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SEPTEMBER 11, 1977 – At Elstree Studios near London, David Bowie recorded a guest appearance on “Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas” TV special, duetting with Crosby on “Peace On Earth – Little Drummer Boy.” The pair exchanged scripted dialogue about what they each do for their family Christmases, before singing “Little Drummer Boy” with a new counterpoint with original lyrics written for the special, “Peace on Earth.”
According to co-writer Ian Fraser, Bowie balked at singing “Little Drummer Boy”:
“I hate this song. Is there something else I could sing?” Fraser recalled Bowie telling him. Fraser, along with songwriter Larry Grossman and the special’s scriptwriter Buz Kohan, then wrote “Peace on Earth” as a counterpoint to “Little Drummer Boy.” Crosby performed “Little Drummer Boy,” while Bowie sang the new tune “Peace on Earth,” which they reportedly performed after less than an hour of rehearsal.
A few days after the taping, Crosby said of Bowie, “clean-cut kid and a real fine asset to the show. He sings well, has a great voice and reads lines well.”
"Clean cut kid".....I guess to Bing Crosby...he seemed to be...but...
The kid was already 30 and had been recording for over a decade....
and in 1977 Bowie had just kicked his big mid 70s cocaine addiction....
then living (and recording) in Berlin ...his classic "Heroes" single hit in the charts
that fall...
Bing Crosby died golfing in Spain only a month later on October 14, 1977...
the Cristmas Special taped with Bowie was aired about a month after Crosby's death.
Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here" was released on September 12th 1975
A much anticipated release at the time...two and a half years after their breakthrough album,
"Dark Side of the Moon", the album received mixed reviews at the time, now considered to be one of the best rock albums of all time. It went to number 1 in the US and UK...
eventually selling over 20 million worldwide.
The main album theme is about the sometimes dehumanizing music business,
hence the album cover depicting two businessmen shaking hands and one getting "burned"....song lyrics reflecting that theme .."Have a Cigar" and "Welcome to the Machine".
Stand out songs for for me are .....
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" ....about former band member Syd Barrett...
love that spooky guitar riff, guitar solo,
and sax solo too.
"Wish You Were Here"....great heartfelt lyrics, like the guitar also.
"Welcome to the Machine"....another eerie sounding song...great analog synth sounds....
the strings have that distinctive ARP sound.....ARP had the best synth string sound back in the mid 70s to the early 80s,
Pink Floyd used an ARP Solina on the album.
David Gilmour got married on while recording the album and held his wedding reception at Abbey Road Studios ....also on June 5th 1975, a strange looking bald fat man showed up andinitially no one in the group knew who he was....it turned out to be Syd Barrett....apparently Roger Waterscried when he saw Syd looking the way he did and being incoherent ....it was the first time anyone in theband had seen Barrett since they assisted him in recording his two solo albums (in 1969/70).
Black Sabbath released their 4th album....entitled "Vol. 4"....
Released 50 years ago today on September 25th 1972
Let that sink in .....50 years ago....can it really be 50 years ago?
I have a first pressing on vinyl ....old olive green Warner Brothers label.
It has a gatefold sleeve with all the glorious big photos...thise photos were delted by the late 70s.
It wasa real departure for the Sabs....they recorded it in Los Angeles.... not in London....
and they produced it themselves (mostly Tony Iommi).
Also the sounds ..more varied guitar sounds...heavily EQ'd at the board by Iommi.
They rented a mansion for the duration of the recording sessions....
tons of cocaine....the album was to be called "Snowblind" but Warners rejected the idea.
Lots of hijinks ensued...including the infamous Ozzy soray painting a passed out Bill Ward with gold spray paint....nearly killed him!
Bill Ward was worried he'd be fired as he having trouble getting the right drum groove for one song ....IIRC ...I think it was Cornucopia....
My fave Black Sabbath album....I like all the songs...
Wheels of Confusion ...love it ...that riff with syncopated drumming....Geezers best lyrics....
Tomorrow's Dreams .....fantastic ....only problem is it's too short ...
Laguna Sunrise....nice and mellow ....breaks up the heaviness
Changes....a rear slow ballad well sung by Ozzy
Rolling Stone magazine did a very funny review of the album ...at the time serious rock magazines
liked to poke fun at Black Sabbath while heaping on praise for albums from Led Zeppelin.
On this day in 1969, the Beatles released their album Abbey Road in the United Kingdom, and it featured instantly iconic cover art: no words, just the Fab Four walking across the zebra crosswalk on the namesake thoroughfare, as captured by photographer Iain Macmillan. The album includes such classic singles as “Come Together,” “Because,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and two of George Harrison’s finest tracks, “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Nevertheless, critics at the time were surprisingly unmoved. Albert Goldman wrote in Life that it was “not one of the Beatles’ great albums,” while Nik Cohn of The New York Times wrote, “Individually, the numbers are nothing special. … There was a time when the Beatles’ lyrics were one of their greatest attractions. Not anymore. On Abbey Road, you get only marshmallow.” Over the years, opinion has shifted dramatically. The record eventually went 12-times platinum, and Rolling Stone included Abbey Road at number 5 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, writing, “Lennon, McCartney and Harrison reputedly sang more three-part harmonies here than on any other Beatles album. That warm feeling — a sense of an increasingly divided band warmly coming together as friends — may be one reason Abbey Road has become the most beloved Beatles album of all time.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
On this day in 1969, the Beatles released their album Abbey Road in the United Kingdom, and it featured instantly iconic cover art: no words, just the Fab Four walking across the zebra crosswalk on the namesake thoroughfare, as captured by photographer Iain Macmillan. The album includes such classic singles as “Come Together,” “Because,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and two of George Harrison’s finest tracks, “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Nevertheless, critics at the time were surprisingly unmoved. Albert Goldman wrote in Life that it was “not one of the Beatles’ great albums,” while Nik Cohn of The New York Times wrote, “Individually, the numbers are nothing special. … There was a time when the Beatles’ lyrics were one of their greatest attractions. Not anymore. On Abbey Road, you get only marshmallow.” Over the years, opinion has shifted dramatically. The record eventually went 12-times platinum, and Rolling Stone included Abbey Road at number 5 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, writing, “Lennon, McCartney and Harrison reputedly sang more three-part harmonies here than on any other Beatles album. That warm feeling — a sense of an increasingly divided band warmly coming together as friends — may be one reason Abbey Road has become the most beloved Beatles album of all time.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
Great post!
The Beatles are the best imo and Abbey Road is considered to be their best album...
though some prefer Revolver and there are a few Sgt. Pepper lovers out there too...
The Beatles weren't sure what to call the album....prime contender for the album title
was "Everest" ....which I think was a UK cigarette brand or something like that...
also could it mean they have reached their peak...as in Mount Everest...
on the morning of August 8th 1969...the Beatles were photographed at the crosswalk
near the EMI studio on Abbey Road....that then became the album title and not only that...
the EMI London studios became better known as the "Abbey Road Studios" due to the album!
The Fab Four decided to really pull together as a band after Let It Be / Get Back...
put aside all their differences....watching Peter Jackson's 7 plus hour "Get Back" documentary I had never realized that they jammed on most of the songs that would be on Abbey Road...and some Abbey Road songs were written during "The White Album" too....the oldest songs on Abbey Road are Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam, both written by John back in India, early spring '68....unlike Paul, John wasn't writing very much music...interestingly, the first song they worked on for Abbey Road was John's "I want You (She's So Heavy) in late february 1969 at Trident Studios....it was also one of the last to be completed....during the summer George Harrison layered on "wind" sounds created on his Moog synthesizer ...the Moog was also featured on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Here Comes the Sun" ....
Most of side two was put together as a medley....with lush 3 part harmonies...sometimes triple tracked...the Beatles never sounded better with new state of the art recording equipment fully installed, including new solid state boards ....Abbey Road sounds great and snd set the standard for the 70s sound....George Martin now getting help from a young Alan Parsons
...Parsons would go on to engineer and produce other great albums, including Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon" ...which was also recorded at Abbey Road...
Second from final track ..."The End" ...is interesting....it really was the "end" ...final track recorded with all 4 Beatles (I Me Mine was recorded on January 3rd 1970 but with only 3 Beatles...John Lennon absent ...still in Alborg, Denmark at the time).
They decided that each Beatle would trade off guitar solos...I think it is George, then Paul, then John...and they also persuaded Ringo to do a drum solo....Ringo hated drum solos but his mini drum solo is perfect....the final song is a short 23 second ditty from McCartney...Her Majesty...made more poignant, with the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth.
For me the "flying under the radar gem" on the album is "You Never Give Me Your Money"..
in less than 4 minutes...Paul gives us about 6 songs within a song....something he would do in his solo career in songs like "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and "Band on the Run"
I love playing guitar to this song ...it goes all over the place...different keys...tempos...
ending with that "1,2,3,4,5,6,7 all good children go to heaven" section disolving into insect and frogs in a swamp noises ....crazy stuff but very effective....don't hear that kind of creativity anymore....in the late 60s and early 70s you did....a wonderful time for music.
The Who release their 7th studio album......"The Who By Numbers"
Released on October 3rd 1975 in the UK on Polydor Records.
IMO the last really good Who album.....I borrowed the final album with Keith Moon, "Who Are You" album from a friend to check it out,
but was very disappointed ...I only liked one song ..."Who Are You"....the only song that sounded like The Who....rest of the songs not good at all.
I remember seeing the album cover for "By Numbers" when it came out and thinking it was a very poor....I later found out that Who bassist John Entwistle drew the connect the dots album cover....I now think it's ok....the album title makes sense....connect the dots....by numbers....
The Who brought in Glyn Johns to produce ....he had previously worked on their "Who's Next" album.
Pete Townshend turned 30 on May 19th 1975 and being 30 precoccupied him at the time the album was being recorded ....even mentioned in the lyrics in the song "How Many Friends"...."when your still 30 in the morning".
As crazy as it might seem today ...turning 30 was a big thing in the 70s....the mantra for young people in the 1960s was "don't trust anyone over 30" .....Townshend wondered about the future of The Who....and himself...still expected to do his leaps and jumps on stage like a teenager at 30....
The songs are somber and reflective ....some say that "By Numbers" is almost like a Pete Townshend solo album, John Entwistle contributed one great song "Success Story" that fit in very well with the over all theme of the album. A promo film/video for the song was later made at Entwistle's estate ...featuring John shooting gold records and inside his manor house with his huge collection of basses and guitars.
The song "Squeeze Box" was selected as the single ....my least favorite song on the album...not much more than a novelty song ....with ho-hum stock three chord progression...Townshend could write that in his sleep,
and probably did...
Daltrey really liked the songs (he has stated it is his fave Who album) and he really stepped up to the plate and sang the songs with passion....especially the song "Imagine a Man"....I think Daltrey thought Pete wrote it for him....a really solid heartfelt song with great vocals.
Blue Red and Grey ....really sounds like a Pete Townshend solo demo ...very sparse ....just a ukelele...
Slip Kid is a strong song I like more and more as I get older...but my 2 fave songs on the album are "How Many Friends" and "In a Hand or a Face" .....about who are your real friends anyway...about disillusionment with the music business , life in general, and about getting older and worrying about the future....
The album did well on the charts ...# 7 in UK ....#8 in USA ....but the classic rock era was coming to a close....
the last half of the 70s weren't that good for The Who....Led Zeppelin....Black Sabbath....Deep Purple ...and many other big groups of the classic rock era. Disco was coming on strong ...also Punk Rock ....
Led Zeppelin released their third album...."Led Zeppelin III"
Released on October 5th 1970.....0n Atlantic Records
I used to have it on vinyl on the old "red" Atlantic label....it was all scratched up ...threw it away...
Release date was delayed a bit by the intricate "volvelle"....a cardboard circle you moved to reveal different pictures....the delay was minor compared to Houses of the Holy ...which was delayed almost a year due to it's controversial cover.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant hung out at a cottage in north Wales...Bron-Yr-Aur ....to compose the songs (and songs that would end up subsequent albums).
The album was mostly recorded at Headley Grange ....a farmhouse in Hampshire....the band could play at full volume without neighbors complaining.
The album showcased their acoustic side and starting in 1970 ...the group would do an acoustic set on some of their tours.
Jimmy Page also used non standard tuning on some of the songs ....like "Friends"...in C6 tuning...
Since I've Been Loving You ....a Led Zep classic ....blues in C minor ...fantastic soloing by Page.
Gallows Pole....a reworking of an old traditional folk song...
Tangerine....an old one that Page wrote back in his Yardbirds days....I really like it but everytime I hear the guitar solo ....I hear one sour note ...not sure if it's my ears playing tricks on me ...or maybe Page deliberately played one note off key?
That's the Way....what a song....one of my faves from Zeppelin....love the chords ...the lyrics...
Immigrant Song....was released as a single! .....I think after that, Page and Co said ...no more singles!
It is an amazing song ....spine tingling vocals by Plant....Page does that "special" chord that I love....
The song was inspired by a gig they played in Iceland in June 1970....their is a short clip of that gig on their DVD.
The other songs on the album are just ok for me ...I like the riff in "Out on the Tiles"...I have a bootleg of Led Zeppelin playing the LA Forum in 1971 where Plant says "We shall call this "Black Dog"...then they go into
the Out on the Tiles riff before playing Black Dog (with some different lyrics!)...that same gig they introduce
"Stairway to Heaven" to silence....no one had heard it before...their 4th album hadn't been released yet.
Oddly ...a "good" song was left off the album...."Hey, Hey, What Can I Do"...it was the B Side on the Immigrant Song single....I taped it off the radio back in the 70s ...happy to have that (then) "rare" song.
The Guess Who released their album....."Share the Land"
Released on October 5th 1970....same day as Led Zeppelin III was released....
The Guess Who's first album after the departure of Randy Bachman.
Randy Bachman was replaced by Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw....
...yeah ...it took 2 musicians to replace the great Randy Bachman!
If people were concerned about the Guess Who without Bachman ...they didn't need to worry...
"Share the Land" ended up being the best selling Guess Who studio album....in fact Share the Land
songs make up half of The Guess Who's Greatest Hits Album, released in 1971....
I used to have Share the Land on vinyl but gave it to a friend because all the "good"songs are on the greatest hits album.
Those classic "good" songs are.....
The title track "Share the Land".....love that song .....has a strong chorus....
Hand Me Down World....another classic...
Hang On to Your Life
Bus Rider ....like the little riffs on this one...
Do You Miss Me Darlin'
The album was recorded at RCA Studios in Chicago ....where The Guess recorded almost all their classic hits ...going back to the Wheatfield Soul album of late 68.
Elton John released his 7th album...."Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
The double album was released on October 5th 1973.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is Elton's Sgt. Pepper...or Abbey Road....
or since it's a double album ...his White Album....anyway...it's his best album.
The album was recorded in France at the same recording studio as his previous two albums...
Elton John intended to record the album in Jamaica ....he had heard that Cat Stevens and the Rolling Stones had just recorded albums in Jamaica and wanted to join that club....
He and his songwriting partner Taupin Bernie Taupin flew there and did started recording
but in the end went back to the studio in France they were used to recording at.
The stand out tracks are....
Funeral For a Friend
Love Lies Bleeding
Candle in the Wind
Benny and the Jets
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Goidbye Yellow Brick Road
Grey Seal
I've Seen That Movie Too
The Ballad of Danny Bailey
All the Girls Love Alice
More good songs than on your average Elton John album....
Elton John was on a roll ...starting with "Your Song" in 1970...
"Levon" and "Tiny Dancer" in 1971
"Rocket Man" in 1972 ....that song put him over the top into superstar status...
Elton John's popularity peaked in 1975...he was featured on the cover of "Time Magazine"
and could sell out any stadium....and the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album helped him reach that peak.
Last edited by GTB365; 10-05-2022 at 10:53 AM..
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