Rest In Peace- Levon Helm

Blog entry- star date 27-04-12, Supplemental

Regrettably, I am saddened to learn of the passing of The Band's drummer Levon Helm this past Friday. According to official reports, Levon died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 71.

Natrually, I am now reflecting back to the film, which I saw in 1978 and remember him very well. Not only was he a great drummer, he also sang lead on such famous songs as "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Shape I'm In," both hits for The Band. Tributes have already been pouring in from all over the music world, including Bob Dylan and I am expressing my deepest condolences for Levon's family.

Rest in Peace Levon Helm

Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Kansas- Point of Know Return

 Have you seen the episode of Family Guy where Brian advices Peter to walk through the streets in deep contemplation with the song "Dust in the Wind" playing in the background? Better yet, whenever you needed a walk to think things over have this song come to mind or listen to it on a MP3 or walkman? I have. "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas from the album "Point of Know Return" is one of the greatest accoustic ballads of all time. The funny thing is that it was only written when Kerry Livgren's wife suggested he add lyrics to a piece he had written as a finger excercise and he wasn't sure whether or not the band would like it as Kansas was not known for accoustic ballads. Needless to say, the song was written and recorded and you could say, the rest is history.

 However, "Dust in the Wind" isn't the only good song on this album. There are some great rock tunes like "Lightning's Hand" and song cool instrumental solos like "Paradox." Furthermore, the title track is also a very good track. These are all reasons why this album proved to be an excellent follow up to the previous Kansas album, "Leftoverture." The album also helped to establish Kansas as a great live act.

Track Listing:

1. Point of Know Return

2. Paradox

3. The Spider

4. Portrait (He Knew)

5. Closet Chronicles

6. Lightning's Hand

7. Dust in the Wind

8. Sparks of the Tempest

9. Nobody's Home

10. Hopelessly Human

 

Kansas

Kerry Livgren- guitar, keyboards

Phild Ehart- drums

David Hope- bass

Robby Steinhardt- violin, vocals

Steve Walsh- keyboards, vocals

Rick Williams- electric and accoustic guitars

"Point of Know Return" was released in late 1977 and helped the waters of rock along its way to overflowing its banks a year later. This I have no doubt.

Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Foghat- Live

I had never heard of Foghat before until I saw them advertised as the headliner at the Philadelphia Spectrum one evening in June 1978. I didn't go to the concert as I was heading across the street to Veterans Stadium to watch the Phillies play the Dodgers. Obviously, I missed what probably was a memorable concert, but the band's name stuck in my mind. Fast forward a few months later when my cousin took out this live album and played it to me. After hearing this great live album, I can say that things changed for the better for me in a musical sense.

As I said before and will probably say many times more, there are many good album and show opening tunes out there, but there are smaller number of those which are truly great. These songs are the ones that grab you by the throat and say, "You're going to listen to us and like it!" Two posts ago, I included "Back in the Saddle" by Aerosmith and on this album, the opening track, "Fool for the City," is also one of those songs. Whenever I hear it, I can't stop to quicken my step and headbang away. "Fool for the City" sets the tone for the rest of the album. There are other great tracks which carry on the good vibe of Foghat "Live" from where "Fool for the City" leaves off. Two tracks that definitely stand out are "Slow Ride" and their version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You." Both are great party songs and I'm speaking from first hand experience here. The rest of the album supports these and it is what makes this album one of the best live albums of all time.

Track listing:

1. Fool for the City

 2. Home in My Mind

3. I Just Want To Make Love To You

4. Road Fever

 5. Honey Hush

6. Slow Ride

Foghat

Dave Peverett - rhythm guitar, vocals

 Rod Price - lead guitar, slide guitar

 Craig MacGregor - bass

Roger Earl - drums

I realise that I am in great danger of calling every live album I visit, one of the greatest live albums of all time. However, for Foghat- "Live," I can say that the shoe definitely fits on this one.

 Next Post: Kansas- Point of Know Return

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Aersomith- Draw the Line

As the blog heads towards 1978, the year the rivers of rock began to overflow their banks and form what was to become heavy metal, it is only fitting that I visit one of the albums that sped those waters along the way. "Draw the Line" by Aerosmith was one of the truly last great rock albums before the river overflowed. The only reason it wasn't the last album for me was that pending its release in December 1977, every record store in America seemed to be advertising it for the Christmas sales. Every store I went into that year had a large display depicting the album cover in order to entice parents to buy the album for their rock loving children. If I had a time machine, I would go back and tell mine to buy it for me, although I don't regret in the least getting the "Desire" album by Bob Dylan nor the "Spitfire" album from Jefferson Starship that Christmas.
While "Rocks" is said to be Aerosmith's last album before the descent into their drugs hell, "Draw the Line" was the first album during that descent. Joe Perry practically admitted in an interview years later that the album was done so the band could pay their drug dealers. Nevertheless, it does not stop this album from being a great one and to me, only shows how talented these guys really are.

Track Listing:

1. Draw the Line

2. I Want to Know Why

3, Critical Mass

4. Get It Up

5. Bright Light Fright

6. Kings and Queens

7. Hand That Feeds

8. Sight For Sore Eyes

9. Milk Cow Blues

Steven Tyler- vocals

Joe Perry- lead guitar

Brad Whitford- guitar

Tom Hamilton- bass

Joey Kramer- drums, percussion

It matters not if Aerosmith were under the influence of drugs when the album was made, it is still a fantastic album. Kerrang listed it number 37 in the top 100 metal albums of all times and I can certainly understand why. I just wonder, if this album was made while the band was high on drugs and it is still this good, how good it would have been if they hadn't been on drugs.

Next post: Foghat Live

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Aerosmith- Rocks

Aerosmith could not have put out a better album to follow up on the highly successful and popular "Toys in the Attic" album. "Rocks" does exactly what it says on the label, it rocks! Many albums have what I call great opening tracks and this is definitely with the opener here. "Back in the Saddle" can be listed as one of those first tracks that say "You're gonna listen to this album and like it." Of course, the other tracks on the album like "Last Child" and "Nobody's Fault" along with all of the others back up the first track and make "Rocks" a truly memorable album.
One track which also must be mentioned here is "Rats in the Cellar" for two reasons. As with the rest of the album it is a great track, but not only that, Tom Hamilton states that it was originally written as a counterpart to the title track "Toys in the Attic." I can see a little bit of humour on this. But more importantly for me, Hamilton says the track was inspired by the death of the band's drug dealer. This, to me, is kind of ironic because it has been said that after "Rocks," Aerosmith began their descent from musicians dabbling in drugs to druggies dabbling in music and began, to quote Joe Perry, "Make albums in order to pay their dealers."

Track Listing:

1. Back in the Saddle

2. Last Child

3. Rats in the Cellar

4. Combination

5. Sick as a Dog

6. Nobody's Fault

7. Get the Lead Out

8. Lick and a Promise

9. Home Tonight

Aerosmith

Steven Tyler- vocals

Joe Perry- lead guitar

Brad Whitford- guitar

Tom Hamilton- bass

Joey Kramer- drums

Many great metal acts from the 80s and since have sited Aerosmith's "Rocks" album was one of their greatest influences. Acts from Metallica to Kurt Cobain to Slash and more all pay homage to this great offering in music. Furthermore, many tracks, especially "Nobody's Fault" has been covered by many times. As great classic rock albums go, this is one of the best.

Next post: Aerosmith- Draw the Line

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Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Ted Nugent- Cat Scratch Fever

Growing up as a teen in the late 70s, I did not own one of those bulky home entertainment centers like my friend did. Instead, I had to rely on an antique radio that only got AM and had a limited range. As a result, I only got to hear a rock song if it got into the top 40. So, immagine my surprise when listening to my relic when one day the song "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent came blasting through it. I'm surprised that that old radio didn't explode upon the heavy riffs which were blasting out of it. That song would change me in more ways than I could have immagined back then.
When I said top 40 earlier, I didn't mention that back in 1977 when this great album was unleashed, that the charts were full of disco. Back then, we had to contend with the "Saturday Night Fever" onslaught, so it was a welcome relief to hear a true rock song on the radio. For me, it was "Cat Scratch Fever" that got me to join the "Death Before Disco" club.
Like the "Hair of the Dog" album by Nazereth a few years earlier, the "Cat Scratch Fever" album could also be cited as a model on what future heavy metal albums were to sound like. When I eventually heard the album in its entirety, I was impressed that it was full on kick ass rock from start to finish. I was mesmeried by the full power of it and even then, I regarded Ted Nugent as a guitar god who could wail away with the best of them.

Track Listing:

1. Cat Scratch Fever

2. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang

3. Death by Misadventure

4. Live It Up

5. Homebound

6. Working Hard

7. Sweet Sally

8. A Thousand Knives

9. Fist Fighting Son of a Gun

10. Out of Control

Ted Nugent- vocals, lead guitar

Cliff Davies- drums, vocals

Derek St Holmes- rhythm guitar, vocals

Rob Grange- bass

When I did finally get to see this guitar god live, I was impressed with how he played "Cat Scratch Fever" and then followed it on with "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" although I would have preferred to hear the first song played in it's entirety. Both concerts are mentioned in "Rock and Roll Children." "Cat Scratch Fever" will forever go down in the annals of heavy metal history as one of the great albums of all time.

Next Post: Aerosmith- Rocks

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Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle

Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Rush- Farewell to Kings

It is said that it is difficult to follow up on a great album, however, the "Farewell to Kings" album from Rush does exactly that. Following on from 2112, this album proves to be the next step which would eventually lead to the band's domination of rock in the late 70s to early 80s.
For me, "Farewell to Kings" proves the band's versatility. I immediately start headbanging away to the title track and then get caught up in the eleven minute long "Xanadu" where I just want to sit down with a beer and just get into the vibe. Far from being an album of long concept songs, the second side hits you with some short sharp songs starting with the classic "Closer to the Heart" before finishing up with another 10 minute long track that just gets you to wind down. From start to finish, this album is a real gem.

Track Listing

1. Farewell to Kings

2. Xanadu

3. Closer to the Heart

4. Cinderella Man

5. Madrigal

6. Cygnus X- 1 Book 1- The Voyage

Rush:

Geddy Lee- voclas, bass, 12 string guitar, mini moog, bass pedal synthesiser

Alex Liefson- guitars- bass pedal synthesiser

Neil Peart- drums, percussion

Rush fans have been debating for three and a half decades which is the better album between "2112" and "Farewell to Kings" and this argument will probably go on for three and a half decades more. These are both truly great albums.

Next post: Ted Nugent- Cat Scratch Fever

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle