Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1984 - (page 198)

Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
I was able to find them all on Spotify but this song:

We're now at just a bit under 7 hours, and given it's now Tuesday, we'll close the playlist for lots of listening over the next week. Thanks all for the suggestions for 1972!
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I know I invited OB1 and others to fill out the list but 3 h 41 m to 7 hours in just under a day feels like too big a leap in list size :)
 
RobMCFC said:
I know I invited OB1 and others to fill out the list but 3 h 41 m to 7 hours in just under a day feels like too big a leap in list size :)
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And in fairness, I did ASK, but I'm fine either way. I won't be listening all the way though the songs I know, just putting it out there.

I just wish "Supper's Ready" had been one of them! ;-)
 
Dipping in and out of the playlist on shuffle each time.
Out of stuff I haven’t heard before I’ve found myself checking out Aphrodite Child a few times. I’d heard of them but never listened to them before.
Very good.
Also, Blue Oyster Cult. The only one I really knew was Reaper.
This is quite impressive too.

Quite an enjoyable mix again.
 
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Notes on the 1972 playlist:-

On the whole, I don't think that this playlist was up to the level of the last few years but that doesn't mean there wasn't stuff to enjoy.

- I appreciated the sould/funk on the initial list - "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" by The Temptations and "Love Train" by the O'Jays.
- "The City of New Orleans" was a song I knew some of the words to so it was good to hear the full song.
- "Schools Out" by Alice Cooper, "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed, "Listen to the Music" by The Doobie Brothers and "Popcorn" were classics I enjoyed.
- "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" by Richard Thompson, "Looking Into You" by Jackson Browne and "Turn to Stone" by Joe Walsh were songs I didn't know but enjoyed.
- As part of the follow up to last year's playlist, I listened to the Argus album by Wishbone Ash, so it was good to see "Leaf an Stream" nominated here.
- Both tracks by Blue Oyster Cult were great.
- "Stuck in The Middle With You" was on my initial list so glad somebody picked it.
- "Son of My Father" by Chicory Tip brought back memories of singing "Lancy, Lancy, Lancy, Lancy, Lancashire" at the cricket when I was a kid!
- What the hell happened to Hawkwind since "Hurry on Sundown" on 197s list? "Silver Machine" wasn't in the same league (although I remember OB1 saying that the former wasn't representative of their sound).
- "Return to Forever" by Chick Corea is a nice highlight from near the end of the list.
- "It Never Rains in Southern California" by Albert Hammond - a song I know so it was good to put a name to the song.
 
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Roberta Flack.
I was going to nominate this but someone beat me to it. However, as is my wont, I would like to offer a little background to the song.
Ewan MacColl wrote it in 1957. At the time he had fallen hopelessly in love with Peggy Seeger but was still married to Jean Newlove, his second wife. They had a brief affair. ( They later married.)
Peggy Seeger went to the states to put distance between them as she felt guilty over the affair. MacColl was banned from the US due to his membership of the Communist Party.
Seeger rang him one day asking for an upbeat song for a play she was in and he produced this song in an hour and taught her it over the phone, later sending tapes to help her. Seeger did not realise it was MacColl’s declaration of love to her and sang it in the play with a man as the object of affection.
There matters might have rested, but Clint Eastwood heard a version Roberta Flack had recorded for an 1969 album and included it in his film ‘Play Misty for Me’ released in the autumn of 1971. The song took off, Flack’s record company released a single. It became a world wide hit, won Grammy’s Record of the year and Song of the year. MacColl was astonished to be told he had a hit on his hands.
In the sixties the song had been covered by several performers including the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary and Gordon Lightfoot. MacColl hated all the covers, especially a later version by Elvis. He kept copies of all of them in his ‘Chamber of Horrors.’ The song was also used as the wake up music on Apollo17.
A long sleeper, a hit 15 years after it was written and used in Peggy Seeger’s play.
 
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KS55 said:
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Roberta Flack.
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It's one of the greatest love songs ever written, sung by one of the best singers of all time. It's such an utterly beautiful song.

I've listened to it hundreds of times over the years and it still gets me to this day. It just makes you want to stop whatever you're doing and just ... listen.
 
Just a few thoughts on the playlist:


I was surprised ZZ Top were around in 72, but they are just a massively underrated band for me. They don't do anything 'clever', they just do the basics really, really well. In some ways they remind me of AC/DC - you know what you're getting when you put their stuff on. No surprises, no funny business, just straight up on-the-bone rock'n'roll which absolutely hits the spot.

"And You and I" by Yes is a classic.

Slade made some absolutely brilliant songs. Merry Christmas is a timeless classic, but just how good is "Mama Weer..."? Good music doesn't always have to be clever - simple, catchy stuff is really hard to beat. Same with Status Quo. And T-Rex. Over a few beers and watching the Old Grey Whistle Test etc me and my Dad often debate T-Rex - I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like them apart from him! :D I adore T-Rex, brilliant, simple, catchy, melodic music.

Steely Dan are just brilliant, simple as that. There's so much depth in their songs it's unreal - the sound, production, playing, lyrics and general cleverness is almost opposite to Slade and the Quo but both are just insanely good at what they do. The Dan are one of those bands who I could listen to for hours.

Mother And Child Reunion is an absolute highlight from this year. Paul Simon at his best is right up there with any other songwriter. I've had MACR on full whack loads of times in the car! :D

Pink Moon by Nick Drake is brilliant, as is the album it's from. In fact all his albums are brilliant.

I am a big electronic music fan but I was genuinely surprised to see Popcorn was on there :O it's a timeless classic and it sounds years ahead of it's time. It's incredible to think that Popcorn sounds 'novelty' but it's only a year or so away from the likes of Phaedra and Rubycon by Tangerine Dream and 4/5 years away from I Feel Love by Donna Summer - it highlights the speed that music was progressing in this era.

Albert Hammond is some songwriter.

What a year 1972 was - plenty of variety, but across it all is something I keep coming back to. It's melodic. I do think that we've lost that emphasis on melody at some point and it will be interesting as we go down the years to see where that changes, but all I hear in these songs - regardless of genre - it melody through everything. It's all catchy. Some is straight up rock'n'roll or jazz infused or whatever, but it's catchy.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
It's one of the greatest love songs ever written, sung by one of the best singers of all time. It's such an utterly beautiful song.

I've listened to it hundreds of times over the years and it still gets me to this day. It just makes you want to stop whatever you're doing and just ... listen.
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And written by an amazing character. MacColl’s life story is like something out of a family saga novel. Did you know, for eg, he was the publicity officer for the mass trespass on Kinder Scout or that he was the first to collect and document ‘Scarboro Fair’?
 
BimboBob said:
Fucking hell...it was your fault.

A 7 hours long playlist is pointless. No chance of listening to it all. 3 or 4 songs from each poster was manageable. Just.
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I agree, and apologies.

I've made the point before that we are supposed to be looking at the significant songs from any given year. Yes, there is always room for personal favourites or a hidden gem that you think others may be missing, but a bit of context rather than a huge list of songs is what I'm looking for.

However, this thread will go where it goes and dictated by the people who post on it. I have managed to listen to every playlist in full but sometimes it is a grind to get through it just to hear one or two good tracks in every 10.
 
KS55 said:
And written by an amazing character. MacColl’s life story is like something out of a family saga novel. Did you know, for eg, he was the publicity officer for the mass trespass on Kinder Scout or that he was the first to collect and document ‘Scarboro Fair’?
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Yes and so should everyone because it was in my write-up for the folk and country primer! :)

See the write-up and playlist on page #29.

Although I didn't know that he wrote that song, so it's a very nice link back to something earlier in our Rock Evolution journey.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
Just a few thoughts on the playlist:


I was surprised ZZ Top were around in 72, but they are just a massively underrated band for me. They don't do anything 'clever', they just do the basics really, really well. In some ways they remind me of AC/DC - you know what you're getting when you put their stuff on. No surprises, no funny business, just straight up on-the-bone rock'n'roll which absolutely hits the spot.

"And You and I" by Yes is a classic.

Slade made some absolutely brilliant songs. Merry Christmas is a timeless classic, but just how good is "Mama Weer..."? Good music doesn't always have to be clever - simple, catchy stuff is really hard to beat. Same with Status Quo. And T-Rex. Over a few beers and watching the Old Grey Whistle Test etc me and my Dad often debate T-Rex - I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like them apart from him! :D I adore T-Rex, brilliant, simple, catchy, melodic music.

Steely Dan are just brilliant, simple as that. There's so much depth in their songs it's unreal - the sound, production, playing, lyrics and general cleverness is almost opposite to Slade and the Quo but both are just insanely good at what they do. The Dan are one of those bands who I could listen to for hours.

Mother And Child Reunion is an absolute highlight from this year. Paul Simon at his best is right up there with any other songwriter. I've had MACR on full whack loads of times in the car! :D

Pink Moon by Nick Drake is brilliant, as is the album it's from. In fact all his albums are brilliant.

I am a big electronic music fan but I was genuinely surprised to see Popcorn was on there :O it's a timeless classic and it sounds years ahead of it's time. It's incredible to think that Popcorn sounds 'novelty' but it's only a year or so away from the likes of Phaedra and Rubycon by Tangerine Dream and 4/5 years away from I Feel Love by Donna Summer - it highlights the speed that music was progressing in this era.

Albert Hammond is some songwriter.

What a year 1972 was - plenty of variety, but across it all is something I keep coming back to. It's melodic. I do think that we've lost that emphasis on melody at some point and it will be interesting as we go down the years to see where that changes, but all I hear in these songs - regardless of genre - it melody through everything. It's all catchy. Some is straight up rock'n'roll or jazz infused or whatever, but it's catchy.
Click to expand...

I don’t know Nick Drake’s music, so interesting to her something from him.

Can’t disagree with anything you have written.
 
BimboBob said:
Fucking hell...it was your fault.

A 7 hours long playlist is pointless. No chance of listening to it all. 3 or 4 songs from each poster was manageable. Just.
Click to expand...

I’ve played it all and will probably play most of it agin today.

Just skip stuff you know well or don’t like.

I’ve heard several tracks I didn’t know, which is interesting, and been reminded of some others I have not heard in ages.
 
Status Quo released Piledriver in 1972, the first in a series of impeccable albums they put out up to Live in 1977. Even though the band eventually became something of a joke, it’s worth remembering that for a few years in the '70s, they were the dog's bollocks.
 
OB1 said:
I’ve played it all and will probably play most of it agin today.

Just skip stuff you know well or don’t like.

I’ve heard several tracks I didn’t know, which is interesting, and been reminded of some others I have not heard in ages.
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Even in the rough guide/ ground rules it says...4 songs. Not 20. Or 30.

I get that this is your era, but bloody hell mate, it's a pain for the person collating them and a pain to listen to. Skip, skip, skip...as all the stuff I listen to regularly is passed by...skip, skip, skip...oh, a nugget...skip, skip, skip...

Or maybe that's just me...and when I hit 1976 onwards I do the same as you. Who can tell.
 
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