The THIRD 100 from 1971. #1: Echoes (1 Viewer)

[wikkidpissah]

That’s an interesting life choice. Do you know whatever happened to that guy?

no. the place got busted within a yr, but i dont believe he bore serious consequence. he was that kinda guy - without his accent & helmet, you'd firstoff wanna get up in his #### but always eventually said to yourself "why am i even bothering". i think even the authorities went that way. but Skinner's Crash was a significant part of the memory hall of what few classmates i associated with in the convening years. my only real dealing with him was hustling gin - which i'd done since i was 10 at my uncle's Social Club - on acid at his parents' house. it is soooo cool pushing a discard into your hand that makes a run when youre hallucinating - it often would trail into the sun.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

The only traffic worth sitting in. I could look it up, but how many songs off Low Spark were drafted in the previous 1971 countdowns?

Three. Tim had the title track and Bracie had Hidden Treasure and Rock and Roll Stew.

 

[rockaction]

 i hope i can do this caricature justice. there was this greasy loser dood in my school, using the fact that he was largely unsupervised at home (space to makeout with your chick - we werent old enuff to drive yet - or enjoy some contraband was rare in those days) to glomm onto a lot of social scenes. apparently, after i ran away, some drug dealers used his place for a deal and somehow it all went hinky and this kid ended up with a pile of drugs with no one left to contend its ownership. guy was soooo stoopit that having the perfect cover at home no longer worked for him and he quit school and used his bounty to rent a floor of an abandoned warehouse and turn it into his Factory. when i returned home, everybody kept tellin me i had to check out Skinner's crash down on Water St. of course, i'd been out in the widewildworld, so my bar was a little higher, but it was little more than loosely-cordoned, springbare couches & mattresses, lotsa losers lookin for someone to cut and an actual reason why, large amounts of drugs that had been stepped on more than a nerd's face and the VIP Room - more couches with black&white stag films running constantly and this Skinner kid presiding over it all. apparently, he'd decided that Marc Bolan was the epitome of personhood and gone glam as a result. iirc, there was even an accent involved. cant hear a TRex song without flashing back to 40s porn clattering on a 16mm projector, the stench of ditchweed and and a skeezix in robes & a Patton helmet as HippieKing of Beverly.

Single-groove porn mother####ers. What is to be done? 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

57. Sweet Seasons -- Carole King (from Music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Se5rXbrsw

Tapestry was such a huge phenomenon that it's easy to forget that, much to wikkid's chagrin, Carole King put out a second album in 1971, Music. It pales in comparison to Tapestry -- what doesn't? -- and suffers from thin production, but its first three tracks and its last one are up there with anything she put out. My favorite of these is Sweet Seasons, which is driven by an infectious piano riff and accented by perfect electric guitar and organ fills. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

57. Sweet Seasons -- Carole King (from Music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Se5rXbrsw

Tapestry was such a huge phenomenon that it's easy to forget that, much to wikkid's chagrin, Carole King put out a second album in 1971, Music. It pales in comparison to Tapestry -- what doesn't? -- and suffers from thin production, but its first three tracks and its last one are up there with anything she put out. My favorite of these is Sweet Seasons, which is driven by an infectious piano riff and accented by perfect electric guitar and organ fills. 

there it is - the flat & reaching empowerment whine which still kills me softly though not even my resolve is stiff any longer. thank you for that...

 

[Pip's Invitation]

56. Bad 'N Ruin -- Faces (from Long Player)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QCDTrGpClE

Every Picture Tells a Story was not the only outstanding album of 1971 that Rod Stewart was involved with. This gritty, sweaty rocker which kicks off Long Player is as good as anything off EPTAS. I love how Stewart's vocal and Ron Wood's guitar both seem to collapse in exhaustion at the end. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

55. Luv N' Haight -- Sly and the Family Stone (from There's a Riot Goin' On)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPJZ4UMm7E

The first seconds of the opening track of Riot tells you this is going to be a VERY different record from what Sly and co. did before. Funkier, less slick and darker lyrically than their previous output, the record reflects disillusionment with the state of society, and of the band. (Sly recorded much of the album by himself, and a rotating cast of others came into help out at times, but there was no one sober in charge to document any of it, so there remains confusion even today about who exactly played what.) 

Luv N' Haight deploys some of the touches of old, such as soaring harmonies and call-and-response vocals, but features a dense, sludgy arrangement that was massively influential on future funk and hip-hop records. It's highly memorable in many ways. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

54. Strawberry Letter 23 -- Shuggie Otis (from Freedom Flight)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbhIZe3smr0

This song came into mass consciousness a few years later when The Brothers Johnson had a hit cover, but Shuggie Otis' original is every bit as good -- indeed, The Brothers Johnsons' version sticks pretty close to it. The main differences are that Otis' vocal is more in the forefront and there isn't that mid-to-late-70s style production sheen. Even the iconic guitar solo is almost exactly the same except that's it's longer and leads into a fadeout instead of a reprise of the main melody. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

53. Did You Go Downtown -- Joy of Cooking (from Joy of Cooking) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nivn5Ag_4bY

52. Charity Ball -- Fanny (from Charity Ball)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYRryKleIUo

Female-led rock bands didn't have it easy in the early '70s. Joy of Cooking and Fanny both released excellent work that didn't get the acclaim or popularity it deserved. 

Joy of Cooking, a quintet led by singer/pianist Toni Brown and singer/guitarist Terry Garthwaite, blended rock with folk, blues and jazz to create an appealing melange that is much-imitated today but generated only a cult following at the time. The best song on their self-titled debut album, Did You Go Downtown, winds here and there with rollicking piano, bongo breakdowns and scat singing. It's quite the enjoyable journey.

Fanny, one of the first all-female hard rock bands, had fine songwriting chops and were an incendiary live band, to the point where their male contemporaries weren't always enthusiastic about playing on bills with them -- being blown off the stage by women was not something most men could handle in 1971. Their label never really knew what to do with them -- guitarist June Millington quit when the band was asked to wear revealing designer outfits onstage -- and they never rose to the A-list, though they managed to score two top 40 singles. The first of those was the title track from their second album, a forthright rocker with grinding riffage, unison vocals -- all four members sang -- and a blood-pumping melody. That should have been the gateway to major success, but record-company incompetence and interpersonal difficulties brought the band to an end by the mid-70s. As the years have gone by, they have been acknowledged as an influence on subsequent female rock bands from the Runaways to the Go-Gos to the Bangles, and all of this is being addressed in the documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock, which just opened in NYC, will come to other cities and video on demand later this year, and will appear on PBS in 2023. 

 

[Uruk-Hai]

54. Strawberry Letter 23 -- Shuggie Otis (from Freedom Flight)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbhIZe3smr0

This song came into mass consciousness a few years later when The Brothers Johnson had a hit cover, but Shuggie Otis' original is every bit as good -- indeed, The Brothers Johnsons' version sticks pretty close to it. The main differences are that Otis' vocal is more in the forefront and there isn't that mid-to-late-70s style production sheen. Even the iconic guitar solo is almost exactly the same except that's it's longer and leads into a fadeout instead of a reprise of the main melody. 

I prefer the Johnson's version, but that's mainly because I was 15 when it came out and it's entwined in that time/place/song knot that you get at certain times in your life. You're right about Quincy Jones' production - he throttled that thing to within an inch of its life.

Shuggie's version is a little looser and his singing is loopier. For some reason, it always reminds me of a Dead song. I don't hold that against it, though 

 

[Uruk-Hai]

53. Did You Go Downtown -- Joy of Cooking (from Joy of Cooking) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nivn5Ag_4bY

52. Charity Ball -- Fanny (from Charity Ball)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYRryKleIUo

Female-led rock bands didn't have it easy in the early '70s. Joy of Cooking and Fanny both released excellent work that didn't get the acclaim or popularity it deserved. 

Joy of Cooking, a quintet led by singer/pianist Toni Brown and singer/guitarist Terry Garthwaite, blended rock with folk, blues and jazz to create an appealing melange that is much-imitated today but generated only a cult following at the time. The best song on their self-titled debut album, Did You Go Downtown, winds here and there with rollicking piano, bongo breakdowns and scat singing. It's quite the enjoyable journey.

Fanny, one of the first all-female hard rock bands, had fine songwriting chops and were an incendiary live band, to the point where their male contemporaries weren't always enthusiastic about playing on bills with them -- being blown off the stage by women was not something most men could handle in 1971. Their label never really knew what to do with them -- guitarist June Millington quit when the band was asked to wear revealing designer outfits onstage -- and they never rose to the A-list, though they managed to score two top 40 singles. The first of those was the title track from their second album, a forthright rocker with grinding riffage, unison vocals -- all four members sang -- and a blood-pumping melody. That should have been the gateway to major success, but record-company incompetence and interpersonal difficulties brought the band to an end by the mid-70s. As the years have gone by, they have been acknowledged as an influence on subsequent female rock bands from the Runaways to the Go-Gos to the Bangles, and all of this is being addressed in the documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock, which just opened in NYC, will come to other cities and video on demand later this year, and will appear on PBS in 2023. 

Agree with all of this.

JoC would be a bedrock presence on listener-supported type of radio stations (like your WXPN) today.  

If you think about it, bump this when that Fanny documentary comes out. I'd really like to see that. I believe they backed Streisand on some songs, didn't they?

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Agree with all of this.

JoC would be a bedrock presence on listener-supported type of radio stations (like your WXPN) today.  

If you think about it, bump this when that Fanny documentary comes out. I'd really like to see that. I believe they backed Streisand on some songs, didn't they?

I’ll try to remember. I would certainly like to catch it when I can. Some members played on two Streisand albums in the early 70s. Keyboardist/singer Nickey Barclay also played with Joe Cocker, and was part of the 20-piece band featured on the Mad Dogs and Englishmen live album.

Joy of Cooking would totally be played heavily on WXPN if they came up today.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

51. What About Me -- Quicksilver Messenger Service (released as a single)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBvjXhUSUpU

Quicksilver's fifth album, What About Me, was released in late 1970, but its title track wasn't released as a single until early 1971, and became one of their few songs to chart, just barely, though it garnered regular play on FM stations. The music blends psychedelic rock with bongos, flutes and horns into a pleasant stew, and the lyrics give the middle finger to The Man (especially those Men behind the Vietnam War), which was well deserved at the time:

I smoke marijuana
But I can't get behind your wars
And most of what I do believe
Is against most of your laws

I'm a fugitive from injustice
But I'm goin' to be free
Cause your rules and regulations
They don't do the thing for me

 

[Uruk-Hai]

51. What About Me -- Quicksilver Messenger Service (released as a single)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBvjXhUSUpU

Quicksilver's fifth album, What About Me, was released in late 1970, but its title track wasn't released as a single until early 1971, and became one of their few songs to chart, just barely, though it garnered regular play on FM stations. The music blends psychedelic rock with bongos, flutes and horns into a pleasant stew, and the lyrics give the middle finger to The Man (especially those Men behind the Vietnam War), which was well deserved at the time:

I smoke marijuana
But I can't get behind your wars
And most of what I do believe
Is against most of your laws

I'm a fugitive from injustice
But I'm goin' to be free
Cause your rules and regulations
They don't do the thing for me

I still hear this one every once in a while. It's this and "Fresh Air" and nothing else, though. 

I think that - besides Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and CCR (none of whom were hard-core Haight groups) - QMS was the best band to come out of the Bay Area scene in the '60s. They just couldn't ever really get any momentum going due to bad luck and self-inflicted wounds.

 

[FairWarning]

I still hear this one every once in a while. It's this and "Fresh Air" and nothing else, though. 

I think that - besides Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and CCR (none of whom were hard-core Haight groups) - QMS was the best band to come out of the Bay Area scene in the '60s. They just couldn't ever really get any momentum going due to bad luck and self-inflicted wounds.

XM still has it on Deep Cuts from time to time.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I still hear this one every once in a while. It's this and "Fresh Air" and nothing else, though. 

I think that - besides Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and CCR (none of whom were hard-core Haight groups) - QMS was the best band to come out of the Bay Area scene in the '60s. They just couldn't ever really get any momentum going due to bad luck and self-inflicted wounds.

I haven’t explored the QMS catalog deeply, but I do think John Cipollina deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Jerry Garcia and Carlos Santana as far as guitar prowess goes.

 

[rockaction]

I think that - besides Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, and CCR (none of whom were hard-core Haight groups) - QMS was the best band to come out of the Bay Area scene in the '60s. They just couldn't ever really get any momentum going due to bad luck and self-inflicted wounds.

Gave a brief listen to the QMS album. Didn't draw me in. So I looked up bands from San Francisco from the era. Got me going down a Beau Brummels path even though they were more garage than Haight-Ashbury. Also checked out some Electric Flag and would have listened to some Moby Grape, but they're not really on Spotify except for '69. 

I dig the Beau Brummels. Probably best I leave it there as I often can't get into that acid-soaked, folk-psychedelia tip. Chocolate Watchband is another excellent garage act from the '64-'68 era that I dig. 

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Gave a brief listen to the QMS album. Didn't draw me in. So I looked up bands from San Francisco from the era. Got me going down a Beau Brummels path even though they were more garage than Haight-Ashbury. Also checked out some Electric Flag and would have listened to some Moby Grape, but they're not really on Spotify except for '69. 

I dig the Beau Brummels. Probably best I leave it there as I often can't get into that acid-soaked, folk-psychedelia tip. Chocolate Watchband is another excellent garage act from the '64-'68 era that I dig. 

IIRC, Sly Stone produced some of the Brummels' records. They were really good.

Moby Grape was another interesting band, like QMS, who kept imploding and never caught on. Instead, we got stuck with the Airplane, Big Brother, and the Dead as the flag bearers. We lost.

 

[BobbyLayne]

66. Heart of the Sunrise -- Yes (from Fragile)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5XWOOOCg-U

As I said in the first post, 1971 was one of the peak years for prog, and there is no better example of that than Yes. In the early 70s they released three straight albums that were massively popular -- and remain so today -- and are considered some of the best that prog had to offer. The first two, The Yes Album and Fragile, came out in '71, but they were ignored on the previous two lists except for their most popular songs, I've Seen All Good People and Roundabout, respectively. So there's gonna be some Yes representation on this list.

Fragile's closer Heart of the Sunrise is at first propelled by a thunderous bass riff from Chris Squire but then drifts in and out of various motifs and time signatures; some of these motifs appear more than once throughout the 10-plus minutes of the track. It's a great example of what the band could do at the height of their powers before their heads got a little too far into the clouds. 

Rarely left their set list. Saw them for the first time 6 years after Fragile, again in the mid 80s and then early 90s. Fairly certain this was played all three times. One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands.

 

[rockaction]

IIRC, Sly Stone produced some of the Brummels' records. They were really good.

Yes, he did. I just read that, actually. And the Beau Brummels are really good, it seems. At least to a cursory listen to these ears. I've heard their hits before. Very pleasant and rockin'.  

The Chocolate Watchband is boffo. Covering Chuck Berry right now. Sounds good. Makes me want to listen to Chuck Berry, actually. 

 

[BobbyLayne]

@Pip's Invitation small detail but thanks for linking the song post on page 1. Makes it so much easier.

For some reason people often don’t put any hot links in post one, or they only link song on Spotify / YouTube. I’m both interested in the writeup and having the option to listen. 

It’s a little more effort for you but much appreciated!

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Yes, he did. I just read that, actually. And the Beau Brummels are really good, it seems. At least to a cursory listen to these ears. I've heard their hits before. Very pleasant and rockin'.  

The Chocolate Watchband is boffo. Covering Chuck Berry right now. Sounds good. Makes me want to listen to Chuck Berry, actually. 

There are far worse things in life than listening to the Father of R&R. Enjoy!

I don't know much about the Watch Band. I'll have to dig into them. I always get them mixed up in my pea-brain with the NE psychedelic bands out of Boston & NYC.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

IIRC, Sly Stone produced some of the Brummels' records. They were really good.

Moby Grape was another interesting band, like QMS, who kept imploding and never caught on. Instead, we got stuck with the Airplane, Big Brother, and the Dead as the flag bearers. We lost.

I only know one or two of the Beau Brummells songs, I should probably check them out further.

Moby Grape, I’ve always loved since I grabbed a compilation that came out when I was in college. The self-titled debut and ‘69 are two of the best albums of their era.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

@Pip's Invitation small detail but thanks for linking the song post on page 1. Makes it so much easier.

For some reason people often don’t put any hot links in post one, or they only link song on Spotify / YouTube. I’m both interested in the writeup and having the option to listen. 

It’s a little more effort for you but much appreciated!

@krista4coached me on that before I did my first countdown here (the Neil one).

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Pip, I have the Sleepy Hollow program on XPN playing while sitting on my deck this morning. Love that show on the weekends.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Pip, I have the Sleepy Hollow program on XPN playing while sitting on my deck this morning. Love that show on the weekends.

I unfortunately had it on in the car early this morning because I had to take my wife to the ER. She has chronic pancreatitis and appears to have had a flare-up.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I unfortunately had it on in the car early this morning because I had to take my wife to the ER. She has chronic pancreatitis and appears to have had a flare-up.

Oh ####, man. I hope she heals up soon.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Oh ####, man. I hope she heals up soon.

Thanks. She seems to be doing better and they think she’ll be able to go home today.

I’m at our swim club with my son, so I probably won’t be able to post more entries until tonight because it’s a pain to do on the phone.

@wikkidpissahwill be pleased to know that Carole King just came on over the PA system at the swim club.

 

[wikkidpissah]

@wikkidpissahwill be pleased to know that Carole King just came on over the PA system at the swim club.

still messin with folks' strokes...

JoC was my cautionary tale with female acts (my specialty) backinaday on the greater necessity of songwriting and establishing a personality for women in the biz. two beautiful talents who were great fun live but smudges on vinyl because of their jamband egalitarian ways.

hope your Gladys is back in fine fettle soonest

 

[Pip's Invitation]

50. Indian Sunset -- Elton John (from Madman Across the Water)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmTx_K_m4fU

The lyrics may be a little too History 101 (and contain some inaccuracies), but the music is dramatic and shifting, paying off in spades. John's piano and Paul Buckmaster's orchestration play off each other brilliantly.

"Nobody knows that song at all, it's an obscure track from Madman Across the Water, and it gets a standing ovation every night," John said in 2011. "It's a six-minute movie in a song."
 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

49. Death May Be Your Santa Claus -- Mott the Hoople (from Brain Capers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4WiXAySuk

This qualifies because while Brain Capers wasn't released in the US until January 1972, it came out in the UK in November 1971. Mott was conceived as "The Rolling Stones fronted by Bob Dylan" and this track may come the closest to that original vision. Its scrappiness not only hints at the Stones, but at the punk sounds that would surface a few years later. It's a great example of "controlled chaos," one of my favorite approaches to rock and roll. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

50. Indian Sunset -- Elton John (from Madman Across the Water)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmTx_K_m4fU

The lyrics may be a little too History 101 (and contain some inaccuracies), but the music is dramatic and shifting, paying off in spades. John's piano and Paul Buckmaster's orchestration play off each other brilliantly.

"Nobody knows that song at all, it's an obscure track from Madman Across the Water, and it gets a standing ovation every night," John said in 2011. "It's a six-minute movie in a song."
 

49. Death May Be Your Santa Claus -- Mott the Hoople (from Brain Capers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4WiXAySuk

This qualifies because while Brain Capers wasn't released in the US until January 1972, it came out in the UK in November 1971. Mott was conceived as "The Rolling Stones fronted by Bob Dylan" and this track may come the closest to that original vision. Its scrappiness not only hints at the Stones, put at the punk sounds that would surface a few years later. It's a great example of "controlled chaos," one of my favorite approaches to rock and roll. 

ah, the tunes that get lost in great season. the #250s would be #25s in many other years. hope that's not the only deepdive Madman entry - Elton's best and one of the most cinematic records ever made.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

66. Heart of the Sunrise -- Yes (from Fragile)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5XWOOOCg-U

As I said in the first post, 1971 was one of the peak years for prog, and there is no better example of that than Yes. In the early 70s they released three straight albums that were massively popular -- and remain so today -- and are considered some of the best that prog had to offer. The first two, The Yes Album and Fragile, came out in '71, but they were ignored on the previous two lists except for their most popular songs, I've Seen All Good People and Roundabout, respectively. So there's gonna be some Yes representation on this list.

Fragile's closer Heart of the Sunrise is at first propelled by a thunderous bass riff from Chris Squire but then drifts in and out of various motifs and time signatures; some of these motifs appear more than once throughout the 10-plus minutes of the track. It's a great example of what the band could do at the height of their powers before their heads got a little too far into the clouds. 

 How did I miss this?  

How much do I love Yes? 

my annual Yes wall painting post ...my parents kept up for years.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

48. Anticipation -- Carly Simon (from Anticipation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELWbkyOVPQ

My parents had most of Simon's '70s albums, and most of their other records were classical, so I had more exposure to her music in that decade than that of most artists. There will be another reflection of this later. 

She became a star in 1971, which saw the release of her first two albums that yielded two massive hit singles. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be from her debut album, which appeared on Tim's list, was one. This, the title track of her second album, was the other. 

You're So Vain is (rightly) considered her best and signature song these days, but in the '70s, this song may have been even more ubiquitous, thanks especially to its appearance in Heinz ketchup commercials which tried to turn the difficulty of the old ketchup bottles into a positive. 

Anticipation is as good an example as anything to summarize Simon's appeal -- emotional but literate lyrics backed with superb melodies and arrangements. 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

 its appearance in a Heinz ketchup commercial which tried to turn the difficulty of the old ketchup bottles into a positive. 

Good song, but one in a series of songs ruined for me by being used in ads that seemed to run in every show I watched back then.  On top of that Carly doesn't even seem the type to use ketchup.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

47. Blue Money -- Van Morrison (released as a single)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dECPWpAlgaU

Van does Dylan? The cadence of the verses reminds me of Subterranean Homesick Blues, among other Dylan compositions. What makes it very much not a Dylan song, and very much one of Van's better songs, is the infectious wordless chorus and a horn/electric piano riff that sounds an awful lot like the Sesame Street theme song. 

The song comes from the November 1970 release His Band and Street Choir but qualifies because it was released as a single in early 1971 and hit the top 40. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

46. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart -- Bee Gees (from Trafalgar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apZpmfLkeOE

45. Surf's Up -- The Beach Boys (from Surf's Up)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v75f5W6LgLM

This post will cover the best contributions of the year from two vaunted brother acts.

1971 was a transitional year for Bee Gees. Robin Gibb had rejoined his brothers after having left them in 1969 following creative differences over their Odessa album. And they found they'd kind of been left behind in the UK scene. Neither How Can You Mend a Broken Heart nor the album it came from charted there. But in the US, it was a different story, as How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, boasting a gorgeous melody, became their first No. 1 on our side of the pond. The verses, sung by Robin, are in keeping with their old style, but the chorus, part of which was sung in a high register (but not falsetto) by Barry, offers a hint of some of the elements that would make them the biggest act on the planet later in the decade. 

The Surf's Up album and single was heralded as a comeback for the Beach Boys (thanks in part to a marketing effort pushing them as "relevant"), but in the case of the title track, it was just a case of picking up where they left off. Surf's Up was supposed to be the centerpiece of Smile, which was supposed to be the follow-up album to Pet Sounds -- and Brian Wilson's response to the advances the Beatles had made in the interim. As we all know, Brian had a nervous breakdown and the band wasn't able to finish the album. But, likely in response to the effort to reestablish the band as a major act, Brian gave permission for the song, which he had co-written with Van Dyke Parks, to be finished in 1971. Some of the backing tracks recorded in 1966 remained, and some vocals and Moog synthesizer parts were overdubbed. Despite being just over 4 minutes long, the song has three movements, two of which were from 1966 (the second of which is a piano demo from Brian with minimal overdubs) and the third of which was a reprise of another song on Surf's Up, Child Is the Father to the Man. The words concern a man who has a spiritual awakening at a concert hall and receives enlightenment in the form of a children's song (the Child Is the Father to the Man part). Brian had intended for the middle part to be accompanied by a string arrangement; this appeared in 2004 when he released his version of Smile. Musically, the song constantly modulates keys and conveys a level of complexity that rock bands weren't thought to be capable of -- which is why it sometimes gets categorized as prog. Its multi-part structure and modulations influenced numerous ambitious artists of the 70s and beyond. Despite failing to chart when it was released as a single in '71, the song regularly appears on "best songs of the '70s" and "best songs of the Beach Boys" lists. 

 

[zamboni]

Love seeing Quicksilver here. As I've stated in various threads over the years, they (and the aforementioned Moby Grape) get a bit lost when discussions come among the late '60s Haight bands. Just a great band and John Cipollina was as good a guitarist as anyone back then. Happy Trails from a few years earlier is a jam band delight. 

this song may have been even more ubiquitous, thanks especially to its appearance in Heinz ketchup commercials which tried to turn the difficulty of the old ketchup bottles into a positive. 

Quickly noticed that was young Corey Feldman as the kid there.

45. Surf's Up -- The Beach Boys (from Surf's Up)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v75f5W6LgLM

Top three Beach Boys tune for me. A gem.  

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Quickly noticed that was young Corey Feldman as the kid there.

I hadn't noticed because every kid actor wore their hair like that in the late '70s. I do remember him from the TV version of The Bad News Bears, though. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

44. Strange Kind of Woman -- Deep Purple (from Fireball (US version))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-3aGqIsOg

Strange Kind of Woman is one of the best examples of melodic hard rock from the year, and helped Deep Purple get a footing in the US (on FM stations; it didn't chart here), which would pay off in spades the following year. Released in advance of Fireball, it was a standalone single in the UK, as was common over there, but was included on Fireball in the US, as having the single be part of the album was becoming the common practice over here. 

 

[zamboni]

I hadn't noticed because every kid actor wore their hair like that in the late '70s. I do remember him from the TV version of The Bad News Bears, though. 

Yup - he was in that train wreck of a series. Mentioned that in a post in a different thread from a few months back.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

43. Watching the River Flow -- Bob Dylan (from Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRlojtDdEs

Watching the River Flow is one of Dylan's more meta songs. He had decreased his activity since his motorcycle accident and the material he did put out between then and 1971 was very inward-looking. Many people were clamoring for Dylan to return to writing protest songs, or at least incorporating the events of the day into his songs again. In 1971 he released two songs that thumbed his nose at those people and told them in no uncertain terms that he was not going to do that.

People were definitely not expecting Dylan to open a song with:

What's the matter with me
I don't have much to say

The other one will appear later. Ironically, Dylan did release a protest song in 1971. It was called George Jackson, it wasn't very good, and it's been mostly forgotten. 

Watching the River Flow, despite being a departure from his traditional lyrical concerns, was a return to the blues-rock of his classic mid-60s records, and cooks pretty hard. It was released as a single in mid-1971 and appeared on the Greatest Hits Vol. II compilation that came out toward the end of the year.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

43. Watching the River Flow -- Bob Dylan (from Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II)

not much of a Dylan fan - but I appreciate the impact of his music and influence and like the song 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

not much of a Dylan fan - but I appreciate the impact of his music and influence and like the song 

Not long ago I heard the song on WXPN and the DJ mentioned that some other musician, I forget who, had said it was the only Dylan song that they liked. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

42. Chain Letter -- Todd Rundgren (from Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL4cZ6aJohw

Rundgren's second solo album, as its name implies, is heavy on Laura Nyro-inspired ballads, two of which, Be Nice to Me and A Long Time, A Long Way to Go, were moderately successful singles. But its best song is a different beast. Chain Letter starts out as another ballad, but slowly speeds up and adds vocals and instruments in a glorious display of majesty. By the end, Todd is wailing on guitar while multiple tracked versions of himself provide blissful harmonies. I've always been amused that the line (one of the last in the song) "For you see it's really twice this long" comes about halfway through the running time. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Next we get to two bands whose debut albums barely qualified because they were released in the UK in late '71 but not in the US until early '72. 

41. 10538 Overture -- Electric Light Orchestra (from Electric Light Orchestra aka No Answer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKqGGYHjXKU

40. Sandman -- America (from America)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHT7v7Awezg

For their first album, ELO had almost exactly the same lineup as the final incarnation of The Move, and went to great lengths to differentiate themselves, combining rock and orchestration after being inspired by the Beatles. Most of the first album (which was never intended to have a name, but whose US version got titled No Answer when the band's US label called its UK label to ask that question, did not get a response, and the note saying "No Answer" was mistaken for the album title) is too baroque for my tastes, but 10538 Overture, its first track and lead single, is a fantastic example of orchestral psych rock. As lovely as the cellos and horns sound, the top-notch riffage and melody are what carry the song. Jeff Lynne and co would soon refine this blend to become one of the most commercially successful bands of the '70s. 

America also had their debut come out in the UK months before it did in the US. It was where they were based at the time -- the three principals were sons of US military officers and had lived in Europe for most of their lives; they named the band after their "homeland" that they didn't actually know much about. (They would relocate to California after their debut became a hit and fit in just fine with the West Coast rock vibe of the time.) Everyone knows A Horse With No Name, which made Tim's list, but the best song on their debut is Sandman, whose chorus melody and harmonies are as strong as anything CSN(Y) ever came up with, and whose fuzz guitar backing and jammy coda show that there was more to the band than pretty boys with acoustic guitars. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

48. Anticipation -- Carly Simon (from Anticipation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELWbkyOVPQ

My parents had most of Simon's '70s albums, and most of their other records were classical, so I had more exposure to her music in that decade than that of most artists. There will be another reflection of this later. 

She became a star in 1971, which saw the release of her first two albums that yielded two massive hit singles. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be from her debut album, which appeared on Tim's list, was one. This, the title track of her second album, was the other. 

You're So Vain is (rightly) considered her best and signature song these days, but in the '70s, this song may have been even more ubiquitous, thanks especially to its appearance in Heinz ketchup commercials which tried to turn the difficulty of the old ketchup bottles into a positive. 

Anticipation is as good an example as anything to summarize Simon's appeal -- emotional but literate lyrics backed with superb melodies and arrangements. 

never owned a Simon record - too anticeptic, though her songs work immensely well in movies - but had the rare pleasure to watch the Simon Sisters and Taylor Brothers sing together many times @ JT's house (where i believe Miss Simon still lives) on Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard. Taylor had a house on top of a bluff  and his brothers Liv & Alex had houses below the main one and it seemed an eternal party bounced between the three dwellings. I had a ladyfriend who was the Vineyard's unofficial drug courier and was her body man for several visits (once an emergency call on a helicopter - dont think my gonads have fully descended from that experience 46 yrs later) to the island. three things i most remember are the the Taylors & Simons (Carly started out in a duet with her sister) singing all together on several occasions, the invasion of the SNL people upon that party scene and, mostly, that Carly is one of those beautiful people who is actually more beautiful in person hanging out than she is when all dooded up. almost impossible to take one's eyes off her (Madonna was like that, too, in her Mudd Club days).

 

[Pip's Invitation]

True story: A Horse with No Name was such a Neil Young soundalike that his own mother thought it was one of his songs.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

39. Harlem -- Bill Withers (from Just as I Am)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1gSWK86o-4

Withers' debut album showed a fully formed talent right off the bat. Which wasn't entirely surprising, as he was 31 when it came out and had worked for years performing and shopping around his songs while working at automotive and aircraft assembly plants (and serving in the Navy prior to that.) He became a star when Ain't No Sunshine, which appeared on Tim's list, became a big hit, but the album opener Harlem is nearly as good, grabbing your attention and making you wanna stomp your feet from the getgo. The tempo slightly increases and more instruments come in with each verse to convey the feeling that the proceedings are building into a frenzy -- it's the R&B equivalent of the "controlled chaos" approach I love so much. This reached its apex a few years later on the 13-minute version that closes Withers' Live at Carnegie Hall, which I consider to be one of the best tracks ever released on a live album. 

 

[Binky The Doormat]

39. Harlem -- Bill Withers (from Just as I Am)

@Uruk-Hai will love this one ...