The early ’70s really take off with the beginnings of new genres; the Southern Rock of the Allman Brothers, the furthering of the Band with the Western Americana Roots Rock of Elton John, and the rousing Latin Rock fusion of . . .
SANTANA – ABRAXAS – Columbia KC 30130 – September 1970
Mati Klarwein‘s 1961 painting “Annunciation” was an excellent album cover choice to evoke the whole feel of Santana’s second album, Abraxas; this “book” could be judged by its cover
With Santana’s debut album everyone got into the heavy Latin polyrhythmic Rock and distinctly recognizable fluid guitar of Carlos Santana. The “Santana” album featured the monster hit Soul Sacrifice, the jaw-dropper of Woodstock – a throbbing bass, groove organ, psychedelic soaring guitar, and ubiquitous drum extravaganza – if this didn’t excite one’s soul then they be the zombie undead. So when “Abraxas” was released expectations were high and Santana delivered.
From the opening of Singing Winds, Crying Beasts, Santana had tapped into a higher realm, and proved it by conjuring up an iconic version of Peter Green’s Black Magic Woman and Gabor Szabo’s Gypsy Queen with possibly the #1 guitar build and break in all of Rock History. This break is honored with Holy Silence by true Rockers everywhere beginning at 3:18 and really, on out to the end. It’s moments like this when music touches and uplifts the soul.
Mother’s Daughter and I Hope You’re Feeling Better are masterful examples of Santana’s Hard Rock that juxtaposed the sublime tracks like Samba Pa Ti, a piece so rich that it has since surfaced as a soundtrack mood piece in countless movies – and the song that is a mini-movie itself, the intriguing Incident at Neshabur.
88
SANTANA – Mike Carabello – percussion, conga, David Brown – bass, José “Chepito” Areas – conga, percussion, Gregg Rolie – keyboards, lead vocals, Carlos Santana – lead guitar, backing vocals, producer, Michael Shrieve – drums
Singing Winds Crying Beasts Carabello 4:51 Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen Peter Green/Gábor Szabó 5:22 Oye Como Va Tito Puente 4:1 Incident at Neshabur Alberto Gianquinto, C. Santana 4:57 Se a Cabo Areas 2:50 Mother’s Daughter Rolie 4:25 Samba pa Ti Santana 4:54 Hope You’re Feeling Better Rolie 4:11 El Nicoya Areas 1:30
This was one of the first Rock albums that 00individual remembers being aware of some major sophistication in the whole sound and presentation; it was a defining moment of excellence in Rock that set a high bar for all album releases that followed.
BLACK SABBATH – PARANOID – WS 1887- Sept 1970
Even with no airplay and shunned by critics, Black Sabbath; Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, Tony Iommi – guitar, Geezer Butler – bass, Bill Ward – drums, rose to be regarded as the originators of the Heavy Metal Rock genre with their second album, Paranoid. Nearly every Hard Rock band have gladly confessed the positive influence Black Sabbath had on them.
War Pigs 7:57 Paranoid 2:48 Planet Caravan 4:32 Iron Man 5:56 Electric Funeral 4:53 Hand of Doom 7:08 Rat Salad 2:30 Fairies Wear Boots 6:14
“PERFORMANCE” ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Various Artists – Warner Bros. BS 2554 – September 19, 1970
Filmed in 1968 and fraught with seemingly endless delays; it wasn’t released by Warner Brothers until 1970 – they thought they were getting the Stones’ version of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night”. One can imagine their dismay after viewing a Rock ‘n’ Roll gangster movie with purportedly actual sex scenes, drug use, and a whole lot of gender-bending – a very dark, twisted, beautiful, entertaining trip – and that’s what makes the soundtrack excellent.
Listening to this from beginning to end may give those who’ve never experienced psychedelics a peek at what all the fun is about – this album is a mind-bending acid trip! This isn’t easy access psychedelic music, it’s sophisticated and closer to the real feelings and sounds one may experience on a trip. 89
And just like with LSD; this album lets you experience different levels of reality that can take you to different places (visionary, hallucinogenic) but are part of the whole trip. And the album’s blend of styles and overall quality of the music only heightens the visceral and highly appropriate drug-induced surreality of the whole film’s trip.
Most of the music was written by Jack Nitzsche, a visionary in Rock History from waaaay back with his cool, cool hit The Lonely Surfer, and he then worked with Phil Spector, Neil Young’s Crazy Horse, the Stones and many other top bands. He eventually amassed a world-class list of film scores since his sound, perfect for any decade whether solo or with others, was in demand. So with this super rare collaboration of the finest musicians, composers and singers of the day; it all came together as one continuous flow of exquisite examples of ‘70’s musical genres with Rock as the base and drenched in psychedelia wafting up from the vinyl.
Gone Dead Train explodes as the first track and has Randy Newman in full-tilt Rock mode – he really showed what he was capable of as a Rocker and everyone was impressed – plus the song is aces. Cuts 2 through 6 are pure sophisticated psychedelia – even Ry Cooder’s slide sounds stoned! Jack Nitzsche and Newman’s Harry Flowers ends side one with a dreamy number that sounds like the “Twin Peaks” theme on acid which allows the listener some respite before side two’s hard core opener.
Memo from Turner is classic Beggar’s Banquet/Let It Bleed-era Stones with Mick fully realizing his Turner character’s past and present and offering up his best solo Performance! Hashishin gets you high just listening to it. The Last Poets’ totally classic (birth of Rap?) Wake Up Niggers nails a part of society with a “get your shit together” message that can’t be ignored. The absolute top in-demand female session singer, Merry Clayton (“Gimme Shelter”) is featured on three cuts: Performance; another cool acid trip unto itself, Poor White Hound Dog; very techno-psychedelic rockin’ soul and Turner’s Murder;where she soars in a mini-“2001: A Space Odyssey” excursion. And just like an LSD Trip, the album returns right where it started with a short reprise of “Gone Dead Train” as the Album/Trip ends.
The album was a Who’s Who of extreme talent beside all of the above stated luminaries, there was Bernard Krause – moog (Beaver and Krause “Ghandarva” album – seriously classic synth ‘n’ soul), Milt Holland – drums/percussion (one of the famous Wrecking Crew of studio musicians), Lowell George – guitar (Little Feat) and other top notch musicians.
Thissoundtrack album, while surely representing the early ’70s, has the nebulous quality to transcend genres and decades – and sounds deadly cool any day of any year.
Side 1: Gone Dead Train 2:56 Newman, Performance 1:49 Clayton, Get Away 2:09 Cooder, Powis Square 2:25 Cooder, Rolls Royce and Acid 1:50 Nitzsche, Dyed, Dead, Red 2:35 Sainte-Marie Harry Flowers 4:03 Nitzsche, Newman Side 2: Memo from Turner 4:08 Jagger Hash-ishin 3:39 Sainte-Marie, Cooder Wake Up, Niggers 2:47 The Last Poets Poor White Hound Dog 2:50 Clayton Natural Magic 1:40 Nitzsche Turner’s Murder 4:15 Merry Clayton Singers.
90
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – IDLEWILD SOUTH – Atco SD 33-342 – Sept. 1970
What did The Allman Brothers, John Mayall, Love, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, Traffic, and Santana have in common? Many answers would be correct – but the introduction of Jazz into Rock by all mentioned is evident within the total sophistication of The Allman Brothers second album, “Idlewild South”.
Back then the only way music was categorized was by the fans own informed knowledge, arbitrary record store divider cards and to a lesser degree, the critics. Right in line with the way the Counter-Culture felt about integration and ethnicities, Rockers welcomed all forms of music. The Hard Rock Blues with Country and Jazz sound of The Allman Brothers’ was defined as “Southern Rock”. With “Idlewild South” The Allman Brothers totally transcended the Southern Rock category and showed everyone their superior compositions and mastery of musicianship and laid down some of the most sophisticated, yet stone rockin’ Blues heard.
IDLEWILD SOUTH – All songs by Gregg Allman, except where noted. Side one:Revival (Dickey Betts) 4:05 Still in the ambient throes of being the “Love Generation”, this song was a spiritually-rousing reminder that “Love is everywhere.” Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’ 3:31 Bottleneck virtuosity! Midnight Rider (Allman, Robert Payne) 3:00 An instant classic; lyrics, music, title, all worked together, and a great road trip track, as everyone considered themselves Midnight Riders. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (Betts) 6:56 Epic! A definite Classic!
Side two:Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon) 4:57 Many greats have covered this song but 00individual’s personal favorite is right here, a whompin’ strong wallop of Blues. Please Call Home 4:02 This is the Blues: tuggin’ at heartstrings, hittin’ those soul chords, lamentin’ love’s loss, or, maybe that call will come, and if not, then Leave My Blues at Home 4:17
The Allman Brothers had a distinct edge with one of Rock’s top vocalists and keyboardists in Greg Allman. This was a voice that could soulfully tear your heart out and turn a mellow mournful growl into a thunderous Rock force that could levitate the whole band. His song-writing is classic Southern Blues Deluxe, with a natural extension of what was before that displayed a supernatural exhibition of the growth within Rock.
Duane Allman was seen as a peer by Jimi Hendrix (it’s nice to know that a Guitar God like Jimi sat in awe of Duane’s guitar playing) and certainly Eric Clapton was wowed as evidenced by Duane’s guitar contribution on Clapton’s Derek and the Dominoes’ “Layla and other Love Songs”
91
Legend: Duane’s “busted”, cupping weed he scored during the photo shoot as others laugh.
double album. Duane – lead, rhythm or slide guitar on most of the tracks, Berry Oakley – bass guitar, vocals on Hoochie Coochie Man, and harmony vocals on Midnight Rider, Jai Johanny Johanson – drums, congas, timbales, percussion and Butch Trucks – drums, timpani – the Rhythm base was Rock ‘n’ Roll solid. And with Dickey Betts, lead guitar and composer,
The Allman Brothers were righteous! This is a solid high watermark Classic in Rock.
Ironic Note: The Allman Brothers Band rehearsed/played in a local cemetery and instead of “dedicating” the song to the real woman of Bett’s’ affection (who was Boz Scaggs’ girlfriend at the time) Betts used the name of a woman who was buried there, one Elizabeth Reed. In a somewhat spooky coincidence, not too far away from Reed’s grave lie the graves of Duane Allman and Barry Oakley, both killed in motorcycle accidents and both buried in the cemetery they loved to play in – Gregg Allman joined them on June 3, 2017 for some afterlife jammin’.
92
THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN – HOLLYWOOD DREAM -Track SD 8264 – October 1970
Here’s a terrific really cool and unique album that has always been an infectious favorite of 00individual’s and contains one of the most iconic and historic singles of the whole rebellious ’60s and early ’70s; Something In The Air! But actually every track is great and has the quality of upon repeated listenings to become more and more likable until the whole album is a pure pleasure to hear. Pete Townshend produced for his former chauffer, John “Speedy” Keen.
THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN
(a totally cool band name) John “Speedy” Keen – lead vocals, drums, percussion, conga, acoustic guitar, gong,
glockenspiel. Except the Dylan cover, Keen wrote all of the tracks on the album!
Andy Newman – piano, organ, glockenspiel, soprano and bass saxophone, oboe, tin whistle, cor anglais, Bengali flutes, hand bell, Japanese battle cymbal, sleigh bells, Indian finger cymbals, Chinese temple block, vocals.
Pete Townshend (Bijou Drains) – bass
Jimmy McCulloch – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, maracas, wood block, and backing vocals. Jimmy was creating amazing guitar at 16 years old on this “Hollywood Dream” album before becoming lead guitarist for Paul McCartney’s band, Wings. Jimmy died at 26 under an “open verdict”; many consider foul-play.
HOLLYWOOD DREAM: Hollywood #1 – 3:20, The Reason – 4:05, Open the Door, Homer (Bob Dylan) – 3:00, Look Around – 2:59, Accidents – 9:40, Wild Country – 4:14, When I Think – 3:06, The Old Cornmill – 3:58, I Don’t Know – 3:44, Hollywood Dream (Instrumental) (Jimmy McCulloch, Jack McCulloch) – 3:06, Hollywood #2 – 2:54, Something in the Air – 3:54.
In the historic year of 1969, one thee most eccentric and quirky films of all time was released, “The Magic Christian” – a cult film if there ever was one. This is the totally irreverent story of the richest man in the world, Peter Sellers, and his adopted son, Ringo Starr, and their free-spirited adventures of causally toppling the establishment’s values, morals, and traditions while having a ton o’ fun. The film hosts many top stars of the day in cameos and ends with one of the most memorable scenes – getting it ready for you: Something in the Air. 93
SAVOY BROWN – LOOKING IN – Parrot PAS 71042 – October 1970
Savoy Brown’s “Looking In” captured a perfect feeling and mood of late 1970; along with Humble Pie’s A&M label debut album, these two were played an obscene amount of times.
Both had that world-class combo of irresistible slower Blues and superb hard rockin’ Blues, great vocals and a timely groove.
The Tribe 00individual ran with back then were all into England’s Savoy Brown (Blues Band) from the early album “Getting to the Point” on up through “Hellbound Train”.
Besides “Looking In”, the albums “A Step Further” and “Blue Matter” were excellent “vibe” albums that really defined the era. Although this incarnation of Savoy Brown did not have the gritty soul vocals of Chris Youlden; Lonesome Dave provided an excellent vocal transition. A true Gem among the massive amount of Rock releases of 1970, “Looking In” delivered sublime licks, hooks and riffs throughout on this infectious album.
Gypsy 0:57, Poor Girl 4:05, Money Can’t Save Your Soul 5:30, Sunday Night 5:22, Looking In 5:16 Take It Easy 5:40, Sitting An’ Thinking 2:50, Leavin’ Again 8:26, Romanoff 1:00.
94
After “Looking In” the majority of the band; Roger Earl – drums, Tone Stevens – bass, and Dave Peverett -guitar, split from founder and lead guitarist Kim Simmonds to form FOGHAT, with Rod Price taking the lead/ slide guitar. Simmonds continued on with Savoy Brown.
FOGHAT – Bearsville - BR 2077
This 1972 album was another instant Rockin’ fun classic sounding very much like a perfect follow-up to “Looking In” and they even recorded that album’s extended Hard Rock Blues track Leaving Again (Again).
“I Just Want to Make Love to You” (Willie Dixon) – 4:21 Trouble, Trouble (Dave Peverett) – 3:20 Leavin’ Again (Again!) (Peverett, Tony Stevens) – 3:36 Fool’s Hall of Fame (Peverett) – 2:58 Sarah Lee (Peverett, Rod Price) – 4:36 Highway (Killing Me) (Peverett, Price) – 3:51 Maybelline (Chuck Berry) – 3:33 A Hole to Hide In” (Peverett, Price, Roger Earl) – 4:06 Gotta Get to Know You (D. Malone, A. Williams) – 7:44
00individual was on a random road trip north of L.A. with two good friends and arrived in San Francisco to serendipitously find out that Savoy Brown and Humble Pie were playing at the Fillmore West that evening, December 04, 1970 – see page 17. Their road trip funds were tight and in order to buy the tickets at $3.00 each they had to budget and sacrifice food so that they had enough gas money for their return trip to L.A. But they always brought along enough weed, because, “Weed will get you through times of no cash, better than cash will get you through times of no weed!”
And while on the subject of Weed, there is no better Connection than a Tumbleweed Connection – courtesy of Elton John . . .
95
ELTON JOHN – TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION – Uni 73096 – October 30, 1970
Around March of 1971, after ten months of Free-Form Hippie Shenanigans financed by savings from his art department job; 00individual had just turned twenty and moved-in with his girl-friend to a nice little duplex on the border of Westchester and Inglewood near LAX.
He drove and delivered the L.A. Times newspaper from a distributor in Hawthorne to Los Angeles International Airport terminals as a graveyard job and during the day made candles with his good buddy, and then sold them to local retailers and department stores. They made candles in wooden troughs of sand and listened to Elton John, Carol King, Little Feat, the Doobie Brothers, and other “new” bands that were in the mix with classic Hendrix, Cream, and the Doors – this was the totally cool world of FM radio stations, and KPPC specifically.
Elton John’s “Tumbleweed Connection” had been out for a few months and was getting airplay. Elton is a Rocker through and through, no doubt, but back then he was seen as this brilliant vocalist and musician/composer more in the Pop Rock groove of The Beatles.
96
Like Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” in ’67 and the Band’s “Music from Big Pink” in ’68, Elton took an Old West/Civil War concept and developed one of the most interesting and unique albums of his career. The fact that Elton and his Brit lyricist counter-part Bernie Taupin could evoke the authentic feelings about and from those early American times through infectious rockin’ tunes is truly amazing AND there’s not a weak track on the entire album.
It’s amazing at how humans have a knack for musical memory. While the exact duplication in one’s head of entire songs is really nothing compared to the brain’s true capacity and ability; “Tumbleweed Connection” is one of those albums where all of the words and music come back immediately as a catalyst for ambient and specific memories of that time period.
The title “Tumbleweed Connection” denotes the Western theme in a clever play on the ever important Counter-Culture “weed connection”; and one of 00individual’s “connections” was through his L.A. Times newspaper co-worker. He’d usually buy a pound of Marijuana from their Candle Factory profits, sell lids, reinvest in candle supplies and have a nice stash leftover
to smoke and enjoy the sounds of Tumbleweed Connection.
Elton John has made some of the most memorable and popular music for decades with solid rockers mixed in with his heart-rending ballads and sung with a remarkably unique voice.
He has become an industry unto himself and a great humanitarian; Music Lovers everywhere are fortunate to have had Elton John in their lives. For 00individual it’s all about this little album from a truly amazing artist; Elton John – Tumbleweed Connection: Ballad of a Well-Known Gun 4:59, Come Down in Time 3:25,
Country Comfort 5:06, Son of Your Father 3:48, My Father’s Gun 6:20, Where to Now St. Peter?, 4:11, Love Song (Lesley Duncan) 3:41, Amoreena 5:00, Talking Old Soldiers 4:06,
and the great rockin’ finale of Burn Down the Mission 6:22.
97
.
