Asylum Records POLL: the early singer-songwriter folk-rock days

voting Before The Flood

Reflex urge to vote Gene Clark but I don't really know that many of these, so this could be a useful poll for me.

Great idea. I've heard so few of these I hesitate to cast a vote, but Late for the Sky was a high-school favourite, and I still love the title song, so that. Assume one of the Joni Mitchell albums will win.

i think it's either
Asylum 7E/EQ 1001 - Court And Spark - Joni Mitchell [1974]
or
SD 5050 - Judee Sill - Judee Sill [1972]
or
SD 5057 - For The Roses - Joni Mitchell [1972]
or
SD 5061 - Closing Time - Tom Waits [1973]

for me. really down to Court + Spark or Judee Sill self-titled. all time classic run between 1972 and 1974 tho

http://www.girlslikeusthemusic.com/joni_images/geffen.jpg

is this a safe space to admit that i don't like jackson browne and i wish my boomer parents would stop pushing him on me?

kinda wanted to stop at the point of the elektra merger but too much good stuff right after that so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKmW5igCFpE

(First time I've ever actually heard it--just recalled the lyric from Christgau.)

ah Ned Doheny! unfortunately his Asylum album is not nearly as good as Hard Candy.
great poll idea, i love this label.

I used to own a TON of these (thank you nice WEA promo lady) but sold most of them in a big new-wave induced purge of LA country rock. Tempted to vote "For Everyman," it meant a lot to me at the time, but I've never rebought it and I have rebought "Late For The Sky." So that.

How'd that Traffic album sneak in on the label?

Also, just reminded of this absolutely joyous pop rock single from SHF:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twbEyFNO4dE

It could well be terrible, but I think I'd be most intrigued in hearing the Bob Neuwirth album.

was releasing 2 chris jagger records a ploy to lure mick to asylum??

No--that was Linda Ronstadt.

http://www.torrentsland.com/upload/preview/images/music/7/2/3/32b92386362783445abd5f9b63074671.jpg

nice track Dan, never heard that before.

David Crosby:

When we got together for the Byrds reunion, I was definitely throwing my weight around too much, and I'm sure that it pissed everybody off. We made a much better record than we were credited with, but I didn't help. You know, I was sort of, [Goes into blowhard voice] "Well, I'm the guy in the big group and I'll just... we'll do it my way." It was stupid.

Gene Clark:

(The reunion attempt was like) having a fresh wound. You're still too sensitive. It's like having a divorce and then trying to get back together in six months. The underlying hurt and emotional things are still there and still very fresh...We never really got together, the five of us, and seriously did a Byrds reunion. Never happened. Everyone telephoning in their parts. So it didn't have the essence it really needed. It may never happen again.

Chris Hillman:

'See The Sky About To Rain' and 'Full Circle' were probably the best tracks on the record. Gene's stuff was the best. The rest of us? I'll be honest, I contributed my worst material because I was getting ready to do a solo record, 'Slipping Away', and I was saving all my good stuff and contributed this throwaway stuff that was awful... But we didn't have any direction, nobody at the helm.

Roger McGuinn:

David had this incredibly strong pot. Half a joint and you couldn't do anything. We were stoned out of our minds the whole time. I don't remember much about recording.
The outtakes from the reunion album ended up on my first solo album. I don't think there are any other tracks.

Haha, never got round to hearing that album. Funny comments, but I'm not encouraged to investigate.

Hard not to vote for the Joni entries but dude NO OTHER

yeah for me it's no other vs heart food

having to pick between those Jackson Browne albums & For the Roses is practically impossible for me.

I heard Prisoner in Disguise so much growing up that it would be hard not to vote for it. The Eagles records, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wkW1whqr4M

Great poll!! I have most of these records and a few of them are my favorites. really love the Ned Doheny record, maybe more than Hard Candy. David Blue's Stories is my favorite of his, sort of a desolate record among his discography, also where he first stepped out of Dylan's shadow. John David Souther's first, Tom Waits first, I don't know who to vote for!

Just Because I'm Here (Don't Mean I'm Home) is sort of a wasted masterpiece by Bob Neuwirth.

Oh hell, I'm listening to cuts from "For Everyman" now, and that's gotta be my vote. Saw Jackson and Linda Ronstadt (and David Lindley) package tour in '73. Linda signed my hand-screened Linda T-shirt (which I made in high school printing shop!) and I was on top of the world.

good darkhorse for ppl to check out:

Asylum 7E 1016 - No Other - Gene Clark [1974]

Kinda think that's been elevated above dark horse in recent years, but definitely.

Gene Clark stuff on the Byrds reunion album is pretty sweet, actually. Not gonna rep for it as a great album, but it's not bad. Definitely worth $2 used on vinyl.
Those Linda Ronstadt records are gonna be hard to vote against tbh

just realize i've never heard planet waves

it's great! maybe not quite as great as you want the only full Dylan/Band studio album to be, but a fun listen. A couple of classics.

was listening to it earlier, it's an odd album. not bad per se, and not as great as you would hope, just some strange choices.

For The Roses and Court & Spark are objectively (arguably) the best albums here but I'll probably vote for Planet Waves or No Other

Ned Doheny is a good sleeper, totally in singer/songwriter character. Jo Jo Gunne is good too though its rockin sound is not in character with the label's image.

I love that Traffic album too, it's a bit jazzy and so laid back

Chris Jagger made TWO albums - wow

thinking i might just queue all of these up

I hope this does better than the Asylum artist poll I did 5 years ago. (Only 14 people voted.) I'm voting Doheny here, if only to keep him from getting shut out.

just took me a few minutes. not all of them are there...
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/7HbNhWo0UC45g8EbGsxCDB

voted miles of aisles, cuz i was just listening to that last week.

gotta go with the album known colloquially as Saturate Before Using

anyone gonna rep for Orleans? How about that melodica solo on Dance With Me?

I love that Traffic album too, it's a bit jazzy and so laid back

Agreed, though this one's pretty grim. (When I first heard Kid A, I wondered if Radiohead were familiar with it.)

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

jeez, i have never owned or loved a single one of these albums.

oops, except planet waves. i did own that one for a while (a gift, iirc). i don't think i listened to it more than once or twice. remember nothing about it.

do like some of the later tom waits & earlier traffic, know the eagles & jackson browne by their hits.

wow really?

yeah, though i'm not proud of the fact. earthy & mellow 70s shit has never really caught my imagination. love pop, heavy metal, funk, disco, punk and psychedelic whatever from these years, including a good deal of folk & blues, but not the stuff asylum was peddling, apparently. not sure why...

No Other

Judee Sill, you old coots!

I've been thinking about this thread and as much as I love No Other, Judee Sill, David Blue, I think I play JD Souther's first record the most of these. It's by no means the best of this bunch, maybe because I heard the Eagles so much growing up and it reminds me of a better version of what the eagles were. I still don't know what to vote for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF4P5SM_m1s

Never heard of it--looks excellent.

Caught between No Other and the Judee Sill albums.But I'll go for the Spotify playlist later and see if something changes my mind....

Of the half of these I've heard:

- The two Judee Sill albums are slowly growing on me. Heart Food in my top 5 here.
- I prefer late-70s Jackson Browne to the three albums here, although they're still quite likeable
- Stories - I know only their singles; I've got to imagine if this whole album was that good it, word would be out by now
- Eagles - try to imagine they were an obscure band that you'd never heard on the radio, and hearing their albums for the first time. You might actually like them.
- For The Roses would probably be better reputed if the albums that proceeded and succeeded it weren't so spectacular. But this one is great too. Court and Spark will probably get my vote.
- I love the Byrds, but their 1973 original-lineup reunion album sounds very much like what it is, the songwriting scraps left over from whatever projects the band members had since moved on to. Gene Clark's contributions are the highlight, but that's faint praise. No Other is Clark's most ambitious effort, and arguably his best solo album.
- Ned Doheny fused strong, evocative lyrics to forgettable melodies. Still quite good.
- Steve Ferguson - is this the guitarist from early NRBQ? Didn't know he made any records on his own.
- I know Linda Ronstadt only from the two comps I have, which are excellent. Need to investigate the full albums.
- the Souther-Hillman-Furay band drew comparisons to Crosby, Stills, and Nash for obvious reasons, and no doubt their label hoped they might be as popular. Richie Furay's work with Buffalo Springfield and early Poco is criminally underappreciated, but both SHF albums disappointed me.
- Traffic made four great albums. When The Eagle Flies isn't one of them.
- Jimmy Webb as a songwriter is unassailable, but his own records somehow aren't as impressive as I would have expected.
- Tom Waits' early albums are maybe his most accessible, if not as distinctive as his later work
- Planet Waves lukewarm by Dylan's standards, except for "Forever Young". Or at least that's what I remember, haven't listened to this one for a long time.
- I keep meaning to check out Jo Jo Gunne, a band formed by some ex-Spirit guys.

There's alot of interplay here - just about everyone on this list plays on or covers/writes songs for another.

i listened to the john david souther album last night -- pretty terrible! the lyrics make the eagles look sophisticated

Did you listen to Jesus in 3/4 Time or Out To Sea? He also wrote a lot of Eagles songs.

Court and Spark over No Other. I'd like to hear those Jackson Browne albums again.

does anyone know who the female singer is on "Take Me Faraway?" i have my suspicions but some quick googling isn't turning up the answer.

xp i heard "jesus in 3/4 time," didn't make it to "out to sea." some were less mediocre than others but there were some pretty huge clunkers

i should say, Ned Doheny's "Take Me Faraway," but now i'm thinking maybe it's actually Ned, lol. my bad.

he has such a little baby face

man i love planet waves.

ok I've been thinking about this poll and this is what I think:

side one
"Court and Spark" – 2:46
"Help Me" – 3:22
"Free Man in Paris" – 3:02
"People's Parties" – 2:15
"Same Situation" – 2:57
Side two
"Car on a Hill" – 3:02
"Down To You" – 5:38
"Just Like This Train" – 4:24
"Raised on Robbery" – 3:06
"Trouble Child" – 4:00
"Twisted" – 2:21 (Annie Ross/Wardell Gray)

I'm a late-comer to For the Roses, which I think is also tremendous, and I love those Jackson Browne albums more than I can say, but I don't think anything on this list can go round for round with the above.

"Cry for Eddie in the corner, thinking he's nobody" game/set/match kinda.

and me in my frightening silence thinking i don't understand

it's Court Of Spark or Late For The Sky

love pop, heavy metal, funk, disco, punk and psychedelic whatever from these years, including a good deal of folk & blues, but not the stuff asylum was peddling, apparently

yeah haha, that was me too - for a lotta years the only things on asylum I even OWNED were Dylan and the Dictators! But eventually I was turned onto Joni and Tom Waits

Still heard only about 1/3 of these or less so won't dare voting - consider that one missed vote for Roses.

I haven't heard enough of these to vote either - but the Judee Sill s/t is one of my favorite albums, so I doubt anything would dislodge it.

does anyone know who the female singer is on "Take Me Faraway?" i have my suspicions but some quick googling isn't turning up the answer.

― Mordy, Thursday, March 15, 2012 8:57 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i should say, Ned Doheny's "Take Me Faraway," but now i'm thinking maybe it's actually Ned, lol. my bad.

May be Graham Nash actually; he's credited with backing vocals on his first album, and he has a high voice.

Court and Spark, my ideal for a how a singer-songwriter leading a band should sound.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Court And Spark", because I find it hard to believe that any of the other albums could be even better...

This is relevant, from 1:30 on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF4P5SM_m1s

and the whole From The Byrds To The Eagles documentary is great, by the way.

not on the album in this poll, but this Rowans song is a jam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ELEjtnhOZc

cillfile with a c

In one of the few instances in which Geffen's instincts were proved wrong, Geffen believed that the Eagles' popularity had peaked with their first album. Desperado had been a commercial bust, and now it seemed to him to be a question whether they would even finish a third. After the group had gone to London with Glyn Johns, infighting had forced them to return after only six of a planned twelve-week recording stand. They had recorded only two songs.

It was just before Christmas 1973 when the band's feelings toward Geffen grew even more adversarial. Their business manager informed them that they had not made any money on their recently completed Desperado tour, as the profits had gone back to the management company, which he said was owed the money from back commissions. Frey, Henley, and the others were irate as they realized they did not have money to buy Christmas presents.

One day, after calling the management office to ask for a limousine to take the group to the airport for a concert date, Glenn Frey decided he could take no more. Irving Azoff, who had booked the concert, put his hand over the receiver and asked Elliot Roberts what he should tell Frey.

"Tell Glenn he doesn't get a limo," Roberts snapped. "Tell him to get a hippie in a cab and go to the fuckin' airport!"

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/king-operator.html

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

albert brooks outpolling dylan!

I voted for Judee Sill's but can't argue with either of the records that beat it. With every year I love early 70s songwriters more - must be a sign of aging.

Voted for closing time, for sentimental late night cross country driving reasons.

now do a poll with all the entries that didn't get any votes

"Dick Feller"

lol

http://www.ranker.com/list/bands-and-musicians-on-asylum-records/reference