Showing posts with label 1976. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1976. Show all posts

08 September 2019

Trille "Hej søster" (1976)

Hej søster
release date: 1976
format: vinyl (EXL 20005)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Philip Foss
label: Exlibris - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: A) 1. "Kom og løft mig op" - 2. "Min lille sol" - 5. "Mors lange cykeltur" - - B) 1. "Hej søster" - 2. "Der hvor lyset findes" - 3. "Sang sidst på vinteren" - 4. "Sangen om Brit"

Studio album by Danish folk artist and singer / songwriter Trille (aka Bodil Gudrun Nielsen). All songs are credited Trille except #B4 written by Kedda Madsen with music by Trille.
Trille was an often played artist throughout the 1970s. She was also famous for her music for children, but her contributions as an original songwriter is well-documented in her long discography as a soloist. She often portrayed quiet and ordinary people struggling with everyday life, as parents, as workers, and as quiet individuals. As a contemporary artist Trille was often regarded as a stable voice among the left-winged protesters calling for civil rights and defending equality for women but her legacy is undoubtedly much more varied than just that with her revivalist tone to traditional folklore. She released albums over two decades, from her debut in 1966 and up until 1986 where she released the acclaimed Indeni / udenpå after which she appeared to have put her song career to rest. I think, her stripped-down content of folk-based political and social awareness was seen as a bit of a dead-end street when first punk rock, new wave and the the whole new romantic era unfolded and showed other ways to attract attention via music in the early 80s, and Trille had no intentions in finding a new audience, which perhaps made her music stand out as out of touch with the younger generation. She did release a final album with music for children in '88, and then she sort of closed the door to a role in the spotlight. She appears to have worked for the national radio channel Danmarks Radio as producer until it was publically known that she had died in late 2016 at age 71.
Personally, her music resonates with much warmth and empathy, and first and foremost I don't think of her music as narrow-minded or as one-dimensional. It's more the fact that people lost interest but also simply that the public and critics forgot what a strong artst she actually was. Trille had an impact on my interest for music from earliest on, and I remember her various parts in TV shows for children and her music was nearly played on a daily basis when I was 6-12 years old.
Hej søster is one of her best reviewed albums, and unintentional and much to her own surprise, the album became a cornerstone in the movement of womens' rights and Trille was put in a central role as a strong protest singer.

19 August 2015

Thin Lizzy "Johnny the Fox" (1976)

Johnny the Fox
release date: Oct. 16, 1976
format: cd (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,45]
producer: John Alcock
label: Vertigo Records - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "Johnny" - 3. "Borderline" - 4. "Don't Believe a Word" - 5. "Fools Gold" -7. "Old Flame" - 9. "Sweet Marie"

7th studio album by Thin Lizzy released only 7 months after the acclaimed Jailbreak (Mar. 1976) couldn't but turn out as a weaker release. Despite using the same producer as on the band's biggest success, the album doesn't showcase the same strict and simple soundscape. Instead, Johnny the Fox has a much more symphonic sound. It's known as the first album where tensions between Lynott and guitarist Brian Robertson didn't help much in the recording process, but why on Earth they were pursuaded (or: forced) to embark on yet another album after this short period didn't do much good. Perhaps, the record company - as they are notoriously infamous for - really just wanted to get as much as they possibly could from this new gold mine but that doesn't explain why they decided to try new arrangements and what appears as a new sound.
Anyway, Johnny the Fox isn't all bad - far from it - but it does fall out somewhat pale compared to the predecessor and to the album that was to follow.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

07 April 2015

Thin Lizzy "Jailbreak" (1976)

Jailbreak
release date: Mar. 26, 1976
format: cd (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: John Alcock
label: Vertigo Records - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "Jailbreak" (4 / 5) - 2. "Angel From the Coast" - 3. "Running Back" (4 / 5) - 4. "Romeo and the Lonely Girl" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Warriors" - 6. "The Boys Are Back in Town" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "Fight or Fall"

6th studio album by Thin Lizzy follows only 6 months after Fighting (Sep. 1976) but that short period doesn't affect the quality of the songs. John Alcock is producer and the line-up is unchanged but the band really has found its sound of hard rock with this one. The directness of the predecessor has been accentuated but it's more in the musical output and in the songwriting that the album stands above all of their previous releases. It's not the hard rock style exemplified by Deep Purple, AC/DC or Queen. Thin Lizzy's music is still founded on more bold harmonies, heard in chorus lines and lead guitar notes and with the sonic power of twin guitars.
Jailbreak is one of the band's best reviewed albums and it reached number #10 on the albums chart list in the UK. I don't think that I ever listened to the album until the early 80s when I didn't think much of it. To me, the music and the band represented a different style and time, but it also appealed to another subculture, who didn't enjoy new wave or punk rock.
Today, I consider this the band's peak.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

30 September 2013

T. Rex "Futuristic Dragon" (1976)

Futuristic Dragon
release date: Jan. 30, 1976
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,14]
producer: Marc Bolan
label: EMI - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Jupiter Liar" - 3. "Chrome Sitar" - 4. "All Alone" - 6. "My Little Baby"

11th studio album by T. Rex and again with Bolan in full control. 1976 was the year when punk rock exploded in Britain with The Damned, Sex Pistols, The Clash and a totally different approach to music. but it was also a fine year for Marc Bolan, although, his music had a hard time getting through to the crowd he used to appeal to.
This is actually a fine and daring album with some nice tracks, but... Bolan keeps to a formula based on glam rock and boogie with the addition of soul and funk elements, which may feel a bit strange and somewhat dated when thinking of the time of its release. "My Little Baby" is a mighty fine track and would have fitted perfectly on The Slider or Tanx.

20 March 2013

The Stills-Young Band "Long May You Run" (1976)

Long May You Run
release date: Sep. 20, 1976
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,55]
producer: Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Don Gehman
label: Reprise, Warner;- nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Long May You Run" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Midnight on the Bay" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Let It Shine" - 8. "Fontainebleau"

Studio debut and only release as The Stills-Young Band. The album was apparently intended as a follow-up to Déjà vu from 1970, and more recently as the outcome of the CSNY 1974 live tour where the quartet played stadiums across the US from Spring to Autumn of '74. Several attempts were made to record new studio material, and in the end it became this: an amputated project featuring songs from only Stephen Stills and Neil Young.
The band is enlisted as: Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Joe Lala on percussion and backing vocals, Jerry Aiello on organ and piano, George 'Chocolate' Perry on bass and backing vocals, and with Joe Vitale on drums, flute and backing vocals.
Musically, it's in the tradition of Buffalo Springfield and the two principle band member's solo careers. The result is not convincing, and it really proves how Stills and Young had taken separate roads after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Young was deeply into folk rock, in various shapes and with influences from rock and country, whereas Stills seems much more of a blues rock person with influences from roots rock and jazz, and here these two trends don't mix that well.
The best tracks are undoubtedly compositions by Young with the rest as mere fillers to add that Crosby, Nash, Stills & Young-feel... but without two members the result seems apparent.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

01 March 2013

Lou Reed "Rock and Roll Heart" (1976)

Rock and Roll Heart
release date: Oct. 1976
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,57]
producer: Lou Reed
label: Arista Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 4. "You Wear It So Well" - 6. "Rock and Roll Heart" - 12. "Temporary Thing"

7th studio album by Lou Reed and his first on Arista Records after leaving RCA. Despite having a more than a few interesting stories, it's not really a great album. Two of songs here - track #3 "Follow the Leader" and track #11 "A Sheltered Life" were written by Reed at the time when he was part of The Velvet Underground, and deom and live recordings of these have later been issued. The attempt was possibly to follow Coney Island, Baby but the sound remains more one-dimensional, and Lou just plays and sings on auto-pilot, sounding rather indifferent. Not a favourite Lou Reed album.
No recommended.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

23 February 2013

10cc "How Dare You!" (1976)

How Dare You!
release date: Jan. 24, 1976
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlights: 4. "I'm Mandy Fly Me" (2,5 / 5) - 6. "Art for Art's Sake" - 8. "Head Room" (2,5 / 5)

4th studio album by 10cc released on Mercury Records and produced by the band. The only track I really enjoy on the album is the classic "Arts for Art's Sake" - the rest is not my taste, and actually, I'm closer at handing it only 2 stars as one good track out of 9 is poor. I think, the band could possibly release a decent best of album, as they have always been able to come up with one fine composition every now and then. Tensions within the band between the two songwriter duos Kevin Godley and Lol Creme on one hand and Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman on the other, led to Godley and Creme's decision to leave the band after this release.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

03 January 2013

Tom Waits "Small Change" (1976)

Small Change
release date: Oct. 1976
format: cd
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,32]
producer: Bones Howe
label: Asylum Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)" (5 / 5) - 2. "Step Right Up" - 3. "Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and the Mug and Artie)" - 5. "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)" (4 / 5) - 7. "Pasties and a G-String (At the Two O'Clock Club)" (4 / 5) - 9. "The One That Got Away" - 11. "I Can't Wait to Get Off Work" (4 / 5)

4th studio album by Tom Waits following one year after his 'live' album Nighthawks at the Diner.
Opening the album with "Tom Traubert's Blues..." is also commonly known as "Waltzing Mathilda" - and as the unofficial Australian national anthem.
A lot has happened since his debut, and that only really is revealed on this, where his vocal has become a more original instrument, and which in a way marks a first distancing from his first three albums. Waits was pretty good on his first albums, but here he no longer sounds like another clone based on Bob Dylan or Tim Buckley - this is where the 'real' Waits really awakens.
I don't think the man made anything resembling a bad album during the 70s. His lyrics and music are almost constantly at a very high level.
Highest recommendation.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]

02 December 2012

Blondie "Blondie" (1976)

Blondie [debut]
release date: Dec. 1976
format: vinyl (1977 reissue) / cd (2001 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Richard Gottehrer, Craig Leon, Alan Betrock
label: Chrysalis / Capitol - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "X Offender" (5 / 5) - 2. "Little Girl Lies" - 3. "In the Flesh" - 5. "In the Sun" - 7. "Man Overboard" - 8. "Rip Her to Shreds" - 10. "Kung Fu Girls"

Studio debut album by Blondie originally released on the small label Private Stock Records but already reissued by Chrysalis in Sep. '77. As is the case with most of Blondie albums the single tracks are credited various songwriters, which often has shaped their style in different directions, and made their single albums stand as non-uniform products with some great tracks but also some superfluous or misplaced songs and basically a huge variety of styles involved.
This, the band's debut came out much unnoticed at a time when punk rock and new wave had attracted everyone's attention, and maybe therefore a specific direction is hard to find here."X Offender" (written by Deborah Harry and composed by Gary Valentine) is simply THE track of the album right there among the first new wave songs and in terms of taking part of developing a new style. In my mind, it's also one of the band's best tracks ever. "In the Sun" (by Chris Stein) is a quite fine track as well but the remaining material sounds as if coming from a different band of another time. I don't think, I came across the album until around 1980 - at least not after hearing Parallel Lines (1978). The 2001 reissue comes with five additional demo recordings.
An interesting debut, and in a music historical context, it's way more valued than it works as a stand-alone album. I still (try to) enjoy it, though.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 4 / 5 stars ]

23 April 2012

Ramones "Ramones" (1976)

Ramones [debut]
release date: Apr. 23, 1976
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,18]
producer: Craig Leon with Tommy Ramone (associate producer)
label: Sire Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: A) 1. "Blitzkrieg Bop" (5 / 5) - 2. "Beat on the Brat" (4 / 5) - 3. "Judy Is a Punk" (5 / 5) - 4. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" - 5. "Chain Saw" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" (3,5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Loudmouth" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Havana Affair" (4 / 5) - 3. "Listen to My Heart" (4 / 5) - 4. "53rd & 3rd" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Let's Dance" (4 / 5) - 6. "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" - 7. "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World" (3,5 / 5)

Studio debut album by Ramones. This is a most legendary album. Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Ross Hyman) is lead vocalist, Johnny Ramone (John William Cummings) lead guitarist, Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) handles bass and backing vocals, and Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi) plays drums. The band was formed in 1974, and they began playing a type of fast and simple rock early on, which initially was labelled 'bubblegum' but later when as the band had started playing at the CBGB with other artists of the new music scene in New York it eventually became known as punk rock. The album had only little commercial success but still Ramones were invited to play concerts in England, presumably because the label had consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, and Ramones initiated a tour in London, Jul. '76 where among others, members of Sex Pistols and The Clash attended several of their gigs. Not long after the tour, bands dedicated to punk rock sprung out all over England and a new musical wave had been ignited. Ramones were themselves inspired by primarily American proto punk artists from the early 1970s but are pinned out as the most influential band to the British punk rock wave, which reverberated back to the US and started a second wave in the motherland with a more aggressive sound that was labelled hardcore punk. In Britain a similar progression started at the same time, although, many other labels were at play like anarcho-punk, oi!, art punk, glam punk, psychobilly, and post-punk. Anyway, this album was launched in 1976. I didn't hear of it until around 1980 when punk rock had already been declared dead. No other artists sounded like this in '76 but many soon created music inspired by this, and it's really no wonder 'cause it's catchy, energetic and young at heart. The single tracks may sound much a like, but so does jazz, electronic or pop music, or a lot of other music. I think, for the devoted fans, the tracks are very different because you'll hear all the details and I'm still impressed. This is still positive, happy, and lots of fun. Maybe I should rate it higher but I feel they were slightly better later on. Anyway, quite logically it's enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". The album is still great and it contains modern classics like "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Beat on the Brat", "Judy Is a Punk", "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", and "Havana Affair" (although, their not all my personal favourites), but the music is at a stage of sketching up a style, and the variation is not all that broad. Hell, who gives a damn! Just hit it!
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, NME 5 / 5 stars ]

1976 Favourite releases: 1. Jean-Michel Jarre Oxygène - 2. Ramones Ramones - 3. Ennio Morricone Novecento (OST)

15 March 2012

Boston "Boston" (1976)

Boston [debut]
release date: Aug. 25, 1976
format: vinyl
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: John Boylan, Tom Scholz
label: Epic Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "More Than a Feeling" (5 / 5) (org. video) - 3. "Foreplay / Long Time"

Studio album debut by American AOR (Adult Oriented Rock), pop / rock band Boston from... Boston. The band consists of musical composer, lyricist and lead guitarist Tom Scholz, lead vocalist Brad Delp, rhythm guitarist Barry Goudreau, bass player Fran Sheehan, and drummer Sib Hashian; however, the actual recordings for the album were almost only done by Scholz playing most instruments himself as he had done on the demo-tape, he had recorded in his basement and that the record label directors explicitly had wanted the studio recordings to sound like. Boston was launched like a band but basically was a musical project by master-mind, Tom Scholz.
Stylistically, it's also labelled as hard rock but in essence it's probably more accurately to call it melodic rock with strong influences from classical music, which again bare much of the same stylistic influences as music by earlier works by British bands like Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull.
Musically, it has become known for one song only, which is THE song of the band but it does contain other fine compositions, although, none except "Long Time" are truly memorable compositions.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, PopMatters 4 / 5 stars ]

12 January 2012

Best of 1976:
Jean-Michel Jarre "Oxygène" (1976)

Oxygène
release date: Dec. 1976
format: vinyl (1977 Scandinavia) / cd
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,82]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Polydor Records - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "Oxygène (Part I)" - 2. "Oxygène (Part II)" - 3. "Oxygène (Part III)" - 4. "Oxygène (Part IV)" - 5. "Oxygène (Part V)" 6. "Oxygène (Part VI)"

3rd studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre, originally released on Disques Dreyfus, is the French avantgardist's surreal yet sublime masterpiece, which is a corner stone for all electronic music. I was just a little more than 10 years old when the album came out, but I remember it 'cause my older brother bought the album a few years later and he played it a lot. This is from a time when I first became aware of the many different qualities of various types of music. At the age of 14 I visited London for the first time, and today, more than 30 years later, I still recall many of the album titles that I brought back home from that trip, and this was just one of them. Jarre was ahead of his time, and it was like looking into the future when listening to his music. I still listened to ABBA and Boney M, so this was something quite different. The album is still fascinating as a modern classic, and it has probably inspired many electronic artists in the present time of the release but also in the many new shapes of electronic eras since then.
The album is the only album by Jarre to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars]

1976 Favourite releases: 1. Jean-Michel Jarre Oxygène - 2. Ramones Ramones - 3. Ennio Morricone Novecento (OST)