1977 - Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix @ 320
Rough Mix, Pete Townshend's 1977 collaboration with former Small Faces and Faces songwriter and bass player Ronnie Lane, combines the loose, rollicking folk-rock of Lane's former band, Slim Chance, with touches of country, folk, and New Orleans rock & roll, along with Townshend's own trademark style. Lane's tunes, especially the beautiful "Annie," possess an understated charm, while Townshend, with songs such as "Misunderstood," the Meher Baba-inspired "Keep Me Turning," and the strange love song "My Baby Gives It Away," delivers some of the best material of his solo career. Rough Mix stands as a minor masterpiece and an overlooked gem in both artists' vast bodies of work. Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, and Charlie Watts guest. (AllMusic)
Following the success of last year’s 40th anniversary edition of the Ramones’ self-titled debut album, Rhino are treating us to a deluxe edition of the band’s follow-up Leave Home. Still revered as a classic album, Leave Home is 30 minutes of no messing punk rock and bubblegum pop. It is a mix that defined the Ramones’ sound. The album also produced some of their most famous songs, like Pinhead and California Sun.
The Ramones are often considered to be one of the first punk bands. Their musical style, stage presence and attitude influenced the likes of Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols and The Clash. It was the Ramones’ insistence to have their records speeded up to match the velocity of their live shows, that helped shape the punk sound. And with their matching leather jackets and straight-fringe haircuts; the band’s cartoony nature made them one of the most recognisable bands of all time.
Fans and collectors alike will love this release. It is a real treat, as it not only includes the original album on CD, but a 40th anniversary mix on CD and vinyl. The 40th anniversary mixes have been created from the original multitrack tapes by original engineer Ed Stasium. The new mixes are designed to reflect the Ramones’ raw power and fatten the sound.
The package also includes a live recording from a gig the band played in 1977, at the famous CBGB. The venue staged the Ramones’ very first shows, and the two have become entwined in music folklore. There are also rough mixes, unreleased material and extras, including the single Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.
No follower of punk can credibly call themselves a fan of the genre if they don’t have an affection for the Ramones. And if you like the Ramones you’re going to absolutely love this 40th anniversary edition of their brilliant sophomore LP. ( Songwriter Magazine)
With its frankly McCarthyite, anti-Communist iconography, November 1977’s Rocket To Russia may have implied a new level of political engagement on the Ramones’ part; but if anything, was actually a loving genuflection before the altar of pop, with an AM radio pressed against its ear.
Besides which, it casually smelted the sub-genre of surf punk en route. Lyrics of Runyonesque pertinence (“Sittin’ here in Queens, eatin’ refried beans, we’re in all the magazines, gulpin’ down thorazines” – We’re A Happy Family) went toe-to-toe with Empire State choruses and an idiosyncratic worldview which encompassed raucous nihilism on the one hand (I Don’t Care, Teenage Lobotomy), and surfboards and discotheques on the other (Rockaway Beach, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker).
The perfect balance of ramalama and, ah, ding-dong. That simile probably worked better in theory. Without the blazing guitars and self-referencing –“Hey Johnny, hey Dee Dee, Little Tom and Joey” – Ramona would just be The Beach Boys circa 1963.
This deluxe remastered edition also features a crisp ’n’ dry new mix by Ed Stasium – reproduced on the accompanying LP – a bonus disc of extras, and one glorious disc given over to the band’s valorous, inflammatory December 1977 concert at the Glasgow Apollo, attended by this writer. I can clearly remember the mics suspended from the balcony, with punks leaping in the air to nut them or nick them. (Record Collector)
One World is the seventh studio album by British guitarist and singer John Martyn, released in November 1977 by Island Records. The album, produced by Island owner Chris Blackwell at his Berkshire farm, was recorded with a myriad of musicians, including Steve Winwood, Danny Thompson, John Stevens, Hansford Rowe and Rico. The album followed a sabbatical where, at Blackwell's invite, Martyn holidayed in Jamaica in 1976 with his family, having become disillusioned with the music business. The trip helped revitalise his interest in music.
The album combines Martyn's experimental tendencies with more pop-leaning material, with influences from the dub music of Lee "Scratch" Perry, with whom Martyn worked during the trip to Jamaica and co-wrote the song "Big Muff". The record features a relaxing, echoing sound with usage of Martyn's distinctive Echoplex guitar effects, while his lyrics discuss love, specific people and his disintegrating marriage. Some of the recording was achieved outdoors, with Island's mobile recording studio being used to operate a live feed across the farm's surrounding lake; microphones picked up the full ambience of the area, including natural reverb and surrounding geese and trains, helping contribute to the album's sweeping sound.Upon its release, One World received acclaim from music critics who hailed its inventive, unique sound and lyrics. Martyn toured in promotion of the album in late 1977, whilst a televised performance at the Collegiate Theatre, London in January 1978 helped the album becoming Martyn's first chart success, reaching number 54 on the UK Albums Chart. "Dancing" was released as the album's sole single a month later. In later times, the album has been credited for helping develop trip hop music. In 2004, a deluxe edition of the album was released by Island, containing bonus live material (1001 Albums You Must Hear)
40th Anniversary Edition, expanded to include 12" disco mixes, DJ cuts and dubs! One of the masterpieces of the roots era, no album better defines its time and place than Two Sevens Clash, which encompasses both the religious fervor of its day and the rich sounds of contemporary Jamaica.
Avowed Rastafarians, Culture had formed in 1976, and cut two singles before beginning work on their debut album with producers the Mighty Two (aka Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson). Their second single, "Two Sevens Clash," would title the album and provide its focal point. The song swept across the island like a wildfire, its power fed by the apocalyptic fever that held the island in its clutches throughout late 1976 and into 1977. (Rastafarians believed the apocalypse would begin when the two sevens clashed, with July 7, 1977, when the four sevens clashed, the most fearsome date of concern.) However, the song itself was fearless, celebrating the impending apocalypse, while simultaneously reminding listeners of a series of prophesies by Marcus Garvey and twinning them to the island's current state. For those of true faith, the end of the world did not spell doom, but release from the misery of life into the eternal and heavenly arms of Jah. Thus, Clash is filled with a sense of joy mixed with deep spirituality, and a belief that historical injustice was soon to be righted.
The music, provided by the Revolutionaries, perfectly complements the lyrics' ultimate optimism, and is quite distinct from most dread albums of the period. Although definitely rootsy, Culture had a lighter sound than most of their contemporaries. Not for them the radical anger of Black Uhuru, the fire of Burning Spear (although Hill's singsong delivery was obviously influenced by Winston Rodney), nor even the hymnal devotion of the Abyssinians. In fact, Clash is one of the most eclectic albums of the day, a wondrous blend of styles and sounds. Often the vocal trio works in a totally different style from the band, as on "Calling Rasta Far I," where the close harmonies, dread-based but African-tinged, entwine around a straight reggae backing.
Several of the songs are rocksteady-esque with a rootsy rhythm, most notably the infectious "See Them Come"; others are performed in a rockers style, with "I'm Alone in the Wilderness" an exquisite blend of guitar and vocal harmonies. One of the best tracks, "Get Ready to Ride the Lion to Zion," is a superb hybrid of roots, rocksteady, and burbling electro wizardry; its roaring lion (created who knows how) is a brilliant piece of musical theater. "Natty Dread Take Over" twines together roots rhythms, close harmonies, and big-band swing, while even funk and hints of calypso put in appearances elsewhere on the album. Inevitably, the roots genre was defined by its minor-key melodies, filled with a sense of melancholy, and emphasized by most groups' lyrics. But for a brief moment, roots possibilities were endless. Sadly, no other group followed Culture's lead, and even the trio itself did not take advantage of it, especially after parting ways with Gibbs. When Culture re-emerged in the mid-'80s, they swiftly moved into a reggae lite/world music mode a world apart from where they started. Thus, Clash remains forever in a class all its own. (EarCandyMusic)
Just to back up what reb had been saying about thankyous.
Looking at my last 9 posts and ignoring comments from reb and concha, there have been 245 downloads and 13 comments. For example, Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again had 30 downloads and no comments. The problem is not just a lack of common courtesy - a thankyou takes seconds to post - but it makes it difficult for the posters to know what music we should focus on. Did the people who downloaded Michael Kiwanuka like it or hate it? I have no way of knowing whether to post similar music or assume, because of the lack of comments, that this wasn't popular, despite being downloaded 30 times.
We want this to be a community where music lovers enjoy what's being shared and join in with comments. If it's not a community we are just wasting time selecting and preparing music for it to be just snatched thoughtlessly.
Take heed of what reb's been saying. If things don't get better, there will be no reason for Vibes to continue.
Weather Report - 1977 - Heavy Weather (Expanded Edition) @320
Heavy Weather is the seventh album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album and one of the best sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. DownBeat magazine gave Heavy Weather a 5-star review, and later its readers voted it jazz album of the year.
The lineup for the album consisted of Weather Report founders Joe Zawinul (keyboards, synthesizers) and Wayne Shorter (saxophone), alongside Jaco Pastorius (bass), Alex Acuña (drums), and Manolo Badrena (percussion). It was produced and orchestrated by Zawinul, with additional production by Shorter and Pastorius, and engineered by Ron Malo.
The album opens with "Birdland", which on its own became a significant commercial success, unusual for an instrumental composition, and would go on to become a jazz standard. The melody had been performed live by the band as part of "Dr Honoris Causa", which was from Joe Zawinul's eponymous solo album. "Teen Town", a Pastorius composition where his bass takes the lead instrument role, is often considered a highlight of the album and of Pastorius's career. "Rumba Mamá", a percussion and vocals feature for Manolo Badrena and Alex Acuña, was recorded live at a summer 1976 concert in Montreux, Switzerland, which was also the subject of a DVD released in 2007.
Dan Oppenheimer said in a June 1977 review for Rolling Stone that he felt the band had moved away from their earlier music, losing a lot of the space, melodies and airy feel that set them apart from other jazz-rock bands, but gaining a new bassist who "has been instrumental in developing their busier, talkative style", and that while their music previously "went up and up only, becoming more ethereal as it went, the new bottom makes all the difference in the world".
This is simply one of the best jazz albums ever. The line up collaboration is perfect.Joe Zawinul on keys, Wayne Shorter on sax, Alex Acuna drums, Manolo Badrena percussion and Jaco Pastorius whose brilliance on a fretless bass in the '70s is again captured timelessly. Each track has a journey of its own with these guys. Birdland (a jazz standard) and TeenTown are classics. The latter featuring a blistering fretless bass line as the lead instrument. The whole album is absolutely outstandingly executed and timeless. Unbeatable driving music. (Jazz Rock Fusion Guitar)
Frankie Miller - 1977 - Full House (2011 Remaster) (Flac)
With 3 outstanding albums under his belt, but no substantial success, you could have forgiven Frankie Miller for just accepting his fate.
Judging by his genre hopping fourth album, Full House, (1978) he never stops long enough in one place to gain any lasting recognition. From the solid pop of ‘Doodle Song’ to the sweetly soulful ‘This Love Of Mine’, to the country flavoured ‘Let The Candle Shine’, Miller’s interpretation of his self penned material is always impressive. And just when you’re looking for more of that, he gives you something else.
Then there’s the covers: You need to be brave or foolish to interpret a John Lennon classic, ‘Jealous Guy’, or a universally recognised standard, ‘Love Letters’. Miller’s almost tangible heartfelt sincerity amplifies the fragile lyrical quality in both songs. He makes them his own. No mean achievement.
That said, it’s opener, ‘Be Good To Yourself’ that really stands out. Up front of a solid, bolted-to-the-floor rhythm section, the precision and depth of guitarist, Ray Minhinnett’s playing is a wonder to behold. His fiery licks elevate this already great Andy (Free) Fraser song way beyond its starting point. And once the Memphis Brass get on board, we’re on a funky, bluesy, rockin’ journey we hope will never end. (GetReadyToRock)
1977 - Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen (Special Edition 2013) (Flac)
Another Music In a Different Kitchen, the band’s first full-length, is as smart, streamlined and seamless as punk rock debuts go. More upbeat and hyperactive than The Sex Pistols, and much more pop-oriented than arty contemporaries such as Wire, The Buzzcocks mastered early on the art of witty, aggressive two-minute punk-pop bangers. Having been released during a time when singles were often released separately from albums, there are few Singles Going Steady gems to be found on Another Music, save for the chugging standout “Autonomy” and tuneful anthem “I Don’t Mind.” Yet it’s part of that separation that makes Another Music such an essential addition, as each of its 11 tracks is utterly fresh and fantastic, from the fierce riffs in opener “Fast Cars” (and its repetition of the two-note solo from early single “Boredom”) to the nervy, motorik grooves of “Fiction Romance,” and its intensifying coda. Frontman Pete Shelley’s articulate humor abounds, as he throws out hilarious lines like “All this slurping and sucking…it’s putting me off my food!” And the group saves their biggest surprise for the end, hammering out a Can-inspired epic in the seven-minute “Moving Away from the Pulsebeat.”
Fantastic as the original, 11-track album is, Mute’s reissue packs on so many extras that the collection more than doubles the length of the first issue. Long-adored and famous singles “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get?” and “What Ever Happened To…?” immediately follow the album, as does a Peel Session with two of the album’s tracks and yet another version of “What Do I Get?” Meanwhile, more than half of the second disc is made up of demo versions of 14 of their classic tracks, beginning with Spiral Scratch standout “Boredom.” Many of these are actually being released for the first time, including a surprisingly loud vocal take of “You Tear Me Up” and a near-professional sounding “Get On Our Own” that only pales in comparison to the original by mere decimal margins.
Closing out the second disc the furious “Live at the Electric Circus” recording, which is not only intense and loud, but surprisingly crisp in fidelity. It’s a blazing way to close out an expansive and exhaustive look at the band’s first album and singles that surrounded it. It’s a bit mind blowing to think all this was recorded not just in one year, but that it would be accompanied by yet another blistering full-length later that same year! Admittedly, this is a lot of music for one sitting, and only a small part of Mute’s insanely extensive reissue collections. But if Another Music In a Different Kitchen is an essential purchase, and believe me, it is, then it’s that much more of a treat to have basically everything else the band did in the first half of 1978 in the same package. (Treble)
*This is the 2009 expanded version of the great Australian punk band The Saints debut album, what a great album this is and comes with eight bonus tracks!! *
Ian Dury & The Blockheads - 1977 - New Boots & Panties (40th Anniversary Edition) (2017) @320
If Carlsberg did 40th anniversary boxsets…
Actually no, bollocks to Carlsberg, for I’m pretty sure they couldn’t even BEGIN to come up with something as beautifully put together as this four CD, one vinyl set; it really is as close to perfection as you can feasibly get. And a majestically packaged boxset is no less than this absolute classic of an album deserves.
Disc one and the clear/white vinyl both comprise the original 1977 long player and showcase just what a poetic genius Ian Dury was. In times like these, where we look back on many periods with horror, especially in light of the number of shocking revelations made by a devastatingly high number of women during the powerful #metoo campaign, it is reassuring to realise, when listening carefully to the lyrics of, say, opening track ‘Wake Up And Make Love With Me‘, that Dury was already way ahead of his time. Where some songs/bands from the era have aged poorly and have quite rightly been contemptuously consigned to the wastebin of misogyny, the former Kilburn And The High Roads man was, instead, in a song that could potentially have fallen into the same trap, treating his partner with the greatest of respect – despite feeling frisky himself, he sings “I don’t want to make you / I’ll let the fancy take you.”
For an album that is held up as a beacon of the punk movement, it is perhaps somewhat surprising that the content within New Boots And Panties!! has little in common with the genre, at least musically. The Blockheads – not actually fully formed at this point, though they would soon take their name from one of the rowdiest (and best) tracks here – were highly skilled musicians who fuelled Dury’s brilliant witty prose with a funked up, soulful jazz groove. Elsewhere, we hit upon old time rock and roll with the vibrant and vital ‘Sweet Gene Vincent‘, the romantic pub rock of ‘I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra‘ and a wonderful introduction to all manner of dubious seedy characters like ‘Clever Trevor‘ or ‘Billericay Ricky‘ (“I bought a lot of brandy when I was dating Sandy / Took eight to make her randy / and all I had was shandy“), often leading us to both laugh and pity these protagonists at the same time. The only time you could really level the standard “punk” label at Dury here is on the album’s two closing tracks, ‘Plaistow Patricia‘, complte with its naughty, sweary introduction, and, especially, the urgent two minute wonder that is ‘Blackmail Man‘.
But you probably already knew all that, so what of the bonus material? Well, disc two is largely made up of B-sides, cuts from NME cassettes, and an almighty John Peel Session from December that year (check out the splendid version of ‘Clever Trevor‘ here, with the almost gospel like female backing vocals). It’s a delectable candy shop of goodies, with variety at the top of its agenda. So it is that you get songs about nicking porn mags (‘Razzle In My Pocket‘) in which the thrill is in the lift, not in the grubby handed thumbing of said glossy book, or the convincing reggae of ‘You’re More Than Fair‘ which, despite its overtly sexual prose, comes across more like a saucy seaside postcard kind of humour, like a Carry On film if it had starred Jimmy Cliff or something, and some quite enchanting between song banter, the like we’ve rarely seen since.
On CD three, we get seventeen demo versions of many of the album’s final cuts, sometimes in instrumental form, as well as a plethora of lesser known, hidden gems. Chief amongst these is probably ‘I Made Mary Cry‘, in which we discover that Dury has a hitherto neglected singing voice that could well have seen him carve a successful career in country music, let alone punk, funk-jazz or whatever else you want to call him!
The crowning glory though is the previously unreleased ‘Live At The Paris Theatre, London 01/07/1978‘ that makes up the entirety of disc four. It’s rare to find a live album that so accurately conveys the thrill of a band at the peak of its powers. The multi-talented Chas Jankell, of course, is the perfect musical foil to Dury’s intriguing, perhaps even sometimes slightly menacing, on stage persona. It’s exciting stuff, at the same time being gut wrenchingly funny and utterly charming.
With some superb, misty eyed sleeve notes penned by long time Stiff Records afficionado – Phill Jupitus, in which he describes himself as an awkward, introverted teenager bereft of cash and possessing a crushing shyness that meant he spent hours just staring at girls he liked the look of at nightclubs, with no idea how to talk to them (you weren’t the only one, Phill!). Ian Dury and The Blockheads were one of those bands who ‘saved’ him, along with The Clash, The Sex Pistols and, later, Madness. Truth is, we all know how much of a lift – or even a reprieve – great music can give us, and New Boots And Panties!! is the perfect example of how, within seconds, you’re in another world, Dury’s world, marvelling at its many colourful inhabitants, laughing with (or at) them, delighting in their many unusual predicaments, until you finally come back to earth where, whatever trials and tribulations you’re facing, somehow, none of it seems so bad anymore.
A quite staggering box set, that is, quite frankly, flawless.
One of the greatest albums of the American punk rock revolution, that isn’t even a punk rock album. Straight out the dungeons of CBGB’s, Television sculpted a new guitar sound that paved the way for alternative rock, post-punk, new wave, noise and indie (and nu-metal and art rock and grunge and so much more).
Tom Verlaine (vocals, guitar), Billy Ficca (Drums), Fred Smith (bass) and Richard Lloyd (Guitar) shunned the power chords of their contemporaries for intricate, entangled, back and forth guitar melodies, jazzy drumming and romantic language.
The album starts with See No Evil, their most urgent song on the album. A punk flavoured red herring before the dream lyrics of Venus and the jazz-blues guitars on Friction. Side A ends with the unavoidable opus, Marquee Moon, a 10 minute odyssey of urban paranoia which includes 2 guitar solos (that’s longer than Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd). On Side B, Guiding Light has all the building blocks of an alt-rock ballad, and Prove It is their art-rock manual.
Television’s jaded yet impassioned attitude, high-brow yet lo-fi approach, warm yet jagged sound has gone on to influence so many that it would be a fool’s errand to try to distill them into one line. Instead, stop and listen to the primary post-punk album. An album that prophesied the death of punk before it had even started (Marquee Moon came out 9 months before Never Mind The Bollocks...). (Rough Trade)
Although Dennis Brown released over a hundred albums during his career, Wolf & Leopards, which appeared in 1977, might be the most significant for a couple of different reasons, even though it was essentially a collection of singles. It was the first LP from Brown to feature the singer as a full-fledged Rastaman, and the songs show a strong commitment to cultural themes. It also introduced to the world his signature song, "Here I Come" (aka "Love and Hate"), as well as the title tune, "Wolf & Leopards," which is rumoured to have been mixed by Lee "Scratch" Perry at his Black Ark studio. Several of the tracks were produced by Niney, with the rest produced by Brown himself with help from singer Castro Brown, but even with its sort of little bit here, little bit there haphazard makeup, Wolf & Leopards functions as a fully integrated and coherent album sequence. It might not be Brown's best album, and it might not even contain his best singles, but Wolf & Leopards was a watermark release for the singer, signalling a shift to political and cultural matters, and his work as a mature, fully developed artist begins with this release.(AllMusic)
Talking Heads were among the first bands from the scene that emerged from New York's CBGB in the mid-'70s to reach a national audience, at a time when "punk rock" was a fresh concept still making its way into Middle America. If their debut album, 1977's Talking Heads: 77, doesn't sound like punk rock from a remove of over four decades, that has more to do with how "punk" was soon codified as a genre rather than a way of approaching their art, and underestimates how striking and groundbreaking they truly were. Talking Heads clearly had musical antecedents in 1960s pop and rock, classic soul, and folk-rock, though it was obvious from the first they were mixing those ingredients in a unique way, and adding the edgy, nervous energy of David Byrne's songs and vocals truly set them apart. Byrne was fortunate to have a band that was both talented and simpatico -- Tina Weymouth's bass and Chris Frantz's drums give the tunes a churning groove, sometimes funky and sometimes motoric, and though Jerry Harrison was still growing into his role as the group's utility man, his guitar and keyboards give the performances a depth and texture they need. That said, Byrne was the wild card who made Talking Heads something different; the nervous gulp of his vocals, his lyrical voice that took a quizzical look at the world around him and the emotions moving within him, and the melodies that managed to be both herky-jerky and inviting at the same time were all fresh and intriguing, and they still sound that way all these years later.
The arrangements and production on Talking Heads: 77 suggest that the folks at the controls were trying to find a way to make this music a bit easier to swallow for the uninitiated, and the steel drums on "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town," the sax and marimba on "First Week/Last Week…Carefree," and the playful bounce of "Don't Worry About the Government" feel a bit out of place within the context of the band's next two albums, 1978's More Songs About Buildings and Food and 1979's Fear of Music, which rank with their finest work. But the final two tracks, "Psycho Killer" and "Pulled Up," end the show with a bang and point to the brilliant music the group would make in the years to come.
Talking Heads: 77 was a striking debut that sounds even better now than when it first arrived. [In 2024, Rhino Records issued a Super Deluxe Edition of Talking Heads '77 that, along with a crisply remastered version of the original LP, adds a bonus disc of alternate versions and material that didn't make the album, including a version of "Psycho Killer" with Arthur Russell on cello. The best reason to get the expanded version, however, is the inclusion of a complete Talking Heads show from an October 1977 appearance at CBGB, which boasts an energy and muscle lacking from the studio tracks. It's the sound of a band evolving from very good to honestly great, and it's a must for anyone who prizes the group's early work.] (AllMusic)
