Just SOME OF the work released in 1972

"Led Zeppelin IV" (the "ZoSo" album) - Led Zeppelin
arguably one of - if not THE most influential album of the 70's
(released November 08th, 1971, but still receiving, uh ... let's just say, EXTREMELY HEAVY AIRPLAY)

"Harvest" - Neil Young

"Hunky Dory"  AND  "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars" - David Bowie

"Pearl" - Janis Joplin 
(released in January of 1971, but still receiving heavy airplay)

"Fragile" AND "Close To The Edge" - Yes

"Trilogy" - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

"Demons and Wizards" - Uriah Heep

"A Good Feelin' To Know" - Poco

"Carney" - Leon Russell

"Jackson Browne" (aka "Saturate Before Using") - 
Jackson Browne

"Aerosmith" - Aerosmith

"Blue Oyster Cult" - Blue Oyster Cult

"Eat A Peach" - The Allman Brothers Band

"Never A Dull Moment" - Rod Stewart

"Machine Head" - Deep Purple

"Master of Reality" - Black Sabbath ('71, but still heavily played)

"Seven Separate Fools" - Three Dog Night

"Can't Buy A Thrill" - Steely Dan

"Son of Schmilsson" - Nilsson
"Nilsson Schmilsson," from 1971, was still receiving heavy airplay, too. "Jump Into The Fire" and "Coconut" were big hits for him, but "Without You" - actually a remake from the band Badfinger - was easily his top hit from that album. It may have been his biggest hit, ever - I'm really not quite sure, but I would guess that it was. We really got a kick out of him - especially his swearing and bizzarre lyrics - when we were kids. Figures that Harry Nilsson was a friend of John Lennon's ... Something else that's notable is that the electronic sound effect device known as an "echoplex" was relatively new at this time. Nilsson makes really good use of it throughout both of these albums, most especially on the song "Jump Into The Fire."

"America" and "Homecoming" - America
Their debut album, "America," released in January 1972, was still receiving lots of airplay when "Homecoming" was released at year's end. "I Need You," "A Horse With No Name," and "Sandman" were probably the biggest hits off of the debut album. Actually, "A Horse With No Name" went to Number 1. As the DJ at the 8th grade dance, I must have played "I Need You" a dozen times. Guess that I wasn't the only one who was crazy about that song ... Although I usually went to concerts by bands with a distinctly "harder edge," the America concert I saw in the mid-70's was a really kewl experience, too. They had the whole stage made up as if you were in their living room - potted palms, an Oriental carpet, a grand piano. It was really cool. The opening act, Eric Carmen, formerly of The Raspberries, played lots of really mellow music, too - including his then-hit "All By Myself." Then all of a sudden the stage was dark except for one spot on the guitarist, and he starting pounding out the chords to the Raspberries' hit "Go All The Way." It was awesome. And, yes - they also did "Overnight Sensation" from the Raspberries catalog.

"Something/ Anything" - Todd Rundgren
What else can be said? This guy's another musical friggin' genius. Todd went on to do an incredible amount of production work over the years, too. Notable feats after this album were his production of Grand Funk's "We're An American Band" - easily one of America's best hard rock band's best albums, as well as the production work for Meat Loaf's classic "Bat Out Of Hell" album. "We Gotta Get You A Woman," his first hit, made the Top 20. This was from his debut album, "Runt," which he'd recorded a year earlier, in 1971. "We Gotta Get You A Woman" was still receiving occassional airplay at this time, too. "Hello It's Me" became a Top 5, 20-week hit, and "I Saw The Light" went to #16. I made an open-reel DJ tape for the skating rink where we used to hang out sometimes, including Rundgren's material, and his stuff was easily some of the most requested. Rundgren also produced the Badfinger album, "Straight Up," in 1972.
 

"Straight Up" - Badfinger
I finally got to see these Brits at a rock festival in New Hampshire, with my friend Timmy, in the late 80's. Well, two of the four were original members, the other 2 having killed themselves during the years between. This album spawned what were most likely their best known tunes, "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day." An earlier album, "No Dice," from 1970, contained their well-known hit "No Matter What" and their song "Without You," of which Harry Nilsson did a remake in 1971/ 72. Nilsson's version of "Without You" topped the charts worldwide, and is one of the all-time best selling singles. "No Matter What" was released worldwide in late 1970, and became a Top Ten success everywhere. It's a definitive "classic" rock single, in and of itself. "Come And Get It" was another earlier hit for them, from their album "Magic Christian Music."
 

"All The Young Dudes" - Mott The Hoople
I was recently talking with our new guitarist, Shaun, and his dad about how I remember driving around with my ex-girlfriend, Sylvia, in her Mustang - I was 15 and she was 17 - and listening to Alice Cooper's Killer 8-track, and the 8-track tape of this album by Mott the Hoople. I remember that she told me about the ONE Strawberrys records and tapes store which was around here at that time - in Providence. We went there, and I bought this 8-track tape that day. Seems funny now, because Strawberrys are everywhere. Man - SO MANY YEARS have passed since then. We had met through our grandmothers - they were best friends for years. They're both gone now, I have NO IDEA what ever became of Sylvia, and frankly I'm just about the same age as Shaun's parents - now, THAT's a scary thought ! Not really ...  but remember kiddies - play safe, but ENJOY YOUTH while you're in it - because all too soon it passes us ALL by. About the only thing we can do about "preventing" that natural progression from happening is to NEVER let ourselves "grow old" in spirit. And I do my best at that EVERY DAY ...

So - take my advice - be responsible as an adult, but NEVER let those "adult responsibilities" tie you down ...

"School's Out" - Alice Cooper
As if more needs to be said - the quintessential anti-authority adolescent anthem ... Hell, and we were still constantly listening to the "Killer" album (released in 1971) and "Love It To Death" (1971, also). These guys were freaky long before Marilyn Manson was even thought of. And we loved it. I think I scared my parents back then, too. Through "Billion Dollar Babies" with it's song "Dead Babies" and by the time that "Muscle Of Love" was released
(1974) ... It took a lot of whining and bitching, but at some point during the earlier years of high school - this time frame I'm talking about - I stopped cutting my hair, too. I tended to go out with "older" girls - a couple or a few years older than me. One thing I remember about listening to Alice Cooper was driving around in my girlfriend Sylvia's Mustang and listening to the 8-track tape of "Killer" all the time. Incidentally, she was the first one to ever take me to a "Strawberries" record store. The only one anywhere around here at that time was in Providence. I bought Mott The Hoople's "All The Young Dudes" tape that day, 
I remember.

"Seventh Sojourn" - The Moody Blues

"Spinners" - The Spinners
This album included such future hits as "I'll Be Around," "One Of A Kind (Love Affair)," and "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love ..."
 
 

"Heart of Gold," "Old Man," and "Alabama" - Neil Young

"Me and Bobby McGee," "Cry Baby," "Get It While You Can" and "Mercedes Benz" - Janis Joplin
(released posthumously in January of 1971, but still receiving heavy airplay - understandably - 
since her death at age 27, in a Los Angeles, California motel in October of 1970)

"Roundabout" and "I've Seen All Good People" - Yes

"From The Beginning" - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

"Tight Rope" and "This Masquerade" - Leon Russell

"Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" - Cher
(released in 1971, but definitely still playing on the radio)

"Dream On," "Make it," "Somebody," "Mama Kin" - Aerosmith

"You Wear It Well," "I'd Rather Go Blind," "Angel" - Rod Stewart

"Smoke On The Water," "Highway Star," "Space Truckin'" - 
Deep Purple

"Sweet Leaf," "Children of the Grave" - Black Sabbath

"Black and White," "Pieces of April" - Three Dog Night

"Do It Again" and "Reeling In The Years" - Steely Dan

"Spaceman" - Nilsson

"Ventura Highway," "To Each His Own," "Only In Your Heart," - America

"Hello It's Me," and "I Saw The Light" - Todd Rundgren

"I'm Just A Singer In A Rock And Roll Band" AND "Isn't Life Strange" - The Moody Blues
 
 
 
 

"Do Ya," one of the last songs recorded by the British band The Move became a minor bottom of the charts hit in 1972 in America. Jeff Lynne (later of The Travelling Wilburys) and Bev Bevan left The Move to form the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which had a string of hits in the 1970's - including a resurrected "Do Ya," which finally became a significant hit for them, in 1977.

"(Do You Want)  To Go On"  ---  Lyrics

One observation which one could make - one thing that this style definitely utilizes - and I will use the word again - is DYNAMICS. Just one example of something that this style makes the listener realize (or not, maybe - I don't know - maybe just us musicians notice it) is the concept that SILENCE can be just as effective and dynamic as the most blaringly loud chord strike. SILENCE in between the passages. SILENCE, then incredibly loud power chords ...

If you want to experience what I'm talking about, listen to Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" (1973) or just about any of Yes' material - especially the mid-70's stuff - but specifically "The Gates of Delirium" or even "Sound Chaser" off of their "Relayer" album. Take a really good listen to "Relayer." This album - either loved or hated by most who heard it, and a definite departure from YES' previous "sound" - was full of "industrial" elements, way before its time.

I should mention, now that I think of it, that Jethro Tull had been using this style - a good example is on their "Thick As A Brick" album. Of course, other instances can be found throughout much of the music of this time period.

This is something which was seriously (most likely deliberately) lacking in the music of the 80's - with the exception of some of the metal bands of that time. Even in the 90's, in the earlier alternative and even grunge - but bands like Soundgarden and
The Smashing Pumpkins knew enough to resurrect it.

Hearing songs like "Killer Queen" by Queen, for the first time, and such as "Lady" by Styx were pretty impressive the first time around especially, as well. I can still recall first hearing each of these songs and being just totally "blown away" by them. The feeling really was, "WOW ! Who is THIS ?!!!"

It seemed as if the 1970's brought on an onslaught of bands - some already existing, some not - who just tried to outdo everyone else. Who tried to write and record something even more musically dynamic and complex than whatever was being done by everyone else - than whatever had already been composed, recorded and released. (This was also to occur with the stage shows of many of the bands of that time ... At one point, Queen was touring with a huge crown above the stage in which the lighting system was encased. I remember that someone interviewing him asked Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury - God rest him - what they did with the crown after the tour, and he quipped that they sold it to ELO - the Electric Light Orchestra. ELO toured with a huge flying saucer over the stage - like a year or two after Queen had used the crown - and this was funny when he said this, because you could envision the crown having been turned into a flying saucer, with a few modifications. Of course, what Mercury was really jabbing them about was a lack of originality ...) In my opionion though, despite the fact that many other bands used really kewl stage sets, nothing compared to the likes of YES. And their set for the "RELAYER" TOUR in 1974, was probably the most intricate by far, EVER.

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"Do It Again"
by
Steely Dan