Bringing obscure songs from the 1970s such as deep album cuts, underrated cover songs and forgotten singles back on this blog. The 70s was a great time for music, possibly the best and the most diverse; that some gems that need to be rediscovered
Nestled between the old swing-around-the-maypole folk of Dancing Shoes with it's delicately plucked mandolin plus finger maracas and the deadening waltz of Loose Ends' bluesy hard rock dirge is a return to the simple country rock genre with the five minute track, Lessons Learned.
If each song on the towering Nether lands album plays our like a dance then Lessons Learned is a safe, laidback number full of floral electric piano textures and rootsy acoustic timings.
Mixing a country ballad with an upbeat romantic vibe as Dan warns of the dangers of repeating mistakes and burning bridges. The jazzy verses give way to great lines sung with a pressing urgency grabbing your attention such as; 'well aware of the consequences, should the dream fall through' or 'wanting to try something new. These insights and the whole song actually act as a warning.
The songs' soft rose tinted feel reminds me of a ranch romance, though the lyrics are intelligent rather than the schmaltz or increasing reliance on the word 'love' as would occur later on in his work; 'is the knowledge gained worth the price of the pain; are the spoils worth the cost of the hunt?!'.
A delightfully restrained change of pace from the grand orchestral arrangements, frenetic folk rock and glistening pop rock of the astonishing musical statement that is the Nether Lands..
In honour of this being the 40th anniversary of his magnus opus the Nether lands album and the fact I'm currently in the Netherlands and have been discovering this album this year it's fitting to tackle the title track. While some may see it along with False Faces for its bloated string section it creates unique atmosphere
There are trumpets, horns and war drums alongside the strings for a majestic quality with a strong regal or medieval connotation. This gives the album it's own audio stamp separate from his other releases.
Divorced from any yacht rock, folk or soul parameters the song starts with an ornate arrangement of pleasant springtime flute and strings easing us in with a little piano line.
The lyrics are simple but powerful as all Dan yearns for are the simple things like 'a lover' and 'some friends' but at the same time craves to 'do something I never have done'. It climaxes in a realisation that there are two paths your can go by in the long run, one risky and one safe, and the risky route is always the hardest but most rewarding too.
The key musical cue is the crashing drums that occur among a flurry of strings followed by the scurrying slash of violas; an immaculate if indulgent stroke of Disney-esque beauty and grandeur. After this album he could go no further his peak had been reached 'out in the Nether lands'
This is the opening track off Philly soul group Blue Magic's third album, 13 Blue Magic Lane; a more dance and RnB oriented collection full of punchy dated synthesizers, heavy funk horns and sound effects like a train whistle and a witches' cackle.
While the songs aren't as solid as their sophomore album, The Magic of the Blue or their 1974 debut the highlight tracks tend to be the early disco sounds of We're on the Right Track and The Magic of the Blue (not sure if this was left off its namesake album). These heavy synthesizer and horn dance floor fillers full of ethereal vocals may have helped with the burgeoning disco crowd but ultimately wouldn't fit with the group or audiences. That same old problem too soul for disco and too disco for soul.
They are a ballad group and although the slow, bossa nova/ upbeat funk rock of Stop And Get Ahold Yourself is well executed, their velvet harmonies didn't gel with heavy funk arrangements as well as they did on the lush, Philadelphia International produced instrumentals.
The Loneliest House on the Block is the best with its sparkling array of ringing electric sitars and keyboards as well as rasping horns, coruscating strings and glittering vibes. They all strike twice like a doorbell motif running through the song musically telling the story of a lonely man waiting for a lover to return and ring the bell to come in.
The hook of describing the house where the windows remain closed and the doors locked is a nice simple visual idea. The address of the house is the album title, 13 Blue Magic Lane; its an expressionistic touch if a little corny, that the street would be named after the group. While the fact it's No 13 displays the group's long running theme of being cursed in love that is the subject of their biggest hits Sideshow and Three Ring Circus as well as this album (check out other album highlight Born on Halloween).
The light Italian stringed Pizzicato is a beautiful and unique addition capturing the heartache exquisitely. While the weepy bridge is enlivened by Ted Mills' soaring falsetto, the tearful couplet is tight and sums up the desperation perfectly as follows;
I'll watch the street from end to end Waiting for the day to let you into
The song fades out in a wistful coda as the address is sung out against a dreamy backdrop of plucked strings, endless glissandos, Pizzicato strums and more Philly flourishes.
It's the first of many cool sonic uses of outros/ intros, a more prog or pysch rock thing to do. One example is when a short choral rendition of 'The Magic of the Blue, Captivating You', the refrain of the prior song starts off the next track, I Like You. While you can hear ghostly female vocalists and more effects like wolf cries throughout this three dimensional package; its a colourful, Pink Floyd esque effort and a heavily underrated philly styled disco album.
Power pop band Big Star' live hard rock rendition of the Flying Burrito Brother's Hot Burrito No 2 displays the tight but loose group as well as their rock chops. The soulful version displays the solid drummer and on point bassist interplay and keeps things fun.
From their 1973 reunion album, the original quintet, sought of a folk rock Rolling Stones, could never relive their special place in history in 1965, with swoopy hair, roots based music dressed on contemporary pop, shimmering harmonies and jangly guitars. They cut an impressive look with their strong Dylan lyrics backed by a mixture of commercial and edgy sounds wrapped in a teeny bopper image, what they failed to do is be as consistent as the Eagles or Buffalo Springfield in terms of albums. Here its ever present that some were better song writers and others better interpreters, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman being slightly better at song writing while McGuinn and Crosby better at the singing and recording side of things. Here in a very simple tune Clark shows off his knack for summing up sentiments in neat melodies and tight choruses, and not only possessing underrated restrained folky-soul singing. This is a perfect mix of Byrdsian pop, country rock and his confessional solo material, Hillamn has some great tunes on the reunion album too, shame they could never do another full reunion tour in the 80s, by the 90s its best member had passed on and the rift between McGuinn and Crosby has never healed nor could either be tied down to a band ever again. Shame, really
From his disco pop album Partners in Crime came the marvellous Escape (Pina Colada Song), a great calling card tune and the last no 1 of the 1970s.
All the songs have soft FM Pop sound full of lush keyboards, disco beats and a whole lot of crooning though it lacks the energy, animation and clever structure of his hit. There is a lot of dialogue and Moog keyboards to make the rest of this soft rock stand out in a genre known for very louche and bland material. So it's refreshing the sound effects and keyboard pomp of songs like Answering Machine, Drop It or Him which add almost spoken scenarios to thick guitar, synths, answering machines, telephones etc.; but this romantic pop still doesn't live up to the hard hitting sonic quality of the Pina Colada Song, such as the abrupt stop-start rhythm, the rousing chorus and the spectacular guitar solo with it's sweet over driven tone that was recently looped for an exquisite Virgin Media advert of a mammoth breaching through a sparkly azure ocean.
I think is Get Outta Yourself is melodically the best particularly the horns singing the extraordinary title, a cool complex moment. Lunch Hour is a calypso influenced pop track with a comedic bent, but the best outside of Escape is Answering Machine as it's the closest to that song's snapshot narrative sense. Starting with some very Digitised sounding dial tone mixing with a Caribbean beat, funky scratch guitars. There is even Gino Vannelli styled ARP synths punching in on the lead up to the chorus just before the we hear the tone; Homes then launches into his 30 second declaration of love before the tone cuts him off back into the verses.
Its a great and interesting idea in the Yacht Rock genre, the keypad sound thatinfiltrates the funky rhythms is great as is the inclusion of the standard answering machine message into the body of the song. The cruel twist as he sings theAnswering machine message, his voice coming out from the crackly filter of a receiver or taped message is nice and the song doesn't outstay its welcome either at 3:29minutes. It just misses the cool stop-start beat of the album's hit single..shame.
This ballad is the closer to a phenomenal album and by far my favourite Stones album 1971's Sticky Fingers. It's a beguiling track and mixes oriental, Indian and Middle Eastern scales. Like a lot of the album it follows a Zeppelin level of heaviness, who were dominating the America at the time outselling the Stones incidentally.
It starts with a lilting double stop acoustic guitar motif that is doubled by Mick Jagger vocally before the upper register piano begins chiming like a gong creating a Japanese backdrop. The ninth chord slide is a blues staple that mixes particularly well with pitched asian textures; on a sidenote BB King wailing along with an eastern backing would have been interesting to hear. A timpani drum roll ushers us into the narrative, the image of a cool wintry night with a 'head full of snow' is painted through the sparse instrumentation and one of Jaggers' most restrained performances; think a darker, more Asian version You Can't Always Get What You Want. The song picks up with the "sound of strangers sending nothing to my soul" as a string orchestra dirge heavily in a raga style along meaty hard rock guitar we learn it's "it's just another mad, mad day on the road". A mix of country blues slide guitar and tinkling psychedelic touches create a frosty, off kilter-ed tale of the road. The best line is when Jagger sings " I am sleeping under strange strange skies", a sincere moment against an epic backdrop of sweeping strings and droning horns .
The song becomes less placid and erupts into a bridge where a hard rock guitar figure strikes back and forth and is joined by the intensifying orchestra. It was this short guitar attack, striking in Asian flavoured high pitched bursts, that was written by Keith Richards as the 'Japanese Thing' snippet. But it was Mick Taylor and Mick Jagger who developed it into this composition by fleshing it out for the opening verses making it slower, melodious, and playing it acoustically; it actually sounds more Indian.
Richards' small contribution became the launching pad for the whole song. It is at heart a Jagger/Taylor tune like many from this period where Richards was taking a backseat; it was this new songwriting partnership that added the touching delicate verses and stirring hard rock hooks to the song while Richards' little jagged, swaggering guitar snippet that mimicked the sweet lilting tone of Japanese music was the catalyst for the songs rockier second half.
Mick Taylors playing is the final part of this criminally underrated gem, his taste for pentatonic blues would create juicy fretwork that would sound like fireworks; ecstatic and dexterous. Taylors' Latin and eastern based legatos were based on Jazz and would progress from one lick to another, improving or extemporising into new directions from the songs basis. It's a style that made him a showman almost working the song up into a frenzy like the rave ups of the Yardbirds. Here his sweet melodic touch creates a 'cool down' with the piano, the easing strings and even some flute producing a mystical outro reminiscent of the pastoral, folk music of the Andes.
It all finishes quietly back how it started; an acoustic hammer on piece complete with descending Japanese piano notes and even bearing a strong Rage melody in Jaggers' falsetto warbling. This eastern tinged epic bears the strings based drama of Friends off Led Zeppelin III, but a very Stonesish flavour of southern fried blues and successfully embellishing with Indian, Japanese and even Andian textures wonderful!
