On the same date with Elton John, Caravan released their fifth and best album For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night. Since I mentioned their first two albums in 1968 and 1970, they had released a couple more, both quite disappointing. This was their return to form. There is no single song on the album that clearly stands out, but the overall quality of songwriting is excellent.
Exactly one week later, on 12 October, it was time for Genesis to release their fifth album Selling England by the Pound, but unlike Caravan's effort, it was far from their best. In fact, Selling England was the weakest Genesis record since their debut From Genesis to Revelation. Like I mentioned earlier, the initial single release I Know What I Like lacked depth and complexity; the rest of the album had more of both but nowhere near as much as Trespass or Nursery Cryme.
And still there was the opening track Dancing With the Moonlit Knight that immediately secured its place among the early seventies greatest prog songs. The exception to the overall rule. Please go ahead and check it out above: the rest of the album has nothing as good to offer. The 12-minute progfest The Cinema Show on B side is also very good. Most of the rest of the album is OK but forgettable. And then there is The Battle of Epping Forest, which combines two of Genesis's most irritating qualities. It tries to be both humorous and political at the same time but succeeds only in being truly annoying.
One more week later, on 19 October, The Who released another of their best albums called Quadrophenia. The double vinyl LP brings us to our third occurrence of twin masterworks: two truly great songs that appear on an album that is, in my opinion, otherwise just OK. At the time of the release, my absolute favorite song on the album was The Punk and the Godfather that you can hear below.
Another great song on Quadrophenia is of course its closing track Love Reign O'er Me that I suppose is even more famous than my personal favorite. And I can only agree: it is a great song that combines high quality rock and roll with some classical influences. There is pathos, sure, but what else can you expect from the closing track to a rock opera that has been spread to four album sides?
The Beatles may have disbanded three years earlier but at the end of 1973, its primary songwriters both showed promise that their solo careers might also be able to produce fantastic results. First one out was John Lennon, whose album Mind Games was released on 29 October. The title track blew my mind as soon as I heard it. Little did I know that in less than a year, Lennon would publish something even more mind blowing. For now, here is the brilliant Mind Games, accompanied by a music video of sorts.
November 1973 saw three interesting album releases. In May, I had already noticed the Scottish hard rock group Nazareth who at that point released a promising album called Razamanaz. Now, only six months later, they already had a new album out. Loud 'n' Proud contained an outstanding cover of Joni Mitchell's This Flight Tonight. It became one of my absolute favorite songs now that winter was coming. I didn't even know at the time that the song was a cover.
But whereas Nazareth was just plain rock and roll, lots of fun but not too complicated, the debut album of Steve Harley's Cockney Rebel contained something way more accomplished. The album was called The Human Menagerie; its greatest song was called Sebastian. And it really came from out of nowhere: an exceptionally brilliant song in its combination of pop and rock with classical music. There is even a real orchestra playing in the background, as you can hear below. One of the truly unmissable tracks of the year.
Finally, November also saw Electric Light Orchestra to truly start their climb towards genuine greatness. Their first two albums have been mentioned here earlier, and while they were both really good, it wasn't until their third one that their exceptional talent really started to shine. The A side of On the Third Day continued in the vein of the first two albums: perfectly fine, but nothing great. It was the B side that really hit the listener on the head.
The masterful instrumental Daybreaker; the hard rock single hit Ma-Ma-Ma Belle; the astounding prog influenced Dreaming of 4000; and the rock and roll version of Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King were more than enough to make one believe in the group's undeniable talent and start waiting for their next album in eager anticipation. And no disappointment was to arrive in 1974. In the mean time, here is my number one favorite track from On The Third Day.
On 5 December, Paul McCartney released a massive hit album with his group Wings. Band on the Run stayed on album charts for months. You could draw an amusing comparison with that album and ELO's On the Third Day. Band on the Run contained a song called Bluebird. On the Third Day contained a song called Bluebird is Dead.
The song that I really liked at this point was track number two, Jet. An impeccable rock song: easy to remember, difficult to forget, and one that had an immensely enjoyable overall feeling to it that I cannot thoroughly explain. This song has FUN written all over it, with capital letters, and is additional proof to McCartney's talent as a songwriter - if indeed any more proof was necessary at this point.
On 14 December, Yes released a new double album called Tales from Topographic Oceans. This was the date of the UK release. In the US, the album didn't come out until 9 January, 1974. The album contained only four approximately 20 minute long tracks, and was a huge disappointment following the masterworks that preceded it.
Two of the tracks were OK, although still slightly disappointing. The Remembering was dominated by Rick Wakeman's keyboards and managed to create some atmospheric moments; The Ancient, dominated by Steve Howe's guitars, did the same. Don't even bother with the other two tracks. The overall mediocrity of the album made me question if Yes had any future, and Rick Wakeman's departure from the group next year raised even more questions of that nature. On the positive side, the album cover was the most impressive ever.
And then it was Christmas. Around this time, the British singer David Essex released his debut album Rock on, whose title track became yet another favorite of mine. Because of its release very late in the year, it didn't make it to single charts until early 1974. I really, really enjoyed the simple song's ominous atmosphere, which was something that Essex also injected into some of his other songs. He perfected said style the following year on his second album. Let's get back to it in due time. Meanwhile, here is Rock on, and Essex performing it in a piece that I actually saw in Finnish television at the time.
In conclusion, the title of Best Album of 1973 belongs to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. While it has several fine competitors, none of them show such steady high quality from one track to the next.
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies
Electric Light Orchestra: On the Third Day
Jethro Tull: A Passion Play
John Cale: Paris 1919
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
Alice Cooper: Hello Hooray
Cockney Rebel: Sebastian
Genesis: Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
Gentle Giant: An Inmate's Lullaby
Jethro Tull: A Passion Play, Part 1
John Cale: Paris 1919
John Lennon: Mind Games
King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells, Part 1
Pink Floyd: Time
Procol Harum: Grand Hotel
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