What are you listening to?

[Savonarola]

Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour '74 (1974)

I had never heard of Rory Gallagher before; so I was surprised at how good this is.  It's a solid hard-rocking blues based album with a virtuoso guitarist.  I read up a little about him on Wikipedia, it sounds like his band preferred live performances (sort of like The Allman Brothers) and they had almost no studio time when they recorded their studio albums.  That might help explain why he didn't have a lot of hits here in North America.

[Josephus]

Hysteria was huge when I was in Grade 10. Everyone, and I mean everyone wore Def Leppard shirts.
Except me. I was the lone holdout wearing Pink Floyd shirts.

I didn't realize we were the same age; due to your love of Prog I assumed you were a few years older than I was.

That's my memory of Grade 10 as well; Pink Floyd would have really stood out. 

I'm about to be 59

It may have been Grade 11.

[Savonarola]

I'm about to be 59

It may have been Grade 11.

    I see

[Savonarola]

Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom (1974)

It's odd that I came across this one shortly after "Hysteria."  Hysteria was recorded after Phil Collin lost his arm in a traffic accident.  Rock Bottom was recorded six months after Robert Wyatt fell from a window and became a paraplegic. 

Although, other than that connection, this album could not be further from Hysteria.  This is an art-rock-jazz fusion album, that I thought was disconcerting the first time I heard it.  It improves upon repeated listening, but it is still strange.  I've written before about Wyatting (named after Robert Wyatt), which is putting an album at a bar juke box hoping to drive the patrons away.  While Peter Brotzmann's "Machine Gun," would be my first choice for that, I could see the argument for this album as well.

[The Minsky Moment]

Best album of 1974 is Clifford Jordan's Glass Bead Games.

Just in case you wanted to save the effort. 

[Savonarola]

Barry White - Can't Get Enough (1974)

Sounds like it comes from much later in the Disco era (the very first Disco radio show would begin 1974 in New York).  Some Philadelphia bands (notably the O'Jays) were moving in this direction, but Barry White _{with the Barry White voice} made something that sounded much more Disco.  It's missing the chucking, but I could see Nile Rogers arranging something like this (Gene Page was the arranger, and Barry was the producer.)

[Savonarola]

Best album of 1974 is Clifford Jordan's Glass Bead Games.

Just in case you wanted to save the effort. 

I'll put it on the list.  Thus far my favorite 1974 album has been Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark"

[Josephus]

Best album of 1974 is Clifford Jordan's Glass Bead Games.

Just in case you wanted to save the effort. 

I'll put it on the list.  Thus far my favorite 1974 album has been Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark"

Great album, though not my favourite Joni. Have you heard Hejira?

[Savonarola]

Great album, though not my favourite Joni. Have you heard Hejira?

I haven't, but that one is already on my list.  Of the Joni Mitchell albums I have heard I think "Court and Spark" is my favorite.  I can see the case for "Blue" being a better album, but it's pretty heavy and not something I could listen to all the time.

[Savonarola]

Gene Clark - No Other (1974)

Gene Clark was one of the original members of the Byrds and their chief songwriter (well, chief after Bob Dylan) during their early career.  His career had gotten a shot in the arm at this point after a Byrds reunion and his cover of a couple of Neil Young songs; but this album was savagely reviewed and his career never recovered.  The album has since been rediscovered and reconsidered; and I think it's really good.  It is sort of a cosmic country-rock affair which owes a great deal to Neil Young.  I can see why this didn't catch on at the time, even at the height of country-rock, this doesn't really fit the mold.

[Josephus]

Great album, though not my favourite Joni. Have you heard Hejira?

I haven't, but that one is already on my list.  Of the Joni Mitchell albums I have heard I think "Court and Spark" is my favorite.  I can see the case for "Blue" being a better album, but it's pretty heavy and not something I could listen to all the time.

Hejira is a bit jazzier than those two...less pop, better musicianship...she had Jacko Pastorious on it, and later would add Pat Methany for the tour. Well worth a listen

[Savonarola]

Hejira is a bit jazzier than those two...less pop, better musicianship...she had Jacko Pastorious on it, and later would add Pat Methany for the tour. Well worth a listen

I'm looking forward to it then.  I've heard her later seventies work is more challenging, but a lot of critics find it more rewarding.

[Savonarola]

Maria Somerville - Luster (2025)

I found this one on a Pitchfork review, and I'm surprised anyone is still making shoegazer music in 2025.  I liked it (it probably would have been better if I had listened to it late at night in my bedroom, with all the lights turned off, on a vintage 80s stereo system through enormous earphones .)  It has the ethereal sound of a lot of the shoegazer bands had back in the day, but you can hear the more upbeat influence of New Wave music as well.

[Savonarola]

Kali Malone - The Sacrificial Code (2019)

This is another one I found on Pitchfork.  The reviewer completely geeks out on Malone's use of alternative tuning and atonality; but to me it sounds like ambient music.  It's either notes or chords being held for a long time.  It isn't bad, but it isn't something that I appreciate either.

The label is called Ideologic Organ; that amused me.   

[Savonarola]

Randy Newman - Good Ole Boys (1974)

Whether you think Newman's lyrics are mean and funny or just plain mean I'll leave up to you.  They are certainly mean, especially on "Rednecks."  The album does feel timely still with "Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man") and a song about Huey P. Long "The Kingfish" as well as Long's own "Every Man a King" as I think Long bears something of a resemblance to Donald Trump.  The problem with the album is that it sounds like a twangy Tin Pan Alley collection; Newman was always better off writing showtunes.

Newman was inspired to write "Rednecks" after seeing Lester Maddox on the Dick Cavett Show (I've never seen the episode, but it doesn't sound like one of Lester's better ideas.)  I thought that was amusing, though, as Lester was only Lieutenant Governor of Georgia at the time; the Governor was Jimmy Carter.