Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

One more round with songs that have topped the charts and some obscure titles.

1972: David Bowie

1973: Kool and the Gang

1978: Chic

1978: The Police

1965: Spencer Davis Group

1977: Sex Pistols

1968: The Move

1884: Stone Temple Pilots

1969: The Band

1966: The Royal Guardsmen

1970: Stephen Stills

1979: The B-52s

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

My weekly ride through music history continues with some all time classics.

1977: Elvis Costello

1977: Sex Pistols

1977: Garland Jeffreys

1969: Neil Diamond

1971: Carole King

1971: Marvin Gaye

1967: Cream

1971: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway

1979: The Records

1985: Fine Young Cannibals

1969: Sly and the Family Stone

1959: Sam Cooke

1988: Patti Smith

Monday's Long Song

 

In the seventies, the cheapest way to travel to other countries was Interrail. For around 120 Euros, you could travel all over Europe by train for a month. My first travel was in 1976 and I explored France and Spain. There I learned to read the timetables and look for cheap accommodation. Of course, I got on the wrong train more than once, but that didn't matter, you just looked around where you were stranded.

A year later, I spent several weeks traveling through Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands with my younger brother. In addition to many impressions and getting to know other travelers, I will never forget Copenhagen. As we strolled through the wonderful old town, we spotted concert posters announcing the Sex Pistols for the evening. We then bought two tickets and went to Daddy's Dancehall, a medium-sized club centrally located in Copenhagen, in the evening. 

To be honest, we felt a bit queasy when we saw heavy motorcycles and wild men in leather in front of the entrance. The venue was dark and the DJ, who played classic rock, was enthroned four meters above the ground. The first song playing as we entered was Faith Healer, one of Alex Harvey's best songs. We then made our way to the back area by the bar, where we also had the best view of the stage.

Apart from God Save The Queen, I had no idea what to expect. When the band came on stage, we experienced the energy of punk for the first time. It was wild, raw, loud and terribly mixed, but with a magic that I had never experienced before. From then on, everything was different for me musically.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Faith Healer

A Summer Album At The End Of Summer

Hollie Cook released last year Happy Hour, an album that I liked and was played often during last summer. A few weeks ago the daughter of Pistols drummer Paul Cook released a second dub version of an album by her. Happy Hours In Dub is a relaxed and smooth version of her last years record. She got a feeling how to refine her superb songs. Perfectly arranged with horns and great bass-lines and a bit of Western touch she made an album far above mainstream. I wish this would be released a few month earlier to take me through the summer time.

 

The Queen Is Dead

 

The news appeared right now that queen Elisabeth II died a few hours ago at the age of 96. She wasn't head of state but she was always present during my whole life. I don't have to judge if she did a good job or not but she always represent Britain for me - if only many people could agree with her. Who will be the next king, I don't know but anyway he will never get the respect and reference she got. Here are only some songs that came to my mind when I heard about her passing away.

 

Live Adventures Of Past Times

 

Travelling in the 70's was much more difficult than today. Especially when you have a very low budget to spent. Under normal circumstances it is not a big problem to get a cheap flight to any capitol in Europe. Back then those flights were invaluable for one who had started his education as an apprentice boy. Nevertheless I needed to have a break to see other countries and cities. The cheapest way was to buy an Interrail Pass. This ticket was valid for one month and you could travel to in and between all participated countries for approximately 30 pounds. So me and my younger brother bought the tickets and traveled by train through Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France mostly close to the sea during July 1977. And it was fantastic to see all the countries, sleeping in youth hostels and meet all that different kind of people.

When we walked through Copenhagen we saw many bills announcing  The Sex Pistols playing two nights in town. I have to admit that I heard of them and that they are spearhead of the new punk movement but I didn't know any song by them. So I decided to get us tickets for the show and looking forward what will happen. Daddy's Dance Hall was a smaller but elevated club with a small stage and a long bar. The DJ before the show started played his records from a gallery circa 10 feet over the ground and the first song he played when we arrived was a loud version of Faith Healer by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. And this loundness was silent by comparison to what The Pistols would be able to. Sadly there were only a few dozen people watching the show but they missed something special. Not the sound - this was horrible and overcharged but to see those guys in their rotten and leather outfits playing with an energy I never saw before and seldom after. As far as I remember the gig ended after 45 minutes but they played all the songs they had in these days. From EMI to Anarchy In The UK, Pretty Vacant and God Save The Queen and a cover of The Stooges No Fun. But this concert changed my musical taste radically.

Sex Pistols - EMI

Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK

Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant

Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen

24 Hour Party People

Last weekend I watched 24 Hour Party People the comedy-drama biopic about the rise of Mancester's popular music scene especially Factory Records once again on television. I think I don't have to say much about Factory Records because a lot of was already said by Adam over the last years. What I can say is that it is always fun to watch Michael Winterbottom's movie because he convey the spirit of music from the first Sex Pistols concert into rave and DJ culture. And it is also a tribute to Tony Wilson without him this probably didn't happened the way it did. The development of this music was the road in music that I decided for me. There are so many bands and songs in this movie that makes me grab out my old records and listen to them once again with a smile on my face.

Under Cöver

When I made a backup of some files on my external hard drive a few days ago I found a copy of an album released by Motörhead in 2017. It is filled with cover versions in their typical sound. Some were released on various albums before, others were previously unreleased and I couldn't resist to play them once again. Although it isn't the music I regular listen to but it was pure fun to listen how Lemmy made this songs like they were written by himself. Actually he just wrote Motörhead when he was a part of Hawkwind.

Motörhead - Sympathy For The Devil
Motörhead - Motörhead
Motörhead - God Save The Queen

Does Anyone Remember Oi-Punk?

A few days ago I got the news that the albums by Cock Sparrer was released in a box-set of their albums released almost 40 years ago. As I read the news I got a flashback into the late 70's/early 80's when this band released songs that was on heavy rotation in my house and I played their songs while I was DJ-ing long time ago. All right - some of them will categorize them in a fascist way because there songs were hymns to skinheads and football hooligans. But for me they were nothing more or less perfect combinations of punk, pub rock and hooligan attitude. Formed in the mid 70's they had the chance to support the early Sex Pistols but Malcolm McLaren wasn't willing to spent them a couple of beers they declined to support them. Probably their biggest mistake ever. After decades it is still fun listening to urban hymns by West Ham United supporters. Bands like Boomtown Rats and The Undertones learned from them.

Cock Sparrer - Take 'Em All
Cock Sparrer - We Love You
Cock Sparrer - Runnin' Riot
Cock Sparrer - Riot Squad

Some Legends Are Back

Almost 40 years ago Paul Cook and Steve Jones formed from the ashes of Sex Pistols a new band. The Professionals were on the scene for a couple of years and disbanded in the early 80's. They were just a short story in music history and I have to admit that I didn't spent a mind about them until I read the news that they appeared on the scene with a new record. What In The World is nothing more or less than a good record celebrating the punk days today. Cook assembled some old buddies like Tom Spencer, Billy Duffy, Marco Pirroni and Mick Jones around him and it seems like they had real fun playing together. Most of the songs were dominated by punk riffs, catchy hooks and pushed rhythm. It is pure fun to listen to those old men playing.

The Professionals - New Generation
The Professionals - Good Man Down
The Professionals - Extremadura

Live Music On German TV

It was a series I had a few month ago. Most of the footage I saw the first time was on a monthly show called Musikladen. One of the earliest shows I remember was watching Slade performing. Getting big in the age of glam they were one of my earliest heroes. This band took me to the music and influenced my musical taste a lot. Now I know that I am not the only one who cited them as a main influence. The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Undertones and The Ramones cited them as well as a heavy influence. This are two classic songs of their early days. And Dave Hill was the first hooligan lookalike in these days.

Twice

These days The Robster wrote about what music means to him. I found so many words I can agree to. I seldom read a text about music and what it can mean which sums up a lot.For mor e than 40 years music accompanied me in different ways. Music makes me feel better when I am  down, gives me the power to continue and inspires me to many things. It is not just one kind of music I like and I don't stand too close to one kind of genre. Many of my friends still think in musical categories and are not ready to open their ears for new or another kind of music. When I started to follow some blogs a lot of you out there opened my ears for a very different kind of music and introduced me to some kind of music I didn't know before. For example Dirk posted some gems which are fantastic and I only knew a few of them. That's what I like - give me still more inspirations. There will be more music outside that should be worth to listen to. All in all: I can't imagine a life without music. The final words I borrowed by The Robster (sorry) 'You know what, my boy? You've actually had quite a lot of fun and some amazing experiences. Now stop moping and put some music on, you grumpy old bastard'.

Today's song is from the superb new album by Hollie Cook, the daughter of the Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook. She's a very clear voice and the songs fit absolutely to a warm summer night sitting together with a few friends and a fine bottle of wine.

Enjoy

Hollie Cook - Twice

What Happened To Pub Rock # 14

Today I would like to lose some words about a band which has become a firm institution in the pub rock scene. Nevertheless, looking back for many people only the fact that Joe Strummer has left the group to join The Clash will remain. I won't tell you some new facts that The Sex Pistols supported the 101ers. Therefore some statements by Joe Strummer himself:

"5 seconds into their (the Pistols') first song, I knew we were like yesterday's paper, we were over."

" know the 101ers were good. In fact, as far as sound and excitement went we were much better than Eddie and the Hot Rods. The other guys in the group were twenty-five and twenty-six and they played good because they'd spent a few years getting that far. But they were just too old. What I really wanted was to get in with some young yobbo's who I was more in tune with."

Anyway, this band should be named in this series.

Enjoy

The 101ers - Sweet Revenge
The 101ers - Gloria
The 101ers - Motors Boy Motor
The 101ers - Keys To Your Heart

Swords Of A Thousand Men

The average rock fan wouldn't remember Tenpole Tudor but I am sure that the ones who was addicted to punk music would remember very well. They were close to the Sex Pistols and had their first appearance in the movie The Great Rock and Roll Swindle. In the early 80s they had some chart success with songs like Three Bells In a Row and Wünderbar. I found a review at allmusic that says everything about the band:

This was a band, after all, that came across as a gang of rockabilly toughs decked out in medieval garb, led by a gangly, goofy drama student that could sing but not carry a tune. This was a band that reveled in silly antics and sillier songs, stealing from old-time rock & roll, punk, novelty pop, and country, turning it into a joyous, catchy cacophony. They were misfits, classic British eccentrics making music that was a jumbled mess of American pop music, filtered through wry British humor and punk. If they were a footnote, at best, to rock history, some may wonder why the hell anyone would want Swords of a Thousand Men...

So enjoy and sing along to this little gem.

Tenpole Tudor - Swords Of A Thousand Men

40 Record in 40 Years (4/40 - 1977)

My first year in business was not spectacular. I was oscillate between vocational school and education company. School was easy because I was used to it for long years. The learning contents formed the only difference. Much harder was to serve the customers, because you should be always friendly and cooperatively, say yes Sir or Madam. But month for month I have got used more to serving the customers. And after all it made more fun than I had to suffer.

In 1977 was also that year in which I could take my first big vacation.  Together with my younger brother with the train to Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium for less money with nothing else but a backpack. Leaving Germany behind, exploring new countries and cultures is one of the things I love from then on. I remember the days in Copenhagen staying in the youth hostel, flirting with some Swedish girl and one night we went to a concert. Walking through the city we saw some posters promoting a concert by the Sex Pistols. Never heard much  about them than her first single 'Anarchy in the U.K.' in which they attack conformity and deference to the crown. So we got some tickets and went to the club where the concert will take place. One hour before the whole place outside was covered with big Harley Davidsons and bikers with their typical outfit beside their bikes. My younger brother (there at the age of 16) got scared about them and didn't want to go inside. So I placed him in pub near by and told him to wait until I come back. Then I have also used all courage pass the bikers and get inside the club.

The club was without windows of course and the DJ played from a little loft four meters from the floor 'Faith Healer' from The Sensational Alex Harvey Bank in full volume. So I decided that this was a good place and got me a beer at the long counter waiting for the headliners to appear. Nearly 40 minutes later the music stopped and the band appeared with a 'Good evening, arseholes' and started playing their three-chord-thing. It was fascinating seeing Johnny Rotten building up an angry attitude to the audience that answered this with throwing filled plastic mugs to the stage and starting to pogo. This concert manifested my decision to follow the new kind of music and I wasn't disappointed in this decision the forthcoming years.

As said before this year were a totally break in music. On one side the followers of mainstream rock and on the other side the ones who listened with open ears to the new sound who came mostly from Great Britain. We, the listeners to the new sound, were blamed as punks even we didn't look like them a bit. They said this music is so simple and not enough for higher claims. We answered them as the BOF's who still suck in their old fashioned way of thinking. Even though there were a lot of good songs from 1977 that I like to hear nowadays too.

Commodores - Brick House: Great bass line

The Clash - Complete Control: Any word about this is already spoken

Cheap Trick: I want you to want me: Typical BOF, but nice to hear again after years

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer: Very new sounds from over the ocean

Rod Steward - You're in my heart: Listen to the first part of the lyrics you think it's just another love song but the end with 'you're Celtic United and I decided you're the best teams I've ever seen' is fantastic.

Billy Joel - She's always a woman to me: One of the best love songs ever.

Remarkable records published in 1977:

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours: Album of the year that everybody could agree with. Fantastic voices from Mrs. McVie and Nicks.

Television - Marquee Moon: Another band from CBGB's. Not a regular punk band in its textured, more a guitar-based interplay with long improvisations (punk turned into New Wave and art).

The Clash - The Clash: Rise of the giants. Every song's a winner.

Dave Edmunds - Get it: Welsh guitar player appears back on the scene with a record that shows the tradition in Rock 'n' Roll played with nowadays drive. Great songs, great records that was on heavy rotation this year. He also brought us back Nick Lowe who made great things the following years.

The Jam - In the city: Another giant appears. Paul Weller brought us back the mod style and their attitude. 

Dr. Feelgood - Sneaking Suspicion: May only for the title track that is typically for Wilco Johnson playing riffs and lead guitar at the same time.

Motörhead - Motörhead: Debut of the giants of heavy metal rock

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell: Another big selling record that many people could agree with. Many people played 'Paradise by the dashboard light' but less understood what's the meaning of the song.

Talking Heads - Talking Heads 77: New Wave from over the ocean again but with more influence of funk and soul.

Ian Dury - New Boots And Panites!!: Hit me with your rhythm stick; Wake up and make love with me - Great songs that I don't wanna miss.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers - same: If Mark Knopfler is the sultan of swing than Thorogood is the satan of slide. Seldom heard blues with this power. Awesome.

David Bowie - Heroes: His Berlin years with some of his best later songs on it

Iggy Pop - The Idiot and Lust for Life: Both records in one year featuring his collaboration with David Bowie. Lust for life is program. 

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True: Hard to decide that this is not the record that impressed me much this year. From all the new bands that appeared on the scene Mr. Costellos record was my favorite. His ability to write love songs that made my hairs stand up like 'Alison' or songs about the boredom in someones little world like 'Watching the detectives'. Also his political statement in 'Less than zero', which he wrote after he saw Oswald Mosley the former leader of BUF. This record spreads his wings over the many influences we would her from him in the next years.

What happened in the rest of the word:

Gary Gilmore's executed by firing squad in Utah (the first execution after the reintroduction of the death penalty in the U.S.).. Snow falls in Miami (despite its ordinarily tropical climate) for the only time in its history. Tenerife Desaster: A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people. This becomes the deadliest accident in aviation history.  A federal court in Stuttgart sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment. Some 200,000 protesters march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita Bryant's antigay remarks and the murder of Robert Hillsborough. 16-year-old shop assistant Jayne Macdonald is murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper in Leeds, England. Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethiopian-Somali War. eft-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht,^] Brigitte Mohnhaupt and a third person assassinate Jürgen Ponto, chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany. Elvis dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. Groucho Marx died in case of pneumonia at the age of 86. South African activist Steve Biko dies after suffering a massive head injury in police custody  in Pretoria. Marc Bolan dies in a car crash in Barnes, London. German Autums: Four Palestinians hijack a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demand the release of 11 Red Army Faction members (see Lufthansa Flight 181).GSG 9 troopers storm a hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; three of the four hijackers die.Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried on October 27. Jean-Bedèl Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor. VfB Stuttgart back in Bundesliga again.


What's in the movies?
Nothing big to remind: Saturday Night Fever (for those who need cocaine to stand the night), The Deep (Richard Dreyfuss, Nick Nolte and the fantastic Jaqueline Bisset - allways worth to watch again and not only for the wet T-Shirt).

From all the great records that was published this year I've chosen Steely Dan with her album 'Aja' as the record that I connect with this year.Why? Because the songs on this album gave me rest and balance in contrast to the music I listen all over the day. It is a record I used to listen later at the evening to. 

Wikipedia tells us about this record:

Describing the album in 1999, British musician Ian Dury said: "Well, Aja's got a sound that lifts your heart up.. and it's the most consistent up-full, heart-warming.. even though, it is a classic LA kinda sound. You wouldn't think it was recorded anywhere else in the world. It's got California through its blood, even though they are boys from New York.. It's a record that sends my spirits up, and really when I listen to music, really that's what I want."

Analyzing the band's song-writing style, Dury said: "They've got a skill that can make images that aren't puerile and don't make you think you've heard it before... very "Hollywood Flimic" in a way, the imagery is very imaginable, in a visual sense" and of their musical style: "Parker, Mingus, Blakey, I can hear in there.. Jazz Messengers I can hear in there, Bobby Timmons... the subject matter doesn't matter, it's the sound they're making." 

Thank you Ian, no more words necessary from me to say.

Steely Dan - Black Cow

Steely Dan - Aja

Steely Dan - Peg

Steely Dan - Home At Last

Steely Dan - Josie