SANTANA: "Abraxas"

Original released on LP 

Columbia JC 30130 (US) / 

CBS 64087 (UK)

1970, September 23

The San Francisco Bay Area rock scene of the late '60s was one that encouraged radical experimentation and discouraged the type of mindless conformity that's often plagued corporate rock. When one considers just how different Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and the Grateful Dead sounded, it becomes obvious just how much it was encouraged. In the mid-'90s, an album as eclectic as "Abraxas" would be considered a marketing exec's worst nightmare. But at the dawn of the 1970s, this unorthodox mix of rock, jazz, salsa, and blues proved quite successful. Whether adding rock elements to salsa king Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va," embracing instrumental jazz-rock on "Incident at Neshabur" and "Samba Pa Ti," or tackling moody blues-rock on Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman," the band keeps things unpredictable yet cohesive. Many of the Santana albums that came out in the '70s are worth acquiring, but for novices, "Abraxas" is an excellent place to start. The album cover features the 1961 painting 'Annunciation', by Mati Klarwein. Carlos Santana saw a reproduction of the Annunciation in a magazine and wanted it for the cover of his all time best selling "Abraxas" album. The way it was painted was in fact a provocation of the traditional Biblical meaning of Annunciation. A winged and tattooed Gabriel is depicted astride a conga drum, pointing heavenwards to a Hebrew Aleph symbol (signifying beginning), with a dark-skinned and naked Mary surrounded by images of fertility. 'Drums were always used to announce something,' Mati said. 'They were a medium of communication in Africa.' To the left are three Wodaabe Charm Dancers, perhaps representing the Three Kings, and an image of Mati himself. (in AllMusic)

«Look at Mother Nature On The Run In The Nineteen Seventies...»

Original Released as LP Reprise RSLP 6383
(US 1970, August 31)



A1. Tell Me Why 2’54
A2. After The Gold Rush 3’45
A3. Only Love Can Break Your Heart 3’05
A4. Southern Man 5’41
A5. Till The Morning Comes 1’17
B1. Oh Lonesome Me 3’47
B2. Don’t Let It Bring You Down 2’56
B3. Birds 2’34
B4. When You Dance You Can Really Love 3’44
B5. I Believe In You 2’24
B6. Cripple Creek Ferry 1’34

All selections by Neil Young except B1 by Don Gibson
Most of these songs were inspired by the Dean Stockwell – 
Herb Berman screenplay “After The Gold Rush”

NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE
WITH GREG REEVES, STEVE STILLS & NILS LOFGREN
Produced by Neil Young & David Briggs with Kendall Pacios
Bass: Billy Talbot and Greg Reeves
Piano: Neil Young, Jack Nitzsche and Nils Lofgren
Drums: Ralph Molina
Guitars: Neil Young and Danny Whitten
Vocals: Neil Young, Danny Whitten, Nils Lofgren, Steve Stills 
and Ralph Molina
Harmonica and Vibes: Neil Young
Patches: Susan Young
Direction: Elliot Roberts
Art Direction: Gary Burden
Photography: Joel Bernstein

«Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armour coming…» This was the album that introduced me to the musical universe of Neil Young. I’ve bought it about six months after its original release, on a holiday trip to Johannesburg, South Africa. I still remember the shop: it was called "Look & Listen" and was located in a basement of Eloff Street. I’ve spent all afternoon listening to the most recent releases, like I used to do in those days (‘cause the money was not much and we had to be sure if the album was worthy). And all these songs enchanted me, mainly the soft ones. Since then I’ve bought many others albums of Neil Young, but this particular one remained my number one favourite until today. A starkly poignant record, "After The Gold Rush" contains some of Neil Young’s most love-lorn lyrics. The cover photograph sums up the album’s sentiment – a solarized photograph of the glowering singer-songwriter walking in a near-deserted street. Young’s latest songs – he had, until recently, been hard at work on the CSNY album, "Déjà Vu" – indicate a more introspective approach. Songs like "Tell Me Why", "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "Don’t Let It Bring You Down" all go some way to solidify his reputation as a hopless romantic.

 

The energy and fire of his electric guitar playing emerges only twice, notably on the corrosive (and controversial) "Southern Man". In patenting the late night feel of the record, "After The Gold Rush" was recorded with Young’s latest find – a 19-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist named Nils Lofgren, whose guitar playing and piano work would elevate this collection of songs to among the finest ever written by Neil Young. The beautifully evocative title track, for instance, a near-mystical eulogy to a vanished and fast vanishing America, has now become a cornerstone of Young’s live set. Though not entirely successful with the critics – Rolling Stone magazine’s Langdon Winner concluded that «most of this music was simply not ready to be recorded» (no comments!) – "After The Gold Rush" struck an immediate chord with the disillusion felt by many after the death of the 1960s dream. By Christmas, it had become Young’s first Top 10 hit album, and remained on the U.S. chart for over a year on its way to selling two million copies. The version presented here is the 50th anniversary edition, with two bonus tracks of "Wonderin'", and with a great 24 bits wav sound. Enjoy!

CARLOS DO CARMO: "Fados e Canções"

50 Fados e Canções que reflectem o que de melhor Carlos do Carmo gravou até 1980

An Album With No Title

Original Released on Double LP Columbia C 30181
(US, September 14, 1970)

This was the album that has introduced me to The Byrds in the early 70s. Until then I only had bought some hit singles from the band, like "Mr. Tambourine Man" or "Turn Turn Turn"; but this double set forced me to discover the previous albums, although I've always considered this one the very best of them all, unlike many reviewers of the time. And that preference of mine has passed very well the test of time: today this is the unique album of The Byrds which I still listen to with the very same pleasure of ever. It ain't easy when the members of a band breaks up one-by-one. First Gene Clark left during the recording of the third album (leaving behind his classic "Eight Miles High" which McGuinn modified for his spectacular guitar parts). Then David Crosby left between hard feelings, accusing McGuinn & Hillman of taking his name off the credits of some of the songs. Finally, after the band made the transition to country rock (and had just added the hedonistic Gram Parsons to their line up) Hillman left to found The Flying Burrito Brothers. In this beginning of the new decade (the 70’s) The Byrds were trying to sound much like a rock 'n' roll band and becoming less a vehicle for McGuinn. Their country, folk and bluegrass influences were completely absent this time out. The hard-edged sound worked on songs like "Lover of the Bayou" or the 16-minute version of "Eight Miles High" featuring some amazing guitar work from Roger McGuinn (the only surviving member from the band's hit-making days). Skip Battin and Gene Parsons contributed several worthy songs, including "Yesterday's Train", "You All Look Alike" and the album-closing "Welcome Back Home". Another terrific song is Clarence White's cover of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me". From this line-up, Clarence White was killed by a drunk driver on July 14, 1973 and Skip Battin died of Alzheimer's disease on July 6, 2003. 

About the unusual album (no) title: when veteran musician Skip Battin was invited to join The Byrds in late 1969, Roger McGuinn was optimistic that he had finally assembled a stable line-up for his band. (He was right — this version of the group lasted two and half years, longer than any other incarnation of The Byrds). Accordingly, McGuinn and his bandmates sought a name for their first album together that expressed their faith in the viability of the resurrected Byrds. Suggestions such as "Phoenix" and "the first Byrds album" were considered, but the double album (half studio tracks and half live recordings) that finally hit record store shelves in mid-1970 bore the odd title of (Untitled). Why (Untitled)? Was it a perverse joke? A sign of resignation at being unable to come up with an acceptable title? No, actually the title was an accident, the result of a record company's mistake. The details of how the album came to be called (Untitled) differ slightly depending upon the source, but the evidence confirms the accidental origins of the name. As Roger McGuinn explained in an advertisement for the album, «Somebody from Columbia called up our manager and asked him what [the title] was. He told them it was 'as yet untitled,' so they went ahead and printed that». The Byrds' producer-manager, Terry Melcher, related a slightly different version of events, claiming that he had written 'Untitled' on the official label copy sheet sent to the record company because the group had not yet settled on a name for the album, and before anyone realized what was happening, the album had been pressed as (Untitled). The fact that the name printed on the album sleeves included parentheses makes Melcher's explanation the more likely one.

WIKIPEDIA

TIMES TO REMEMBER ~ VOLUME 47

TIMES TO REMEMBER ~ VOLUME 46

DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK

Original released on LP Harvest SHVL 777

(UK 1970, June 3)

After satisfying all of their classical music kinks with keyboard player Jon Lord's overblown "Concerto for Group and Orchestra", Deep Purple's soon to be classic Mark II version made its proper debut and established the sonic blueprint that would immortalize this lineup of the band on 1970's awesome "In Rock". The cacophony of sound (spearheaded by Ritchie Blackmore's blistering guitar solo) introducing opener "Speed King" made it immediately obvious that the band was no longer fooling around, but the slightly less intense "Bloodsucker" did afford stunned listeners a chance to catch their breaths before the band launched into the album's epic, ten-minute tour de force, "Child in Time." In what still stands as arguably his single greatest performance, singer Ian Gillan led his bandmates on a series of hypnotizing crescendos, from the song's gentle beginning through to its ear-shattering climax and then back again for an even more intense encore that brought the original vinyl album's seismic first side to a close. Side two opened with the searing power chords of "Flight of the Rat" - another example of the band's new take-no-prisoners hard rock stance, though at nearly eight minutes, it too found room for some extended soloing from Blackmore and Lord. Next, "Into the Fire" and "Living Wreck" proved more concise but equally appealing, and though closer "Hard Lovin' Man" finally saw the new-look Deep Purple waffling on a bit too long before descending into feedback, the die was cast for one of heavy metal's defining albums. (Eduardo Rivadavia in AllMusic)

An Eternal Masterpiece With 56 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)

GRATEFUL DEAD: "American Beauty"

Original released as Warner Bros LP WS 1893
(US 1970, November 1)

A1. Box Of Rain (Hunter/Lesh) 5:18
A2. Friend Of The Devil (Dawson/Garcia/Hunter) 3:24
A3. Sugar Magnolia (Hunter/Weir) 3:19
A4. Operator (McKernan) 2:25
A5. Candyman (Garcia/Hunter) 6:13
B1. Ripple (Garcia/Hunter) 4:09
B2. Brokedown Palace (Garcia/Hunter) 4:09
B3. Till The Morning Comes (Garcia/Hunter) 3:09
B4. Attics Of My Life (Garcia/Hunter) 5:14
B5. Truckin’ (Garcia/Hunter/Lesh/Weir) 5:17

Produced by The Grateful Dead and Robin Hurley
Co-producer: Audio – Steve Barncard
Art Direction: Kelly (Mouse Studios)
Rear photo: George Conger
Recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, CA (9/70)


They recorded just three studio albums in their final 15 years, but back in 1970 the Grateful Dead somehow managed to assemble their two best works all within the space of five months: "Workingman’s Dead" and this one, their trully masterpiece. With a new producer (the 20-year old Steve Barncard, who’d recorded Garcia’s famous pedal-steel overdub for the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young hit “Teach Your Children” some months earlier) the band set up in Heider’s upper-level Studio C, birthplace of classic recordings by the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, and CSN&Y. Even with drummer Bill Kreutzmann perched just a few feet away, Barncard insisted on cutting the band’s acoustic guitars live. «That was so important – especially when there would be any interplay between the two acoustic guitars,» Barncard recalls. «The reason those rhythm tracks are so tight is because they were set up really close together, just sitting in these plastic chairs facing each other, with very little obstruction. I may have had a few small baffles around the drums, but that was it. When they were recording, they liked to be able to look at each other’s fingers, pick up on accents, and do forth. The interplay was a very big part of those sessions.»



Everything in this album it is a joy to listen to: rich in acoustic instrumentation, well-rounded backing vocals, and a subtle electric presence. "American Beauty" established the group as more than a house band for its charismatic stoner leader, Jerry Garcia (there is not a single Garcia guitar solo on the whole record). For the first time, the Dead seemed a cohesive unit with a battery of accomplished singer-songwriters, including Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. There is no “jamming” on the album, it’s all about the songs, and the perfomances serve them beautifully. Expertly played, with some gorgeous harmony singing, this is an intricate album. Its influence has resonated in successive generations of musicians but back in 1970 "American Beauty" proved to be a good career move. It ended with the existing dichotomy between those that worshiped or simply hated the Grateful Dead. Since then, there was no more reasons to extreme feelings: the band’s fans becomed united in the love for the Dead. Fifty five years later, "American Beauty" remains as one of the absolute masterpieces of the pop/rock universe.

DONOVAN ~ ANTHOLOGY 4

DONOVAN ~ "OPEN ROAD"

Original released on LP Epic E 30125 (stereo)

(US, August 1970)

This is, no doubt about it, my favourite Donovan album ever. I've listen to it hundreds of times, since its release, back in 1970. Until today, the music in this wonderful album brings me the memories of the beach of my native city (LM, in Mozambique). "Riki Tiki Tavi" is the stand out track and with it's child-like lyric it's one of those really catchy songs that you can't help but sing along with.  The rest of the album flows really nicely and the more rock orientated "Celtic Rock" vibe really appeals to me. This album was quite a departure for Donovan in one way. It sterns from Donovan's post "Barabajagal" period, when he was still very much aware of his roots, while willing to experiment. His peculiar sense of humour, his charm, sincerity and singularly pleasant singing voice all combine to make this a true Donovan experience. Although it was a disappointing seller and signaled the start of Donovan's commercial decline, "Open Road" has been a new beginning for the singer. Prior to this, it was extremely difficult to find out who had played on any Donovan album; he had essentially used session musicians as necessary for each individual track.  Here, he uses an actual band (and even features them on the cover). As a result, the album has an overall flow and feeling of wholeness that had been notably absent from his previous two LPs. That, combined with the fact that the songs are consistently appealing, makes this one of his strongest albums.

ROLLING STONES ~ "GET YER YA-YA'S OUT!"

Original released on LP Decca SKL 5065

(UK 1970, September 4)

Recorded during their American tour in late 1969 and centered around live versions of material from the "Beggars Banquet" - "Let It Bleed" era, "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!" is often acclaimed as one of the top live rock albums of all time, although its appeal has dimmed a little today. The live versions are reasonably different from the studio ones, but ultimately not as good, a notable exception being the long workout of "Midnight Rambler," with extended harmonica solos and the unforgettable section where the pace slows to a bump-and-grind crawl. Some Stones aficionados, in fact, prefer a bootleg from the same tour (Liver Than You'll Ever Be, to which this album was unleashed in response), or their amazing the-show-must-go-on performance in the jaws of hell at Altamont (preserved in the "Gimme Shelter" film). Fans who are unconcerned with picky comparisons such as these will still find Ya-Ya's an outstanding album, and it's certainly the Stones' best official live recording. (Richie Unterberger in AllMusic)

The Fun Facts: It is documented and was understood at the time that the cover art was inspired by 'Visions of Johanna' by Bob Dylan. The line in the song which is illustrated in the photograph is "Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule." The jewels and binoculars are shown together with musical instruments and a camera hanging from the mule or donkey. Charlie Watts is in mid jump and he has only white socks on his feet with no shoes. He is also wearing the tee shirt he wore for that concert tour and also the hat that was worn by Mick Jagger. The album cover states that the photographers were taken by David Bailey for the front cover and by Ethan Russell for the concert photographs on the back. (Streetmouse in RateYourMusic)