Badfinger
was a superb pop/rock band that formed in Abertawe,
England, in
1969. The band was initially notable as the first band signed to the Beatles’
Apple Records. The music that Badfinger produced reminded many of the Beatles
and the band’s presence on the Apple label had many dismiss them as Beatles
wannabes.
Badfinger
recorded the excellent album, “Straight Up,” (1971), that saw the band fulfill
the promise that they had shown in getting signed to Apple. The album contained the classic tracks and
minor hits, “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue.”
The
Straight Up album is one of the earliest examples of what would later be coined
“power pop,” with the amplified guitar sound, perfect vocal harmonies and
catchy melodies. Power pop bands such as Big Star and The Raspberries would
follow in their wake.
Badfinger’s
story would end sadly as the group would never shake their image as a
second-rate Beatles clone. The members would wind up in financial hardship
driving leader Pete Ham to commit suicide in 1975.
The
Animals, lead by singer, Eric Burdon, were part of the British invasion of the Sixties.
The Animals were among the finest of the blues-based rock bands to emerge from Britain in the Sixties.
Burdon,
organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel started out in a Newcastle band called the Kansas City Five.
In 1962, with the additions of guitarist Hilton Valentine and bassist Chas
Chandler, the band eventually became known as the Animals.
The band landed a regular gig at the Crawdaddy Club in London. Record producer Mickie Most got them
signed to EMI on the strength of their live performances, and the label
released their first singles, “Baby Let Me Take You Home” and “House of the
Rising Sun,” in 1964. The latter song would become a huge hit and transform the
band into one of the leading acts of the British Invasion.
The
Animals continued recording a slew of hits throughout the Sixties with, “Don’t
Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Got to Get Out Of This Place,” “When I Was Young,”
“Monterrey,” and Sky Pilot.”
After
recording several excellent albums, starting with their fine debut release, “The
Animals” (1964) the band broke-up in 1969.
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Them was perhaps the best of the British
blues-rock bands that emerged during the Sixties. The band covered much of the
same blues/R&B terrain as bands such as the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds,
yet they possessed the best white blues shouter of the era, Van Morrison.
Them was formed in Belfast, Ireland, in
1964, and the band quickly gained a reputation for its hard drinking and
brawling as well as music.
The band’s first album, “Here Comes the Night” (1965), was a brilliant debut which combined inspired covers of blues standards
and original material. The title track, “Here Comes the Night,” would become a
hit. “Mystic Eyes” and “Gloria” are also standout tracks. The band’s sophomore album,
“Them Again” (1966), continued in the same rave-up R&B vein with
outstanding covers of “Turn On Your Love Light,” “I Put a Spell on You,” and “I
Got a Woman.”
Van Morrison left the group after Them
Again to pursue a solo career and the band continued without him. Despite the
loss of Morrison, Them produced two more solid albums featuring a new
psychedelic sound, “Now and Them” (1968) and “Time Out! Time in for Them”
(1968). Complete Them (1964-1967)
is a fine compilation of the band’s work
Camel is a progressive rock band from Guildford, England.
The band came together in 1971, and had guitarist Andrew Latimer, bassist Doug
Ferguson, drummer Andy Ward, and keyboardist Peter Bardens as original members.
Their first album, the fine “Camel” was
released in 1973. The debut album was a very solid example of progressive rock
with tightly performed selections relying heavily on keyboards and lengthy
tracks that allowed the musicians space to solo and improvise. “Slow Yourself
Down” and “Mystic Queen” are standout tracks from this one.
Camel’s second album, “Mirage” (1974), proved
to be the band’s masterpiece with inspired arrangements, playing and songs.
“Free Fall,” “Supertwister,” and “Lady Fantasy” are the highlights here. The
album is one of the all-time classics of progressive rock.
Camel’s next two albums, “The Snow Goose”
(1975) and “Moonmadness” (1976) were both stellar efforts, and come close to
reaching the heights achieved on Mirage. The former album is an instrumental
showcase for the more brilliant arrangements and ensemble playing, and is
conceived as a concept album about the life cycle of the snow goose. The latter
album is more keyboard-driven, but is just as memorable. Camel’s outstanding
live album, “A Live Record” (1978), with its spot on live renditions of studio
material amply demonstrated the brilliance of this band’s individual members.
After falling on hard times in the Eighties,
Camel bounced back in the Nineties with several solid albums including, “Harbor
of Tears” and “Rajaz.”
Caravan, from Canterbury, England,
was a progressive rock band that reached the peak of its creative and
commercial success in the late Sixties and early Seventies. The band was one of
the cornerstones of the “Canterbury
scene” of English progressive rock. They produced melodic and generally upbeat
music which displayed great musicianship on songs that revealed a very active
and ribald sense of humor.
On their third album, “The Land of Grey and
Pink” (1971), Caravan made the full transition to progressive rock material.
The album is often cited as their masterpiece, and includes a wide selection of
inspired tracks. In 1973, they produced the last of their classic albums, “For
Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night.”
Led Zeppelin was one of the first hard rock
supergroups, and a band which enjoyed unprecedented popularity in the hard rock
arena. The band came together from the ashes of the last incarnation of the
Yardbirds, which featured the young guitar hero, Jimmy Page. Page teamed up
with bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, but the new band needed a
lead singer to round out its line-up. Terry Reid was considered at first, but
when he proved to be unavailable, Robert Plant was brought in.
The new band was initially called, “The New
Yardbirds,” but changed their name to “Led Zeppelin” as a response to one
observer who predicted their doom by stating, “They’ll go down like a lead
balloon.” Like most other early hard rock bands, Zeppelin had a solid grounding
in the electric blues of Chicago,
especially where Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush and Howlin’ Wolf were concerned.
The band’s debut album, “Led Zeppelin”
(1968), clearly revealed that influence as the band recorded revolutionary
takes on a number of Chess standards such as “You Shook Me,” “I Can't Quit You,”
and “How Many More Times” with over-amplified bass, guitar and drums and the banshee-like
vocals of Robert Plant. The album remains today one of the all-time classics of
hard rock.
Their next effort, the superb “Led Zeppelin
2” (1969), contained fewer covers and moved more toward a mainstream hard rock
sound with classic tracks such as “Heartbreaker,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and
“Ramble On.” Their third release, “Led Zeppelin 3” (1970), was a more eclectic
affair featuring several acoustic performances by Page and the hard-driving,
“Immigrant Song.”
The band’s next release, “Led Zeppelin 4” (1971),
would ultimately become their masterpiece due in large part to the presence of
one of the most popular rock tracks ever, “Stairway to Heaven.” In addition to
this hard rock anthem, there were other gems such as the folk-rock of “The Battle
of Evermore,” featuring a vocal duet between Plant and former Fairport
Convention lead singer, Sandy Denny. This album remains one of the best-selling
and most-praised rock albums in history.
The first Led Zeppelin album to actually
bear a proper title, “Houses of the Holy” (1973), followed next. It was yet
another outstanding offering, containing the standout tracks, “The Song Remains
the Same,” and “Over the Hills and Far Away.” The double album, “Physical
Graffiti,” was next and continued Led Zeppelin’s almost unprecedented run of
fine albums. Another diverse release, the album contained the epic track, “Kashmir.”
The very solid, “Presence,” was released in
1976, followed by the somewhat disappointing, “In Through the Out Door,” in
1979. An excellent live album of material from the Seventies, “How the West was
Won,” would appear out of the blue in 2003.
Black
Sabbath is a seminal band in the history of rock music. The band played a brand
of hard rock that would tragically spawn much of the regrettable heavy
metal/death metal music of recent years. Black Sabbath’s music in their early
years, however, was majestic hard rock rooted in the blues and played with
skill and precision.
The band,
comprised of singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tommy Iommi, bassist Geezer
Butler, and drummer Bill Ward came out of Birmingham,
England, in
1968. The band’s first four albums were outstanding efforts and all remain
classics of the hard rock genre. The band’s eponymous debut, “Black Sabbath”
(1970), was a showcase for the fine guitarist Iommi, and the haunted, intense
vocals of Osbourne. The album is spellbinding from start to finish, especially
on the title track, “Black Sabbath” and “The Wizard.”
The
band’s sophomore release, “Paranoid” (1970), was the equal to the impressive
debut and features some progressive rock influences such as the track,
“Electric Funeral.” The album’s best known track, “Iron Man,” is probably the
weakest track on the album. “Master of Reality” (1971), another classic of the
genre, followed next. It contains the classic marijuana anthem, “Sweet Leaf.”
Sabbath
next released “Volume 4” (1972), an album that is much more experimental and includes
frequent use of synthesizers. The best track here is the ballad, “Changes,”
featuring an unforgettable vocal performance by Osbourne.
Black
Sabbath would release another decent album, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” (1973),
before their descent to heavy metal mediocrity and the eventual departure of
Ozzy Osbourne.
The Rolling Stones are, save the Beatles,
the most famous rock band of all time. The Stones emerged from London around
the same time that the Beatles were breaking out from their hometown,
Liverpool. While the Beatles have long ago parted, The Rolling Stones are still a
functioning rock band, although with its members now in their seventies, the
band is now only occasionally productive.
The Stones current lineup consists of Mick
Jagger on lead vocals; Keith Richards on guitar; Charlie Watts on drums; and
Ron Wood on guitar. All the current members except Wood have been with the band
from the beginning, and the band has seen limited personnel changes despite its
long run of 50 years.
The Stones started out in the early Sixties
as one of the finest white blues bands of the day, led at that time, by the
late blues guitarist, Brian Jones. In the band’s earliest incarnation, they
were a blues and R&B band, and Jones was the driving force and resident
blues expert. The band’s name came from the Muddy Waters song, “Rollin’ Stone.”
The band played their first gig at London’s Marquee Club before landing a
regular gig at the Crawdaddy Club. Former Beatles publicist, Andrew Loog Oldham
became the Stones manager around this time.
Oldham’s first act was to secure a
lucrative recording deal for his new band. Decca Records, which was still
reeling from their failure to sign the Beatles, offered Oldham a sweet deal for
the Stones. Oldham, then began to publicize the Stones as the anti-Beatles, a
band of louts who were the polar opposite of the clean and decent Beatles. In
spring 1963, Decca released the first Stones’ single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s,
“Come On.”
The Stones recorded their debut album, “The
Rolling Stones,” in 1964. The album only contained one song written by Jagger
and Richards, with the rest of the songs being blues cover songs. Oldham
encouraged Jagger and Richards to work on their songwriting, as he believed
that the band would have limited appeal if it continued to just perform songs
by “middle-aged blacks.” Two more albums relying heavily on covers of R&B
and blues, “The Rolling Stones Number 2” and “The Rolling Stones Now,” were
released in 1965. The songwriting team of Jagger and Richards were beginning to
produce results with their first self-written hit, “Heart of Stone,” appearing
in 1964.
The Stones first album with a significant
amount of original material, “Out of Our Heads,” was released in 1965. This
album contained the Stones first big international hit single, “Satisfaction,” and
the single turned the band into bona-fide pop stars. The album contained
several other excellent tracks such as, “Play with Fire” and “The Last Time.”
The Stones would continue to improve on
their next release, “Aftermath” (1966), an album of mostly original songs that
includes the early classic songs, “Mother’s Little Helper,” “Lady Jane,” and
“Under My Thumb.” The latter track riled feminists and helped to solidify the
band’s “bad boy” image.
In early 1967, the band’s next album,
“Between the Buttons,” was released. This album saw the band moving away from
the blues and R&B they had long focused on, and further into the realm of
rock and the psychedelia that was so pervasive at the time. Later in 1967, the
band would dive headlong into psychedelia with “Their Satanic Majesties Request,”
a full-blown psychedelic freak out which was panned by many critics, but is
still an interesting offering with the excellent tracks, “She’s A Rainbow” and
“2000 Light Years from Home.”
Between 1968 and 1972, the band would enjoy
a golden period that would see the band record an outstanding string of albums
which are all now considered among the very best albums of 20th
century popular music.
The first, “Beggar’s Banquet,” appeared in
1968, and featured some of the best rock and blues tracks ever recorded by a
rock band. “Sympathy for the Devil” is the most famous track on the album,
followed closely by ”Street Fighting Man.” The blues chops of the band,
especially in the case of Brian Jones, are on full display on tracks such as
“No Expectations” which features fine slide blues guitar by Jones. “Prodigal
Son” is a fine country blues cover. Brian Jones would die tragically from
drowning in his swimming pool shortly after the release of the album.
In 1969, “Let it Bleed” appeared, and like
its predecessor, it contained excellent tracks of rock and blues. Several of
the band’s most famous songs are found here such as, “You Can’t Always Get What
You Want,” “Gimme Shelter,” and the title track. The cover of Robert Johnson’s
“Love in Vain” is one of the highlights of the band’s recording career.
After a two-year hiatus from the studio,
during which time the excellent live album, “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” (1970)
appeared, another classic album, “Sticky Fingers” (1971), was released. The
album was the hardest rocking Stones album yet, and featured new guitarist,
Mick Taylor, who was brought in to replace the deceased Brian Jones. Taylor’s
presence on the album gave the band a fuller rock sound that was exploited on
the numbers, “Bitch,” “Can’t You Hear Me knocking,” and “Brown Sugar.” A fine
country-rock moment can be heard with “Wild Horses,” a song that Keith Richards
wrote with Gram Parsons of the Flying Burrito Brothers.
In 1972, the comprehensive and outstanding
double album, “Exile on Main Street,” was released, and it is considered by
many as the band’s definitive work. A slew of blues, R&B, and even gospel
tunes populate the album along side rock songs such as the hits, “Happy” and
“Tumbling Dice.”
The Stones’ work started to slide in the mid-Seventies,
with the band recording several albums which were several notches below the
superb work of the past. Keith Richard’s drug use would become an issue,
especially following his arrest at a Toronto hotel. It was not until 1978 that
the band would finally make an album worthy of their reputation. That album was
“Some Girls” (1978), featuring the stellar tracks, “Shattered” and “Beast of
Burdon.”
The band’s work from the Eighties to
present has been spotty, but there have always been fine moments such as the
album releases, “Tattoo You” (1981), “Stripped” (1995), “The Rolling Stones
Rock and Roll Circus” (1996), and “Shine a Light” (2008).
The band is still a touring unit and they
have ventured into new territory, playing concerts in Shanghai, China, in 2009.
