Tag Archives: 1970

444. this time tomorrow

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“I still get into this argument. The Kinks are great, no question, but they’re not Beatles- Stones-Who-Led-Zeppelin great, mainly, I guess, because they never truly cut it as an album band, certainly not that consistently. And yet, their 1970 long-player Lola vs the Powerman + the Money-go-round Part 1 (now there’s a mouthful) is the only place you’re going to find This Time Tomorrow (on original vinyl anyway). Because it never got a single release, never showed up on any Best Ofs. Which means, you do need to own that vinyl, because if you’re anything like me, it will save your life for a week or two in late winter 1996, give glue to a world that is otherwise not holding together.” (Philip Random)

Kinks-1970-TVstudio

457. pali gap

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSJIJjI9cmQ

“On a bad night, with the wrong kind of ears, I suppose Pali Gap sounds like just more Hendrix noodling. The rhythm section locks into a groove, the great man proceeds to wander. But on a good night, with the right kind of lightning tearing up the sky, it’s a secret door to one of the Lord’s own mansions. Or as old friend Chris once put it, ‘With Hendrix sometimes, it’s not the notes he’s playing, it’s what they’re suggesting, except he plays so many f***ing notes, it’s impossible to grasp even a fraction of what he’s suggesting.’ So all the more reason to play Rainbow Bridge one more time (even if it has nothing to do with the movie of the same name).” (Philip Random)

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459. we can work it out

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“In which a still quite young Stevie Wonder takes an entirely optimistic Beatles nugget straight to church and sort of saves us all. I suppose I may have heard it at the time (1970) percolating away in some pop radio background (while riots were no doubt tearing sh** up not so very far away). But it would be the 1990s before it slotted into the regular pop summertime playlist – all goodness and light, with children playing, birds tweeting, only occasional explosions.” (Philip Random)

StevieWonder-1970-live

480. sitting

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“Every generation has its pluses and minuses. Born in 1959 means you pretty much missed the 1960s entirely, except from an outside-looking-in little kid’s perspective. Turn eleven in 1970 and you’ve got the Beatles breaking up, Bob Dylan going into hiding, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin all dead within three months. On the other hand, turn thirteen in 1972 and you had the likes of Cat Stevens riding high not just in charts but also in terms of serious artistic cred. Here was a guy laying it all out for you, direct from his cosmic soul — the nebulous and paradoxical truth about this, that, life in general. All just a maze of doors which opened from the side I was on. I still believe that. I still keep opening doors.” (Philip Random)

CatStevens-1972-London

497. carry on till tomorrow

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“The Badfinger story didn’t end well. But let’s not hang on that. Let’s focus instead on how glad I am that they existed, how superb so much of their music was. And for many, that started with Carry On Till Tomorrow (epic and sad and the definition of Beatlesque) running through the opening credits of The Magic Christian – the one where Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr join forces to prove (over and over) that everyone has their price.” (Philip Random)

Badfinger-MagicCROP

501. 16 tons

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDEWPwtFrXQ

The album title Wereldsuccessen says it all (a Dutch double vinyl compilation that I grabbed one day at a yard sale). Because by 1970, Mr. Tom Jones was an international monster, a force of passion and life that had more or less conquered all comers be they hip or straight, cool or absurd, and all by taking none of it remotely seriously. Except maybe when he took on 16 Tons, the old mining song, his Welsh blood rising, giving voice to who knows how many ghosts.

TomJones-1970-cookingSteak