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

OB1 said:
I’ll go with a Thin Lizzy track for my third pick, which I previously wrote about when reviewing “Live and Dangerous”.

Phil goes all James Jamerson as his bass line brings in the Motownesque Dancing in the Moonlight. This is one of two Lizzy songs that I adore beyond words, not least because Phil’s words perfectly capture the experience of being a teenager in love:

“When I passed you in the doorway
Well, you took me with a glance
I should've took that last bus home
But I asked you for a dance
Now we go steady to the pictures
I always get chocolate stains on my pants
And my father, he's going crazy
He says I'm livin' in a trance”
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Though I'd argue the Jamerson comparison is a bit of a stretch it's a brilliant track that just oozes charm at a level most rock bands could only dream of.

It's also put me in a soulful mood for my last pick. Sometimes reinventions don't work but by '77 the Reverend Al had God on his side and he took a different tack and produced one of the great underated albums. The opener from The Belle Album...

Al Green - Belle
 
One thing I enjoyed emerging in the late 1970's was the combo-track. You know the ones, where song 1 HAS to be completed by song 2, where the sum of the parts is greater than each piece by itself and it would be sacrilege to play one without the other.

1977 had a couple classic ones too. One didn't get nominated, and if I had a spare OB1 card in the pocket, it probably should, even though we all know it by heart... Queen's "We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions".

Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" / "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" from their second album would be another example from 1969, and we would see this popularized more during this decade. I guess the whole 2nd half of Abbey Road could be considered one long song, but you get the point.

I regret I've also run out of cards to put up a track from Styx's first cohesive concept album I got into that year, The Grand Illusion. I'd love to Come Sail Away, but again, there's only so many pockets left to look into for that extra ticket to ride.

So, I'll instead put up a song from this artist's highly successful live album about life on the road as a touring band. This album was recorded live on the road for the artist's prior year studio album release, but it was filled with all new live material, rather than live versions of prior studio songs, so that's how they live on today. In addition to tracks recorded on-stage during concerts, it contains songs recorded in hotel rooms, on the tour bus, and backstage. And yes, Forrest Gump and I both know the title song of this release was more popular, but this song has always stuck with me for a true view of "life on the road" and all the band inside jokes and insights into an artist traveling from city to city on tour.

People you've got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through
Come along, sing this song
You know that you can't go wrong

"The Load-Out"/"Stay" - Jackson Browne

(there are worse songs to end a playlist on, if this is the last one we will Awaken to, but that is up to PJ too ;-) )
 
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Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
One thing I enjoyed emerging in the late 1970's was the combo-track. You know the ones, where song 1 HAS to be completed by song 2, where the sum of the parts is greater than each piece by itself and it would be sacrilege to play one without the other.

1977 had a couple classic ones too. One didn't get nominated, and if I had a spare OB1 card in the pocket, it probably should, even though we all know it by heart... Queen's "We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions".

Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" / "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" from their second album would be another example from 1969, and we would see this popularized more during this decade. I guess the whole 2nd half of Abbey Road could be considered one long song, but you get the point.

I regret I've also run out of cards to put up a track from Styx's first cohesive concept album I got into that year, The Grand Illusion. I'd love to Come Sail Away, but again, there's only so many pockets left to look into for that extra ticket to ride.

So, I'll instead put up a song from this artist's highly successful live album about life on the road as a touring band. This album was recorded live on the road for the artist's prior year studio album release, but it was filled with all new live material, rather than live versions of prior studio songs, so that's how they live on today. In addition to tracks recorded on-stage during concerts, it contains songs recorded in hotel rooms, on the tour bus, and backstage. And yes, Forrest Gump and I both know the title song of this release was more popular, but this song has always stuck with me for a true view of "life on the road" and all the band inside jokes and insights into an artist traveling from city to city on tour.

People you've got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through
Come along, sing this song
You know that you can't go wrong

"The Load-Out"/"Stay" - Jackson Browne

(there are worse songs to end a playlist on, if this is the last one we will Awaken to, but that is up to PJ too ;-) )
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“The Grand Illusion” is one of my most loved albums. There’s a host of stuff I’d love to see on the playlist and a track from that album would be high on the list.
 
OB1 said:
“The Grand Illusion” is one of my most loved albums. There’s a host of stuff I’d love to see on the playlist and a track from that album would be high on the list.
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Echo these thoughts.
Definitely Styx at their pinnacle along with Pieces of Eight imho.
I would have chosen a track from the former had I known of them in 1977
 
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Pieces of Eight is even better than The Grand Illusion, IMO. However, just to prove that everyone has different opinions on these things, Rolling Stone critic Lester Bangs had this to say about it:

"what's really interesting is not that such narcissistic slop should get recorded, but what must be going on in the minds of the people who support it in such amazing numbers. Gall, nerve and ego have never been far from great rock & roll. Yet there's a thin but crucial line between those qualities and what it takes to fill arenas today: sheer self-aggrandizement on the most puerile level. If these are the champions, gimme the cripples."

I guess the irony is that he could well be have been describing himself in that review, as he appears to have been the very definition of a narcissist. Still, it would have been hard growing up with that name, he must have been incessantly bullied as a child and ridiculed as an adult!
 
homerdog said:
Pieces of Eight is even better than The Grand Illusion, IMO. However, just to prove that everyone has different opinions on these things, Rolling Stone critic Lester Bangs had this to say about it:

"what's really interesting is not that such narcissistic slop should get recorded, but what must be going on in the minds of the people who support it in such amazing numbers. Gall, nerve and ego have never been far from great rock & roll. Yet there's a thin but crucial line between those qualities and what it takes to fill arenas today: sheer self-aggrandizement on the most puerile level. If these are the champions, gimme the cripples."

I guess the irony is that he could well be have been describing himself in that review, as he appears to have been the very definition of a narcissist. Still, it would have been hard growing up with that name, he must have been incessantly bullied as a child and ridiculed as an adult!
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Lester - entertaining but not to be taken seriously. Mind you, Styx aren’t to be taken seriously, they are simply to be enjoyed: the kings of Pomp Rock.
 
OB1 said:
Lester - entertaining but not to be taken seriously. Mind you, Styx aren’t to be taken seriously, they are simply to be enjoyed: the kings of Pomp Rock.
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I think it is now hilarious we have 6 replies from the regret of not hearing anything nominated from The Grand Illusion.

Deep inside, we're all the same, indeed.

Also PJ, you got "The Load Out" from my song 1, but please don't leave us hanging without "Stay" if that's alright. ;-)
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
I think it is now hilarious we have 6 replies from the regret of not hearing anything nominated from The Grand Illusion.

Deep inside, we're all the same, indeed.

Also PJ, you got "The Load Out" from my song 1, but please don't leave us hanging without "Stay" if that's alright. ;-)
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There’s not Cheap Trick or Lynyrd Skynyrd; they were mentioned but not actually nominated by MCFCTrick.
 
Out on blue 6 said:
Bob Marley and The Wailers released Exodus this year and I'm surprised no one put one up.
Natural Mystic is only 3 minutes long.
Just saying
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True given that even allowing for genre preferences most on here could hum probably half a dozen tracks from it. Maybe there's something to be said for going at least part OB1 :-)

I'd support it slipping under the wire but if the searchlights are on there's the always the opportunity to nominate something from Babylon by Bus next week.
 
Out on blue 6 said:
Bob Marley and The Wailers released Exodus this year and I'm surprised no one put one up.
Natural Mystic is only 3 minutes long.
Just saying
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I think we're starting to suffer from not enough nominators and the flybys that mention an album, but nothing is put from it.
threespires said:
True given that even allowing for genre preferences most on here could hum probably half a dozen tracks from it. Maybe there's something to be said for going at least part OB1 :-)

I'd support it slipping under the wire but if the searchlights are on there's the always the opportunity to nominate something from Babylon by Bus next week.
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I wouldn't cry if a few OB1 cards came out of the pocket this late to give us the playlist the year deserves. We're not even 5 hours.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
I think we're starting to suffer from not enough nominators and the flybys that mention an album, but nothing is put from it.

I wouldn't cry if a few OB1 cards came out of the pocket this late to give us the playlist the year deserves. We're not even 5 hours.
Click to expand...

@Protein Junkie is manning the searchlights this week, as our tunnel has come up short I guess it's up to him whether he turns a blind eye. Maybe we can bribe him with black market chocolate?
 
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