Hi, 1970
Not a good year for me, having been in the US only a few years. Madison's West High made sure to get rid of its class, like all the other classes, ready or not. I had graduated in 1969, but unffortunately I still spoke no English and was forced to take a SAT, and the results were disastrous in the English portion, which hurt me all my life. There was no interest in making sure the kid could learn the language to be able to study, and the school was more worried about all those "radicals" than they were in teaching the kids.
That year, the only things that kept me going was the music by many folks that I liked to listen to, in between working at the Rathskeller in the Student Union, the nice benefit of which gave me an identity card that would help me see foreigh films in there every week. It was my salvation at the time, enjoying a Truffaut, Bunuel, Antonioni, Fellini and some others, when the rest of life was frustrating and not enjoyable in Madison, and I could not stay in school. Simply had no idea what the instructors were saying, and they were not interested in helping.
So, my old faithful:
Procol Harum, Beatles, Crosby Stills and Nash, Creedence, Jimi, Janis, Simon and Garfunkel, Led Zeppelin 2, Ides of March, Chicago 2 and Steve Miller Band's first album. These kept me sane as much as possible until the family moved to California in 1971.
Things I remember hearing and enjoying mostly on a couple of parties here and there and some on the radio.
Led Zeppelin 3
Van Morrison - Moondance
Guess Who -- didn't like the American Woman song at all ... was way off base and nasty!
Switched on Bach -- the worst rendition of Bach ever done, but it made classical music fun, which was not always ... appreciated. Got even worse when this was used in Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick and the fun went out of that thing. Not the synthesizer itself and its work and experimental music as I had already heard a lot of wierd and different things, and had already heard Beaver and Krause, though I did not "get it" at the time.
Beatles -- Let it Be -- I always thought that this was one of the best rock music movies ever made. It is a gross shame that this is being horded by someone that is trying to wait for the Beatles to die so they do not have to pay them any more ... remember that movies have found a way to cheat on the copyright laws on music! This is a massive thing on 4 folks and the fun and the everything, and yet ... they can play and then some! The outtakes on many bootlegs had many things in them that were never acknowledged or appreciated by many people, and later a couple of those pieces, were nastily corrupted and changed to make them more "flowery" and "better" and it came off as crap.
Magic Christian -- My salvation in total weirdness and fun. I did not get that English humor but things like Harvey doing a strip tease Hamlet was hilarious and the ultimate finger to academia ... and it was fun to see and enjoy. Thunderclap Newman is forever etched in my mind, though I did not know anything about Monty Python or The Goons at the time! Peter Sellers yes!
Janis Joplin -- I cried when she died. I put on "Cheap Thrills" and heard it again and promised to never play the album again. I never did play it again ... I didn't have to ... I had the feeling inside. And then a couple of years ago I saw the ****ed up Woodstock re-edit and it had Janis in there and they cut her off because she was going nuts ... she wasn't going nuts ... she was screaming her need ... and it was ignored. It was a scary moment but one that could be brought back by a band that respected her and helped her ... they let her die that moment and I didn't like it. I finally heard this again last year when I finally got the CD version of this album. And "Ball and Chain" is on my top ever, and the lead guitar in there makes all "progressive" players look and sound like mere scale toners!
Black Sabbath -- not impressed and thought the whole thing was fake and just another Hollywood movie show. It still is!
Badfinger -- also present in Magic Christian
John Mayall and Fairport Convention -- Heard them the same night at a friend's party. It was on that night I fell in love with Sandy Denny's voice! Had not heard "Leige & Leif" yet either!
Joan Baez -- I did not like her a whole lot. Maybe it was my male pride (whatever that is) but an alpha female just was not appealing to me and I thought she was just a big talker and not a do'er and this became true later.
All Things Must Pass - GH. Not much need to be said though I have to admit that I did not "get" those long jam things. They did not seem that good, or just play on a note or chord.
Spirit -- This release of theirs became one of my favorite albums of all time. Though I got it for one song mostly, there were way too many pieces in there that were too damn good and off the chart. Of all these albums, this one is still playable beginning to end, today, and it's almost like the album never has aged. It's that good!
(Later) - Quatermass -- the album that I bought for the cover in 1971 in Santa Barbara ... and it was magnificent and I loved it all the way through. Still soudns fantastic and not out ot time or place or date, even though too many folks think the keyboard style is long gone. Nope ... it's too good to think that in my book! This was the album that also got me started chasing ALL the Harvest label material starting with Kevin Ayers, Roy Harper and Edgar Broughton Band.
(Later) Jefferson Airplane and Paul/Grace. It took me a bit to enjoy these better and I love the middle period by this band.
Voila!
post edited by Moshkiae - 2012/04/10 13:00:07