Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom 1974

Rock Bottom, recorded with a star-studded cast of Canterbury musicians, has been deservedly acclaimed as one of the finest art rock albums. Several forces surrounding Wyatt's life helped shape its outcome. First, it was recorded after the former Soft Machine drummer and singer fell out of a five-story window and broke his spine. Legend had it that the album was a chronicle of his stay in the hospital. Wyatt dispels this notion in the liner notes of the 1997 Thirsty Ear reissue of the album, as well as the book Wrong Movements: A Robert Wyatt History. Much of the material was composed prior to his accident in anticipation of rehearsals of a new lineup of Matching Mole. The writing was completed in the hospital, where Wyatt realized that he would now need to sing more, since he could no longer be solely the drummer. Many of Rock Bottom's songs are very personal and introspective love songs, since he would soon marry Alfreda Benge. Benge suggested to Wyatt that his music was too cluttered and needed more open spaces. Therefore, Robert Wyatt not only ploughed new ground in songwriting territory, but he presented the songs differently, taking time to allow songs like "Sea Song" and "Alifib" to develop slowly. Previous attempts at love songs, like "O Caroline," while earnest and wistful, were very literal and lyrically clumsy. Rock Bottom was Robert Wyatt's most focused and relaxed album up to its time of release. In 1974, it won the French Grand Prix Charles Cros Record of the Year Award. It is also considered an essential record in any comprehensive collection of psychedelic or progressive rock. Concurrently released was the first of his two singles to reach the British Top 40, "I'm a Believer." AMG.

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Johnny Rivers - Realization 1968

Not a concept album, but a song cycle depicting life in southern California in the late '60s, Realization is a fine cycle to catch a ride on. It's also a serious surprise -- when psychedelia reared its head in 1967, the results were frequently disastrous for those performers who'd been specializing in straight-ahead rock & roll, and few had rocked harder or more straight-ahead than Johnny Rivers. Instead of jumping on a bandwagon that had nothing to do with where he was musically, he hijacked the sounds of psychedelic rock -- much as the Temptations did at Motown -- and took it where he was going. Acting as his own producer for the first time, Rivers opened up a slightly gentler side to his work that's equally valid and a lot more interesting, if not quite as exciting as his rock & roll classics. After a few sonic digressions as a lead-in, "Hey Joe" gets going, carrying listeners into Rivers' gorgeous rendition of James Hendricks' "Look to Your Soul." His own achingly beautiful "The Way We Live" follows, and then comes Hendricks' "Summer Rain," which turned into Rivers' last big hit of the 1960s. And then he has the temerity to take "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and make it prettier and harder -- but less spacy -- than the Procol Harum original; from there he plunges into blue-eyed soul on "Brother, Where Are You." The surprises continue right through to the rather delicate, introspective reading of "Positively Fourth Street" at the close, Rivers succeeding in evoking a vast array of thoughts and emotions. For his trouble, helped by the two hits, he was rewarded with a Top Five charting album, and one that has continued to find new admirers across the decades. AMG.

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Keith - The Adventures of Keith 1969

"Alone on the Shore" opens the third album by Keith, the one name handle for James Barry Keefer. The shimmering pop that was created by Bobby Hebb producer Jerry Ross and arranger Joe Renzetti on the first two Mercury discs is replaced by original compositions and the arrangement of the meticulous Larry Fallon. Fallon is credited for arranging The Looking Glass hit "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl," however, he is the actual producer on that disc. He is one of the industry's underrated talents, and he allows Keith's band of David Jiminez (guitar), Joe Coyle (ryhthm guitar), Dave Fiebert (bass), and Rick Fox (drums) to experiment in ways that are admirable. This LP plays more like latter day Donovan, another one-name pop maestro. "Alone on the Shore" and "Trixon's Election" are heady pop tunes, maybe too deep for Top 40 at the time. Even Buffalo Springfield knew enough to temper their politics with radio friendly music. The sounds here are an intriguing mixture of '60s garage rock with British pop, flavors of The Beatles, The Small Faces, Kaleidoscope UK, and other psychedelic rockers. The production by Ted Daryll allows this group to stretch out. "Waiting to Be" is five minutes and thirty eight seconds of psychedelic jam. Keith wrote only one song on his second album, none on his first, so RCA Records showed some kind of faith in the artist allowing him to compose/co-write all ten titles on The Adventures of Keith. These are adventurous tunes, and worth listening to. It's a natural progression from the second album's Jimmy "Wiz" Wisner's (yes, the one and the same from Tommy James & the Shondells sessions), arrangement of the Spanky & Our Gang hit "Making Every Minute Count" to the short one minute and fifty six second "Melody," which begins like a track from one of the first two Keith albums, diving into the progressive nature of this recording, and back to the pop sensibilities of the first two LPs. "The Problem," which is the last song on side one, was issued as a single with the excellent "Marstrand," the first track of side two. "Elea-Elea" is another five minute plus track, and one of the album's standouts. Great melody and all the indications that Keith should have been a major, major pop star. Where Donovan had Led Zeppelin performing on "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and the Jeff Beck Group behind him on "Goo Goo Barabajagal" helping churn out the hits, Keith and his band crafted an album perfect for FM radio, perhaps a bit ahead of its time for an artist known for covering the Hollies. But Keith's musical direction here is impressive and reiterates how clever his three Top 40 hits prior to this release really were. AMG.

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Yes - The Yes Album 1971

On Yes' first two albums, Yes (1969) and Time and a Word (1970), the quintet was mostly searching for a sound on which they could build, losing one of their original members -- guitarist Peter Banks -- in the process. Their third time out proved the charm -- The Yes Album constituted a de facto second debut, introducing the sound that would carry them forward across the next decade or more. Gone are any covers of outside material, the group now working off of its own music from the ground up. A lot of the new material was actually simpler -- in linear structure, at least -- than some of what had appeared on their previous albums, but the internal dynamics of their playing had also altered radically, and much of the empty space that had been present in their earlier recordings was also filled up here -- suddenly, between new member Steve Howe's odd mix of country- and folk-based progressive guitar and the suddenly liberated bass work and drumming of Chris Squire and Bill Bruford, respectively, the group's music became extremely busy. Jon Anderson's soaring vocals and the accompanying harmonies were attached to haunting melodies drawn from folk tunes as often as rock, applied to words seemingly derived from science fiction, and all delivered with the bravura of an operatic performance. What's more, despite the busy-ness of their new sound, the group wasn't afraid to prove that less could sometimes be more: three of the high points were the acoustic-driven "Your Move" and "The Clap" (a superb showcase for Howe on solo acoustic guitar), and the relatively low-key "A Venture." The Yes Album did what it had to do, outselling the group's first two long-players and making the group an established presence in America where, for the first time, they began getting regular exposure on FM radio. AMG.

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Jackie DeShannon - Laurel Canyon 1968

Laurel Canyon wonderfully captures the natural, idyllic vibe of its titular setting, the creative nexus of the late-'60s Los Angeles music scene. Swapping the polished pop approach of Jackie DeShannon's past hits for an appealingly rough-edged country-soul sensibility, the record celebrates a place and time that transcended the physical world to signify a virtual Garden of Eden for the flower-power generation. Featuring extensive contributions from pianist Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack and guitarist Russ Titleman, Laurel Canyon boasts a swampy, lived-in charm that perfectly complements DeShannon's sexily gritty vocals. Her soulful reading of the Band's "The Weight" anticipates Aretha Franklin's like-minded cover, but most impressive are originals like "Holly Would" and the title cut, which eloquently articulate the rustic beauty of their creator's environs. [RPM's superb 2005 reissue features eight bonus cuts, including several sublimely funky collaborations with Bobby Womack as well as the chart smash "Put a Little Love in Your Heart."] AMG.
 

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Rick Derringer - All American Boy 1973

Fresh from stints in the McCoys and Johnny Winter Band, All American Boy was supposed to be Rick Derringer's breakthrough solo album. For years, it was argued that the frightfully touched-up cover photo of Derringer sank the album before anyone heard it. If that's true, it's a shame, because this is simply Rick Derringer's most focused and cohesive album, a marvelous blend of rockers, ballads, and atmospheric instrumentals. Joe Walsh helps out on a couple of tracks, but mostly it's Derringer's show -- multi-instrumental virtuosity in a number of styles. Consider this one of the great albums of the '70s that fell between the cracks. AMG.

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Johnny Hallyday - Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit 1969

Johnny Hallyday's self-titled 1969 album was not one of his more typical releases, going into heavier British-influenced rock (though all the songs are sung in French) than the poppier rock & roll for which he's more widely known. It could be, however, the Hallyday album most likely to interest non-French listeners, if only for a strong if unlikely connection to a famous British rock band. The Small Faces -- then on the verge of breaking up -- backed him up for three of the tracks, all recorded at a January 3, 1969 session. These included a French-language cover of the group's "That Man," plus two songs by Small Faces members Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, "What You Will" (later cut by Humble Pie for their first album) and "News Report," never done by the Small Faces on their own records. What's more, all but one of the other songs were penned by Mick Jones (the same Mick Jones who'd go on to Spooky Tooth and Foreigner) and Tommy Brown, who also did arrangements and played on the album. So after all that, how's the music? Well, it does sound a little like cookie-cutter early British guitar-organ hard rock with a somewhat overwrought French singer. Not that it bothered Hallyday's following, with the album going to number one in France and yielding a hit single there, "Riviere...Ouvre Ton Lit," that became a staple of his live sets ever since. Nonetheless, Hallyday himself said in his autobiography that he hated the record and considered it his worst to date. There probably won't ever be a consensus among Hallyday fans (or other rock fans) as to the album's worth. But it does get very respectful treatment for the English-speaking audience on its 2009 reissue on Cherry Red, with extensive historical liner notes and photos/sleeve illustrations. AMG.

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Bonnie Raitt - Takin' My Time 1973

This album is an overlooked gem in the catalog of Bonnie Raitt. On Takin' My Time, she wears her influences proudly in an eclectic musical mix containing blues, jazz, folk, New Orleans R&B, and calypso. Although she did not write her own material for this album, she demonstrates an excellent ear for songs and chooses material from some of the best songwriters of the day. She is a great interpreter, and her renditions of Jackson Browne's "I Thought I Was a Child" and Randy Newman's "Guilty" from this album are the definitive versions of these songs. The highlights of this album are the romantic ballads "I Gave My Love a Candle" and "Cry Like a Rainstorm," where Raitt adds an emotional depth to the performance unusual for such a young woman. (Perhaps that's a result of her spending time with elder statesmen of the blues community such as Mississippi Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace.) Although the faster-paced songs like the calypso "Wah She Go Do" seem a little out of place, the playful tune is welcome among an album filled with the heartache of the slower tunes. Despite being a relative newcomer, Raitt had already earned the respect of her mentors and her peers, as evidenced by the musical contributions of Taj Mahal, and Little Feat members Lowell George and Bill Payne on the album. This is the last consistent album she would make until her comeback in the mid-'80s. AMG.

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The Chocolate Watchband - The Inner Mystique 1968

Inner Mystique seems to be the Chocolate Watchband album that fans and casual listeners know best, even though it was the one of their three records that was most disconnected from any active incarnation of the group. Slapped together in late 1967, in the wake of the virtual collapse of their lineup and rushed out in February of 1968, its original first side contained not a single note played or sung by the Watchband itself. Instead, engineer Richie Podolor assembled a group of studio musicians, playing a pair of languid psychedelic instrumentals -- "Voyage of the Trieste" and "Inner Mystique" -- in which the sitar flourishes and flute arabesques hung like jeweled ornaments, sandwiched around a new recording by singer Don Bennett (who'd already supplied some vocals without the group's knowledge or approval on their first album) of "In the Past," the latter a song originally written and recorded by the Florida-based psychedelic-punk band We the People. The second side was comprised of a hodgepodge of superb finished Watchband sides -- most notably "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "I Ain't No Miracle Worker," mixing punk bravado and angst, which have long been the album's selling points -- and outtakes such as "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" and "Medication," with Bennett's vocals replacing David Aguilar's, and one remixed and partly redubbed version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." As with the group's first album, however, Inner Mystique is sort of "guilty with an explanation" -- yes, it's a mess in terms of continuity, with two different singers and three different vocal/instrumental combinations present, but the three full Watchband tracks are killer recordings that can hold their heads up with the best rock records of 1967; what's more, even the Bennett-sung/studio band played "In the Past" is worthwhile, Watchband or not, as a piece of shimmering psychedelia with a great beat and arrangement; and even "Voyage of the Trieste" and "Inner Mystique," as pieces of psychedelic background music, were good enough that one of them ended up on Rhino's Best of the Chocolate Watchband collection. And that's not bad for a 28-minute album with only eight cuts on it, pieced together with only the barest (if any) participation by the band. AMG.

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Day Of Phoenix - Wide Open N-Way 1970

The Danish group was founded in 1968 by Cy Nicklin (later in Culpeper's Orchard) with Karsten Lyng Nielsen, Jess Staehr Nielsen, Ole Prehn and Henrik Friis Nielsen. They released the first single (1969) and participated in different events but in 1969 Cy Nicklin left the group and was replaced by Hans Lauridsen (and Stوhr by Erik Stedt Rasmussen).

In 1970 the band released the LP Wide Open N-Way. The music is psychedelic rock with clear feeling flowing from American bands. The lyrics are all sung in English. I met very different opinions about this album but it is definitely interesting and original work. Its producer (and of the following one) was Tony Reeves, ex-Colosseum bassist. Wide Open N-Way was warmly received and got some interest worldwide. Two years later the group reformed (besides Karsten Lyng and Ole Prehn there were three BRI members: Ole Fick, Jess Stوhr, Bo Thrige Andersen) and recorded the second album. Unfortunately, it presents mediocre rock compositions far behind its predecessor.

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The Secret - The Secret 1979

English Punk/New Wave band formed by Benny Leopard (Barry Andrews) and Micky Modern in the mid-70's. 

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The Beatles - Rubber Soul 1965

While the Beatles still largely stuck to love songs on Rubber Soul, the lyrics represented a quantum leap in terms of thoughtfulness, maturity, and complex ambiguities. Musically, too, it was a substantial leap forward, with intricate folk-rock arrangements that reflected the increasing influence of Dylan and the Byrds. The group and George Martin were also beginning to expand the conventional instrumental parameters of the rock group, using a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," Greek-like guitar lines on "Michelle" and "Girl," fuzz bass on "Think for Yourself," and a piano made to sound like a harpsichord on the instrumental break of "In My Life." While John and Paul were beginning to carve separate songwriting identities at this point, the album is full of great tunes, from "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "Michelle" to "Girl," "I'm Looking Through You," "You Won't See Me," "Drive My Car," and "Nowhere Man" (the last of which was the first Beatle song to move beyond romantic themes entirely). George Harrison was also developing into a fine songwriter with his two contributions, "Think for Yourself" and the Byrds-ish "If I Needed Someone." AMG.

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Home - Pause For A Hoarse Horse 1971

The influence of American late-'60s and early-'70s West Coast country-rock on the early-'70s British rock scene was mild on the whole, but its quite pronounced impact on a few U.K. bands has been overlooked. There were Brinsley Schwarz and Matthews' Southern Comfort, and, in a much more obscure instance, Home's rather awkwardly titled debut LP Pause for a Hoarse Horse. Home were good, competent players, capable of good-natured country-rock with some sparkling guitar, sometimes speckled with a hint of Paul McCartney-esque pop or (especially on "Family") Crosby, Stills & Nash harmonies. But while there was nothing seriously flawed or irritating about the album, there was nothing special about the material, largely written by lead singer Mick Stubbs. They would have been eminently suitable as an opening act for the likes of the Flying Burrito Brothers, or, for that matter, Brinsley Schwarz and Matthews' Southern Comfort. But they didn't have songs on the order of any of those bands, or an approach that was nearly as distinctive. The result was an album that was both inoffensive and inessential, occasionally straying from country-rock into average straightforward harder rock. AMG.

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Catherine Ribeiro - Le Blues de Piaf 1977

About the same time that Brigette Fontaine started releasing records that combined the traditional French chanteuse style with more radical and progressive music forms, Catherine Ribeiro was traveling a similar route, although she remained even more obscure internationally than Fontaine. Whereas Fontaine's voice was usually soft and sweet, Ribeiro sometimes hit more harshly with lower tones, even sounding like Nico with far more emotion, over an experimental backing that could include folk-rock, progressive rock, improvisation, and more. Her unique voice certainly hinted at her troubled upbringing. Born in 1941 in France to Portuguese immigrants, Ribeiro's early childhood was quite traumatic. With the constant bombs going off during the war, her mother often locked her in the cellar in the dark. Her younger brother was six months old when he died suddenly, and when Ribeiro got older, she was often in and out of psychiatric wards. In her early twenties she became an actor, appearing in the 1962 spaghetti Western Buffalo Bill and the next year in French New Wave director Jean Luc Godard's Les Carabiniers (aka The Mercenaries or The Soldiers). By the mid-'60s, Ribeiro began taking her singing more seriously, and in 1966, she cut two singles for Barclay Records, one of which was a version of Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue." In 1969, she had a new band, 2Bis, led by Patrice Moullet, to back her on her first LP, simply titled Catherine Ribeiro + 2 Bis, released on the Festival label. On her second LP, simply titled No. 2, and also on Festival in 1970, 2Bis had become Alpes, the band that would follow Ribeiro on her next several releases. Besides Moullet, who provided guitars, organ, electronics, and vocals, Alpes consisted only of Denis Cohen on percussion and organ, though a pair of Portuguese guitarists, Pires Moliceiro and Isaac Robles Monteiro, were guest musicians on one track on No. 2. On subsequent releases, which came out about once a year on the Philips label, Alpes would often change completely from album to album, with Moullet as the only constant factor. These records, Ame Debout ("Upright Soul"), Paix ("Peace"), Le Rat Debile et l'Homme des Champs ("The Weak Rat and the Man of the Fields"), and Libertes? were some of Ribeiro's most creative, with the music composed mostly by Moullet.

Even as Ribeiro continued to work with Alpes, she also started doing albums under her name alone where, instead of her own material, she paid tribute to older artists. The first of these was the 1977 release Le Blues de Piaf, where she covered songs done by Edith Piaf, followed by the 1978 LP Jacqueries, with works composed by Jacques Prévert and Sebastien Maroto. She also worked with other artists like Peter Gabriel on the 1982 record Soleil Dans l'Ombre ("Sun in the Shade"). By the early '90s, her output had slowed down. In 1999, she wrote a memoir of her early childhood, L'Enfance, published by L'Archipel, and she occasionally staged concert tours. Ribeiro died on August 23, 2024; she was 82 years of age. AMG.

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Brother Ah - Move Ever Onward 1975

This isn't quite what one would expect from a man in Sun Ra's orbit. Quite frankly, this is mannered music, composed and arranged in side-long suites, sort of an African-tinged Porgy & Bess. The powerful voice of Aiisha kicks off each side with a sort of lyrical narration -- you know the sort: lots of images of cotton fields and hot baked streets, fairly typical for this sort of '60s ensemble. What isn't as typical is the instrumentation. Besides the expected African percussion, koto and other Asian instruments (including a sitar) are heard. One of the most affecting pieces might be "Celestial Strings," a duet of koto and kora backed with tumbling percussion. Like most of the album, the effect is subtly jarring and just different enough to be unique. AMG.

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