1137. Led Zeppelin / Led Zeppelin [IV]. 1971. 3.5/5

Back in the days when bands released albums almost at the drop of a hat, Led Zeppelin came out and released their first three albums in an 18 month period in 1969-70. All three had been well received by the fans, although the final of those three albums, Led Zeppelin III, had been a bit cool with the music critics, something that hadn’t sat well with the band. Apparently as a result of this, the band decided that their fourth album would not have a title at all, and would be represented by four symbols on the inside sleeve, with each of the members of the band – Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham – designing one. Given the difficulty this would have in both promoting the album and selling the album, let alone when people wanted to discuss the album, it has almost universally been labelled as Led Zeppelin [IV]. In interviews, Page and Plant have mostly only ever referred to it as ‘the fourth album’.To write and record the album, the band moved to Hampshire into a place called Headley Grange, an old house built in 1795 where several bands had rehearsed and recorded – indeed Led Zeppelin had utilised it in the past also. It was here that perhaps their best known album and songs were written and recorded. Once recorded, the album was originally set to be released in April, but the band disliked the original mix, so after tour dates were played Page remixed it entirely. There was then some debate over the cover of the album, and also whether or not all of the songs the band had recorded should be included to make it a double album, but eventually the format that was released was the one that was confirmed, and fifty years ago it hit the shelves to an adoring public.

The quieter, acoustic-like songs still seem to dominate the album despite the appearance of the big hitters here. “The Battle of Evermore” is basically Jimmy Page playing on the mandolin, while Plant duets the song with Sandy Denny, who was the lead vocalist of British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. It is an interesting segue on side one of the album, as it passes from the two opening rock tracks and then into the number one hit that follows it. No John Bonham for quite a length of time through that period. “Misty Mountain Hop” mixes moments of that same folk rock with a more progressive rock sound, with Page’s guitar riffing in the back half of the song showcasing the sound that he brought to music, and is similar in that era that Brian May of Queen also began using. “Going to California” is a much quieter, acoustic number, with interviews from both Plant and page saying that it was inspired by the music of Joni Mitchell. You can certainly tie her sound to this track. “Four Sticks” lifts the tempo and barometer of the second side as Bonham gets his moment to impress, while the closing track is a cover of an old blues song “When the Levee Breaks”, and allows all four members to improvise their way in the music that is a heavy base to their own style.
That leaves the three most famous songs from the album, ones where even if you don’t know their names you would know if you heard them. Two of them you have already heard here. “Black Dog” is always known by Plant’s opening monologue, while “Rock and Roll” for me is dominated by John Bonham’s drumkit, which he pounds into oblivion throughout the song. It must have been something to witness live.
Led Zeppelin was one of those bands that I was always told I should be listening heavily to, but in general I just cherry picked at the songs and moments that actually enticed me and left the rest of the carcass for the other listeners. That wasn’t my way of being blasé about a band that had a crucial and massive part in forming the genre of heavy metal at its core. It was more about the fact that a lot of their songs for me just weren’t in anyway near the sphere of music that I enjoyed, and so rather than pushing blindly through these types of dongs constantly in order to appease others, or to find some way to enjoy them myself, I generally just left them, happy to enjoy those songs that appealed to me and not feeling as though I had to own the whole Zeppelin discography just because ‘everyone has to have those albums’. Even to this day, I only own Led Zeppelin CDs that were gifted to me or were cheap at the time I felt like buying something. As a result, I am no expert when it comes to Led Zeppelin and their music. My most played Led Zeppelin album is the Remasters double CD that was released in 1990, which acts as their greatest hits. The second most played album of theirs would be this one, and pretty much just for those songs I have chosen to play here.

The last track to discuss is of course their most famous. “Stairway to Heaven” has been one of those tracks that, for many people, is a constant, and that applies to me as well. One of my friends from high school actually did “Stairway to Heaven” as his performance piece for his music exam at the end of high school, and several other of my friends were involved in supporting him in that performance piece. Many of us sat outside the hall as they performed it, and it is still my favourite memory of any Led Zeppelin song. When I lived in Sydney and frequented the Erskineville Hotel on a regular basis, I would always slot the same twelve songs on the jukebox, in the same order. It became known as “Bill’s Burly Dozen”, and when regulars heard the opening strains to Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”, they would look around to find me. That dozen always finished with “Stairway to Heaven”, the perfect way to end that playlist.

What do YOU really think of Led Zeppelin, and in particular this album? Like I’ve said, Led Zeppelin is a band where I tend to like songs rather than albums. I wouldn’t say that I think any of their albums are rated more than a 7 out of 10, and the main reason for that is just that they all have songs I like, but others I could happily not listen to. There isn’t on album that I can put on and listen all the way through without thinking... “man, this song is still a bit average”. And this album is still like that for me. I have listened to this album quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, probably more in that time than I have in the previous 50 years since its release. And my taste in music is different from most of the stuff Led Zeppelin released, because they are of a different era. It’s a bit like that old mantra – I can appreciate it, but I just don’t love it. Apart from those three songs.

899. Billy Joel / Cold Spring Harbor. 1971. 3.5/5

I have only recently gone backwards in time to partake in the earliest Billy Joel albums. Like many of my vintage I know the popular tracks, and I know the albums from the late 1970's and early 1980's, but the first albums are mostly a mystery to me. In order to be able to complete my Billy Joel collection, I wanted to be able to say that I had experienced all aspects of the journey.

For the most part this is a sombre, melancholy and reflective album. Whereas the Billy Joel that most music listeners know has songs that are at an upbeat tempo and come out of the speakers with an enthusiasm that bounds, the majority of songs here are set back in recording, happy to float out at you rather than jump out. What you will hear is that wonderful piano sound that dominated the 1970's by both himself and Elton John. When that piano takes centre stage, with the drums and bass playing as the background, and Billy's vocals crooning over the top, that is when his songs, and this album, sounds at its best. "Falling in the Rain" and "Turn Around" are particularly good examples of this. They are favourites of mine on this album simply because they are the perfect mix of Billy's strengths, vocally, lyrically and the piano.
"She's Got a Way" is the best known of these tracks, as it has continued to creep into live sets through the years. I don't mind the song, but I don't think it is the strength of this album at all. "You Can Make Me Free" is what first lights up this album for me, if only because Billy brings his vocals and piano out the front for the first time, igniting the album in a away the opening track does not.
"Everybody Loves You Now" is the one song that differs from the norm, driven along by Billy's piano and showing off a disposition that is slightly out of character with the majority of these songs, though only because the others tend to slip on the side of misery. There is more anger in the lyrics here than anywhere else on the album, but it creates an uplifting vibe rather than a downward one. The other side of the coin comes through in "Tomorrow is Today" and "Nocturne", both lovely sounding songs but at the heart of the lyrics is... well... the broken heart. Certainly this is the case from the former song, which then segues into the instrumental piece of "Nocturne", but there is really no need for lyrics in this song to convey its emotional impact. There's no doubt about Billy Joel's talent in these two songs, one those explains his emotions perfectly with lyrics in the first song, and then perfectly in music in the second.
One should also quickly make mention of the fact that this was mastered at the incorrect speed, and this the vocals in particular sound anything but like Billy Joel. The stories regarding this event are out there for those interested in reading about them. Suffice to say Billy was not happy, and changed producer and record company from the following album onwards.

Some may say that casual listeners of Billy Joel's music would not like this album. To be fair, casual listeners would not even go looking for this album. It wasn't recorded for them. It was recorded as the first step to what Billy Joel and his music became. That's not to say the biggest fans will necessarily enjoy this either, but they at least will appreciate the skill and diversity that exists on this album compared to what came after it. There may not be a lot of joy and happiness within the songs on this album, but there is little doubt as to the talent that still exudes from it even in this modern day. Embryonic perhaps, but there is a lot to gain from taking the time to listen to this again.

Rating:  "Maybe you will find a little time to think of me".  3.5/5

622. Black Sabbath / Master of Reality. 1971. 4.5/5

It's a tough call to try and back up for your third album, especially when those first two albums are your seminal eponymous debut album, and the soon-to-be-legendary second album. In the case of Black Sabbath, the pioneers of the new music genre 'heavy metal', they were only just warming up.
Both guitars on this album are tuned down, the story being that it made it easier for Tony Iommi to play his guitar, given the accident he had suffered some years earlier to the fingers on his right hand. With Geezer Butler tuning his bass guitar down to suit, it adds to the renewed sense of doom and foreboding in the music on this album.

Hacking coughing starts off the album, before bursting into the mud buzzing anthem of "Sweet Leaf". The strength of the song is in its three major parts - the head bouncing primary riff on which the vocals are laid, the  thematic bridging riff between verses, and the harried and violent solo riff where all three musicians are basically doing their own solo break and mashing them together. Great stuff.
"After Forever", if you pay attention to the lyrics, almost comes across as Sabbath's attempt to deflect from the assertion that they are a satanic band. this would be to the detriment of lyricist Butler, whose religious upbringing hold sway here. No matter in the long run, the song itself is terrific with another assortment of great riffs (NB Biohazard's cover version on Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath is awesome).
Following Iommi's instrumental "Embryo" comes one of the band's all time classics, "Children of the Grave". The magnificent rumbling build-up before exploding into its heavy thumping riff is still one of the best beginnings to a song ever written. Lyrically it is still as hard hitting as it was when it was recorded, and Ozzy gives a stunning vocal performance.
Another Iommi instrumental called "Orchid" opens up the second half of the album, before "Lord of this World" storms in, featuring more great work from Geezer and Bill Ward. It is amazing that these two can pretty much play their own solo pieces, and weave it into the framework of the songs without it sounding like they are all out of time or all over the place.
The one weak moment of the album follows this. "Solitude" incorporates both flute and piano, as well as a different vocal performance by Ozzy, allowing him to show his versatility as well. All this is fine, but the song itself stretches to five minutes, and it really takes the sting out of the album. If it had been reeled back into about three minutes maximum, well, the impact may not have been so great. It's great to hear Black Sabbath able to do these kind of songs, but not so long and not within this framework.
Saving the end of the album is the legendary "Into the Void", which comes back to remind everyone of where this band is really heading, driven along with Iommi and Geezer's bloodletting riff work over Ward's unrelenting drumming and under Ozzy's rising vocals.

Master of Reality continues the progression of Black Sabbath, from small time local band to world domination. Five classic and legendary songs feature here, and though they are done well it is only the slower instrumental pieces that bring the rating down from out of the ceiling.

381. Deep Purple / Fireball. 1971. 4/5

After three albums to begin their career, a change of personnel to revamp the band into a new era into the 1970’s decade had brought success and a sound that found its audience. Original members Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore had been joined by bass guitarist Roger Glover and lead vocalist Ian Gillan to create what has since been dubbed the “Mark II” line up. Deep Purple in Rock was the first album from this revamped line up, with Ritchie Blackmore pushing for a hard rock sound over Jon Lord’s more classical leanings from earlier albums. It was a success, and Ritchie proclaimed that this is how the band had to progress if it wanted further commercial success.
In attempting to put together the follow up to Deep Purple in Rock, the band themselves between that rock and a hard place. The management had put together a furious touring schedule to cope with the new success of the band, but also wanted a new album out to keep them in the public’s eye and ears. The trouble was, as Blackmore was quoted in several interviews, the management didn’t want them to stop touring, so they didn’t have time to sit down and write and compose the new album – soon to be titled Fireball - and instead were forced to throw things together on off-touring days and try and piece together the new album in that way. Ritchie felt that he didn’t have his best creative moments on this album as a result. The production was haphazard, the recording the same, and the writing of songs didn’t progress as the band would have liked. Blackmore said that rather than being able to creatively come up with ideas in the studio, he instead had to come up with ideas on the run, and just throw them at the other band members on the spur of the moment. Not the ideal way of putting together an album. It also meant that keeping a balance among the tracks was also difficult, given that there was little time together to put tracks together, instead it was all done on the run at different times when they had break in the schedule, thus providing a haphazard approach to the writing and recording.

The mood on Fireball is not as fierce or genuinely heavy as the previous album, slipping back into a tempo between what the Mark I line up had regularly produced on the first three albums, and what was produced on Deep Purple in Rock and albums to come. One wonders if this was more of a source of irritation for Ritchie Blackmore than Ian Gillan at the time it was recorded. Blackmore has felt that the success of Deep Purple in Rock was due to Deep Purple increasing the pace and heaviness of their music from what they had produced up until that time and was interested in furthering that, whereas Ian Gillan was apparently less inclined to move in that direction and was looking to sit more in the middle ground. Certainly the result of Fireball is less hard core and more laid back.

The album opens with the fastest song of the collection, the title track “Fireball”, and the star of the show here is definitely the drumming of Ian Paice which is just brilliant. “No No No” follows this on, a song with a great groove and terrific vocal from Gillan. Then there is the classic Purple song “Demon’s Eye”, one where each band member has their moment but is beautifully crafted around Ritchie’s guitar riff and complementing organ of Jon Lord. Somehow, on the US version of this album, this song is replaced by another, and it seems like a crazy oversight that this could happen. Don’t get me wrong, the song that replaces it is a ripper, but the question I still ask is, why couldn’t BOTH be on the album? The song that appears instead on the US release is “Strange Kind of Woman”, which was only released as a single in the UK and didn’t appear on this version of the album at all. As a single it reached number 8 in the UK... I just don’t understand it... and why?... well... because... “Anyone’s Daughter” is a peculiarity. For an English hard rock group, hearing them do what is essentially a country and western song is slightly off putting. This is more like an early Eagles song without Bernie Leadon’s banjo being interspersed. We even have tambourine involved. If you are looking for a song that is completely out of place on a band’s album, then look no further than this one. How is it possible that the band and management decided that they would put this song on the album proper, but for the UK edition decide to leave off “Strange Kind of Woman”? What a travesty, a complete brain fade of a decision.
The second side of the album has three tracks that are much like the style of the time where band would free form on stage for 20 minutes at a time, reneging on the boundaries of the song and just playing onwards forever. “The Mule” is a shortened version of tis kind of track here, but was played and extended much longer in a live setting. “Fools” stretches even longer, while “No One Came” draws the album to a close with its own sensibilities.

I have to say that Fireball is an album that I have always regarded as being ‘that album between Deep Purple in Rock and Machine Head’, and that’s not to make it sound like a bad album, but it is just that the other two albums are really quite legendary, and Fireball, to be fair, is not. Fireball is an excellent album, and as you have heard has some great songs on it. But it doesn’t blow your house down like Deep Purple in Rock or Machine Head. It gives it a good shake, but it doesn’t live on the same plane as those two albums. And the reality is that somehow Ritchie’s guitar doesn’t get the same opportunities to take centre stage here as it does elsewhere. It comes as no surprise that Ritchie has never really rated this album, even from the time they were writing and recording it, whereas Ian Gillan is a big fan of this album. It shows the stark differences between the two of them in regards to their music, and is no doubt just one of the many factors in why they both found reasons at different times to leave the band.

Once again from Deep Purple, the good is out of this world, and the other songs are still good but without the extra oomph those great songs have to keep them at that high standard this era of the band had. Removing one of those less excellent tracks and inserting “Strange Kind of Woman” into the mix would probably have lifted this album to the highest echelons that other Deep purple albums have attained – I think that’s how close this goes. But the summary remains the same as it always has for Fireball – we want more of Ritchie’s guitar and we want some extra pace and fire in those tracks. And we want less of “Anyone’s Daughter”. Please.