I had already noticed the British rock group Mott the Hoople previously, but had not paid too much attention after concluding that in spite of some art rock tendencies, they seemed to belong to the glam rock movement. Nothing wrong with that, but not much to pique my interest either. When both album and song All the Young Dudes were released in July, they came as an extremely pleasant surprise for me. This classic song from the classic album of same title is one of the most essential rock song of the entire decade.
The songwriter behind this masterpiece was not, however, anyone in the group, but David Bowie. For some strange reason, one of the great stars of the time had decided to give one of this best songs for another group altogether to record, and make famous - and become superstars in the process of doing so. Bowie's excellent song is one of the best he wrote in the seventies. There will be a similar occurrence later on, at the end of the decade, when another great songwriter gives one of this best tunes to another group for them to record. I will remind you of this when we get there.
As great as All the Young Dudes was, it was almost overshadowed by another release in the same month. The dutch band Focus that I have already mentioned earlier released a double LP called simply Focus III. It contained an undying classic instrumental Sylvia. Along with All the Young Dudes, they were my absolute favorites during this last happy summer for me in a while. Other songs worth mentioning on Focus III are also strikingly beautiful instrumentals called Love Remembered and the medieval themed House of the King.
Other two songs worth mentioning by another artist altogether are Metal Guru and Telegram Sam, by Marc Bolan's T. Rex, which was one of the most interesting glam rock groups at the time. These two tracks were from their new album The Slider, out on 21 July. While they were both exceptionally enjoyable rock songs, they didn't come close to the classics that were embedded above.
And that was it for the summer. At the end of August, I entered third grade and in September, I got excited about a song on the new album by folk group Steeleye Span called Gaudete. The album was called Below the Salt, and while I didn't particularly care for the other tracks, this beautiful song sung in Latin blew my young and fragile mind.
Speaking of fragile, it was also time for Yes to release their new album and see if they could beat Genesis this year. Their follow-up to Fragile came out on 13 September and was called Close to the Edge. And as it happened, it was to be their last album with their current lineup. Drummer Bill Bruford would leave in its wake to join King Crimson. Also, another crucial change would take place a year later.
I have already raved about the title track here and overall, the album is a great achievement for Yes and progressive rock in general. The only problem for me was that I wasn't too excited about the closing track Siberian Khatru which left some room for Genesis to improve upon. But in any case, at this particular point, the fifth album by Yes seemed like a really strong contender for best album of the year.
I only had to wait until 6 October for the response by Genesis. Their fourth studio album Foxtrot was released on that date, and it contained their magnum opus Supper's Ready which nearly filled the B side. I have written about this 23-minute masterpiece previously here. You can listen to the entire album below.
Had it been a question about Supper's Ready alone, Yes would have been in trouble. However, there was little else to get excited about on Foxtrot. Watcher of the Skies, with its marvellous mellotron opening sequence was great, sure. Even Time Table was a beautiful song, although if it contained no creative surprises.
But what else was there? The Steve Hackett solo instrumental Horizons as well as the side A closing track Can-Utility and the Coastliners were both very routine numbers. And worst of all, Get 'em Out by Friday was downright awful, proving that Genesis could be really annoying not only when they tried to be humorous, but also when they tried to be political. Conclusion: the Yes album of 1972 was better than the corresponding Genesis album. Unless something revolutionary were to suddenly emerge, Close to the Edge would be the best album of the year.
In November, the West German experimental rock group Can released their follow-up to Tago Mago, which I was really excited about in early 1971. The new album was their fourth, and called Ege Bamyasi. Overall, it was pretty much like its predecessor. This time, I found only one song instead of two that I really enjoyed. Sing Swan Song is an enjoyably atmospheric piece that easily fits the top of this year's songwriting, but hardly lifts the entire album to successfully compete with either Yes or Genesis who were both at the top of their form.
The only real challenge came on 1 December. Gentle Giant released their fourth studio album; their second during this same year. This masterwork was called Octopus, and it came very close to matching their earlier masterpiece Acquiring the Taste. Just like that album, it also suffered from a weak closing track, but was otherwise near perfect. Just listen to Knots below; rarely has a rock group been so far ahead of its time.
However, after careful comparison, in my opinion even Gentle Giant was no match for Yes this year. Close to the Edge remains the best album of 1972, thus breaking the winning streak of Genesis. The last album of this year still worth mentioning is Seventh Sojourn by the Moody Blues, released on 20 December. Again, I wasn't particularly excited about the album as a whole, but found one favorite song on it that serves as an excellent closing for this blog entry. Here you go: I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
Gentle Giant: Octopus
Yes: Close to the Edge
UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
Can: Sing Swan Song
David Bowie: Starman
Focus: Sylvia
Genesis: Supper's Ready
Gentle Giant: Knots
Gentle Giant: Schooldays
Moody Blues: I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)
Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes
Roxy Music: Virginia Plain
Uriah Heep: Easy Livin'
Yes: Close to the Edge
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