The documentary in question is French and called L’Apocalypse des Animaux. Directed by Frédéric Rossif, it brought to attention a talented Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, these days better known as Vangelis. At this point, Vangelis already had experience in music scene, having been a member of some Greek pop bands since the early sixties, and even a progressive rock group Aphrodite's Child since 1968.
Vangelis had already released two solo albums in 1970 and 1972 but they went largely unnoticed. L'Apocalypse des Animaux did not. The beautiful soundtrack to a nature documentary garnered attention also from abroad. So much attention in fact, that in July 1974 when Rick Wakeman had left Yes, that group's singer Jon Anderson visited Vangelis to talk about him taking over Wakeman's duties. This never happened, but Vangelis became friends with Anderson and the two later collaborated on several recordings.
On 17 April, one more slightly interesting American band called Eagles released their second album called Desperado. I remember liking the title track, which got some radio play. Their self titled debut had come out the previous year, and they were destined for great success.
The same could be said about Mike Oldfield, who simply astounded the music world by releasing a classic album on first attempt. Tubular Bells, out four days after my tenth birthday on 25 May, was a surprisingly mature recording from a shy and slightly reclusive multi instrumentalist. A melodic composition consisted of two roughly 20 minute long parts, one on each side of the vinyl disc.
I need to add a personal note. While Tubular Bells was brilliant, I think its greatest achievement was its groundbreaking format and not the composition itself. In my opinion, Oldfield's next two albums were both better than his first! As you can hear above, the first part is flawless but I have serious problems with the second part where the composer seems to run out of good ideas, yet continues playing to force himself closer to the 20 minute mark. The Piltdown Man sequence is downright ridiculous.
Oldfield got some further attention when the opening sequence of Tubular Bells was heard on the soundtrack of the mainstream horror sensation The Exorcist. The American film got its wide release on 26 December, so a significant number of people didn't see it, and hear Oldfield's contribution to it, until 1974. By then, Oldfield had already withdrawn from the public, as if scared of his unexpected huge success, to work on his ultimate masterpiece Hergest Ridge in peace.
On the exact same date with Tubular Bells, Mott the Hoople released their follow-up single to their breakthrough song from last year, All the Young Dudes. The new song Honaloochie Boogie had been written by the band frontman Ian Hunter and it was actually pretty good. It would also be included on their next album a couple of months later. Above, you can already see a sneak peek of that forthcoming album's cover, in addition to hearing the song.
Then, onward to another slightly interesting American band besides Eagles. Chicago seemed to like to release their albums around midsummer. Last year's Chicago V was released on 10 July; this year's Chicago VI on 25 June. Like the previous album, this one also contained two songs that I immediately liked: the opening song Critic's Choice and the reflective Something in This City Changes People that opened the B side.
When discussing the first half of 1972, I already mentioned that I have always thought A Passion Play to be a better Jethro Tull album than Thick as a Brick. A Passion Play came out on 13 July and continued Tull's courting with progressive rock by containing only one single song that was spread over both sides of the vinyl LP.
One cannot help but wonder if Ian Anderson decided to move away from the long format, and progressive rock style in general, due to the scathing reviews that the album received. Even though Jethro Tull made some fine albums also later on, things were really not the same following A Passion Play. First they started moving towards hard rock, then back to folk and, finally, more technical eighties rock with a rather sterile sound.
I have already written about A Passion Play when discussing the Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces. You can find that blog entry over here. Below, you can check out the song.
On 20 July, the new album by Mott the Hoople arrived. It was called simply Mott, and those who expected something like last year's All the Young Dudes probably were a little disappointed - although probably not completely surprised. In addition to Honaloochie Boogie, there was another single release called All the Way from Memphis which got a lot of radio play even in the US. A decent song, but I felt like it was again a little weaker than its predecessor.
I got similar feelings when Genesis released a new single on 3 August. I Know What I Like was a song from their forthcoming fifth album. A simple song that was pretty easy to like on the first few listens, then grow bored with it due to its lack of depth and complexity. Luckily, there was a much more interesting song on the B side, which gave me some hope. I didn't of course know then that Twilight Alehouse wouldn't be included on the new album. Apologies for the Spanish subtitles below.
The song above had a somehow autumnal feel, and alas, then it was autumn. September saw the biggest disappointment in a long time, when Gentle Giant released their fifth studio album In a Glass House. Eager anticipation has rarely turned into such a huge disappointment. It seems exceptional, that the drop in quality between two albums could be so enormous. Octopus had been one of the most essential albums of last year, and had been preceded by another fine work Three Friends. Compared to them, In a Glass House seemed like a complete waste of listening time... no, wait.
There was this one good track. All the others sounded like they had been made under contractual obligation, without any artistic inspiration. But track number two, An Inmate's Lullaby sounded like it should have been included on Octopus already. A brilliant song. One unmissable track among several instantly forgettable ones. Please note that, when you listen to the track below, it doesn't begin until at 9 seconds. The sounds you hear before that belong to the end of the previous track on the album. Apparently the track change on the CD this has been taken from hasn't been exactly in the right place.
We began this blog entry with an album whose exact release date was unknown to me. Let's now end it the same way. I have no idea when exactly the Dutch progressive rock band Kayak released their debut album See See the Sun, but since its recording was completed in June, it would most likely have been around September.
Kayak doesn't seem to command too much respect in prog fan circles, and agreed, their music was never very accomplished. Especially on their debut they sound a bit clumsy, as if struggling not to miss a beat. Also, singing is not their strong suit, as you can hear below. But some of their musical ideas were actually very, very impressive for a group at the beginning of their recording career.
See See the Sun contains two excellent tracks and I guess they are the second good example of twin masterworks: two great tracks on an album that is otherwise just OK. I wouldn't quite dare call these two unmissable tracks of the year, but they are both very fine music nonetheless. Below you have the whole album: please check out at least the outstanding melodic pathos of Lovely Luna (15:30 - 23:48), and fully enjoy the album's best track Forever is a Lonely Thought (35:16 - 40:42).
Kayak's recording career continued, and they did write some additional fine songs. However, I don't think they ever quite equalled Lovely Luna or, in particular, Forever is a Lonely Thought which remain their most outstanding efforts to this day.
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