Tag Archives: 1969

810. hey baby (the new rising sun)

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“The rumour I heard when I was maybe fifteen was that Jimi Hendrix was assassinated because of the movie Rainbow Bridge, the song Hey Baby in particular. Because it revealed that he was in fact an alien intelligence connecting with humanity via invisible currents of feedback, black magic and music, attempting to steer us all in the direction of the New Rising Sun. So Richard Nixon (no friend of outer space) issued an executive order to the CIA. Stop this entity, and with extreme prejudice. Use your best agents. Make it look like a typical rock star overdose.  And while you’re at it, get Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison as well.” (Philip Random)

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847. love in vain

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By 1969, the Rolling Stones were all messed up on heroin, cocaine, super stardom, yet still somehow capable of being true to an original Robert Johnson blues. It’s possible Satan was involved.

rollingstones-1969

862. Key

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“In which Canada’s The Guess Who, on the verge of genuine BIGness (they’d be outselling the Beatles in 1970), smell the wheat and get cosmic, reference the Bible and otherwise lay down the elusive truth for all god’s children. Seriously, note the title. It’s not The Key, but simply, significantly, psychedelically KEY.” (Philip Random)

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868. hey bulldog

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Even at their least essential, the Beatles couldn’t help being a great f***ing rock and roll band, particularly if John Lennon was unleashing his inner bulldog. Originally found on the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine.

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889. Odessa (city on the Black Sea)

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In which the Bee Gees take a grand and ambitious swing for the heart of all things (or wherever), it being the thing to do in 1969. The big double album is called Odessa, and though all the songs may not be conceptually linked, it does have a nifty plush red velvet fold out sleeve. And the title track is definitely an epic, like something from a lost century where vicars still figure in love triangles and heroes get marooned on icebergs, and great choirs and orchestras rise in yearning and empathy.

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898. si tu dois partir

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Wherein English folk outfit Fairport Convention take a Bob Dylan ditty, flip it into French and score a minor hit. And why not? It’s got a got a good groove and there’s no arguing with Sandy Denny‘s voice, whatever language she’s singing. From an album called Unhalfbricking that, for all its good time vibes, marked a tragic moment for the band as drummer Martin Lamble and friend Jeannie Franklyn were killed in a car accident barely two months before its release. They would carry on.

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