There’s something a bit lighter on this second Pink Floyd album. There’s still a lot of crazy things happening, but this feels on Jugband Blues, and Corporal Clegg, like fun. Let There Be More Light has an epic opening and is quite great here, as is the song I most associate with this album, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. Remember a Day is a song lost in my memory somewhere when I last heard but I really enjoyed it here. I pretty much enjoyed all of this. The Syd Barrett days are always interesting and often better than I remember.
The Essential Track: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
liebzz wrote:The Syd Barrett days are always interesting and often better than I remember.
This album is mostly post-Syd. There is only one Syd song and he plays a little guitar on two others.
The others were mad at him (mostly Waters and the producer) because he didn't want to write hit singles or to be told what to do. He contributed several songs during the sessions and refused to finish others in protest.
So they kicked him out and they only put one song on here and they started pushing a bullshit narrative that he went crazy on acid that still persists as legend.
Then they did a bad job producing his solo albums and he gave up on music.
Then they (Waters) made a lot of money whining disingenuously about how much they missed him.
Hot take but it's true and y'all can argue about it all you want.
I am closing in on 1969 so wanted to see if I am missing anything in particular. This is going to take a while to get through:
Neil Young
The Band
Credence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Credence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Credence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys
Faces - First Step
B.B. King - Completely Well
B.B. King - Indianola Mississippi Seeds
Muddy Waters - Fathers and Sons
Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol Kosmic Blues Again
Ten Years After - Stonedhenge
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
The Who - Tommy
The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
Kool & the Gang
John Coltrane - Transitions
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
The Doors - The Soft Parade
The Velvet Underground
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand
The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
The Stooges
The Beatles - Abbey Road
This is the other Hendrix album I drooled over at one point and I just haven’t listened to it in a long while. I have heard this one probably a fair amount less than AYE, but recent years had me believing I preferred AYE. I mean, both are among my favorite albums, but I think I prefer Electric Ladyland. This album is an absolute mind blowing journey into whatever other dimension Hendrix ascended to. His playing on all of this is just on another level entirely, be they solos or rhythm or whatever sounds he’s cajoling out of that thing. And even then, the song choices never fall into the abyss despite ample opportunity, particularly in his suite of psychedelic songs that have him floating away into some alternate oceanic existence (Rainy Day Dream Away, 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be), Moon Turn the Tides…Gently Gently Away, and Still Raining, Still Dreaming). Then there’s pure rock adrenaline and bliss in Crosstown Traffic, Long Hot Summer Night, Come On (Let the Good Times Roll), Gypsy Eyes, and Burning of the Midnight Lamp. There’s House Burning Down that is exceptional but is almost lost in the so goddamn many great songs on here. And even this alone would make for one of the greatest albums, and I haven’t talked about the 2 versions of Voodoo Child, or All Along the Watchtower that has to be one of the greatest covers ever. This is just plain insanely great. Flabbergasting that it’s so good we can just take one of the greatest covers ever riffs and solos on a studio track for granted and talk about the other stuff.
The Essential Track: Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Up Next: Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
I had never heard (Slight Return) in context. Then I finally got this record and played it through and man that last line about seeing everybody in the next world, knowing now that it was the last album, what an extraordinary accidental prophecy.
what were folks like Johnny Cash and Elvis up to in 1969? 50s stars getting to the end of their second decade. Could be interesting to see where they navigated to in the tumult, though that might no make the bar of Essential Studio Album material.
When I listened to this album in my Doors run a while back, I sort of left unimpressed. And making a direct comparison to the first two albums, I’d likely find the same result. But there’s a lot of gems here listening in more of a removed vacuum. Five to One has long been a favorite so that’s here, and Spanish Caravan adds something new. We Could Be So Good Together is classic Doors, and Hello I Love You is a classic. The Unknown Soldier is also pretty fantastic, so there are plenty redeemable qualities here.
lvc wrote:what were folks like Johnny Cash and Elvis up to in 1969? 50s stars getting to the end of their second decade. Could be interesting to see where they navigated to in the tumult, though that might no make the bar of Essential Studio Album material.
I got Elvis in there. Cash had some essential live albums in there.
lvc wrote:what were folks like Johnny Cash and Elvis up to in 1969? 50s stars getting to the end of their second decade. Could be interesting to see where they navigated to in the tumult, though that might no make the bar of Essential Studio Album material.
Well, Cash released At Folsom Prison in ‘68 and At San Quentin in ‘69. His TV show also started in ‘69. So he was by no means on any kind of downside by this point.
Let me tell you, Homer Simpson is cock of nothing!
- C. Montgomery Burns
lvc wrote:what were folks like Johnny Cash and Elvis up to in 1969? 50s stars getting to the end of their second decade. Could be interesting to see where they navigated to in the tumult, though that might no make the bar of Essential Studio Album material.
liebzz wrote:I am closing in on 1969 so wanted to see if I am missing anything in particular. This is going to take a while to get through:
Neil Young
The Band
Credence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Credence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Credence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys
Faces - First Step
B.B. King - Completely Well
B.B. King - Indianola Mississippi Seeds
Muddy Waters - Fathers and Sons
Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol Kosmic Blues Again
Ten Years After - Stonedhenge
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
The Who - Tommy
The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
Kool & the Gang
John Coltrane - Transitions
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
The Doors - The Soft Parade
The Velvet Underground
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand
The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
The Stooges
The Beatles - Abbey Road
I would add Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band-Trout Mask Replica.
liebzz wrote:I am closing in on 1969 so wanted to see if I am missing anything in particular. This is going to take a while to get through:
Neil Young
The Band
Credence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Credence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Credence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys
Faces - First Step
B.B. King - Completely Well
B.B. King - Indianola Mississippi Seeds
Muddy Waters - Fathers and Sons
Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol Kosmic Blues Again
Ten Years After - Stonedhenge
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
The Who - Tommy
The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
Kool & the Gang
John Coltrane - Transitions
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
The Doors - The Soft Parade
The Velvet Underground
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand
The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
The Stooges
The Beatles - Abbey Road
I would add Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band-Trout Mask Replica.
The Allman Brothers Band
Let me tell you, Homer Simpson is cock of nothing!
- C. Montgomery Burns
Not only have I never heard this album, I never even heard of this before I started compiling my list for this. Discovering this gem is a great byproduct of this journey, an album that manages to meld the pop sensibilities of late era Beatles with the further reaching psychedelic sounds of early Pink Floyd. A challenging listen yet at the same time pleasant so that you remain drawn to each of the songs. My understanding is this is meant to be a concept album of sorts from life to death of a singular character, though in one listen that’s not evident save for the opening track. S.F. Sorrow is indeed a great opening track, but Balloon Burning, Death, The Journey, Trust, and Defecting Grey are all really fantastic as is really the rest of the album. A nice surprise here. On to more familiar territory…
The Stones up to this point had maybe poked a bit at what they’d produce over the next four albums. There’s no denying there’s multiple albums worth of great singles and tracks to choose from before they reach this point. And their early recitation of blues and pop is spectacular. But arriving here, at this moment, is for me what the Stones are all about. Mick Jagger takes the sleaze gloves off, going from devious to now menacing. The space between blues, rock and country on this specific album is masterpiece level work. The slide work is beautiful, the rhythm are addictive - everything is working with perfect chemistry with this band at this moment. And this is probably my least favorite of the big four. Nearly untouchable.
