An Ear For An Era: 1972

It started out bold, got boring for awhile, then got better. Or something like that. 1972 was not a great year for soul in my opinion despite a few landmark albums released. The highlights were in the glam/power pop/whatever genre it's considered. I think they go together. And singer/songwriters had a great year as well. Stuff was music back then, you know? You don't?

Stevie Wonder's Talking Book is kind of maybe the first in his famous great-70s-albums series, but most of it seemed to be ballads and kind of bored me (although I did appreciate the many layers of orchestration). Still, "Superstition" was on the album so that was an obvious highlight. I think I like his later stuff a bit more though, it gets deeper and more complex soon.

Then a string of R&B popped up and it was all kind of continually weightless. Bill Withers, Allen Toussaint, Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway, Jr. Walker, Smokey Robinson...all artists I do quite like, but this all seemed too slight, flighty. Too many ballads, not enough funk.

Then Can came back on. And oddly was the funkiest thing I'd heard yet. Yes, the album Ege Bamyasi is quite a bit more grounded and accessible than Tago Mago, mostly because of shorter song lengths, lots of funky rhythms, and the song "Vitamin C," which was kind of a hit I believe. But my mind was completely blown when "Vitamin C" ended and "Soup" came on. The longest song on the album, it was advanced post punk before punk was even a thing. Crazy rhythms, blasts of guitar, screaming vocals, shifting time signatures and tempos, a drawn out version of loud (and fast) - quiet (and slow) - loud (and fast and slow) dynamics.

Can "Soup"

I don't have a good transition out of Can because there's really nothing else like them in this era in my library. How about back to soul, but the more positive stuff I have to say?

Maybe I just don't have any of the possibly great possibly popular funk of the day. But the best I got was from compilations of obscure stuff, like The Funky 16 Corners (Ernie And The Top Notes Inc. had a great song called "Dap Walk.") and Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label (Chip Willis & Double Exposure!).

The main, kind-of-funky, cinematic and great soul album (ok obviously it's cinematic, but I'm just saying he did a great job with it) was Curtis Mayfield's Superfly, the soundtrack to the movie. It's tough not to compare it to Isaac Hayes' Shaft, but it really is a different beast. Lots of very apt commentary in the lyrics (and lots more songs with lyrics!), Mayfield's completely different style of arrangements, it does really feel more like an album to listen through in a sitting without needing any context of the movie to go along with it.

And that's it for soul. Awkward transition to singer songwriter types?

Lou Reed solo. The album is called Transformer. It has his gigantic hit "Walk On The Wild Side." It has more of those sentimental songs in the style that I liked so much in the later Velvet Underground material, such as "Perfect Day." That may be my favorite. Or maybe "Hangin' Round" is my favorite. The line from the chorus, "You're still doing things that I gave up years ago" seems pretty apt considering the history of the Velvet Underground and how influential they were. Not that that seems to be what this is about.

Now the last we'll hear from Rodriguez (unless he decides to put something new out one of these days), some bonus stuff recorded after his last album that can be found as bonus tracks on the reissue as well as the Searching For Sugarman soundtrack. I just wanted an excuse to post this song, as he was slipping away from the music biz.

Rodriguez "I'll Slip Away"

We're also hearing our last of Nick Drake (other than a posthumous album that will be waaaay later). Such a tragic loss. Such a beautiful album Pink Moon was, appropriately sparse in a time when more and more music was getting overproduced. All short simple folk songs, mostly just a guitar and vocals.

Harry Nilsson followed up on the great Nilsson Schmilsson with Son of Schmilsson. I have a long standing opinion of this album as kind of a big laugh, not too memorable or really much of a successor to his probably-greatest achievement, but this time I realized that amongst all the joke lyrics ("I sang my balls off for you baby..." "Let me be your Joy boy," "You're breakin' my heart, tearin' it apart so f*** you," "I'd rather be dead than wet my bed...") there is a lot of Nilsson's impeccable vocals and plenty of heartbreak and authenticity. "You're Breakin' My Heart" is kind of the spiritual grandfather of Shellac's "Prayer To God," which is an id-driven, raw expression of heartbreak that can make you laugh through your own pain (at least both of those songs worked for me when I went through heartbreak). Still a silly follow up to Schmilsson, but far from something to be dismissed.

Neil Young's Harvest is yet another brilliant album, a very worthy successor to After The Gold Rush. I don't feel the need to say much aside from the fact that it's the album with "Old Man," "The Needle & The Damage Done," and "Alabama." What else do you need, man?

A couple words about Kris Kristofferson. He started sounding just slightly more 70s country on Jesus Was A Capricorn, but at this point it was pretty subtle and he still had some brilliant songs. It's not quite on the level of his first two albums but still quite enjoyable.

Rock & Roll! The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street may be my favorite Stones album. Mostly because the double album is usually something bands will use to indulge in more experimental material because hey, everything fits, but the Stones just kind of made their rockin' more loose and fun and wild. Then the slower songs are all winners. Particularly "Sweet Virginia." Yep.

Rolling Stones "Sweet Virginia"

Big Star popped up. I was definitely in the 70s based on the fact that the song "In The Street" came on. The one that was covered as the theme for That 70s Show! So there's that. But seriously, #1 Record is damned amazing. Of course the song "Thirteen" is one of the best throwback nostalgia tunes that will remind anyone of grade school crushes. Something very authentic in the songwriting considering this was basically pop music.

Big Star "Thirteen"

I like to think Big Star alongside the glam heroes of this time. T-Rex came on shortly afterwards with their album The Slider and I found a lot of parallels in the atmosphere developed. More authentic, lovely songs but with a bit more edge...

And it ended of course with the ultimate 1972 album, the ultimate in the world of glam rock, and possibly the ultimate David Bowie album:  The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Front to back, just a great album of space travel, song structure experimentation, protopunk, and glam party music.

Where I Stand: 4537 of 37161

Other Highlights Worth Mentioning:

• It actually started with Alice Cooper. "School's Out." Yeah!
• A couple Johnny Cash cuts...I'm not sure when he totally fell off the radar, but "Jacob Green" was from this year so maybe he was still doing all right.
• Chuck Berry had some sort of comeback as he had the live hit "My Ding-A-Ling." I have the full 9 minute version and some sort of edited short version. Maybe not a song that needs to be 9 minutes.
• Michael Jackson's version of "Rockin' Robin." That goes out to my sister.
• We say goodbye to Ricky Nelson here with "Garden Party." A nice sentimental song about an earlier era of rock & roll.
• Aretha Franklin's Young, Gifted and Black kind of toed all the different lines of the different directions soul was heading, from the overproduced lightweight stuff, a bit of funk, and a bit of disco. 
• Elvis! "Burning Love."
• Some more post-Morrison Doors, the song "The Mosquito" is quite the curiosity.

On The Next Installment...

Soul is Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Barry White, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder is definitely in his stride, and others. More Bowie (I think pretty much every year will have some sort of Bowie for the 70s). Iggy & The Stooges have a finale. The return of James Brown. Band on the Run. Quadrophenia. And these guys all make their AEFAE debut: New York Dolls! Pink Floyd! Queen! Roxy Music! Tom Waits! Willie Nelson!

In UMSmation

The day after two days and four nights of exhaustive music research, sun, food trucks, music, rock and roll, hip hop, beer, and music. I wanted to do a daily blog of the previous day's findings but that didn't happen. So now I have to remember all four days, or who-knows-how-many shows, and tell you what I can recall. Let's do this.

I will also note that I attempted to link to bandcamp whenever available. Support these artists!

Thursday

I thought about not even going on Thursday. I thought, three days will be plenty. I thought, it's annoying that you have to wear the same wrist band for four days when you have to go to work on Friday (and in the past it's been having to wear it all days because I used to work weekends and could only catch shows at a certain time in the evening). But I looked at the schedule and I always feel compelled to see any band my friends may be in (and Bonnie and the Beard were playing at 11:00) so I went for it. I at least behaved myself by not drinking. The first two acts I saw were recommendations from my friend Alisha. Thanks Alisha!

After getting my primary UMS tradition out of the way (food at Famous Pizza) I picked up my wrist band and headed over to Blue Ice for Kitty Crimes. Pretty amazing female hip hop artist who used Kendrick Lamar's "Backseat Freestyle" beat and also covered "Bombs Over Baghdad." She crowd surfed, made everyone dance, used some heavy rock beats in a way that brings attention to my main complaint about the new Kanye album (that it doesn't have enough to say for how urgently it tries to say it, it sounds angry but doesn't go where it needs to go lyrically), and just started everything off with a bang. Bang.

After that I headed over to the Hi-Dive for Varlet, which was something completely different. I was told that singer Lilly Scott was on American Idol, which at first made me not like them without even hearing them. But I was in there, had nothing to do for the hour, so I gave them a chance. I'm glad I kept an open mind about that because the band itself was very creative, very talented, and yes, with a great singer. In a way she sounded kind of like someone that would be a contestant on American Idol (singing in an Amy Winehouse style) but it was very entertaining and engaging.

Then the evening ended at Illegal Pete's with Bonnie and the Beard. It was kind of cool when Open Air head Mike Flanagan introduced them saying we were about to get our "asses rocked." And we did! I hadn't seen them in a while and they had a couple extra guest musicians and played a bunch of songs that were new to me. It reminded me of Gogol Bordello, the energy levels generated with the crowd and the band. It may have been their best set that I've seen yet.

Friday

I think I saw more female singers than male this year. By a wide margin. So far we're 2 1/2 to 1/2. We'll check back on the tally a little later on. Friday I started at 3 Kings for Esme Patterson. Not much to report here, but I did like that she did a response song to Elvis Costello's "Alison." I think a big part of her appeal is her lyrics though, and I couldn't hear them very well in the mix. Still a good set.

Then we trekked all the way up to the 404 to check out New Jazz Order, a jazz New Order cover band. But the only thing that was really jazzy about it was the horn section and somewhat free jazz vocals. The overall rhythm and atmosphere were very New Order. It was really cool.

Then to the main stage for Mudhoney! I never got into them back in the day but obviously they are great. 

Then dinner and Jeffrey Dallet at The Hornet (delicious! (the dinner part)). Jeffrey was good, folk music in the old timey style of Woody Guthrie, just good ol' story songs, a Bob Dylan cover, and fun lyrics. He used to play silly songs on a show I produced in the old ManiaTV days about graduation, Neil Young, and other random topics. He could write a song overnight to sing the next day. Now that he's actually doing this for real the songs have gotten a bit more serious but they have the same charm and style.

The evening ended at the Irish Rover with the great Land Lines. Always gorgeous, hypnotic, and rockin', this time we were in the back and it was a little difficult to hear (the full night's worth of beers didn't help either!) but they were still fantastic as usual.

And then it was Socorro burritos and a ride home. A successfully partied out night.

Saturday

Saturday I got there pretty early and did some aimless wandering. The first place I wandered into was Eslinger Gallery to see WhiteCatPink. A guy in a cat costume as seen to the right there. He played drums to a pre-programmed ipod. He also had some go-go kittens dancing to his sweet beats and there was a cover of Kraftwerk's "Pocket Calculator." It was compelling enough for me to stay for the whole set without seeking out anything else, but I don't know if there's much else to it, or anything else to say about it.

I wandered around some more after that, had some delicious barbecue from the Moe's food truck and walked and walked some more to fill space so the next picture is below this picture here. It was a good time of wandering and eating.

I decided I'd wander into 3 Kings because I was curious about a strange band name Panal S.A. de C.V. There was some fog seeping out of the front of the place and I knew I was in for something. It ended up being one of my favorite shows of the festival. Instrumental post rock, very dark and brooding. The visuals to the left there are pretty indicative of what it sounded like if that makes any sense. High contrast, foggy, there were also lasers but they wouldn't translate to my camera phone very well. I highly recommend them and I plan on seeing them some more in the future.

I might start making this faster. OK, Sauna at the Hi-Dive was wonderful, it reminded me of Scott Pilgrim but that was probably just the style of music, the age of the musicians, and the girl drummer. It was a lot of fun and a very good recommendation from Pam. Thanks Pam! Then we saw Ian Cooke at South Broadway Christian Church. Just like last year! 

Another repeat from last year was Wheelchair Sports Camp at Compound Basix. Last year it was the amazing finale to the thing. This year I think it was even better. Possibly because I got a spot where I could actually see, that may have been a factor. But they rocked it so hard with two trumpets that just blasted away while the beat just went on and on and on and f***in' on. The lyrics were so insightful, the flow was smooth and hard, everything just came together so perfectly. Check out that linked bandcamp, they have lots of great free music available.

And then we ate. And then we got in line at the Hi-Dive because I knew that it would be packed for this next band because it always is. Because they are a Denver favorite.

I hadn't seen Snake Rattle Rattle Snake in ages. They haven't done much that I've been aware of. Except writing songs apparently. I maybe recognized one or two songs this time. And I have their one album! The new stuff is great, I look forward to whenever they get around to putting out another record. I thought Sineater would propel them to national attention but maybe that didn't happen. So maybe this next one will do so? Hey, as long as they keep rocking Denver on the regular I guess I'll appreciate that we still have this gem in town. But seriously, if you're one of the few people that know of the local Denver scene but somehow don't know SRRS? Fix that.

And then it was just about midnight.

And I went to The Skylark to see Dressy Bessy. Everybody was exhausted. Everybody. But we all held out and watched the full set (and the band played said full set) and an encore. And it was great. Hard to show enthusiasm though. But the band themselves didn't let it slow them down. They rocked it hard like the veterans they are. Dressy Bessy will always have a special place in my heart because back in the early 2000s when I was listening to nothing but mopey emo/hardcore music and moping about an ex girlfriend I saw some band I liked open for Dressy Bessy and stuck around to see them. They just kind of turned that whole thing around. Just the pure optimism of their music made me realize I could let myself be happy. So I am eternally grateful to this band. On Saturday night the vocals were pretty low in the mix making them sound somewhat similar to Sauna earlier in the day, with the pure pop punk fuzz and high energy rhythm. It was a good night!

Sunday 

Sunday Mornin' comin' down. UMS knew what we would need when they booked Sunday morning. Lots of low key country music, folk, etc. to ease us into it. I saw a lot of incomplete sets Sunday morning. I was indecisive. Clouds & Mountains were the very first band I saw at 3 Kings and there were people sitting on the floor. Of 3 Kings. That's how tired we were. brim liski played some sort of spacey synthy rock at the Hi-dive. Not sure what to call it. Something with the word "chill" maybe but I hate calling things that. I stuck around for them for a while before I got antsy and went over to Gozo to check out Megan Burtt and The Cure for Love. Pleasant enough. Stopped by the main stage for a song by SHEL. Pleasant enough. More wandering. Eventually wound up at the Skylark to catch the end of New Ben Franklins, a very nice sounding country group. This was where I found Leah & Jeff and we shared recommendations. We went by the main stage to see Rachel & The Kings. Not really my thing (nor theirs).

Then we ate at Punch Bowl Social in anticipation of Dirty Femmes featuring Gordon Gano. We ended up right up front for this. Wowza! An incredibly talented Violent Femmes cover band accompanied by the violentest of the femmes, Gordon Gano himself, on fiddle! A violin femme if you will. I wanted to use this but it wouldn't be accurate: "Gordon Gano literally played second fiddle to his own songs" (He actually played lead fiddle; there was another second fiddler). But this show was a complete blast. All killer Femmes tracks (mostly from the first album) that had the whole crowd singing along, Gano proved himself to be a quite amazing fiddler, playing some insane solos (as well as some great back & forth with guitarist/band leader Jen Korte for some extended instrumental breaks) and even sang a verse or two here and there (including in "Good Feeling" so that was pretty magical). The rhythm section is a giant part of why it is a successful Violent Femmes cover band as well. And all the funniness of Gordon Gano talking about how great the band was, them calling the songs masterpieces, Gano blowing that off and then accepting the compliment...it was nice.

Then we went over to the Hi-Dive to see Wire Faces at the recommendation of Leah & Jeff (thanks Leah & Jeff!). Any time you see the drum set front & center you know it's going to be a rhythmic assault. And wow, how he assaulted those drums. Almost math-rock-esque but I guess not really but certainly influenced by bands from that genre (think Rodan, Don Caballero, other Touch & Go staples from the late 90s) and also obviously influenced by Television (they ended their set with a Television cover), it was really something special and I highly recommend you see them if you haven't. So many highlights!

Then we went to the main stage and Lord Huron was pretty good. 

Then I ditched out on Born in the Flood's main stage headlining performance (dooming me to miss seeing the governor's introduction!) to go see good ol' Sour Boy Bitter Girl at the Irish Rover. As usual they were awesome and played a bunch of songs off the new album that just came out this year that you should totally get off that bandcamp link above. Heartbreak, analogies, words.

I was about ready to call it a festival but not quite. So I wandered into the book store but didn't care for what I heard so I wandered some more, ending up in Blue Ice where I started it with a party. So I also ended it with a party: The Skeleton Show. There weren't a ton of us, but everyone there was dancing pretty hard to the garage core punkish sounds. I'd definitely see them again, but I also hope they get more interactive. It seemed like the type of show that should've erupted into a crazy end-of-UMS fiasco with the singer in the crowd (kind of like the old Black Black Ocean shows) but it didn't particularly. It was still a party though. Always end with a party.

And then I had to find a bed that could take this weight.

*final count: 13 1/2 to 12 1/2 for the ladies (counting instrumental dude bands as "dude singers"). I thought the margin was wider.