This was a tough one, with the Carpenters, Moody Blues, Gordon Lightfoot and so many others making an impact on me. However, one song from 1970 that I still play is this one. In general I was not a particular fan of Emerson, Lake & Palmer …. but this one was very creative and quickly “grew on me”!
1970s Rock
“Time”
Pink Floyd! Need I really say anything else? Enjoy!
“Legend of a Mind” (aka “Timothy Leary”)
My favourite band from the 60’s and 70’s was undoubtedly The Moody Blues. Their 1968 album “In Search of the Lost Chord” included many excellent tracks, but Legend of a Mind stood out because of its structure. Continue reading
“For No One”
This was a very typical song of the mid 1970’s, and I was just listening to it in that context when it struck me that it’s not totally out of place today. Appeals have been made for fighting around the world to cease so that all efforts can be focused on COVID-19. Will those appeals be heard? Based on the state of worldly affairs in the 1970’s, and how little has changed, I have to be skeptical.
Please lay down your pistols and your rifles
Please lay down your colours and your creeds
Please lay down your thoughts of being no-one
Concentrate on what you ought to be
Then lay down your bullshit and your protests
Then lay down your governments of greed
Take a look at what lies all around you
Then pray God we can live in peace
Everyone’s a loner ’till he needs a helping hand
Everyone is everybody else
Everyone’s a no-one ’till he wants to make a stand
God alone knows how we will survive
So please lay down your pistols and your rifles
Please lay down your colours and your creeds
Please lay down your thoughts of being no-one
Concentrate on what you ought to be
Everyone’s a loner ’till he needs a helping hand
Everyone is everybody else
Everyone’s a no-one ’till he wants to make a stand
God alone knows how we will survive
“All in a Mouse’s Night”
Looking over my personal music library, one cannot miss the fact that so many popular songs are relationship based. Either the relationship is separated by distance, or there is a new romance stirring the emotional waters, or (the more likely scenario) there is a total breakdown in the relationship for any number of reasons. Given how important relationships are to our species, this should be no revelation. Continue reading
“The Balance”
As some of you are aware, I am currently going through boxes of photographs and other memorabilia from way back, and putting them into albums such that the stories will be available for future interested parties! I just recently came across this, Continue reading
“These Dreams”
Jim Croce (1943-1973) recorded a number of lovely songs in the late 1960s to early 1970s before a plain crash took his life. Continue reading
“I Dreamed Last Night”
Justin Hayward and John Lodge (both key Moody Blues members) detoured for awhile in their musical journey and, in 1975, recorded a “Blue Jays” (Blue = Moody Blues, and Jays = Justin and John perhaps?) album on which was “I Dreamed Last Night”. Not surprisingly it has a very strong Moody Blues “flavour” to it with the overall sound, as well as the various melodic and structure changes. Continue reading
“Poor Man’s Moody Blues”
Another wonderful song and musical arrangement from the 1970’s (1977), this time by Barclay James Harvest. Those of you familiar with The Moody Blues album “Days of Future Passed”, and specifically the track “Nights in White Satin” will hear an immediate connection (beyond the title). Enjoy! Continue reading
“And you and I”
I have listened to Yes for many years now and, while I tend to have love/hate relationships with their material, the “love” tracks are always quite absorbing. They recorded a number of lengthy tracks with included bridges and other rhythm change sections which I find really interesting. Whereas there are occasions when I am thinking “where on earth is this going”, they suddenly pull it all together and it makes sense! Continue reading
A New Direction Perhaps? 