if heavy metal was born anywhere really, it was on the white album. but, come on, it’s very obviously sabbath and, to a lesser extent, zeppelin.
There was a documentary about them released a few months ago, which is good timing! Though I’m not sure if it’s widely available just yet. Fanny: The Right to Rock - Wikipedia Will try and find time to check this out too if I can.
I watch this fairly regularly. It's ferocious and really captures an energy (especially from Alice on drums) that studio recordings didn't at the time.
I think Glover's gallop and Gillan's scream had a much more immediate influence, personally. All the dark slow sludge stuff Sabbath inspired took longer to germanate.
By the way, I actually think Fanny's last album with the original lineup, the Todd Rundgren-produced Mother's Pride is their best. But since Fanny Hill is the consensus pick for their strongest AND the most indicative of their usual sound, it seemed like the better one to cash in my chips on getting people to listen to.
Checked out Miles Davis' On The Corner, which ended up being his last studio record for nearly a decade, releasing live material after this mostly. It's a pretty interesting listen, really stretching what you can consider jazz music. There's huge amount of funk to this, sounding like James Brown instrumental breaks in parts, as well as adding an Indian sitar sound buried in some tracks here, and even what feels like early experiments with electronica here also. Miles recorded his trumpet with a Wah-Wah pedal here, as did bassist Michael Henderson which is pretty cool, and it sounds wonderfully strange in the best way here. There is a lot going on here, so it's the sort of thing that I feel would need dozens of listens to dig through and get to grips with this. There are long bits where Miles isn't anywhere to be heard (or I don't think he is anyway), with it being bass and drum heavy. I can see why this was panned upon release, but I can also see why it was re-appraised later. It's certainly an extremely interesting listen.
Listened to Crossings by Herbie Hancock, which has three pieces, the first of which is 25 minutes, and the other two being a little shorter. We have Hancock definitely experimenting with funk and fusion, like Miles and others were also doing in the early 70s, with plenty of electronic and early synthesisers on this record. It's a really interesting record, and Hancock and his band manage to blend the disparate influences and styles here into something cogent and cohesive.
Joe South - Drowning in the Sea of Love The production by Gamble and Huff is characteristically excellent. Pure Philly soul. And there are a couple really excellent songs, particularly the hit title track. But overall the album just didn’t quite get over for me. His voice isn’t entirely up my alley, nor is it entirely suited to lush soul music.
1. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars 2. Neil Young - Harvest 3. Lou Reed - Transformer
haven’t gotten to as much this week with the holiday but i particularly enjoyed foxtrot. the gabriel i’ve heard has been hit or miss but this worked for me.
I like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway quite a bit but both Genesis and Gabriel were better after splitting up
Have to at least get my votes in - I will update this with my honorable mentions later when I have more time. Can't believe how fast this week got away from me! 1. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars 2. Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill 3. Todd Rundgren - Something / Anything? Honorable Mention / The Rest: The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street Big Star - #1 Record Neil Young - Harvest The Doobie Brother - Toulouse Street Deep Purple - Machine Head Eagles - Eagles Elton John - Honky Chateau Nick Drake - Pink Moon Paul Simon - Paul Simon Bread - Baby I'm A Want You Raspberries - Raspberries Roxy Music - Roxy Music Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Trilogy America - America
Everyone has blind spots and obviously no one can hear everything but I'm really slamming my head against the wall over somehow not getting to that Big Star record until right now
Every song has hit me like a bowling ball. And the weirdest thing is that I'm fairly familiar with the history of the band. I have no clue how I swerved around listening to them for so long