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

threespires said:
1968 was a fairly quiet year on the jazz front but did have one very important album. It's not on Spotify so I won't nominate it, which I suspect many of you would think is a blessing because the album heralds the dawn of European Free Jazz, Peter Brotzmann's album Machine Gun.

This is the kind of stuff that the Fast Show was aiming at when it did a long complicated introduction to a daftly named act who would then just make random squawking noises on instruments they seem to have no clue about (in fairness one of his later tracks is called Productive Cough, which is exactly the type of song title the Fast Show would have mocked).

However, the players on this know what they are doing and there's a bit more to it than that I think. This is by a long margin the 'heaviest' album I have; it makes most a metal sound like Taylor Swift. It's not heavy in a conventional sense in fact it's not anything in the conventional sense. The aptly named 17 min title track is an atonal cacophony that basically sounds like a fight with instruments. It's not something you'd have on heavy rotation but breaking it out now and then will reveal all sorts of interesting stuff not noticed previously. It's a pretty angry piece of music and if you were in any doubt the Summer of Love was long gone this would put straight on that.

Is it even music? Some would say not. It's definitely art of some form and I would argue does fit into the music category. It's divisive in the same way abstract art is. I suspect if you appreciate something like Guernica as a painting you might 'get' this. Lot's of people think it's unlistenable, someone once said it makes Trout Mask Replica sound like The Carpenters.

So why would anyone listen to it? I think the parallel with metal helps again here. There's a cathartic release in heavier music that you can see visibly at a gig. Though this is much more disconcerting and uncomfortable than most metal it has that same type of catharsis. Possibly more so as you are pretty much putting yourself through the wringer to listen to it and there's a reasonable chance until the comedown you'll be agitated enough to want to give someone or something a kicking. Which brings me to it's current value.

I listened to it a short while ago and my immediate thought was just how fitting it is for the times we find outselves in. Having lived in the shadow of US jazz for decades, this album was Europe going it's own way with a big F*** Y** and leaving US avant garde jazz to do it's own thing. America generally didn't get it and I don't think Peter Brotzmann gave a shit about that. It's an album that is angry about the state of things and is going to let you know that. But the chaos of the music isn't a kind of drag you into the abyss thing, it's more a galvinise yourself fix up look sharp kind of call to arms that gets you properly pumped up.

The title track is available on YT and you might not get through more than the first minute (which is the hardest) but if you persist there's a little oasis of calm around 9 mins in where there's some weird bowing on bass guitars (basically like everyone in a mass brawl getting second wind before going again) and then it kicks off again. If you do get to the end you might perversely find yourself a bit more optimistic and ready for giving VP Fat Adam Lambert a proper good shoo-in.
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cheers, haven't heard of this, but as a Trout Mask Replica devotee, i,m gonna give it a go...
 
Resurrection Joe... said:
cheers, haven't heard of this, but as a Trout Mask Replica devotee, i,m gonna give it a go...
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To be clear it doesn't sound too much like TMR (it's three tenor saxes, some other wind instruments, 2 basses and drums) more to do with the level of challenge. That said if you like something like Hair Pie Bake 1 then this might be your kind of thing.

Every now and then I have the urge to nominate Trout Mask Replica on the album thread.
 
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threespires said:
To be clear it doesn't sound too much like TMR (it's three tenor saxes, some other wind instruments, 2 basses and drums) more to do with the level of challenge. That said if you like Hair Pie Bake 1 then this might be your kind of thing.
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yeah, thats what I thought..and HPB 1 is uneasy listening!....still, i will get on it.

Quick Q..what was the name of the guy who would play 3 saxes at the same time?...name escapes me at the moment...now that's what I call Avant garde.
 
Resurrection Joe... said:
yeah, thats what I thought..and HPB 1 is uneasy listening!....still, i will get on it.

Quick Q..what was the name of the guy who would play 3 saxes at the same time?...name escapes me at the moment...now that's what I call Avant garde.
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Sounds like the sort of thing Roland Kirk used to do?

Edit. Just had a mooch on YT for this, about 1.30 in. Quick aside Derek Trucks really loves this guy.

 
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mancity111 said:
Sky Pilot - Eric Burdon & The Animals

One of the few English bands to play at Monterey its impossible not to include them and there ode to Monterey in 1968 releasing three albums including the Twain hall Meet which I have on vinyl and includes this 7 and half minute masterpiece produced by Tom Wilson one of the best and most underrated IMO of his time.
The angry little gnome even had a big hand in writing this song IMO up with the best he was involved in throughout his long and influential career.

Classical Gas - Mason Williams

For anyone learning acoustic guitar as I did and very poorly at that this is one of that sits at the top of the pile to mimic if you dare.

With the Wrecking Crew in tow its an absolute masterpiece that instantly makes you stop and listen no matter what else is on your plate at the time.
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Wow, it has been ages since I heard those songs, and nearly had forgotten all about singing along to the first as a kid when I heard it, not often on the radio, but enough to remember.

"Classical Gas" was another I recognized right away from the first chords, just amazing. Been ages since I heard that one. Just a great toe stomping song to enjoy again - and those horns. Thanks!
 
threespires said:
To be clear it doesn't sound too much like TMR (it's three tenor saxes, some other wind instruments, 2 basses and drums) more to do with the level of challenge. That said if you like something like Hair Pie Bake 1 then this might be your kind of thing.

Every now and then I have the urge to nominate Trout Mask Replica on the album thread.
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Don’t do it mate. ;-)
 
Thanks for all of the great 1968 contributions so far! Let me know if I have missed adding any to the playlist. I just added a few more that were on my short list.

For a little more Motown:
Love Child - Diana Ross and The Supremes

From Child Is Father to the Man, the first album from Blood, Sweat and Tears led by Al Kooper:
I Can't Quit Her - Blood, Sweat and Tears

And, the other Goffin/King cover from The Notorious Byrd Brothers:
Goin' Back - The Byrds
 
Jerry Butler was smooth in the vocal category, and it appears his music hasn't yet been noted here. Until now.

Back in 1968, Jerry teamed up with producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia at the new Sigma Sound Studio to make the classic album, The Ice Man Cometh. Philly DJ Georgie Woods gave Butler the "Iceman" nickname while performing in a Philadelphia theater. This album was noted as a "brilliant showcase for Butler’s often bittersweet voice" and the production prototypical for "the Philadelphia International sound" that would be later prominent by the 1970s.

Jerry Butler passed away just last month from the effects of Parkinson's disease at the age of 85. He will be remembered both for his earlier work with The Impressions (along with Curtis Mayfield) and his R&B and Chicago and Philly Soul sound and influences as a solo artist.

This classic song would be covered by the following musicians: Elvis Presley (1969), Skeeter Davis (1969), Billy Paul (1977), Rod Stewart (2009), Larry Carlton (2010), and Bruce Springsteen (2022 on his album of the same name).

"Only The Strong Survive" - Jerry Butler
 
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My pick for a Jazz track.

Filles de Kilimanjaro: This album featured a more relaxed and atmospheric sound, with compositions that included a touch of Latin and world music influences.
The album is a transitional work for Davis, who was shifting stylistically from acoustic recordings to the Jazz fusion of his subsequent "electric period". Filles de Kilimanjaro was well received by contemporary music critics, who viewed it as a significant release in modern jazz. Pianist Chick Corea and bassist Dave Holland appear on two tracks, marking their first participation on a Davis album.

 
I find myself going a bit Stewpot Stewart...

Don't how to spell out a whip crack noise so I'll have to content myself with "In Xanaduuuu, in Xanduuuuu"

The Legend of Xanadu - Dave Dee. Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich

Have mentioned before that I find it amazing that it's a 16 year old singing on this one...

Everlasting Love - Love Affair

I will draw the line though at Esther and Ani Ofarim! and instead offer a song from a band with a top bloke who's still going strong today...

Amen Corner - Bend Me Shake Me

Though this is poppy, Andy F-L is well into his mid 70s and still recording and touring like a proper bluesman. Got a new album out currently.

And now for a change of tone. I don't know if I'm weird in having thought about what I want when the curtain shuts on me at the crem. I'm down to 3 or 4 choices, one of which is from next year but this one was a hit in 68. Of all the songs that make me think of my mortality not in a bad way but in terms of how lucky I've been, it's this.

Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

68 was a great year for pop songs. A young Eddie Grant in the Equals, Cass Elliott's beautiful rendition of Dream a Little Dream. Despite being in San Francisco don't know how many of our US friends would know where the,"Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls" was? Eloise by Barry Ryan. Walk Away Renee and Do You Know the Way to San Jose, some really great music. Possibly best to draw a veil over Union Gap's Young Girl.
 
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threespires said:
I find myself going a bit Stewpot Stewart...

Don't how to spell out a whip crack noise so I'll have to content myself with "In Xanaduuuu, in Xanduuuuu"

The Legend of Xanadu - Dave Dee. Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich

Have mentioned before that I find it amazing that it's a 16 year old singing on this one...

Everlasting Love - Love Affair

I will draw the line though at Esther and Ani Ofarim! and instead offer a song from a band with a top bloke who's still going strong today...

Amen Corner - Bend Me Shake Me

Though this is poppy, Andy F-W is well into his mid 70s and still recording and touring like a proper bluesman. Got a new album out currently.

And now for a change of tone. i don't know if I'm weird in having thought about what I want when the curtain shuts on me at the crem. I'm down to 3 or 4 choices, one of which is from next year but this one was a hit in 68. Of all the songs that make me me think of my mortality not in a bad way but in terms of how lucky I've been, it's this.

Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

68 was a great year for pop songs. A young Eddie Grant in the Equals, Cass Elliott's beautiful rendition of Dream a Little Dream. Despite being in San Francisco don't know how many of our US friends would know where the,"Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls" was? Eloise by Barry Ryan. Walk Away Renee and Do You Know the Way to San Jose, some really great music. Possibly best to draw a veil over Union Gap's Young Girl.
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shame 'young Girl' had dubious lyrics, great tune and vocal.
We could go for 'Lady Will Power' which had pretty much the same tune...same year.

Lady Will Power. Gary Puckett & Union Gap.
 
Bill Walker said:
My pick for a Jazz track.

Filles de Kilimanjaro: This album featured a more relaxed and atmospheric sound, with compositions that included a touch of Latin and world music influences.
The album is a transitional work for Davis, who was shifting stylistically from acoustic recordings to the Jazz fusion of his subsequent "electric period". Filles de Kilimanjaro was well received by contemporary music critics, who viewed it as a significant release in modern jazz. Pianist Chick Corea and bassist Dave Holland appear on two tracks, marking their first participation on a Davis album.

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On another thread I think it was @Coatigan who said he thought rock had a habit of despising and eating itself every two decades or so in a way that genres like jazz didn't. Though jazz had had lots of innovation each decade since it's inception and things did go in and out of fashion, what's interesting about looking at the better selling albums of 68 is what a broad mix they are. This album alongside big band stuff, very latin jazz, stride, hard bop, trad and soul focused jazz all rubbing alongside each other with more than a bit of willingness to crossover and fuse. We must be getting close to the likes of Weather Report fusing things even further.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Jerry Butler was smooth in the vocal category, and it appears his music hasn't yet been noted here. Until now.

Back in 1968, Jerry teamed up with producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia at the new Sigma Sound Studio to make the classic album, The Ice Man Cometh. Philly DJ Georgie Woods gave Butler the "Iceman" nickname while performing in a Philadelphia theater. This album was noted as a "brilliant showcase for Butler’s often bittersweet voice" and the production prototypical for "the Philadelphia International sound" that would be later prominent by the 1970s.

Jerry Butler passed away just last month from the effects of Parkinson's disease at the age of 85. He will be remembered both for his earlier work with The Impressions (along with Curtis Mayfield) and his R&B and Chicago and Philly Soul sound and influences as a solo artist.

This classic song would be covered by the following musicians: Elvis Presley (1969), Skeeter Davis (1969), Billy Paul (1977), Rod Stewart (2009), Larry Carlton (2010), and Bruce Springsteen (2022 on his album of the same name).

"Only The Strong Survive" - Jerry Butler
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Despite loving the absolutely immense Curtis Mayfield, I've never listened to Jerry Butler's solo work.

I'm correcting this as we speak, many thanks.
 
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