folk rock Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Déjà Vu”

sfilzen — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 23:13:42 +0000

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Déjà Vu” 1970. I’m taking CSN&Y’s second LP for a spin to commemorate David Crosby, who died Wednesday (January 18th) at the age of 81. CSN&Y has been a somewhat guilty pleasure of mine since I was a teenager into punk and new wave, and I continue to adore their songwriting and harmonies. I feel like it was acceptable to dig Neil Young (“godfather of grunge”- I saw him perform in ’92 with Sonic Youth and Social Distortion opening) but throw Crosby, Stills and Nash into the ring and it’s all like “hippie.” I’ve heard David Crosby was a raging asshole much of his life but damn, his music and voice were beautiful.

Déjà Vu is one of the best-selling records of all-time and makes most of the best-of lists out there. It hit #1 virtually everywhere in ’70 and continues to resonate; a 50th anniversary edition was released in 2021 (a year late, for obvious reasons). It spawned four singles: “Woodstock” (written by Joni Mitchell, sung and arranged by Stephen Stills who collaborated on the arrangement with Jimi Hendrix – my favorite line is “And I dreamed I saw the bomber jet planes riding shotgun in the sky, turning into butterflies above our nation) and the album opener “Carry On,” both of which I love, plus “Teach Your Children” and “Our House,” both written by Nash, neither of which I’m a fan of. Totally sappy and overplayed. Crosby’s contributions are the title track “Déjà Vu” which is super-trippy, proggy and complex – I’ve always liked this one – and “the anti-war “Almost Cut My Hair.” I also love Young’s song “Helpless.”

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Grateful Dead “Terrapin Station”

sfilzen — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 17:52:41 +0000

Grateful Dead “Terrapin Station” released 45 years ago today, July 27th, 1977. It was their ninth studio LP and hit # 28 on the US album charts. Terrapin Station is an uneven record, mostly due to its production, which the band pretty much hated: it was the disco era so there were a lot of flourishes added post-recording like orchestral strings, horns and choir overdubs. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann says of the title track: “The recorded version of “Terrapin Station” is probably my least favorite version because of that. It sounds really grandiose, like somebody’s ego is playing those strings.” Despite that, I really love a lot of the record; it brings me back to the late 80’s/early 90’s when I went through my Deadhead phase and went to several shows between ’89 and ’92. I found the setlists for the concerts I attended and confirmed that they played a couple of my top Terrapin tracks during a couple of them*: “Samson and Delilah” at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario in March of ’90; “Terrapin Station” at both the World Music Theater in Tinley Park, IL in June ’90 (Brent Mydland’s last ever show before he died) and at Soldier Field in June ’91. I could have sworn I saw a concert where they played “Estimated Prophet” (I always loved when they did “Estimated-Shakedown“), same with “Passenger” but I guess I just listened to a lot of bootleg tapes that had those jams. The not good: their cover of “Dancin’ in the Streets” is too wa-wa disco and “Sunrise,” written and sung by Donna Godchaux, is really awful.

Another likely reason for the unevenness of the record is the tension between the band and the producer during the recording process. Their new record label (Arista) really wanted a commercial album (not something the Dead have ever been particularly good at) so they brought in Keith Olsen who had success working with Fleetwood Mac. From Wiki: “Olsen had a method for reining in the Dead: ‘During the cutting of the basic tracks it was pretty hard to get every member of the band in the studio at the same time … so [Steve] Parish went out to the hardware store and got these giant nails and a great big hammer and as soon as everybody was in, he hammered the door shut from the inside … we didn’t have drifters from the other studios coming in to listen. We didn’t have people leaving to go screw around elsewhere. We started getting work done.'” “Bill Kreutzmann said ‘He’d [Olsen] have us play the same thing over and over again, and we’re not really the type of band that can put up with that. Our very identity is based on the opposite principle.'”

*I also was at Alpine Valley on July 18th, 1989 and Soldier Field in ’92.

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Jim Croce “Photographs & Memories”

sfilzen — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 17:34:19 +0000

Jim Croce “Photographs & Memories” 1974. Today is my dad’s 75th birthday so I’m spinning the collection of greatest hits by one of his favorite artists, Jim Croce, who sadly died on today’s date, September 20th, in 1973. Photographs and Memories is practically embedded in my DNA – it was on very heavy rotation in our house throughout the 70′s and though I don’t really listen to much folk rock, I absolutely adore Jim Croce. The greatest hits album went to #2 on the US charts in ‘74, released a year after Croce’s death. My top tracks include three songs from You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, 1972: “Operator” (#17 US), the painfully sad “Time in a Bottle” (it went to #1 in the US after his death) and the title track “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” (#8 US). My absolute favorite song is “I Got a Name,” the title track from I Got a Name. The single was released a day after Croce’s death and it went to #10.

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Joni Mitchell “Blue”

sfilzen — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 17:04:41 +0000

Joni Mitchell “Blue” released 50 years ago today, June 22nd, 1971. Considered one of the best albums ever by almost all of the publications that rate such things, it’s the “quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album” written by Mitchell after breaking up with Graham Nash and in the midst of a relationship with James Taylor. Blue went to #15 in the US and to #3 in the UK. I didn’t really listen to Blue until the late 80′s/early 90′s in college when my roommate had it on pretty heavy rotation; I’m not entirely sure why my parents didn’t have it in their collection in the 70′s (they listened to and had a ton of folk like Dylan, Carol King, even James Taylor but no Joni Mitchell). My favorite song is “Carey,” an utterly delightful and almost danceable track which was about another guy (not Nash or Taylor but another American, Carey, she met while staying on Crete, she also wrote “California” about him; “Carey” was the sole single released from Blue and “California” was its b-side). I also really like “All I Want” and “This Flight Tonight” (both about James Taylor).

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Bob Dylan “Bringing It All Back Home”

sfilzen — Mon, 24 May 2021 19:04:21 +0000

Bob Dylan “Bringing It All Back Home” 1965. Today, May 24th, is Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday (b. Robert Zimmerman, 1941). This record was my mom’s (she wrote her name on the back cover and the label in Sharpie) that she bought as a teenager, about 19 years old if I did my math right, and I heard the record a lot growing up. I’m not a big Dylan fan but Bringing It All Back Home, his fifth album, is pretty good – and apparently the rest of the world agrees. It’s considered one of the best rock albums of all-time and is credited with changing the face of folk rock and, to a large extent, ushering in the sound of the 60′s (though not without controversy; his hardcore folky fans were NOT pleased when Dylan plugged in). The album hit #6 in the US and went to #1 in the UK. Dylan released three singles from the LP: “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (one of my favorite Dylan tracks; #39 US, top 10 in the UK), “Maggie’s Farm” (another fave, #22 UK) and “Gates of Eden” which was the B-side for his iconic single “Like a Rolling Stone” (July ‘65. #2 US, #4 UK). I also like “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream,” “Mr. Tambourine Man” – The Byrds’ jangly cover version went to #1 in both the US and the UK in ‘65 – and “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” with its famous lyric “He not busy being born is busy dying.”

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Jethro Tull “Aqualung”

sfilzen — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 16:39:11 +0000

Jethro Tull “Aqualung” released 50 years ago today, March 19th, 1971. The band’s fourth album went to #4 in the UK and to #7 in the US; it was their most successful and iconic album ever and made the best-of-all-time lists in many publications including Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Guitarist, and Prog. The sometimes hard-rocking, sometimes twee flute folky prog rock album had two official singles: “Hymn 43″ (#91 US) and “Locomotive Breath” (which did not chart in ‘71 but went to #59 in the US when it was re-released in ‘76). Weirdly the title track, “Aqualung” was not a single (most likely due to its 6-minute-plus length) even though it’s one of their best-known songs (well, maybe that’s just me – I heard it…continue to hear it, actually, frequently on AOR radio stations). Besides those tracks, I also really like the acoustic ‘Elizabethan madrigal’ song “Mother Goose.”

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Simon and Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

sfilzen — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 20:31:20 +0000

Simon and Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water” released on this date, January 26th, 1970. I recently nabbed this copy from my parents’ collection and I believe they had it since its release in ‘70 – I can’t recall a time growing up in the 70′s when it wasn’t on heavy rotation. Considered among the best records ever released, the duo’s fifth and final album hit #1 literally everywhere (or at least the countries where such things are tracked) and won a couple of Grammys. My favorite tracks are the ones I loved best as a little kid. “Cecilia” was always my favorite (and continues to be), a raucously fun song, great syncopated beat! with a funny/sad lyrics; it hit #4 in the US. I love the mysterious “El Condor Pasa,” the song’s melody based on Peruvian folk music (Paul Simon was sued for the track by the original recording/composer’s son who had a copyright for the track); it went to #18 in the US. Another favorite is Simon and Garfunkel’s cover of the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” which they recorded live, including the audience’s clap-along on the LP. I was also completely fascinated by “The Boxer” (#7 US) – I distinctly remember reading the lyrics on the back cover not long after I figured out to actually read (maybe 4 years old or thereabouts) so I could sing along. Generally it’s not the kind of song I like (i.e. not a rocker) but it’s so full of tension and such a good story. It’s probably Simon and Garfunkel heresy, but I really didn’t like – and still don’t – the title track “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which is one of the duo’s best-known and best-loved songs ever. (I find it overblown and excessively sentimental, though it’s possible I just heard it way too much in the 70′s) Of course it hit #1 in the US (plus the UK and a bunch of other places) and won two Grammys for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1971. I recently read Paul Simon’s biography (a really great read!) and he talked extensively about the track – he felt it was one of his best written songs to date but was ticked (and still is!) that everyone assumed it was Garfunkel’s song since he basically sang it solo in concert.

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The Grateful Dead “American Beauty”

sfilzen — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 19:33:45 +0000

The Grateful Dead “American Beauty” released 50 years ago today, November 1st, 1970. Classic Americana psychedelic folk-rock, American Beauty was the Dead’s 5th studio record. Their studio work is generally considered sub-par as compared to their live performances but American Beauty is one of their better releases; it hit #30 on the US charts. Some really excellent tracks and favorites including “Friend of the Devil,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Till the Morning Comes,” “Truckin” and one of my all-time faves “Ripple.” The Dead released “Truckin” as a single the same day as American Beauty’s release; it hit #64 in the US (their best-performing single until ‘87′s “Touch of Grey” hit #9) and was one of their most-performed songs in concert. Also notable is “Operator” which was written and sung by Pigpen (Ron McKernan), his only singing and songwriting Dead track on any of their albums (honestly, though, it’s not one of favorites).

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Fleetwood Mac “Then Play On”

sfilzen — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 21:04:13 +0000

Fleetwood Mac “Then Play On” 1969. Pre-Buckingham/Nicks days, Then Play On was Fleetwood Mac’s third album and the last with band founder Peter Green who died this past weekend (b. 1946, d. July 25th 2020). He’s considered one of the greatest guitarists of all-time by several magazines, etc. that rank that sort of thing. Then Play On is heavily blues-based, borrowing extensively from classic the American blues style but mixes in a hearty dose of 60′s psychedelia and some traditional English folk music. The LP went to #6 in the UK and a year later hit #109 on the US charts with the success of the Green-penned single “Oh Well” (#2 UK, #55 US). This particular album is the revised US edition from 1969 which dropped the original tracks “When You Say” and “My Dream” and added in “Oh Well” after the single, which was not originally included on the record, became a hit (just the Zeppelin-esque Part 1 portion, the Part 2 of the song is a swirly, folky instrumental). The other track released as a single (and also by Green) was the country-twinged bluesy “Rattlesnake Shake” – it did not chart. I also like the rockin’ sliding guitar blues song “Show-Biz Blues” and the Madge tracks: “Searching for Madge” and “Fighting for Madge.”

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Donovan “For Little Ones” and “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”

sfilzen — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 19:07:40 +0000

Donovan “For Little Ones” and “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” 1967. Also released as the double-album box set (one of the first in rock) A Gift From a Flower to a Garden. For budgeting purposes, Donovan also released the double album as two single records in the US, which is what is pictured here. (These are originals from my Aunt Jeanie; we were visiting my folks recently and they tasked us with helping to clean out their vinyl collection and these came home with us.) Wear Your Love Like Heaven is electrified psychedelic folk while For Little Ones is acoustic, geared toward “the dawning generation.” Until now, I wasn’t familiar with either record, not even the single “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” which went to #23 in the US. The single’s B-side “Oh, Gosh!” is pretty decent and “The Land of Doesn’t Have to Be” isn’t too bad, but the rest of Wear Your Love Like Heaven isn’t great (sorry Aunt Jeanie); “Little Boy in Corduroy” is especially cringe-inducing and while the lyrics to “Under the Greenwood Tree” are amazing (written by Shakespeare), the musical treatment Donovan gives the bard is too childlike for my tastes (I usually like 60′s psychedelic organ but it’s way too plink-plunky). For Little Ones is super-English-folky starting off with “Song of the Naturalist’s Wife” when I almost stopped listening at the start of the record because that track begins with an infant crying which is unbearable (I don’t think it would have bothered me as much pre-motherhood but that particular frequency now aggravates my nervous system at a cellular level) but then the next track “Voyage Into the Golden Screen” is all Maypole medieval faery castles, not my favorite but better than sobbing babies. The rest of the album is mellow acoustic strumming with some occasional flute and harmonica, OK but kinda boring (again, sorry Jeanie!).

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