and phased electric guitar into a swirling, hypnotic prog rocker that best captures the superhero's essence far more subtlety sounding like a band's  composition over a TV Theme Tune reject like the majority of the album. 

Ozark Mountain Daredevils (1976) Watermill‏

A mid 70s country rock group that excelled in the smooth pop tunes as well as quirky bluegrass aspects of the genre. With the reverbed vocals and twinkling piano lick mimicking a water trough this belongs to the former. Featuring aqueous harmonies and the vocals of one of their many singers  leading the tune before it descends into a Hawaiian pedal steel lilt where an saxophone drifts in; its an intoxicating mix as the song plays out like a slow stream

Led Zeppelin (1975) Night Flight‏

 Beginning with a startlingly pretty opening as Jimmy Page's glistening guitar strums a progression alongside John Paul Jones's bright organ in what was a rare JPJ dominated track. The influence of the heavily phased opening bars of this can be heard later in Brit Pop songs such as Telling Stories by The Charlatans and Waterfall by the Stone Roses and gives the song a distinctive sound that would have fitted in Untitled Fourth album, of which it was left off, or even the effervescent sounds of their fifth album.  The pop sheen soon descends into a stilted country boogie with a strong Southern Rock vibe, Plant singing in a 'downhome' manner about.. not sure what, possibly combat troops on a night flight to a battle zone as there is an allusion to evading the US Military Draft; still active in 1971 when the track was recorded.

 It does suffer from a repetitive verse that frankly becomes embarrassing with Plant's accentuated grunts at the very end. But the track is sparkling with those magic intervals of phased guitar and organ wokr, once again a mellowish rocker from a heavy band that knew how to balance diverse elements such as country, Southern Rock and even an early example of Alternative Rock in the classic opening. Truly Unforgettable Zep gem that I have wanted to do for sometime

The Lovelites (1977)How Can I Tell My Mum and Dad

I started this blog a year ago now over 212 posts and 4000 page views later, I've certainly looked at a wide spectrum of great underrated music from what was the best decade for music in my opinion.

 To cap off one year of the blog and kick off the next I will look at this irresistible soul number. With the lead vocalist Patti Hamilton smooth delivery over a funky slide guitar rhythm. This manages to merge the gospel device of ' call and response' vocals that you would here in a Motown hit with the smoother, more vivid 70s style of storytelling.

 It's a breathtaking number as the teen singer shares her dilemma of being pregnant with a man who wants nothing to do with her and wondering about her parents reaction when she tells them. The strife, hurt and regret are so palpable in her restrained vocal performance. The song practically hits you with its smooth melodic and engaging tale.

Humble Pie (1971) Down Home Again

 My first Humble Pie post, I must admit knowing little about them but what's clear is Peter Frampton's rock n roll chops mixing with Steve Marriott's already established soulful blues howl and songwriter prowess would be a powerful little act. This classic countrified hard rocker has some strutting Zeppelin power chords before entering a fun chorus of "There's a young girl there she's a part of my life, says I'm 'her only', I call her my 'wife'" and the final refrains of "Don't want your money honey. Just want your lovin honey"

Doobie Brothers (1971) Feelin Further Down‏

 The Doobie Brothers 1971 debut album is considered a slight, poorly mixed effort by some with nothing exceptional, though I would describe it as a key starting point where they immediately cultivated their reverberated, heavily acoustic sound of countrified R n B with strong doses Pat Simmons' folk picking and Tom Johnsons' chugging guitars. Their roughness is somewhat smoothed down, but the exquisite mixing of the electric and acoustic sounds is one result of the poor production which I think  of as a happy accident if it doesn't help identify whether they are more folk rock, funk rock or smooth soul. 
 This track displays this nice melding of acoustic/ electric with some winsome, elongated harmonies, showing off their delicate side more than later Johnson era albums would it is also subtly restrained from their later overt ventures into funk and soul. The rhythm is practically the Listen to the Music riff with a different set of lyrics but its all pleasurable to the ear. You can choose any track from this consistent effort really, its just interesting seeing where this diverse group would venture 'further down'.

Led Zeppelin (1975) Houses of the Holy

A extremely smooth groove from the biggest band of the 70s, it is peculiar for several reasons the first of which is its crammed into the legendary double album and the pinnacle of their career; Physical Graffiti. Arguably the closest they came to a pop single with its smooth repetitive verses, built around the lead vocals with no guitar solo or extended instrumental break this could of been a radio single easy. Side note: it would've been interesting if Jimmy Page put out the shorter album cuts out to promote the album's compositional depth even if it went against their ethos of making an album a singular work.


 Oh well the other peculiarity is this song dedicated, to their local fan base(their devoted masses being affectionately named in the title), is that this was the namesake track of their preceding album. An in joke done by many other 70s artists like David Bowie and the track Ziggy Stardust, those damn 70s artists! It's all elementary as this track with its sturdy funk rock rhythm snakes along with their usual sensuality. Plant's laid back vocals flirting with the listener before the dynamics pickup with Bonhams cowbell, backing oohs and Plant intensifying come-ons. This track like many others got virtually no attention but it had more melody and energy to it than say the country rock influenced California sound also prevalent at the time.

Yes (1977) Wondrous Stories

 Jon Anderson is front and centre in this Yes single from 1977, it's one of his patented folk tales, this finds him at his peak with a wondrously soaring lead vocal over a bed of spellbinding acoustic strum. The Classic lineup of 1972 is reunited here after a three year hiatus for a succinct radio-friendly album, Going for the One(1977). Steve Howe capably handles the fantastical arrangement of Vachalia, while Chris Squire's close harmony adds a genuine choral depth, while the layered PolyMoog flourishes of Rick Wakeman help give the package a symphonic grandeur that came effortlessly to this group.  A band that systematically displayed Prog Rock's best and worst tendencies got the right ingredients and measurements for this concise album with strong pop and rock hooks combined with enough experimental material that would have been irresistible to rock fans not bowled over by punk.

Loggins and Messina (1976) Wasting Our Time

 From their last studio album, Native Sons, this jazzy track was a Loggins co write with John Townshend of the Sanford Townshend Band, a group who would effectively continue Loggins' brand of woodwind blue eyed soul with a Southern rock tilt. This song captures Loggins' sensuality in its arrangement before breaking into the catchy chorus of 'Theirs no sense in wasting our time', while nice its not on the compositional or instrumental level as their best work that managed to mix blue eyed soul with the dynamic contrasts of baroque folk, pastoral easy listening and rocking guitars.

Black Sabbath (1973) Who Are You‏

 Based around a Martian sounding Moog synthesizer lick, playing a simple three note pattern, you'd think this was an oddity in Sabbath's canon but actually they busted out the synths,acoustic guitars, Mellotrons and even flutes quite regularly during their semi- progressive phase in the mid 70s.

 Ozzy sings with himself backing him up, it soon gets weirder as it takes a detour wherein Tony Iommi plays a sombre piano progression with a Mellotron backing; while the Moogs play a nice lead line over it that builds up into a bolero before returning to the main riff again. Now with the two acid drenched Moogs playing in each channel, the stereo quality of the track with the echo threshold ringing out in each ear is mind altering to say the least.  The warped effect of the synthesizer sucks you in and combined with Bill Ward's doom laden beat and Ozzy's stricken vocals means this works without the standard Iommi fuzz tone. It ends on a dissonant oscillating fade out; it's Black Sabbath going Sci-Fi!

 Embracing new technology and diverse genre shifts to get across their own message that is more likely about the threat of governments or nuclear weapons rather than the you know..Satan. It sees them at their most adventurous with a Yes like mid section symphony, heavy on the keyboards but with that Sabbath patented despair and destruction all over it. Its similar to another paranoia based track, 1975's Am I Going Insane which shares a similar melody, the two part harmonies, the Moogs and the bolero rhythms.

Dave Mason (1972) Misty Morning Stranger

Sample of a piano riff and horns set the foundation of this Dave Mason gem. The interplay of funky horns and a resolute piano is great along with the harmonies of 'misty morning stranger'. However it's Masons clean and thick aerial guitar tone that is so pleasing to the ear along with the piano horn based backing track.