I gave a listen to Down to Earth recently, as I figured that I should give the infamous Jimmy Buffett a listen for the podcast, given his longevity, his popularity and his notoriety. But I read that he had essentially disowned that album – it is a pretty conventional singer-songwriter album that does not give …
Category: 1973
Parcel of Rogues (1973) by Steeleye Span
This is the first Steeleye Span record I’ve ever heard, after hearing about them for years and years. As with any band like that, my impressions were fixed without ever having listened to this, so on first listen I didn’t know what to do with it.
Diamond Girl (1973) by Seals and Crofts
I am fascinated, on some level, by bands that want to combine “soft rock” and pop with roots music because fundamentally they are two very different things. The whole point of roots music was to return to the pre-rock professionalism, which necessarily embraces the rough edges. But the essence of soft rock, and much if …
Call Me (1973) by Al Green
The more I listen to Al Green the most I appreciate the records that deviate from the formula a little bit, or the ones that have stronger songs. That’s because Al Green put out a hell of a lot of albums in the 1970s and they do sort of blend together after a while; he …
Catch a Fire [Jamaican Version] (1973) by Bob Marley and the Wailers
I generally rag on Marley for his lyrics. I find most reggae lyricist to be not that great, but I find Marley in particular to have been over-hyped. Once you listen to Peter Tosh (who only wrote two of the songs here) it’s hard to take Marley this seriously as a lyricist. So I thought. …
Betty Davis (1973)
Now this is my kind of funk music.
A Wizard A True Star (1973) by Todd Rundgren
If you’re like me, you wished that Something/Anything?could have been, well, weirder. Or, if not weirder, at least more varied. I personally find that the record doesn’t quite live up to its reputation for weirdness and variety. Well, be careful what you wish for.
Neu! 2 (1973)
Though I really enjoy reading about music and musicians, and how music was made, sometimes knowing how something was made while you’re forming your initial impressions towards it is a problem. It’s definitely a problem for me with this record.
Solid Air (1973) by John Martyn
I had never even heard of John Martyn before listening to this. Just an album that came out in February 1973 so it was on my list of 45tth anniversaries. So this is, um, a giant surprise.
Lifemask (1973) by Roy Harper
Lifemask finds Harper pulled in two different directions after Stormcock, which I assume is his best album; on the one hand retreating from its ambitious format on side A but doubling down on side B. The arrangements are also more elaborate, on the whole, than on that previous record.
Tyranny and Mutation (1973) by Blue Oyster Cult
I didn’t quite grow up with early British metal but when I started listening to music other than oldies in my late teens, Zeppelin, Purple and Sabbath played a pretty big part of my listening. On my second Blue Oyster Cult record I find myself thinking that it was all those years of worshiping those …
In the Right Place (1973) by Dr. John
Really listening to the (sort of) title track for the first time (instead of just being aware of it playing on the radio), it’s clear to me why it’s Dr. John’s biggest hit – the song has much more immediacy to it than anything else of his I’ve ever heard.
Billion Dollar Babies (1973) by Alice Cooper
Though I have known of Alice Cooper the man for most of my life, this is my first Alice Cooper album (band or man). As you might imagine, I’m a bit surprised.
Amabutho (1973) by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
When I listened to Shaka Zulu I vowed one day to hear what this group would sound like not produced by a white American who introduced their music to the States. Apparently, it didn’t take me very long.
Tanx (1973) by T Rex
There are bands that are good at doing many things and bands that are good at doing one or two things. I think if you only listened to T. Rex and not Tyrannosaurus Rex, you’d probably think that T. Rex was one of these latter bands and Bolan was one of these songwriters – pretty …
Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (1973) by Elton John
I have no idea how this is the Elton John record I ended up first giving three full listens to. Sometimes these things happen, I guess, but after listening to it I’m pretty sure it was the wrong one for me. For some reason I listened to Honky Chateau once last May and then decided …
The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973) by Rick Wakeman
I can’t say I like programmatic music a lot of time as I often find the concept completely unhelpful in appreciating the music. (The exception to this is a really great tone poem, wherein the program sometimes helps locate the experience.) So frankly I am unconcerned with whether or not this record does anything with …
Approximately Infinite Universe (1973) by Yoko Ono
My first encounter with Yoko Ono as the dominant performer (as opposed to Lennon) was with her Plastic Ono Band. I guess I wasn’t in the right mood for it, as it felt just way too directionless and faux avant garde to my ears at the time. (Some of the stuff they do on that …
Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ (1973) by Bruce Springsteen
I have a complicated relationship with Springsteen, mostly caused by watching too much Much More Music (basically Canada’s VH1) when I was an impressionable teenager. So, to evaluate Springsteen’s debut album fairly, If eel like I have to try to pretend I’ve never heard Springsteen before nor have I heard of him. That’s impossible, but …
Inside (1973) by Eloy
A band I wanted to listen to a lot when I was much younger; finally got around to it.
Knussen: Horn Concerto, Whitman Settings, The Way to Castle Yonder, Flourish with Fireworks (1996) by Various Artists
This is a collection of Knussen’s orchestral music.
Ives: The Symphonies; Orchestral Sets 1 and 2 (2000) by Various Artists
This is one of those Decca compilations that takes recordings from all over its catalogue – in this case from the mid ’70s and the mid ’90s – to create an ostensibly “complete” collection of a composer’s works in a given field, in this case Ives’ work for large orchestra. Of course it’s not complete, …
Caged Terror (1973, directed by Barrie McLean, Kristen Weingartner): An Appreciation
Yesterday, I reminded myself that I am not the man I used to be. I drank lots of beer during the Sens game, and then promptly crashed during dinner, because I can’t drink like I used to, so I stopped drinking, so I crashed. Anyway, as a remedy, I decided I would watch a shitty …