Van Der Graaf Generator (1971) Angle of Incidents - LOST70SGEMS

This track was criminally left off their fourth album, Pawn Hearts, but deserves another listen, as in five short minutes you can almost imagine a whole scenario.


We get some tentative tom tom pounding from Guy Evans; it slowly get things started racking up the tension in their muted poly-rhythm. Then the snare bursts in, playing some marching band inspired double stroke rolls, similar to the kind employed by their dark-prog rivals, King Crimson in 21st Century Schizoid Man; where it gave an 'Iron Man' mechanical quality to a song about the rise of dystopian warfare.

It swiftly turns into a feeding frenzy as a horde of saxes break onto the scene like elephants from Hannibal's March. Squeaks of wild birds are also channelled from the very powerful lungs of David Jacksons as his fantastic saxophone parts dominate the mix. His deafening elephantine squeals could crack an ear drum but also make your most primal instincts flair up. The rabid squawking of David Jackson's 'double horn' approximate the cacophony you would hear under a jungle canopy. While the depth of the chamber reverb create a feeling as if a faint echo from a prehistoric age when beasts stomped the earth.
But the key is the reverse echo, clipping and sucking the various elements till it distorts, anteing up into swirling cauldron of sounds, panning in and out and endlessly rotating. Soon the maddening layers of drums and brass ramp up as the beat goes fully ballistic; the creatures are now in heat. Now all manner of ghastly sounds blare out from bleats to yelps; some saxes even seem to bear a guttural gargle like sound of cockerels, while others shriek like deranged monkeys going haywire under a molten sun. Reverse echoes add an urgency to proceedings as if things are spinning around and the saxes are sped up to raise their pitch before an abrupt finish; a glass pane smashes.


What follows is a collage of sounds playing out like some sort of nightmarish orgy in the middle of the African bush. A trebly signal pulses from left to right channel like tge reflections of a wiffleboard, and a key chain sound zips just like the sound a tape measure makes when it retracts. This plants an image in my mind of a grasshopper, praying mantis or smaller insects like a beetle scuttering along.

Smaller glass objects smash all around like crystal goblets dropping out of the hands of people suddenly caught off guard. You can almost picture nature launching an attack on some colonial retreat in the middle of a savage terraplane. Next are some sharp zaps that resemble ray gunfire, but ricochet out like that of aimless musket fire from heavily outnumbered imperialists. The saxes pierce simultaneously in horrid screams and booming battle cries as cymbals crash all around us to add to the mayhem and chaos; even a gong can be briefly heard. The whooping alto-sax is the key ingredient it could be any animal with it's curdling and the way the baritone saxes bay like a herd of stampeding Mûmakils marauding the dusky East African dry lands. But it's no good; the snare and saxes return in a barrelling assault as the elephants and creatures of the jungle retake man's outpost.

It ends with those insects scurrying over the debris, as if kicking over some glass shards, at the bottom of the food chain they enjoy little of the remains of the day; they may only feast once the larger mammals' bloodlust have been fully quenched.

Peter Hammill (1974) Gog/Magog (In Bromine Chambers) - LOST70sGEMS

The two-part song starts with some haunting organs and springy bass pluck sliding in on top of it as well as some drums rattling all around it. The creepiness is immediate as Hammill gets his cue wrong and we hear start the line twice, as he reveals 'some have me Satan, others have me..GOG!' The bizarre cadence that follows no accessible melody but instead seems to follow a more theatrical monologue as Hammill's voice rises with the droning church organ, soon some hyperspatial  reverbs animate his voice to demonic proportions as his vocal takes on more resonance. He pushes his voice to a croaky raw as he rails about the 'corridors of power'. His voice increases in electronic processing, cascading in terse static yelps, the dreaded organ sound just keeps searching in the background. By four minutes in I am completely spooked as Hammill sings with a very pronounced phasing and chorusing that echoes back in response, it's chaotic as the bombastic drums add more violence to this earth flattening composition. His strange (there's no other way to put it) vocal mannerisms are so draconian, he belts intentionally with little breath to gain a ragged, strained muster to it, embodying that of a coiled beast, or a werewolf undergoing some sort of transformation. The bass player plucks some nice notes before the track soon transitions with the drums heavily panned back and forth.


We're now thankfully it seems in Magog, the musique concrete half of the composition, but things are only about to get scarier and more ingenious in their ability to unnerve you with just the slightest of everyday objects and production technique. There is a whirring bass signal, the panned drums somehow as if by Magick transform into some more ordinary clutter sounds, still oscillating as does something dissonant like a alien radio or a Metalic organ. An armchair creaks, as do several other objects which glow with an electronic whoosh as they rattle back and forth.
Some timbales rustle like wind chimes, a foghorn briefly toots its horn (I think that's what it is)as more tapping on planks of wood or some sort of surface pan back and forth veering from right to left channel endlessly. 

 It's like a haunted house effect but a spatial audio version and far more terrifying, I propose listening to this in the dark with a pair of decent headphones in the dark should become a true Halloween custom, if you dare! The tapping could either be a ball bouncing down some stairs, or the devil at this point..and I continue to hear some sort of horn you hear on cruise ships but that could just be me. 

Some faint industrial sound effects are in the background, either recordings of a steam train chugging or the heavily treated clanging of a factory floor, who can trust their ears at this point.
There are now all kinds of soundings peeking out from the depths, a strange spring, some sawing sounds, and the rumble and phasing of an echoplex and some of it's feedback as it crackles away like cockroaches on flypaper. I hear a bell toll, probably the clearest sound so far and most recognizable as a brooding bout of bass heavy noise rumbles and Hammill begins to throat yodel like a 12th century monk in the dark caverns of a well as the bell is struck with immediacy and panic like a village being warned of an incoming danger. 

As he warbles a second voice in a very distorted filter chants intelligible incantations; the filter is incredibly crackled, electronically rendered and has that thin tinny, distant tone you would get from a megaphone. A mix of modern and old as the disembodied voice sounds like some evil overlord sending a warning, odd collages of sound continue in the background full of vibrations and white noise, once recorded sounds now some mangled wall of sound transformed from its original audio source as another wooden or steel object is dropped into something hollow to give a rippling 'plop', maybe 'ball in a cup', everyone's favourite pastime!

We get invaded by a litany of cracks like pots and pans being played come across as the static continues to oscillate and undulate into something more smoother, and audio waves rise in the mix to a more mellifluous whole. Soon some reverse echoed gongs, flexatones and pots and pans sear across the mix along with the introduction of a saw at one point, the wobbly signals seem to coalesce and provide a seeming score from all this before abruptly ending and we get more goofy percussion and bird whistles. The pulsing sound never goes away, the soup of sound keeps burrowing away into our ears, it becomes an elephantine bray towards the end as more clear-cut objects beak through. The delay continually adds a computerised tremolo and the frequent cracks of objects make for an audial nightmare bar none.

Quicksilver (1970) Good Old Rock and Roll - LOST70sGEMS

What About Me (1970) features a wonderfully mellow yet tripped out cacophonous jazz jam full of flute and wiry rhythms not to mention a lilting dreamlike quality like a more tripped out Santana; though the loud blasting chorus vocals will soon wake you with a startle as David Freiberg yearns, a funky guitar clanks away, horns punch through vibrantly and ghostly effects 'whoosh' away like an organ. The driving blues stomp of Local Colour reintroduces their traditional love of roots music as does the song Baby Baby which if you took away the funky drumming could've easily fitted on any 60s gospel country record with it's hoe hum drawl. The same could be said for the bluegrass Don't Kill Me aside from the slight satanic howl in David Freiberg's delivery and of course their love of the cathedral drenched reverb effect. Long Haired Lady is a very 60s sounding highlight with it's psych countrified folk balladry style not as in vogue as it was a year before but the echoplex cracks, the slight flanging (or phasing) and muffled production add a muggy submerged atmosphere that ramps up capturing this foggy drug induced melee of thoughts as Freiberg's vocals are echoed by a more aggressive inner voice towards the end. 

Subway is a groovy and very dated Hendrix lite romp, very derivative of Crosstown Traffic by the great Jimi himself; I'd skip it if it weren't for the circular guitar riffs at the root of the song. Nicky Hopkins' Spindrifter is a truly magnificent instrumental, his lead piano melodies surge forth accompanied by acoustic arpeggios and tough shuffle beats but his choice of stallion wedding march chords with a very loose sense of groove and a trickly solo overdubbed on top towards the end is very reminiscent of his work with the Stones. Good Old Rock and Roll is another murky echo chamber reverbed track with an oriental tinged rocker and some hippie lyrics and braying vocals; the distant piano solo with a guitar solo over it does sound incredible on headphones like a hazy dream. All in my Mind is a samba song with some mellifluous vocals and playing and a creaky intro; Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 they may not be but it certainly suits their drugged out productions and their jazz guitar work is often very good. Last track Call on Me is less flavourful with it 60s rock vibe only distinguished by some pretty terse horn parts and far longer than necessary outro. 

Big Star (1978) Femme Fatale - LOST70sGEMS

The third and final Big Star album of the 70s was called Third/Sister Lovers (1978) and has become something of a cult album with resounding reviews from the elitist critics but let's examine further. So here we go; we kick off with the depraved lyrics of Kizza Me with it's haywire guitars and tonking boogie woogie piano keys, swiftly followed by Thank You Friends where Alex Chilton's new Dylan styled detract from an elegant power pop number. Big Black Car carries a reverb washed bleakness in it's Marc Bolan style of lascivious phrasing and down in the doldrums beat, lyrics involving stars, droning acoustics and typically wilting melody; whilst it's use of a car as a tool of escape and safety reminds me lyrically of Gary Numan's Cars that would be released the following year. Jesus Christ is easily a latter day Byrds song with that Tom Petty/ Bruce Springsteen style of saxophone and 'call to the people' aura.

 O Dana carries a groovy chorus and a Rolling Stones' type of songwriting with blues guitar and pounding piano keys boogieing along, while Holocaust scarcely sounds like its from the same record as O Dana. Holocaust starts with a cello brooding away alongside ambient guitar cries, gospel piano playing and plucked double bass. Kanga Roo follows on in unique style with a 12 string guitar clucking away to a volcanic electric guitar surging in and out all over the mix like Robert Fripp's work on David Bowie's Heroes. The guitar is so distorted it feedbacks and clicks and even takes on an otherworldly twang like Jimmy Page's violin bowed guitar work in Led Zeppelin epic, How Many More Times. A mellotron adds another smooth layer of ghostly white noise while a cowbell plumbs away and that decaying lead guitar screeches like a controlled bolt of static; oh and Alex Chilton is fantastic again slowly chipping away at your soul and effortlessly melding with each and every tune.


Stroke it Noel is a blessing in it's simple catchy verse underscored by strings upclose and a simple question; Do You Want to Dance. For You is a personal favourite for Jody Stephens' polished English tinged Baritone that sounds transcendent, You Can't Have Me carries a funky synth bass and a Keith Richards swagger, while Nightime is ethereal mix of flurrying strings, big timpani drums, hyper-spatial guitar reverb, simmering beauty, an Van Gogh lyricism. Blue Moon is not a cover of the famous 50s doo wop standard but a finger-picked ballad in the mood of Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, Take Care is a violin and accordion led folk dance but is quite forgettable at this stage of the album as it follows mostly the same pace and mood as probably about half of the tracks but with less memorable a chord progression. Nature Boy is a very slow piano piece with a Colin Blunstone and the Zombies sound but is too agonising and boring not to mention overwrought and too live as Chilton even sniggers at one point as "Bill's crutch fell against the drum" as we learn from the chatter at the end; hell it's a brilliant insight into the studio! 

Till the End of the Day is a bland retread of the Kinks All Night and All of the Day, Dream Lover feels like a stronger song that it sounds here as a delivered as a slow moody piece, but the backing vocal harmonies in the background are the most honeyed since thier most popular song, Thirteen. It All ends on the bizarre steel drum Nillsson inspired romp as we get that very Harry Nillsson style of bawdy offbeat vaudeville rhythms and megaphone filtered distant vocals. They make many styles on this double album, sadly none of them their own and so it would've never changed their standing in the busy record buying marketplace of 78 as nothing more than a cult band with the singer from the Box Tops; sad but you know its also true!

Femme Fatale is possibly the best written with an astounding vocal melody and hollow female echoes giving this a lot of commercial possibility and stood out immediately on a packed double bill offering.

Big Star (1974) She's a Mover -LOST70sGEMS

 Radio City was Big Star's most complete collection full of pop rock zing and roots rock picking as well as hard rock blues licks to cover mainstream bases; which is odd how they never really made it. O My Soul starts the album off in a quirky rockabilly guitar noodling meets Bingo organ, its an odd one even after Alex Chilton's familiar pop rock zing enters as the off sounding cheap organ a stink up the track while the rockabilly steadily meshes with the more 70s hard rock rhythm section as the song progresses and the band seems to reflect Rush, who wouldn't debut til this same year. Life is White is a more straightforward rock n roll strut with crashing power chords arpeggios and walking bassline and stop start crescendos; the only distinct element is the far off harmonica chamber echo which sounds like a alien sound with some pretty effective filtering. The band were always top notch studio professionals with every inch of the master taken up, here we have a honky tonk piano enter in towards the end to fill out some of the humdrum hard rockin going on as well as being populated with little blues fills and a walking rhtymm section.

Way Out West carries some brighter fluid guitar lines that twinkle, but are in fact a bright guitar and an reverb guitar playing arpeggios and glissando-es. What's Going Ahn does what they do best with a dark subtle folk strum, You get What You Deserve has a British Beat group sound, while Mod Lang references Parliament's I Wanna Testify and seems to have inspired Ace's How Long. Back of the Car and Daisy Glaze are full of atmosphere and dynamics, while the melodic She's a Mover is easily a tribute to the Byrds with Alex channelling Roger McGuinn's Lennon meets Dylan type of vocals. September Gurls was another very talented song with it's drawling laidback beat making me of late 70s New Wave bands from England particularly in the downbeat yet jangling guiatr chords and semi-sighing vocals. Th Last two songs Morpha Too and I'm in Love with a Girl sound like the more intimate almost solo McCartneys songs such as Yesterday, Blackbird and Here, There and Everywhere.

Gerry Rafferty (1978) Right Down The Line - LOST70sGEMS

When it came to examining the void, Gerry Rafferty was possibly the most overlooked of the self destructive singer songwriters, but this true gem was always a shining beacon of his talent. It starts with a intoxicating mingling of an ethereal floaty guitar wailing away in the distance while guitar strikes and Carribean percussion and cowbell tick away in the foreground and a impassive organ fills out the inbetween; it's a stunning 'ocean bed 'mix that provides the backdrop for Rafferty's voice. As the quiet storm rages on , Gerry's lyrics read like a diary entry or a love letter before pausing for another a few bars of that distant guitar whines and meows away like a bluesy hound or a lonesome wolf or rather a howling wolf! The upbeat chorus vocals don't fit so well but who the hell cares when you examine his upfront word which bluntly state the transparency of their relationship. The song ends on some truly fantastic falsetto oohs that should've lasted a full minute rather than appearing right at the brink of the fadeout, but it works with it's slight mockingly ghost spookiness and yet serious delivery. The title along with the vocal is a brutal statement of part resignation and part warning which I find touching that you can interpret this in a number of ways from black humour or romantic, to deathly intense.

Big Star (1972) My Life is Right - LOST70sGEMS

From Big Star's No 1 Record, no that's actually what they called it (#1 Record (1972)),  were a collection of brisk two minute evergreen power pop songs marked by their greatest number, a delicate number called Thirteen. The track is a autumnal nostalgia laden folk tune that references Rolling Stones' Paint It Black; it is simultaneously an ode to the early days of Rock N Roll and a hopeful bid for the future. The finger picked hammer ons pop off against a serene vocal, but the harmonies sweeping in like a rolling tide are the track's key selling point; the group vocals seem to oscillate like a tremolo filter  and match numbers like the Beatles' Here There and Everywhere and the Dave Clark Five's Because for most heavenly harmonies by beat group. The song will just rock your world in it's open hearted romanticism and desperate plea for love and peace; this isn't lush or mellow but raw sensitivity and sincerity delivered with great poise by lead singer Alex Chilton. 

It's truly a fantastic album, the opening number sounds like Rush two years before that group would come along with it's outer space gigantic arena rock sound, though the Beatles' esque-isms (???) are never far away. The Ballad of El Goodo rivals the Eagles with it's bright effervescent electro-acoustic ringin out in a small echo chamber at the start before breaking it to full on rock band awesomeness; all vocals and guitars are in clear cut quality. Their balance of studio polish and solid pop rock perfectionism would've steered them well in the late 70s 'Corporate Rock' era, sadly they lost some of that steam and were outshone by bands like Boston and Foreigner. In the Street was the theme tune to That 70s Show but it was performed by Cheap Trick for the show, here it appears in it's cleaner melodious Beatlesque sound to lesser effect. The soaring lead guitar tones that animate Don't Lie to Me were nothing new, while the India Song is a strange one; a mix of pastoral flute, tambourine and a whole lotta of emptyheaded Hippy rhetoric about going there simply to fix the problems at home. 

When My Baby's Beside Me is pure candy sugar shot power pop but with some Hard Day's Night chords and vibes and some truly spectacular lead guitar lines. My Life is Right is one of the best with a country folk rocker style with angelic lead vocals sung crisp and high and explosive drum rolls; its a proper addictive harmonious central melody. Give Me Another Chance pretty much rips off the tune before it, it has the same melody of My Life is Right and a pretty similar message like their two halves of the same song, where did the first song end and the second one begin. Try Again reminds me of Stealers Wheel with the Gerry Rafferty styled vibrato and the country bottleneck steel guitar playing, Watch the Sunrise is a dancing around the Maypole pop rocker with Rustic country music performed in a cold studio vacuum of perfection; interesting dichotomy. St 110/6, a 50 second tune ends this Beatles influenced album with another Beatles influenced number though a bit pointless considering writing this sentence took longer than listening to the track. Bonus In the Street now appears in a more rockier single version but still lacks the bite and punch of Cheap Thrills which spelled the 70s out more