1968

Apparently, the magnificient Some Velvet Morning by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood had been heard in an NBC television special already in December 1967. At age four and a half years, I never saw that, and more importantly, the song wasn't published as a recording until January 1968 when it appeared on Sinatra's album Movin' With Nancy. So, I'm going to classify it as a 1968 release and play it right here. And boy, was I amazed when I heard it on the album. Eerie and brilliant.

But otherwise, following the exemplary year 1967, this one was slightly disappointing. There was nothing that even closely matched the greatness of Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, or the best of the previous year's Beatles songs. Some Velvet Morning was great, yes, but not as great as those.

On 23 February, a rather obscure Welsh group called The Bystanders released a single called When Jezamine Goes. It was hardly a groundbreaking effort and wouldn't be mentioned here at all if there hadn't been a B side that was one of my favorite songs of the era. It was called Cave of Clear Light and I knew already then that the makers of this song were destined for greatness. Later, the group reformed to be known as Man, one of the bigger names of the early seventies. We will come back to their greatest masterpiece in due time. In the mean time, here is Cave of Clear Light.

Eventually, the inevitable happened. Syd Barrett's LSD habit grew too much to bear and even though he had been the figurehead of Pink Floyd until now, the rest of the group were forced to let him go. Barrett was replaced by guitar virtuoso David Gilmour who could also sing, but was by no means the leader that Barrett had been, which I suppose already sew the seeds to problems that would arise about a decade later.

But for now, a correction to the unbearable situation was achieved and the new Pink Floyd released a masterful new single on 12 April. Julia Dream was a new beginning in much the same way as Arnold Layne had been the original beginning 13 months earlier. Likewise, it was not to be included in the group's album release of the same year. But in this case, that choice is harder to understand: Arnold Layne was nothing special, while Julia Dream was one of the best songs Pink Floyd had recorded so far and definitely way better than anything the group decided to include on A Saucerful of Secrets, due to be released two and a half months later.

As is fitting, Barrett's replacement David Gilmour sings on the new single, signifying that a change has come. And yet, there is no change in quality. Pink Floyd was still alive, and as brilliant as ever. For some reason, embedding the video has been prevented, but this is the best version of the song: Julia Dream. The same version appeared on the 1971 bootleg compilation Relics.

11 May saw the release of Irishman Richard Harris's (1930 - 2002) debut album A Tramp Shining which contained the classic song McArthur Park. Often imitated, rerecorded and even parodied, its memorable tune and overall pathos left an indelible mark on me, who at the time lived in my family's second apartment in Kuopio and was only ten days away from my fifth birthday.

On 28 June, Pink Floyd's full album A Saucerful of Secrets was released. High expectation turned to mild disappointment, as they often do. While the album was a decent effort overall, it seemed to possess little of the greatness and originality of the Syd Barrett era. Let There Be More Light served as an excellent opener however, and the psychedelic title track was later developed into a kick-ass live version.

In September, it was Procol Harum's turn to release their second studio album Shine on Brightly and likewise it wasn't one of their greatest, but promising anyway. I was particularly interested in the 18-minute effort In Held 'twas in I, which served as an early indicator of things to come: prog and art rock bands were going to use an entire vinyl side for single composition. This phenomenon would later become commonplace.

On 16 September (25 October in the UK), the rising guitar hero Jimi Hendrix released his third and final album Electric Ladyland. It contained his cover of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower, which we already mentioned when going through the releases of 1967. It was an instant classic and remains better known than the original. An electrifying, atmospheric song where the electric guitar is played with astonishing skill, it was one of my late autumn favorites of the year.

In October, the most prominent group of the seventies Canterbury scene, Caravan released their self titled debut album. They didn't sound quite as proggy as they would during the first half of the following decade, but I immediately paid attention to their obviously strong songwriting skills, as demonstrated by songs such as Place of My Own and Magic Man.

1968 was concluded on 22 November with The Beatles's self titled White Album, which was a disappointment to me. Why try to return to their roots and sound like they had during the first half of the decade, when the group members had already found their inner artistic true selves and discovered the joys of psychedelia?

That said, there were still a couple of enjoyable pieces on the album that nonetheless became my late year favorites. They were located on vinyl sides two and three, and were both written by Paul McCartney. Try to imagine a five and a half year old trying to sing the lovely Blackbird and your heart might melt. And perhaps even more so when it comes to the brilliant Mother Nature's Son which brings our current blog entry to its pleasant closing.

UNMISSABLE TRACK OF THE YEAR:
Pink Floyd: Julia Dream