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Jethro Tull released their 4th album...."Aqualung".
Released on March 19th 1971.
Recorded mostly at Morgan Studios, London in 1970.
Tull's best selling album...over 7 million copies....
I have it on glorious vinyl....an early pressing...I used to have all their albums up to Stormwatch"...
but got rid of most during my 1990s vinyl album purge...
The title track is a great piece of classic rock...it has it all ....great acoustic guitar
playing by Ian Andeson....CAPO on 2nd fret....the chord progression has that major/minor trick that the Beatles used ....E minor to D to A to A minor to Em to D ...sounds nice and mellow,
And Martin Barre's riff/chords bit is so unique ...he also plays a fiesty guitar solo too...The lryics are classic Ian Anderson...."Sitting on a park bench, eyeing little girls with bad intent"......controversial for sure. Lyrics written apparently by his wife (or more likely, with the help of).
Ian Anderson claimed it wasn't a concept album....and the figure on the front cover was not himself (albeit older)....
Other memorable songs include....
"Locomotive Breath"
"Hymn 43"
"Wondring Aloud"....I really like this one....I'm a real sucker for Jethro Tull's acoustics and this one is great ...the lyrics also make you think....what is it about?
It is very short ...less than 2 minutes long....I always thought is should have been longer...and guess what ....it originally was much longer! ...there is a youtube that has the long version
over 7 minutes long (as long as Hey Jude)....fascinanting to listen to but it is too long....I can hear why they cut it down ...but with more lyrics, their are clues as to what the song is about,...controversial...no surprise...
Also interesting is a song recorded for the album but left off as it is a really weird silly song..."Lick Your Fingers Clean"...a got to hear it to believe it song....it is included on Jethro Tull 20th Anniversary CD, which I have, it is a good CD if you are a true Tull fan, it has B-Sides..outtakes....even some live recordings...
Cat Stevens released his 8th album...."Buddah and The Chocolate Box".
Released on March 19th 1974 on A & M records.
Produced by Paul Samwell-Smith...the last Cat Stevens record produced by him...
Cat Stevens took a lot of flack from his record companies A & M (and Island Records in Britainj...his 1973 album "Foreigner" sold poorly ....I used to own that album and I know why it didn't sell...there are no catchy songs on it....and one entire side of the album is devoted to one song...."Foreigner Suite"....I owned the album for over 20 years and never played that sing entirely! The only song I listened to a lot was "The Hurt",
had the single too.
So Cat Stevens rolled up his sleeves and wrote a bunch of catchy tunes .....
even had a couple of hits from this album..."Ready" and "Oh,Very Young"....
I never bought the album but still have the single with "Ghost Town" as the B-side....
another winner tune for me is "C79".....
His biggest 1974 hit...a cover of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night" wasn't even on the album.
Unfortunately, for me this is the last "good" Cat Stevens album...he would make a few more albumsbefore quitting in 1979...but he really coukd have quit in 1974...I am a big fan but can not listen to his later stuff ...it's terrible....except for "Two Fine People" ,which is not bad....it has that old Cat sound.
Jethro Tull released their 4th album...."Aqualung".
Released on March 19th 1971.
Recorded mostly at Morgan Studios, London in 1970.
Tull's best selling album...over 7 million copies....
I have it on glorious vinyl....an early pressing...I used to have all their albums up to Stormwatch"...
but got rid of most during my 1990s vinyl album purge...
The title track is a great piece of classic rock...it has it all ....great acoustic guitar
playing by Ian Andeson....CAPO on 2nd fret....the chord progression has that major/minor trick that the Beatles used ....E minor to D to A to A minor to Em to D ...sounds nice and mellow,
And Martin Barre's riff/chords bit is so unique ...he also plays a fiesty guitar solo too...The lryics are classic Ian Anderson...."Sitting on a park bench, eyeing little girls with bad intent"......controversial for sure. Lyrics written apparently by his wife (or more likely, with the help of).
Ian Anderson claimed it wasn't a concept album....and the figure on the front cover was not himself (albeit older)....
Other memorable songs include....
"Locomotive Breath"
"Hymn 43"
"Wondring Aloud"....I really like this one....I'm a real sucker for Jethro Tull's acoustics and this one is great ...the lyrics also make you think....what is it about?
It is very short ...less than 2 minutes long....I always thought is should have been longer...and guess what ....it originally was much longer! ...there is a youtube that has the long version
over 7 minutes long (as long as Hey Jude)....fascinanting to listen to but it is too long....I can hear why they cut it down ...but with more lyrics, their are clues as to what the song is about,...controversial...no surprise...
Also interesting is a song recorded for the album but left off as it is a really weird silly song..."Lick Your Fingers Clean"...a got to hear it to believe it song....it is included on Jethro Tull 20th Anniversary CD, which I have, it is a good CD if you are a true Tull fan, it has B-Sides..outtakes....even some live recordings...
A good interview with Ian from two years ago if you or anyone may be interested in reading...
AC/DC released their 3rd album....."Let There Be Rock".
Released on March 21st 1977 in Australia....(released everywhere else on July 25th 1977).
Produced by Harry Vanda and George Young (Angus and Malcolm's older brother from The Easy Beats).
I love this album....it is AC/DC at their most raw sound....it sounds like they just set up their touring equipment in the studio and rolled the tape....no laying down tracks....
pretty much "live" in the studio....Angus and Malcolm playing through brand new
Marshall 2203 master volume amps....provided to AC/DC by Marshall around september 1976.
And what a wicked raw sound...holy smokes!
"Overdose" ....rentless that B7 to E intro ...the guitars are right on the edge of going into feedback
I love that powerful overdriven sound....then the main pounding B to D to E ...played like a sledge hammer, I love playing to this song .....
Then it gets even better....
"Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
"Whole Lotta Rosie"
"Dog Eat Dog"
Then their epic masterpiece.....
Title track "Let There Be Rock"....in the key of E ....the best rock key....Angus is on fire on this one...
tells the history of rock AC/DC style ..."Back in 1955...".....and a great Angus "pull offs" solo ....in 1977....
my group (circa 1981) used to cover this song ...we'd turn up all the amps to 10 near the end...I have a recording where our drummer throws down his sticks and yells "I can't hear...I can't hear!".
For some reason, unknown to me, Atlantic Records replaced one song on the album...
the song "Crabsody in Blue" was replaced by "Problem Child" from their Dirty Deeds album...
no problem as I really like "Problem Child"...
I don't think AC/DC ever sounded quite as raw again...heavier sure...but never as tough
sounding as on "Let There Be Rock" album.
The Beatles released their debut album....."PLEASE PLEASE ME".
Released on March 22nd 1963 on EMI Parlophone.
Producer: George Martin
14 songs in total....10 of which were recorded on one day...February 11th 1963.
The other 4 songs are from their first two singles...A sides and B sides...
Recorded on only 2 tracks....that's all EMI Studios had back then!
John Lennon had a bad cold and you can easily hear it...his vocals have a nasally, "plugged up nose" sound....except for his vocals on "Twist and Shout"....it was the last song recorded....John Lennon gave it his all...and suffered from a sore throat for next two weeks.
The album cover photo was shot of the band looking down from a stairwell balcony at EMI headquarters, London.
Almost 6 years later to the day...The Beatles recreated that same pose at the same location for their proposed "Get Back" album....(using the same photographer, Angus McBean).....but the album was shelved, and not released until a year later as "Let It Be", the 1969 Get Back cover shot was later used from their 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilation albums ....known by fans as the red and blue albums...
The songs....
"I Saw Her Standing There"....a classic rocker...George Martin intentionally left in the "count in"...1, 2, 3, 4....
features a nice lead solo from George....nice nimble bass work from Paul.
"Misery" ...took 9 takes to get it right...false starts ...breakdowns....George Martin dubbed in his own piano playing solo ...recording it at half speed then played back at normal speed...
"Anna"....a cover...with great vocals from cold ridden John...
"Chains"....another cover....this time with lead vocals by George Harrison
"Boys"....a cover sung by Ringo....who would sing it at Beatle concerts for the next three years...
"Ask Me Why"....B-side on their Please Please Me single....a surprisingly complex piece of music...I always have a tough time playing on guitar smoothly...
"Please Please Me"....their first number one hit ....originally recorded much slower as a Roy Orbison style ballad....George Martin told them to try it much faster...and it instantly improved the song...Martin still wanted the Beatles to record a song that he thought was sure to be a hit "How Do You Do It"...The Beatles purposely recorded it poorly with no enthusiasm ...after listening to both recordings, George Martin had no choice but to release "Please Please Me" as their second single...and it shot up to number one and kick started
what was to become "Beatlemania".
"Love Me Do"....their first hit single ...made it to #17 on the UK charts ...(with a little help from record store chain owner and Beatle manager Brian Epstein...who bought up a big inventory from EMI)....
the song is ok ...nothing special really....two versions were recorded ...version 1 recorded on September 4th 1962 with Ringo on drums....and version 2 recorded on September 11th 1962 with session drummer Andy White on drums.....Ringo on drums version was used for the single...and the session drummer version for the album.
How to easily tell the two versions apart....Ringo on drums version has no tambourine,
Andy White on drums version has a tambourine (played by Ringo).
"PS I Love You"....a very Paul McCartney sounding song to me....
"Baby It's You"...a cover...Burt Bacharach was one of the writers on it...John Lennon on lead vocals.
"Do You Want to Know a Secret?"....George Harrison on lead vocals ...even though John Lennon usually sang it when they did it live.....a very good song....I love playing it on guitar....
"A Taste of Honey" ...a cover....Paul McCartney's great vocals ....lovely guitar from
George Harrison....he was good...everything sounds drenched in reverb.
"There's a Place" ....McCartney-Lennon filler....but what great filler it is ...notice I stated "McCartney-Lennon"...
all their songs on this album are noted as such...later in 1963 changing to "Lennon-McCartney"....Paul wasn't too happy with that change but John Lennon was still the group leader back then.
"Twist and Shout"....an Isley Brothers cover....The Beatles make it their own and created a show stopper...
John Lennon put every bit of his soul into his vocals...a highlight of their 1963-64 live shows...
Interestingly....this album was not released in the U.S. at that time (spring 1963),
Capitol Records had first dibs ...but passed on it (understandably as The Beatles were totally unknown in america at that time)....a small Chicago based label ...Vee Jay Records picked up the rights to the album....and even they didn't release it until January 1964 when 'I Want To Hold Your Hand" single was rocketing up the charts....they're version of the album was entitled "Introducing the Beatles"....I had a friend who had the album....sounded poor ...could have been a bootleg copy of it....
Capitol Records finally released their version of the "Please Please Me" album in early 1965 (I have that version in my Beatles collection)....by that time Beatles music had definitely evolved ...."Ticket To Ride" was the "new" single then....
As for album covers Bobbi Kelly, featured in the iconic Woodstock album photo, has passed her husband of 54 years has announced....they were 20 year old high school sweethearts when photographer Burke Uzzle snapped a shot of the couple holding each other wrapped up in a blanket at the three day festival...
Van Halen released their second album...."VAN HALEN ll".
Released on March 23rd 1979.
Producer: Ted Templeman
Very similar style to their debut album...a good album...not quite as good as their first.
Best songs are....
"You're No Good" ....a cover of a cover....Linda Ronstadt did an excellent cover of it in 1974,
it reached number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in early 1975...
Van Halen kinda copied her version but made a bit heavier of course....a good song is a good song...
"Dance the Night Away"...a very...feel good commercial song....more pop sounding than anything they had record before....was released as a single....Eddie playing harmonics instead of his usual fast fingers solo...
""Somebody Get Me a Doctor"....now we're talkin'...a fun and heavy tune ..which sums up this album...
"Beautiful Girls"....love that heavy riff ...excellent example of Eddie Van Halen Marshall "Brown Sound".
"Women In Love" .....love this song....I love playing those open chords ...harmonics....yeah, this song has it all....good singing too from David Lee Roth...
Roxy Music released their second album ....'FOR YOUR PLEASURE".
Released on March 23rd 1973.
Great album cover (as usual) ...music an improvement in sound quality from their debut album...
Their last album with sound effects specialist Brian Eno....
Produced by Chris Thomas, who engineered (and produced in George Martin's absence) The Beatles"White Album"...and would go on to produce "The Pretenders"....
However, there are only two songs that I really like on this album....
"Do the Strand"....a relentless zany pop tune in a similar style to their first album....
And the best song on the album by far ...."In Every Dream Home a Heartache"....
an amazing song ...Bryan Ferry singing in his, what I call,
"Count Dracula voice"....nobody sings like Bryan Ferry...a truely unique voice,
he could sing the phone book and I would listen...the song is about a blow up doll !!....you don't realize it until the pay off
deep into the song....what a song ...great production too...phasing ...fade in fade out...solos galore...
The Boo Radleys released their album ..."EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT FOREVER".
Released on March 23th 1992.
I was working back then with a british guy who prided himself on being on top of the music scene, constantly seeking out new bands ....and the early 90s were an exciting time...lot's of new interesting bands,
especially bands from the UK...he would lend me the last CDs by these new bands ..."The Manic Street Preachers"...."Jesus Jones"...."EMF"..."Teenage Fanclub"....etc ....and he seemed to have connections in the industry ...his CDs were advanced copies stamped "not for resale"....and he had tons of bootlegs...all put onto CD...
all that Beatle stuff that a few years would end up on The Beatles Anthology CDs released in 1995-1996...
and tons of rare Beatles that has never been released to this day.....he had all 60 hours of Let It Be/Get Back...taken directly from the camera rolls...as well as pretty much every John Lennon solo demo....some of those demos are sometimes shockingly better than the final released versions.....
One of the CDs he lent me was The Boo Radleys "Everything's Alright Forever"....I listened to it not sure if I liked it at first....a lot of ambient noise....a mix of acoustic and white noise...but it grew on me,
it is quite a good album ...but certainly an aquired taste..the noise can be off putting.....
All the songs are pretty good ...or at least interesting....
My faves are...
"Spaniard"
"Does This Hurt?"
"Smile Fades Fast"....this song is my personal fave on the album...it moves along at a fast clip...has that ever present guitar noise that fades in and out of the song....love the low key singing which is deliberately mixed very low into tracks...
"
Last edited by GTB365; 03-23-2023 at 07:55 AM..
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