LPA Classic Golden Years

LONG JOHN BALDRY: "Wait For Me"

Original released on LP PYE NSPL 18366

(UK, 1969)

For his last album of the '60s, Baldry took a marginally more soulful approach than he had on "Let the Heartaches Begin", although Tony Macaulay (co-writer of the "Let the Heartaches Begin" single) was still around to feed him a few mainstream pop tunes. The result was more bearable than the previous effort, but not much. No one's going to highly value Baldry's soul-revue interpretations of "Sunshine of Your Love," "Cry Like a Baby," or other soul and rock hits of the period, even for camp or nostalgia value. The more pop-oriented selections are still the sort of cabaret-ish hack jobs that induce grimaces, and Baldry's vocals are still lacking in basic chops. The CD reissue adds the bonus tracks "Mexico" and "When the Sun Comes Shining Thru'," which were both British Top 30 hits for Baldry in the late '60s. (Richie Unterberger in AllMusic)

TIM ROSE: "Through Rose Colored Glasses"

Original released on LP 

Columbia CS 9772 (US) / CBS S 63636 (UK)

(1969)

The CIRCUS Album

Original released on LP Transatlantic TRA 207

(UK, 1969)

Amongst the earliest traces of progressive rock already fully gestated in the 60s alongside the likes of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and King Crimson were a few smaller but similarly minded acts that didn’t quite end up in the history books the same way. One of these short-lived bands was Circus that spent most of the 60s as The Storm Shakers part of the clumsily named Philip Goodhand-Tait and the Stormsville Shakers before changing the moniker in 1967 when Philip parted ways. These days the band is more famous as the first project of saxophonist / flautist Mel Collins who would play on some of the earliest King Crimson albums (“In The Wake of Poseidon,” “Lizard,” “Islands,” “Red”). Circus was a tight jazz-rock band that crafted some high quality musical workouts that mixed the heavier aspects of late 60s rock with the nuances of jazz modulations, folk, pop and psychedelia. Add to that a stellar Latin influenced percussive flair that added an impassioned mix of jazz and ethnic drive to create an innovative melting pot of juicy jazz-rock yumminess. Collins is the star of the show here with sizzling hot sax and flute solos but with the addition of the musical virtuosity of the rest, Kirk Riddle kills it on bass, Ian David Jelfs delivers some excellent blues / jazz guitar workouts while Chris Burrows creates his own tapestry of drumming diversity.

After Goodhand-Tait left to write material for a band named Love Affair, the newly named Circus began to focus less on the pop side of music and joined the ranks of the more experimental progressive bands emerging such as The Nice, Soft Machine, Caravan, Colosseum and the brand spanking new King Crimson. The band experienced some minor success as The Stormshakers and as Circus landed on the Transatlantic record label which began in 1961 as an import label of American blues, folk and jazz to the UK market before signing new talents. Circus found themselves debuting the one and only self-titled album on Transatlantic in 1969 and joined the nascent progressive rock scene. While Circus crafted a brilliant mix of tracks with uplifting musical performances, the choice of tracks was rather strange. It was customary of the day to include covers but for a progressive band trying to break free from pop influences, Circus took the bold step of including four with the most puzzling decision of beginning the album with a cover of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood.” While this feat that easily could’ve been an instant death sentence for most, the band pulled it off so extremely well as they not only faithfully nailed the melodic aspects of the song but augmented it with a stealthy jazz improv performance and ample doses of art rock creativity thus essentially making it their own in many ways.

Of the eight tracks, only half were originals written by Mel Collins whereas the other half were covers which included not only the The Beatles but also “Monday, Monday” from The Mamas & The Papas, “Don’t Make Promises” from Tim Hardin and a feisty interpretation of “II B.S.” from Charles Mingus. An odd combo effect for sure but somehow saved by the sheer musical prowess of the musicians involved. The album comes off as a rather bizarre mix of genre shifting with jazzified pop rockers existing with calypso-tinged Latin rock, progressive folk and more heavier rock sections. What sounds awkward in writing actually works in practice which is utterly amazing. The name of the game in the music world is that for every band that made it to the big time possibly 100 did not so while King Crimson and Soft Machine have gone down as pioneers of the progressive rock scene that burst onto the scene, Circus on the other hand has been relegated as a mere footnote in a more detailed study of the era. It’s quite unfortunate that despite the band having written material for a second album couldn’t make it all work out and soon disbanded leaving their one and only musical artifact a desirable collector’s item for hardcore sleuths of vinyl obscurities. It’s quite sad that this band didn’t experience more success because they clearly had the talent. I usually dislike covers but Circus took four disparately styled tracks and made each of them their own. This album was an unexpected surprise and one that i really think needs more attention. (in RateYourMusic)

FLEETWOOD MAC: "Then Play On"

Original released on LP Reprise RSLP 9000

(UK 1969, September 19)

"Then Play On" came out in 1969 and has to be one of the most significant, simplistic and beautiful albums of all time. Fleetwood Mac were way ahead of the curve with this release, which included country, blues, haunting rock [both electric and acoustic], and some fine vocal harmonies that reach in to touch your very soul. No, this is not the Fleetwood Mac that most of you would recognize, this is Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and the album itself will cause some disconnection, as there are at least four or five releases with different song lineups, and that’s before you even get to the CD or the CD with bonus material. But don’t fear, that aspect is not at all important, it’s getting the music that counts. This release has Peter Green [on guitar, harmonica and vocals], Jeremy Spencer [on piano], Mick Fleetwood [on drums], John McVie [on bass] and Danny Kirwan [on guitar and vocals] there are two amazing musicians who go without credit and are Walter Horton [on harmonica] and Christine Perfect [on piano]. This is the Fleetwood Mac that I recognize, this is the Fleetwood Mac with the amazing slide guitar on "Show Biz Blues," this is the Fleetwood Mac that came to America in the 60’s showing us what the British had learned from our own exported blues ... this is the definitive Fleetwood Mac album in my opinion. This is not to say that Stevie and Christine didn’t bring something phenomenal to the group, it’s just that that incarnation is light years away from the conception. But to be fair, members of the band came and went like waiting cabs, someone new always waiting in the wings.  

To list the two ‘major bands’ that revolved around Fleetwood Mac, I would have to begin with Aynsley Dunbar and The Bluesbreakers. To list the major talent that revolved around these three bands, would include John McVie, John Mayall, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer and a host I have not mentioned. Never the less, if one sits down and intently listens to this release they are going to hear samples of what all of these artist brought to the project. Fleetwood Mac, the band, built on what all of its members brought to the table, members both present and past, nothing was ignored or cast aside just because someone moved on ... this was a solid, hard rolling band that was building itself ever stronger with each step, with each progression, lessons were learned, shared and balanced with unprecedented ease. So there you have it my friends, to understand the present Fleetwood Mac, you must begin here. (in RateYourMusic)

An Eternal Masterpiece With 50 Years Old

Original released on LP 

Columbia KCS 9914 (US) / CBS S 63699 (UK)

(1970, January 26)

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" was one of the biggest-selling albums of its decade, and it hasn't fallen too far down on the list in years since. Apart from the gospel-flavored title track, which took some evolution to get to what it finally became, however, much of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" also constitutes a stepping back from the music that Simon & Garfunkel had made on "Bookends" - this was mostly because the creative partnership that had formed the body and the motivation for the duo's four prior albums literally consumed itself in the making of "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The overall effect was perhaps the most delicately textured album to close out the 1960s from any major rock act. "Bridge Over Troubled Water", at its most ambitious and bold, on its title track, was a quietly reassuring album; at other times, it was personal yet soothing; and at other times, it was just plain fun. The public in 1970 - a very unsettled time politically, socially, and culturally - embraced it; and whatever mood they captured, the songs matched the standard of craftsmanship that had been established on the duo's two prior albums. Between the record's overall quality and its four hits, the album held the number one position for two and a half months and spent years on the charts, racking up sales in excess of five million copies. The irony was that for all of the record's and the music's appeal, the duo's partnership ended in the course of creating and completing the album. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

An established major act as the '60s came to a close and poised to reach an artistic Everest that most can only dream of, Simon and Garfunkel were slowly falling apart due to creative tensions and aspirations that stretched beyond music. It took almost a year, but "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was worth the wait and effort, a perfect way to say goodbye to their studio album career and full-time partnership. A recurring theme of the album is to start a song off rooted in the traditional folk that S&G had originally made their living from, then gradually blend into a louder, fuller sound drawn from various styles. For instance, the title track begins with a lone piano set against Art Garfunkel's delicate vocals (written by Simon, as was always the case), progressing towards the addition of Vibraphone and echo chamber drums before finally crescendoing in a strings and soaring Garfunkel that the Righteous Brothers would have been proud of. Likewise "The Boxer", recorded and released almost a year before "Bridge Over Troubled Water", starts off with a lone folksy guitar and Simon's quiet biopic vocals, then steadily collects Garfunkel, a bass harmonica, occasional pedal steel and piccolo trumpet over the next four minutes, climaxing with - you guessed it - echo chamber drums and strings. "Cecilia", a tale of afternoon dalliance, has a much more consistent volume and beat throughout, with very subtle use of instrumentation that has almost a hands-and-knees-clap quality to it - you know you're experimenting successfully when dropping drumsticks on the floor becomes a classic. Each of these songs became monster hits around the world, as did the album, which stayed on many major charts for years during the early '70s. This certainly isn't the most extreme example on record of folk boundaries being pushed, but it's definitely the most ornate and tasteful. (Azapro Nineoneone in AllMusic)

FAIRPORT CONVENTION: "Liege & Lief"

Original released on LP Island ILPS 9115

(UK, December 1969)

In the decades since its original release, more than one writer has declared Fairport Convention's "Liege & Lief" the definitive British folk-rock album, a distinction it holds at least in part because it grants equal importance to all three parts of that formula. While Fairport had begun dipping their toes into British traditional folk with their stellar version of "A Sailor's Life" on "Unhalfbricking", "Liege & Lief" found them diving head first into the possibilities of England's musical past, with Ashley Hutchings digging through the archives at the Cecil Sharp House in search of musical treasure, and the musicians (in particular vocalist Sandy Denny) eagerly embracing the dark mysteries of this music. (Only two of the album's eight songs were group originals, though "Crazy Man Michael" and "Come All Ye" hardly stand out from their antique counterparts.) "Liege & Lief" was also recorded after a tour bus crash claimed the lives of original Fairport drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend; as the members of the group worked to shake off the tragedy (and break in new drummer Dave Mattacks and full-time fiddler Dave Swarbrick), they became a stronger and more adventurous unit, less interested in the neo-Jefferson Airplane direction of their earlier work and firmly committed to fusing time-worn folk with electric instruments while honoring both. And while "Liege & Lief" was the most purely folk-oriented Fairport Convention album to date, it also rocked hard in a thoroughly original and uncompromising way; the "Lark in the Morning" medley swings unrelentingly, the group's crashing dynamics wring every last ounce of drama from "Tam Lin" and "Matty Groves," and Thompson and Swarbrick's soloing is dazzling throughout. "Liege & Lief" introduced a large new audience to the beauty of British folk, but Fairport Convention's interpretations spoke of the present as much as the past, and the result was timeless music in the best sense of the term. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

"Mais Si Tu Dois Partir..."

Original Released as LP ISLAND ILPS 9102

(UK 1969, July 3)

"Unhalfbricking" was Fairport Convention’s third LP and featured the legendary Richard Thompson on guitar, the now sadly deceased Sandy Denny as vocalist, Ashley Hutchings, the “John Mayall of UK folk rock,” on bass, Simon Nicol, the longest serving Fairporter on guitar, and Martin Lamble on drums (who tragically died in a traffic accident before the album’s release). This album preceded "Liege & Lief", the first Fairport LP to feature mostly traditional folk songs and, in many ways, "Unhalfbricking" was a transitional album. Bob Dylan was strongly represented. His “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” was translated into French ("Si Tu Dois Partir") – Fairport were well educated – and the result became a UK Top 30 hit single. They adopted an invigorating Cajun style on this and “Million Dollar Bash” (at the time an unreleased Dylan Basement Tapes composition). Denny’s “Who Knows Where The Time Goes”, surely her best known composition, was later covered by Judy Collins. The longest track is the traditional song “A Sailor’s Life”, which Denny had been perfoming for some time in folk clubs. This jaw-dropping epicf was recorded in a single take, and saw folk fiddler Dave Swarbrick duel at length with Thompson’s guitar. The enigmatic picture on the sleeve shows Sandy Denny’s parents outside their garden – it is at once very English and slightly unsettling (the group are visible through the fence). And the odd title? A word Denny coined in the course of a word game the band were playing on the road. (John Tobler in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die")

FAIRPORT CONVENTION 2nd Album

Original released on LP Island ILPS 9092

(UK, January 1969)

Sandy Denny's haunting, ethereal vocals gave Fairport a big boost on her debut with the group. A more folk-based album than their initial effort, "What We Did on Our Holidays" is divided between original material and a few well-chosen covers. This contains several of their greatest moments: Denny's "Fotheringay," Richard Thompson's "Meet on the Ledge," the obscure Joni Mitchell composition "Eastern Rain," the traditional "She Moves Through the Fair," and their version of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine." And more than simply being a collection of good songs (with one or two pedestrian ones), it allowed Fairport to achieve its greatest internal balance, and indeed one of the finest balances of any major folk-rock group. The strong original material, covers of little-known songs by major contemporary songwriters such as Dylan and Mitchell, and updates of traditional material were reminiscent of the blend achieved by the Byrds on their early albums, with Fairport Convention giving a British slant to the idiom. The slant would become much more British by the end of the '60s, though, both gaining and losing something in the process. Confusingly, "What We Did on Our Holidays" was titled "Fairport Convention" in its initial U.S. release, with a different cover from the U.K. edition, although Fairport's very first album from 1968 had used the title "Fairport Convention" as well. (Richie Unterberger in AllMusic)

THE MOODY BLUES: "Caught Live + 5"

Original released on LP Decca MB 3-4

(UK, June 1977)

The Moody Blues’ “classic” era ended with the release in 1972 of "Seventh Sojourn", their last studio LP for six years. So I paid no attention to this mostly-live LP when it came out in 1977, with its oh-so-generically-70s cover art (so different from the Philip Travers art of the earlier albums). However, all the material on the album comes from 1967 to 1969, placing it chronologically between "To Our Children’s Children’s Children" and "A Question of Balance".  The first three sides are from a December 1969 concert at The Royal Albert Hall in London, with Sides A and B largely avoiding hits in favor of deep album tracks like “The Sunset”, “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume”, and “Are You Sitting Comfortably?”/”The Dream”/”Have You Heard (Pt. 1)”/“The Voyage”/”Have You Heard (Pt. 2)”, from "On the Threshold of a Dream". Side C, in contrast, goes for the big finish with “Nights in White Satin”, “Legend of a Mind”, and the encore “Ride My See-Saw”. The performance a little ragged… the falsetto harmony vocals in particular are grating, although they don’t get truly embarrassing until “See-Saw”. (The group themselves were supposedly dissatisfied with it and not too pleased at its release.) In addition, the sound quality on the original LP was not great, with, for example, the between-song patter virtually inaudible; the remastered CD version is reportedly much better. Side D consists of five studio outtakes. Overall, they’re typical of such collections – mostly not bad but not outstanding. I think the one real keeper is “What Am I Doing Here?”, and the one real clunker is “Please Think About It”, which is basically just a generic love song and is taken at a lugubrious pace. (in RateYourMusic)

TIM BUCKLEY: "Blue Afternoon"

Original released on LP Straight STS 1060

(US 1969, November 24)

"Blue Afternoon" was Tim Buckley's first self-produced record and his debut for Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa's Straight label. Buckley's first two albums were very much of their time and place, with their psychedelically tinged folk-rock compositions; naïve, romantic lyrical content; and moments of earnest protest. The introduction of acoustic bass and vibes into the arrangements on "Happy Sad" signaled a change in direction, however, and this "Blue Afternoon" displayed similar jazz tendencies, using the same group of musicians plus drummer Jimmy Madison. Several tracks on "Blue Afternoon" are songs Buckley had intended to record on earlier albums but had not completed. The brooding "Chase the Blues Away" and the lighter, more upbeat "Happy Time," for instance, are numbers he had worked on in the summer of 1968 for possible inclusion on "Happy Sad". Here, as he did on "Happy Sad", Buckley takes the folk song as his starting point and expands it, drawing on jazz influences to create new dynamics and to emphasize atmosphere and mood. This approach can be best appreciated on the mournful "The River," as simple acoustic guitar, cymbals, and vibes build a fluid, ebbing, and flowing arrangement around Buckley's beautiful, melancholy vocals. The period between 1968 and 1970 was an intensely creative one for Tim Buckley. Remarkably, during the same four weeks in which he recorded "Blue Afternoon", he also recorded its follow-up, "Lorca", and material for "Starsailor". It's not surprising, then, that "Blue Afternoon" hints at Buckley's subsequent musical direction. While not in the experimental, avant-garde vein of the more challenging material on those next two albums, "The Train" foregrounds Lee Underwood's quietly intense, jazzy guitar and Buckley's vocal prowess, prefiguring the feeling of tracks like Lorca's "Nobody Walkin'" and Starsailor's "Monterey." (Wilson Neate in AllMusic)

BADFINGER: "Magic Christian Music"

Original released on LP Apple SAPCOR 12

(UK 1970, January 9)

If Badfinger's debut album "Magic Christian Music" sounds patchy, there's a reason why: It was assembled from three different sources. Although the title suggests that the record is a soundtrack to "The Magic Christian" it isn't. It's a hodgepodge, containing the group's three contributions to the film, six highlights from the band's pre-Badfinger album "Maybe Tomorrow" (released when they were known as the Iveys), an alternate take from "Maybe Tomorrow", and four new songs. It's little wonder that it doesn't hold together, winding up as a document of Badfinger's unharnessed potential. Since their breakthrough hit "Come and Get It" was written by Paul McCartney, Badfinger was dogged by comparisons to the Beatles but they were hardly copyists. Elements of the Hollies, the Kinks, and very mild psychedelia are discernable throughout "Magic Christian Music", all part of the band's search for their own voice. Apart from the lovely pop tune "Dear Angie" and Tom Evans' stately, yearning "Maybe Tomorrow," the Iveys numbers aren't particularly distinguished pop but they are, by and large, pleasant period pieces. On the newer material, Badfinger sounds stronger and their craftsmanship surfaces. Pete Ham emerges as a fine songsmith, with the convincing rocker "Midnight Sun" and the gentle "Walk Out in the Rain." Still, the true standouts among the newer songs are "Crimson Ship" and "Carry on Till Tomorrow," both co-written by Ham and Evans. They're two sides of the same coin - dreamy post-psych pop tunes driven by strong hooks and harmonies. They might not always deliver on that promise on "Magic Christian Music", but with its appealing melodies, lite psychedelic flourishes and, yes, Beatlesque harmonies, it's an enjoyable artifact of its time. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)