Led Zeppelin (1971) Four Sticks - LOST70sGEMS

 The tune begins with a pile driving riff multi-tracked to sound as big as Kashmir, it is Indian, speed rock and monolithic as Zeppelin' most iconic riffs.The rattling battle drums of Bonham were achieved with the thickest drum Sticks available and two sets of them; the four Sticks of the title. The gung-ho riff has a funky Black Sabbath 'syncopate and wail' style, while the octave leaping notes sound slightly dissonant with its Eastern modalities. 

The chorus is built around an Olde English folk guitar figure ending in string glissandos, it is played on a semi acoustic Danelectro backed with a snoring Moog part. Plant's reedy vocal sounds similar to the tone of Indian instruments. An onslaught of overdubbed fuzz Moogs take over with a new riff, carrying a raga tinge overstate what had been a subtle Indian sound. The ending shenai like synths and Plant's thin pitch vocal and undulating vocal gymnastics at the end confirm the Indian middle Eastern influence.The structure of the song is the same as Kashmir and Friends with a verse riff/chorus riff and a gigantic third riff that closes the whole thing out. 

Lyrically, the haunted double-tracked glacial cries of Plant match the imagery of "owls cry in the night" as he describes either the end of a relationship or a drug addition in mysterious, fantastical metaphors.

Badfinger (1971) Day After Day - LOST70sGEMS

 A crash of sounds as big cymbals and acoustic guitars strike in unison to begin the track. Smothered in hypnotic layers of 12-string guitars, strumming eternally in the foreground while Pete Ham's sallow haunted vocals croon despairingly.

There's a glow to the track from George Harrison sweet lilting slide guitar aching through the mix to the golden sunshine of layers of guitars to the spellbinding use of twinkling tik-toking piano notes all add to the glorious splendour of this track. The bouncy bass drum turnarounds thud and roll like heavy artillery adding some hard rock and pace to the largely subdued tempo.  

 The drum parts kick in along with angelic oohs for the chorus to pick up before returning to the glistening malaise. This gilded production is an exercise in arrangement sense, to make lilting slide guitar, twilight piano, 12 string guitars together; the power of the vocals and the songwriting still make the track. The underlying tragic undercurrent of Pete Ham's songs was always evident, not just in the hit Without You but also here as he grimly recalls how "I remember finding out about you", it's not an endearing line but more of haunted statement, almost tinged with more regret and pathos as he struggles to go cold turkey off a relationship in a "lonely room, Day after Day" 

Queen (1975) Good Company - LOST70SGEMS

Built around a skiffle ukelele tune with a philosophical message about friends and lovers and the importance of keeping good company is probably the best example of Brian May's orchestrated gutiar army concept. While the song treads the same acoustic May led shuffle as 39, this has such a range of guitar sounds it has to be broken down.




It starts off with a trio of guitars pinging off in a a row of ascending frequencies, like a set of delayed arpeggios played in three rising octaves; it sounds like an old call signal or a TV Station Ident and functions as a motif or reoccurring break before returning to the skiffle.




Then around the 30 second mark, some syrupy flute like flutters enter and scampers around the edges of the song. The crystal clear bell tone of May's fills are fluid yet tactile. Then around 50 seconds the flute diddles are temporarily replaced by some rather spongy wah wah gasbag guitar fills chomping away in jazzy walking lines. Another run through of the 'radio station ident' delayed arpeggios, also known as a bell effect occurs ending at 1:08 in a particularly deliciously clean, triple tracked guitar scream; wrangled presumably with a very low gain tone setting so only the signal blares out with zero noise or ambiance; just a vacuum clean ghostly guitar shriek from the tracked guitars that if it wasn't for the pure distortion would mimic Roger Taylor's infamous "AAHHS" falsettos.

 The scruffy ukulele verse returns with the slap dash drums, some 'Flash Gordon/Procession/God Save the Queen' styled grand triple octave Court of the King processional guitar lines descend for this verse. Finally the group harmonies, dominated by Freddie deep velvet accent, appear for the first time, they segue in with their typical hushed 'lounge lizard' cabaret style, however it has occurred to me the undulating tone of their cooing vocals oohing and aahing matches the drawl of May's slushy/slurpy old timey clarinet licks, like a vocal reproduction of some of the Red Special. The way May could make his sleek guitar mimic the shrieks, oohs, aahhs of Mercury and Taylor's velvety vocals was very fitting.

 A hyper phased bridge resembles everyone from Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman to Rush's Fly By the Night, however right in the middle of it at 2.22, a piercing guitar with high pitch plays a pan flute type of doodle. As 2.40 approaches we descend into Brian May's own personal one man studio Dixieland Jazz band as he heaps different guitar sounds to replicate different 1920s Trad jazz, Big Band instruments on are ears. The slinky clarinet is a clear toned guitar playing a very fluid sustain like the flutes of earlier, except instead of little prancing riffs they play bawdy long figures. Around 2.56 an elephantine trombone bawls in, clearly achieved by sliding a note down the guitar's bass string, dragged with immense pressure and possibly detuned or slowed down to get the big, huffy brassiness.

Among the baritone trombone bray of one guitar, buried deep beneath the clarinet and flutes are some guitars piping in with the chirpy Dixieland horns parts, clearly played out by more high ptiched, clean guitars.

The Steamboat Willie-esque tin whistle pip at the end is the crackly 1920s jazz band cherry on top!

Gil Scott Heron (1971) The Prisoner - LOST70sGEMS

 Off the legendary Pieces of a Man album, possibly the finest singer-songwriter record of all timecomes The Prisoner, a progressive song from one of the best voices in soul.

A 9 minute epic that starts ominously with the soul dampening thud of some bass drums, the eerie otherworldly scratchiness of an avant garde violin and the jangling of set of rusted chains. We are instantly thrown into a slave ship, the minimalism of those drums being struck with oppressive finality, the trembling vulnerability of Brian Jacksons' piano and Heron's iconic achingly crisp rasp. As always he is found contemplative and commenting against a smooth jazz double bass and piano combo, but the self destructive lyrics are given a new edge with the ceremonial pounding of the drums. 

Delivering images of "black babies shackled and bound" and the violence done to them is arresting in it's horror and the desensitized brutality.

Further lines such as 

"If I follow my mind, I know I'll slaughter my own" and "My woman, she don't say, but she hates to see her man chained this way...hemmed in by a suit and choked by a tie" sum up the existential jail or prison of his state of mind that so many of his songs were set in.

The clinking of the rusting chains and the continual interruption of those one two punch drums are again another brutal contrast to the endless fluid piano runs. 

The Miracles (1975) Smog - LOST70SGEMS

 A dazzling soundscape of a track by The Miracles, now pursuing the airy landscapes of their former front man Smokey Robinson, this shows off some excellent arrangment sense, reminscemnt of Norman Whitfield, Stevie Wonder and Roy Ayers.

Flowering daisies of fuzzy korg synthesizers bloom over the track representing the dense clouds if air pollution that spring up from the ground instead  of from the sky. The twangy chime of a water saw as it is scraped, adds a horror movie ambience fitting for the dangers of the inner city. The group's honeyed choral vocals loop over, Their gossamer harmonies glide over the track, softening the edges of the harsh instrumentation.

The central instrumental hook is a gargly, mewling synth hook ascending in a wah wah scale to a abrupt yelp at the end. It could represent the industrial factories in the workers in them pumping away on autopilot til the sudden blare at the end of the hook representing them burning out.

The scratchy whine of the water saw clash with the rubbery thudding clop of a pair of castanets.

The plish plosh castanets represent leaky pipes or the sparse drops of water, while the weird synths are the overworked machines from AC units to nuclear generators to the hardworking inhabitants that run til they bust.

The atonal harmonics of the nasally clavinet, plopping castanets and water saw creaks and synth shreiks make this a very Progressive in sound.

Jackson Five (1971) We've Got Blue Skies - LOST70SGEMS

This luminescent tune begins by fading in with a Theremin warmly buzzing away like a bee on sunny day. It forms the main hook of the song and intro dominating proceedings. Panned acoustic arpeggios, a sharp flute fill out the rest along with an old timey pipe organ the kind you would hear at a circus, fanfare or carnival capturing the spirit of a new relationship.

The Theremin is an oddity that makes the song memorable, it's fresh unique sound was different for a soft soul ballad. The pinging fuzz sound of the Theremin paints a picture in my mind of sunlight blazing out of a clear vibrant blue sky, partially obscured by a thin lens flare. Though a quirky sound, it works in creating a powerful sense of atmosphere like Kool and the Gang’s Summer Madness with its Dragnet style police siren hyperextended synth stings blazing a trail of fire into the stratosphere 

The song is sung from the perspective of someone who feels betrayed as his ex's once vivid declaration of love for him which suggested they had a future now plays back in his head.

"We've got blue skies, now can't you see?

There'll never ever be another love for me" 

 The statement above acts as the chorus of the song, a line that turns out to be nothing more than an empty promise that now haunts the singer. Nicely in the final verse the singer can now hear her make the same pledge being made to her new lover; a suspicious sense of deja vu for the protagonist. The fatalism of the lyrics is pretty mature for what on the surface sounds like a Strawberry Fields type of psych pop nursery ditty.

The three act structure is magical as the guy goes from initial doubts in the first verse to the strong suspicion surface in the second verse and then the humiliation, emptiness and resignment.

The duplicity of his ex girlfriend is confirmed in the last verse as she recites the perfect blue skies of commitment to her new lover. Though the clouds will soon appear on the horizon knowing her track record.

Michael's little chuckle at the end of each verse is a slightly cheesy addition, that I can only guess is him pretending to reminiscing with good spirit. However when he continues to chuckle in the coda, it starts to sound incredibly forced and awkward

Doobie Brothers (1975) Flying Cloud - LOST70sGEMS

 An instrumental credited to the band's long serving bassist Tiran Porter, it's dark mystic mood was one of the aspects of the Tom Johnson era of the band where they added a hypnotic jazzy bent to their folk/blues/southern rock sound. Opening with lapping waves and as a crystal clear acoustic progression chimes away; amidst the bucolic arpeggios, a warm heavily saturated synthesizer plays a series of honeyed sustains that sound sunny reggae organs but with smooth distorted polish. Then there is a hyperspatial Pink Floyd sounding slide guitar pinging off and around with a special polyphonic reverberation. This huge echoey slide guitar has the clean tone of Duane Allman but a spacey reverb adding yet another dimension to a track that doesn't even break the two minute barrier.  The Grande echoey guitar remind me of The Eagles' portentous Sci-Fi instrumental Journey of the Sorcerer but without the string section and extended track time, this comes off as a cool studio experiment.

The Dramatics (1977) Ocean Of Thoughts And Dreams - LOST70sGEMS

 A slick soul track from the late 70s that rides on an acoustic guitar lick based around hammer-ons and pull offs that lull you in with its ascending step by step feel. The clear acoustic guitar with tasteful kickdrum throbbing in the background dominates over the traditional sweeping strings, another notable touch is the the bubbling over wah wah watson slide guitar that ends each verse. The acoustic guitar and gospel backing harmonies along the ascending scale of the songs' main hook give the track a golden sunrise gleam while the hushed lead vocals add a soothing seductive vibe. 

The acoustic lick is the anchor that kicks off each line of the verse and runs throughout the song like motif that has more to say than the lyrics. However, the lyrics are pensive and meditative in mood, gliding along and opening up our own personal Ocean of thoughts and dreams.