That Year in Music III… 1985

 

Welcome to 1985!

1985 is considered by many to be one of the best if not the best year in music. The 80’s itself is a decade remembered, reminisced and talked about by music lovers and not a day goes by when someone, somewhere doesn’t hark back to the good ole 80’s. Musicians love it, budding musicians learn and play that stuff all the time and its popularity still ranks really high with listeners judging from all the playlists devoted to the 80’s on every streaming service and greatest hits package.

And why not? Considering the sheer repertoire of music that came out that year. Pop, rock, metal, LIVE, fusion, progressive rock, jazz, funk, it was all happening.

The genesis of the sound that came out of the airwaves though goes back to 1978. In the rock world the old blues and rock bands were beginning to get a makeover as ace axmen like Eddie Van Halen and Mark Knopfler burst on the scene. Van Halen changed guitar players’ lives forever just like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton started to do in the late 60’s.

His heavy two handed techniques, lightning speed, tapping and just that wall of sound screeching, screaming launched a million shredders when they launched their self titled debut album Van Halen. In sharp contrast was the fresh, unmistakable and uniquely clean sounds of Mark Knopfler as his band Dire Straits became a phenomenon with the release of their debut album which oddly enough was self titled as well. Both bands represented contrasting styles with Van Halen playing flashy and loud and amplifying their sound to a new metal wave while Dire Straits had a brand new sound with Dylanesque drawl of Knpfler and a unique guitar tone and playing style in that he fingerpicked and didnt use a plectrum even for all those fast runs and passages.

Meanwhile the Bee Gees were burning up the charts with their movie soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever and Chic the funk band had also come out with a sound that became very popular in the discotheques creating a whole new era of dance and pop music. The Police were out with their album as well with a mix of reggae and rock fusion. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen released the classic Darkness on the edge of town album. All in all 1978 was laying the foundations of the next decade in music.

The early 80’s saw the NWOBHM movement begin (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) with bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard who went on to consolidate their position as premier metal bands with a heavy pulsating sound, head banging mania and well produced and well crafted material. David Bowie, Elton John, Hall and Oats and Simple Minds were hitting their notes in the pop world, Ozzy Osbourne went solo and unleashed Guitar God Randy Rhoads to the world and radio still played rock with bands like REO Speedwagon, Tom Petty, Queen and The Rolling Stones ruling the airwaves besides of course a certain Michael Jackson who released the largest selling album of all time Thriller in 1982.

By 1983-84, Britain’s Iron Maiden had released Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind and Powerslave with Bruce Dickinson and were an arena rock band playing stadiums throughout the world. Scorpions from Germany had Animal Magnetism, Love Drive, the killer Blackout and Love at first sting albums out by ’84 as well with guitar player Mathias Jabs after Uli Jon Roth’s departure. Van Halen had one of their biggest albums 1984 out and Their charismatic front man David Lee Roth was about to leave the band paving the way for Sammy Hagar in 1986 which would give them their first number one album. Oddly enough if it wasn’t for Kiss bassist Gene Simmons who heard Van Halen back in 1976 playing at a local watering hole and agreed to fund their demo. Management companies believed they had no chance of making it. God knows what they’re doing now considering they went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world.

Dire Straits had also released four albums by then and were about to have their number one album out in 1985.

Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA

The year saw Bruce Springsteen come out with his biggest release Born in The USA. Just the cover of his back with a white T and jeans and a baseball cap hanging carelessly out of the hip pocket against the American Flag was enough for people to pick up the album and with cuts like Born in the USA, Dancing in the Dark, Darlington County, I’m going down, No Surrender etc. had his signature raspy vocals sounding better than ever and most of the songs were up tempo and meant to be played loud and lent themselves really well to a LIVE setting which helped sell out his stadium concerts across the world and cement his place in rock history as The Boss. Incidentally it was the best selling album of 1985 selling over 30 million copies.

Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms

While Born in the USA did pay homage the soldier, Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms album was another look at the futility of war. The album went to number one and represented a more laid back singing style, lots of instrumentation with the addition of keyboards, synthesizers, slide guitar and the sax and they became more than a four piece guitar toting rock n roll band. It won them two Grammy awards as well. Recording in a small studio in Montseratt had its challenges and they used innovative mic techniques to capture the instruments which involved a lot of trial and error and it was during one of those sessions when the unusual mic placement on Knopfler’s amplifier including one that was facing the ground captured the signature sound of the Money for Nothing riff we know so well today.

The album had the up- tempo Walk of Life as well which soon became a perennial crowd favourite as well as did So Far Away. Most of the album though had softer passages and a touch of sadness in some tunes but for a darker album was surprisingly hugely successful.

Madonna: Like a Virgin

Although released in late 1984, the album made the charts in Feb 1985 making here a household name. Her tours were extravagant and over the top and did really well. While metal and rock were ruling the roost, Madonna proved a kid could come out of nowhere and rule the pop world. The album boosted the pop scene and the likes of Cyndy Lauper, Culture Club, Wham, Tears for Fears, Whitney Houston all had massive pop hits in what was the golden period of rock at the time.

Whitney Houston: Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston burst on to the scene in 1985 with here self titled debut album. her single from the album Saving all my love for you was a smash hit and the album topped the Billboard charts for 14 weeks. Later on she went on to have seven consecutive number one songs on the charts including two number one albums on Billboard. She had a glittering career through to the millennium until she tragically died in 2012.

To add to all those albums and hits from so many genres, 1985 saw a lot of music festivals and LIVE Concerts that brought in record crowds. The first edition of Rock in Rio tool place in Brazil bring 1.5 million fans featuring Queen, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, George Benson, Rod Stewart amongst others. Whitesnake incidentally were a last minute replacement for Def Leppard who were going through a lot of problems including drummer Rick Allen’s accident that cost him his arm.

Iron Maiden released their LIVE Album and Concert Film LIVE After Death featuring the band in full flight four nights in a row at the Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles playing songs from their catalogue of albums from theor debut Iron maiden to their latest release in ’84 Powerslave.

Scorpions also released their most definitive LIVE Album and Concert Film World Wide LIVE featuring concert footage from their world tour. The album is a must have for all Scorpions and metal fans.

USA for Africa the coming together US superstars to record We are the World to raise funds for the famine victims in Ethiopia. Featuring some of the biggest artists of the time, the song was a smash hit and helped raise awareness and funds as well as led to the concert of all concerts LIVE AID held simultaneously at Wembley, London and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia with 150 nations and almost 2 billion people watching the event LIVE. About 150 million pounds were raised from the concerts and phone ins.

All told the 80’s spawned the greatest rock and pop acts with bands like U2, Metallica, Van Halen II and Guns n Roses to follow and continue to enthrall audiences and music lovers throughout the world. However at the end of the 80’s things were beginning to change, the hip hop/rap movement was taking shape, punk was back and mainstream rock and metal went through a tailspin while bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam and many others gave the changing world a new sound and sowed the seeds of a new rebellion… The way music was going to be consumed was also going to change forever… Bob Dylan’s immortal words ‘Times they are a changing’ never rang truer.

That Year in Music II… 1972

That year in Music I; 1969

The Best Albums I- Debut

The Best Albums II- LIVE

 

 

That Year in Music II… 1972

1972

Before we trudge into 1972, there were the intervening years of ’69-’71. For those just joining us my first piece in this series titled ‘That year in Music 1969 ‘That year in Music I… 1969  begins in 1967 and explores the music world from the standpoint of The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band… The world in 1970 was trying to get its head around the fact that the Fab Four were splitting up, that The Beatles’ album Let it Be which came out that very year would actually be their last marking the end of an era. There is no band that has influenced and still continues to influence generations of musicians and music listeners as much as those four lads from Liverpool.

Simon and Garfunkel released Bridge over Troubled Waters that same year (1970) and Creedence Clearwater Revival came out with Cosmos Factory ( They disbanded in 1972 though). Eric Clapton went solo and The Doors blasted their way through with the seminal Morrison Hotel even as Led Zeppelin turned on the acoustic vibe and released the phenomenal Led Zeppelin III with an advance order of over a million copies and Wishbone Ash released their self titled debut album as well. Another debut album to release that year was from Heavy Metal giants and pioneers Black Sabbath who actually released two albums Black Sabbath and Paranoid that year Pink Floyd were floating about somewhere too with Atomic Heart Mother as were the Allman Brothers and Supertramp. Jethro Tull’s Benefit came out that year too and the group became an arena band.

The sound had started to get heavier and while Led Zeppelin and The Who were holding down the fort as far as riffs and decibels go, the darker heavier songs and riffs of Black Sabbath were beginning to gain ground and Deep Purple began to cement their place in rock history and along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath laid the foundation of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

Deep Purple was to have a huge influence on the rock world. Their earlier releases Shades of Deep Purple and The Book of Talisyn and Deep Purple had come out by 1970 and then as they say when the time is right, things just fall into place enabling one to achieve the extraordinary, so it was that circumstances so came about leading to the formation of the band’s Mark II line-up with the advent of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover joining Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore in 1969.

Between 1970 and 1972 Deep Purple released the three most era and genre-defining albums in rock history, In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971) and the mother of all albums Machine Head in (1972).

The first distinct sound that one associates with Deep Purple is the Hammond Organ pounded by Jon Lord. It’s a sound that just fills the air and grabs the attention of the listener. The rhythm section in Roger Glover’s driving bass lines and Ian Paice’s frenetic drumming holding down the song at mind boggling tempos with Richie Blackmore’s speed guitar playing and fast arpeggio lines and heavy riffs and Ian Gillian’s screaming vocals were the stuff and dreams and fodder that created the template for all the heavy metal bands to follow…

While Zeppelin and The Who and Sabbath were loud and proud alright, no one had heard a sound like this coming from a keyboard and guitar band. Though Robert Plant’s vocals with Led Zeppelin soared, Ian Gillian’s screaming vocal lines when in full flight were just on another planet and all the great vocalists to follow like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Geoff Tate from Queensryche and so many others would have Ian Gillian’s air raid siren template on songs like Child in Time and Highway Star in mind when recording and performing in the years to come…

In the 1970 ‘In Rock’ album the opening bars of Speed King just hit you like a sledgehammer and the speed of the song sets you up for what is to follow. Deep Purple are a band that can play tight, play hard and play fast all at once and back in the ’70’s they were literally speedkings!!!. Black Night, Child in Time and Into the Fire all became Purple standards and the album hit the top 10 remaining in the charts for over a year.

They released Fireball in 1971 with the track Strange kind of Woman charting in the UK but their greatest album was yet to come.

1972 saw the release of one of the most definitive rock albums of all time Deep Purple’s Machine Head. Recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, it was the genesis of the most explosive rock anthem in music history, Smoke on the Water. The story of Smoke on the water is common knowledge written when they went to see a Frank Zappa concert in Montreux where the venue caught fire following the action of a fan who fired a flare gun to the roof. The sight of the flames and smoke on the lake and the mountains in the backdrop inspired them to come up with Smoke on the Water.

Smoke on the water… The riff that launched a million guitar players…There’s no guitar player in the world who has not at some point or another learned that riff. Apparently the guitar solo was recorded while the Police were banging on the door because of the noise (they weren’t in a sound proof recording studio after all)

The band was due to record their album at the very Casino that had now burned down and had to change their plans. After hobbling about looking for the ideal venue they finally settled on the Grand Hotel with the Rolling Stones Mobile Recording Studio at their beck and call. The recording itself was an engineering marvel with cables set up all over the corridors of the hotel, closed circuit TV’s to monitor the recordings, the logistical manoeuvring to get to the recording mobile unit via a balcony and a fire escape through the snow involved going through about 29 doors going through bedrooms and bathrooms because the corridors and hallways were blocked by the insulation.

Insulation was created in the corridors with a carpenter constructing a temporary wall between the foyer and the corridor. Mattresses placed in the hallways created further insulation. The drums and guitars were set up in the hall and corridor. The pressure seemed to help the creative process writing and recording took about two weeks.

The album opener Highway Star with its patent scream and furious pace sets the tone for what is to come. The keyboard and guitar tradeoff solos and pounding rhythm section make for dramatic interludes and high-octane pulsating rock. The track itself was written and played on the Fireball Tour before it was recorded and included in this album.

Space Truckin the other gold standard rocker had throbbing melodic bass lines complimenting the vocals with the heavy riffing going on in the background.

When a blind man cries was a bluesy ballad and Lazy and Never Before explored blues rock grinding away as did Maybe I’m a Leo except their vocal lines weren’t strictly in the blues mode. Pictures of Home, seems like the template that Blackmore would go on to create with his band Rainbow along with the great Ronnie James Dio.

All told Machine Head was their most successful album and catapulted them to the top of the heap. It was their number one album and chartbuster and Smoke on the Water has received over 3million hours of radio airplay accounting for over 44 years if played back to back!

The band then went on to record and release one of the most successful LIVE albums that year ‘Made in Japan.’ The album featured seven songs with long musical interludes, jams and intricate passages and has since been reissued multiple times in various formats and box sets.

Uriah Heep, another Deep Purple-esque band with a heavy organ sound and hard rockin’ riffs released their most successful album in ’72 as well called Demon and Wizards. Formed in 1967, the band released their first album ‘ Very ‘Eavy…’Very ‘Umble in 1970, which included their rock standard ‘Gypsy.’ Incidentally Deep Purple was rehearsing in the room next door when they were writing this song. By 1971 they had their signature hit July Morning from the Look at Yourself album and went into the studios to record Demons and Wizards. Tracks like The Wizard with its ‘acoustic metal’ format and Circle of hands and Traveller in Time gave rise to the term gothic metal as well or ‘gothic metal’ They were also great singers and their backing vocals were the stuff of legend.

Jethro Tull’s massive Aqualung album in 1971 paved the way for the release of one of the ‘concept albums’ of all time called ‘Thick as a Brick’ and the invention of a new genre ‘progressive rock’ influencing bands like Rush, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree and countless others.

 

Thick as a Brick released in 1972. The album was basically just one song with a lot of musical parts and sections that interconnected and weaved in and out with complex arrangements pieced together to make one continuous whole. The story about a poem written by a fictional 8 year old genius poet went on to get a life of its own and the band released the follow up Thick as a Brick II in 2012.

Led Zeppelin became the biggest band in the world in the 70’s and cemented their place in rock history with the release of Led Zeppelin IV in 1971containing one of the most played songs in the world Stairway to Heaven. Their subsequent album House of the Holy in 1973 went to number 1.

Another band that was to influence generations of musicians and bands with its pioneering twin guitar harmonies was Wishbone Ash who released their monster album Argus in 1972 as well. Argus was their third album and though the band was rooted in the blues, their easy vocal style, twin guitar harmonies and rock sound and The Warrior, Throw down the Sword, Sometime World, The King will come are still part of their LIVE set almost 45 years later.

Incidentally Wishbone Ash were recommended by none other than the great Richie Blackmore of well you guessed it, Deep Purple after he had jammed with guitar player Andy Powell during a sound check. Wishbone Ash’s twin guitar sound was the bedrock of classic rock and heavy metal bands to follow like Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

One of the best LIVE albums of all time also came out that year, the mighty Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night recorded LIVE at the Greek Theater, Los Angeles. Blessed with one of the most unique voices in the world, straddling his acoustic guitar and belting out all his hits, the album remains a reference point of how well crafted simple tunes can touch generations. It is the ‘must have’ album for all Neil Diamond fans.

Bread released their fourth album in 1972 titled Babe I’m a want you. This was their most successful album ever spawning a skew of radio hits including the ‘Babe I’m a want you’, ‘Everything I own’ and the haunting ‘Diary.’ A top ten record the world over the album provided the staples for any Bread set LIVE or in compilations.

Yes, the jazz-progressive rock band from England released Close to the Edge, the follow up to their 1971 album Fragile and was a huge hit reaching platinum status. Critics have compared it to The Beatles’ Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band record in terms of ideas, writing and musical expression and the record is listed amongst the best progressive rock albums of all time. Three songs with sub parts and sections is the template that bands like Rush and Dream Theater who came later would use to such dramatic effect.

With the solid foundation that these bands, artists and albums laid, the 70’s was to become one of the most exciting eras in music and here’s a snapshot of the bands an albums that came out later.

Pink Floyd released Dark side of the moon, the mother of all albums in 1973 that went on to stay on the album charts for a straight 749 weeks. Using complex recording techniques, instrumentation, thematic content, this album is iconic even to this day. They released Wish you were here and Animals in 1975 and their ambitious concept double album The Wall in 1978 that went on to top global charts across the world, became a movie starring Bob Gedolf singer of Boomtown Rats and organizer of LIVE Aid. The whole album was staged with an All Star Band when they broke down the Berlin Wall in 1990. It also premiered as an opera in 2017 and like most of the work of Floyd and Doors and others of their ilk a ‘trippy’ album, to be heard start to finish, the actual way to hear any album, an experience lost to the ‘generation of thumbs’ as it were all searching for a quick fix as they dart about their lives negotiating all the options and screens they have drawing them into little rabbit holes that don’t go deep enough and hence the Wonderland remains elusive…

Rush, arguably, progressive rock’s finest released their debut album in 1974 and had released 6 albums by 1978 including the monumental concept album 2112 in 1976.

Thin Lizzy started to develop their sound post their 1972 release Shades of Blue Orphange and it was only after Eric Bell’s departure in 1973 and the entry of guitarists Gary Moore and later Brian Robertson who along with Scott Graham, drummer Brian Downey and Bassist vocalist Phil Lynott that the band came into their own and by the mid and late 70’s were headlining concerts across the world. Their 1978 LIVE release Live and Dangerous is a classic LIVE album.

Not many know Scorpions, the heavy metal band from Hannover Germany, formed in 1965 and released their debut album Lonesome Crow in 1972! With Uli Jon Roth joining the line up in 1973, the band went to record their early classic albums Fly to the rainbow, In Trance and the hugely successful Virgin Killers and the songs from these albums formed the bedrock of their set for their LIVE double album Tokyo Tapes released in 1978.

1978 of course brings us to the big daddy of all time and the entry of a certain Mr Edward Van Halen who would turn the guitar players’ world on its head and lay down a whole new sound going into the 80’s…

See you in 1985

* all views and musical preferences are personal

Albums featured/mentioned:-

Deep Purple:- In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, Made in Japan

Led Zeppelin:- Led Zeppelin III

Black Sabbath:- Black Sabbath, Paranoid

Jethro Tull:- Aqualung, Thick as a Brick

Pink Floyd:- Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You were Here, The Wall

Uriah Heep:- Very Heavy, Very Umble, Look at Yourself, Demons and Wizards

Yes:- Close to the Edge, Fragile

Wishbone Ash:- Argus

Neil Diamond:- Hot August Night

Bread:- Babe I’m a Want you

Thin Lizzy:- Shades of a Blue Orphange, Live and Dangerous

Scorpions:- Lonesome Crow, Fly to the Rainbow, In Trance, Virgin Killer, Tokyo Tapes

Simon and Garfunkel:- Bridge over Troubled Water

CCR:- Cosmos Factory

The Doors:- Morrison Hotel

That year in Music I… 1969

That Year in Music III… 1985

The Best Albums I- Debut

The Best Albums II- LIVE

 

 

That year in Music I; 1969

Should that read 1967 perhaps? I’ve always wondered as I trudged through the liner notes of the CD’s while spinning that seminal album ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by arguably the greatest band in the world The Beatles, what were the other great cats doing when these guys were writing and recording what would become one of the greatest albums of all time and create a template for what would become the ‘concept’ album and the progressive rock and psychedelic music movement that came about in the 70’s and continues to this day.

Imagine if you will, the fab four sitting about at the Abbey Road studios with Producer extraordinaire George Martin ( Sir) and engineer Geoff Emerick trying to put all those far out ideas on tape coming on the back of what I think were the seeds of this sound, the album Revolver in 1966. What must’ve been going through their minds when they were coming up with all those ideas? The conversations, the debates and discussions and the vibe of just creating and playing all that stuff!!!

The liner notes say it took about 700 hours over 129 days to record the album and put all those ideas in some coherent form. Since they had decided to give up touring they weren’t faced with the additional burden of trying to capture the sound LIVE in concert and hence were liberated and free to experiment and experiment they did.

While recording began in 1966, three tracks recorded for the album were left out including Its only a Northern Song and Penny Lane and the seminal Strawberry Fields Forever the latter two featuring on the concept release later that year Magical Mystery Tour

Whether it was mic placement across every instrument down to the bells of the brass instruments, the use of tech gear like compressors and limiters and distortion or using all that tape echo and Leslie speaker circuitry with giant oscillators or chopping pieces of tape and sticking them together the wrong way round, using multi track recording on a four track recorder by ingenious recoding and mixing all back in the day.

But it all started with the writing. Musically it explored rock, pop, circus with classical progressions and instrumentation. The idea of developing a persona in a fictional band gave them a license to pretty much go musically to wherever they wanted to and the direction, process and outcome was limited only by their imagination, ability and technique, something they had loads of in any case.

Whether its the rocker Sergeant Pepper peppered as it were with brass and other instrumentation leading to the bouncy With a Little Help from my friends which Joe Cocker and Jimmy Page gave a whole new life too at Woodstock… The very imaginative and visual lyrics of Lucy in the sky with diamonds and its obvious associations powering through the rest of the album each cut a classic and a trendsetter in its own way exploring fusion, instrumentation, themes, stretching musical ideas culminating in a Day in the Life.

One can’t end a discussion on the album without discussing the album cover. A collage of all the people and the Beatles would have liked to have at a concert morphed into what would become one of the most iconic covers of all time.

No discussion on the Beatles is of course complete without a nod to the other band who came along at around the same time The Rolling Stones who’ve enjoyed an incredible career since the early sixties and are still one of the highest grossing LIVE acts today. More power to them. In 1967 they released Between the Buttons which included the hits Ruby Tuesday and Let’s spend the night together. Beggars Banquet in 1968 featured the classic Jumpin Jack Flash, and Sympathy for the devil. They remain master of the blues based three minute song and have no pretensions of being otherwise. With a cult following and an incredible stage show they are one of the most sought after acts even after more than fifty years of the business.

But what were icons Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd and the rest of them up to while the Beatles were churning out one concept album after another. By 1969 they had Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, The White album and Abbey Road out, each one a classic.

Turns out Pink Floyd were beginning to define this whole new sound that would finally make them one of the biggest bands in the world. Their Piper at the gates of Dawn album followed Sergeant Pepper’s release by a few months in 1967 and the psychedelic magic created by Syd Barret and Richard Wright. Their mix of long improvised tracks and shorter tracks became the mainstay of their albums and sound. While David Gilmour’s entry into the band in 1968 propelled them into the force they would become defining a new guitar tone. Incidentally, the album cover was shot by Vic Singh with a prism lens that his friend Beatle George Harrison gave him. Oh and does’nt the outro of Bike sound like the intro of Time from the album of all time Dark side of the moon for a short bit… They went on to release the acid rock defining genre A Saucerful of Secrets in 1968 (with the line Lucy in the sky featuring in the first cut Let there be more light) and Ummagumma in 1969.

Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix had left The Isley Brothers and Little Richard and moved to England in 1966 forming his legendary trio The Jimi Hendrix Experience and gain the attention of his peers Lennon, McCartney, Jagger, Clapton, Townsend, as the ‘Phenomenon’ Singles Hey Joe, And the Wind Cries Mary were followed by the smashing Are you Experienced. With the monster hit Purple Haze, and tracks like Foxy Lady, and Manic Depression this became one of the strongest debut albums of all time. While Hendrix did pursue the odd psychedlic experience in his lyrics, his blues and rock leanings and his rhythm and lead style of playing using extended chords became the mainstay bread and butter licks and style of all the guitar players that were to come. He released Axis As Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland ( with the Bob Dylan cover All along the watchtower on which according to me he played just about every trick there was to play except perhaps tapping) in 1968. By 1969 Jimi Hendrix was the highest paid artist in the world.

Meanwhile Guitar God Eric Clapton was strutting about playing his thing with Yardbirds and John Mayall and earning himself the reputation of being the most prolific guitar player in the world, joined the power trio Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and Bassist Jack Bruce and released Disraeli Gears featuring the cuts Strange brew, Tales of Brave Ulyssses and Sunshine of your Love in 1967. The album was recorded in five days as opposed to the 129 days The Beatles took that very year. Wheels of Fire in 1968 had the hits Cross roads, Spoonful, Born Under a Bad Sign and White Room which were Cream staples and their final album in 1969 was aptly titled Goodbye. Cream could arguably called the world’s first supergroup as it had three phenomenal talents each unique and equally famous.

The sonic landscape in the late sixties was developing and no band added or influenced future generations of what would become heavy metal musicians than the might Led Zeppelin. The mercurial talents of guitar player Rock God Jimmy Page, the power drumming of John Bonham, John Paul Jones’ running and complimentary bass and keyboard playing and Robert Plant’s soaring vocals all blended into this sound nobody had heard before. Their debut album creatively titled Led Zeppelin was laden with power riffs, had acoustic guitar pieces, blues standards and the head banging power that left you feeling you’d been hit by a sledgehammer. Imagine coming home one day with a new record with an intriguing picture of the Zeppelin space ship on the cover and innocently placing it on the turn table and as you get your coffee or tea or special amber, being jolted out of your seat as the opening bars of Good Times Bad Times grab you and take you down a road you’ve never been before with screaming guitars a furious drummer and a soaring vocal. Even their acoustic songs like Babe I’m gonna leave you and the others that followed in later albums are hard and have balls. The trippy section in Dazed and Confused before the solo is a classic build up and also a nod to the concept albums of the day and we hear it in so many more but none like in Stairway to Heaven which was still years away. They also released their second album Led Zeppelin II that year with cuts like Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, The Lemon Song and Moby Dick influencing generations of music lovers and musicians. You can hear those chops in the work of Van Halen, Steve Vai, Deep Purple and Iron maiden amongst countless more.

They laid the foundation for what would become heavy metal and all the bands that followed and their songs became templates influencing generations of song writers whether it was the ballads with the soft introductions leading to the hard build up and middle eight section and the screaming vocals and guitar solos or the straight up riff based hard hitters, every rock band since then has just followed and improvised along the way. They went on to become of the greatest bands of all time recording nine albums (six of them at number one) over ten odd years selling over 300 million units worldwide.

The Who released their rock opera Tommy in 1969 as well. Tommy was a concept album/movie/theatrical production on a scale never seen in the rock world. The story about a deaf dumb and blind kid took the world by storm…

The other concept and progressive rock album pioneers Jethro Tull were also floating about at the time and released their debut album This Was in 1968 and Stand Up in 1969 as well. Both the albums were predominantly blues based though. Formed in 1967 this power house went through many changes in lineups and musical styles always experimenting, always on the edge but never abandoning their own core style no matter if their albums were pure rock, folk or psychedlic. They had a core sound and Ian Anderson’s superbly crafted songs, flute playing, stage persona and acoustic guitar work were the mainstay of the band.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Creedence Clearwater Revival were making clearwater music as Lennon put it releasing their self titled debut album in 1968 and three albums in 1969 namely Bayou Country, Green River and Willie and The Poorboys.

The prolific Doors released their debut album The Doors in 1967 and unleashed the sounds of four of the trippiest musicians the world had ever seen. Robby Krieger on guitar, John Densmore keeping the backbeat Ray Manzarek playing organ and doubling bass parts on the keys and the ethereal Jim Morrison who would go on to carve out a unique sound and a place in rock n roll history.   Keeping the psychedelic theme of the times intact they had Morrison’s sublime poetry to set music too and trip out on with long musical interludes that would be a big part of their concerts. The album featured Break on through, the seven minute Light my fire, and The End.

Their second album Strange Days released later that year. They had another two releases towards the end of the decade Waiting for the sun in 1968 and The Soft Parade in 1969.

Jefferson Airplane, the pioneers of psychedelic rock released Surrealistic Pillow in 1967 with the title track, White rabbit and Somebody to love. After Bathing at Baxter’s released in 1967 as well. Crown of Creation in 1968 with the subliminal Lather. Their music floated into spaces and realms that paved the way for the likes of The Doors and Pink Floyd Rush and all the and others who followed.

Crosby Stills and Nash released their debut album in 1969. The folk sound, acoustic arangements, vocal harmonies and lyrical content was a change from the heavier and psychedelic stuff coming out at the time and earned them a spot in Woodstock that mother of festivals playing alongside giants The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and CCR.

Oh another debut album came out that year from the band set to become the giants of the heavy rock scene; Deep Purple but that’s another saga.

There were many albums, releases, artists and bands that came along in that era and these are the few I have listed more out personal preference and of course the impact these artists made on musicians and music lovers. 1969 was a landmark year as it closed out the 60’s decade with a wide spectrum of music, sounds, genres, concept albums, themes a reflection of the socio political scene of the times. It was a landmark year for this and a lot more…

See you in 1972…

• All views and musical preferences listed are personal
• Albums featured/mentioned:-
• The Beatles:-Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, The White Album, Abbey Road
• The Rolling Stones:- Between the Buttons, Beggars Banquet
• Pink Floyd:- Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets, Ummagumma
• Jimi Hendrix:- Are You Experienced, Axis as Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland
• Cream:- Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire, Goodbye
• Led Zeppelin:- Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin II 
• The Who:- Tommy
• Jethro Tull:- This Was, Stand Up
• CCR:- Bayou Country,Green River, Willie and The Poorboys
• The Doors:- The Doors, Strange Days, waiting for the Sun, Soft Parade
• Jefferson Airplane:- Surrealistic Pillow, After Bathing at Baxters, Crown of Creation
• Crosby Stills and Nash:- CSN 

That Year in Music II… 1972

That Year in Music II… 1972

That Year in Music III… 1985

The Best Albums I- Debut

The Best Albums II- LIVE