tiistai 20. elokuuta 2013

1977: January to April

When it comes to high quality music, 1977 was a definitive improvement over the previous couple of years. For the first time since 1974, we will need to divide the year into three blog entries, although they are admittedly a little shorter than they were in 1973 and 1974. But in only two parts they would have been way too long. Let's concentrate on the first four months of the year this time.


This year, even the usually slow January was a significant month. On the 14th, David Bowie released his experimental classic Low, which contained several truly interesting tracks that really captured by imagination. I have embedded Warszawa above, but I might have done the same for A New Career in a New Town, Subterraneans, Art Decade or Weeping Wall. The B side of the vinyl version in particular is something else.

I had come to think of Bowie as a singer, so when his album suddenly contained creative instrumentals, I was taken aback a little - and most likely, so were many others. But following the initial surprise, I came to like this new Bowie very, very much. Obviously his collaboration with Brian Eno had a lot to do with advancing into this direction. Eno himself would release some seriously unmissable tracks later this same year.


Only nine days later, on 23 January, it was time for Pink Floyd to release another album. This one was called Animals, and personally I liked it immediately better than Wish You Were Here, whose longest track Shine On You Crazy Diamond had been a small letdown for me. This time, the guys were once again on to something. In fact, I enjoyed everything else on the album except Pigs (Three Different Ones), so I cannot help but place it on the list of the albums of the year.

The 17-minute long Dogs felt like a small masterpiece, and of course so did the key song of the album, Sheep that has been embedded above. Pink Floyd was once again able to do weighty social commentary and create memorable music at the same time. The song climaxes with David Gilmour's stunning electric guitar sequence which I still think is second only to the climax of Echoes. Comfortably Numb comes third, following these two earlier masterworks.


11 February marked the release of Songs from the Wood by Jethro Tull. Their golden era was also coming to a close. There would be only one more really good album following this. Last year's Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die had already been a huge disappointment. This new album was however anything but, and at the time gave me new hope. There are no true standout tracks but there are virtually no weak tracks either.

Perhaps my favorite song is the title track that also opens the album. An enjoyable collection of folk rock songs has a nice lightness to it. The emphasis is more on folk than rock. There are some rocking tunes as well, but a large part of the album is acoustic and mellow. If you get your hands on it, be sure to also check Jack-in-the-Green, Ring Out Solstice Bells and Fire at Midnight, to name but a few.


Exactly two weeks later we found out how Peter Gabriel was going to continue his career. On 25 February, he released his first self titled solo album. Overall, it turned out to be a fine recording and actually gave some hope to a Genesis fan: now that Gabriel and Genesis were both recording artists separately, perhaps we would be getting twice the number of enjoyable albums than we would have, had they stayed together.

Most of the songs on Gabriel'd debut are good or very good, but there is one masterful achievement that towers way above the rest. Humdrum is only a short song but it packs stunning power. Upon hearing it for the first time, I immediately assumed that I had found the best song of the year - this early in the year! This might also have been true for most years, but 1977 would become so great that even this song was not to remain on the number one spot.


And there was still more Genesis related music to come! In March, the group's original guitarist Anthony Phillips released his first solo album The Geese & the Ghost. It had been a really long time in the making. Recording had begun as long ago as August, 1973 and been completed in October, 1976. One possible reason for the long period may have been that the album was originally intended to be a joint work between Phillips and Genesis bassist Mike Rutherford. However, Rutherford's schedule turned out to be too busy for a side project, so Phillips ended up completing and releasing the album in his own name.

The fact that the new Genesis singer Phil Collins sang on a couple of tracks gave the album all the more a joint venture feel. Rutherford was, of course, also present. Phillips played his 12-string guitar in very much the same way that Steve Hackett does. All in all, it was like an extra Genesis album had been released - in a year when there would be no new actual Genesis album coming out.


Speaking of Phil Collins - he also appeared on another new non-Genesis album. In April, his jazz fusion side project Brand X released their second studio recording - their first had been previous year's Unorthodox Behaviour. I can't claim that I was that enthusiastic about the entire album that was called Moroccan Roll, but there was this one track that got me almost as excited as Chandra by Gong last year.

The track in question opens the vinyl album's B side, is called Disco Suicide and has been embedded above. I'm not sure what kind of temporary jazz fan I had become, but there is something about this instrumental that feels very energizing. I even considered including it on the list of unmissable tracks for this year, but ultimately decided that it isn't quite that deserving. Only very close, and most certainly worth a listen.


Next, we make a short visit to Finland. Some time, most likely in the spring, the Finnish musician Pekka Pohjola released his third solo album Keesojen lehto. I haven't found out the exact date, or even the month, but I know that recording was completed already in December, 1976. This was quite an exceptional album in that there were some really famous people performing on it: Mike Oldfield was actually the co-producer and also played guitar. Gong's Pierre Moerlen appeared as well, and Sally Oldfield sang.

The album is one of Pohjola's best, as you can hear from the track embedded above. Kädet suoristavat veden has been translated to Hands Calming the Water. It is easy to recognize both Oldfields performing on the track: Mike's guitar sounds like it does on his own albums, and Sally's voice is equally familiar. Another track worth checking out on this album is Matemaatikon lentonäytös (aka Mathematician's Air Display). In addition to Finland, the album was also released at least in Sweden, Italy, Germany, Japan, USA, the UK and Benelux countries.


And finally, let's close this blog entry with some additional Finnish masterworks. I have no idea when in 1977 Dark Album by Wigwam came out, so we might as well discuss it now, immediately following Pekka Pohjola. I have mentioned the group three times before; with this new album, they close their golden era and won't be mentioned again. Overall, the new album isn't anywhere as good as Nuclear Nightclub (1975) but oh boy, don't its standout tracks really stand out!

Track number two, Cheap Evening Return is one of the best Finnish mellow rock songs ever, and another great track The Big Farewell follows below. It looks like Wigwam is really hard to find in YouTube, so I had to resort to Spotify links once again. While Nuclear Nightclub remains the group's definitive masterpiece, their absolute best individual songs seem to have appeared elsewhere: in addition to these two, Häätö (1970) and Lost Without a Trace (1971) must also be remembered. If these four songs were added as additional tracks to Nuclear Nightclub, that compilation album would truly kick ass!

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