Another non-prog favorite of mine was released in March. I had already been a bit interested in the development of British hard rock band Deep Purple, and it was their album Machine Head that finally convinced me. The most famous tune on this album is of course Smoke on the Water, with its memorable sequence of guitar chords, but another one that I also enjoyed was the opening track Highway Star. Quality rock and roll at its best, full of energy, and with some embarrassingly stupid lyrics to boot.
Around the same time, Jethro Tull started changing their style again. They had started as a pretty straightforward blues rock outfit with This Was (1968) and Stand Up (1969), then corrected their course towards more folk rock oriented sound with Benefit (1970) and Aqualung (1971). With their fifth album, released on 10 March, they suddenly started to gravitate towards progressive rock, although their folk rock roots were still easily audible. This would turn out to be a rather temporary diversion for Ian Anderson and the guys, but here it was in any case.
Thick as a Brick contains only one song, a lengthy composed poem that runs all the way through both sides of the vinyl album. Nowadays, it is considered the band's greatest work. Personally, I have always had minor problems with the B side (Part Two), which doesn't bring much new to the mix. The first part is a masterpiece, agreed. As a whole, I have always preferred next year's A Passion Play which doesn't have the repetition problem. Below, you can hear the whole thing.
Another month, another memorable album. Wish it were like this in the 2010's. On 14 April, Gentle Giant released their third album Three Friends, and while it didn't quite live up to the expectations set by the amazing Acquiring the Taste, it was still a pretty damn fine album. This time, the guys went the theme album route, telling the heartbreaking story of three childhood friends who swore to always stay friends, but who were inevitably separated when they grew up to completely different directions, to become men with little common ground between them.
The childhood part called Schooldays is almost certainly the single best song I have ever heard about childhood. Don't even mention Marillion. Even the composition completely supports the lyrics, giving the work a feel of nostalgia; of young lives happily lived before they transformed into something else altogether. An unmissable track for this year. A fan favorite Peel the Paint opens the B side, and the title track that closes the album is an immensely beautiful summary of the storyline. Of lives started together and separated later.
Another month went by, and Uriah Heep released their (probably) best known album Demons and Wizards on 19 May - only two days before my ninth birthday. It contained the group's biggest hit Easy Livin' which became an instant rock classic. I had almost forgotten about the group since Come Away, Melinda, but now they returned in a big way. There were also other quality rock songs on the album, but everyone else's favorite was also mine. Even my mother, who in general hated rock music, liked Easy Livin'.
Less than three weeks later, on 6 June an even bigger favorite of mine emerged. David Bowie's release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars didn't otherwise connect to me in a major way, but its single hit Starman did. During this summer, my family was building a house and I specifically remember listening to Starman whenever possible while we were at the construction site. My absolute favorite song of the year at age nine.
Another song from summer of 1972 that I felt was catchy as hell, was the opening track from a self titled album by a new, rising talent. Roxy Music was already then and would also be later, like a set where Bryan Ferry performed but the original lineup also featured my future favorite Brian Eno. I never became a big fan, but oh boy, isn't Virginia Plain just about perfect when it comes to rock/pop songs? The album's release date was 16 June.
Precisely one week later, right on the eve of Midsummer, it was time for Jethro Tull to release yet another album, this time a double vinyl LP. However, they weren't really working themselves to death. Living in the Past was a compilation of sorts. One of the four album sides was a live recording, some songs had already appeared on other albums but were now released in an alternate version.
The title track was a single from May 1969 which I suppose should have been mentioned already when discussing that year. There were also some outtakes from earlier albums and an excellent Life is a Long Song EP, the title track of which is one of the prettiest songs Jethro Tull ever recorded. This EP had been released already in 1971 - another unintended omission from an earlier blog entry. Let's try to make up for it by embedding the title track right here.
Before we take a short summer break, let's mention one more interesting album release. I had already been keeping an eye on the American jazz influenced rock group Chicago, who had before 1972 already released three double LP's (!) as well as a box set of live material. They called their new album Chicago V even though it was actually only their fourth studio recording. Also, it was their first single disc release. It came out at the height of summer, on 10 July.
This album is notable for at least a couple of excellent tracks. On side A, the highlight was the two part song Dialogue. I particularly liked the second part which, even though it was recorded in an expensive studio with high production values, sounded like a genuinely enjoyable, spontaneous jam session. Another favorite was Saturday in the Park, strangely hidden to its second place on B side. Very sunny and positive music perfectly fitting my summer holiday from school.
Following the break, we will continue with the rest of 1972. Overall, it seems that for a third year in a row, the second half outdoes the first part, as good as the first half also was. There are still albums coming out from two time "album of the year" winner Genesis, as well as their main competitor Yes, and another one during the same year from Gentle Giant. So stay tuned for more!
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