We will start with an important February release. Prior to this, the West German experimental rock group Can had already made two albums: Monster Movie (1969) and Soundtracks (1970). On their third outing they really started making an impression. Tago Mago was a double LP that also marked a change in the group's lineup. The original singer Malcolm Mooney had left Can after suffering a nervous breakdown in 1970. The new singer Damo Suzuki had a zany style which seemed perfectly fitting to what has been described as Can's most extreme recording in terms of sound and structure.
I wasn't particularly impressed with everything the group saw fit to experiment with, but two of the tracks on the album just blew me away. And this marks the beginning of a peculiar phenomenon which I could for example call twin masterworks. In chronological order, the second and third tracks of Tago Mago represent the first occurrence of two unbelievably great tracks placed in sequence on an album that is otherwise just OK. There are going to be several other examples of this in the future.
Tago Mago opens with Paperhouse, which is just fine, but the next two tracks are in my opinion the defining moments of the group's career. There, they achieve greatness for the first time. The second track Mushroom you can listen to above, and the third track Oh Yeah is a direct continuation to it. There is no pause between the songs, nor should there be. Here, we will begin a tradition: whenever we encounter twin masterworks, we embed them both here, one after another, on the same page. Here comes Oh Yeah, play them both in succession and enjoy:
Tago Mago was not the only significant album to come out in February 1971. On the 19th, Yes released their third one, The Yes Album. This was no longer just an OK album like their two previous ones. This one meant business. An artistic breakthrough, it contained an early classic after early classic and presented a truly formidable challenge to Genesis who had so effortlessly beat them last year with the masterful Trespass. It is difficult to choose an example track, but let's go with the most obvious choice: I've Seen All Good People.
Four weeks later, another classic arrived in record stores. On 19 March, Jethro Tull released their fourth album Aqualung. While I had noticed the development of this British group, this is something I did not anticipate following the lukewarm Benefit (1970). Suddenly, they kicked ass! This applies in particular to the title track which opens the album and remains its most perfect song, even though most of the others are really good too.
The recording cycles of the groups and solo artists in the early seventies were something completely different. In April, it was time for Procol Harum to release yet another album, even if it was only a short time since their last one. The fifth studio recording was called Broken Barricades and once again it contained one undying classic. It was, like on Aqualung, the title track. Otherwise, the album sounded like a small step backwards compared to A Salty Dog and Home, as there weren't too many great moments in addition to the memorable number two track of the A side:
One more spring release is worth mentioning. I haven't found out exactly when the Strawbs album From the Witchwood came out, but since its recording was completed in March, it must have been either late spring or early summer. It is a very recommendable album with several lovely tracks bordering folk as well as progressive rock, and also interesting in that it was what Rick Wakeman was doing before joining Yes later this same year. On Strawbs' recording career, in my personal opinion there is one album that is even better, but this one is also excellent. We will get to their absolute pinnacle a little later.
Then, it was summer. I had turned eight years old, completed first grade, and earned a well deserved summer holiday in Voisalmi. A couple of weeks into that holiday, Emerson Lake & Palmer completed their second studio album Tarkus which came out on 14 June. Here, their descent already began. While the 20-minute, vinyl A side filling title track was pretty neat, there was little else to enjoy. As was typical to the group also later on, they alternated serious music making with juvenile, unfunny humor. A good example is Are You Ready Eddy? that must have been the stupidest recorded work in prog genre during this whole year.
One month later, another sophomore album came out that was way out of ELP's league. Gentle Giant's 16 July release of Acquiring the Taste was a nearly flawless collection of prog rock songs, let down only by a noticeably weak last track. Above, I am embedding the opening track Pantagruel's Nativity which has always been my favorite, but be sure to check out the entire album. Filled with greatest music of its time, it was easily one of the year's best. Other songs not to be missed at any cost include Edge of Twilight and The Moon is Down.
Following Acquiring the Taste, there was a quieter period of three months that saw no masterpieces but some significant albums or songs in any case. We again take a little breather from prog and remind ourselves that The Who's masterwork Who's Next is a true classic regardless of genre. It was released on 14 August in the US and 25 August in the UK. In addition to Won't Get Fooled Again, please be sure to check out at least Baba O'Riley, The Song is Over and Behind Blue Eyes.
I already mentioned Cat Stevens when discussing 1970. On 1 October, his new album Teaser and the Firecat came out and contained one of my absolute favorite songs of the time. At age eight, I was under the impression that Morning Has Broken was written by Stevens himself but this is not the case. The composition itself is traditional, and the lyrics have been written by someone else. Great work, in any case.
Finally, we close this first part of 1971 with yet another Finnish song. I haven't been able to find out when exactly Wigwam released their third studio album Fairyport, but I have reason to believe that it must have taken place during the second half of the year, so let's get shortly into it right now. On the whole, the album itself was not of very much interest, but its second track is one of the most memorable on the group's career. Lost Without a Trace is one of those songs that are so beautiful that in certain circumstances it is more than enough to bring a tear to one's eye.
For some reason, I am once again unable to embed a link to YouTube, so here is a link to Spotify instead. Wigwam seems to have some kind of curse in this respect. Please listen and enjoy.
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti