Rock Birthdays In April

 

This Week In Rock History 29th Mar - 4th April

 

Rock Albums In The Chart 27th Mar - 3 April 1971

   For this weeks look at the album chart we go back to 1971, and I have to say some good albums are in there. 

   I have to start with my favourite rock album 'Deep Purple In Rock' which is showing at number 13 a  rise 16 places. There are showings from Rolling Stones, Elton John, Groundhogs, George Harrison, T Rex and Jimi Hendrix. Jethro Tull shows up with a new entry with their much acclaimed album 'Aqualung'. after an incredible 71 weeks in the chart Led Zep are in there with their imaginatively titled second album 'Led Zeppelin II', (Led Zeppelin III is just leaving the charts down 7 at number 21).

  Prog Rock also holds its head up with offerings from ELP, Yes and Atomic Rooster.

  Have to give a mention to 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' still refusing to leave the charts, now in its 59th week. Not a rock album as such but nevertheless an album that should be in anyone's collection.

Vinyl Track Of The Week

 

  This week Tony Banks (Genesis) celebrates his birthday on 27th March when he will be 71 years young.

  So based on that I think it would be only fitting to have a Genesis track as this weeks 'Vinyl Track Of The Week'. Choosing one song is not easy from one of my favourite bands but I have gone with 'Dancing With The Moonlit Night' from their 1973 album Selling England By The Pound.

Dancing With The Moonlit Knight

This Week In Rock History 22nd - 28th Mar.

 

Rock Albums In The Chart 25th - 31st March 1973

  This weeks chart is from 25th - 31st March 1973 with as usual a bit of a miss mash of albums. We have a couple of big guns in there notably Pink Floyd jumping straight in with The Dark Side of the Moon. Alice Cooper and Deep Purple both showing as well but now on the way down the chart. Other entries are from T Rex, Focus ,Elton John, Slade and Status Quo. Bit of prog shows also shows up with a new entry from Mahavishnu Orchestra.

  Just below the top 20 and now on the way out of  chart  are albums from Rick Wakeman, Rod Stewart, Rory Gallagher and Bowie .

Vinyl Track Of The Week

 

  I make no excuses for this weeks vinyl track, probably my favourite rock track of all. It is Rainbow with 'Stargazer' taken from their 1976 album Rainbow Rising. The track is the first one on side two of the album written by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio with great production from Martin Birch this is a true classic rock track.

Rainbow - Stargazer

This Week In Rock History 15th - 21st March

 

Rock Albums in the Charts 15th - 21st Mar 1974

 

 For this weeks look back at the album chart we go back to Mar 1974 and overall not a bad showing for rock music. There are albums from Paul McCartney and Wings, Elton John, Slade, T-Rex and Free with their 'greatest hits' album The Free Story.

 Over a year after its release Pink Floyds 'Dark Side Of The Moon, still makes an appearance in the chart as does Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' again a year after its first release just showing great albums are never forgotten.

  Deep Purple also make an appearance with Burn, the first release for them with David Coverdale and Glen Hughes taking over the vocals and to be honest not a bad album after the acclaimed MKII Deep Purples releases, another album that still sounds good today.

  Mick Ronson takes a step away from Bowie with his solo release 'Slaughter on Tenth Avenue which was to reach the dizzy heights of number 9.

  Although not maybe main stream rock artists I feel a mention should also be given to Simon & Garfunkel with their 'Greatest Hits'album along with entries from Carly Simon,Joni Mitchell and Steeleye Span.

  Also bubbling beneath the top 20 were albums from Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Queen and Pink Floyd.

Sampler Albums

60's / 70's Sampler Albums

 Years ago listening to new music was not that easy to do. Unlike today where there are hundreds of radio stations , countless digital platforms ,internet and TV to choose from, Radio 1 was basically the only option to hear new music. Apart from Radio 1 you had to make an effort to get a listen to new music spending time with the finger on the radio dial trying to pick up a pirate station. If your taste went beyond what was likely to be in the charts then it really was difficult and you really had to make an effort. You would spend hours in the local record store flicking through album sleeves looking for one that may catch your eye and hoping the music inside might be worth hearing. You would then ask if you could listen to a couple of tracks in the shops listening booth to see if it was worth departing with your money.

  Late 60's early 70's the record labels started to release what were called 'sampler ' albums. These were basically a try before you buy compilations of tracks from artists on their respective labels. These sampler albums were reasonably priced to try and entice you to buy them and hope there were a few artists tracks on that you liked and then went out to spend the bigger bucks on the artists own album. 

  Below are just a few of the more popular 'sampler' albums that were released with a few of the tracks listed that were on that particular album. As you can see the record labels 'big names' were included on the album along ( I presume get the punter interested) with lesser known artists who were hoping to get more fans based on listening to their songs included on the track list. The albums also varied in musical style which I think was to highlight the difference in music genre and artists that particular label consisted of. I have included a few links to some of the lesser known artists and tracks below.

 I can remember owning about five of the albums listed but gave most of them away many years ago for some reason. The only one I still have is  Fill You Head With Rock which to be honest form what I can remember was one of the better ones, the price label is still on it 29s/10d 😏.

 Rock Buster - CBS 1970 Double Album

Its A Beautiful Day - Don and Dewey 

Blood Sweat and Tears - Somethings Going On

Santana - Black Magic Woman

The Byrds - All The Things

Bob Dylan - Days Of 49

Argent - Where Are We Going Wrong

Black Widow - Mary Clarke

Johnny Winter - Guess I'll Go Away

Edgar Winter - Tobacco Road

Fill Your Head With Rock - CBS 1970 Double Album

  Chicago - Listen

  Santana - Saviour

  The Flock - Tired Of Waiting

  Black Widow - Come To The Sabbat

  Argent - Dance In The Smoke

  The Byrds - Gunga Din

  Leonard Cohen - You Know Who I Am

  Janis Joplin - Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)

  Johnny Winter - I Love Everybody

Handle With Care - Probe 1970

  Steppenwolf  - Snow Blind Friend

  Three Dog Night - Rock And Roll Widow

  BB King - Ask Me No Questions

  Three Dog Night - Woman

  Steppenwolf - Screaming Night Hog

  James Gang - Ashes The Rain And I

  James Gang - Funk 49

The Age Of Atlantic - Atlantic 1970

  Delanie and Bonnie - Comin Home

  MC5 - Tonight

  Allman Bros Band - Black Hearted Woman

  Yes - Survivor

  Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

  Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown

  Buffalo Springfield - Broken Arrow

  Iron Butterfly - Termination



All Good Clean Fun United - Artists 1970 Double Album

 

  Eric Burdon and War - Spill The Wine

  Man - Daughter Of The Fireplace

  Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillin  (an excerpt)

  Groundhoggs - Cherry Red 

  Hawkwind - Be Yourself (an excerpt)

  Canned Heat - Thats Alright Mama

  Brinsley Schwartz - Funk Angel

  Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Yukon Railroad

Bumpers - Island 1969 Double Album

  Traffic - Every Mothers Son

  Mott The Hoople - Thunderbuck Ram

  Jethro Tull - Nothing To Say

  King Crimson - Cadence and Cascade

  Free - Oh I Wept

  Fairport Convention - Walk A While

  Cat Stevens - Maybe Your Right

  Spooky Tooth - I Am The Walrus

  Fotheringay - The Sea

Suck It And See - Vertigo 1973 Double Album

  Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave

  Gentle Giant - Boys in the Band

  Kraftwork - Ruckzuck

  Alex Harvey Band - Jungle Jenny

  Status Quo - Don't Waste My Time

  Spencer Davis Group - Catch You On The Rebop

  Manfred Manns Earthband - Buddah

  Rod Stewart - Its All Over Now

  Jim Croce - Roller Derby Queen

  

  
Picnic (A Breath Of Fresh Air) - Harvest 1972 double Album

Deep Purple - Into The Fire

Pink Floyd - Embryo

Pretty Things - The Good Mr Square

Syd Barratt - Terrapin

Edgar Broughton Band - Old Gopher

Roy Harper - Song of the Ages
Barclay James Harvest - Mother Dear

Third Ear Band - Water

Kevin Ayers - Eleanor's Cake Which Ate Her

Nice Enough To Eat - Island 1969

Fairport Convention - Cajun Woman

Mott The Hoople - At The Crossroads

Jethro Tull - We Used To Know

Free - Woman

Traffic - Forty Thousand Headmen

King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man

Spooky Tooth - Better By You,Better Than Me

Nick Drake - Time Has Told Me

Vinyl Track Of The Week

 

 This weeks vinyl track is from the 1985 album 'Black and White' which was the first album release by Terraplane. The track I have chosen is the power ballad 'Talking to Myself which is the 4th track on side one of the album.Thunder only released two albums before disbanding in 1988. In 1989 three members of the band Luke Morley, Danny Bowes and Gary James got together and formed Thunder who are still going strong today. 

 One of Thunders tracks will definitely be appearing as track of the week very soon.I think Danny Bowes has got one of the great rock voices.

Talking to myself

This week In Rock History 8th - 14th March

 

Rock Albums in the Top 20 Mar 7th - 13th 1976

 

This weeks album chart is from March 1976 and a very poor showing from rock artists in this one. There are no less than nine 'greatest hits' albums showing, one of them being from the Eagle. Apart from that there are showings from Bob Dylan, Bad Company with the excellent 'run With The Pack',Mike Oldfield with Tubular Bells. However for me the best one of the bunch would be Genesis with 'A Trick Of The Tail'.

Vinyl Track Of The Week

    As it is Bon Jovi's Birthday this week (2nd Mar) I have chosen Roulette as this weeks vinyl listen. This is the second track on their self titled first album 'Bon Jovi' ,written by Jon Bon Jovi and Ritchie Sambora. For my money it is one of their best tracks and I still like it to this day. I saw them tour a few times in the early days (when they were good and not to commercial) and as I remember only heard them do it live once, this was on (I believe) their first UK tour when they were support for Kiss. I think this first offering from Bon Jovi is still their best album and one of the best ever debut albums.      

Roulette Link

Rock Birthdays in March

 

This week in Rock History 1st - 7th March