This seems like the start of a big transition for Genesis. If their prior prog rock releases were formless, with purpose of course, these songs seem to have their own individual arcs, which is to say they stand alone as well as together, which seems to be moving into new territory for them. The first three songs here give this record some promise: Down and Out, Undertow, and Ballad of Big, but starting with the creative but ultimately not my preference Snowbound, it started to run out of gas for me. Granted, this thing ends with what is truly a new beginning in a bona fide pop song in Follow You Follow Me. Not sure Genesis would ever be the same again.
Realized I missed this one and figured to tackle this and Hemispheres back to back since the end of this album is the first part to the first half of the next album - because it’s prog rock and that’s how they roll. Here, there’s a few tracks that I think are essential to the Rush experience: Xanadu, which is pretty killer in total (and a chance to dine on honeydew), the hit song Closer to the Heart, the opening title track, and the closing Cygnus X-1, Book I: The Voyage, which is a sort of prelude to the first track on Hemispheres. In the end, I liked this more than 2112, so I think that says something for this one.
Given this album begins where the last one ends, this seems like sort of a sequel. And Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres really does pick up with a full side, multi-movement prog rock gem. While I didn’t quite connect with the middle part of this album, which went by quickly by comparison, the instrumental finish with La Villa Strangiato was fantastic, leaving the bookends of this album as the real thrust of this one.
The end of two eras over these next two albums will ultimately lead to the merging of Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath sans Ozzie. Here, this swan song of this lineup is all the big excess one could ask for. It feels one part party rock, one part sci fi prog, and one part hard rock in the vein of Deep Purple. Gates of Babylon is very much beyond excessive, but it doesn’t make it less fun, and the same would go for The Shed, Kill the King, and the title track. The guitar solos on this thing are pretty killer, and the vocals are teasing what hair metal would do in the mid to late 80s. It feels like dusk for Rainbow as we know it, and dawn for a different kind of biggest excessive rock ‘n’ roll.
We’re closing in on 600 and I sense a bit of a slow down coming with a family vacation on the horizon, so taking now for an update on my 50 favorites so far:
50. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
49. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
48. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
47. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd
46. Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
45. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping
44. The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
43. The Who - Who’s Next
42. The Kinks - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround
41. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
40. The Allman Brothers Band
39. The Allman Brothers Band - Idlewild South
38. The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach
37. Credence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo’s Factory
36. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
35. The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
34. Tom Waits - Closing Time
33. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
32. Marvin Gaye - What Going On
31. Television - Marquee Moon
30. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
29. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
28. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
27. Neil Young - Harvest
26. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
25. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
24. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
23. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
22. Led Zeppelin IV
21. The Who - Quadrophenia
20. Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
19. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
18. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2
17. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
16. John Coltrane - Blue Train
15. The Beatles - Abbey Road
14. Pink Floyd - Animals
13. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
12. The Beatles - Revolver
11. The Beatles
10. Neil Young - On the Beach
9. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
8. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
7. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
6. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
5. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
4. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
3. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
2. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
1. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
I think I’d have a hard time debating who is the voice of the second half of the 70s between Bob Seger and Michael McDonald. Hearing these songs on this album is like reliving a childhood ride in the back seat of my parents’ car, not because they were huge Seger fans, but because these songs were everywhere for a real long time. Old Time Rock & Roll is something out of the 50s and a song I have heard probably nonstop my entire life. Still the Same, Hollywood Nights, and We’ve Got Tonight maybe slightly less so. Then grab some near ideal rock and roll on Feel Like a Number and Brave Strangers and you got yourself one helluva record.
The Essential Track: Old Time Rock & Roll
Up Next: The Doobie Brothers Minute By Minute
The voice of the second half of the 70s. I think is Stevie Nicks. Landslide, Rhiannon,Dreams,Sara,Angel,Gold Dust Woman, The Chain,Sisters of the Moon Storm. Then her harmonies on everything Christy and Lindsey sang on. I think she wins by a pretty sizeable margin.
I will say in Michael McDonald’s defense the dude fronted the Doobie Brothers, contributed vocals to multiple Steely Dan albums, and has his own hit record in that time. All of those projects were highly successful and lucrative. And I Keep Forgetting one day becomes Warren G’s Regulate.
Really I’m not sure how there’s really a single voice ultimately of that period since rock had splintered into metal, punk, soft rock, the classics were still there, there was disco which took over…too much to sift through to find just one voice.
Black Sabbath in its original form existed on fumes at this point, and while there’s certainly a bit of that on this, I actually think this is one of those good albums that unfortunately does nothing for them. If it weren’t Black Sabbath, whose first 6 albums are all groundbreaking and just cathartically awesome, I think this might deserve enhanced attention. In their grasps though, they just keep adding weird stuff to the formula that doesn’t quite fit, like synthesizers and moments where they sound like they’re just outside themselves. I personally though enjoyed the sax on Breakout, and thought the back end of the album was particularly good. Air Dance, Swinging the Chain, A Hard Road (in the first half), and the title track that opens the album are all solid highlights.
There are a bunch of bands I like more than the Beatles, but I haven’t come to the same conclusion that I can tell. I would certainly put the best I’ve heard from the Kinks above the Beatles pre-‘66 output though.
“I'm sick to death of people saying we've made 11 albums that sound exactly the same, when in fact, we've made 12 albums that sound exactly the same".
- Angus Young
And yet, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Nearly everything on here is 100% AC/DC, so picking out highlights is a pretty silly enterprise, but I really enjoyed Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation, Riff Raff, and Kicked in the Teeth. Really you can’t go wrong anywhere on here.
“I'm sick to death of people saying we've made 11 albums that sound exactly the same, when in fact, we've made 12 albums that sound exactly the same".
- Angus Young
And yet, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Nearly everything on here is 100% AC/DC, so picking out highlights is a pretty silly enterprise, but I really enjoyed Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation, Riff Raff, and Kicked in the Teeth. Really you can’t go wrong anywhere on here.
The Essential Track: Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation
Up Next: Cheap Trick - In Color
ACDC's best imo. Personal fave track - Down Payment Blues
And just like that, we’re back! If their debut was raw power, this second album is tight and focused, and a serious gem. Everyone has to know I Want You to Want Me, but so many great nuggets here, nothing really crossing the 4 minute mark. 31 minutes that go by in a flash. Hello There, Big Eyes, the epic Downed that really shows their perfect balance between punk energy and arena sized rock, Oh Caroline, Clock Strikes Ten, the looser Southern Girls, and So Good to See You all quite good - and there’s really no major letdown here. Just a fantastic textbook mid-to-late 70s rock record that blends that hard rock energy with arena rock reach.
Up to this point, I have largely been consistently enamored by The Who’s albums. Even By Numbers I find to be an under appreciated gem. This is the first where they seem to be getting tired, relying too heavily on synths and strings to the detriment of the songs. It’s forced enough that is sounds almost incongruous to the cathartic blast of the band. The exception is the title track, which juxtaposes the squishy sounding synths with pure bombast and the contrast works. It doesn’t always work for an otherwise good enough album. Good enough isn’t good enough for The Who.
I am not sure if I say this every time, but this is the most accessible of the Kraftwerk albums thus far. This appears to have the most form, almost electronic pop, and it makes for likely the most enjoyable of their albums thus far. The Robots and Neon Lights were my favorites, but something also has to be said for The Model, a song that could nearly come off one of the classic rock albums, but somehow fits on this album despite its outlier status.
