Forgive me for not writing about this album before, or Eric Clapton for that matter. Where do you start with Clapton? I guess right here. Fifty years ago, this delight was delivered to record stores. Remember record stores? This was the third band for Clapton in just a couple of years. I am not sure … More Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
1978. More than 40 years ago, Cat Stevens changed into Yusuf. His last album as Cat Stevens was Back to Earth, a very curious addition to his musical library. It was 30 years before we heard anything musically from Cat Stevens / Yusuf. The world knew of Yusuf from various news reports which were often … More Cat Stevens: Back to Earth
This is not intended as a desert island collection, but if I had this group of albums, I’d be a relatively happy man. These albums struck a chord with me and continued to be go-to albums in the following decades. You’ll note, these are all albums from the 1970s. No Rolling Stones, Who, Yes, Led … More Classic Rock Albums: Here’s 10
How do you pick best drummers? The list could be endless, starting with the first neanderthal beating on a log with a bone. No, he was not part of the British Invasion. There are great jazz and big band drummers, but that is beyond my base of knowledge, so I am going to focus on … More Best Drummers: Here Are a Few
Lake was a German rock band, popular in the late 1970s that had a debut album that sounded a lot like Foreigner and Supertramp. Two very good bands to be compared. I still have my vinyl copy of their debut album purchased in 1977, which I nearly wore it out from repeated playing. Lake continued … More Lake: The Rock Band You Won’t Remember
It is hard for me to think of a more classic rock performer from the early 1970s than Joe Cocker. While he performed right up until his death in 2014, he burst onto the scene in America during the same year as Woodstock, and his growling voice and shaking mannerisms in front of an audience … More Joe Cocker (1969-1970)
There was a three-year interval between Running On Empty and Hold On. In those days, a three-year gap was risky, music styles changed quickly and radio moved on, but Jackson Browne had established himself as an artist who fans would wait for. Running On Empty was one of the biggest albums of the decade, it … More Jackson Browne: Hold On (1980)
“Remember the good old 1980s.” That is the first lyric in “21st Century Man.” Not my most favorite time, certainly not for music. Someone asked me about this album and I had to dig it out of my collection to take a listen. The 1980s sound of ELO (the Electric Light Orchestra for the purists) … More ELO: Time (1981)
Interestingly, the first complete album with David Gilmour as a member was a soundtrack. Syd Barrett was out of the group with Gilmour taking over on guitar and main vocalist. Gilmour had joined the group during recording of A Saucerful of Secrets, released the previous year. Let’s get in our time machine and go back … More Pink Floyd: More (film)
ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra. For me, this was the beginning of the end for ELO. First, leader Jeff Lynne did away from the three string-players as official members of the group. The band was now a four-piece group. The album still had some string arrangements, but sparingly and not by the three string-players. Second, … More ELO: Discovery (1979)
