It sure feels like Janis Ian has been mostly forgotten all these years later. She was basically never mentioned in the various music things I consumed as a teen and my first exposure to her was the use of”At Seventeen” in an episode of The Simpsons. I don’t think I heard much about her again …
Tag: 1975
A Quiet Storm (1975) by Smokey Robinson
It’s impossible to ignore or understate the importance of an album that gave its name to a radio programming format. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it!
Nuthin’ Fancy (1975) by Lynyrd Skynyrd
There was a time in my life that I should have listened to all Skynyrd albums. I wouldn’t have necessarily loved them but I would have liked most of them, and I would have had a lot more time for them.
Rubycon (1975) by Tangerine Dream
Years (decades?) after first hearing Phaedra this is only my second encounter with Tangerine Dream. I guess that sort of tells you everything you need to know about how I felt about Phaedra at the time. (I didn’t really know what to do with it. I knew it was “good” but I also knew it …
Dressed to Kill (1975) by KISS
One of the things I will just never get over with Kiss is how their makeup and stage show just do not match their sound. Another thing I will never get over is that they are not very good songwriters. These things, plus the general stupidity of their fans, make me dislike them. (Truth be …
That’s the Way of the World (1975) by Earth, Wind and Fire
This album is from a commission soundtrack. I have never seen the movie, FYI.
The Original Soundtrack (1975) by 10cc
10cc are just an absolutely maddening band: full of brilliant, path-breaking ideas (with a sense of humour!) but obsessed with making accessible pop music that I find extremely boring. I can honestly I’ve never encountered another band like them.
Welcome to My Nightmare (1975) by Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is one of those performers whose reputation and actual music don’t really mesh, at least in my mind. His music is always tamer than I imagine it, and that’s especially true with this album, in which he goes full Bob Ezrin. (Thanks not only due to Ezrin’s participation, but also due to the …
Unrequited (1975) by Loudon Wainwright III
When I heard the first song followed by the second song – a ridiculous faux reggae number – I was pretty much done with this record. I thought “Why bother with a record by a guy whose kids are arguably now more famous than him?” I think it was “Kick in the Head” which changed …
Desperate Straights (1975) by Slapp Happy and Henry Cow
Slapp Happy is one of those bands I read about a lot and then listened to and was kind of disappointed by. But then I guess I mustered some enthusiasm because my review of another album of theirs is positive. Henry Cow, on the other hand, I used to absolutely love. It’s an odd match, …
High Voltage (1975) by AC/DC
Sometimes debut albums show a fully formed band and listening to them its easy to imagine the band going on to be very successful. (That’s especially easy with the benefit of hindsight, of course.) But sometimes debut albums are more confusing, even or especially with hindsight. And such is the case with AC/DC’s true debut, …
Pathways to Unknown Worlds (1975) by Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra
Sun Ra was one of the first jazz artists I was aware of (outside of the absolutely most famous ones like Louis Armstrong). And I resolved that I would become a fan, I guess because of how weird he seemed. Well, that never happened and, decades later, this is only my second Ra album. It …
The First Minute of a New Day (1975) by Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson and the Midnight Band
This is only my second experience of Scott-Heron, so I don’t know enough about the history, but it seems like this is (mostly) a somewhat radical departure from his earlier work. That’s in part because there is a large band here now, rather than just a trio (or nobody) backing Scott-Heron.
Knussen: Symphonies Nos. 2-3, Trumpets, Ophelia Dances, Coursing, Cantata (1988) by Various
This is a compilation of a few of Knussen’s pieces, which, far as I can figure, are performed by three different ensembles, including an ensemble conducted by Knussen himself.
A Boy and His Dog (1975, LQ Jones)
This is an interesting idea – I’m sure the novel is good – that is severely harmed by a lower than ideal budget and a poor choice of locations results in a pretty mixed bag of a film – one of those ’70s science fiction films where the idea is so much better than the …
Fleetwood Mac (1975)
When I was a kid and a tween, I only listened to oldies. For reasons I may never know, the oldies station in Toronto played Fleetwood Mac songs from this album and Rumours, among the very limited amount of music it dared play from post-1970. This stuff was deemed acceptable.
Born to Run (1975) by Bruce Springsteen
Full disclosure: I have avoided Springsteen much of my life because I grew up with a bunch of stupid TV shows telling me “Springsteen saved Rock and Roll from Disco.” These interviewees (boomers all) were apparently ignorant of Punk Music but, also, in retrospect, maybe Disco won in the end? Anyway…
Tonight’s the Night (1973, 1975) by Neil Young
Neil Young was a star for the first time in 1973. And yet even though he was star, and he was expected to pump out further “Heart of Gold” style hits, his life was a mess. Whether or not he may acknowledge it now, he had drug issues. And within a rather short span of …
Toys in the Attic (1975) by Aerosmith
I grew up during Aerosmith’s reunion: I was eight when Pump came out and twelve when Get a Grip was released – which was apparently old enough to stay up to watch that SNL skit pointing out all Aerosmith ballads are the same. My introduction to Aerosmith was therefore Much Music (Canada’s version of MTV) …
String Quartet; So You Want to Write a Fugue; Shostakovitch; Poulenc (1997 Compilation)
I really like Gould’s quartet. I know it’s not the most forward-thinking piece for the time, but I think it’s among the second tier of its era and I really don’t mind listening to it. The fugue-song thing is a different story: I like it but it’s almost too clever. I like that it seems …
Morawetz / Ginastera: Harp Concertos (1989) by Gianetta Baril, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra conducted by Uri Mayer
I have long loved the harp. Ever since I first heard “She’s Leaving Home” sometime in my tweens I was enchanted. And yet I have done a piss poor job of ever seeking out harp music. I can’t really say why exactly, I guess I was just too busy looking for other sounds (that of …
Miserere et. al (1994) by Henryk Gorecki, performed by John Nelson et al.
This is a collection of Gorecki’s choral music, mostly performed by choruses from Chicago. (Yet another release where the performers differ from track to track! I really need to get over this.) Fortunately, I wouldn’t have known that, if they didn’t tell me. So that’s something.