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Rush released the album "Permanent Waves" ....January 14th 1980 on Anthem Records
This album marked an important turning point for the band. It set the template for their 80s sound. The album title is interesting...perhaps a play on "new wave", which
was a term heavily used at the time to describe some if the newer misic sounds
coming out in the late 70s ...the cover artwork featuring a real photo of Galveston, TX
damage after a hurricane (a really big wave) with model super-imposed over it.
The album was produced by Terry Brown (who was producer on most of their 70s-early 80s albums).
It was recorded at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec in the Laurentians, north of Montreal
in september-october 1979.
They decided to record more "radio friendly" shorter, much more concise songs.
Geddy Lee even toned down his vocals into a lower, less screechy range.
The decision paid off ...with more radio air play and their highest album chart positions yet...
the album topped off at #3 in Canada ....and a very impressive #4 in the US.
The best song on the album is "Spirit of Radio" ....I remember being very amazed hearing it for the first time....great vocals by Geddy ....Alex Lifeson really stepped up to the plate...very modern guitar tones, that iconic pull offs mini riff...tricky to play smoothly...and using what sounds like a chorus pedal but more likely a flanger on a chorus-like setting...I hear some "shift" (just like Andy Summers was using for his guitar sound in The Police) a very bright clean tone ...off the wall lead solo......Neal Peart great as always....not over drumming, but helping to propel the song to greater heights.
The song itself has interesting lyrics and even an unexpected "reggae" section!
This song sounded different and very "new" in early 1980...like ...ok, we're in the 80s now.
The other two strong tracks on the album, for me, are "Freewill" and "Jacob's Ladder"....both pointing the band in a new direction that would be explored even further on their next album...."Moving Pictures" in 1981...regarded by many Rush fans as their best album.
Rush were on a roll in the early 1980s!
Rush released the album "Permanent Waves" ....January 14th 1980 on Anthem Records
The best song on the album is "Spirit of Radio" ....I remember being very amazed hearing it for the first time....great vocals by Geddy ....Alex Lifeson really stepped up to the plate...very modern guitar tones, that iconic pull offs mini riff...tricky to play smoothly...and using what sounds like a chorus pedal but more likely a flanger on a chorus-like setting...I hear some "shift" (just like Andy Summers was using for his guitar sound in The Police) a very bright clean tone ...off the wall lead solo......Neal Peart great as always....not over drumming, but helping to propel the song to greater heights.
The song itself has interesting lyrics and even an unexpected "reggae" section!
This song sounded different and very "new" in early 1980...like ...ok, we're in the 80s now.
The other two strong tracks on the album, for me, are "Freewill" and "Jacob's Ladder"....both pointing the band in a new direction that would be explored even further on their next album...."Moving Pictures" in 1981...regarded by many Rush fans as their best album.
Rush were on a roll in the early 1980s!
I preferred "Natural Science"... I even quoted a line from it (Neil Peart was a true poet) in a college class, Society and Technology, a couple years later. It may have been one of the last long-play songs after the 70s (so the DJs could got out back and smoke or make a Jack In The Box Run).
The Byrds released the album "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" on Columbia Records.
Released on January 15th 1968.
Produced by Gary Usher.
I have the album on vinyl....I bought it because I loved the song "Wasn't Born to Follow",
after hearing it in the movie "Easy Rider".
The album cover is interesting ...it has Chris Hillman...Roger McGuinn....Michael Clarke ....and a horse, each looking out of a window....rumor has it that the horse was meant to represent David Crosby....
David Crosby was fired during the recording of the album in around early October 1967...he was then replaced by Gene Clark, who rejoined the Byrds after leaving them in early 1966.
Gene Clark only lasted about 3 weeks as his fear of flying kicked in again and refused to fly while they were on tour ....interestingly, in that 3 weeks Gene Clark was in the band that fall, they mimed to "Goin' Back" and "Hey, Mr Spaceman", on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour....it's on youtube.
Drummer Michael Clarke was also fired ....but only after the album was completed (that's why he still got to be on the album cover) .....the group was in a real mess but turned out one of their best albums.
It features to Gerry Goffin-Carole King songs..."Wasn't Born to Follow" and "Goin' Back"....
both really good songs, though David Crosby didn't like them and refused to play or sing on "Goin' Back".
The Byrds had released a single in the summer of 1967 "Lady Friend" written by David Crosby...it bombed...the B side "Old John Robertson" ended up on the album, but not the A side.
The Byrds did record another David Crosby song, "Draft Morning" but would not allow Crosby's "Triad" song to be included on the album...that was the last nail in the coffin....Crosby offered the song to Jefferson Airplane ...they recorded it for their "Crown of Creation" album in 1968.
Roger McGuinn has mentioned that he used the Beatles "Revolver" as inspiration ...and like "Revolver", it features many different styles of music and lots of experimentation with different sounds ...
and they had the right producer...Gary Usher...he was heavily into that with his own group, "Sagittarius".
...lots of flanging...on everything ....the drums ...pedal steel guitar....even the vocals ...and they also had a moog synthesizer ....played by McGuinn and Paul Beaver (who also played moog synthesizer for The Monkees in the fall of 1967 and a year later with George Harrison, helping George record his "Electronic Sounds" album ....which I also have but have never really listened to whole thing...it's on Zapple Records)....
Other songs I really like are "Artificial Energy" ....and another really strong track is "Get To You"....also "Dolphins Smile" ....which has real dolphin noises....
By the time the album was released The Byrds were down to only 2 ....McGuinn and Hillman....However, Hillman soon after became friends with Gram Parsons and invited him to join the band ....Parsons influenced The Byrds towards a country rock sound in his short 6 months time with the band, recording a very influential album..."Sweetheart of the Rodeo".
Simon and Garfunkel released the amazing album..."Sounds of Silence"
Released on January 17th 1966 on Columbia Records.
The second S & G album after their debut "Wednesday Morning 3am" album of 1964.
Their debut album did not do well on the charts....it was a pure folk album of mostly covers,released in the fall of 1964 when folk music boom was fading and The Beatles and english popgroups were all the rage. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel went their seperate ways...
Art Garfunkel went back to College to pursue a post-graduate degree ...Paul Simon moved to England,
then a strange thing happened.....LA band "The Byrds" had a number 1 hit covering a Bob Dylan folk song "Mr Tambourine Man" with a rock beat and people were calling it folk rock and it was instantly the in thing...another LA band "The Turtles" also had a big hit covering another Bob Dylan song,
"It Ain't Me Babe" ....another instant folk rock classic ....Columbia producer Tom Wilson got an idea to add electric guitar, bass and drums to a song off their "Wednesday Morning 3 am" album....
the song he chose was "The Sounds of Silence"...he did this without S & G's knowledge....and it became a big hit single....all of a sudden there was a big demand for more material...an album...
Paul Simon flew back from England....Art Garfunkel dropped his studies....and they recorded a new album in late 1965...
Every track on the album "Sounds of Silence" is good ...and I can rarely say that about an album..even the weakest song is not bad.
The Sounds of Silence....a very good song ...a classic that everyone has heard a million times...
Leaves That Are Green....good song but second weakest on the album
Blessed ....last song recorded for the album...
Kathy's Song ....love this one ...great vocals by Art Garfunkel...what a voice
Somewhere They Can't Find Me
Anji...a cover instrumental that Paul Simon jammed on while in England
Richard Cory.....love this one ...tells an interesting story
A Most Peculiar Man.....very good ...like the vocals
April Come She Will....one the best sings on the album
We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin' On...weakest song on the album...was the B side to their hit single
Joni Mitchell released her best known album...."Court and Spark"
It was released on January 17th 1974 ...produced by Joni Mitchell
Featuring the "LA Express" jazz horns ensemble ....and many top session musicians...
and also Jose Feliciano played electric guitar on "Help Me".
The album was a big turning point for Joni Mitchell....her previous ablum, "For the Roses", sold poorly and she decided to change this up and really go head first into more jazzy music.
The three stand out songs for me are the three best known songs ...each one classics
"Help Me"....can't say enough about how good this song is ....
the lyrics ...the way it's sung....the instrumentation ....all are just wow!
And it was a big hit single for Joni.....
"Free Man in Paris"....almost as good as "Help Me"... apparently the "Free Man in Paris" Joni wrote the song about is David Geffen ......who later started his own record company 'Geffen Records"..
which, for awhile, became a big label...signing John Lennon....and Neil Young.
Again the music is amazingly jazzy but still simple enough to draw you in ...those chord changes ...great...
"Raised on Robbery" .....always liked this one ....has an interesting rhythm/cadence to it...
Another great album was released on January 17th.....
Iron Butterfly released their album "Ball" on January 17th 1969 ...in the middle of tour with Led Zeppelin as their opening act!
Iron Butterfly were really big in 1968...they released 2 albums that year...and had a huge hit with a 17 minute song..."In-a Gadda-Da-Vida"..I always forget how to spell it correctly....as it is a mispelling of "In the Garden of Eden"....a classic early "heavy" song...featuring a really cool long drum solo...great fuzz tone riff by 18 year old Erik Brann...and who can forget that farfisa organ.
It was a daunting task to go into the recording studio and record a follow up....but Iron Butterfly pulled it off...."Ball" is a really strong album...and actually maybe their best....they toned down the pysche and the heaviness and created some really catchy tunes....and it charted well ...#3 on Billboard Hot 100 albums.
IMO the best songs are all on side one of the album...
"In the Time of Our Lives" .....very catchy ...the big single from the album
"Soul Experience"....very nice...was a new funkier groove for the band....
"Real Fright" ....my fave song on the album....really good
Iron Butterfly ....Spirit .... Canned Heat ....each released an album on the same day!...January 22nd 1968...
Iron Butterfly released their debut album, "Heavy" ....on Atco Records.
A strong debut album....
My fave tracks are "Posession"..."Unconscious Power" ..."You Can't Win" ...."The Iron Butterfly Theme"
"The Iron Butterfly Theme"...very cool instrumental...best use of fuzz guitar ever!
Very heavy for early '68.
"Unconscious Power" has very impressive bass playing...imo better than what Entwistle and McCartney were doing at that time....crazy stuff.
Jerry Penrod was the bass player...he and two others...Darryl Deloach and Danny Weir quit by the time the album was released ...replaced by Lee Dorman (bass) and Erik Brann (guitar).
Canned Heat released their second album, "Boogie with Canned Heat"....on Liberty Records.
Best known song by far on the album is the classic "On the Road Again" ....it was released as a single...
It was wrritten by Floyd James back around 1950...and updated by Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson.....it features a droning tambura (Indian instrument) and distinctive falsetto vocals by "Blind Owl...the same style of singing he would use on their big late fall 1968 hit "Goin' Up the Country".
"Fried Hockey Boogie" is 11 minutes of great boogie music of which Canned Heat were masters of ....Bob "The Bear" Hite on vocals...the exact opposite of introverted
Alan Wilson......"The Bear" could really put it over on stage and it sounded like he was making it up as went...a good example is "Woodstock Boogie" ...checkout the full 8:19 version on youtube in HD ....."Blind Owl" is on fire ...first minute of the song is just him on slide guitar...wow....also has a solo by "new" member Harvey Mandel...he had just replaced Henry Vestine....
Spirit released their debut self titled album on Ode Records....
The album is really good.....the most memorable songs are "Uncle Jack" ..."Mechanical World"....
and "Fresh Garbage"....an early ecology tune, with lyrics like..."See those things you didn't quite consume ...the world's a can for your fresh garbage"....it features an amazing jazzy electric piano solo and the song has an odd chord progression
and is in an unusual time signature ...I think 5/4.....off the charts talent in this band!!
Unusually big age range, from Randy California ...then a teenager born in 1951 on guitar and his step-dad Ed Cassidy born in 1923 on drums ...both excellent musicians ...the other members were also great too ...Jay Ferguson...John Locke...and Mark Andes.
On January 25, 1994 Jar of Flies, the third studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, was released through Columbia Records. It was the first EP in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The first single, "No Excuses", featured Jerry Cantrell on vocals instead of the late Layne Staley.
On January 25, 1994 Jar of Flies, the third studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, was released through Columbia Records. It was the first EP in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The first single, "No Excuses", featured Jerry Cantrell on vocals instead of the late Layne Staley.
Very good song...one of their best....speaking of Jerry Cantrell....
my fave AIC song is "Rooster" it was also written by Jerry Cantrell about his dad ...about his time in
the U.S. Army in Vietnam....his nickname was Rooster....the original 1992 version is hard hitting
with heavy guitars...great video too...even better is their "unplugged" version ...live on MTV Unplugged
in 1996 ...one of the last TV appearances with Lane Staley....the band were worried about his weak
condition but he nailed ...and you see the joy on the bands faces too.
Two big albums released on the exact same date....January 26th 1970.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" ...Simon and Garfunkel....
their biggest selling album ...some 25 million copies....number 1 in many countries around the world.
I used to have the album in vinyl....and liked it but TBH it was very uneven for me ....loved some
of the songs ...and the other songs I rarely listened to ...like "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright"...maybe
listened to it two tmes...I have most of best songs on a CD "The Definititive Simon & Garfunkel"
The album title song ..."Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a masterpiece....one of the best songs ever
written....perfect for Art Garfunkel's voice ...and he didn't want to sing it! ...Paul Simon had to coax him,
Art said that he would only sing it if Simon wrote a third verse as he thought it was too short...
Fantastic playing....Larry Knechtel on piano....Joe Osborn on bass...Hal Blaine on drums....all top session musicians who played on hundreds of hits...
'The Only Living Boy In New York"...my fave Simon and Garfunkel song....about Simons feelings about Art Garfunkel who flew down to Mexico in early 1969 to act in the movie "Catch-22"....in the song, Simon calls him "Tom"...
as way back in the late 50s Simon and Garfunkel were originally a singing duo named "Tom and Jerry"...
they were huge fans of The Everly Brothers and based their on them....and on this album one of the tracks is a live version of Simon and Garfunkel singing the Everly Brothers hit 'Bye Bye Love"...
other big 60s groups ...The Beatles and The Hollies were also huge Everly Brothers fans ....
"The Boxer" ...the first song recorded for the album back in december 1968 in Nashville....
it was released as a single well ahead of the album in March 1969....a timeless classic ....
"Cecilia" ....another good one ....and ""El Condor Pasa" ....with this Peruvisn song, Paul Simon is
foreshadowing his penchant world music which would bring him big solo hits 20 years later....
CBS TV aired a documentary TV Special on November 30th 1969 called "Simon and Garfunkel Songs of America" it was directed by actor Charles Grodin...it featured song live concert footage and behind the scenes in hotel rooms and recording studios ...also the first time the newly completed song "Bridge Ovef Troubled Water" is heard.
There was a lot of tension when recording the album...with Garfunkel away for months acting in "Catch-22",
they played 7 concerts in 1970 after the album was released, including twice at The Royal Albert Hall in London.
But that was it ....however, they reunited a few times ...including a huge outdoor concert at Central Park in 1981.
Chicago released their second album called "Chicago" on January 26th 1970....
it was a double like their debut album....they changed their band name from Chicago Transit Authority to
just 'Chicago" because the actual Chicago Transit Authority threatened to sue them....
the album later became known as "Chicago II " ...and is the first to feature the Chicago logo.
I own their debut album on vinyl...but I never owned this album...I only have the 45 single with
Colour My World as the B Side....that song is amazing....it was written by James Pankow and sung by
Terry Kath....featuring Robert Lamm on piano ..those distictive 7th chord arpeggios...wow....only one verse
and then an extended flute solo....
The other standout song on the album is "25 or 6 or 4" ....love this song ..Terry Kath is on fire...
Jimi Hendrix was a big fan and stated that Terry was better than him....
Last edited by GTB365; 01-26-2023 at 11:42 AM..
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