Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1985 - (page 203)

[Resurrection Joe...]

The playlists are too long. How to get them down? Limit each posters amount of nominations? Give the OP for that year editorial powers to reduce the year to no more than a dozen?

gets my vote....can't just have endless lists of hit songs...theyve somehow got to be remarkable I think..

 

[threespires]

Currently working my way through the playlist.

Some great music but 8 and a half hours / 104 songs is not what I had in mind when I floated the idea of us looking at the best music from each year.

• That version of "Layla" feels like a bad edit - no piano coda :(
• Also not sure what John Legend and Sarah Bareilles are doing on a playlist 8/9 years before they were born
• Great organ on "Speed King"
• Obviously I've heard "Lola" many times before but it was really great listening to this
• Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" feels like a possible seed for 80s MOR but with added horns.
• Never heard "Where to Now St. Peter" by Elton John before - kudos to whoever nominated this song, I really enjoyed it.
• I think I first heard "The Green Manlishi" thanks to a thread on here. This is perhaps one of the picks of the playlist.

Agree. I think nominating a small number and providing a bit of context about those song is best. It's tricky because there is so much good stuff out there but I'm as interested in hearing about why a poster likes something or thinks it's important as I'm am the song itself. Maybe 3 per person max, see how that works out?

 

[Saddleworth2]

There is actually only one rule for this thread - post one song and then give others a chance before maybe posting another later in the week.

Now, given the small numbers who are invested in the thread, I'm happy to up the numbers to 4 or 5, but it feels a bit wild at the moment with little chance to take it all in.

Completely agree. I think a max of 4 nominations per poster would do it plus some personal history and context with the picks. More meaningful than a list of songs. When alls said and done, all the streaming platforms have 'Year' playlists, covering 100 songs or so. This thread was to delve deeper into the main recordings, albums, singles, concerts from a given year with some societal context and some personal observations from posters. I think it works so much better when that happens.

 

[Jazzman]

The title of the thread may help us to limit the number of nominations a bit. History and Rock & Roll are the keywords. How about we try to follow that instead of just posting long list of own favourites?
After all surely 1970 did not offer 104 historical rock & roll songs?

 

[KS55]

Completely agree. I think a max of 4 nominations per poster would do it plus some personal history and context with the picks. More meaningful than a list of songs. When alls said and done, all the streaming platforms have 'Year' playlists, covering 100 songs or so. This thread was to delve deeper into the main recordings, albums, singles, concerts from a given year with some societal context and some personal observations from posters. I think it works so much better when that happens.

Yes, I like the context stuff, even when I got it completely wrong with the dates of what followed the Green Manalishi! My excuse is that I wasn’t a huge fan of Fleetwood 2. I’m a dyed in the wool Peter Green nut.
Other posters have far more knowledge of the technical aspects of the music and the recording than I and I really like learning this.

 

[RobMCFC]

The title of the thread may help us to limit the number of nominations a bit. History and Rock & Roll are the keywords. How about we try to follow that instead of just posting long list of own favourites?
After all surely 1970 did not offer 104 historical rock & roll songs?

I don’t think the songs nominated have to be the most famous from that year. It’s just like Saddleworth2 said, it’s all about context. Maybe it’s a little-known song that you want others to hear - arguably that’s more important than another Bob Dylan or Beach Boys song.

But obviously we also want a good selection of well known songs that define the year.

I’m quite happy for people to mention 50 songs in their write-up, but we should keep the nominations to a sensible amount.

I’ll update the guidelines on page #1 later but for the next year, let’s say:
- Nominator starts the playlist with 10 songs.
- Each nominator can then nominate up to 4 songs, giving reasons/context if possible but this is not mandatory.
- It will probably be easier for the playlist maintainer if all 4 songs are listed in one post. As noted, you can talk about as many songs/albums as you like, but put your nominations for the playlist at the bottom of your post.

 

[mrbelfry]

How about only one song per artist with the nominator having the final say if there is more than one song nominated?

 

[RobMCFC]

How about only one song per artist with the nominator having the final say if there is more than one song nominated?

Not a bad idea but I think that if we have a sensible 4-songs limit, this should reduce the number of artists duplications anyway.

I’m actually heartened that others feel the way I do. I’m enjoying the thread and everybody’s contributions. But I was feeling a bit down about it today, worrying that we might be descending into the endless YouTube videos threads (except in this case with lists of songs).

And there’s no way I can commit to listening and commenting on 8-hour playlists.

 

[mrbelfry]

Not a bad idea but I think that if we have a sensible 4-songs limit, this should reduce the number of artists duplications anyway.

I’m actually heartened that others feel the way I do. I’m enjoying the thread and everybody’s contributions. But I was feeling a bit down about it today, worrying that we might be descending into the endless YouTube videos threads (except in this case with lists of songs).

And there’s no way I can commit to listening and commenting on 8-hour playlists.

The advantage of an 8 hour playlist is the chance you'd find a hidden gem you didn't know before like the Elton John song. I probably don't need to listen to Layla again so if I'm proactive I can whittle that 8 hours down BUT it does mean I cant just put it on when I'm washing the pots and hear anything but a small percentage of it. I could shuffle the playlist but whichever way you do it is a big commitment to get through the whole list.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

Not a bad idea but I think that if we have a sensible 4-songs limit, this should reduce the number of artists duplications anyway.

I think that's the right call and it will keep it to a manageable number.

I’m actually heartened that others feel the way I do. I’m enjoying the thread and everybody’s contributions. But I was feeling a bit down about it today, worrying that we might be descending into the endless YouTube videos threads (except in this case with lists of songs).

Same here, and I'm glad the updated rules won't have to change my approach to this. ;-)

And there’s no way I can commit to listening and commenting on 8-hour playlists.

For full and obvious disclosure, unless I'm on my bike and not able to easily advance this, I'm skipping over classic and well known songs and mostly listening to songs I had not heard in quite a while, or something I was otherwise unfamiliar with.

Layla and Lola may not like it, but Melanie and Christie are OK with this.

 

[OB1]

Not surprisingly, I completely disagree on the playlists.

I think to do justice to each year in the 70’s, you need 100 songs. If people don’t want to listen, skip anything you don’t fancy.

I’ve listened to 1970 in a couple of days this week while working. I enjoyed it very much.

I’ve already prepared my opening playlists for 1973 and 1975 and they have more than 10 songs and I am not changing them. If you want my narrative, which I have spent a lot of time on, they come with those playlists. Otherwise someone else can take those years and I will drop out of this.

 

[RobMCFC]

For full and obvious disclosure, unless I'm on my bike and not able to easily advance this, I'm skipping over classic and well known songs and mostly listening to songs I had not heard in quite a while, or something I was otherwise unfamiliar with.

Same here for the most part.

 

[RobMCFC]

Not surprisingly, I completely disagree on the playlists.

I think to do justice to each year in the 70’s, you need 100 songs. If people don’t want to listen, skip anything you don’t fancy.

I’ve listened to 1970 in a couple of days this week while working. I enjoyed it very much.

I’ve already prepared my opening playlists for 1973 and 1975 and they have more than 10 songs and I am not changing them. If you want my narrative, which i have spent a lot of time on, they come with those playlists. Otherwise someone else can take those years and I will drop out of this.

As I said, there’s no limit in the number of songs that you can write about, either in the initial playlist of people commenting and adding songs later.

I appreciate your commitment and enthusiasm to this and all the music threads, but where I thought I was on my own, it seems that most people feel that the playlists are far too long.

As you’ve put the work in, I’m more than happy to read what you’ve written and listen to the songs. But it’s on us all to keep the overall playlists for those years down to a manageable level for most people.

My own feeling is that I think you can have a good narrative without committing every song to the playlist, but I appreciate that not everybody feels the same way.

 

[RobMCFC]

Update ground rules on page #1:-

Ground Rules

Modified on 29/4/29 as the playlists lengths were getting out of hand.

1. The person providing the write-up for the current year starts the playlist with 10 songs.
2. To respect the work put in by the writer, any playlists that accompany write-ups that have been worked on before the 29/4/25 guidance change may be longer than 10 songs.
3. Each other nominator can then nominate up to 4 songs, giving reasons/context if possible but this is not mandatory.
4. It will probably be easier for the playlist maintainer if all 4 songs are listed in one post. As noted, you can talk about as many songs/albums as you like, but put your nominations for the playlist at the bottom of your post to make it clear what is being added to the playlist.
5. There is no limit to the number or albums or songs discussed in either the initial write-up or subsequent comments - it's simply the length of the playlist that we are trying to keep manageable.

 

[Resurrection Joe...]

Not surprisingly, I completely disagree on the playlists.

I think to do justice to each year in the 70’s, you need 100 songs. If people don’t want to listen, skip anything you don’t fancy.

I’ve listened to 1970 in a couple of days this week while working. I enjoyed it very much.

I’ve already prepared my opening playlists for 1973 and 1975 and they have more than 10 songs and I am not changing them. If you want my narrative, which I have spent a lot of time on, they come with those playlists. Otherwise someone else can take those years and I will drop out of this.

if you pull out...send DM me the write ups will ya....they are consistently informative and well written...

 

[threespires]

Not surprisingly, I completely disagree on the playlists.

I think to do justice to each year in the 70’s, you need 100 songs. If people don’t want to listen, skip anything you don’t fancy.

I’ve listened to 1970 in a couple of days this week while working. I enjoyed it very much.

I’ve already prepared my opening playlists for 1973 and 1975 and they have more than 10 songs and I am not changing them. If you want my narrative, which I have spent a lot of time on, they come with those playlists. Otherwise someone else can take those years and I will drop out of this.

Whilst I'm one of the ones who wants a shorter playlist overall, I think it would be a crying shame if you didn't do them. The 1969 intro was one of the best ones and your taste in the initial list was close to impeccable.

 

[RobMCFC]

Whilst I'm one of the ones who wants a shorter playlist overall, I think it would be a crying shame if you didn't do them. The 1969 intro was one of the best ones and your taste in the initial list was close to impeccable.

Totally agree.

The last thing I want to do is upset somebody like @OB1, who has been a magnificent supporter of all the music threads that I've created.

It's just about achieving that balance between the write-up and what goes in the playlist.

 

[RobMCFC]

Phew, finally finished the playlist! Highlights from the 2nd half:-

• "Funk #49" - James Gang - think we've had this on a playlist before. I remember saying that it sounds like it probably influenced "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins. Never heard of this band until "Ashes The Rain and I" was nominated for a playlist - the latter song sits on my "Blue Moon Best of" playlist.
• "Big Yellow Taxi" - Joni Mitchell - not sure I've heard this original, being familiar with the Counting Crows cover, but this is excellent. This and "Woodstock" on the same album - wow, fantastic. This has also gone on my "Blue Moon Best of" playlist - I love the raw sound of the acoustic guitar and Joni's singing.
• "Hurry on Sundown" by Hawkwind - also gone on the "Blue Moon best of"
• "Three Button Hand Me Down" - Faces - really enjoyed the organ on this
• and this - "Freedom Rider" - Traffic
• "If You Could Read My Mind" - Gordon Lightfoot - This sounds very familiar and it's a lovely song.

Overall, leaving quibbles about the running time aside, I think that this playlist makes a case for 1970 being a spectacular year in music.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Not surprisingly, I completely disagree on the playlists.

I think to do justice to each year in the 70’s, you need 100 songs. If people don’t want to listen, skip anything you don’t fancy.

I’ve listened to 1970 in a couple of days this week while working. I enjoyed it very much.

I’ve already prepared my opening playlists for 1973 and 1975 and they have more than 10 songs and I am not changing them. If you want my narrative, which I have spent a lot of time on, they come with those playlists. Otherwise someone else can take those years and I will drop out of this.

Don’t pull out mate. Maybe just don’t post a list of ten or more per day. :-) I have been guilty of that too. your musical knowledge and enthusiasm would be a huge loss for the thread. We have only just started and I’m sure there will be more tweaks as we go through the years.

 

[OB1]

So, just to make my position clear.

I am not upset or angry etc.

However, I forewarned that my initial playlists would not be restricted to 10 songs and those playlists come as a package with my narratives, which will also break the word count.

My starter playlists do not feature every song referenced in my write-ups, nowhere near.

Whilst I like long playlists, to do justice to the years, I can make my own from my cd / iTunes collection. I have about 100 albums from each of the next two years I have written about. I only use Spotify for Blue Moon threads.

I’ll restrict song suggestions on other people’s years and additions to my initial playlists.