vinyl-connection

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | THE LIST

Here is the entire 1974 COUNTDOWN, with links to the original posts. Following this are the other 1974 posts including live albums, film soundtracks and jazz. And here is an invitation to add their your own favourite 1974 albums in the Comments… ranked or unranked, two or twenty, curated our plucked out of the ether, whatever tickles your fancy. I’m sure those who have stuck with the 74 FROM ’74…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #5 — #1

It has certainly been a long, strange trip yet here we are near the end of the 74 FROM ’74 album countdown. With a dozen-and-a-half days of 2024 still remaining. What efficiency! Before launching into the final five albums, it is timely to recall that this is neither a ‘Best of’ list, nor a ‘Greatest albums’ list. The number attached to a particular LP has little quantifiable meaning compared to…

[vinyl-connection]

MUSIC VON HARMONIA

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #10 — #6

#10 BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS — NATTY DREAD If, like your correspondent, you have tended to be a bit puzzled by reggae and respectfully bewildered by the deification of Robert Nesta Marley, may I recommend Natty Dread? This is Marley’s first album after parting company with Peter Tosh and you can almost hear him revelling in the freedom to express himself in all aspects of the music. From the…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #15 — #11

#15 LOU REED — ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ANIMAL Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on guitars supercharge this live Lou Reed classic. Drawing heavily on his Velvet Underground period, but in updated arrangements, the song-list is user friendly but never cuddly. The version of “Heroin” is scarifying and “Lady Day” despairing. But at other times the energy fizzes out of the speakers (“White LIght/White Heat”) as…

[vinyl-connection]

BAD GIRLS GOOD TIMES

Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines but widely known as the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer sold over 100 million records worldwide and was responsible for the wearing out more pairs of dancing shoes than any artist in pop history. (Possibly not true, but then again…) Having racked up an astonishing forty-two hit singles on the US Billboard chart, Ms Summer was also a hugely successful album artist and none…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #20 — #16

#20 STEELEYE SPAN — NOW WE ARE SIX This is the LP where the British folk-rockers really emphasised the latter. Now We Are Six rocks! “Thomas the Rhymer” bolts out of the gate at a gallop, and the pace and energy are maintained through the hilarious “Two Magicians” and mythic “Seven Hundred Elves”. Indeed, common wisdom has it that, but for the dreadful “Twinkle Twinkle” (yes, that one) and lame…

[vinyl-connection]

NO TITLE

A buzzing, industrial sound, a bass pulse, somewhere in the distance a noise, a scream. Distorted guitars offer a grinding melody that rolls like a broad dark river cluttered with storm flotsam. The tune evokes “Oh Shenandoah”, a classic American folk song. After a couple of minutes, when the melody is kicked up an octave, it is like a beam of light on a dreary day, a shaft of hope. The bass…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #25 — #21

#25 SANTANA — LOTUS Given that they announced themselves to the world via their performance at Woodstock, it is surprising that this was Santana’s first live album. Recorded during a 1973 tour of Japan and released in May ’74, it is the pinnacle of the band’s jazz-rock phase. Musically, Lotus is a tour-de-force of mind-blowing intensity and passion. Art Direction for the amazing package was by…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #30 — #26

#30 STEELY DAN — PRETZEL LOGIC What is the difference between a VG and an EX Steely Dan album? Countdown To Ecstasy from 1973 came in at #21 on the 73 FROM ’73 COUNTDOWN while Pretzel Logic sits at a more modest (but still creditable) #30. There’s something here about expectations, of course, but that would take an essay to explore. In the meantime, we have Steely Dan’s third album, containing…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | HITS AND HISTORIES

A selection of compilation albums from 1974. * YES — YESTERDAYS Released in late 1974 in the USA and early 1975 in the UK, Yesterdays was the first Yes compilation. As it only covers the first two LPs, the main attractions for Yes fans are the inclusion of their cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America” and “Dear Father”, the b-side of the “Sweet Dreams” single. Talking of covers, the…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #35 — #31

#35 EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER — WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS… Being a fan of keyboard-driven progressive music there was never any doubt about acquiring EL&P’s document of the Brain Salad Surgery tour, released in August 1974. In one sense it is an overblown example of the live record plugging the previous studio album: every song from BSS is here. So it had better deliver something pretty special to…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #40 — #35

#40 ROBIN TROWER — BRIDGE OF SIGHS English guitarist Robin Trower channels the spirit of Jimi Hendrix better than anyone. Never simply in thrall to the Hendrix legend, Trower uses his considerable talents to craft his own psychedelic-infused blues rock, and does it very well. This is his second solo album and a fine power-trio LP it is too, offering a range of moods and tempos. From the…

[vinyl-connection]

ALBUM COVERS | ABACAB

The 1981 Genesis album abacab was released with four variants of the same basic cover design. GYMC – Grey/Yellow/Magenta/Cyan Cover CORG – Cyan/Orange/Red/Green Cover YRGG – Yellow/Red/Grey/Green Cover RBYG – Red/Blue/Yellow/Grey Cover The feature image is the 7″ single of “abacab”. I imagine that only a few slightly unhinged souls find such things entrancing. Nevertheless it can be revealed…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | AT THE MOVIES

There are four movie soundtrack LPs from 1974 in the Vinyl Connection collection. None are essential but each is interesting in its own way. * HARRY NILSSON — SON OF DRACULA The movie poster’s slug line was “The First Rock-and-Roll Dracula movie” and it teamed Harry Nilsson with mate Ringo Starr as a totally believable Merlin. The OST combines Nilsson songs with instrumental pieces by Paul…

[vinyl-connection]

1974 COUNTDOWN | #44 — #41

#44 QUEEN SHEER — HEART ATTACK If Queen II announced their arrival as an exciting rock band, Sheer Heart Attack was the band’s breakthrough. The irresistible single “Killer Queen” introduced the world to the theatrical camp of Freddie Mercury and propelled them up to #2 in the UK charts. There are still little progressive flourishes here and there—a piano break here, an extended Brian May guitar…

[vinyl-connection]

ALBUM COVER SPECIAL: IN THESE SHOES?

One of the prompts during a recent Instagram vinyl ‘challenge’ was In these shoes?, the title of an excellent Kirsty MacColl song. It was a difficult choice for Vinyl Connection, selecting just one cover. So I thought, why not share the other contenders? Please, walk 1.6km in my shoes. * And finally, three that have appeared previously in these pages, two quite recently. * What’s your favourite…