1970-1979 WTF - The Hard 'n' Heavy 'n' Loud + Krautrock, Arty, Noisy, Weird, Funky, Punky Shit - Albums Poll! - VOTING THREAD! Closes Mar 8th 11.59 PM UK Time - All ILXORS/LURKERS WELCOME

I might vote for miles davis' big fun just for mclaughlin's turn on "go ahead john"

my corny dilettante false metal soft sad spiritual hat ballot is GO ^_^

you can come campaign for 70s poll stuff here http://plug.dj/ilxors/

thanks for your ballot wins. Its through ok.

59 album ballots in. Doubles not counted. Pretty healthy amount.

imagine how many you'd have if only you asked ppl to vote

It's true I've not been trying hard enough. But I cba.

I already voted, but I've been listened to some nominated albums tonight:
Bloodrock- st is fucking great and the Culpeper's Orchard- st is also pretty nice.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-umk5JNrH2J4/T-Pw01qBjHI/AAAAAAAAuKA/aEQjSIm15b0/s1600/IBrothers.jpg

Anyone seen Seandalai? Not even sure if he will be able to tabulate this thing

http://fastnbulbous.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/family-a-song.jpg

Family - A Song For Me (Reprise, 1970)
During the fertile period of 1968-1970 in the UK, a number of bands navigated the transition from psychedelic rock to prog. Many kept their fingers in a number of other genres, and while the likes of Traffic, Procol Harum, Spooky Tooth, Family, new favorites Stray and even Yes were pretty well known, they don't necessarily get enough credit for making groundbreaking albums during that three year span. Apart from the astounding Stray debut, the heaviest and most experimental of the bunch is Family's A Song For Me. Lead by vocalist Roger Chapman, who boasted a unique, scratchy vibrato, but could also wail as well at Steve Marriott, Family released very strong albums with Music In A Doll's House (1968) and Family Entertainment (1969). In the face of adversity (failed U.S. tour, losing two members and a manager), their third was their best yet. Psychedelic rock, folk, jazz, blues and boogie are all explored, but the most exciting bits of this diverse set are the unusual arrangements in heavy progressive rockers "Drowned In Wine," "Love Is A Sleeper" and especially the 9:20 long title track, a real monster that competes with Stray's "All In Your Mind" and "Suicide" for extended length rockers that keep you enraptured every second. The band continued to evolve on the less consistent Anyway... (1970), Fearless (1971) and another fan favorite, Bandstand (1972). But A Song For Me captures them at their edgy peak.

xp McLaughlin's Devotion is great, though my favorite is the frantic first album by Mahavishnu Orchestra. I hadn't included any jazz fusion, but The Inner Mounting Flame is a monster. Not nominated, but also check out the Coltrane tribute he did with Santana, Love Devotion Surrender (1972).

well yeah, the concept of a "first punk" is stupid but hell was certainly a forebearer of what became an archetype, from style to attitude to music. always felt bad reading bangs' account of him opening for the clash in '77, getting spit on by dudes who were prolly listening to mud or whatever while he was busy inventing their steez for them back in '74.

at one point I had posted on ILM a zip file with the evolution of "love comes in spurts" with versions by neon boys, television, heartbreakers, and the voidoids. should see if I can dig that up.

― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Tuesday, February 26, 2013 10:34 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that would be cool

― Vote in the ILM 70s poll please! (Algerian Goalkeeper), Tuesday, February 26, 2013 11:11 AM (5 days ago)

original files are lost in the archives but all the stuff's on youtube anyway so here are 4 versions tracing the evolution of richard hell's "love comes in spurts". in typical hell fashion, the best version of the song isn't officially available.

neon boys, 1972
slow choogling original sounds so much like the velvet underground it still makes me lawl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JqFEz-_AjE

heartbreakers, 1975
after hell quit television and thunders quit the NY dolls in the same week in '75, they teamed up and recorded my fave version of the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWu_NlU4t3c

rh + the voidoids, 1977
hell finally lands a record deal and his guitarists get their wavo freak on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23oodi_93KQ

heartbreakers - "one track mind", 1977
after hell leaves the heartbreakers, nervy bastard thunders keeps playing "love comes in spurts" but with different words. LAMF is so good I forgive him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wnCidDiqzw

ah shit did not mean to embed

anyway take 10 minutes to wonder at the splendor of richard hell before casting yr ballots thx

voted, bare minimum effort, solid gold choices

Got it, thanks!

remember everybody there is the tracks poll that balls started and the viceroy is helping out with Takin' Care of Business: ILX 70s RAWK TRAX VOTING RULES AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD - VOTING THREAD!- Closes Nov 8th 11.59 PM UK Time - All ILXORS/LURKERS WELCOME

Lets try get to 70 ballots for the 70s poll.

Kraan tracks going down well in plug.dj/ilxors and noticed a few votes for em so if anybody wants more info
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kraan-mn0000102542

will add them to spotify list

Really good and just outside my top 100: Stomu Yamashta, Granicus, Hard Stuff, Blue Phantom, Agitation Free, Masters Apprentices, Erkin Koray, Dust, Debris, Catapilla, Kraan, Le Orme, A.R. & Machines.

from memory i think i made room for that Dust album. it'd be a shame if i cut it.

Ballot it!

Felt bad picking so many already well known albums to be honest but found many hard to overlook. Looking through the nominations list in depth made me think that I've got a lot to benefit from in paying attention to the results and checking out albums I've heard about time and time again but lacked that push to actually go out there and listen to them. I haven't had enough time recently to focus enough on the thread and look into recommendations. I'll make up for that during the results and aftermath hopefully.

Well, I hope lots of people will find lots of new music to enjoy via the results. That is what polls are about for me.

Skot, last night sund4r and I were talking about "musical chops" and weren't really feeling the "american bands lost chops because of punk" narrative (we agreed the UK did fall for that post 76 stuff of manifestos and haircuts were more important than guitar solos and I felt it was more the emergence of Nirvana that did that in the us) but sund4r was also talking about something you said once about how american bands learned their trade in the 60s and early 70s by playing rnb,jazz,blues ,funk covers etc and bands could play a variety of styles. Whilst 80s bands and onwards did not. Could you perhaps expand on your theory here please?

i said it so good the first time though! can't you find that post? but yeah i'd say even into the 80's bands were filled with people who had played for years and played live a lot. which is key. in the 70's a band might get a record deal and everyone in that band had years of experience playing under all kinds of circumstances and in all kinds of situations. tom petty got a record deal with Shelter when he was in his 20's but he had been getting paid for gigs since he had been 14. he played live for years ALL THE TIME. and he didn't record anything other than a 45. now its the reverse. people record tons of material and never play live and they didn't get that kind of foundation. people in punk bands actually come closest to the old days, weirdly enough. tour for years, play a lot, eventually get better at what they do if they are dedicated enough. but even there they are playing mostly simple rock styles for years. a drummer in a 70's hard rock band might have played in 10 previous bands playing soul/r&b/frat rock/jazz/etc before landing a deal. they were pros at a young age.

but a lot of this has to do with gigs drying up. work drying up. studio gigs, live gigs, weddings, parties, all kinds of work. this changes the landscape as much as anything else.

Nope, I didn't know where you posted about it! Dunno what thread it was on.

but thanks for replying!

I know sund4r has thoughts on this and has things to ask you

So you dont think "punk" killed chops then?

even in the 80's the "haircut" new wave bands were filled with pub and bar band vets. dave stewart was an odd new wave fresh face when i first saw a eurythmics video in the 80's, but he had been making rural prog rock years before all that. today he would just be some kid in his room who is still trying to learn how to use a synth. not playing out in bars and frat parties for years beforehand. music is more of an amateur pursuit now in some ways. and more suited for people with the money to mess around at it for no pay. so, its more of an upper/middle class pursuit than it might have been in the past. that's deep theory though, i have no idea if that's true. but its really hard to be poor and learn how to play and make a living at it. it used to be a way out for people.

I dunno Oasis and a bunch of Manchester/liverpool bands managed to do it. Then again mid - late 90s was a strange time in the UK as lots of very ordinary bands could sell a lot of albums and singles and gigs in the UK and be set for life without having to crack the usa.

I'd wager the UK bands who broke the usa in the 70s had to tour like crazy to get a foothold.

But they certainly got great rewards.

Interesting theory. But is it true that fewer bands were gigging in the 80s?

I don't remember if I had any questions about it! I just thought it was an interesting idea. I guess if I had questions, they had to do with whether punk was in fact responsible for any of this at all but you seem to be attributing it to other factors now. (Maybe you did at the time too. It was a while ago.) By the mid-70s, it seems that American AOR bands were already listening to (and probably learning) Zeppelin and Yes instead of all the eclectic things that Zeppelin and Yes listened to. That happened regardless of punk.

seems possible.

I just bought this today. A good number of the bands it covers should show up in the results!

http://static.lulu.com/browse/product_thumbnail.php%3FproductId%3D20512079%26resolution%3D320

Demons, Fairies & Wailing Guitars - The Best 100 Obscure Rock Acts 1968-1976

How obscure are the acts in it?

64 album ballots in, thanks to those who voted since yesterday.

Aguatrubia, Almendra, Amon Duul II, Anonymous, Armageddon (German), Arzachel, Atomic Rooster, The Bachs, Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Bang, Danny Ben Israel, Black Merda, Blue Cheer, Blues Creation, Brainticket, Broselmaschine, Budgie, Buffalo, Bunalim, Burnin Red Ivanhoe, C.A. Quintet, Cactus, Captain Beyond, Cargo, The Churchills/Jericho Jones/Jericho, COB, Comus, Lula Cortes e Ze Ramalho, Cressida, Crucis, Damnation of Adam Blessing, Damon, Darius, De De Lind, Dragonfly, Dust, Far Out, Felt, Flower Travellin' Band, Fraction, Fraser & DeBolt, Freedoms children, Gandalf, Garybaldi, Gila, Gracious, Granicus, The Groundhogs, Group 1850, Hawkwind, Randy Holden, D.R. Hooker, Incredible Hog, It's All Meat, Josefus, Juan De la Cruz Band, Ladies W.C., Leaf Hound, Perry Leopold, Garrett Lund, MC5, Mighty Baby, Modulo 1000, Morgen, Morly Grey, Museo Rosenbach, My Solid Ground, Necronomicon, Nektar, November, Old Man & the Sea, The Open Mind, Orange Wedge, Orang Utan, Pappo's Blues, Pentagram, Linda Perhacs, Phoenix, The Plastic Cloud, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Relatively Clean Rivers, La Revolucion de Emiliano Zapata, Rodriguez, Sir Lord Baltimore, Socrates Drank the Conium, Skip Spence, Steamhammer, Stonehouse, Stone the Crows, Stonewall, Sweet Smoke, T2, Tomorrow, Trees, Twenty Sixty Six & Then, The United States of America, Wishbone Ash, The Wizards from Kansas, Yesterday's Children, Zerfas.

Then there's some entries on albums by bands that went on to be not obscure:
Fleetwood Mac - Then Play On
Free - Tons of Sobs
Grand Funk Railroad - Grand Funk
Scorpions - Lonesome Crow
UFO - Flying

And tons of other lists. Here's one of "Some bands with extensive discography (at least 3 albums) but all you really need is this one amazing album:"

Frijid Pink - Frijid Pink (fuzzed out bluesy hard rock)
Perth Country Conspiracy - Does Not Exist (theatrical folk rock)
Chicken Shack - Imagination Lady (blues rock)
Trapeze - Medusa (hard rock)
Beggar's Opera - Pathfinder (progressive rock)
Lucifer's Friend - Lucifer's Friend (hard rock)
It's a Beautiful Day - It's A Beautiful Day (psychedelia)
Earth & Fire - Earth & Fire (psychedelic progressive rock)
Pescado Rabioso - II (heavy prog)
Audience - House on the Hill (progressive art rock)
Dzyan - electric Silence (krautrock)
Vox Dei - La Biblia (heavy prog)
Meic Stevens - Outlander (folk rock)
Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes - Paix (krautrock-like folk)
Blackfeather - At the Mountains of Madness (heavy prog)
Pop Masina - Kiselina (psychedelic hard rock)
Los Dug Dug's - Smog (heavy prog)
Rita Lee - Hoje e o Primeiro Dia Do Resto De Sua Vida (tropicalia)
The Blue Effect - Meditace (heavy psychedelia)
Alice - Alice (progressive rock)
Spooky Tooth - Spooky Two (soulful blues rock)

haha fleetwood mac were never obscure. They had a #1 in usa and uk when peter green was still the main man

will be balloting in the next day or two...

heh Earth & Fire. Wonder if they wanted to be something else?

btw did you guys know the 1st 2 Earth Wind & Fire albums were actually rock? A lot of bands started out like that. Maybe not heavy rock but still more 'rock' than one would think.
1st EW&F album is really good actually. 2nd is so so.

BTW it's not just a list of course. The entries for each of the hundred bands have plenty of info, along with a band history and summary of key albums, there's often interviews with members. It's 580 pages, and was well worth my ten bucks!

Fleetwood had a U.S. #1 in the 60s? Either way, it's nothing compared to how huge they got with Rumours.

Wow - totally agree with that list - yes, most Lucifer's Friend records post the self-titled are REALLY lacking, but I still have a special place in my heart for 'Banquet' - that's a good 'un ... if ya wanna jazz up the dinner party.

P.S. - you got that author another 10 bux

well last few days for you guys to campaign and try get the last of the voters to fill out their ballot with some of your fave albums. Known or unknown do the campaigning so that people cant use the forgot about them excuse.

Also remember the Spotify playlist http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/1rFbtUwZlcYHBD6gcemMeK

best success of poll so far was alerting sund4r to Heldon/Richard Pinhas: S&D !

http://fastnbulbous.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/heldon-stand.jpg

Heldon - Stand By (Egg/Cuneiform, 1979)
I actually haven't listened to this for many years but just found a used copy at Reckless. Until I re-listen, here's some quotes:

Rateyourmusic - "Proto-Om? Probably. At least the title track is. Absolutely glorious sludgy/stoner-metal monster we have here. The rest is a pretty straight combination of prog rock and Tangerine Dream-style arpeggio-heavy synthscapes. Stand By is definitely the stand-out though. Seriously, glory in musical form."

"As good a rock/electronic fusion as any I've heard to date. Don't be surprised if the title track reminds you of stoner metal."

"A complex and intense form of space-electronic frippian (lark`s/starless/red) prog rock."

"Far and away the best Heldon album, Stand By takes Interface's intoxicating mixture of proto-Industrial, Krautrock, mid-1970s King Crimson and a little bit of Zeuhl and melds all the influences on that album into a singular and unique sound. Synthesisers and guitars blare forth and it's hard to tell which of the two are more aggressive, particularly on the standout title track, a dizzying rapid-fire tour through everything that made the band great. Simply put, this is Richard Pinhas' masterpiece, a seamless fusion of the most violent outgrowths of hard rock and electronic music into a nightmarish, unstoppable killing machine. Handle with care, because this one is explosive."

Amazon customers: "If you've looked at my other reviews of Heldon's CDs, you'll notice that it's too easy to point out the musical references contained in their work. That's certainly the case here, however, it is with Stand By that I realized why Heldon truly stands out as a stalwart of musical experimentalism in the 1970s. Heldon so successfully blends and incorporates the influential, innovative and original music of its time that it single-handedly expresses the musical freedom and boundary-pushing that thrived during this much maligned time. You'll hear elements of "Berlin school" electronics (ala Michael Hoenig and Tangerine Dream), jazz fusion (ala Patrick Moraz during his Yes period), hard rock chord changes straight out of Atomic Rooster and blistering guitar solos that reference everything from Jimi Hendrix to Robert Fripp in his King Crimson days. But you'll also hear something no one else ever gave you; and that is Heldon's own sound. No matter how much, "this part sounds like you-know-who" is going on in your mind, there is also always a part of you saying, "yeah, but it sounds like no one else" at the same time.

And so, Stand By (recorded in 1978) has to be hailed as Heldon's signature work. It contains everything that is good about Heldon, all of its musical references and all of its originality. It is Heldon in its mature glory and no other band I can think of so convincingly toed the line between electronic and progressive rock. Progressive rock drums, bass and guitar blend and merge with bass synthesizer pulses and arpeggios; jazz keyboard solos ride overtop jittery electronic sequences; compositions move from dark moody electronic soundscapes to frantic, pulsing rhythms and then transform into improvisational jams or spacey laid-back passages embellished with slithering, smoking guitar solos. If Un Reve Sans Consequence is Heldon at its most experimental and aggressively original, this is Heldon at their most focused and purely stated.

Stand By is outstanding document of all that happened in the 1970s. It is compelling and oh, so satisfying. This is Heldon at its very best and you owe it to yourself to hear it."

"This album is entirely without peer. "Bolero" is hands-down one of the two or three best pieces of electronic music ever released. Heldon is the most underrated pioneer band of all time; it's a travesty that tinky-tinky noodlers like Kraftwerk are universally known while Heldon languishes in obscurity. "Interface" and "Stand By," the last two releases under the name Heldon (Richard Pinhas' solo releases are only non-Heldon in name) are stunningly, boldly, unapologetically and aggressively *electronic music*; not ordinary music with obtrusively analog waveforms, but genuine explorations of a new and powerful medium. "Stand By" sounds no more dated than Bach. While other synth acts were doing gee-whiz material and even ELP would use sounds that sounded merely weird, Heldon was composing within the new potentials.

Play this! Listen! If you're not moved and stunned you should stick to mainstream music, which this emphatically is not."