*** 1970's Album Draft - Commentary Thread ***

[johnnya24]

Or 5

Of course I meant from the summer of 67 to the summer of 71

... ahem

[BuckyBuckner]

Another album that probably should have been drafted.

Badfinger Straight Up (1972)

[Erik]

Dave Mason s/t is good too, but has very stereotypical mid-70s production (Neil Young called it "layered bullshit") that doesn't benefit some of the songs.

[Erik]

Neil Young had 8 albums taken, but there were 3 more that were eligible.

Comes a Time (1978) was worth taking. It marked the first time he returned to the mellow country style of Harvest, and the songcraft was nearly as good as on that one. "Goin' Back," "Look out for My Love," "Lotta Love" and a cover of Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" are the standouts.

American Stars 'N Bars (1977) boasts "Like a Hurricane" but is otherwise inconsistent. Side 1 is all facile twangy country rock; only "Bite the Bullet" makes an impression. Side 2 is a random collection of leftovers from earlier sessions with no coherence at all. LAH really belongs on Zuma (it was written and recorded around the same time as most of those songs, and played on the tour supporting Zuma), but I can see Neil thinking that adding it to an album with "Cortez the Killer" and "Danger Bird" might be overkill.

Journey Through the Past (1972) was released against his wishes and it shows. It's actually the soundtrack to a film he directed, and mostly consists of outtakes from Buffalo Springfield, CSNY and the Stray Gators (Harvest). Side 4 is an inessential orchestral suite; its lone original song, "Soldier," can also be found on the Decade compilation.

[Lucky]

Dave Mason s/t is good too, but has very stereotypical mid-70s production (Neil Young called it "layered bullshit") that doesn't benefit some of the songs.

Yeah, but it was so much better than most of the stuff being put out then. I generally avoid albums with strings and horns (and a flute), but I still give this one a frequent listen.

(And I'll admit that I thought Alone Together was released prior to our draft period.)

Understand about Neil. He loved simplicity (sometimes), which is why he thought so highly of "McCartney". Differences in production approaches...he didn't seem to like a song that took over an hour or so to learn, record and mix.

[Mithrandir]

Or reconsider my assumption that you guys know what the good 70's albums are.

Now this made me laugh!

[Pogues]

Neil Young had 8 albums taken, but there were 3 more that were eligible.

Comes a Time (1978) was worth taking. It marked the first time he returned to the mellow country style of Harvest, and the songcraft was nearly as good as on that one. "Goin' Back," "Look out for My Love," "Lotta Love" and a cover of Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" are the standouts.

American Stars 'N Bars (1977) boasts "Like a Hurricane" but is otherwise inconsistent. Side 1 is all facile twangy country rock; only "Bite the Bullet" makes an impression. Side 2 is a random collection of leftovers from earlier sessions with no coherence at all. LAH really belongs on Zuma (it was written and recorded around the same time as most of those songs, and played on the tour supporting Zuma), but I can see Neil thinking that adding it to an album with "Cortez the Killer" and "Danger Bird" might be overkill.

Journey Through the Past (1972) was released against his wishes and it shows. It's actually the soundtrack to a film he directed, and mostly consists of outtakes from Buffalo Springfield, CSNY and the Stray Gators (Harvest). Side 4 is an inessential orchestral suite; its lone original song, "Soldier," can also be found on the Decade compilation.

Well damn...I left the draft without taking a Neil Young album. I wonder how that could have ever happened.

[Erik]

Yeah, but it was so much better than most of the stuff being put out then.

Understood. I feel the same way about Stills, Stephen' Stills' first album for Columbia, which came out in 1975, just after the last attempt at a CSNY reunion imploded. Critics lump it in with his substandard post-Manassas work, but it's really far better than that, with some very high quality songs ("Turn Back the Pages," "My Favorite Changes," "My Angel," "In the Way," "Love Story," "As I Come of Age"; some of these were going to be on the CSNY reunion album and "As I Come of Age" was played live by CSNY as far back as 1970). The problem is that it has the classic "layered bullshit" production, so a lot of people dismissed it because of that.

[Lucky]

Understood. I feel the same way about Stills, Stephen' Stills' first album for Columbia, which came out in 1975, just after the last attempt at a CSNY reunion imploded. Critics lump it in with his substandard post-Manassas work, but it's really far better than that, with some very high quality songs ("Turn Back the Pages," "My Favorite Changes," "My Angel," "In the Way," "Love Story," "As I Come of Age"; some of these were going to be on the CSNY reunion album and "As I Come of Age" was played live by CSNY as far back as 1970). The problem is that it has the classic "layered bullshit" production, so a lot of people dismissed it because of that.

Dunno. There were still a lot of massive disco hits coming out in 1975 and 1977 (despite the rising "disco sucks" movement). Rock music producers and artists were trying to get back in the game. Artists like Stills and Mason couldn't go punk or country. I would imagine their labels pushed their producers to come up with more of a lush sound to attract attention of the disco fans. I always thought disco fandom was a mile wide and an inch deep anyway...more about the clothes and the sex and the drugs...NTTAWWT.

It was a weird time. Coming out of the late 60s and the first few years of the 70s, it suddenly became much harder to find quality rock music. I still remember my first real criminal act in 1974...sabotaging the juke box in the student union. Imagine trying to talk seriously about a workers' revolution and being interrupted by the Hues Corporation or George McCrae.

[Erik]

Hah. Stills DID go disco with Thoroughfare Gap (1978), which has to be one of the worst albums released by anyone in the '70s.

It's a textbook marketing-people-are-in-charge clusterfuck. Not only are there three outright disco songs, they brought in The Bee Gees to sing on them. There's also a Fleetwood Mac ripoff - might as well hedge our bets and jump on that trend too - and they brought in Stevie Nicks to sing on it. And then there are really flat covers of Not Fade Away and Midnight Rider, because why not? And then the one song that rocks out gets paired with some of the worst lyrics anyone wrote in the 70s (which is saying a lot) - Can't Get No Booty. Yep, in 11 years Stills went from For What It's Worth to Can't Get No Booty. Perhaps only the Sgt Pepper movie and soundtrack was more of a "cocaine's a hell of a drug" moment in the '70s.

I guess at least he got to finish the album, unlike David Crosby, who recorded most of an album in 1978 but was too fucked up to finish it and the record company nixed it. Though I've heard the sessions and they're not bad. Most of the songs resurfaced on later projects.

[Lucky]

Hah. Stills DID go disco with Thoroughfare Gap (1978), which has to be one of the worst albums released by anyone in the '70s.

It's a textbook marketing-people-are-in-charge clusterfuck. Not only are there three outright disco songs, they brought in The Bee Gees to sing on them. There's also a Fleetwood Mac ripoff - might as well hedge our bets and jump on that trend too - and they brought in Stevie Nicks to sing on it. And then there are really flat covers of Not Fade Away and Midnight Rider, because why not? And then the one song that rocks out gets paired with some of the worst lyrics anyone wrote in the 80s (which is saying a lot) - Can't Get No Booty. Yep, in 11 years Stills went from For What It's Worth to Can't Get No Booty. Perhaps only the Sgt Pepper movie and soundtrack was more of a "cocaine's a hell of a drug" moment in the '70s.

I guess at least he got to finish the album, unlike David Crosby, who recorded most of an album in 1978 but was too fucked up to finish it and the record company nixed it. Though I've heard the sessions and they're not bad. Most of the songs resurfaced on later projects.

Somehow I don't remember Thoroughfare Gap. I remember what the cover looks like. I'm almost sure I had the vinyl at one time, but nothing you have said about it rings a bell.

[Lucky]

Yikes. Just learned that a British company has reissued Thoroughfare Gap along with "Stills" and "Illegal Stills" as a 2-disc set.

Hey, I looked TG up in wiki (I know) and it showed only Andy Gibb as performing on the album. Mathematically, that is only one-third of the Bee Gees. Stevie isn't credited, perhaps at her own insistence.

I leave for Denton tomorrow. RJ notables in the vicinity include, at a minimum, Byron, Brad, RC, Ken and a couple of more I'm forgetting right now. I'm sure there will be some type of gathering.

[Erik]

Good luck!

Illegal Stills isn't very good either. It's more "layered bullshit" rock but unlike with Stills, the songs aren't very good.

[ManCalledFoot]

My record wish list has grown quite a bit because of this draft. Just picked up a copy of Brain Salad Surgery, great stuff.

Not getting that one probably hurt the most of any LP I didn't get this draft. That sucker is proggiest of all prog LPs.

I've been on an ELP kick lately, I've taken to listening to it in the dark, in bed with the headphones on, and it's freaking me out. "Karn Evil 9" really is something unique in the annals of rock music, it's like speed metal done with keyboards.

[ManCalledFoot]

Utopia - Oops! Wrong Planet (1977)

In the course of less than a year, Utopia, led by Todd Rundgren, shifted from a proggy band with cosmic lyrics to a new wave band with very grounded ones and came up with this, a concept album about environmental and emotional destruction. Rundgren's sensibilities drive the record but the other three members also contribute songwriting and vocals, and almost everything is of very high quality. After 11 songs of despair, they close on a happy note, "Love Is the Answer," a cover of which was a big hit for England Dan and John Ford Coley.

Ah, I thought that was the song you talked about earlier when we were discussing Todd. I was really into 'Oops Wrong Planet' when that came out, great album, forgot about that one. I saw that tour at Radio City, I'm pretty sure it was all "Oops" the first half, then "Ra" with the pyramid the second half.