Turning 50 in '23 (Part I)
Albums (The Bus 3.25)
Welcome aboard The Bus!
The Stop
1973 was a remarkably fertile year for music, literature and film, and over the next weeks The Bus is going to make a few Stops to examine some of this output. Today’s Stop is about the music, and there were unquestionably some behemoths released in 1973: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On, Billy Joel’s Piano Man and Black Sabbath’s Sunday Bloody Sabbath, to name just five.1 However, other - equally classic - albums were released which, while not played as much (at least, not by me), nevertheless should remain essential components to anyone’s playlist. Today’s Bus Stop highlights five.
The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is Bruce Springsteen’s second album - and his second album released in 1973. The follow-up to Greetings from Asbury Park, this sophomore effort is a ‘masterclass of rag-tag rock ‘n’ roll stuffed to the brim with jazz and blues.’ A collection of ‘romanticised odes to working class nights tumbling into metropolitan dreams of success,’ the songs are as vibrant today as they were upon their release. It’s proof (along with the oft-neglected Nebraska (1982))2 that pre-Born in the USA (1984) Springsteen is probably best.
Innervisions is Stevie Wonder’s 16th album - and he was only 23 when it was released. One of his ‘greatest feats,’ the album ‘solidified him as a titan of funk and soul.’ Winner of Album of the Year at the 1974 Grammy Awards, Innervisions contains ‘perfect, unparalleled compositions tackling everything from love to drug addiction to racial inequality.’ The album proved that Wonder was ‘more than just a romantic soul’ - a fact driven home in the following decades.
Quadrophrenia is The Who’s sixth album and the band’s third rock opera after the mini-opera A Quick One, While He’s Away (1966) and the mega-hit Tommy (1969). The story of a young mod who’s trying to find his path in life, Quadrophrenia is ‘perhaps the most ambitious of The Who’s many forward-thinking records.’ A brilliant cohesion of story and music, the album’s ‘empathetic look at youth culture in Britain’ is essentially without parallel. It’s also very, very good.
The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get is Joe Walsh’s3 second solo album. Filled with a variety of styles including blues, jazz, pop and folk, this proved to be the Eagles guitarist’s breakthrough as a solo artist. Inspiration for its most famous track - ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ - evidently came to him as he was mowing his lawn in Colorado, which - I guess - proves greatness can result from even the most mundane activities. A great, overlooked album.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is Elton John’s seventh album and an outstanding example of the ‘magic that was the Elton John-Bernie Taupin song writing partnership.’ Containing several of Elton’s best-known tracks, including ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting,’ ‘Candle in the Wind,’ ‘Bennie and the Jets’ and the title track, the album ‘seamlessly shifts from brash to mournful.’ For many listeners at the time - commercial and critical alike - the album was reminiscent of when Dorothy steps for the first time into the ‘Technicolor land of Oz’ - and, in many ways, it is still.
The Detour
Today’s Detour is Three Red Sweaters, a video (9:44) by Martha Gregory. Using 16mm footage taken by her grandfather of family gatherings and travels, Gregory explores the impact of today’s ubiquitous use of photography on the quality of our memories. A lovely, gentle film, it’s fascinating - and rather sobering for someone who grew up with ‘actual’ cameras, slideshows and photo albums. Worth the time.
The Recommendation
Today’s Recommendation is The Who’s Tommy (1975). Directed by Ken Russell and starring Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Tina Turner and Jack Nicholson, the film is the bizarre story of Tommy - a selectively deaf, mute and blind boy who becomes a pinball champion and religious leader. The music is great and the film is fun - give it a try, if you haven’t already. And if you have, give it a go again.
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is composed of five tracks - one from each of the albums mentioned in today’s Stop: ‘Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)’ (Bruce Springsteen), ‘Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing’ (Stevie Wonder), ‘The Real Me’ (The Who), ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ (Joe Walsh), and ‘Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’ (Elton John).4 Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from the French poet, artist, filmmaker and playwright Jean Cocteau (1889-1963):5
‘Know that your work speaks only to those on the same wavelength as you.’
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this Stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!
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Until the next Stop …
Not to mention 1973 also saw the release of Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, A True Star, Lou Reed’s Berlin, Al Green’s Call Me, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, John Lennon’s Mind Games, Aerosmith’s Aerosmith, Steely Dan’s Countdown to Ecstasy, Tom Waits’s Closing Time, Paul McCartney and Wings’s Band on the Run, The Rolling Stones’s Goats Head Soup … it’s almost endless. Seriously, when future archaeologists examine the music of our day there are far worst years to land upon. Except for the Wings album. That, like most post-Beatles McCartney, is crap. Anyway, today’s Stop was inspired by my brother turning 50 this year (it’s OK to say this - I’m older (though far sexier)). When I was looking at tracks for a few of the recent playlists I was struck by how much good music came out of this year - and a quick glance showed the same was true for literature and music. Consequently, I thought I’d take a quick dive. Sources for today’s Stop include Albums Turning 50 (UCR), 25 Best 1973 Albums (Paste) and Classic Albums Turn 50 (NME).
If you’ve not listened to Nebraska, or haven’t in a while, it’s absolutely worth your time.
It might just be me, but every time I hear Joe Walsh I wonder why I don’t hear him more often. To my mind, there needs to be more Joe Walsh on the radio.
Probably my favourite Elton John track.
For more information about Cocteau, see: Jean Cocteau (Britannica).
Let me add to an already prodigious list Yes' 6th album, the double record but only 4-track 'Tales from the Topographic Oceans', inspired by the Shastric Scriptures and for which Anderson and Howe won multiple awards as composers and arrangers. Even today, it listens unevenly and expansively, a true journey into perhaps the 'pathless land' which Krishnamurti famously used as a metaphor for Truth. Showcasing Howe's virtuosity, myself a guitar player I DID defend this album, though it was surpassingly abstruse and certainly the boldest, though not at all the best, musical effort by a pop group to that time, and perhaps to our own as well. A period critic said we would have to wait 25 years for it to be truly appreciated; well, that was 25 years ago now.
King Crimson's release for that year, 'Lark's Tongues in Aspic', also deserves to be on the list if for nothing other than its acid serving up of home-grown English auto-critique - or at least, criticism - on everything from class to the church; "Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines, of the Virgin Mary!".
And also from that SAME year, Genesis' 5th album, 'Selling England by the Pound' does the same with much more humanity and self-deprecation. Containing now canonical tracks such as 'I Know what I Like', 'Dancing with the Moonlit Knight', as well as the anthemic 'Firth of Fifth' with Tony Banks' eye-wateringly charismatic piano intro and leitmotif throughout, SEP, hit #3 in the UK charts and truly brought the band into the spot lights.
Finally, I wonder that no one has seemingly mentioned Wings' now legendary 'Band on the Run', which ended up being the top selling album in both UK and AU in the following year, with its late 1973 release. It was recently inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Two big hits, including 'Jet', and the title track, remain staples in Sir Paul's astonishingly long-lived tour presence to this day.
One thing is for sure, 1973 was quite a year for the pops. I DO think both the previous 2 years were better, however. And now we can do this again next year!
WOW! I am definitely on the same wavelength as you on this one. Monumental year of music! I love all of your highlights. When asked the question we have all been asked at some point, "If you could only listen to one album....." my answer is always Quadrophenia.