STEELY DAN - AJA @ 45

 

Marking its 45th anniversary today is the sixth and penultimate Steely Dan studio album before going on a 20 year hiatus from recording. Aja (pronounced “Asia”) was released on September 23rd, 1977 and took the group to new heights of complexity and sophistication, not only in terms of songwriting and performance, but also in the technical quality of the recordings they were able to achieve. Indeed, since its release, it has become a favorite demonstration record for audiophiles looking to show off their expensive hi-fi equipment.

Musically, Becker and Fagen were able to create a fusion of jazz and pop music which was so complete that it succeeded in obliterating any meaningful distinction between the genres. You can’t call it pop music with a jazz influence or jazz music slumming it as radio fodder. The distinctions are simply meaningless as the genetic codes of each are so completely intertwined that they are effectively inseparable. The result of this is a kind of music that is satisfying both as a casual listening experience while also rewarding those who wish to ply apart the layers and explore the intricacies which have been so carefully crafted within.

Lyrically, Fagan continued to develop his subtle insinuations of cynicism while superficially keeping a smile on his face. It’s an approach that mirrors the deceptiveness of the music in terms of presenting itself as aspirational towards the mainstream while clearly calculating a complexity meant to reward listeners who were able to move beyond mainstream artifice.

The music of Steely Dan was something I couldn’t appreciate in my youth while I was hip deep in teenage angst and the rebellion of "punk". I couldn’t see past the shiny veneer to comprehend the subversion happening beneath its surface. That’s something which only became possible with a level of maturity that could set aside old prejudices and hear these songs for what they really are. The album has become something of a staple in the realm of what’s come to be called “yacht rock”, because of the laid-back vibes, but I think it also underscores the decadence and perversions of the privileged class in a way that’s secretly malicious and therefore, subversively delicious!

TALKING HEADS: 77 @ 45

 

September 17th marks the 45th anniversary of the debut LP by Talking Heads, 77, which was released on this day in, of all years, 1977! While the band came along in parallel with fellow CBGB scene makers like the Ramones and Blondie, they cut a distinctive path of their own, which made it clear that the NYC scene was about far more than three chord thrashing, not that there’s anything wrong with that!

The band had been courted by numerous record labels for some time prior to finally signing with Sire Records to record their debut. The problem was that the group simply didn’t feel competent enough to pull off a satisfying recording and also felt their ranks needed to be expanded from a trio to a quartet, which took a bit of searching before coming across former Modern Lovers keyboardist/guitarist, Jerry Harrison. Lou Reed had taken a keen interest in mentoring the group early on after seeing them live a few times at CBGB. He even invited them over to his place for a critique one night where he advised them on adjusting some song arrangements, recommending a slower tempo for one song, and he cautioned David Byrne against wearing short sleeves on stage due to his excessively hairy arms. Lou nudged them towards his manager, who immediately offered them a contract, but the band were savvy enough to have a lawyer take a look at it before signing anything. He warned that the deal would leave them with virtually no control or cash from their efforts, so they respectfully declined, while tactfully maintaining their friendship with Reed. It was Ramones manager, Danny Hyde, who encouraged them to sign with Sire, in the end, stating that, while the label suffered from most of the same pitfalls as major labels, they were still more supportive of their bands in the long run.

Sessions for the LP started in late 1976, before Jerry had joined, but these were only preliminary efforts and proper work on the album wouldn’t start until April of the next year when the group had finalized its lineup. After two weeks, the basic bed tracks were completed and the final overdubs and vocal sessions happened after the group completed a short tour of Europe, which was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

Production on the album was a bit conflicted as one of the producers involved had proven somewhat difficult to work with. Tony Bongiovi was supposed to co-produce, but Chris Franz claimed he mostly talked on the phone, read magazines and talked about airplanes. He reportedly gave David Byrne a knife before recording vocals for Psycho Killer, telling him to “get into character”, but Byrne wasn’t into Tony’s approach to “method singing” and declined. David eventually asking that Bongiovi be removed from the session as he made him feel uncomfortable watching while he tried to record his vocals. The group made efforts to get a replacement producer while touring in Europe, but to no avail.

The album was released to consistently positive reviews across the board and immediately established Talking Heads as serious contenders within the NYC/CBGB new music scene. Defining the more intellectual spearhead of what would be distinguished as “new wave”, as opposed to the rawer, faster “punk” characterized by the Ramones, they became college radio darlings. David Byrne’s angular, jagged presence epitomized the character of the “power-nerd”. Critic Robert Christgau said of the album/band…

“Like Sparks, these are spoiled kids, but without the callowness or adolescent misogyny; like Yes, they are wimps, but without vagueness or cheap romanticism. Every tinkling harmony is righted with a screech, every self-help homily contextualized dramatically, so that in the end, the record proves not only that the detachment of craft can coexist with a frightening intensity of feeling, something most artists know, but that the most inarticulate rage can be rationalized. Which means they're punks after all.”

SOMETHING ELSE BY THE KINKS @ 55

 

Celebrating 55 years on the shelves today is Something Else by The Kinks, their fifth UK studio LP, which was issued on September 15th, 1967. It’s an album that continued to move the band away from the proto-hard rock sound which had characterized early hits like You Really Got Me. The late 1960s Kinks, instead, favored a more baroque pop sound with English music hall leanings featuring Ray Davies’ introspective observational lyrical content.

It was a move that was not particularly chart friendly, though the singles from the LP, Waterloo Sunset and Death of a Clown, performed respectably. The LP, on the other hand, didn’t fare well with sales and critics were mixed. The US market were still banning the group from touring or performing on TV, so there was no way to properly promote it overseas. In the UK, the LP was competing with compilations of early Kinks hits and the advance singles sort of let the air out of the balloon, so to speak, and undercut interest in the album.

But the vagaries of the times have since given way to an appreciation of the complexities offered by the band at what has since become recognized as the peak of their creative genius. Indeed, the LP is bursting with brilliant songwriting and performances with songs like David Watts, Situation Vacant and Lazy Old Sun being but a few of the many standouts on the album. It’s a record that rewards repeat listening and offers layers of insight into British life during the post war era.

KATE BUSH - THE DREAMING @ 40

 

September 13th marks the 40th anniversary of Kate Bush’s fourth studio album, The Dreaming, which was released on this day in 1982. Two years in the making, it was the first album Bush produced on her own, which gave her the opportunity to push her boundaries both creatively and technologically.

With her previous album, Never For Ever, Kate had begun dabbling with a new bit of musical gear in the form of the Fairlight CMI digital sampler & synthesizer. For that album, it was essentially a novelty device and was relegated to mostly providing a few sound effects. However, The Dreaming would embrace it as a primary creative tool, making it an integral component of the compositional process. Its presence would give the production a whole new palette of sounds with which Bush could paint her sonic pictures.

In addition to the tech innovations, Bush also seems to have been influenced to a degree by some things going on in the world of “post-punk” as evidenced by her recruiting of Townhouse engineer Nick Launay to help on the album. Nick had made a name for himself while working on Public Image Ltd’s Flowers of Romance LP, for which he garnered a great deal of attention with his walloping drum sounds. They had become notorious enough to get Phil Collins to pull him into engineering for him in order to get a similar sound. Those influences ended up putting parts of the album next of kin to the likes of Siouxsie & The Banshees while also veering into traditional English folk territory, all the while maintaining a highly experimental edge.

Though producing the album on her own gave her a new creative freedom, it also put her under new pressures and stresses. The sessions for the album ended up being intermittent as Kate struggled with creative blocks, which resulted in work taking much longer than originally anticipated. This included taking extended breaks in the process in order to regroup and refocus her efforts properly.

Once the album was completed, it sold & charted respectably, but its sales were noticeably less than her previous albums. Critics and fans offered mixed reviews as they were put off by the experimentation and were, perhaps, a bit overloaded by Bush’s “maximalist” approach. However, The Dreaming has become a work which benefited from maturity. In the ensuing years since its release, both fans and critics have come to reappraise the album and appreciate its innovative edginess. It may not have the immediate appeal of some of her other works, but its strangeness has charms which work their magic through repeated exposure and familiarity. It may jar on first listen, but it works its way into the listener’s soul when you give it a chance.

IGGY POP - LUST FOR LIFE @ 45

 

Marking its 45th anniversary today is the sophomore solo LP from Stooges front-man, Iggy Pop, with Lust For Life being released on September 9th, 1977. It followed closely on the heels of his debut solo release, The Idiot, which was issued in March of that year. After touring to support that album, Pop and David Bowie, who’d produced the first album and toured with Pop’s band on keyboards, returned to Hansa Studios in West Berlin to work on the followup.

While Bowie had exerted significant control and influence over the first album, writing many of its songs, Iggy was adamant that he have more creative input on this one. Iggy wanted to take on that task now that the process of cleaning up from drug addiction was further along and his musical juices were flowing. Bowie still helped out with some arrangements, but even here Iggy had a greater hand. The result is an album that cleaves much closer to the kind of proto-punk that Pop had done with the Stooges rather than the cooler “Krautrock” influenced detachment of the previous record.

The album was recorded throughout May and June, utilizing essentially the same band which had toured to support The Idiot. Brothers Tony Fox and Hunt Sales held the rhythm section on bass and drums, respectively, and guitarist Ricky Gardiner filled out the band with Bowie returning on keyboards. Bowie & Pop were assisted with their production duties by engineer Colin Thurston. As previously stated, the music took on a harder, rawer tone and was, overall, more favorably received by both critics and fans, who felt Pop had returned to something closer to the raucous persona they were expecting from him.

After its release, Pop became frustrated with RCA and finished off his contract with them by issuing a hastily cobbled together live album. He furthermore moved away from working with Bowie for his next studio albums, not renewing that working relationship until later in the next decade. The legacy of Lust For Life has left both the title track and The Passenger as seminal songs in Iggy’s musical canon.

RUSH - A FAREWELL TO KINGS @ 45

 

Marking 45 years on the shelves, Rush’s fifth studio album, A Farewell to Kings, was released on September 1st, 1977. After their breakthrough release, 2112, from the previous year, A Farewell to Kings succeeded in expanding their burgeoning audience while introducing one of the groups most seminal and memorable singles.

After touring in support of 2112 for a grueling 16 months, rather than indulge in any vacation time, the trio plowed straight into recording a followup album to keep their hard won momentum rolling. With the first blush of success at their backs, they decided to record in the UK for a change of pace and set off to Rockfield Studios in Rockfield, Monmouthshire in Wales. In addition to the unfamiliar surroundings, the group decided to further challenge themselves with some unfamiliar instrumentation, with each member tackling something new for the sessions. This was where the group began introducing synthesizers to their sound, with Geddy, in particular, finding his palette expanded by the use of a synth bass pedal, which feed up his hands to play a Mini-Moog synth. This configuration was actually something he picked up from Cameron Hawkins of fellow Torontonian prog-rock trio, FM (which also featured Nash the Slash). Cam had this same kind of setup and he helped Geddy acclimate to this new performing technique.

Rush spent three weeks recording in Wales before heading to London to spend two more weeks mixing the album at Advision Studios. The album featured a mix of longer conceptual pieces with more concise, radio friendly tracks, particularly the song, Closer to the Heart, which was chosen as the single. The album did well, cracking the top 40 zones of the charts in Canada, the UK and the US, further advancing the band’s popularity. The single has gone on to become a signature song for the group and one of their most recognizable compositions.

The tour in 1977 to promote the album happened to come through my home town of Thunder Bay, ON, and their show at the Fort William Gardens became my first proper rock & roll concert at the tender age of 14. My older cousin took me to see them and I recall Max Webster were the opening act for the show. This was the era of silk kimonos with big billowing sleeves for Rush’s stage attire, which I thought looked pretty cool at the time, though they’ve been razed for their threads of the time over the years. The big concrete echo chamber of the stadium wasn’t a great place for acoustics, but it sure was LOUD and I marveled at the throngs of jean clad teens smoking weed and rocking out. It was a scene I’d never quite witnessed before and it was a little intimidating! I suppose, for a Canadian teen of the 1970s, you can’t complain about having your first concert be by one of Canada’s most iconic bands touring on the heels of what would become one of their most notable albums.

PINK FLOYD - PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN @ 55

 

Released on August 5th, 1967, Pink Floyd’s debut LP, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is celebrating its 55th anniversary today. It’s the only album by the group which was fronted by co-founder, Syd Barrett, who disintegrated into an LSD fueled state of mental illness within a year of the album’s release, necessitating his departure from the band before they could complete their second album. However, Syd dominates the songwriting credits for this debut with his otherworldly & whimsical take on psychedelic pop taking up all but three of the albums songs.

Prior to their debut LP, the group had been playing together under various configurations and alternate names since about 1962, beginning like most British bands of the times from an American blues influenced foundation. By the time the mid 1960s were beginning to shift into the rear view mirror, the group had begun on a trajectory which included extended live improvisations and solos. Part of the reason for this evolution came from their lack of songs to perform and a desire not to repeat pieces during their sets. They realized that they could avoid repetition simply by extending the duration of the songs through solos and improvisation. As the psychedelic influence of LSD began to take hold, the groups sound began to be associated with the movement, even though by most accounts, it was only Barrett who was a true aficionado of the drug.

By 1967, the group had reached the status where they went professional by signing a record deal with EMI. They released a few singles earlier in the year before heading to EMI Studios in London’s Abbey Road between February and May to record the album. They made extensive use of the facilities more advanced production tools including EMT plate reverberation, automatic double tracking (ADT), and the studio’s vintage echo chamber. Next to The Beatles Sgt. Pepper, recorded at the same facility around the same time, the production of the album set the bar for cutting edge experimental engineering techniques for the times.

After signing to EMI and even before the album came out, the press were getting hyped up about the group. The sensationalism surrounding the psychedelic LSD movement resulted in numerous salacious tabloid stories from the likes of the News of the World paper and others. The label did their best to try to disassociate the group from this scene, but their reputation had been well established by then from their ongoing live residencies at London’s UFO Club. As the recording sessions for the album progressed, Barrett’s own indulgences began to escalate and impact his ability to function in the studio and within the group.

Upon its release, the album quickly garnered critical raves and, with the help of relatively successful singles paving the way, was a hit for the band, establishing them as prime movers of the London psychedelic scene, often lauded as its most sophisticated and articulate exponents. While some felt the LP hemmed in the more extreme experimentation of their live shows, the restraint in the studio ultimately helped to make the album more accessible to a larger audience and more marketable for the label. Subsequent to its release, it has become an essential document of the creative genius of Syd Barrett before his ability to function was derailed by his mental illness. Within their overall catalogue, it may be something of an outlier and atypical of the music they’d produce without Barrett’s influence, but it remains a fundamental cornerstone of the band’s mythos.