CONFESSIONS OF A BOOMER- MY TEN FAVOURITE ALBUMS

 

INTRODUCTION

Lists are bloody lists and about as useful as a retired teacher with nothing much to do. But I’m sufficiently compulsive enough to peg a few albums that I’ve really liked over the decades in anticipation of someone asserting that I’m a clown so that an argument will break out and a few more minutes will be gainfully occupied here in the departure lounge.

As you’ll soon see, I’ve cheated in limiting ‘the ten’ to ten but I hope you’ll understand. Any sort of plagiarism has either been carefully concealed or is unintentional.

I’ve also been thoroughly destroyed in the process of articulating my ten. Upon completion of the task, I asked my wife if she could nominate any of my picks, sight unseen. After she successfully tagged six of my first seven choices, I immediately called a halt to the proceedings, went to the bathroom, looked at my image in the mirror and came to the uncomfortable conclusion that I wasn’t the brooding, opaque and complex persona that I’ve been promoting over the last decade.

THE HOLY TEN

Caravanserai- Santana (1972)

After three critically acclaimed and highly successful albums, Santana (the band) began to self-destruct, Santana (Carlos) started listening to John Coltrane and Miles Davis and delving into eastern religions/ cultures and amidst all of this- almost despite it- Caravanserai was born.

The album is a masterpiece which features Santana’s recognisable fusion of rock with Afro-Latin rhythms but with the added elements of developing jazz and eastern themes.

Caravanserai should be listened to more as a complete work rather than as a collection of separate tunes. It still does it for me even though it was released almost fifty years ago.

Other/ Allied:

·         Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), Santana 3 (1971), Welcome (1973) and Borboletta (1974) are all good listening and demonstrate Santana’s developing style. Much of the band’s stuff from the mid-70s is trash and pales in comparison to the initial years of the group.

·         Lotus (1975)- Japanese release of the group’s live performances through Japan in 1973 is also magnificent. I saw them at the Hordern Pavilion immediately prior to the Jap tour and this three album set captures the show that they put on.

·         Fillmore: The last days (1972)- Features two live Santana performances that are better than their Woodstock appearance.

·         Live at the Fillmore (1997)- A double CD release of a 1968 concert before they made it big. Great stuff from the then ‘Santana Blues Band’.

·         Birds of Fire (1973): Mahavishnu Orchestra- Carlos Santana collaborated frequently with John McLaughlin during the early 1970s and this is an example of the latter’s extraordinary work with his own band. Should be played really loud.

·         Return to Forever (1972): Chick Corea- Primarily a jazz work, this album features a lot of musicians who also trod the boards in the various Santana personnel configurations of the seventies. Well worth a listen in its own right.

·         Open your eyes, you can fly (1976): Flora Purim- A sporadic Santana vocalist during the mid-70s who spent some time in the boob on dope charges and still has a five octave voice range today. This album is pure San Francisco mission material and it’s tops.

The twelve dreams of Dr Sardonicus- Spirit (1970)

Spirit formed in 1967 in Los Angeles. Little known outside of the States, their music can best be described as ‘…an ambitious, eclectic blend of hard rock, blues, country folk and pre-fusion jazz.’ (Rolling Stone Encyclopaedia of Rock and Roll, 1995).

The twelve dreams of Dr Sardonicus features all of the above influences with the extra infusion of psychedelia and ‘theatre’. A staggering work.

I have this theory that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers must have listened to a lot of old Spirit albums…… but it’s only a theory.

Other/ Allied:

·         Spirit (1968)- Their self-titled debut album is also well worth a listen.

·         Time circle (1968-1972): Spirit (1991)- This double CD gives a good overview of the band’s output during their formative period.

·         In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968): Iron Butterfly- The definitive psychedelic trip. Overplayed, somewhat bloated but still really good.

Hejira- Joni Mitchell (1976)

In my opinion, Joni Mitchell is the greatest singer/ songwriter of the last sixty years. Hejira, in large part, epitomises the ‘Joni meets jazz’ phase of her career, yet most of the album features her familiar universal themes and distinctive acoustic guitar chord work.

Joni dreams of marriage, black crows and meanderings down the freeway of life in a work that is both haunting and powerful.

Other/ Allied:

·         All Mitchell’s back catalogue albums are great but Court and spark (1974), Wild things run fast (1982) and Turbulent Indigo (1994) are each worth full investigation.

·         I attended Mitchell’s Sydney concert tour in 1983 and have a bootleg tape of that show from the Capitol Theatre. The dope smoke that was wafting around the foyer at intermission turned the pile into a hippie wonderland and the show featured hard rock arrangements of many of her hits. A very impressive set.

P.S. Mitchell, in a Rolling Stone interview from the late 90s, made the humble claim that she was the ‘……. Rembrandt of modern pop music.’ I think she may be right.

Inside out- John Martyn (1973)

Martyn made his name as a folk singer in London during the 1960s but traded in his folk guitar for a telecaster, discovered the echoplex, feedback and other effects pedals and began to produce some stunning albums in the period 1970-1975.

Inside out straddles both his folk and power-riff worlds. Martyn’s preoccupation with ‘love’ is a feature of this album as is a dark, jazzy undertone. A frantic but compelling album.

Other/ Allied:

·         Martyn was, at best, a cult figure outside of the U.K. A lot of his work has only been released in Britain but I’d recommend listening to Solid air (1973), Grace and danger (1980) and Cooltide (1991) as a reasonable cross section.

·         Sweet little mysteries: The Island anthology (1994) is an adequate 2 CD synopsis of his career up to the mid-1990s.

·         Bull in a ming vase (1977): Roy Harper- Like Martyn, Roy Harper is a nutter (he reportedly almost died from respiratory infection following his giving of mouth to mouth resuscitation to a crook goat) who started off as a folk singer but had some of his songs recorded by Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. David Gilmour and Jimmy Page made contributions to this really interesting album. Harper’s When an old cricketer leaves the crease (1975) is also worthy of investigation.

·         Heart Attack and Vine (1980): Tom Waits- Perhaps the New World’s answer to Martyn, Waits’ 1980 album demonstrates the genius of this performer. Waits was born to sing in a saloon.

Electric ladyland- Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)

Jimi Hendrix, at worst, redefined the playing of the electric guitar in rock music. At best, Hendrix was an astounding creative force in the pop music idiom.

Electric ladyland highlights Hendrix at his most potent in the latter role. Rock, R&B, soul, delta blues and psychedelia all get chest bibs on this 75 minute epic but the album, as an entity, is never confined by any of these labels.

‘For pure experimental genius, melodic flair, conceptual vision and instrumental brilliance, Electric ladyland is a prime contender for the status of rock’s greatest album.’ (John Robertson, 1995)

A meandering masterpiece that still stands on the top shelf.

 Other/ Allied:

·         Hendrix only recorded four albums in his career (i.e. Are you experienced?- 1967, Axis: Bold as love- 1967, Electric ladyland and Band of gypsies- 1970) as well as Smash hits- 1968. Up till the mid-1990s, there were well over 100 Hendrix titles available so it’s very much a case of the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to analysing his discography. Apart from his studio albums above, I like The Jimi Hendrix concerts (1982) and The Jimi Hendrix Experience boxed edition (2000) as worthy stuff to listen to.

·         It’s trite to compare Hendrix with Stevie Ray Vaughan (as much for the latter as for the former), but Vaughan’s Couldn’t stand the weather (1984) is a tour de force in terms of Texan boogie-blues and he does a most acceptable version of ‘Voodoo Chile- Slight return’ which warrants his inclusion here.

·         5 (1998): Lenny Kravitz- He looks like Hendrix, he sounds like Hendrix but 5 is also a work of its own in terms of retro-psychedelia and the crucial art of being cool. A bloody great album by a gifted performer.

Led Zeppelin II- Led Zeppelin (1969)

The formation of Led Zeppelin in 1968 marked almost a decade of intense interest in electric blues amongst a significant section of British musicians. In fact, there were more blues-based bands playing in, and around, London in the mid-60s than there were in America.

Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album (1969) demonstrates the group’s blues base and sledgehammer rhythm section but Led Zeppelin II is a work where hard electric blues meets pop and it is this marriage that distinguishes the album. Led Zeppelin II is a tighter and more powerful album than any other produced by Zeppelin and that includes the revered Led Zeppelin IV (1971). I love the big statement!

Other/ Allied:

·         Remasters (1990): Led Zeppelin- A good synopsis of the band’s career stuff.

·         BBC sessions (1997): Led Zeppelin- A classic collection of live Zeppelin material. One of the best BBC releases and they’ve been some great ones.

·         Truth (1968): Jeff Beck- Another outstanding example of electric blues having sex with pop. Still one of my all-time favourite albums and I bought it when I was only 14 years old, so it’s stood the test of time as far as I’m concerned.

·         Fire and water (1970): Free- Arguably, the tightest band ever to play rock music. Fire and water attests to the influence of blues in the British underground of the late 60s. I saw Free play at Randwick Racecourse in 1971 and they were untouchable on stage.

·         On the boards (1970): Taste- Just a sensational album. No further comment.

·         Disraeli gears (1967): Cream- The best known and most successful of the electric blues-inspired British bands. Disraeli gears is an eloquent, yet hard hitting, example of the genre but virtually all of Cream’s albums are worthy of reference.

The low spark of high heeled boys- Traffic (1971)

The other great influence on the developing British underground scene of the late 60s was jazz. Whilst the electric blues bands drew largely on the Black American legacy of the 40s, 50s and 60s, the progressive rock musicians didn’t have to look nearly so far. The art colleges around London were full of Graham Bond Organisation devotees.

Traffic occupied a central position in the vanguard of this movement which continued on until the onset of punk a decade later.

The low spark of high heeled boys is a significant album in that the connection between jazz and pop is clearly seen. Steve Winwood had already been associated with Spencer Davis, Blind Faith and Lionel Hampton and these influences are evident on this remarkable record.

Other/ Allied:

·         This was (1968): Jethro Tull- A classic album from Tull. In addition, I love Stand up (1969). Jethro Tull’s initial albums demonstrate the diverse influences that the progressive rock bands were susceptible to. Forget Thick as a brick (1972) and Aqualung (1971)…the previous ones mentioned are far better.

·         Selling England by the pound (1973): Genesis- Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins were both in Genesis during its formative years and this is one of the band’s finest albums. Seconds out (1977) is also worth a listen.

·         Blind Faith’s self-titled 1969 album is a beaut- Blues meets jazz meets pop in a trilogy of triumph.

Closer- Joy Division (1980)

A macabre but compelling album from this post-punk band. It’s definitely a work that has dark themes spotlighting the futility of life. With the release of Closer, the group also included the single Love will tear us apart as a bonus.

Other/ Allied:

·         Early Cure albums deserve serious consideration. Seventeen seconds (1980) and Faith (1981) are stunners and were produced well before The Cure transformed themselves into quirky, cute Goths for the mass pop markets.

·         The colour of spring (1986): Talk Talk- Right-leaning Brit band that used synthesisers to create stark musical landscapes. Similar to Joy Division but you have to wade through the Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ ideology that permeates the album. It is worth the irritation, however.

·         New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982): Simple Minds- A fine example of primo New Romantic rump. Sensational stuff from a band that, like The Cure, lost its way once it became famous.

·         Remain in light (1980): Talking Heads- The only U.S. band, and album, to even come close to Britain’s superiority in post-punk groups and music.

East West- The Butterfield Blues Band (1966)

Although outnumbered by the British blues bands, there were some noteworthy American releases of white blues in the 60s. East West is a seminal album in that it couples electric blues with the developing hippie ethos that characterised America’s west coast at the time.

 Other/ Allied:

·         The live adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (1968): Various artists- Just a stunner.

·         Super session (1968): Various artists- Bloomfield, Kooper and Stephen Stills run amok with blues and pop standards.

·         Any stuff from John Mayall is also good for a listen. The blues breakers (1966) and Jazz-blues fusion (1972) are great. Mayall is more a propagandist for the blues than an innovator but he’s still worth the effort.

Aja- Steely Dan (1977)

Primarily a studio band, Steely Dan’s attention to detail and precise arrangements make Aja one of the truly great fusion albums of the 70s. Not a dud song nor even a weak moment on the entire record.

Other/ Allied:

·         The Nightfly (1982): Donald Fagan- More of the same from one of Steely Dan’s founders.

·         The Crusaders also led the movement towards fusion in the seventies. Those southern knights (1976) and Free as the wind (1977) are excellent examples of their work.

ON THE BENCH

·         Kick out the jams (1969): MC5- A punk album that predates The Sex Pistols and The Ramones by a decade. A frenetic masterwork from a bunch of Detroit lads.

·         Time’s up (1990): Living Colour- A breathtaking album from this New York band. Arguably the greatest black-American rock group of all time, Living Colour’s Time’s up is a pot-pourri of styles with an incendiary back beat.

·         Two Miles Davis albums, Kind of blue (1959) and Bitches brew (1969) also feature on my list. The former gives a clue as to why the latter became an important fusion album for the 60s and 70s.

·         Superunknown (1994): Soundgarden- No comment needed.

·         Burnt weeny sandwich (1972)- A prolific producer of records, Zappa was right on the money with this 1972 effort. I saw The Mothers perform in 1975 and they were sensational.