In 1966, after two years of domination by British groups, American rock and pop music was making a comeback. It was a year in which a number of new or relatively new American groups were to dominate the charts during 1966 and after. 1966 was also the year that I bought my first two singles, “These Boots Were Made for Walkin” by Nancy Sinatra and “The Ballad of the Green Berets” by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. However, my listening to WABC radio top 20 countdowns was on temporary hiatus in the Spring of 1966 as I discovered Strat-O-Matic baseball.
New Groups Lead the Way
While folk rock was to dominate American music in 1966, continuing Bob Dylan’s and The Byrds’ successes in 1965, it was a series of new groups or newly popular groups that were to dominate American folk/rock/pop in 1966. Nonetheless, Bob Dylan and the Byrds were still important in 1966. Dylan released his masterpiece, the Blonde on Blonde album which included three particularly noteworthy songs “I Want You”, “Just Like a Women” and the rock anthem “Rainy Day Women #12&35” which intoned “everybody must get stoned!”, but then his recording year was cut short by a motorcycle accident. The Byrds meanwhile had their most electric hit “Eight Miles High” (#14 May), a great rock song with excellent lead guitar work from Roger McGuinn. The song’s chart position may have been hurt by the radio bans across several states due to the obvious drug references (though it was denied by the group at the time). Though more sedate and less popular, “Mr. Spaceman” (#36 October) was also an excellent folk-rock song.
In early January 1966, Simon and Garfunkel had their first top 4o single reach no. 1 on the charts “The Sounds of Silence”. It was the beginning of five years of enormous commercial success for the folk-rock duo which began as Tom & Jerry with “Hey Schoolgirl” in 1957 (which peaked at #49 on the charts). “Sounds of Silence” was originally on the duo’s unsuccessful Wednesday Morning 3 AM album released in late 1964 as an acoustic version, but was wisely remixed with electric guitar and drum tracks in late 1965 and released at the end of the year and reached #1 on the charts in January 1966. The sudden success of the song in early December 1965 convinced the record company that a new album was needed PRONTO and the group quickly recorded or re-recorded a number of songs, several of those that Simon had written while in England for a year on hiatus from the group in 1964-65. (These were included on the Paul Simon Songbook released in the UK in August 1965). The result was the Sounds of Silence album which was released in late January 1966.
Despite several flaws and under production from being recorded so quickly, I always enjoyed this album for its understated folk-rock sound. In addition to the superb title track “Sounds of Silence”, the album also has another up-tempo folk-rock song “I Am a Rock” the second best song on the album and a #3 charting single in June. But all of the tracks are solid. My other favorites include “We’ve Got a Groovy Thing Going” (another up-tempo folk rocker), the interesting “Richard Cory” and the beautiful “April Come She Will”. Interestingly, the British version of the album also has one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs “Homeward Bound” ( a song I would often hum to myself while waiting for the train – “I’m sitting in the railway station, got a ticket for my destination” during my college years). This beautiful song was Simon and Garfunkel’s second single (reaching #5 in March) but was not on any U.S. album until later in 1966.
Simon and Garfunkel spent much more time on their next album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme which wasn’t released until October. In addition to the aforementioned “Homeward Bound”, highlights of this album include the beautifully musical and lyrical “Scarborough Fair”, the simple and happy “59th Street Bridge Song, Feelin’ Groovy” (later successfully covered by Harpers Bizarre in 1967), the achingly sad “Dangling Conversation”, the happy/sad “Cloudy” and the upbeat “Flowers Never Bend”. Obviously, I must also include the beautiful love song “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her” which was sung at our wedding some 30 years ago !
The Mamas and Papas debuted in 1966 with a fresh new folk-rock sound featuring wonderful vocal harmonies, leader John Phillips’ excellent song writing and the exquisite voice of Mama Cass. In early 1966, the group had its first major hit with arguably their best song “California Dreamin'” which was to become an anthem for the hippie movement heading Westward to California ( including the Mamas and Papas). Shortly thereafter the group released its first album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears which became one of my early album purchases. In addition to “California Dreamin'” the album also included another excellent song “Monday, Monday” the group’s most popular song and second single which hit #1 in May. The album featured several other original Phillips songs most notably “Go Where You Wanna Go” (later the first single by the 5th Dimension) as well as two very good remakes: Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem” and Lennon/McCartney’s ” I Call Your Name” .
The group never quite topped its success either commercially or critically of early 1966, though it did have two more excellent singles in 1966 which both hit #5 on the charts. “I Saw Her Again” was another superb Phillips composition with wonderful harmonies throughout and an error by Papa Denny Doherty (who began singing the last verse too soon) which was kept in the recording to great effect. ( Something I learned recently from Sirius XM 60s host Lou Simon) . In December, the group released , “Words of Love” another great song which featured the soaring vocals of Mama Cass.
The Lovin’ Spoonful first emerged in 1965 with the hit single “Do You Believe in Magic”. However, in 1966, the Lovin Spoonful had their best year commercially and musically with four top 10 hits. Once again it was John Sebastian’s songwriting and singing that led to their high quality music. “Daydream” which reached #2 in April 1966, was a wonderful folk rock song which masterfully conveyed a lazy but happy day “What a day for a daydream, custom-made for a day dreaming boy”. “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?” which also reached #2 in June was a deliciously good song, ( “did you ever have to finally decide, to say yes to one and let the other ones slide”) with Sebastian poking fun at himself and the love lives of rock stars in general.
“Summer in the City” was the group’s most popular single hitting #1 in August and was also my favorite by the group. It was co-written by John’s younger brother Mark who had been a junior-high school classmate of my sister a couple of years earlier. Lyrically, it wonderfully conveys summer heat in New York city (“Hot town summer in the city, back of neck feeling dirty and gritty…”). Musically, it was a decidedly different turn for the group being one of the group’s few true rock songs. So much so that when I saw John Sebastian solo performance in Central Park in the late 1970s and yelled out to him to do “Summer in the City” , he dutifully began the song, realized it wouldn’t work with acoustic guitar, and then quickly morphed into “Darling Be Home Soon” a folk-rock standard for the group. The fourth and final hit for the group in 1966 was “Rain on the Roof” a simple yet brilliant folk-rock love song which artfully conveyed being totally unfazed by being “caught up in a summer shower, maybe it will last for hours” with the one you love.
But the most commercially successful of the new American groups was a made-for-TV group , The Monkees, who beginning with the premiere of their show in September 1966, were the best-selling music act bar none. “Last Train to Clarksville” rose to #1 in late September, followed by “I’m Believer” which reached #1 in December. Their first album The Monkees spent 13 weeks at #1 and some 78 weeks on the album charts. The TV show was a major success. Both “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer” were good songs primarily because of the outside songwriting talent – Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart writing the former and Neil Diamond writing the latter. Mickey Dolenz had a distinctive singing voice that became the signature sound in these first two hits.
However, the Monkees were not the equals musically of so many of the other successful singer/songwriting groups such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Mamas and Papas, Simon and Garfunkel and Lovin’ Spoonful to name a few. For this they were highly criticized at the time and subject to rumors (e.g. “they don’t even play their own instruments”). To be sure, the Monkees were only adequate musicians, and did not write their own songs until guitarist Michael Nesmith emerged as a relatively talented songwriter writing a few of the Monkees songs (later penning “Different Drum” the first hit single of the Stone Poneys with lead singer Linda Ronstadt in early 1968). In fairness to the Monkees, filming a TV show in 1966 plus all the special appearances required working 12 hours a day almost seven days a week, so there was not a lot of time for practice.
In addition to the Mamas and Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, Lovin Spoonful and the Monkees, other new or relatively new folk, rock and pop groups helped lead the way in American music:
- The Association was to quickly become one of my favorite groups with two excellent singles, the up tempo “Along Comes Mary” and my favorite love song “Cherish” written by group leader Terry Kirkman which reached #1 in October . I even bought their first album later in 1967, which in addition to its first two hit singles, included several other good songs most notably “Enter the Young” and “Don’t Blame it on Me”.
- The Young Rascals had their first hit song in 1966 , the lively and utterly fun, “Good Lovin” (#1 in April). The song was a cover of the Olympic’s 1965 version of the song. But it was the Rascal’s upbeat rendition along with a great new blue-eyed, rock n’soul sound that made it the much better record. “Good Lovin” was an exception to the rule as virtually all the Rascals hits were largely driven by the prodigious songwriting talents of organist and vocalist Felix Cavaliere and vocalist Eddie Brigati. This included the under-appreciated “You Better Run” which reached #20 in July, (later covered by Pat Benatar in 1980). 1966 was to begin a three-year run of huge commercial success for the group.
- Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels blasted onto the scene with the excellent single “Jenny Take A Ride” (#10 January) . By November, the group charted with their best song with another medley , the rocking “Devil with the Blue Dress/ Good Golly Miss Molly” (#4 Nov.) . Though only a cover band, the unique rock-blues-soul sound of the group made their renditions irresistible.
- Paul Revere and the Raiders hit it big first in 1966 with their second single “Just Like Me”, a garage rock song which peaked at # 11 in January , but it was the group’s next two singles that were perhaps their best and most memorable . “Kicks” (May #4) and “Hungry” (July #6) . The former was an excellent Barry Mann/ Cynthia Weill anti-drug composition that has stood the test of time. “Kicks keep getting harder to find…” “Good Thing” their last single in 1966 (and the last high quality song by the group) entered the top forty in Mid-December and peaked at #4 in January. After a couple more successful hits in 1967, the group largely faded away (until it was reconstituted as the Raiders for the remake of “Indian Reservation” in 1971), its success limited by lack of any songwriting talent in the group or any particularly good musicianship.
- Gary Lewis and the Playboys– Continued their commercial success in 1966 with three more top ten hits in a row with “She’s Just My Style” (#3 Feb 1966), “Sure Gonna Miss Her” (#9 May 1966), and “Green Grass” (#8 July 1966). This represented the end of a streak of a total of SEVEN top 10s in a row. It was hard not to like the groups songs as they were always upbeat and happy, albeit simple. My favorite in 1966 was “Green Grass” which was a wonderful summer song, but I also loved “She’s Just My Style” which simply conveyed the great feeling of falling in love.
- Nancy Sinatra– Her first hit single “These Boots Were Made for Walkin” (#1 February) was one of the first two singles that I purchased and was her best. I also liked “Sugar Town” (#5 December).
Other favorites of mine from new or emerging groups or artists included:
- “See You In September”- The Happenings (#3 Sept) became the most popular cover group in the U.S. in 1966 when they covered the Tempos 1959 version of “See You in September” and turned it into their first single which soared to #3 in September. The Happenings had great harmonies and falsettos which made the song soar and made it one of my first single purchases.
- “Red Rubber Ball”– The Cyrkle (#2 July)had their first single with this folk-rock song which I found myself playing often after relationship breakups during college. “now I know your not the only starfish in the sea, if I never hear your name again, it’s all the same to me”. The song had a nice melody as well. The Cyrkle had a good follow-up song with “Turn Down Day” but after that not much more.
- “Elusive Butterfly”- Bob Lind (#5 Mar.)- Another excellent folk song. “Across my dreams with nets of wonder, I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love”
- “Time Wont Let Me”– The Outsiders (#5 Apr.) from Cleveland had their first and only major hit with this song. I still play this song a lot to this day. It is has a great melody, an upbeat tempo and seamlessly integrates brass instruments in the recording, long before Blood Sweat and Tears or Chicago did this in the late 1960s.
- “Black is Black” – Los Bravos (#4 Sept) from Spain was one of the first Latin rock groups to hit the charts with the simple rhythmic yet wonderful “Black is Black”. Though not technically “a one-hit wonder”, the group was never again to have a top 40 single.
- “Flowers on The Wall”- Statler Brothers (#4 Jan.) was the group’s first and only top 40 hit and was an excellent pure folk song with great lyrics “Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo. Now don’t tell me, “I’ve nothing to do”
- “I Fought the Law” -Bobby Fuller Four (#9 March) was the first and only hit of this Texas country-rock group. An excellent song with an irresistible hook “I fought the law and the law won…”
- “Walk Away Renee”- Left Banke (#5 Oct.)– a beautiful tenor love ballad by this new group from Brooklyn.
- Several new popular groups/songs came from the “garage rock” genre. My favorites in 1966 included:
- “Dirty Water”- Standells – ” I love that dirty water , oh Boston you’re my town”
- “Little Girl”- Syndicate of Sound– “Hey little girl, you don’t have to hide nothin’ no more”
- “96 Tears”- ? and the Mysterians– “I’m going to cry 96 Tears”
- “Psychotic Reaction”- Count Five – ” I can’t get your love, I can’t get a fraction, oh little girl psychotic reaction”
- “Gloria”-Shadows of Knight – Good cover of the Van Morrison song.
- “Lies” -Knickerbockers- Though not strictly garage rock (i.e. the song included saxophone), this first single was excellent though could do no better than #20 on the charts. “Lies, lies, breaking my heart!”
- “Little Red Riding Hood” – Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs – Again, not garage rock, more novelty rock, but a fun song nonetheless.
Beach Boys, Four Seasons, Rivers, Sinatra and other US Stalwarts
While new or relatively new groups were dominating American folk/rock/pop music in 1966, U.S. artists that had been around for several years or more still more than held their own. The Beach Boys had the best U.S. album of the year and arguably the most innovative pop song by the end of 1966. The year began inauspiciously enough for the group with their cover of the Regents song “Barbara Ann” which reached #2 in the US in February. While a very good rendition , the song was more a throwback to the Doo-wop era than anything innovative. However, by the late Spring evidence that Brian Wilson was working on something much more special when the single “Sloop John B” a brilliant remake of an old nautical song rose to #3 featuring unique instrumentation. Then by September the Beach Boys had another top ten song “Wouldn’t it be Nice” another unique sounding song with an excellent tune and lyrics. The b-side “God Only Knows” was even better and is without question the Beach Boys greatest love song and one of the best of the 1960s.
This double-sided hit plus Sloop John B fit well on the Pet Sounds album released in May. The album took almost a year to record, largely owing to Brian Wilson’s perfectionism and the highly complex sounds and instruments (e.g. harpsichord, Electro-Theremin, dog whistles, bicycle bells etc.) used. However, the album failed to sell as well as expected probably reflecting its deviation from past Beach Boys musical styles. In addition to the three above noted songs, it did contain some excellent songs my favorites being “I Know There’s an Answer”, “That’s Not Me” and “Caroline No”, the latter a beautiful, yet scary hint to Brian Wilson’s internal demons.
By December, the Beach Boys had another #1 song and my favorite by the group “Good Vibrations”. The song was developed during the course of the Pet Sounds studio work and actually took 8 months to record. Brian Wilson used a whole array of instruments such as cellos and string bass in the chorus and a number of exotic instruments such as the jaw harp (which produced the high-pitched “woo-hoo” sound). However, it was only when Mike Love worked with Brian to produce and merge in the more conventional chorus “Good, good, good, good vibrations, bop bop, excitations” that the song was fully formed. The song represented the pinnacle of the group’s success and remains critically acclaimed as one of the best songs of the 1960s.
The Four Seasons continued to have success in 1966 with four solid singles, three of them in the top 10. This included “Working My Way Back to You” (#9 in February); “Opus-17 -Don’t You Worry Bout Me” (#13 in June), “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (#9 in October) and “Tell it to the Rain” (reaching #10 in early January 1967). I continue to love virtually all of the Four Seasons songs (and bought both their Gold Vault of Hits and Second Vault of Gold Hits albums in early 1967). However, my favorite in 1966 was their excellent, lively rendition of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, including a great intro and false ending.
Johnny Rivers had his best year in 1966 commercially and musically with two excellent singles: “Secret Agent Man” (#3 in April) and “Poor Side of Town” (#1 in November). The former song was the theme song from the TV series of the same name and a great lively song with an infectious chorus. The latter song was a beautiful love ballad which featured Rivers unique voice and vocal style. In a similar vein, the Righteous Brothers released “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” (#1 in April) featuring their great voices and harmonies. This song was a bit of swan song for the duo as they had no other top ten songs until their comeback hit “Rock and Roll Heaven” in 1974. Meanwhile, Lou Christie had his best and most popular song with the excellent single “Lightning Strikes” (#1 Feb.), his first charting single since “Two Faces Have I” in 1963.
Frank Sinatra was the comeback artist of the year scoring with his first top 20 hits since “Witchcraft” (#6 March 1958). “Strangers in the Night” (#1 in June) was Frank’s biggest solo hit of the rock era and his first #1 since 1955. In addition to featuring Frank’s smooth voice, it also finished with what was to become a signature “scooby, dooby doo”. But my favorite was “That’s Life” (#4 in December), a more upbeat, even feisty song “I’ve been a puppet, a poet, a pawn and a king; I’ve been up and down and over and out, and I know one thing….”. 1966 began fittingly enough for Sinatra when in January he charted in the top 40 with another signature song “It Was a Very Good Year”.
Soul and R&B- Motown Remains King
While U.S. folk/rock/pop had a great year, soul and R&B music was not far behind. As in 1965, it was led by the continuing success of the major Motown groups. Despite their enormous popularity in 1965 , The Supremes were almost as popular in 1966 with four top ten hits and two #1 hits – My World is Empty Without You (#5 Feb.), Love is Like an Itching in My Heart(#9 May), You Cant Hurry Love (#1 Sept.) and You Keep Me Hangin’ On (#1 Nov.). The songs were all formulaic but excellent nonetheless courtesy of the songwriting talents of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. At the time, I was not a big Supremes fan, but that changed when I bought their Greatest Hits album the following summer and played it constantly.
The Four Tops were then and now my favorite Motown group and 1966 included my favorite Motown song “Reach Out and I’ll Be There” (#1 Oct.) as well as the similar sounding but still excellent followup “Standing in the Shadows of Love” (#6 Dec.). In addition, there was the lively “Shake Me, Wake Me” (#18 Mar.) and “Loving You is Sweeter than Ever” (#45) which though not as popular still were very good songs. As always, the Four Tops featured the great and distinctive lead voice of Levi Stubbs as well as usually a great up-tempo instrumentation and rhythms. And of course, all of their songs were also written by Holland, Dozier and Holland.
The Temptations though unable to repeat the popularity of 1965’s “My Girl”, still had four very good singles in 1966, three of which were later covered by other artists and made even more popular. This included “Get Ready” (#29 March, later #4 by Rare Earth in 1970), “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” ( #13 July, later #17 by the Rolling Stones in 1974), “Beauty is Only Skin Deep” (#3 Sept.) and “I Know I’m Losing You” (#8 Dec. later Rare Earth #7 1970 and Rod Stewart #24 1971). And with the exception of the Smoky Robinson penned “Get Ready”, the other three were written again by none other than Holland, Dozier and Holland. Wow what a year for them!
Stevie Wonder had one of his best songs the rockin’ “Uptight” (#3 in Feb.). He finished the year with an excellent ballad “A Place in the Sun” (#9 Dec.). The Miracles (featuring Smokey Robinson) had the lively “Going to a Go Go” (#11 Feb.) which had one heck of a drum intro to the song. Smokey also wrote “Don’t Mess with Bill” (#7 Feb) which was the Marvelettes’ biggest hit since 1962 and arguably their best. The Isley Brothers had their first hit in 4 years also courtesy of the Holland, Dozier, and Holland with the excellent “This Ole Heart of Mine” (#12 April). Jimmy Ruffin (brother of lead singer David Ruffin of the Temptations) scored with a good tune “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”.
Non-Motown Soul and R&B hits included several of my favorites from the year:
- “Sweet Talkin’ Guy” – Chiffons (#10 June)- an excellent comeback song by this great girl group.
- “Sunny” -Bobby Hebb (#2 Aug.)– a great soul ballad. “yesterday my life was filled with pain.”
- “Cool Jerk” – The Capitols – The one and only hit song for the group had an infectious refrain.
The Bad and the Ugly
Not all of 1966 was good. The year represented the beginning of bubble gum music which became increasingly cloying over time with the Archies in 1969 representing the worst of bubble gum. Tommy Roe‘s “Sweet Pea” and Tommy James and the Shondells‘ “Hanky Panky” were passable but certainly not good records despite their popularity.
But the three worst songs of 1966 (which were also popular) included the horrid “The Men in My Little Girl’s Life” (#6 in Jan) by talk show host Mike Douglas, which fortunately despite its popularity did NOT encourage Mike Douglas to have a follow-up song. In a different vein, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha” (#3 Aug.) by Napoleon XIV did well on the charts despite being banned by major radio stations such as WABC in New York for making fun of the insane. I’ll admit there was some interest when I heard the first couple of times as it was a very bizarre song, but it wore thin quickly.
But the worst of the lot, was the most popular song of the year in New York , “The Ballad of the Green Berets” (#1 Feb-Mar.) which embarrassingly enough was the first single I bought. I’ll admit I liked the song early in the year, but by the end of 1966 no longer played it, as a song glorifying fighting in Vietnam was becoming increasingly hard to stomach.
*****************
However, the bad in 1966 was just a few bumps in the road. 1966 was a year of fresh new rock/folk-rock music in America and the U.K , great Motown music and the forefront of rock music innovation. And there was the promise of more to come in 1967.
In 1966, I went from being a 11-year-old in sixth grade to a junior-high school student later in the year at Friends Seminary in New York City. With the doubling of class size, many new students and the end of a single teacher which I enjoyed in 6th grade, it was almost as if my childhood had abruptly ended in September 1966. Similarly, the country was changing with the Vietnam War no longer cloaked in anonymity. Music as always mirrored the increasing complexity of life and events that occurred during 1966.
In early 1966, I started listening obsessively to WABC radio and their top 20 survey of hits each week . These were typically introduced by Dan Ingram on Tuesday afternoons, and I often kept handwritten chart lists of as many of the top 20 that I was able to hear, while simultaneously doing my math homework. In fact, 1966 was the first year that top 40 radio became a part of my almost daily life.
British Invasion Continues
In 1966, the volume of new artists and songs slowed from the frenetic pace of the British invasion of 1964-65. In fact, in the US , American groups dominated the pop charts. Nonetheless, British music and specifically the Beatles continued to lead the rock music scene.
The Beatles had another strong year, but nothing like the volume of songs, singles and albums it enjoyed during 1964-1965. The Beatles released two albums in the U.S. in 1966. The first “Yesterday and Today” was released in June and was mainly composed of the Beatles A and B sides of three highly successful double-sided hits by the group during late 1965 and early 1966. This included first “Yesterday/Act Naturally” from late 1965 arguably Paul’s best love song ever, coupled with a light-hearted Ringo cover of a country and western tune. Second, there was the outstanding double-sided hit “We Can Work it Out/Day Tripper” from December 1965 which was to hit #1 on the US charts in January. The third hit single from the album was “Nowhere Man” which peaked on the charts in the Spring of 1966. “Nowhere Man” had it all, a great tune and chorus, wonderful harmonies and an upbeat rhythm. “What Goes On” was only an OK b-side, though it did have the rare distinction of a Ringo writing credit.
The remaining five songs from “Yesterday and Today” were hardly album filler. In fact, several are quite notable. “Drive My Car” is a lively and catchy number which is all Paul and kicks off Side 1 with a bang – “beep, beep yeah!”. Side 1 also features John’s interesting and edgy “I’m Only Sleeping”, a precursor of John’s music to come and “Doctor Robert” a more conventional Beatle tune. Side 2 starts with two excellent album cuts. First, there is the rousing “And Your Bird Can Sing” with wonderful guitar riffs and the second, is George’s contribution to the album the excellent “If I Needed Someone”.
In late June, the Beatles scored on the charts again with the single “Paperback Writer/Rain” . I remember first hearing and enjoying “Paperback Writer” on the radio while at my first sleepover summer camp. (It turned out that rock/pop music was about the only positive element of my first sleepover camp experience, as I apparently wrote a letter home just about every day that told my concerned mother how many days I had left ’til camp ended and how much I missed my brother and sister). “Paperback Writer” was a very good song, but it was the less often played, b-side, “Rain” that was the most interesting new Beatles entry complete with interesting rhythms and backwards singing at the end. By September, the Beatles had another hit double-sided hit on the charts “Yellow Submarine/ Eleanor Rigby”, but again it was the B-side that deserved the most attention. “Yellow Submarine” was an excellent children’s tune, complete with submarine/ship sounds and a band playing in the middle as well as Ringo’s vocal and it was the first Beatles single that I bought. ( It also was one of the first rock songs that I played for my daughters when they were toddlers. My oldest referred to it as “yellow unterine” which is not a bad pronunciation for a two-year old.) But “Eleanor Rigby” was the more interesting and better song, the lyrics the stuff of many analyses by rock musicologists and critics since then. In addition, the string accompaniment (a string octet apparently) nicely blended with Paul’s excellent singing and enhanced the beautiful melody of the song. More importantly, the song’s arrangement presaged songs such as “She’s Leaving Home” from the “Sgt. Peppers” album in 1967.
The Beatles last album in 1966 was “Revolver” – another excellent Beatles album. In addition to “Yellow Submarine” and “Eleanor Rigby”, the album featured a number of great Beatle songs. Most notably, it was the first album that George was actually allowed to have more than one composition. On “Revolver” , Harrison had three very good tracks, the lively and guitar laden “I Want to Tell You”, the sneering and sarcastic “Taxman” and the Indian influenced, sitar dominated “Love You To”. Of the three tracks, my favorite still is “Taxman”, it is great lively rock song with an excellent melody and extremely clever lyrics “Should five percent appear too small, be thankful I don’t take it all”. McCartney had four excellent tracks which he composed and sang lead which included the melodic and simple love song “Here, There and Everywhere”, the wonderfully upbeat rocker “Good Day Sunshine” which instantly improves anyone’s mood, the breakup song “For No One” which was good for wallowing in a love lost, and the upbeat love song “Got to Get you into my Life”. ( Most assumed that this was a love song about a woman, but in fact as McCartney confirmed in 1997 it is an ode to pot). This latter track along with “Good Day Sunshine” are my two favorites. “Got to Get You Into My Life” probably holds some kind of chart record as it was released as a Beatles single some TEN years later (in June 1976) and managed to reach the top ten on the US Billboard charts shortly thereafter. John Lennon had only two tracks which he was the lead composer and the lead singer. “She Said, She Said” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”. The latter track was the most original piece that the Beatles had done to date and may have helped spawned psychedelic rock which was to become the rage in 1967-69. (One critic described the song as “the greatest leap in the future” that the Beatles “had yet taken”). It included such studio groundbreaking techniques as reverse guitar, processed vocals, and looped tape effects.
While the Beatles remained the dominant force from Britain, the Rolling Stones continued to make great rock ‘n roll music with four more hit singles released in 1966. This began in March with “19th Nervous Breakdown” which reached #2, followed by “Paint it Black” which became the third Stones #1 hit, the summer double-sided hit “Mother’s Little Helper/ Lady Jane” a top 10 US smash, and another top 10 “Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow? “. The first two songs were outstanding hard rock n roll songs with great lead guitar and drum playing and with trademark dark and sneering Stones lyrics. “Mother’s Little Helper” was the first song to focus on prescription drug abuse and was my favorite Stones song in 1966. “Have you seen your mother baby” was also a good rocker which is noteworthy in that it includes brass accompaniment, a first for Rolling Stones songs.
I didn’t purchase any Stones albums in 1966 as this was a bit beyond my allowance budget at the time, though I did eventually buy the superlative Stones greatest hits album “High Tide and Green Grass” later in 1966, which features all the Stones 1964, 1965 hits as well as “19th Nervous Breakdown” from early 1966. The 1966 album “Aftermath” included another good Stones song “Under My Thumb” which surprisingly was never released as a single.
While the Stones were still the leaders in hard rock, the Kinks were transforming themselves from a hard rock group with rock ‘n roll guitar classics such as “You Really Got Me” and “All of the Day and All of the Night” to a more innovative group in 1966 that released very different rock music with lyrics laden with social commentary. This began in early in 1966 with the release of “A Well Respected Man” an excellent Ray Davies composition which oozed with sarcasm about the British upper class “And he is oh so good and he is oh so fine in his body and in his mind”. Though not as successful as “A Well Respected Man” , the Kinks next single “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” is very similar in structure and sound and was almost as good a song. The target of Davies satire was the pretentiousness and constant changeover of the latest fashions (apparently he even got into a physical fight with one fashion designer at a party over this very issue). However, my favorite Kinks song of 1966 “Sunny Afternoon” is one of the most infectious songs ever. It too is also about wealth (and high British progressive tax rate a la “Taxman”) and speaks to the idleness of the mega-rich. It was very popular in Britain reaching #1, though it still managed to reach #14 in the US.
The British Invasion also included one of my favorite new groups in 1966: The Hollies. Co-founded by Allan Clarke (the lead singer) and Graham Nash, the Hollies had their first top 40 single in the US with the upbeat “Look Thru Any Window” which peaked at #32. ( I got to know this song only after I bought the group’s Greatest Hits album in the early 70s). The song was to set a pattern for the group which used a fast tempo and great tenor harmonies to drive most of their singles. The first major hit of the group “Bus Stop” followed “Look Thru Any Window” reaching #5 in the summer and was another up tempo, joyful love song which always made me smile. “Stop, Stop, Stop” also reached the Top 10 in November and featured the guitarist Tony Hicks playing the banjo which provided the song with a very unique sound. This is another wonderful rock n roll, dance song by the Hollies which per usual features the three-part harmonies of Hicks, Clarke and Nash.
Another comparatively new artist on the singles charts, Donovan from Scotland had his first big hits in 1966 with the psychedelic folk/ rock song “Sunshine Superman” which reached #1 in August. In fact, it was probably the first psychedelic pop hit. In addition to being a great tune, it had a unique guitar sound played by none other than Jimmy Page (future guitarist of Led Zeppelin), as well as John Paul Jones playing an interesting sounding bass (future bass player of Led Zeppelin). “Mellow Yellow” followed in November 1966 which became Donovan’s second biggest hit (reaching #2 on the charts) featuring the background whispers of Paul McCartney and an infectious drum beat.
Though the Animals failed to match their popularity and the quality of their hits in 1964-65, they did have two good songs in 1966 . First, there was a good cover of “See See Rider”. But my favorite was the Gerry Goffin-Carole King song “Don’t Bring Me Down” released in early 1966. Similarly, the Yardbirds had lesser success in 1966 than their breakout singles in 1965 (i.e. “For Your Love” and “Heart Full of Soul”).Nonetheless, the Yardbirds did have two interesting, high quality songs with “Shape of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down” which featured Jeff Beck’s distinctive fuzz guitar sound.
British pop singers continued to shine in 1966:
- Petula Clark had three major song successes “My Love” ( which reached #1 in February), “A Sign of the Times” (#11 in April) and “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love ” (#9 in August). All three followed a familiar pattern, excellent pop tunes which featured Petula’s great voice.
- Dusty Springfield had her biggest solo hit with “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” which reached #4 in the U.S. A song it highlighted her strong voice and was her first top 40 in the U.S. since 1964’s “Wishin’ and Hopin’ “
- Peter and Gordon had two major hits “Woman” (written by Paul McCartney) and my favorite by them, the end of the year, novelty hit “Lady Godiva” (reaching #6 in November).
- Though not able to match their enormous popularity in 1965, the Herman’s Hermits still had five top 20 hits. The three best were “A Must to Avoid” and “Listen People” from early in the year and “Dandy” which peaked at #5 in November. The last tune was my favorite 1966 song by the group and interestingly enough was written by Ray Davies of the Kinks.
Surprisingly, two of the most popular songs in the US from British born artists came from two completely new groups who were to have little success after 1966. “Winchester Cathedral” by the New Vaudeville Band reached #1 in December (and was the 3rd best-selling single of 1966). However the band was only a studio group , the creation of London born Geoff Stephens. The song was a one of a kind novelty song which featured a whistled verse and then a Rudy Vallee 1930s style vocal arrangement as the second verse. It was catchy ( I liked it at the time) , but it has worn very thin over time. This was to be the one and only New Vaudeville Band top 40 single, though they did manage a follow-up single “Peek a Boo” which reached #72 on the charts in early 1967. Mercifully, the New Vaudeville Band faded into obscurity thereafter. Meanwhile, the Troggs also had a #1 hit “Wild Thing” which peaked in the summer while I was at camp. Perhaps because it served as an important reminder of the few things I actually enjoyed at camp ( 1960s rock music), I bought it when I got home in August. However, the song has also worn thin (despite its later use in the movie “Major League”) and is seldom played on oldies stations or classic rock. The Troggs quickly flamed out in the US, with only one other hit record (the top ten hit in early 1968 “Love is All Around”) and then their short-lived success was over.
One standout group in 1964 and 1965 that suffered in 1966 was the Dave Clark Five. They did manage a couple of decent top 40 songs “At The Scene” and “Try to Hard”, but these were nothing like the excellent hits of 1964-65 (e.g. “Glad All Over”, “Bits and Pieces”, “Catch Us if You Can” and “Over and Over”)
Overall, 1966 was a good albeit not a great year for British rock and pop. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, American music was making a strong comeback, with a number of excellent new groups, and beginning to dominate rock music again. However that is a topic for my next blog post.
I recently had my second colonoscopy in January, and my wife is having her’s this week so I feel as if I have become a bit of an expert on this important screening test. But I realize that many of you may have questions and fears about a procedure that is new for you or that you have not had in a number of years.
So as my public service to my blog readers, here are my 20 questions and answers for everything you wanted to know about colonoscopies but we’re afraid to ask.
- Why must I have a colonoscopy? — A. This is a complicated question which has to do with family history, genetics, risk of colon cancer etc. However, the simplest answer is because Katie Couric says so.
- How often should I have a colonoscopy? — A. The standard rule is once every ten years starting at age 50. However, depending on family history and any malignant or pre-cancerous polyps encountered more frequent colonoscopies may be needed. And of course if you are a masochist, the answer is as often as possible.
- Will it hurt?—-A. No it shouldn’t. You will be “sedated” which means you may be asleep for most of it until it hurts so much it wakes you up. Actually, it only hurts if you really THINK about what is being done to you. The sedation helps you not think about that and instead makes you think you are watching someone else’s procedure.
- What is the worst part of the procedure? —-A. Not the procedure itself but the 24 hours BEFORE when you must prep for the colonoscopy. More on that later.
- What is the best part of the procedure? —- A. Hmm. Let me think about that and get back to you.
- What is the most interesting part of the procedure?—-A. When I woke up in the middle and thought I was watching a scene from the movie “The Great Escape”
- What is a polyp?—-A. In addition to being an excellent Scrabble word, a polyp is an abnormality in the colon, which is usually benign. My doctor found and removed one polyp which was only two millimeters in length. For those of you that are challenged by the metric system, a millimeter is 1/1000 of meter, and a meter is about 40 inches in length , so 2 millimeters is less than a tenth of an inch. Wow! How the heck did he find that?
- Do I have any dietary restrictions BEFORE my colonoscopy?—-A. About 3 days before you must eliminate nuts, seeds and red liquids from your diet. Also, though not ordinarily noted, wax paper, red plastics , AAA batteries and peanut shells are to be avoided as well.
- What do I need to do the day before?—-A. You need to shift to an all-liquid diet starting 24 hours before.
- That’s great , I remember coming home from the dentist as a kid and having an eggnog and an ice cream milkshake for dinner ! Sign me up! A. Umm. Sorry failed to note that this is a CLEAR liquid diet which pretty much limits you to water, Gatorade, Sprite, Apple juice, white grape juice, clear beef or chicken broth and lime or lemon popsicles. In other words lots of sugar, salt and flavoring. Amazing how quickly you will get sick of that stuff. And worst of all, NO ALCOHOL allowed. I mean I get wine, beer, whiskey and dark rum, but vodka, gin and light rum are the very definition of clear liquids!
- Anything else I need to do, the day before?—-A. About 24 hours before you need to start drinking a gallon of TriLyte solution. (interestingly and fittingly, my spell check wanted to me to replace TriLyte with “toilet”). Other common names for TriLyte include witches brew, gagorade and Lysol. You need to drink 8 oz of this stuff every 15 minutes for the first two hours. ( which is the first half-gallon) . Then 4 hours before your appointment you repeat the process . Sadly, they don’t tell you this until AFTER you have set your appointment time. Since mine was at 8:30 am, it meant that I had to get up at 4:30 am to start drinking the stuff.. What a great way to start the day!
- Does it taste good?—-A. I guess that depends. I have heard of stories of some who relish drinking it and say things like “mm, mm good, yummy limeade”. I’ll admit that these seem a bit more like Greek legends than real stories. My own experience is a bit different, for the first split second it does taste like limeade, but after that like a combination of Kaopectate, prune juice ( and I hate prune juice!) , aluminum foil and a hint of manure. But I learned quickly that the trick was to down each 8 oz glass as if you were chugging a beer or tequila shots in college, without stopping for air. This has several effects . One it allows you to drink it without tasting it , assuming you have a good chaser on hand, mine was Sprite, which helped. Second, if you have a very good imagination you could pretend you were getting rapidly drunk in college and your classmates were cheering you on with every glass you chugged.
- Have they tried other flavorings?–—-A. Yes , but they have largely been failures . Red raspberry left too many patients feeling like vampires. The experiment with dark chocolate was for obvious reasons very brief.
- Any side effects from drinking TriLyte? —-A. Huh. Can’t believe you asked that. You are drinking the stuff as prep for your colonoscopy, so what do YOU think the main side effect is?
- Ok, then aside from the obvious effect of the prep solution, are there any other side effects? —-A. My stomach felt and sounded like high tide on Atlantic Beach.
- Should you drive yourself home after the procedure?—-A. I recommend that someone else drive you. It is particularly important not to have to drive back home after your appointment because you will still be under the effects of sedation. A bigger problem will not be the “driving” as is often assumed, but rather that you won’t be able to find your car because you won’t even remember what it looks like. However, the biggest problem is that sedation acts like a truth serum which means your spouse can ask and get true answers to all kinds of embarrassing and “potentially dangerous to your marriage” questions. For this reason, I advise having a total stranger take you home.
- What about driving TO your appointment ?—A. While you won’t be sedated at this point, I still wouldn’t recommend it. Consider you will have not eaten anything for more than a day at this point , you will have slept very little , you will likely be dehydrated, and your stomach and intestines will feel like crap (or perhaps I should say “no more crap”) so you probably won’t be too good with heavy machinery! However, you will probably be in better shape to drive than most yellow taxi drivers in New York City.
- Does it matter who your gastroenterologist is? —-A. Yes of course. The name is very important. Mine was Dr. Lo, who I felt was aptly named.
- How do you know whether your gastroenterologist is good?—-A. It’s actually hard to know. Not like you can look up the ratings on “Yelp”, ( though the name suggests you could) . However, if your doctor comes into the waiting room holding a large mechanical drill and says “Next” , that is probably not a good sign.
- After answering my first 19 questions, I am not exactly encouraged to get a colonoscopy, why should I schedule one?—A. In all seriousness, anything that you can to do to avoid or catch cancer early is important to do. My polyp was pre-cancerous so it was good to know that it was removed (albeit it means I must come back in 5 years rather than 10 years). And just think what a pleasure regular checkups with your doctor will seem in comparison!
Happy New Year! This is the time of year where I assess how I did as far as blogging and other resolutions I made for 2015 and possibly make a few new ones for 2016.
First, how did I do in 2015? About one year ago, I wrote the following (excerpts only provided , if you would like to read more of my witty and humorous banter, please see my post from January 4, 2015 entitled Another “Another Auld Lang Syne”):
“Resolutions for 2015: ….”
- “I will avoid all hospitalizations and surgeries during 2015…”
- “I will make sure to visit with my friends and family often during 2015…”
- “I will workout by walking 3-4 miles every day (or virtually every day)…”
- “I will swim almost every day and up my swim to 32 laps or about 1/2 mile”
- “I will eat mostly vegetables, whole grains, fruits and other good for you stuff”
- “I really will post 20 times this year”
OK, how did I do with my resolutions last year? To make this a bit easier, I have decided to use an academic grading system (and the current grade inflation that is in vogue) in celebration of my new part-time vocation. (as this will undoubtedly make my resolution performance seem better).
- “A-” – Hooray! I had no hospitalizations and no surgeries though I did have a benign cyst removed from my middle back, but as an outpatient procedure. On the negative side, I was told that the cyst would come back at some point as it did on my neck. (I seem to have a condition where stuff just grows on various parts of my body, which sounds a bit like Jeff Goldblum in “The Fly”). Anne did have some minor wrist surgery which was done under sedation. So I just get an “A-” (Technically, I should get an “A” but it kind of felt like I was in surgery when I was spending several hours in the waiting room, eating fast food for lunch, telling Anne where and who she was when she came too, etc.).
- “B+” – I was able to visit my two daughters in NYC twice during 2015. I also saw my mom up in Cleveland a couple of times and we (Anne or I ) brought her to Columbus for a couple of other visits. So family visits gets an “A”. Visits with friends only gets a “B-“. In particular, this was downgraded because I managed to miss my 35th reunion from Stanford business school. But I plead “not guilty” because it was ALL the fault of the NEW American Airlines. (Apparently, the ‘new” part does not include getting you there even remotely on time.) My flight was cancelled on Thursday morning and AA (the first A stands for American, second A, use your imagination, as this is a “family” blog) told me that they could rebook me so I would get in late Friday afternoon. I would miss several events and barely get their in time for the class dinner Friday eve and I was scheduled to return Sat Am so I said no thanks get me a refund. This was to appear on my credit card statement in a month or two, but surprise of surprises, no credit yet.
- “A-“…..I really did walk a lot. Roughly 5-7 times a week. Haven’t quite got up to 4 miles yet (more like 3-3.5 miles), however, I did consider changing my stride length setting on my fitbit to 3.5 feet which would get me pretty close. (though it would be quite comical to see me actually try to stride that long while walking).
- “B-” – I did swim around 5-6 times per week on average but my laps have fallen off to around 20 these days so it is a pretty short swim. I blame everything and everyone I can think of (except myself). In the summer, in the Adirondacks, the lake I swim was pretty darn cold this year. The outdoor pool club that I joined (solely to do my laps) for the summers here in Columbus, has a habit of closing when there are thunderstorms or lightning in the vicinity. ( I mean what’s a small risk of electrocution when it comes to getting your laps in!) The indoor pool that I use in the winter, spring, and fall is closed on holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter and early on New Year’s eve and Christmas eve. How can I possibly be expected to expand my laps with such distractions?
- “A”, if chocolate is counted as a “vegetable”, “B”, if it is not…..I mean cocoa beans do grow on a plant right?- OK so I did the usual. Did great during most of the year and failed miserably during the holidays when the candy and desserts take up residence in our house. Did I mention that I have a pretty broad definition of the holidays?
- “C–“ Hmm, I posted 16 times which ,for the mathematicians out there, was 20 percent below my target of 20. However, in fairness, some of these posts were really long (“and quite good” – he said objectively). And I do have a lot of excuses. First, l blame the Islamic terrorism of the fall in Paris and in California, which simultaneously made me extremely sad and extremely angry that we had not done much more to prevent such attacks from happening. (Kind of hard to write a serious public policy blog when you are in that kind of mood). Then there was the fact that it seemed like I spent much of the last 4-6 months transitioning from AEP and getting ready to retire, which turned out to be a very busy time, ironically enough. Did I mention also that I travelled a lot and was quite busy with the last year of my Chairmanship of IETA? So there were good excuses which means I don’t flunk at least.
So assuming chocolate is not a vegetable and using approximate averaging with some generous rounding up, I ended up with a “B” grade overall which isn’t bad, but isn’t great either, particularly when I noted last year at this time that the resolutions for 2015 were “easier” than in past years.
So for this year, let’s make it a bit more direct and quantitative. No excuses just hit the numbers!
- I will lose at least 10 pounds from my current 210 pounds and get below 200 pounds for the first time in more than 10 years, which will also be what I weighed in my 20s and early 30s.
- I REALLY will stop eating all desserts, sweets and sugar other than a few rare occasions.
- I will continue to both swim and walk at least 5 times a week, and the other two days do one or the other.
- I will limit my alcohol intake to no more than 2 beers or drinks a day other than special occasions. (This should be easy to hit THIS year because my expectations for OSU football will be much lower in 2016 than during the Michigan State game in 2015 when I was so frustrated I had to drink mass quantities of beer!)
- I will blog at least 20 times this year, with a goal of hitting 2 times a month or 24 times for the year. (No excuses, as I am now”retired” from full-time work)
To monitor my progress, I will set up a spreadsheet. (Hey, I’m a quantitative sort of guy so making this mathematical is bound to help).
Happy 2016 to all. And I hope I hear from many of you via comments on the blog, emails etc.
Best, Bruce
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Part 2 of my favorite record album sides was a lot more difficult to compile than I imagined. I started out trying to pick my ten favorite album sides of the 1970s, but ended up with 20. (and even that was difficult, see my honorable mention list) . After all, I was dealing with about twice as many years than the mid-late 1960s. Interesting fact about this list, half the picks were from 1970-71 and only three after 1976. This either says something about disco and its negative impact on quality rock music by the late 1970s or the fact that after college (I graduated in June 1976), I didn’t listen to as much new music.
- Chicago (II) – Chicago (January 1970) Side 2 – Wake Up Sunshine, Make Me Smile, So Much to Say, So Much to Give, West Virginia Fantasies, Anxiety’s Moment, Colour My World, To Be Free, Now More Than Ever –Chicago’s second album (another double album) features their best individual side. “Wake Up Sunshine” and the outstanding 13 minute “Ballet of a Girl from Buchanan” written by trombonist James Pankow. This latter composition was actually a compendium of 7 songs that flowed smoothly together –“Make Me Smile” “So Much to Say, So Much to Give”; Two instrumentals -“West Virginia Fantasies” and “Anxiety’s Moment”, “Colour My World” (later to become a hit single), To Be Free (another short instrumental), and the finale “Now More Than Ever” which was the last verse of the single version of “Make Me Smile”. Chicago, which I have since seen live in concert three times (twice in a fairly intimate night club setting in Vegas), did a wonderful job playing the “Ballet of a Girl from Buchanan” to open one of these concerts. This is not only an excellent side of Chicago songs, it is the most cohesive album side that they ever recorded.
- John Barleycorn Must Die-Traffic (July 1970) Side 1 – Glad, Freedom Rider, Empty Pages– Traffic was originally formed by Steve Winwood in late 1967 when his earlier group Spencer Davis Group (e.g. “Gimme Some Lovin’, “I’m a Man”) didn’t want to experiment with more musical styles. ( Steve Winwood was all of 19 years old at the time!). “Barleycorn” is Traffic’s best album and features the unique rock, blues and jazz fusion sound that made them famous. As with all Traffic albums, Steve Winwood wrote or co-wrote all the music and played all keyboards and bass guitar. While Side 2 is good, it is Side 1 that has the three best songs on the album, beginning with the 7 minute instrumental “Glad” which features Winwood’s superb piano playing along with excellent saxophone work of Chris Wood. “Freedom Rider” is a great vocal and instrumental song which features Wood’s wonderful saxophone and flute mixed pleasingly with Winwood’s ever present keyboards. The organ fanfare begins “Empty Pages” and Winwood dominates throughout – vocally, musically and lyrically. Winwood’s emotional, blue-eyed soul voice belts out “staring at empty pages” and you know it isn’t just writer’s block that he is challenged with but girlfriend troubles as well. In between, Winwood fills in with a very jazzy electric piano , organ and bass. And then the song and the side ends fittingly fading out with Winwood’s last few organ notes.
- Tapestry- Carole King (February 1971) Side 1- I Feel the Earth Move, So Far Away, It’s Too Late, Home Again, Beautiful, Way Over Yonder– This is truly a case of an album with two outstanding sides of music and no weak tracks. I picked Side 1 rather than Side 2 largely on the strength of Carole’s newer solo hit songs (e.g. “It’s Too Late”, “I Feel the Earth Move”, “So Far Away”) versus her old 1960s standards made famous by Aretha Franklin “A Natural Woman” , the Shirelles “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and her friend James Taylor (“You’ve Got A Friend”). I also like the last three tracks a lot particularly the uplifting “Beautiful” a song that I still find very inspiring on depressing days “You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart, and people gonna treat you better, they’re gonna find…that you’re as beautiful as you feel”.
- The Yes Album – Yes (February 1971) Side 1 – Yours is No Disgrace, The Clap, Starship Trooper – Like my other favorite groups, Yes posed a difficult decision for me. Yes has three fantastic albums and 6 excellent album sides on “The Yes Album” “Fragile” and “Close to the Edge”, but if I had to choose just one– it would be side 1 of the Yes Album. Both “Yours is No Disgrace” and “Starship Trooper” are lengthy Yes songs, both nearly 10 minutes long, showcasing their musical strengths– Steve Howe’s guitar, Chris Squire’s bass guitar, Bill Bruford’s drums, Tony Kaye’s keyboards, and Jon Anderson vocals. (In between the two long songs is sandwiched “The Clap” , a short yet excellent acoustic guitar solo by Steve Howe.) In listening to this album side MANY MANY times, I am fascinated not just by the great basic melodies, verses and bridges but it is the intricateness of the different musical lines of the songs from Howe’s multiple guitar chord progressions and Chris Squire’s very distinctive bass lines. Both long songs are incredibly catchy. I defy anyone to listen to them several times and not get sucked into the music. And for that reason every time I listen, I find myself wishing the songs wouldn’t ever end. Now that is the sign of a great album side!
- Sticky Fingers- Rolling Stones (April 1971) Side 1- Brown Sugar, Sway, Wild Horses, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, You Gotta Move– It’s hard to beat Side 1 of Sticky Fingers when it comes to Stones albums. Not only does it have the two excellent Stones singles “Brown Sugar” and the often underrated and rock n’ bluesy “Wild Horses”, but you have the slow rocker “Sway” and one of the best Stones album cuts EVER ” Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” a six-minute tour-de-force which ends with a wonderful saxophone solo. The side ends up fittingly with the wonderfully slow blues number ”You Gotta Move” ( one of the few albums that I can remember that is effectively telling you that you have to get up and flip the record to the other side.) . Side 2 is good, but not nearly as great as Side 1 with only two songs ” Bitch” and “Dead Flowers” among my favorites by the Stones .
- Every Picture Tells a Story- Rod Stewart (May 1971) Side 2. – Maggie Mae, Mandolin Wind, I’m Losing You, Reason to Believe – Rod Stewart’s first album was by far his best. Released in May, it peaked in popularity in October 1971 (at the same time “Maggie Mae” was #1 on the charts ). It seemed like everyone I knew at boarding school in September owned this album. Side 2 was superb. It featured the mega hit ” Maggie Mae” complete with a nice Renaissance style guitar intro, and Rod’s wonderful singing and lyrics ” you turned into a lover, but mother what a lover, you wore me out ..,.you laughed at all of my jokes”. This was followed by a nice slow ballad “Mandolin Wind” featuring Ron Wood’s mandolin and guitar playing.The third track was the up-tempo, rock-n-roll extraordinaire version of the Temps “I’m Losing You” . The final track “Reason to Believe” featured Stewart’s great vocals on this Tim Hardin song “….knowing you lied straight-faced while I cried, still I love to find a reason to believe…”. Wow. I don’t think I flipped this album over to Side 1 for weeks after I bought it.
- Who’s Next – The Who (August 1971) Side 2 – Gettin’ in Tune, Goin’ Mobile , Behind Blue Eyes, Won’t Get Fooled Again – With the Who, the challenge wasn’t determining which of their albums was best. This was clearly “Who’s Next”. However, the problem was which side to choose. Both are outstanding. However, I gave the slight edge to Side 2 on the strength of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (my favorite Who song ever!) and “Behind Blue Eyes” (my third favorite on the album after “Baba O’Riley” on Side 1). But the first two tracks “Gettin’ in Tune” and “Goin’ Mobile” are great songs as well. The musical quality is unbelievably good , including seamless use of synthesizer, keyboards, and other instruments in addition to Townshend’s usual fine guitar work, John Entwistle’s great bass playing and Keith Moon’s always energetic drumming and of course Daltrey’s excellent vocals. But I’ll admit this was one album that I always got up to flip over. Side 1 is great too, with “Baba O’Riley”, “Bargain” and Entwistle’s amusing “My Wife” being particular highlights.
- Madman Across the Water – Elton John (November 1971) Side 1 – Tiny Dancer, Levon, Razor Face, Madman Across the Water – While Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is a better overall album and Side 1 with “Funeral for a Friend”, “Candle in the Wind” and “Bennie and the Jets” has three great songs, Side 1 of “Madman Across the Water” is every so slightly better because it is more integrated as a single side with songs that flow from one to another. It doesn’t hurt either, that “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon” are arguably two of John’s best song compositions ever. What makes this album and particularly Side 1 so great is the great use and integration of orchestration along with Elton’s piano and backing guitar and bass. This is probably most evident with the final cut on Side 1 “Madman Across the Water”, an excellent song made even better with the sweeping feel of a full orchestra and Elton’s great emotionally charged vocals. The album “Madman Across the Water” was a Christmas day, 1971 gift along with a pair of new headphones. I played Side 1 for weeks before I ever flipped the record over to Side 2.
- Led Zeppelin IV (untitled)- Led Zeppelin (November 1971) Side 1 – Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Battle of Evermore, Stairway to Heaven– Led Zeppelin recorded a lot of great rock songs; something I have grown to appreciate even more over the years. But there was one album that I bought in early 1972 because of only ONE SONG – “Stairway to Heaven”. Though overplayed over the years by progressive rock stations, this song still stands the test of time as one of the greatest rock songs ever. It is not surprising that Side 1 of Led Zeppelin IV (actually untitled) which includes the 8 minute plus “Stairway to Heaven” is my favorite Led Zeppelin album side. But it turns out that Side 1 also has some other great songs including, most notably, two hard rockers that are among Zeppelin’s all time best “Black Dog” and “Rock N Roll”. And the “Battle of Evermore” which is the weakest cut on the side, grew on me after constant playings and fits nicely between the first two rockers and “Stairway”. Not surprisingly this album was almost never flipped though Side 2 also has several good tracks most notably “Going to California”.
- Sittin’ In – Loggins and Messina (November 1971) Side 1 – Nobody But You, Danny’s Song, Vahevala, Trilogy (Lovin’ Me/ To Make a Women Feel Wanted/ Peace of Mind)- A popular duo by accident, Jim Messina had just planned to “sit in” with Kenny Loggins in recording this session, “Sittin’ In” was their best album. And though Side 2 is very good with the beautiful “House at Pooh Corner” as the highlight, Side 1 is by far the best on this or any other Loggins and Messina album. It begins with the lively rock n roll song and great tune “Nobody but You” which not only features the excellent vocals of both Loggins and Messina but a brass sound that would characterize much of the rest of the album. This is followed by a respite with Loggins’ solo on the slow love ballad “Danny’s Song”, a song that would later be covered as a successful single by Anne Murray. The Caribbean inspired “Vahevala” complete with metal drums and great orchestration is another excellent song, perhaps the best single song on the album. Finally, the album ends with the brilliant 11 minute “Trilogy” which merges three songs together so successfully that they seem as one. It starts with the slow-paced Loggins-Messina duet “Lovin’ Me” a great cuddling song, if there ever was one, the pace builds at the end of the song then moves to a lively guitar/horns/organ bridge to another great tune, the up tempo “To Make a Woman Feel Wanted” “… you don’t need change in your pocket….soles on your shoes….” and lastly bridges to the solo slow ballad “Peace of Mind” “…give me some peace of mind”. Wow, I loved this album side so much that I literally wore it out and had to replace the album in the mid-1970s.
- Harvest – Neil Young (February 1972) Side 1 – Out on a Weekend, Harvest, A Man Needs a Maid, Heart of Gold, Are You Ready for the Country – My favorite of Neil Young’s albums was “Harvest”. It was unique sounding (arguably one of the first country rock albums) and had great song compositions. While both sides are good, it is Side 1 that was my favorite. It begins with the very folksy, slow tempo “Out on the Weekend” a great mood setter for much of the rest of the album, complete with acoustic guitar and harmonica and Young’s mournful lyric “See the lonely boy out on the weekend, trying to make it pay….”. “Harvest” is also an excellent song and continues in a similar vein but relying a bit more on twangy electric guitar , “A Man Needs a Maid” is a complete shift – musically dominated by the London Symphony Orchestra and beginning and ending with Young’s solo piano. But the theme is familiar, love lost or love on the rocks as Neil sadly ends the song “when will I see you again?”. “Heart of Gold” provides a welcome change, with a much more upbeat and very catchy song which still ranks as Young’s most popular single ever and made even better by Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor backing vocals. The side ends with the much more rockin’ sound of “Are You Ready for the Country” a great finale to Side 1 which features backing vocals from Graham Nash and David Crosby. Side 2 is very good including most notably “Old Man” and “Alabama” but Side 1 is still my favorite.
- Dark Side of the Moon-Pink Floyd (March 1973) Side 2 – Money, Us and Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse – It is hard to have been a college student in late 1973/early 1974 and NOT own “Dark Side of the Moon”. This was their most critically acclaimed and by far their most popular album and certainly one that I played constantly at college. In fact, my first copy of the record was inadvertently left out on our room’s radiator and became permanently warped. After a few failed attempts to get it to play on the turntable, which were interesting to say the least, we hung the record by a string from the ceiling to give us – voila! – instant dorm room art. And of course, within 24 hours I had bought a new record. Not surprisingly the whole album is great with songs/tracks almost indistinguishable from each other. Side 1 was excellent with, if you will excuse the pun , the timeless “Time” a particularly outstanding track. The improvised wordless vocals and outstanding singing of session singer Clare Torey on “The Great Gig in the Sky” is another highly unusual feature of Side 1. But Side 2 was my favorite starting with the extraordinary guitar work of David Gilmour and bass guitar Roger Waters providing the driving sound behind Pink Floyd’s best rock song “Money”. Session sax player Dick Parry adds his great sound to “Money” but his work on “Us and Them” is particularly noteworthy. The excellent blended harmony of singers Gilmour and Richard Wright along with Wright’s great work on keyboards provides the ethereal and relaxing quality of “Us and Them” and makes this my favourite track on the album. It’s hard to know upon early listening where “Any Colour You Like” begins or when “Us and Them” ends, but it provides a nice musical interlude with featuring great organ playing from Wright and guitar work from Gilmour. “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse” are two excellent songs that finish out Side 2 nicely and are the clearest reference to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett’s mental breakdown “and if the band you’re in, starts playing different tunes”.
- The Captain and Me – Doobie Brothers (March 1973) – Side 1-Natural Thing, Long Train Running, China Grove, Dark Eyed Cajun Woman, Clear as the Driven Snow– The Doobie Brothers recorded a lot of great music but nothing beats Side 1 of “The Captain and Me”. It starts with the guitar/organ fanfare of “Natural Thing” (” …We all got to be loved , it’s a natural thing don’t you know..”) then moves to two great rocking singles ” Long Train Running” and of course ” China Grove ” “… they’re people just looking to the East.” “Dark Eyed Cajun Woman” is an enjoyable, albeit slower, country-blues inspired tune, but the respite is short-lived with the best “non-single” cut on the album, ” Clear as the Driven Snow”, which starts as a slow folk-rock song and then builds into a great up-tempo rock song which nicely ends Side 1. Side 2 is good too, with the rocking “Without You” and the beautiful “South City Midnight Lady”, but Side 1 is hard to top.
- Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (August 1973) – Side 2 – Higher Ground, Jesus Children of America, All in Love is Fair, Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing, He’s Misstra Know it All – Stevie Wonder’s best album was easy to select for me. “Innervisions” was played constantly in my dorm room in college. The hard part was deciding which side to play. Side 1 features the long version of the mega-hit “Living for the City” and three other excellent tracks “Too High”; “Visions” and “Golden Lady” . But Side 2 is slightly better. It begins with Stevie Wonder’s great rocker “Higher Ground”, featuring Stevie’s great playing of the Hohner clavinet keyboard (which he originally used most distinctively in “Superstition”) . The song morphs into the second track the beautifully soulful R&B tune “Jesus Children” and next moves to the gorgeous but mournful ballad “All in Love is Fair”. The style changes abruptly with “Don’t You Worry Bout at Thing” , an excellent hispanic-style, up-tempo love song. Lastly, Stevie ends with “He’s Misstra Know it All” a nice soul R&B ending to the side. Did I also mention that Stevie Wonder played almost all of the instruments on the album?
- Band on the Run – McCartney/Wings (December 1973) Side 1 – Band on the Run, Jet, Bluebird, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Let Me Roll It – My favorite album of the year 1974 ( though technically a December 1973 release) was Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run” and Side 1 is also McCartney’s best album side. The side begins with “Band on the Run”, perhaps McCartney’s best single of his career (“Band on the Run” set an unofficial record in my quad at Brown for being played the most times in a row -28 times! – out from the window of my dorm room, much to the greater consternation of those living nearby.) Side 1 continues with the lively rocker “Jet”, followed by the pleasant and slower love ballad “Bluebird” which was one of the rare love songs that features both Paul AND Linda in good form. The pace quickens with the lively “Mrs. Vanderbilt” a great tune (and another single at least in Europe). The side ends with the excellent guitar-led, slow rocker, “Let Me Roll it”, one of McCartney best compositions. To be clear, Side 2 of the album was also loaded with great songs notably “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” and my favorite “1985” which highlights some mean piano playing by Paul. But Side 1 gets the nod in McCartney best non-Beatles album.
- Born to Run- Bruce Springsteen (August 1975) Side 2 Born to Run, She’s the One, Meeting Across the River, Jungleland – Springsteen’s third album “Born to Run” was what hooked me to Springsteen’s music, was to become his most popular effort to date and created an entire new legion of Springsteen fans. Lyrically and musically the album was outstanding with not a single weak track. Some compared Springsteen to an electric Dylan (a la “Like a Rolling Stone”) but Springsteen took the music further with more complex arrangements and orchestration than Dylan ever contemplated (some critics likened it to the Phil Specter “wall of sound”). And he had a great backup band featuring Clarence Clemons on sax and Stevie Van Zandt on guitar. Side 1 is excellent featuring “Thunder Road” to begin and “Backstreets” to end the side. But it is Side 2 that is my favorite beginning with the rousing and heartfelt drama of “Born to Run” my favorite single of his long and illustrious career. Musically, it was wonderful with an unforgettable sound and lyric “…Highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive”. The rocking “She’s the One” barely tempers the intensity of Springsteen’s music. The intensity ebbs with the slow jazzy horn introduction to the mournful, darker “Meeting Across the River”. This song serves as a musical and lyrical bridge to the drama that unfolds in Harlem in “Jungleland”, this brilliant nine and a half minute epic Springsteen song. “The Rangers had a homecoming in Harlem late last night…”. The drama ends badly though “…but they wind up wounded, not even dead, tonight in Jungleland”.
- Boston-Boston (August 1976) Side 1-More than a Feeling, Peace of Mind, Foreplay/Long Time– Boston’s first album was the complete brainchild of Tom Scholz who wrote all the music and played all the instruments except drums. Scholz’s guitar and keyboard work were distinctive and created the unique sound for the group. But it was Brad Delp soaring tenor vocals that made the Boston sound famous. Side 2 includes two excellent songs “Something About You” and “Hitch a Ride”, but it is Side 1 that gets the nod on the power of three superb songs. “More than a Feeling” became Boston’s first and biggest hit song and its guitar riffs and Delp’s excellent vocals. “Peace of Mind” is almost a match and is similarly styled. But it is the last almost 8 minute track “Foreplay/Long Time” that is my favorite, beginning with the great musical almost 3 minute intro “Foreplay” which features dueling guitars, organ and bass guitar. This leads seamlessly thru a great building drum sequence into the wonderfully guitar laden “Long Time”. Delp vocals soar hitting high notes in tune with the guitars. A piece de resistance! Perhaps I loved Side 1 so much because it was full of uplifting rock music and vocals which I sorely needed in late 1976 and 1977.
- Rumours-Fleetwood Mac (February 1977)- Side 1 –Second Hand News, Dreams, Never Going Back Again, Don’t Stop, Go Your Own Way, Songbird– I found it difficult to pick my favorite album side for Fleetwood Mac, with Side 1 of “Fleetwood Mac” a close second (i.e. Monday Morning , Warm Ways, Blue Letter, Rhiannon, Over My Head, Crystal). However, Side 1 of Rumours is truly outstanding. The album has no pretenses; it is very clearly about the breakups of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks AND the end of the marriage of Christine and John McVie. “Second Hand News” is Buckingham’s upbeat rock lament “someone has taken place….I’m just second-hand news”. This is followed by the beautiful slow ballad “Dreams”, Stevie Nicks own lament over love lost “Thunder only crashes when it’s raining, players only love you when they’re playing….In the stillness of remembering what you had and what you lost”. This is followed by Buckingham’s short song “Never Going Back Again” which the group joins to sing with him and which quickly segues into the brilliantly upbeat rocker and wonderfully optimistic “Don’t Stop”, “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, it’ll be here better than before, yesterday’s gone….”. While “Don’t Stop” might be Fleetwood Mac’s best song ever, arguably “Go Your Own Way” which follows is even better, both musically (great guitar work by Buckingham and a wonderfully lively tune) and lyrically (the simple optimism of “Don’t Stop” is replaced by resignation and even anger “You can go your own way, you can call it another lonely day”). The album finishes with a slow beautiful, Christine McVie’s “Songbird” which features her always beautiful vocals and her personal lament of marriage’s end “for you there will be no more crying……and the songbirds are singing like they know the score” . This album had great personal meaning as I listened to it during the course of my distance relationship with my girlfriend during 1977 both the highs and the lows and the ultimate breakup.
- Aja – Steely Dan (September 1977) Side 1 –Black Cow, Aja, Deacon Blues – While there are many songs and albums that Steely Dan has recorded that I like a great deal, there is only one record side that I enjoyed ALL the tracks – Side 1 of Aja. Aja is Steely Dan at their jazziest, though still fundamentally a rock-jazz fusion group. And I can remember listening to this album frequently in the months before heading West to California and Stanford Business School in the summer of 1978. The album starts with “Black Cow” a wonderful song about rocky relationships “I can’t cry anymore while you run around. Break away. Just when it seems so clear that it’s over now. Drink your big black cow and get out of here” with a great saxophone and keyboards and guitar which fit the mood of the song brilliantly. Next, the title track “Aja” has a distinctly different Asian character, albeit with equal jazzy instrumentation, a lengthy musical interlude in the middle and an extremely relaxed feel to it. Lastly, the album ends with “Deacon Blues” which is another excellent song and the third lengthy track on the side. Side 2 is quite good as well, but it is Side 1 that is the most consistent.
- The Cars – The Cars (June 1978) Side 2 – You’re All I’ve Got Tonight, Bye Bye Love, Moving in Stereo, All Mixed Up – This debut album by this Boston area group is without question their best and the perhaps the best album of the entire “new wave” of the late 1970s/early 1980s. Energetic and edgy, the Cars had many of their best songs on this one album. It was my first purchase upon arriving in California prior to my first year at Stanford Business School. I played it incessantly and both sides almost equally though ultimately I preferred Side 2 because I liked ALL four songs immensely. In fact, all four tracks flow together musically and lyrically which adds to their overall appeal. “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” features a great new edgy techno-rock sound primarily using guitars and keyboards. Ironically, it ends lyrically with “I need you tonight” and then a 6 note musical/lyrical reversal into the second track “Bye Bye Love” as Ocasek sings “always with some other guy, it’s just a broken lullaby” another great techno rocker. ( I confess that for years I thought Ocasek was saying “always with some other guy, it’s just a fucking alibi” which would have been a better line, but no doubt would NOT have been approved by the record company in the 1970s.) The crescendo of techno-rock ends with the same six note sequence and moves more softly into “Moving in Stereo” another great song which lyrically belies classification “life’s the same I’m moving in stereo, except for my shoes”. The last song another great tune “All Mixed Up” fittingly provides at least some resolution of the tenuous/tempestuous relationship begun with “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” “…she’s always out the window, when it comes to making dreams. It’s all mixed up” but then it finishes “she says to leave it to me, everything’ll be all right” and the song fades away. A brilliant and cohesive album side. Nonetheless, it is only a somewhat better than Side 1 and its three excellent singles “Good Times Roll”; “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Just What I Needed”.
There are many honorable mention artists, James Taylor (“Sweet Baby James”) ELO (‘A New World Record”), Eagles (“Hotel California”) to name three I can think of off the top of my head. What are your favorites?
I got thinking the other day ( Always dangerous when I do that !) that an interesting music list would be the my favorite album “sides” of the rock “vinyl” era (mid-1960s thru the end of the 1970s). A little explanation is in order particularly for many of you born after the 1970’s and have barely any concept of what a record album is . Back when I was young ( sounding a bit like my dad who used to say ” when I was a boy”) , I would often play only one side of a record album when listening (given the effort to get up and turn the record over). This was particularly true when listening with headphones while lying in bed in my college dorm room (often at 3am in the morning). Thus, many of us commonly played the better of the two sides of an album much more often. Hence, this list of my favorite album sides.
However, I have a few ground rules. First, in order to avoid having my list dominated by just a few groups (e.g. the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Moody Blues etc.), I have self-imposed a limit of no more than one album side per artist. Of course, I had to make an exception in a couple of cases where I just couldn’t decide which album side was best ,so I have a couple of Beatles and Stones sides across the lists. Also, I did NOT include ‘greatest hits’ albums, since these aren’t original record albums but compilations that came out much later. Lastly, my album sides leaned heavily in favor of sides which had no weak or subpar tracks. Remember when lying in bed, no one wants to get up to move the needle in order to skip a bad song.
This post is ONLY Part 1 which includes my ten favorite album sides from the 1960s in chronological order (I had a hard enough time picking them, so ranking them was a virtual impossibility). I will include my favorites of the 1970s in my next post. So herewith my list:
My Ten Favorite Album Sides of the 1960s
- The Doors -The Doors ( Jan. 1967) Side 1 – Break on Thru, Soul Kitchen, Crystal Ship, 20th Century Fox, Alabama Song, Light My Fire–This is one of the greatest rock albums ever, but Side 1 is extraordinary. The album starts with the Doors first single, the lively and tuneful “Break on Thru”. This is our first indication of the Doors musical style, almost always dominated by Morrison’s energetic vocals, Robbie Krieger’s superb guitar playing and Ray Manzarek’s interesting keyboards. Another good song “Soul Kitchen” is an homage to Morrison’s favorite soul food restaurant and has an interesting bluesy sound led by Manzarek’s organ playing. “Crystal Ship” is a beautiful soulful ballad shows off Morrison’s excellent vocals. I knew this song first as the b-side of the Light My Fire, (the 3 minute, 45 rpm, single version of the song), before I smartly bought the album. “Twentieth Century Fox” is next a more upbeat and lustful rock song, followed by “Alabama Song”, a rock drinking song if there ever was one. Last by not least, Side 1 ends with seven minutes of one of the greatest rock anthems ever, “Light My Fire”.
- Are You Experienced?- The Jimi Hendrix Experience (May 1967)- Side 2 The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, Third Stone from the Sun, Foxy Lady, Are You Experienced?- I loved Jimi Hendrix’s debut album (Thank you Robbie Carey for introducing me to it!) and particularly Side 2. With the exception of “Purple Haze” and “Hey Joe” on Side 1, all of my favorite tracks are on Side 2 and there is enormous variety across all five songs. “The Wind Cries Mary” a great soft bluesy-style ballad starts the side perfectly, “Fire” a much more up-tempo guitar infused rocker remains one of Hendrix’s standards, “Third Stone from the Sun” is maybe the album’s most interesting song. It is an instrumental with a jazzy guitar melody and spoken lyrics about a space alien viewing earth from his ship (Lyrics are unintelligible on the record as they are slowed down, though my friend Robbie and I naturally played the record at 45 rpm instead of 33 rpm to understand them). “Foxy Lady” is another great Hendrix rock song, perhaps his most famous and certainly one of my favorites. The side ends with the psychedelic “Are You Experienced?” which features the unique use of backwards guitar and drums at the beginning and during the song. This is a vintage Hendrix song, extremely different and interesting and a fitting conclusion to Side 2.
- Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (June 1967)- Side 1 –Sgt. Peppers, With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Getting Better, Fixing A Hole, She’s Leaving Home, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite – While the whole Sgt. Peppers album is extraordinary and precedent setting in many respects, it is Side 1 that is consistently the best. Don’t get me wrong Side 2 is excellent as well, particularly “Lovely Rita Meter Maid” “Good Morning” and “Sgt. Peppers (reprise)/ A Day in the Life” but it suffers with a too long and only OK Harrison composition “Within You and Without You” that starts Side 2. Side 1 begins with the opening “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” which sets the tone for the album. This is the first truly thematic rock album ever, about a fictitious band doing a concert. “Sgt. Pepper’s” heralds the beginning and the pattern throughout the album, the seamless blending of rock instruments and rock vocals with orchestration produced brilliantly by George Martin. It quickly segues into “With a Little Help From My Friends” as the fictitious Billy Shears (a.k.a. Ringo) delivers an excellent, upbeat song, definitely the best Ringo lead vocal during his Beatles career. The mood shifts suddenly as we move from the first two songs (composed by Paul), to John’s first entry, the psychedelic “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” arguably the best track on the album. The psychedelic mood is altered quickly as Paul takes over with another great song, the lively “Getting Better”, where his optimism “It’s getting better all the time” is somewhat countered by John’s sarcasm and pessimism “can’t get no worse”. “Fixing a Hole” is ushered in with harpsichord and is another very good composition. “She’s Leaving Home” about a teenage runaway is all orchestration which helps cement its somber and sad mood and is one of Paul’s better vocals. The mood shifts suddenly as John (with an assist from Paul) finishes the size much more upbeat and superb entry , the psychedelic/carnival-like “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” . George Martin claimed he sped up a Hammond organ sound in order to get a carnival/ calliope sound that dominates the song, but it works extremely well and provides a fitting conclusion to Side 1.
- Days of Future Passed-Moody Blues ( Nov. 1967)-Side 2 – Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?), (Evening) Time to Get Away, The Sun Set, Twilight Time, Nights in White Satin- As an unabashed Moody Blues fan, I had a hard time choosing only one album side for the group. However, if pressed I would concede that Side 2 of “Days of Future Passed” is probably their best. The album is the Moody Blues first thematic work (a single “day”) , no doubt partly inspired by the Beatles “Sgt. Peppers”. Side 2 is the second half of the day with all songs relating to the late afternoon, early evening and nighttime. It is anchored by two of the Moody Blues best songs ever “Tuesday Afternoon” to start and “Nights in White Satin” at the finish. “Tuesday Afternoon” starts with Justin Hayward’s soaring vocals and a beautiful melody, integrated with orchestration and sets the tone as a contemplative but lively, late afternoon song. After an orchestral bridge, “Evening” slows the pace down a bit as the day’s toils are contemplated and ambiguity sets in, “Evening time to get away…..so they say”. “The Sun Set” creates an excellent musical and lyrical mood “I can feel the sun slipping out of sight…and the world still goes on thru the night”. The pace quickens with the catchy and more frenetic “Twilight Time”. Last, but not least, the album ends with Hayward’s emotionally bare and mournful “Nights in White Satin” which beautifully integrates orchestration and rock music. Side 2 of Days of Future Passed is perfect to listen to in the late afternoon near sunset and if you time it just right, carries you thru the mood of the sunset, twilight and the beginning of the night.
- Disraeli Gears – Cream (Nov. 1967) Side 1- Strange Brew, Sunshine of Your love, World of Pain, Dance the Night Away, Blue Condition- This is one of the first non-Beatle albums that I bought. Side 1 is definitely the stronger side (though I love “Tales of Brave Ulysses” on Side 2), and starts with the electric rock-blues of “Strange Brew” one of Cream’s best songs featuring Clapton’s outstanding electric guitar and Jack Bruce’s equally good bass guitar and excellent vocals (lead by Clapton, backing by Bruce). But “Sunshine of Your Love” surpasses it and remains one of the most deservedly famous songs in the history of rock music. Though generally associated with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce shared writing credit as well as lead vocals with Clapton. While difficult to duplicate the energy and high-caliber of the first two tracks, “World of Pain” and “Dance the Night Away” maintain much of the musical energy, the great bluesy rock sound and wonderful vocal harmonies. (“Dance the Night Away” was sung entirely in two-part harmony by Bruce and Clapton). “Blue Condition” (Ginger Baker sole contribution to the album) is only OK. But even here, the contrast of the musical inventiveness, rock-blues energy from the first four songs with a simple blues melody and an “I’m in the doldrums” mood actually makes the track more interesting and provides a fitting conclusion to Side 1.
- Bookends – Simon and Garfunkel (April 1968)-Side 2– Fakin’ it, Punky’s Dilemma, Mrs. Robinson, Hazy Shade of Winter, At the Zoo – Side 2 is my favorite album side of the duo’s short (i.e. five albums in five years) but very illustrious career. Four of the five songs are among the best songs the group ever did. “Fakin’ It” starts side 2 with an interesting rhythm, an upbeat chorus and a great tune, and unforgettable lyrics about being on the wrong side of a one-sided relationship “Girl does what she wants to do….I’ve just been fakin’ it, not really makin it”. “Punky’s Dilemma” is a daydream muse by Simon “Wish I was a Kellogg’s cornflake, floating in my bowl taking movies…I’m a citizen for boysenberry jam fan” which is accurately cast with a simple, lazy but good melody and vocal by Simon. “Mrs. Robinson” the big hit single from the album, has a great acoustic guitar intro and wonderful music and lyrics about the loss of heroes. “Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.” In contrast, “Hazy Shade of Winter” is more ambiguous but a powerful song, both musically and lyrically and was covered very successfully by the Bangles in the 1980s. The side ends with the utter joy of “At the Zoo” which always reminds me of my days as a young child going to the Central Park Zoo. Side 2 of Bookends is a wonderful collection of songs that explore a variety of emotions but ends on a happy note.
- Blind Faith- Blind Faith (August 1969)- Side 1 –Had to Cry Today, Can’t Find my Way home, Well Alright , Presence of the Lord What happens when you combine Steve Winwood (on temporary hiatus from Traffic) and Eric Clapton (formerly of Cream) in a super group (along with renowned Cream drummer Ginger Baker)? You get the group Blind Faith and one superb album (the group disbanded after 6 months!). While Side 2 suffers from the overly long, 15 minute, “Do What You Like” , Side 1 has four great songs. (I had the pleasure of hearing Clapton and Winwood perform all four of these songs live in Columbus almost 7-8 years ago.). “Had to Cry Today” features the dueling rock guitars of Clapton and Steve Winwood who wrote and sang the almost 9 minute long song. The playing is superb, featuring an excellent repeating guitar riff that unifies and makes the song infectious and seem much shorter than it is. The sound and pace changes dramatically with the Winwood’s beautiful “Can’t Find My Way Home”, which features Winwood’s great tenor voice , keyboards, and Clapton’s acoustic guitar. “Well Alright” is a Buddy Holly cover which features Clapton’s usual guitar brilliance, and great organ from Winwood as well as powerful vocals from both. Side 1 finishes and climaxes with Clapton’s “Presence of the Lord” which features palatial sounding organ from Winwood, and great vocals from Winwood, but Clapton’s guitar again dominates. And you wonder why I seldom played Side 2!
- Abbey Road – Beatles (October 1969) Side 2 – Here Comes the Sun, Because, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came in Thru the Bathroom Window , Golden Slumbers, Carry the Weight, The End, Her Majesty – Side 2 of Abbey Road is the most cohesive and brilliant piece of music the Beatles ever did from start to finish. It starts with George Harrison’s best ever song (and the best song on the album), the uplifting ” Here Comes the Sun”. John Lennon’s “Because” is an interesting albeit short respite as John expresses his love for Yoko “love is all, love is you”. Paul’s piano introduces the next song “You Never Give Me Your Money” a great McCartney composition with excellent melody and musical bridge. It also includes great guitar work by George particularly as the song fades out “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven , all good children go to heaven” into the sounds of crickets, birds and the beginning bass guitar chords of “Sun King” a religious chant, another short and simple but very effective Lennon song. This is suddenly interrupted by Ringo’s drumming and the start of the more moderately paced “Mean Mr. Mustard”, the first of a merged trilogy of McCartney songs that also includes the frenetic, excellent rock song “Polythene Pam” and finishes with “She Came in Thru the Bathroom Window” featuring McCartney’s great vocals. There is a brief rest as the band seems to be catching its breath, as Paul’s piano introduces another soulful rocker “Golden Slumbers” (which though different, sounds much like “reprise” of “You Never Give Me Your Money”) which thru Ringo’s drum bridge leads to the sonorous chant of “Carry the Weight”. Unofficially, Side 2 ends fittingly and compellingly with “The End” which is musically a Beatles rarity in that it includes a short drum solo by Ringo, and a fantastic dueling guitar jam of McCartney, Harrison and Lennon. (Allegedly, Eric Clapton was part of this jam in an uncredited role, but there is no evidence to support this). It is almost as if the Beatles have pulled out all the stops since this was the last song on the last album they would record together. (The “Let it Be” album was recorded before Abbey Road, but fighting over the final production delayed the release until early 1970). Technically, the very short ditty “Her Majesty’ is actually the last track of the album but it starts a full 10-20 seconds after “The End” and is easily missed. Side 1 is almost as good with the two-sided hit single “Come Together” and “Something” starting the album and the side finishing with the infectious and electric “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” but it is the unusual and wonderful side 2 that makes Abbey Road, my favorite Beatles album.
- In the Court of the Crimson King- King Crimson (October 1969) – Side 1 – 21st Century Schizoid Man, I Talk to the Wind, Epitaph – This album may be best known for its colorful cover, but many consider it one of the first and best progressive rock albums. And Side 1 is by far the best, beginning with the explosive electric guitar of Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald’s wailing saxophone and the rough-edged, almost screeching vocals from Greg Lake (a rarity for him) of “21st Century Schizoid Man”. The song includes lengthy syncopated solos between Fripp and McDonald and excellent use of Mellotron and Lake’s bass and Giles drumming playing throughout. Musically, this was hard rock heaven! And lyrically, it was unforgettable. “Cat’s foot iron claw. Neuro-surgeons scream for more. At paranoia’s poison door. Twenty first century schizoid man…..Blood rack barbed wire. Politicians’ funeral pyre. Innocents raped with napalm fire. Twenty first century schizoid man.” How can you not love this song! In direct contrast to Schizoid Man, “I Talk to the Wind” is a soft almost ethereal song headlined by McDonald’s great flute playing and Greg Lake’s excellent, mournful vocals. And lyrically it is simply about disillusionment and isolation, a theme which would be repeated many times in progressive rock over the years. “I talk to the wind, my words are all carried away…. the wind cannot hear”. However, the soft respite was to be short-lived as “Epitaph” crashes to a start with a crescendo of drums and Mellotron. Greg Lake sings “The wall on which the prophets wrote is cracking at the seams” and the song builds thru a slow march and some excellent drumming , Mellotron and guitar work. This is a song about ultimate chaos “Confusion will be my epitaph” and it is a brilliant close to Side 1. While King Crimson released many more albums, this was the first and only with Greg Lake (who shortly thereafter departed for Emerson, Lake and Palmer) and it is by far their best.
- Let it Bleed- Rolling Stones (December 1969) Side 2. -“Midnight Rambler, You Got the Silver, Monkey Man, You can’t always get what you want….. Side 2 of Let it Bleed is bookended by two of the Stones greatest long jam-style songs “Midnight Rambler” (‘don’t do that”) to start the side and one of their best songs ever ” You Can’t Always Get What You Want” to end the side – both with seven minutes of pure rock heaven. In between, you have the slow bluesy ” You Got Silver” and one of the Stones best album cuts ever ” Monkey Man” which features a great piano introduction to start , fine guitar work throughout and wonderful rock melody and lyrics throughout ” I’ve a cold Italian pizza, I could use a lemon squeezer….My friends are all junkies” that spoke to being on concert tours as a rock star in 1969. Side 1 is good too. (E.g. ” Gimme Shelter”, “Let it Bleed” “Live with Me” etc) but Side 2 is outstanding.
And of course being that it is Christmas shopping season, did I mention that any of these 10 albums/CDs would make a great Christmas gift?
1975 was a year that started with a new President in office, Gerald Ford, who had taken over for Richard Nixon after his resignation in late 1974. He was the only “unelected” President in our history (as he was appointed Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned due to his own scandals two years earlier). America was in the doldrums, given Vietnam, Watergate and the economic recession of 1974-75. Personally, 1975 also began in the nadir of my junior year of Brown. I was still looking for love and already worried what I would do after graduation. Fortunately, by later in the year, I was in love with my first serious girlfriend and enjoying the fall of my Senior year and at least temporarily not worried about my future.
The British Are Coming?
In 1975, rock music, which had been led by the success of the British invasion since the mid 1960s, was also in a holding pattern, while disco music ruled the pop charts. Notably, stalwarts like the Rolling Stones or the former Beatles produced little of note in 1975. John Lennon was relegated to doing covers of old rock n roll songs on his “Rock N Roll” album. (Although he did have one good song “#9 Dream” do well on the charts in early 1975 from 1974’s “Walls and Bridges” album). George Harrison had no new album and had grown increasingly musically irrelevant (only the song ‘Dark Horse’ was of note in 1975) since his outstanding first album “All Things Must Pass” in late 1970. After a dominant early 1970s, Yes had no new material. The Moody Blues were in the midst of an almost 6 year period of no new albums. Eric Clapton had nothing of note in 1975 , after his excellent “461 Ocean Boulevard” album in 1974. Led Zeppelin released the interminably long, double album “Physical Graffiti” ,with arguably only three strong tracks (the excellent “Kashmir”, as well as “Houses of the Holy” and “Trampled Under Foot”), that even Zeppelin fans found wanting after their previous two excellent and much more cohesive albums (“Houses of the Holy” and “Untitled- Led Zeppelin IV”).
Nonetheless, Britain continued to play an important role in the rock music scene with Pink Floyd, the Who, Fleetwood Mac, McCartney all with very good to excellent albums in 1975, and Elton John with several excellent pop singles which made him the best-selling artist of 1975 even amidst the Disco boom.
After late 1973’s extraordinary “Dark Side of the Moon” , Pink Floyd’s next effort was bound to suffer in comparison. Still the “Wish You Were Here” album boasted the same outstanding musicianship , excellent musical themes and a new unconventional structure that was the hallmark of “Dark Side…” . The album begins with the 13 minute+ composition “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (Parts I – V) and ends with the 12 minute + “Shine on You Crazy Diamond Pt. VI-IX)”. The song was an homage to founding member Syd Barrett who had to leave the group due to a mental breakdown 7 years earlier. Roger Waters ,who was the lead composer and lyricist for the group ,developed a simple yet vibrant central vocal and lyrical theme of “Shine On”. But it is Gilmour and his brilliant guitar playing and excellent keyboards, Waters bass and back up guitars and seamless use of synthesizer that drive “Shine On…” as the centerpiece of the album. But the other three tracks on the album are excellent musically too, with the biting satire about the music industry of “Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar” and the beautiful emotional longing expressed succinctly in “Wish You Were Here”. Of course, the album played second fiddle to “Dark Side” , but what a great second fiddle it was.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s , the British group Fleetwood Mac had constant personnel turnover. But with the departure of lead guitarist and songwriter Bob Welch, the remaining three group stalwarts-drummer Mick Fleetwood, singer and keyboardist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie – looked to California for reinforcement and brought in guitarist/ vocalist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks. (They originally just wanted Lindsay, but they wisely were convinced by Buckingham to take his girlfriend Nicks as well). The formula instantly worked and the 1975 “Fleetwood Mac” album was by far their biggest commercial and critical success to date. The soft but upbeat rock sound and beautiful and catchy tunes and vocals were the hallmark of the album. I absolutely loved Christine McVie soothing voice (and song writing) with “Over My Head” , “Warm Ways” , “Say You Love Me” and “Sugar Daddy”- all outstanding tracks on the album. But Stevie Nicks ” Rhiannon” and “Landslide” were excellent too, as well as Lindsey Buckingham’s rousing “Monday Morning” “Blue Letter”, and “I’m So Afraid” (with some excellent guitar work as well) . All in all, a tour-de-force for a group that was in tatters just a few months earlier.
In 1975, the Who released “Who By Numbers” . Unfortunately, it was there first new studio album after the extraordinary trifecta of such albums produced by the Who in the early 1970s – “Tommy”, “Who’s Next” and “Quadrophenia” – and thus, couldn’t help but be disappointing by comparison. Further, the Who recorded the album amidst Keith Moon’s spiraling drug and alcohol programs, as well as Daltrey and Townshend’s barbs at each other in the British press. Nonetheless, “Who By Numbers” was a very good album – emotionally darker than anything the Who had done before and achingly personal for Pete Townshend. The album opens with perhaps its best track “Slip Kid” a song about the responsibility of growing up “there’s no easy way to be free”. “However Much I Booze” was written the day Townshend quit alcohol and provides the answer “there ain’t no way out”. Other excellent tracks include “They’re All in Love”, a bitter song about loneliness and anger, “Dreaming from the Waist” a song of sexual frustration, and atypically for the album, a beautiful and heartfelt love song ” Blue, Red and Gray”. Meanwhile, bassist John Entwistle excellent contribution “Success Story” captured the Who’s mood at the time perfectly “Back in the studio, to make our latest number 1. Take 276, you know this used to be fun”. Ironically, the album’s only single, the catchy “Squeeze Box” was Townshend’s sole humorous track on the album and clearly doesn’t fit the deeply personal theme of Townshend’s fear of growing up and being old and lonely. Musically and vocally the album is superb with Daltrey’s vocals, Townshend’s guitar playing, Entwistle’s bass playing and Moon’s drumming being particularly noteworthy. Overall, the album was a back-to-basics effort by the Who (no rock opera or glitzy use of synthesizer) but a very strong one at that.
After the critical and popular success of the excellent “Band on the Run” album, McCartney (and his group Wings) produced a solid next album “Venus and Mars”. The highlights of the album included the excellent opening track “Venus and Mars/ Rock Show” which was pure rock n roll fun and reminded one of McCartney’s vocals as an early Beatle in songs like “I’m Down” and “Dizzie Miss Lizzie”. Two other songs “Letting Go” and “Call Me Back Again” also were excellent rockers driven again by superb but very different McCartney vocal styles. “Love in Song” revealed a rare side of McCartney, a more emotionally bare Paul than was typical in his love songs. “Listen to What the Man Said” was a catchy pop song (complete with clarinet) that at least was a good tune, albeit was very familiar McCartney schmaltz. New member of Wings, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, in addition to solid lead guitar work on the album, penned and sang lead on “Medicine Jar” another strong track. There were some misses on the album, most notably on the inane “Spirits of Ancient Egypt” (Denny Laine singing lead vocal) and “Magneto and Titanium Man”, but overall “Venus and Mars” was a solid, albeit under-appreciated, follow-up to “Band on the Run”.
Elton John was prolific in 1975 with two new albums released “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” and “Rock of the Westies”. (as well as a re-release of his first album “Empty Sky”). I didn’t buy either new album and know little of the music from these two other than the singles. “Captain Fantastic” was autobiographical about Taupin and John’s early years as songwriters. The single from the album “Someone Saved My Life” was in my opinion one of John’s best songs both musically and lyrically, focusing on Elton’s marriage engagement and conflict with his musical career, his contemplated suicide in 1969 and his (very wise) decision to ultimately break off the engagement. This was clearly a deeply emotional song for Elton and you can feel it in his piano playing, vocals and of course, his singing. “Rock of the Westies” had much less going for it. It’s two singles “Island Girl” and “Grow Some Funk of Your Own” were decent songs but grew very tiresome when heard on the radio constantly in 1975 and early 1976. Elton did succeed with another upbeat single earlier in the year “Philadelphia Freedom” which he and Taupin wrote as an homage to Billie Jean King and her newly founded professional Tennis team , the Philadelphia Freedoms. The song which was vintage Elton John pop/rock and was the #3 song of the year. For some reason I never tired of hearing it, no doubt because of its infectious chorus. Last but not least, Elton teamed up with Neil Sedaka and scored with the catchy “Bad Blood” which soared to #1 on the charts late in 1975.
In addition to Fleetwood Mac, McCartney and Elton John’s singles successes, other UK artists also had a strong year:
- David Bowie had his most successful year in 1975 with his first #1 single in the US, the excellent rock song “Fame”. The song was co-written by John Lennon who also sang back-up. “Young Americans” did not chart as well (reached #28 in the US) but also was a very good song. Both songs came from Bowie’s “Young Americans” album released in early 1975 which saw a shift in Bowie’s music genre from glitter/space rock to blue-eyed rock n’ soul.
- Electric Light Orchestra’s “Face the Music” album spawned two successful singles for the group, “Evil Woman” released in late 1975 and “Strange Magic” in early 1976. Both were up tempo, catchy songs that continued and expanded the unique ELO rock/orchestration sound as well as featuring Jeff Lynne’s excellent vocals. But the highlight of the album was the brilliant “Fire on High” , an instrumental masterpiece which featured unique orchestration with vocal snippets of the Hallelujah chorus, excellent guitar and drumming as well as the ELO drummer speaking backwards apparently saying (if you played the turntable backwards) “The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back, turn back”.
- Queen had their first successful US single “Killer Queen” which reached #12 in the US. The song was like nothing I had ever heard before, particularly vocally, and I enjoyed it immensely.
- A new Scottish group, Pilot had the very catchy, rock song “Magic” which became one of my favorites of the summer of 1975. I can remember driving back from an unsuccessful date that summer, blaring the song from the car’s speakers at full blast.
- Another Scottish group, Average White Band had two instrumental disco-oriented hits in 1975 with “Pick Up the Pieces” and “Cut the Cake” with the former reaching #1 on the US charts. Though I was no fan of the disco sound, it was hard to resist the excellent saxophone playing and tune of “Pick up the Pieces” and it was certainly was one of my favorite disco songs.
God Bless America
In America, rock music had increasingly moved to a softer rock and jazz fusion sound but there were a few notable exceptions. One such exception came from comparative newcomer Bruce Springsteen who with the release of his third album “Born to Run” became one of the best “new” artists of 1975 (even featured on the cover of Time Magazine). Of course, his first and particularly his second album were quite good. But it was “Born to Run” that was to become his most popular effort to date and created an entire new legion of Springsteen fans. “Born to Run” features the heartfelt drama of “She’s the One”, “Backstreets”, “Thunder Road” “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” “Jungleland” and the title track “Born To Run”. Lyrically and musically the album was outstanding with not a single weak track. Some compared Springsteen to an electric Dylan (a la “Like a Rolling Stone”) but Springsteen took the music further with more complex arrangements and orchestration than Dylan ever contemplated (some critics likened it to the Phil Specter “wall of sound”). And he had a great backup band featuring Clarence Clemons on sax. “Born to Run” is my opinion Springsteen’s best album and the title track his best single of his long and illustrious career.
Paul Simon released the album “Still Crazy After All These Years” in October 1975 which won the Grammy for best album in 1976. (In his tongue-in-cheek acceptance speech, Simon thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album in 1975!). The album features four outstanding compositions the title track, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover”, “Gone at Last” (with Phoebe Snow) and “My Little Town” (with Art Garfunkel). The album has an interesting jazz/rock/folk fusion feel to it, and certainly was very unique at the time. At about the same time, Art Garfunkel released a reasonably good new album “Breakaway” with two good tracks– the original song “Breakaway” and the cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe”. However, the highlight was his superb rendition of “I Only Have Eyes for You” which even surpassed the Flamingoes original version from the late 1950s.
The Eagles released their must successful album to date “One of these Nights”. The title track was an outstanding example of the folk-rock sound that the Byrds and Dylan had begun in 1965, and was one of the best songs of 1975. It also was one of the most popular reaching #1 and ending up the #9 song for the year. My other favorite song from the album was “Take it to Limit” which was to reach #4 on the charts in early 1976. . The other hit song from the album “Lyin’ Eyes” is a decent song but one that I tired of quickly (perhaps its 6 minute length and its constant airplay and the ever repeating chorus had something to do with that). Early 1975 featured the no. 1 hit “Best of My Love” which was OK, but grew tiresome with extensive airplay.
Steely Dan released their ” Katy Lied” album which was a solid effort but not quite as good as the previous year’s “Pretzel Logic” . However, it did boast four very good tracks including “Black Friday” “Bad Sneakers” “Any World” and one of Steely Dan’s best songs ever “Doctor Wu”. The album was noteworthy as it marked the end of touring for the group (in mid-1974) and the departure of several original members, in particular guitarist extraordinaire, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter who went on to the Doobie Brothers. However, Steely Dan’s signature sound , a unique blend of rock and jazz, remained ever-present as group founders Fagan and Becker continued to dominate vocals, song writing and musical arrangements, and increasingly using session musicians to record albums.
Other North American artists with rock singles/songs of note during the year included:
- The Canadian group Bachman-Turner Overdrive had two more rollicking rock hits “Hey You” and “Roll On Down the Highway”. While their music had become pretty formulaic, it was a hard rock formula that I really enjoyed.
- Lynyrd Skynrd had no new material of note, but they did release their classic rock jam song “Free Bird” as a 4 minute single (which peaked at #19 in early 1975) as well as a second top forty, hit single “Saturday Night Special”. “Free Bird” particularly in its more familiar 10 minute rock jam version was to become one of the top classic rock songs of all time. (Like many, I never bought the single, but instead eventually recorded the long version on cassette tape from the album of one of my friends).
- A new group Styx had a pretty good song with “Lady” (released originally in 1973, but eventually cracking the top ten in early 1975).
- Chicago released a pretty ordinary Chicago VIII album, but it did boast one of Chicago’s best songs and one of my personal favorites of the year the upbeat rock n roll song “Old Days”.
- Linda Ronstadt had her first three solo hits (after her original hit “Different Drum” with the Stone Poneys in 1968). “You’re No Good” which might be her best track ever was a more conventional rock song, featuring Ronstadt’s great voice. Almost as good was “When Will I Be Loved” a great country-rock style cover version of a hallmark Everly Brothers song. She also did an excellent rock-version of “Heat Wave”.
- America scored big with two hits during the year. “Sister Golden Hair” was one of the best songs of the summer with a great upbeat folk-rock song. I also liked “Lonely People” earlier in 1975, perhaps because it fit my “I wish I had a girlfriend” mood at the time with the lyrics “Thinking that love had passed them by…..don’t give up til you drink from the silver cup, you never know until you try”.
- James Taylor continued his popular success with his folk-rock sound and two hits– “How Sweet it Is” (cover of the Marvin Gaye hit) and the original “Mexico”. I liked the latter song, but “How Sweet it Is” suffered in comparison to the Marvin Gaye original.
- Another soft rock-pop hit was “Dance with Me” by Orleans a wonderful romantic song but without the oozing schmaltz of so many other songs in 1975.
- I also liked “Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka even though it was clearly overly sentimental , but I suppose even then I was sucker for a comeback hit from an early 1960s artist.
- Janis Ian scored with the excellent “At Seventeen”, her first big hit since 1967’s “Society’s Child” (a song she originally wrote three years earlier at 13!).
- A relatively new group , the Ozark Mountain Daredevils had the catchy and soothing, country-rock song “Jackie Blue”, which surprisingly turned out to be their only major success on the pop charts. (Interestingly at the time, I thought that it was sung by a woman, but I learned later, in fact, the high voice of drummer Larry Lee).
- The Doobie Brothers had a new, but fairly ordinary, album “Stampede” in 1975. However, it did boast a pretty good rendition of the Motown song “Take Me in Your Arms”. Meanwhile, “Black Water” the highlight of the weak 1974 album “What were once vices are now habits” reached #1 in March.
- Grand Funk Railroad had the excellent tune “Bad Time”, one of my favorites of the Spring of 1975.
Soul, Funk and Disco: The Good
For the most part, I found only a limited number of songs/artists that I liked in 1975 in the soul, funk and disco genres. On the soul and funk side, this included:
- Chicago-based, Earth Wind & Fire, was one of my favorite groups of the year. They had their first popular success with the “Shining Star” (which hit #1 in May) and later in the year with the top five hit “Sing a Song”. Both were prime examples of EW&F’s great formula– wonderful lively brass arrangements, excellent vocals and harmonies, great tunes and a unique funk/soul fusion sound.
- The Ohio Players had the huge hit “Fire” (#1 in February) and another top 10 single “Love Rollercoaster” released in November, which were probably the best popular examples of the funk genre in 1975. I’ll confess to liking the Ohio Players much more in retrospect. At the time, I actually disliked the song “Fire” intensely (no doubt this is because I can remember being kept awake at 3AM in the morning at Brown during the winter of 1975 by the bass line of the song which I could heard booming across the quad).
- The Spinners had the excellent tuneful and upbeat, soul hit “Games People Play” which features their great mix of soprano, tenor, alto and bass voices including most notably bass singer Pervis Jackson hitting his exceptionally low notes on his verse. “12:45 heading for the subway line…”
- LaBelle scored with the rousing and overtly sexual “Lady Marmalade” (e.g. “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi se sour ?”) which though overplayed, was still an excellent song. The leader, Patti LaBelle had been lead singer for 1960s girl/ doo wop group Patti LaBelle and the Bluenotes. The song which has been covered multiple times was written by Bob Crewe (of Four Seasons song writing and producing fame) and Kenny Nolan ( sang/wrote “I Like Dreamin’ “).
- The Latin funk sound of the group War was very appealing on its two chart hits “Why Can’t We Be Friends” and “Low Rider”.
There were only a few pure disco songs that I liked:
- The Bee Gees had perhaps the best disco song of the year with their first entry in the genre “Jive Talkin”.
- A reformulated Four Seasons managed to convert their great 60s sound to 70s disco with the lively “Who Loves You”. I particularly enjoyed the instrumental section of the long version of this song and of course Frankie Valli’s vocal .
The Bad and the Ugly
Unfortunately, there was a lot of bad and even ugly songs in 1975.
- I’ll know Minnie Riperton had a great voice, but the abysmal “Lovin You” complete with a sing-song melody, Minnie’s very high pitch “la-las” and outright screeches and a song opening with birds chirping literally made me ill (and made it one of the worst songs of the year). This song had one redeeming feature however, which was if it came on in the morning on my clock radio alarm, it was sure to get me up for class.
- Barry Manilow knows how to write a good tune and I’ll admit the first time or two I hear one of his songs, I’ll find myself humming it. But eventually the saccharin sweetness of the musical arrangements and lyrics just overpowers me and I feel like I do when I eat too much – sick to my stomach. In early 1975, I could tolerate “Mandy” (and even liked it a bit) but by the time he reached “Could it be Magic” and ” I Write the Songs” later in the years, I was having severe gastrointestinal distress. I know what he means when he says “and I wrote the very first song…I am Music and I write the songs” BUT does he realize how obnoxious and pompous this sounds!
- Olivia Newton John had two big hit songs “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “Please Mr. Please”, both cloying and featuring Olivia’s very average voice. Like many in my generation, I did like Olivia’s looks however. This fact was not lost on a ‘girl’ friend of mine several years later who bought me Olivia’s greatest hits album for my birthday solely because of its album cover featuring Olivia’s beautiful face.
- Jefferson Starship had an OK album, “Red Octopus”, but the main single “Miracles” was incessantly played and extremely repetitive. (I have never counted but I think the chorus “If only you believe….” is sung way too many times.).
- As noted, I found many disco songs just mediocre at best, but K.C. and the Sunshine Band probably had the worst of the lot, with “Get Down Tonight” (“Do a little dance make a little love, get down tonight”) and “That’s the Way I Like It” (“uh huh uh huh”)
****************
But overall 1975 wasn’t a bad year. It was the coming out of Bruce Springsteen and Queen, and a happy time for me by the fall of 1975. And America’s bicentennial and graduation were right around the corner.
Consider the following financial story. Big Joe Spender is a successful attorney who works for Federal Gross National Products. Though his salary and bonus varies depending on how well the company is doing, he most recently got a big raise and made $300,000 in total after-tax compensation in 2014, his best year. Despite his excellent compensation, Joe has substantial debts outstanding. His mortgage on his first home is a variable rate mortgage which he owes $800,000. However, the home was awarded to his first wife in a contentious divorce settlement in 2008 ( while Joe remained responsible for the mortgage payments) . At the same time the recession in 2008-09 led to his total compensation being cut to $200,000. Joe also reacted badly to the bad economy and his divorce by moving to Park Ave luxury rental in NYC upping his spending to $360000 a year (high rents, restaurants , travel, lavish parties ) during 2009-2013 meaning he had to borrow an additional $800,000 over this period.
By early 2015 , Joe owed more than $1.8 million and was having difficulty making his surprisingly low-interest payments of $25,000 a year. He had managed to negotiate his mortgage loans as interest-only repayments by failing to disclose all his other loans and expenses. He did the same when he rolled over his short-term loans. Somehow, almost miraculously, he was able to do so at a low-interest rate. As he had trouble getting further loans, he turned increasingly to his crooked friend Fred who was willing to lend him, interest-free, counterfeit bills totaling $400,000 which he had printed in his basement. Nonetheless, his creditors were quickly catching up to him, the FBI was getting suspicious and Joe was getting pretty worried.
Joe had been able to curb his spending a little but still was spending more (about $345,000) than he was making (about $300,000). In the long run, the picture was even bleaker, because he not only had the mandatory interest payments for both his wife’s house and his other debts, but he was ALSO required to make growing mandatory medical and retirement payments for his wife (She had a great divorce lawyer!) which were expected to grow by another $100,000 per year in just a few years. Not only that but Joe was a clinically diagnosed, shopping/spending addict. He literally couldn’t help himself and “had” to spend more than his salary on his Park Avenue rental, fancy dinners every night, butler, maid and chauffeur services, expensive travel and very expensive wines. So while he had accumulated some assets (e.g. an expensive gun collection, and a few patches of cheap forest land in the boonies), these paled in comparison to his total debt of $1.9 million+ and growing.
Bottom line: assuming Joe can still find short-term lenders and get Fred to print up some more counterfeit money loans, by 2020 or soon thereafter:
- His total debt will grow to $2.1-2.3 million.
- His annual interest payments are expected to increase to more than $100,000 per year
Does Joe’s story seem plausible to you? Of course not. Why would anyone keep lending money to him let alone on highly favorable terms despite his obfuscations and fraud? How is it that he is not in prison now?
Unfortunately, this is not a fictional story but all too real except on a much bigger scale. Multiply all the numbers by 10 Million , replace Joe with the federal government, his crooked friend Fred with the Federal Reserve, counterfeiting with money printing and Joe’s addictive spending with business as usual in the government, and his wife medical and social security with Medicare and Social Security and you’ve got the story of the U.S. economy and government over the past decade or more and for the foreseeable future:
- $18 Trillion in Debt in early 2015 up from $8 Trillion in 2008.
- $4 Trillion in New Money Printed by 2015 which quintupled the U.S. Money Supply in 2008
- $100 -200 Trillion in future liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
- Continued substantial deficit spending of $438 billion in 2015 even in spite of large tax increases, an economy which may be at its peak and some, albeit small, declines in government spending.
- Future debt to swell to $21-23 Trillion by 2020, with interest payments (with eventual interest rate increases) rising to more than $1 trillion per year.
Barring massive cuts in government spending including future Medicare and Social Security payments coupled with major tax reform (where the existing tax code is completely eliminated and our tax system is made much more efficient), I see very serious consequences for the U.S. economy.
**********
Ah well, on to another “cheerier” music blog next time.
It’s been quite awhile since I have blogged about the state of the economy and investments in general. While my last blog was not exactly prophetic (i.e. about two years ago, I worried about the overvaluation of the stock market and the general artificial asset inflation that had been driven by the Fed’s massive money printing), I believe with the high volatility in the market of the past couple of weeks, including some very scary drops in the Dow and S&P indices, that the stock market may be set to fall significantly and even crash in the not-too-distant future.
So why worry? After all, the US economy after a very tepid recovery (the worst economic recovery from a recession in the last 70 years) has shown some signs of growth, with a recently revised 3.7 % growth in GDP in the second quarter. Further, though China’s economic growth has slowed, it is still growing at 5% or so a year (according to most economists, though the official “cooked” Chinese numbers remain at 7%). So the large correction in the market of the past two weeks was clearly an overreaction. Right?
Perhaps, but the stock market’s valuation is high given continuation of current growth trends and current interest rates, and unusually high given the prospects of slow or flat earnings growth and likely significantly higher interest rates in the next few years. To quote Al Gore, consider the following inconvenient truths:
- S&P earnings per share and profit margins are at or near all time record highs, and are unsustainable. It is almost a certainty that profit margins will narrow and S&P earnings which have largely been flat over the past year will come under further pressure. Profit margins have grown since 2009 because companies cut back on overhead and other costs and became more efficient and adjusted to a lower demand world in the post-2008 period. Profit margins also grew because interest rates fell (due to the Fed) and companies refinanced their debt with much lower cost money resulting in lower interest costs. Earnings per share have grown even faster since 2009 because many S&P companies have bought back shares and have become much more “leveraged” ( i.e. more debt vs equity) because of the low-interest rates, which means profits are spread over fewer shares, automatically boosting earnings per share.
- Economic growth, normally a key driver of corporate profits, has been tepid and seems unlikely to heat up in the long-term – The economy has grown only at about 2% per year for the last 3 years and only somewhat more since the beginning of the recovery in 2009, making it the worst post-recession economic expansion since before World War II. And though unemployment has fallen to lower levels, the key statistic of labor force participation is at lower levels than anytime since the 1970s. In fact, despite continuing growth in the overall working age population, the number of people employed is still less than it was in 2008. Further, the percentage of those jobs that are part-time rather than full-time has grown. In addition, median income has continue to decline in real inflation-adjusted terms since 2007. Lastly, demographic growth is largely turning negative as the baby boomers begin to retire in droves over the next few years, such that total employment and net disposable income (key drivers in our largely consumer driven economy) will come under increasing pressure.
- The stock market’s rise has been driven largely by massive money printing by the Fed during 2009-2014. The Fed has QUINTUPLED the monetary base of the US to about $4 trillion from $0.8 trillion when Obama first took office in 2009. Of note is that late last year, the Fed stopped money printing and the stock market has moved up and down but is still more a less at the same level as it was last year. So why doesn’t the Fed print more money now? The reason is that the Fed fears that inflation will be ignited with rapidly rising interest rates and eventual economic contraction. Since there is a strong correlation in the LONG run between money printing and inflation, this fear is not without basis. (NOTE: Why does money printing act to increase stock prices? When the Fed “prints money” thru its quantitative easing (QE) policies, it buys treasury bonds and bills from US investors or the Chinese or other treasury bond owners. This large increase in demand for treasuries increases their prices and thereby reduces interest rates. This makes stocks in particular much more attractive investments because of the artificially low-interest rates. It also means the former owners of the bonds now have more cash to invest in the market)
- US Federal Debt remains a huge and growing problem in the long-term – The good news is that we have managed to get the deficit to a more manageable level of a “mere” $400 billion+ for this current fiscal year ending in September and we may (according to the CBO) be able to trim this a little bit further by end of FY 2016. The bad news is (1) we still have over $18 TRILLION in federal debt and (2) even using the overly optimistic assumptions by the CBO, this deficit and debt will again start to swell substantially beginning in 2017 and explode again by 2020 as many baby boomers retire. There is a good chance that we will likely see the unthinkable at this point, that the federal US government may have to default on its interest payments, barring MAJOR changes in our massive federal spending habits AND major cuts/tax increases/reform for social security and Medicare.
- The value of the dollar has also been unusually strong over the last two years. This has the effect of making US goods more expensive (and already has started to hurt exports and foreign earnings for US companies). Also, this is in spite of the large amount of money printing which theoretically at least should make the dollar cheaper (i.e. more dollars chasing the same number of products). The dollar’s rise has been part of a virtuous cycle where a strengthening dollar has attracted foreign capital to the US stock market (and real estate market), which in turn strengthens the dollar further. The problem is if the stock market has a significant decline (due to some of the overvaluation fears triggered by an event such as lower earnings reports) this creates the opposite negative cycle, where lower stock prices result in fleeing foreign capital which reduces the dollar’s value and which further deflate stock prices.
- Major declines in the dollar will help fuel inflation along with all the printed money as it is increasingly loaned out by the banks. The banks have kept very high levels of cash reserves at the Fed since 2009 reducing the “velocity” of all of the printed money and thereby delaying the inflationary effects. However, the banks have begun to increasingly loan out greater amounts as their financial health has improved and this alone may start to fuel inflation. In addition, declines in the dollar will result in inflation in the price of imported goods from other world markets, as well as the prices of almost all commodities.
- More inflation and a declining dollar will force interest rates higher possibly to double-digit levels. At a certain point, the Fed won’t be able to control rates particularly as the market sinks significantly and the dollar falls in value and inflation heats up.
So what does this mean for stock prices and the stock market in general? As I blogged about two years ago, stock market valuation is primarily driven by a simple construct–the value of a company is equal to the discounted value of dividends received over the lifetime of the investment. In other words, if you buy Company X which provides you with a $2.00 per share dividend , and you project that the dividend will grow by 3 percent per year over a 40 year time horizon, then the value of the company stock will be all those future dividends discounted back to today using the risk-free interest rate ( which is typically equal the projected interest rate on intermediate-term US treasury bonds). Thus, there are three main components that determine value of stocks and hence the price of stock market indices like the Dow Jones Industrials or S&P 500:
(1) current dividends per share paid
(2) projected long-term per annum growth rate in dividends paid per share
(3) the interest rate on a “risk free” instrument such as an intermediate-term treasury bond
For most companies and the S&P 500 as a whole, the best predictor of the future dividends growth rate is the earnings growth rate since dividends are generally paid out of earnings per share and the two have tended to grow at about the same rate over time. (e.g. during 1980-2013, SP-500 dividends per share have grown by 5.1% and earnings by 5.5% per annum).
Just like I did two years ago, in order to get a read on how the market is currently valuing/pricing the S&P 500, I used a simple spreadsheet to take the earnings and dividends of the S&P 500 and assumed various discount and growth rates. What I found was interesting to say the least, and a compelling picture as to why the market may be substantially overvalued. Using my spreadsheet model, and solving for the current S&P 500 price of 1941 implies a slower long term growth rate in dividends per share of about 3.2% per year (vs. the last 32 years 5.1%) , but also a continued very low 2% per year, long- term discount rate. Alternatively, it could imply a higher discount rate (3%) but also a faster 4.2% per year. However, there are several major problems with this implicit “market” assessment.
(1) Risk-Free “Treasury” Interest Rates/ Discount Rates are almost certain to rise substantially over the next few years. As I noted above, there are many factors (e.g. future dollar declines, inflationary pressures etc.) that suggest a large increase in interest rates is likely to come soon. Further, current interest rates are exceedingly low today with 10 year treasuries only a little bit above 2%. In fact, between 1966 and 2001, long-term, risk-free interest rates were almost always above 5 percent and for most years averaged between 6 and 8 percent . Thus, just moving back to more “normal” interest rates would be a huge rise from today’s 2% rates. However, we could easily see the situation become much worse than that and resemble the situation in the late 1970s and early 80s where we had long-term treasury rates between 8 and 16 percent!
(2) Dividends Per Share and Earnings Per Share are in a Short-Term “Bubble”. As discussed above, it seems unlikely that there will be much growth in earnings and dividends due to fundamental economy and demographic trends in the US. Further, the stock buybacks that help fuel the EPS and DPS growth are likely to be far less frequent in the future once interest rates start to rise. Further, corporate costs such as interest, health care costs, pension costs, and taxes are all expected to climb significantly. This is hardly a recipe for robust growth in earnings and dividend payouts. In the long run, inflation will increase the underlying costs of goods sold resulting in a profit margin squeeze as well.
(3) Long Term Economic Growth Will likely be Much Slower Affecting Long Term Earnings and Dividend Growth–The combination of negative demographics (e.g. aging of population affecting consumption patterns negatively as the baby boomers become lower consuming retirees), slow productivity growth, higher federal, state and local taxes and medical costs and slow US population growth, means that economic growth is likely to be signficantly lower than the 3% per year real GDP growth we’ve experienced over the past 3 decades. Notably, even with enormous monetary and fiscal stimulus over the past 4 years, we have only been able to grow US GDP by around 2%. In other words, we may be lucky to see 1-2% GDP growth over the next decade with all the headwinds noted above.
Bottom line: I ran my spreadsheet with more realistic dividend growth and interest/discount rates. Depending on my assumptions, I found the market was worth only about 30-60% of today’s levels. This isn’t to say that the market will crash 40-70% tomorrow. There are too many people who have a vested interest in talking the market up and keeping the participants optimistic. As long as market optimism remains relatively high and the Fed can keep interest rates down in the short-term (probably thru another round of money printing) , a major market fall can be delayed for another year or two. Ironically, another round of money printing should the market start to fall precipitously may be one way the Fed staves off a market fall in the near term. However, my advice to you is to avoid the future risks and at least cut back your stock holdings back significantly as a % of your overall investments. Maybe there is still another 10-20% upside left in the market and maybe the crash will be even held off indefinitely (of course, I could be wrong), but I wouldn’t advise waiting around to find out. After all, “what goes up, must come down”.
The Braine Trust 