A Subjective Selection Of Great Music From The Seventies…
Was 1978 “The Year Of The Cat”, when – I think – I heard the song of the same name by Al Stewart all the time? Well, the song itself apparently came out in 1977. It was helped on its way to success by none other than Alan Parsons, and was, it seems, part of […]
Tags: Al Stewart, Alan Parsons, Music of the Seventies, On The Border, The Year Of The Cat, Time PassagesWhen I heard the name Alan Parsons mentioned today, in my mind I was in a student flat in about 1977 in Waldegrave Street, Palmerston North, New Zealand, listening to “The Raven” from the album “Tales Of Mystery And Imagination”, the first from The Alan Parsons Project.
The Alan Parsons Project was founded by its namesake Alan Parsons, a young engineer at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, and Eric Woolfson, who wrote most of the songs and sang on many of them. Woolfson died at the beginning of December last year (2009).
Alan Parsons first came to prominence engineering the Beatles album “Abbey Road”, and was also particularly well known for his work on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side Of The Moon”, as well as many works by The Hollies.
He also played a major role in influencing the sound of Al Stewart’s “The Year Of The Cat” and “Time Passages”, which he also produced.
The Alan Parsons Project was really a fluid group of different musicians around these two main protagonists, and produced studio music in the genre some call progressive rock.
“Tales Of Mystery And Imagination”, released in 1976, was a tribute to horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. Here are two tracks from it:
Tags: (The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether, Abbey Road, Abbey Road Studios, Al Stewart, Alan Parsons, Breakdown, Don't Let It Show, Eric Woolfson, Eye In The Sky, I Robot, I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You, Music of the Seventies, Pink Floyd, Seventies Rock Bands, Some Other Time, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, The Alan Parsons Project, The Beatles, The Dark Side Of The Moon, The Hollies, The Raven, Time, Time Passages, Year Of The CatI could listen to Carlos Santana playing “Samba Pa Ti” for hours, and yet for years I didn’t even know what the song was called – I just knew that I loved it!
Actually I could listen to anyone playing it, as long as they played it well.
My main Seventies memory associated with this song, off the 1970 Santana album “Abraxas”, is the Awapuni Tavern in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
We used to go to all kinds of student functions there, but also just to hear whoever was playing. It was quite a way out of town, so you had to make an effort to go there.
Usually it was worth it…
So here it is, “Samba Pa Ti” by Santana, the original:
Driving down country roads in New Zealand in my late teens, often the melody of the John Denver song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” would come to mind, and I’d find myself singing it as I drove along.
I say late teens because I sold my car to go on my first trip to Europe just before I turned twenty. In fact, I had my 20th birthday on the plane back home a couple of months later.
Because of the time differences and the international dateline, I actually only had about an hour of birthday, at Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii.
Anyway… I used to find the song particularly appropriate when I was driving home from university along State Highway 50, actually a series of practically empty back roads that run the length of Central Hawkes Bay parallel to the main road, State Highway 2.
It follows a range of mountains and crosses numerous rivers…
As you are perhaps aware, John Denver lost his life in a plane crash, flying solo, in 1997. Long before then, this had become one of his signature songs.
Here is a live version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”:
Tags: Annie's Song, Blue Ridge Mountains, calypso, Grandma's Feather Bed, John Denver, Leaving On A Jet Plane, Miss Piggy, Muppets, Music of the Seventies, Rocky Mountain High, Shenandoah River, Sunshine On My Shoulders, Take Me Home Country Roads, Thank God I'm A Country Boy, Toots And The Maytals, West Jamaica, West VirginiaWhen I think of “Rocket Man” from Elton John I think of 1975.
Probably because it reminds me of a guy at (boarding) school I roomed with for part of that year, whose nickname was connected with a slightly adapted version…
The man himself, i.e. Elton John AKA Reginald Dwight, first came to my attention in 1973 with “Crocodile Rock”, and the following year I took in his “Yellow Brick Road” double album quite extensively, I even have the sheet music of the album.
Tags: Crocodile Rock, Elton John, Honky Chateau, Music of the Seventies, Reginald Dwight, Rocket Man, Yellow Brick Road
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