The title track that opens the album is a very, very fine prog rock song that embodies just about everything that was always good about Gentle Giant. The third track Design is probably the zaniest "vocal acrobatics" type song the group ever made. Very reminiscent of Knots from Octopus, it works almost as brilliantly. But perhaps the greatest track of the album is its closing I Lost My Head, embedded below. This is where the greatness of Gentle Giant ends. There were still three more album releases to come, but they were considerably weaker, for reasons we will discuss when the time comes.
Only one day later, a truly unique musical performance took place at New York City Hall. It was the premiere of Music for 18 Musicians, by American minimalist composer Steve Reich. It still remains his most astonishing piece of work. Although premiered this early, the over 70-minute long composition wouldn't be released as a recording until 1978. Let's place it here however, because this is the moment when it already existed, and was performed to general public for the first time.
On 17 May, if was time to get some fulfillment to my interest in heavy metal. Rainbow had released their debut album one year earlier, and on this date their sophomore effort Rising arrived in the stores. The album was otherwise nothing special, but its closing track was such an operatic powerhouse that it gave me goosebumps. Only four days shy of 13 years, I was impressed and confused at the same time. I didn't think much of heavy metal - why was Stargazer so great? There were even strings in the background!
At an unknown time in 1976, Tangerine Dream released already their seventh studio album. Following the stunning Rubycon, they had also managed to release one live album in December 1975, called Ricochet. Although that album had been recorded live, the compositions - Ricochet Part 1 and Part 2 - were new material. I wasn't particularly impressed with the end result, so I skipped the album earlier, although I do enjoy the first seven minutes of Part 1.
Ricochet had already been a clear departure from the, shall we say purer soundscape of Rubycon. Tangerine Dream's earlier albums had all been very electronics heavy, whereas Ricochet suddenly employed electric guitars and percussion. Stratosfear continued that same trend: as you can hear below, the title track actually opens with a guitar. In addition to that, compositions were once again becoming shorter. In addition to the title track, I would recommend checking out The Big Sleep in Search of Hades.
In June, Soft Machine released a new album called Softs. This extremely eccentric jazz prog group had enjoyed cult success since the late sixties. Even the frontman of Gong, Daevid Allen had been a member before forming Gong. The first, self titled album had been released in 1968 and there had been a new release every year since then. The early recordings were not very accessible and later ones became even less so. Suffice to say that the combination of jazz, psychedelia, prog and overall craziness was too much for most - myself included, of course.
Softs was already the ninth studio album by the group. The thing that made it historical was that it was the first one where there was no longer a single original member present in the lineup. All the hippies with their improvisational techniques were gone, and now there were more precisely playing musicians left... I'm not being serious, but yes, I enjoy this phase of Soft Machine more than I do the freewheeling early years.
At this point in time, it sounds like the keyboardist Karl Jenkins has become the leader of the group. His handiwork is certainly evident on the album's standout track The Tale of Taliesin, embedded above. Jenkins would of course proceed to form Adiemus in 1994 which makes my liking of his earlier work all the more embarrassing. But anyway, here we are. There are also other good tracks on Softs, but this one is the best.
On 11 August, the Canadian band Klaatu released their debut album 3:47 EST. This would hardly be groundbreaking news, if it weren't for two things. First, caused by the shroud of secrecy around the group and their familiar sounding output, for a while there were widespread conspiracy theories about them actually being The Beatles who had regrouped under a false name. Second, because the album contained the song Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, which would become an undying classic when a more famous American group made a cover of it a little later.
11 September, and a new album by Electric Light Orchestra was released. Could it possibly outdo the masterpiece that was Face the Music? The answer is yes and no. A New World Record became the group's greatest hit and solidified their superstar status. Filled with memorable single tracks such as Telephone Line, Rockaria! and Livin' Thing it was easily accessible to just about everyone with even a passing interest towards classy pop/rock music.
Being well over 13 years old at this point, I was also blown away by the album and initially thought it to be a masterpiece. Which it is, in a way, but it didn't take me many years to realise that the best songs on Face the Music had a way more lasting quality. While I do enjoy all of the hits listed above, none of them have truly stood the test of time. I have only two lasting favorites: the infinitely beautiful Mission (A World Record) and the massive closing track Shangri-La, and only the first one of those is truly unmissable.
Autumn was already here, and there didn't seem to be too many significant albums on release. Compared to many of the previous years, 1976 was turning out to be much less plentiful when it came to high quality music. The end of the year provided me with only three additional new albums worth discussing. A particularly noticeable detail about them was that they were all released by a group that had already released one album during this same year. And, as it is, all of them were discussed in the previous blog entry.
In October, Van der Graaf Generator released World Record, which turned out to be one more small step backwards following Still Life, which had been a step backwards from Godbluff. There were a couple of decent songs on this album as well, but they could hardly be called twin masterworks. Still, the opening track When She Comes feels quite good to me. In my mind, the best song on World Record is however its last track Wondering.
I have no exact release date, but sometime at the end of 1976, Gong released the follow-up to their earth-shattering Shamal that had come out at the beginning of the year. The new album was released in some territories as Expresso, but is more widely known as Gazeuse! It was almost pure jazz fusion, and this time there was no genius worthy of Patrice Lemoine working as a composer. To me, the album wouldn't even be worth mentioning if it weren't for one lovely track it contains.
Gong was now Pierre Moerlen's band, and he liked to play marimba in addition to drums and percussion. A composition called Percolations begins with a lovely theme that I instantly liked and still respect. The whole thing has been embedded below; please check out the first 3 minutes and 53 seconds. Aren't they infinitely beautiful? You can also listen to the track all the way through: the rest of it is like the rest of the album, perhaps interesting to some but not to me. Next time we will be discussing a Gong album when we discuss the output of the year 2000...
Finally, it was time for Genesis to release another album during the same year. It was like A Trick of the Tail was really their 1975 recording that just didn't happen to come out until 2 February, 1976. This new album with the most beautiful cover image I can think of is then their actual 1976 album. Wind & Wuthering was also a step backwards. But that was inevitable: how could Genesis possibly have topped something like A Trick of the Tail?
Tony Banks was still in charge and the album had, in my opinion, the exact right approach even though the end result was not quite as interesting as one would have hoped. Most of the songs were OK. Two of them were unmissable, making the group's total number of unmissable tracks of the year an unheard of five. Remember, there were three on A Trick of the Tail. My favorites were the beautifully accomplished Blood on the Rooftops and the regretful, pathos filled closing track Afterglow.
Such a beautiful way to close a year! And such a strong reminder that, in spite of everything that had happened, Genesis was still very much alive.
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
10cc: How Dare You!
Electric Light Orchestra: A New World Record
Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
The Tubes: Young and Rich
UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
10cc: Don't Hang Up
10cc: I'm Mandy Fly Me
Cluster: Zum Wohl
Electric Light Orchestra: Mission (A World Record)
Genesis: Afterglow
Genesis: Blood on the Rooftops
Genesis: Entangled
Genesis: Mad Man Moon
Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
Gong: Wingful of Eyes
Gong: Chandra
John Miles: Music
Matti Järvinen: Sameassa vedessä
Soft Machine: The Tale of Taliesin
The Tubes: Pimp
The Tubes: Young and Rich
Best albums of the year since 1967:
1967: Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968: (not awarded due to lack of worthy candidates)
1969: Procol Harum: A Salty Dog
1970: Genesis: Trespass
1971: Genesis: Nursery Cryme
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge
1975: Electric Light Orchestra: Face the Music
1976: Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
Best short tracks (under 12 minutes):
1967: Pink Floyd: Bike
1968: Pink Floyd: Julia Dream
1969: Pink Floyd: Cirrus Minor
1970: The Beatles: The Long and Winding Road
1971: Genesis: The Fountain of Salmacis
1972: Gentle Giant: Schooldays
1973: John Cale: Paris 1919
1974: Mike Oldfield: Mike Oldfield's Single
1975: The Tubes: Up from the Deep
1976: Gong: Chandra
Best long tracks (12 minutes or over):
1970: King Crimson: Lizard
1971: Van der Graaf Generator: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1
1974: King Crimson: Starless
1975: Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn, Part 1
1976: -
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