Paul Kantner and Grace Slick (1971) Diana Part 1 - LOST70sGEMS

 Paul Kantner and Grace Slick' forerunner to the Jefferson Starship starts with Silver Spoon, where Spanish castanets rattle but Slicks' modal wailing owes more to the East, as the song heads into a piano led verse its unmistakable as she sings about picking up the food by hand over a silver spoon; the way food has been traditionally eaten since start of civilisation in Asia and the middle east. We're not even a full minute into the album and Slick begins to show off her powerful vibrato warbler as she did in White Rabbit's epic climax. Papa John Creach' electric violin screeches and dazzles in shrieking fills over guitar feedback and a repeating piano note. The violin in its thin creaky tone is pushed to the max with octave jumping slides while the distorted guitar drones aimlessly in sparse coils to merely colour the Elton John-esque ballad. We get short snippet of a folk rocker called Diana Part 1 that segues into the title track; an ecological and very hippie-esque ode with swirling flute and aggressive muted horns pipping up and butting in, Kantner voice clearly pales in comparison to his partner Slick's, though it does work on Diana Pt 1. The raga tinged blues slide licks and Spaghetti western operatic backing vocals live up to its title and the terribly photoshopped cover image of a baby held out from the sparkling crimson waves as a half Jaffa sun dips into the horizon. 

 Sound engineer Phil Sawyer takes a track all for himself, the eerie haunting ghost track called Titanic  which mixes sound effects of all kinds reminding me of Pink Floyd's Echoes middle section. In the palette are an oscillating pulse running through the whole thing as rushing waves break, foghorns blare ominously, ship' tackle crackle, a siren cries and whines  while a steady wall of sound and volume collide as sound collages drum up the intensity.

Look at the Wood is a silly bluegrass ode to a carpenter with a heavy guitar solo and acoustic hammer on chord progression rolling on. When I was a Boy I Watched the Wolves..no that's not a personal statement but the next song title, here mandolin and more raging guitar feedback ping and pong with a knotty acoustic picked rhythm line. Slick and Kantner go back to those ill advised Appalachian two part harmonies which don't mix with their cringey Utopian lyrics. Again Kantners' dour folk rock vocal shouldn't be given such prominence as its Slick' haughty, sonorous voice that is much stronger and fits the dramatictrack where rough piano keys are plonked and guitar notes struck.

Million is a weak plea to reignite the San Francisco commune-ity for one last chance at a peaceful world as the 60s dream dies. A Moog warping underneath and country picking creeps up in the intro and finale. There is of course more thundering piano keys and Kantner dominated droning harmonies while a teenage Craig Chaquico again plays like his life depends on it; the middle section follows a chord progression very similar to Sultans of Swing...just an observation.

The next is a sweet tune named after Paul and Grace' child China who appears as the baby on the album cover with one hand being Grace and one hand by Paul it's a beautiful image and the rousing march carries a Hey Jude or Aretha Franklin styled gospel structure. While Earth Mother is another hippie bluegrass picker about the joys of parenthood, Diana Pt 2 continues the 'do-right' hippy "goody two shoes" preaching and more catty Moog notes whine off like the lyrics into nothing. Universal Copernican Mumbles is what the title suggests, as the second instrumental of the album we are treated to watery synth oscillations over a standard jazz piano, as the tension racks up and Kantner employs some Pink Floyd vocals that ping off each other with their dark intoning half-speak like the British band were famous for.

The closing track to this mixed album and mixed collaboration doesn't at first seem to feature Grace at all, aside form the first few tracks this is a Paul Kantner solo album and not in a good way, lacking the electricity  Slick's voice would bring if given the spotlight and freedom to soar. A joyous piano and more rigid folk humming vocals from Kantner espouses some cosmic lyrics as if birthing Starship right then and there; the song is basically a longwinded  jazz blues guitar jam...though the piano part in the middle does sound an awful lot like the melody to I Fought the Law and the Law Won.. again just an observation;)

Rolling Stones (1972) Shine a Light - LOST70sGEMS

 This closing track to the towering Exile on Main Street album is probably one of the better-known forgotten gems (if that makes any sense?) when it was used as the title for a Rolling Stones concert film in the 2000s; but it deserves more appreciation for its incredible arrangement and production. Exile is rightly considered as the peak of the Stones' discography,  it acts as the ultimate British tribute to Americana from the blues to honky tonk to rock n roll, gospel soul, country and rockabilly and more in all their guises and sub genres. There remains a strong traditionalism to the song writing, while the DIY basement recording setup of Chateaux Nellcôte also helps.  It is a bit of a mystery how a bunch of middle-class rock stars from the South of England with their entourage of famous actors and models in tow could create an album of working-class roots music in a luxurious South of France retreat; definitely no authenticity and stacked with appropriation, but still rustic and faithful set of standards..actually songs that would become standards.

So, it starts with an echoplex guitar jangle, the harmonics ricocheting off the studio baffles, the volume bumped up as the chamber reverb skitters away. This sound of the rattling of the electronic components of the echoplex will return and seep in and out of the song at certain points as if to retain an acoustic ambience.  The crunchy interior of the analogue echo unit and the studio confines are almost tangible; as the scurrying clicks of the reverb signal flap away our ears can almost paint an image of how small the room is in the way sonar is used to create a visualisation of the interior of, say, a cave. The locust sounding crackles get closer than further away establishing a sonic landscape not fully explored by this song but creates an eardrum gripping intro. 

 The song proper then begins as a couple big piano notes punch in with Mick Jagger's tired vocal in tow, as if still feeling the effects from the night before.  The lyrics, the lonely chords and vocal place us squarely in a lonely hotel room (Room 1009 by the way), Jagger seemingly describes a fictitious account of stumbling across an OD victim. The watery organ drenches the track like a flood, every element reverberates to some degree, even the aforementioned 'locusts' reverb clicks scatter as we enter turn it up for the evangelical gospel chorus. It's a positive, beaming lyric and the cold confessional verses solidify the song's going to church feel but also grimy, harsh reality of coming back down off a drug; the song and life in general is full of slowdowns and fast highs. 

The angelic backing ooh's are treated with a Hammond Leslie Amp, almost as if the echo is slowly infecting all the elements of this song, it completely metamorphosizes the backing vocals from their original form.  The Leslie amp drowns the choral vocals in a sudsy distortion, so heavy is the warping of this it practically mutates the rich, human voices into a synthetic instrument that can be moulded and shapeshift like a synthesizer. This strange sound is most pronounced at around the three-minute mark, where during the middle eight, the soupy organ is played with a lot of resonance and the reverb filter cranked up to create a high tactile riddling that sounds like a Xylophone.

The slide guitar licks are restrained and the upbeat piano of the chorus are powerfully feel good in their simplicity; it all brings to mind the other epic closer in their discography; You Can't Always Get What You Want. But the organ and reverb machinations are what set this apart from your typical rock ballad; this is an immersive experience on a surround sound level.

The ending is a return to the gospel vocals and the xylophone sounding organ part of the middle eight, rapidly panning and disappearing down the sink hole like a stream of rainwater down a gutter after the deluge has ended. The cleansing effect of it is apparent as the waves of those 'organ voices' briefly submerge your earphones under the lapping waters before your head re-emerges bobbing up again; it's astounding how the Stones could blend choir vocals, organ and an amp into a representation of the sea and the tides. 

 It's so affecting, it feels the song has been one big ol sobbing section, wringing out all the pain, the ending the perfect feeling of drained as the 'river of tears' , represented by the combined vocals/organ, wash away. 

Quicksilver Messenger Service (1975) Cowboy on the Run - LOST70sGEMS

 Solid Silver (1975)

Gypsy Lights lacks the mixing and unique accents of the playing in the say their 1972 album opener, Hope, Cowboy on the Run is a lilting cowboy ballad with magnificent strings and tasteful piano playing. Flames is an ill-advised attempt at merging then psych-folk rock base with some level of funk, but the next song is the I Heard You Singin with its Dylanesque and melodic Springsteen ride along feel. The Letter is very atmospheric country rock with incandescent singin that sounds like a rip off of Gram Parsons A Song for You..shame. The hyperspace lap steel twine that spaces in and out in wah wah fashion but the rave up ending, as the notes get increasingly higher pitched as we fade out is excellent as is the honky tonk rhythms that enter in the second half of the song.  They Don't Know is basically a spindly pull off acoustic and guitar riff before devolving into a pretty solid country funk number with awesome backing vocal melody interplay and a wild synth solo, the kind you'd hear in the Bee Gees live show, possibly an influence as the chords sometimes remind me of Throw a Penny; the warbling synth solo at the end is palatial and melancholic in it's warped meander.  Witch's Moon is more Santana-esque as bold twilight acoustics and defined blues guitar noodle and mingle and finally Bittersweet Love is a funk rocker with The Who styled power chord breaks, and frenzied drumming while the chorus is more country and has an overall Eagles sound.

ELO (1971) 10538 Overture - LOST70sGEMS

 The Electric Light Orchestra started off in 1971 as a artsy prog offshoot of The Move, then Brummie's biggest group, fronted by the distinctive cat scratch vocals of Roy Wood. But the baton would be passed to Jeff Lyne and his Beatles-esque disco pop of the mid to late 70s built more on pop rock and vacuum packed falsetto. The song most remember from this transitory period of the band is the mammoth 10538 Overture. 

Its built around an endless stream of fuzz guitar power chords trickling down the centre of the mix; attacked on both sides by armies of brass , like French horns and strings, like cellos. Big Walrus like brays of cello stride in the fills like  meat on a carcass. Jeff Lynns' crackly vocal is almost tinfoil thin but pierces through the densest of mixes due to its sandpaper texture so fine; which was necessary for a band like ELO. His voice and monolithic power chords drone off in a malevolent way while the eerie orchestrations sweep in and creep you out in elephantine howls. French horns march in step, get all puffed up and then blow hard in their blustery little parts, bolstering the song along. The rustic cellos have a hollow creak apparent in every roll , while Lynne and the guitars plough through continuously like the structure of the System. There is a Logan's' Run like momentum to the track, perfect for a man running from a totalitarian authority in dystopian city or a young man with the song playing as he exercises..like me.

 They never perfected their dynamic between electric rock and acoustic orchestra as they did on this inaugural track, ironically everything after wasn't as successful; their later career would see the band flit from keyboard heavy pop arrangements faintly coloured by strings to old fashioned rock n roll. The wall of sound production creates a sizzling, frizzy hissy mix as the distorted array of electric and acoustic instruments do battle. The stabbing cellos squeak away as electric strings are plucked  in digitised ripples, slashing  across the mix, gouging huge chunks out the basic tracks with their raga pitched bellows. The invention of this towering masterpiece is up there with stately prog rock like Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, cleverly blending seamlessly a rock rhythm section with a string and horn section. There is a stature and innate power to this song from the tumbling arpeggios to the coruscating cellos and everything in between, not too dissimilar from the experimental noise of Bowie's Heroes. 

Tavares (1974) If That's the Way You Want It - LOST70sGEMS

 Tavares 1974 debut Check It Out is aptly named for any debut, but in a crowded marketplace of soft ballad groups they didn't bring anything new to the genre over more creative arrangements by The Temprees and Black Ivory. It's electric sitar flecked blues arrangements, opening track If That's the Way You Want It displays their tough youthful vocals, but often songs like Thats The Sound That Lonely Makes sound like the Spinners with a bit more funk. The title track is languid with no groove which is made up for on the very next track; the O Jays discofied sound of Wish You Were With Me Mary. I'll Never Say Never Again points to their future covering blue eyed soul artists like the Bee Gees and Hall and Oates with more smoothness and authenticity. The soldier drums of epic ballad Little Girl promises a lot of talent in the astonishing vocal prowess but the lyrics and arrangements still don't crackle like with other artists of the time; they needed their own style badly.  The adaption of Ring-a-roses for the opening of the sly tune Mama's Little Girl is their most memorable, the vocals still have a nice sound but they need more instrumental ingenuity like that short nursery rhyme opening that repeats at the end. 

Queen (1974) In The Lap of the Gods - LOST70sGEMS

One of the songs that represents the 'sheer' power of Queen' mid 70s heavy Glam Prog phase, where vocal harmonies would blare out heavier than the guitar and drums put together; they were curious act when all the bands bombarded you with riffs and atom splitting drums Queen hit you with heavy stacks of powerful vocals, shrill and overdubbed to the Nth degree so they made up each note of a chord in all three octaves so they were as full as an open major chord and hammered out in spurts like a guitar strike or hit of a drum.

 The shining majestic example is this Clash of the Titans sounding track with it's 'swords n sandals' mythological grandeur summing up the pomp of their first phase, trading in imagery concerning ogre battles and rampaging like Vikings and calling to the heavens. The song suddenly leaps to life with an abrupt start of Roger Taylor's shockingly high vocals; a siren like wail that would make peak Ian Gillan sound like a foghorn in comparison, his super clear tone and the delivery sounding like he is in hysterics, screaming, not to mention the glissando piano runs conjure a Phantom of the Opera familiarity. Soon the familiar Queen sound of multitracked vocals and guitars swirl around us before scorching declaration of 'Leave it in the Lap..OF THE GODS!' is fired out by the group like a cannon and is playfully panned in and out of the right and left earphones to truly leave your ear drums ringing.

 Now enters Freddie's vocal under a lisping, heavily slurred croon that has been slowed down by the varispeed function on a tape machine lit is so sludgy you imagine his vocals emanating from a tar pit. The velvet vocals of Freddie are sung very deep on the verses already but along with the tape speed appear to be draped in some layer of distortion, it affects other elements too such Roger's cymbal and gong parts seem to also have been treated, he sounds like he is hitting them with brushes but with some flanging that drags out the ambience and echo into phased 'whooshes' that seem to reverse echo the sound and have very long decays to add to this muddy distorted mix.

 The barrelling double bass drum rattles us into the chorus; Brian May's pinched harmonics sound like a sweet synthesizer while their surging harmonies soothe and comfort in their soft flutter but with a resounding defiance like Knights of the Order, fitting isn't it? But it's Roger's soul rending cries over and over in melodic loops through all the other cascading elements that touches a raw point inside of me it's anguish, happiness and a whole waterfall of emotions pouring out of him behind that big drum set. What's remarkable about this track is the contrasts from Mercury's dappled delivery, his timbre blends seamlessly into the smooth flanging almost drowning in it's murky, depth while Roger's spectacular melodious wail, so pinched and powerful it blares out like an air horn.

Quicksilver (1971) Don't Cry My Lady Love - LOST70sGEMS

The Quiksilver Messenger Service's sixth album starts off with a stunning dual guitar harmony that is so fresh while the vocals are Dylanesque and heavily reference the mid 60s anthem Eve of Destruction but reversing it with a positive message. The guitar lines though are so rockin yet sweet in their clean sustain, I Found Love starts with a funky drum break ripe for hip hop sampling and some fantastic guitar and piano chops; free flowing bursts of juicy tangled guitar wails over boogie woogie piano notes and under serene Seals and Crofts style harmonies. Song for Frisco is a distant chamber reverbed tune that continues the phenomenal guitar shredding,

While Rebel is the most memorable tune with sharp scream sound effects, an outlaw tale set to ragged vocals and acoustic guitars and some delayed backing vocal echoes..vocelechoes, the formidable fuzz guitar in the distance and more crazy yelping and yahooing from some unhinged cowboys. Fire Brothers follows on with it's dramatic mix of ghostly layers of piano playing single notes while another plays a complex run of notes up and down a scale while the Freieberg's heavy vocal also is back echoed to ping back and forth just like the up and down repeats of the piano like an endless loop as he journey further into insanity on this trippy yet restrained record. To complete this trilogy of mind-altering echo driven Folk Rock songs is Out of my Mind with some galloping bass and machine gun tambourine and astral acoustic guitar chords recorded so close to the mic each fifth rings out wide in the earphones. Play My Guitar is just generic blues wailing and dated talk like 'diggin you' but the excellent flawless mixing and playing is still present if none of the fresh melodies of other tracks.

The Truth features a shapeshifting wah wah distorted guitar that wraps around the acoustic beats, it's clangy and still very 60s sounding but with 70s sonics, pretty much how the album feels as the flower power chorus has that bright yet sleepy yearning feel of the hippie era. Don't Cry My Lady Love has a great countrified pop feel with a downhome bop, Southern clipped accents and happy go lucky acoustic strumming, it's a shame the melancholic vocals and deep echo and piano track swamp the potential mainstream appeal but remains as melodic and fresh as this band would possess across their early 70s output. The ghostly honky tonk piano solo is pure elegiac beauty like an old timey film or sepia toned nostalgia.