Talking Heads - Fear of Music (1979)

“Fear Of Music” by Talking Heads (1979)

Release Date: August 3, 1979
Produced by Brian Eno, Talking Heads
Genre: New Wave, Post Punk, Rock, Art-Rock
Label: Sire

Chart Positions: #21 (US), #1 (Holland), #11 (New Zealand), #27 (Canada), #33 (UK), #35 (Australia)
Certifications: Gold (US)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions:
“Life During Wartime” #80 (US)
“I Zimbra” #28 (US Dance)
“Cities” (No Chart Data)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A

Best Tracks: ALL TRACKS: This album is a staple of the 1970s and beyond. A must-have album for any music collector.

“Fear Of Music” by Talking Heads (Click Here) 

Trivia: Fear of Music is the third studio album by American new wave band Talking Heads, released on 3 August 1979 on Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in New York City between April and May 1979 and was produced by the quartet and Brian Eno (this was the second of three albums in which Eno worked with Talking Heads). The album reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and peaked at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. Three songs were released as singles between 1979 and 1980: "Life During Wartime", "I Zimbra", and "Cities". The record was certified Gold in the U.S. in 1985.

Fear of Music received favorable reviews from critics. Praise centered on its unconventional rhythms and frontman David Byrne's lyrical performances. The record is often considered one of the best Talking Heads releases. It has featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of all time. Britain's Channel 4 named the record at number 76 in its 2005 countdown of The 100 Greatest Albums. In 2006 it was remastered and reissued with four bonus tracks.

Talking Heads' second album More Songs About Buildings and Food, released in 1978, expanded the band's sonic palette. The record included a hit single, a cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River", which gained the quartet commercial exposure. In March 1979, the band members played the song on nationwide U.S. music show American Bandstand. In the days after the performance, they decided they did not want to be regarded simply as "a singles machine". Talking Heads entered a New York City studio without a producer in the spring of 1979 and practiced demo tracks. Musically, the band wanted to expand on the "subtly disguised" disco rhythms present in More Songs About Buildings and Food by making them more prominent in the mixes of new songs. The recording plans were shelved after the quartet was not pleased with the results during the sessions. A decision was taken to rehearse in drummer Chris Frantz's and bassist Tina Weymouth's loft, where the band members played before they signed to a record label in the mid-1970s. Eno, who produced their previous full-length release, was called to help.

On 22 April and 6 May 1979, a Record Plant van manned by a sound engineering crew parked outside Frantz's and Weymouth's house and ran cables through their loft window. On these two days, Talking Heads recorded the basic tracks with Eno. Instead of incorporating characters in society like in More Songs About Buildings and Food, Byrne decided to place them alone in dystopian situations.Weymouth was initially skeptical of Byrne's decisions, but the frontman managed to persuade her. She has explained that Byrne's sense of rhythm is "insane but fantastic" and that he was key to the band's recording drive during the home sessions. As songs evolved, playing instrumental sections became easier for the band members. Eno was instrumental in shaping their sound and recording confidence and worked on electronic treatments of tracks once they were all crafted.

Fear of Music is largely built on an eclectic mix of disco rhythms, cinematic soundscapes, and conventional rock music elements. Album opener "I Zimbra" is an African-influenced disco track and includes background chanting from assistant recording engineer Julie Last.

The album begins with "I Zimbra", whose lyrics are based on a nonsensical poem by Dadaist writer Hugo Ball. The sound of lyrics, together with the tribal sound of the song, enhanced by guest star virtuoso guitarist Robert Fripp, gave it an "ethnic" style; Jerry Harrison has said that this song influenced what the band was to do on their next album, Remain in Light. "Cities" details a search for the perfect urban settlement to live in and was borne out of Talking Heads' preferences for urban homes, especially in Manhattan. "Paper" compares a love affair with a simple piece of paper. In "Life During Wartime", Byrne cast himself an "unheroic urban guerrilla", who renounced parties, survived on basic supplies like peanut butter, and heard rumors about weapons shipments and impromptu graveyards. The character is only connected to the imminent collapse of his civilization. Byrne considered the persona "believable and plausible". "Air" is a protest song against the atmosphere, an idea Byrne does not consider "a joke". Inspired by The Threepenny Opera, the lyricist wanted to create a melancholic and touching track about a guy who feels so down that even breathing feels painful.

"Life During Wartime" was the first single from their 1979 album Fear of Music in 1979. It peaked at #80 on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart. In David Bowman's book This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century Byrne is quoted as describing the genesis of the song: "David wrote nine of the album's eleven tracks. Two numbers came out of jamming. The first would be called "Life During Wartime." David's lyrics describe a Walker Percy-ish post-apocalyptic landscape where a revolutionary hides out in a deserted cemetery, surviving on peanut butter. 'I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A,' David later said, 'I was thinking about Baader-Meinhof. Patty Hearst. Tompkins Square. This a song about living in Alphabet City.'”
AllMusic's Bill Janowitz reviewed the song, calling attention to its nearness to funk, saying that it is a "sort of apocalyptic punk/funk merge" comparable to Prince's later hit single "1999". In 2012, The New Yorker described "Life During Wartime" as, "an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time," adding "[it] is the band’s pinnacle, and the song is still a hell of a thing to hear."

"Life During Wartime" (1979)

"I Zimbra," the second single from their 1979 album Fear of Music.
The song's lyrics are an adaptation of Dadaist Hugo Ball's poem "Gadji beri bimba". According to Sytze Steenstra in Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present, the music draws heavily on the African popular music Byrne was listening to at the time.

"Cities," the third single from the album, is a fast-paced bass and keyboard-led song. Tina Weymouth's bass playing in the song is described as both "melodic" and "funky", while David Byrne's guitar is said to be jittery, but clean-sounding. The song fades both in and out with a very aggressive funky rhythm and the fade-out makes a building-up feeling as it transitions into the next song, "Life During Wartime." The song's meaning is simple: it is mainly about a man looking for a city to live in, though lead singer David Byrne's surrealistic yet humorous delivery of the song is anything but simple. The lyrics are both deadpan and silly causing a mixed humor in the song. This combination can be seen in lyrics such as "Did I forget to mention, forget to mention Memphis, home of Elvis and the ancient Greeks.

"Heaven" has been called "the calm after their unusual ominous storm" by AllMusic as well as something "psychologists would certainly have a field day with" by journalist Ian Gittins. Dave Bell, writing for quarterly UK magazine Ceasefire, argued that the song "epitomises" pop as Samuel Beckett might write it: tedious, beautiful and desperate"

The following is a Rolling Stone Magazine Review:
Time stands still when you're cracking up. At the brink of mental overload, there's a revelatory instant — a freeze frame in which everything fits together in new ways. Logic dissolves, paralogic reigns. And in that precarious moment, the world is fixed in place, skewed and renewed.

David Byrne's lyrics on Talking Heads' Fear of Music are paralogical visions stated with almost childlike directness: he thinks that air hits him in the face, that animals want to change his life, that "someone controls electric guitar." By itself, this perspective makes Byrne's songs fascinating. But what makes Talking Heads my favorite and probably the best rock band anywhere is that they've invented an audio analog to their view from the brink: rock music that warps and suspends time.

They use a simple device: repetition. Unswerving rhythms, immobile harmonies. Each tune is a chain of sections linked by rhythm, each section a matrix of interlocking riffs. "I Zimbra" stakes Talking Heads' claim to pure mechanization. One by one, the instruments click into place in a rhythm pattern fleshed out by Afro-futurist harmonies and topped by the meaningless chanted syllables of a poem by Twenties Dadaist Hugo Ball. At composition's end, Robert Fripp's guitar phases through the whole pulsing assemblage like the shuttle of a high-speed loom.
Even in the more conventional numbers — those built on ordinary major and minor chords — anything repeatable gets repeated. "Heaven," Byrne sings in his minimalist anthem of the same name, "is a place where nothing happens," and while his songs aren't by any means completely static, their harmonies don't move as fast as most pop progressions do. When a tune lingers on one chord, riffs that go with that chord are played over and over. As for rhythm, drummer Chris Frantz will sometimes hold one lick for an entire cut: for example, the steady hi-hat eighth notes he plays throughout "Mind" and "Heaven." It's deliberately mechanical, but because the riffs are complexly intertwined and there's a solid backbeat, the repetition doesn't inspire Kraftwerk-style boredom or disco claustrophobia. Instead, there's a sense of time being held at bay.

Yet Byrne's vocals keep the music in the present tense. He sings like a Mouseketeer trapped in an endless anything-can-happen day: rattled, wide-eyed, quavery, breaking into glossolalia whenever he runs out of words. Sometimes he slides into sync with the other members of the band, sometimes he dithers above them in lunatic abandon. Though his cohorts play like an efficient machine, David Byrne maintains the beauty of human error.

Last year's More Songs about Buildings and Food signaled that the group, on its second album, had perfected its tech-mech music. The LP was a manic, oddly funky, hard-edged, catchy masterpiece. On Fear of Music, Talking Heads take that style and proceed to torture-test it under every distortion they and co-producer Brian Eno can devise. "Animals," with its dissonance and odd meters (5/4 and 7/4), radically extends the band's musical vocabulary, while other liberties (the jumpy, angular countermelody in "Air," Tina Weymouth's off-the-beat bass line in "Mind") are infiltrated into the more "normal"-sounding numbers. And the new record is programmed to emphasize its most ominous cuts: it opens with "I Zimbra," winds up side one with "Memories Can't Wait," and closes side two with "Animals," "Electric Guitar" and "Drugs." Whereas More Songs about Buildings and Food was crisp and outgoing, Fear of Music is often deliberately, brilliantly disorienting. Like its black, corrugated packaging (which resembles a manhole cover), the album is foreboding, inescapably urban and obsessed with texture.

Fear of Music is Talking Heads' most elaborate production so far, teeming with overdubs and effects the group doesn't try to reproduce in concert. Sounds emerge out of nowhere, echoes tangle the beat, instrumental timbres form unholy alloys. For the LP's spookiest tune, "Memories Can't Wait," the mix is as murky as a film-noir interior. Byrne's vocal is echoed, reverbed, tape-reversed and dizzyingly sped up while he sings about an endless "party in my mind." In the final verse, when suddenly "Everything is very quiet," his voice slips out front, the key changes and the echoes slink away. It's hardly subtle, but it works.

"Drugs" is a radical reworking of a song the band had been performing live and calling "Electricity." Onstage, "Electricity" was an easygoing, almost countryish, guitar-vamp number. On Fear of Music, Eno and Talking Heads eliminate the vamp, reverse the beat, stick a bell on every downbeat (like Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo"), change some lyrics, rewrite the bridge in a different key and fill the hole left by the vamp with echoes and strange noises, including slow breathing, garbled voices and — just when the tune threatens to get too serious — what sounds like a bullfrog croak.
Though New Wave conservatives may be appalled at such elaborate studio tinkering, the songs don't suffer a bit. They're not sweetened — they're seasoned. In "Mind," Byrne double-tracks his vocals in ragged octaves on the chorus (which is inspired: e.g., "I need something to change your mind"), ostensibly making it twice as plaintive. But all the while, a giddy, slapstick synthesizer line is busy cutting away any trace of sentiment.

For me, Fear of Music's least interesting track is the rock-disco-like "Life During Wartime," which sounds almost live. The problem isn't the production but the song itself. While "Life During Wartime" is both structurally and harmonically conventional, boasts a silly chorus lyric and even adds a conga player to the group, the tune's real trouble is that it lacks Talking Heads' usual counterpoint. On the other hand, some of the words are arresting: "I got three passports, a couple of visas/You don't even know my real name."

Byrne has drastically shifted his verbal approach for Fear of Music. In his lyrics for earlier records, he let himself be self-conscious: he'd observe, analyze and make judgments. His new lyrics virtually eliminate abstraction — he doesn't consider, he feels. There's very little past and no future, just a jumble of sensations as if it's all he can do to handle right now. The songs are invariably in the first person and mention very few outside characters: the singer's inner world is his last refuge.

This way lies solipsism perhaps. But David Byrne's private, paranoid universe is dangerously close to yours and mine. "Cities," in which a homeless Byrne has to find himself "a city to live in," fades in with a riff and the sound of sirens. I'd played Fear of Music more than a dozen times before I realized that the sirens weren't outside my window.

The following review appeared in the August 18, 1979 issue of Billboard Magazine.

By far the groups strongest LP yet, this third album fully realizes the producing talents of Brian Eno and the lyrical/musical abilities of the art rock new wave band. The sensuous subtle rhythms applied sparingly in the past as in "Take Me To The River" and "Psycho Killer," predominate here with "I Zimbra" and "Mind" merging into disco though they are plainly avant-garde. The centerpiece is "Life During Wartime, a chilling account of what life in the US may be like in the next war. Despite more commercial instrumentation, David Byrne's vocals and lyrics can be as obtuse and irritating as ever.
Best Cuts: "Life During Wartime," "Mind," "Air," "I Zimbra."
Dealers: Last LP went top 30 and produced a top 39 single with Takee Me To The River."

Talking Heads (1979) 

From left to right: Tina Weymouth, Chris Franz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison

Link to “Fear Of Music” (Click Here)

TALKING HEADS

Supertramp - Crime Of The Century (1974)

“Crime of the Century” by Supertramp (1974)

Release Date: September 1974
Produced by Ken Scott, Supertramp
Genre: Art-Rock, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Rock, Classic Rock
Label: A&M

Chart Positions: #4 (UK, Canada), #5 (Germany), #12 (New Zealand), #15 (Australia), #19 (France), #21 (Spain), #25 (Netherlands), #38 (US)
Certifications: Diamond (Canada), Platinum (France), Gold (US, UK, Germany, Switzerland)

Singles and Chart Positions: 
“Dreamer” (#10 France, #13 UK, #34 New Zealand, #47 Australia)
“Bloody Well Right” #34 New Zealand, 335 US, #49 Canada)
“School” (#27 Netherlands, #1 France)
Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: All tracks – Entire album excels

“Crime Of The Century” by Supertramp (Click Here)

“Crime of the Century” is the third studio album released by Supertramp. It spawned three hit singles “Dreamer,” “Bloody Well Right” and “School.” “School” was released as a single ten years after the album’s release in 1984 throughout Europe. “Crime of the Century” was Supertramp's commercial breakthrough in both the US and UK, aided by the UK hit "Dreamer" and the U.S. hit "Bloody Well Right."

Crime of the Century is a concept album that tells the story of Rudy. In "School," Rudy has lamented that the education system in England is teaching conformity above education (boy, Rudy, you should see America).

The album's dedication reads "To Sam", which is a nickname for Stanley August Miesegaes, the Dutch millionaire who supported the band financially from 1969–72.

After the failure of their first two albums and an unsuccessful tour, the band broke up, and Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson recruited new members, drummer Bob C. Benberg, woodwinds player John Helliwell, and bassist Dougie Thomson. This new line-up were sent by their record label, A&M, in particular A&R man Dave Margereson (who would become their manager for the next ten years) to a seventeenth-century farm in West Dorset in order to rehearse together and prepare the album. While recording the album, Davies and Hodgson recorded approximately 42 demo songs, from which only 8 were chosen to appear on the album. Several other tracks appeared on later albums (Crisis? What Crisis?, ...Famous Last Words...).

This new lineup recorded "Crime of the Century" with in a three and a half month period. Upon it's release the album became Supertramp's breakthrough album giving them their first hit singles and their first album to reach the Top 40 (and higher) throughout the world.

"Bloody Well Right" was Supertramp's first charting hit in the US, while it failed to chart in the UK. One theory on why the song didn't chart in their UK homeland has it that Brits were still offended by the adjective "bloody" in 1975. These days it is considered a mild expletive throughout the UK. Written by Supertramp leaders Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, Davies sings lead on this one. The song deals with youthful confusion, class warfare, and forced conformity in the British school system (kind of like Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall (part II)"). This anti-establishment take was a theme of the album. "Bloody Well Right" is actually an answer song to the previous song on the album, "School."

“Dreamer” is about a guy with big dreams who is incapable of acting on them, so they never come true. As was custom with Supertramp, it was credited to their founding members Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, who wrote separately but shared composer credits. "Dreamer" was written by Hodgson, who also sang lead.

The following is a review which appeared in the December 7, 1974 issue of Billboard Magazine:
Rather old mix of rock in the more traditional vein, strong electronic and horn sounds and some humorous moments from British quintet who can rock with the best or move through quiet harmonies. Best material seems to be the up-tempo things that allow the band a chance to rock, but it all works well. Not really an AM group in the "singles" sense of the word, but one that should find a quick home on any station willing to play some LP cuts. One would also imagine that this kind of band would benefit greatly from a tour. Fairly unique in material and sound, which is worth a listen to itself these days. 
Best Cuts: "Bloody Well Right," "Hide In Your Shell," "Dreamer," "Crime of the Century"

Bloody Well Right (1974)

Supertramp (1975)

Link to “Crime Of The Century” (Click Here)

SUPERTRAMP

Be-Bop Deluxe - Sunburst Finish (1976)

“Sunburst Finish” by Be-Bop Deluxe (1976)

Release Date: February 1976
Produced by John Leckie, Bill Nelson
Genre: Art-Rock, Proto Punk, New Wave
Label: Harvest

Chart Positions: #17 (UK), #96 (US)
Certifications: N/A

Singles: “Ships In The Night” #23 (UK)
Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “Ships In The Night,” “Sleep That Burns,” “Crystal Gazing,” “Speed Of The Wind”

“Sunburst Finish” by Be-Bop Deluxe (Click Here)

Trivia: “Sunburst Finish” is the third studio album by art rock band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in February 1976. It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios, London. The album contains what would become one of their few forays into charts; the February 1976 single "Ships in the Night" reached #23 on the UK Singles Charts. The album was their first album to enjoy chart success in the US and UK subsequently brining a renewed interest in their first two albums.

“Sunburst Finish” is one of the great rock albums of the 1970s, the band is absolutely dialed in throughout, Bill Nelson’s songwriting has never been more accessible and sharp. “Fair Exchange,” with typically blistering lead work from Nelson, kicks the proceedings off in style.  From there the album showcases prime examples of hard rock, progressive rock, and power pop. With never a dead spot to be found, “Sunburst Finish” is simply packed with killer riffs, top-notch performances, and great melodies.

The multi-talented Bill Nelson wrote all ten songs on the album (including the three bonus tracks on the 1990 reissue, he played all the guitars, sang lead vocals and co-produced the album. The was very much a Bill Nelson album as it was a Be-Bop Deluxe album. As a sidenote... did I mention Bill's guitar work on this album is HOT! HOT! HOT!

The album is filled with varying rhythms and musical surprises from beginning to end. The pounding rhythm on "Sleep That Burns" alternates with slower sections building a spacey dream sequence in what has to be one of Be-Bop Deluxe's superior progressive arrangements.

"Sleep That Burns" (1976)

"Ships In The Night" is the song that propelled Be-Bop Deluxe to their next level of success. The song was their first of two singles to reach the UK charts (the other was a four-track single release called "Hot Valves," which includes one track from each of their first four albums with "Blazing Apostles" from "Sunburst Finish"). Bill Nelson's younger brother Ian Nelson played alto saxophone on "Ships In The Night."

Be-Bop Deluxe (1976)

Link to “Sunburst Finish” (Click Here)

BE-BOP DELUXE

Kate Bush - The Kick Inside (1978)

“The Kick Inside” by Kate Bush (1978)

Release Date: February 17, 1978
Produced by Andrew Powell
Genre: Art-Rock, Art-Pop, Baroque Pop
Label: EMI (UK), Harvest (US and Canada)
Chart Positions: #1 (Netherlands), #2 (New Zealand, Belgium), #3 (UK, Australia, France), #4 (Norway), #8 (Sweden), #21 (Germany), #37 (Japan), #95 (Canada)
Certifications: 3xPlatinum (Canada), Platinum (UK, Netherlands, Australia), Gold (New Zealand)

Singles: “Wuthering Heights” #1 (New Zealand, UK, France, Italy, Ireland, Australia, Holland), #3 (Netherlands, South Africa, Brazil), #4 (Belgium), #6 (Sweden), #7 (Norway, Poland), #8 (Switzerland), #11 (Germany), #17 (Austria), #108 (US), “The Man With The Child In His Eyes” #1 (France), #3 (Ireland), #6 (UK), #22 (Australia), #23 (Netherlands), #36 (New Zealand), #85 (US)
Singles Certifications: "Wuthering Heights" Platinum (New Zealand), Gold (UK, Australia)

While attending a Catholic girls' school in South East London, in the mid-1970s, Kate’s family produced a demo tape with over 50 of her compositions, which was turned down by record labels. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd received the demo from Ricky Hopper, a mutual friend of Gilmour and the Bush family. Impressed with what he heard, Gilmour helped the sixteen-year-old Bush get a more professional-sounding demo tape recorded that would be more saleable to the record companies. Three tracks in total were recorded and paid for by Gilmour. The tape was produced by Gilmour's friend Andrew Powell (who would go on to produce Bush's first two albums) and sound engineer Geoff Emerick. The tape was sent to EMI executive Terry Slater. Slater was impressed by the tape and signed her.

Bush released her debut album, “The Kick Inside,” on February 17, 1978 when she was 19 years old, but some of the songs had been written when she was as young as 13. The production included efforts by several progressive rock veterans, including Duncan Mackay, Ian Bairnson, David Paton, Andrew Powell, and Stuart Elliott both of The Alan Parsons Project, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

“The Kick Inside” by Kate Bush (Click Here)

Six different varieties of the album's cover are known and is Bush's only album to have a different cover in the UK, the U.S., Canada, Yugoslavia, Japan and Uruguay (the Uruguay cover being the rarest and most expensive - an example sold on eBay for over $400).

The Kick Inside Original British Album Cover

“The Kick Inside” was an immediate hit throughout the world reaching the Top 10 in several countries in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, including #1 in Netherlands and #2 in New Zealand. Despite this success the album failed to chart in the US.

EMI originally wanted the more rock-oriented track "James and the Cold Gun" to be her début single, but Bush insisted that it should be "Wuthering Heights". Even at this early stage of her career, she had gained a reputation for her determination to have a say in decisions affecting her work. Kate stated, "I felt that to actually get your name anywhere, you've got to do something that is unusual." The song was not initially inspired by Emily Brontë's novel but by a television adaptation, although Bush read the novel later in order to (in her own words) "get the research right." Bush reportedly wrote the song within the space of just a few hours late at night. The guitar solo is by Ian Bairnson, formerly of Pilot. In the mid-'70s, they had a #5 hit in the US with "Magic" and a chart topper in the UK with "January." Two music videos were created to accompany "Wuthering Heights". In one version, Bush can be seen performing the song in a dark room filled with white mist while wearing a white dress (which was the UK release); in the other, the singer dances in an outdoor environment while wearing a red dress (which was done for the American release). "Wuthering Heights" was officially released in early 1978 and entered the top forty in the official singles chart in the United Kingdom at number twenty-seven on 18 February, and quickly rose to number one three weeks later dethroning ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me" from the top spot. Bush became the first female artist to have a self-penned number one hit in the UK. The single release unwittingly pitted Bush against another female vocalist also charting with her first UK hit: Debbie Harry with her band Blondie and their single "Denis". Amid much public discussion about the two singers' merits, Bush came out on top, while Blondie stalled at number two. Success was not limited to the UK and became a huge hit throughout the world having reached #1 in Italy, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It also reached the top ten in many other countries including South Africa, Brazil, Poland and others. Despite it’s universal popularity the song only made it to #108 in the US. The single was certified Gold by the BPI for sales of 500,000 in the UK. Pat Benatar covered “Wuthering Heights” for her 1980 album “Crimes of Passion.”

"Withering Heights" (1978)

The album's second single, "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", was released and reached number six in the UK charts. Though not quite as big a hit as “Wuthering Heights,” the song was fairly successful making it to #1 in France and #3 in Ireland. The song tells of a relationship between a young girl and an older man. She sees him as an all-consuming figure; he's wise yet retains a certain innocent quality. He's a very real character to the girl, but nobody else knows if he really exists. Kate wrote the song because of a quality she saw in most of the men that she knew, how they are all little boys inside and how wonderful it is that they managed to retain this magic. Although the song was first released on her debut album The Kick Inside, it was actually recorded in 1975 when Kate was only 16 years old. It was recorded at David Gilmour's expense at London's Air Studios. The song was Kate’s first to make it into the Billboard’s US Top 100 reaching #85. Along with this song David Gilmour was also listed as the Executive Producer of "The Saxophone Song."

Three other singles were released over the world during next two years: "Them Heavy People", "Moving" (which reached number one in Japan) and "Strange Phenomena." “Them Heavy People” was released as a single in only the UK and Japan (under the title “Rolling the Ball” and reached #3 in Japan). “Moving” was released only in Japan while “Strange Phenomena” released only in Brazil.

Bush wrote, “Moving” for her dance teacher Lindsay Kemp. It's about how a person discovers free expression. "Strange Phenomena" speaks about déjà vu, synchronicity and how coincidences sometimes cluster together in seemingly meaningful ways.

“Kite” one of the most popular tracks from the album was used as the b-side to “Wuthering Heights.”

Fan favorite, “Oh To Be In Love” opens gently but soon gives way to diverse style which manages to blend sixties Britpop, robotic Japanese and the British brass band feel into the musical accompaniment as Kate delivers sublime vocal melodies and exquisite displays of range and tone. Kate's brother Paddy Bush played mandolin on this song as well as doing backing vocals on "Them Heavy People."

Kate Bush (1978)

Link to “The Kick Inside” (Click Here)

KATE BUSH

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (Car)(1977)

“Peter Gabriel” by Peter Gabriel (1977)

Release Date: February 25, 1977
Produced by Bob Ezrin
Genre: Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Prog Rock
Label: Charisma, Atco
Chart Positions: #1 (Holland), #5 (Norway, France, Italy), #7 (UK), #8 (Sweden), #9 (Germany, Netherlands), #10 (Austria), #25 (Australia), #30 (Canada), #38 (New Zealand, US)
Certifications: Gold (UK, France, Germany)

Singles: “Solsbury Hill” #3 (France), #9 (Poland), #11 (Holland), #13 (Austria, Netherlands, UK), #14 (Belgium), #16 (Germany), #45 (Australia), #68 (US), #92 (Canada), “Modern Love” (No chart data)

Peter Gabriel is the first studio album by English rock musician Peter Gabriel and the first of four with the same eponymous title. Released on 25 February 1977, it was produced by Bob Ezrin (Ezrin is best remembered for producing Alice Cooper’s classic albums through the 1970s and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”). Gabriel and Ezrin assembled a team of musicians, including King Crimson main-man Robert Fripp, to record the album. Upon the album's release, Gabriel began touring with a seven-piece band under his own name.

The album was recorded in the wintertime in Toronto where Bob Ezrin was based at the time. Gabriel got to know the area by riding a bicycle from place to place.

This album is often called either Peter Gabriel 1 or Car, referring to the album cover by London artist Peter Christopherson when he was associated with the London artists group Hipgnosis. The car was a Lancia Flavia owned by Hipgnosis founder Storm Thorgerson. One of the first ideas Gabriel had for the cover was to use mirrored contact lenses. It took him a while to find someone that would make the lenses for him. Gabriel said, "They were painful to wear, but the effect was fantastic."

“Peter Gabriel 1 - Car” (Click Here)

Peter Gabriel's first self-titled album served as his creative exodus from Genesis (no pun intended ... OK, kinda). It's a purposefully eclectic, anything-flies approach to songcraft, venturing from hard-hitting rock ("Modern Love") to quirky art-rock (the vastly underrated "Moribund The Burgermeister") to pastoral folk-pop (the lovely "Solsbury Hill," which serves as a thinly veiled kiss-off to his former band) to, umm, barbershop quartet crooning ("Excuse Me"). No other Gabriel album is quite so diverse in stylistic content. Overall, Car is a fascinating first chapter.

Peter Gabriel commented on his website: “I really wanted the first record to be different from what I’d done with Genesis so we were trying to do things in different styles. A bit of barbershop, which Tony Levin helped with, there were more bluesy things, a variety of songs and arrangements that were consciously trying to provide something different than what I’d done before.”

Peter Gabriel’s debut solo single was “Solsbury Hill,” Gabriel has said of the song's meaning, "It's about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get ... It's about letting go." Former bandmate Tony Banks acknowledges that the song reflects Gabriel's decision to break ties with Genesis, but it can be also applied in a broader sense. The song was a huge hit in Europe having reached the Top 20 in France, Poland, Holland, Netherlands, UK, Belgium and Germany. In the US the song only reached #68.

"Solsbury Hill" (1977)

Built around an acoustic guitar riff, this song is much more simple and toned-down from his extravagant work with Genesis. At one point Gabriel was going to leave the song off of the album but in the end decided to include it. Gabriel considers “Solsbury Hill one of his favorites. It's almost always included in his live shows. Solsbury Hill is located near Bath, England, where Gabriel would often walk or jog.

The second and final single, the surging rocker “Modern Love, ” failed to chart anywhere despite a music video that was made to promote the song. The video was shot in a shopping mall that was in the process of being built. Most of the video is filmed on a moving escalator (which Gabriel felt was very “in the future” at the time).

One of the album’s popular cuts “Slowburn” takes Peter Gabriel back to familiar ground with elements of his earlier orchestral work with Genesis.

In the song "Down The Dolce Vita" Gabriel introduces the characters Aeron and Gorham who set out on a journey across the sea. They would become part of Gabriel's story of Mozo, a mercurial stranger who would come and go, changing people's lives. Mozo would show up again in "On The Air," "Exposure," "Red Rain" and "That Voice Again."

One of the most interesting songs, lyrically, is "Here Comes The Flood." Gabriel is speaking about a mental flood, "a release, a wash over the mind." He presents an image of a society where people can read each other's minds. Gabriel says the song was inspired by a dream he had.

Peter Gabriel Advertisement (March 5, 1977)

Peter Gabriel (1977) Mirrored Contacts

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PETER GABRIEL

Electric Light Orchestra - Face The Music (1975)

“Face The Music” by Electric Light Orchestra (1975)

Release Date: September 1975
Produced by Jeff Lynne
Genre: Symphonic Rock, Art Rock
Label: Jet (UK), United Artists (US)
Chart Positions: #8 (US), #7 (Italy), #11 (Netherlands), #30 (Australia), #31 (Canada), #41 (Sweden), #251 (Japan)
Certifications: Gold (US, Canada)

Singles: “Evil Woman” #2 (France), #6 (Canada), #8 (Switzerland, New Zealand), #10 (US, UK, Ireland), #20 (Denmark), #21 (Netherlands, Norway), #23 (Australia), “Strange Magic” #10 (France), #14 (US), #20 (Canada), #38 (UK), #85 (Australia), “Nightrider” (No chart data)

ELO's fifth studio album, “Face The Music,” was released in 1975 and was the first to be recorded in Musicland Studios Munich, which was producer, songwriter, musician Giorgio Moroder’s studio. The band featured a new line-up with bassist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale replacing Mike de Albuquerque and Mike Edwards respectively. New member Kelly Groucutt sang lead vocals on "Poker" and "Down Home Town" (while Lynne sang harmony) as well as one of the verses in "Nightrider." (Usually, Lynne sang all lead vocals.)

“Face The Music” by Electric Light Orchestra (Click Here) 

At the time of recording “Face The Music,” Jeff Lynne was generating songs at a breakneck pace. ELO's formula first jelled into a sleek hit-making machine with this album on which Jeff Lynne's producing chops first matched his songwriting prowess. Lynne and ELO were well on their way to becoming full-fledged superstars.

“Face the Music” begins with the minute-and-a-half intro of “Fire on High” containing everything from a chanting church choir performing Handel’s “Messiah” to a backward masking message courtesy of drummer Bev Bevan, who declares, “The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back, turn back, turn back, turn back.” Along with similar uses of the technique sprinkled throughout the album, these reversed snippets were clearly a shot at allegations that Eldorado‘s title track included backward Satanic messages. Snippets of Messiah by Handel can be heard during the album-opening as well.

It’s no secret that the biggest influence on ELO frontman Jeff Lynne was the Beatles. He created the group with the purpose of filling the void left in the wake of the 1970 breakup of the Fab Four. But Lynne went in the opposite direction of his idols; he initially focused on the experimental elements the Beatles tried out on their later albums and then built a collection of songs that made for a more streamline work deeper into the band’s career.

The first single “Evil Woman” was one of the most respectable chart hits of its era, and one of the best songs that Lynne ever wrote. He wrote the song on a piano at Musicland studios on the last days of recording, writing it within 30 minutes. The line "There's a hole in my head where the rain comes in," was inspired by the Beatles song, "Fixing a Hole." Originally the song was slated as filler for “Face The Music” but ended up being released as a single and was the band’s first solid hit worldwide.

“Strange Magic” quickly followed “Evil Woman” onto the charts and was another big hit. The second single from the album showed off Jeff Lynne’s writing in a more ethereal and dreamy vein.

"Strange Magic" (1975)

“Nightrider” was the third single release and was a tip of the hat to Lynne's first major band, The Nightriders. Despite ELO's rising popularity, the song failed to chart. The song was also included as the B-side on ELOs 1977 US hit single "Do Ya".

“Fire On High” was played quite a bit on FM radio stations across the US that many thought it was single. The song has gone on the achieve notoriety and has been used numerous times as background "bumper music" for radio commercials and sporting events over the years. The song was the UK B-side to the band's 1976 worldwide hit single "Livin' Thing", issued in blue vinyl. It was also later included — in an edited form minus the backward vocals — as the flip side of the United States hit single "Sweet Talkin' Woman" in 1978.

The dreamy ballad “One Summer Dream” closes the album with an ethereal emotion and beautifully sung by Jeff Lynne. An edited version of the song was used as the b-side to the 1978 hit single “Mr. Blue Sky.”

In the January 1, 1976 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine Charley Walers' review of the album appeared as follows:

Face the Music is more fine work from the Electric Light Orchestra, which rather quietly has evolved into a most consistent septet. Leader Jeff Lynne remains one of a few Sixties rockers who has developed a new and more adventurous style with a minimum of chaff in the process. In this setting he has successfully integrated a recognizable string trio (an achievement in itself) with his own melodic strings, producing a stately music without being stuffy or saccharine. Nor do the cellos and violin seem a mere afterthought. All eight compositions are strong and fully realized: "Poker" with its hard rock guitar explosions, the oddly workable C&W flirtation "Down Home Town" and an instrumental with lavish but spirited orchestration. The seven outdo themselves, however, on "One Summer Dream," a beautiful and evocative tune sung touchingly by Lynne. A trifle sentimental perhaps, but lyrically and musically, it displays more emotion (not to mention pure ability) than one ordinarily hears from a rock group. Most importantly the song, and the rest of Face the Music as well, reiterates that rock can be complex, ambitious and "arty," yet still remain rock. 

The following is Billboard Magazine review of "Face The Music": 
 Another beautiful set from the seven Brits who helped pioneer the merger of classical and rock on a mass basis. Divided fairly equally into smooth, flowing melodies fronted by equally relaxing singing and easy rockers, the guitar, vocals and writings of Jeff Lynne remain dominant. New to the group, however, is Kelly Groucutt, who handles bass and takes over on lead vocals from time to time. With a softer voice than Lynne's, Groucutt provides the balance that has been missed in past albums. Guitars, violins and cellos melt together easily under Lynne's production, and the unlikely combination works as well as anything the band has ever done. Musically, a truly beautiful LP. Best cuts: "Waterfall," "Evil Woman," "Poker," "Down Home Town."

- Billboard, 1975.

Electric Light Orchestra (1975)

Link to “Face The Music” (Click Here)

Electric Light Orchestra + ELO

David Bowie - Heroes (1977)

“Heroes” by David Bowie (1977)

Release Date: October 14, 1977
Produced by David Bowie and Tony Visconti
Genre: Art-Rock, Rock, Experimental Rock, Ambient
Label: RCA
Chart Positions: #35 (US), #3 UK, Netherlands), #6 (Australia), #13 (Norway, Sweden), #15 (New Zealand), #19 (Austria, France), #34 (Switzerland), #38 (Italy), #44 (Canada, Germany), #57 (Japan)
Certifications: Platinum Gold (UK, Canada)

Singles: “Heroes” #24 (UK), #8 (Holland, Ireland), #9 (France, Netherlands), #11 (Australia), #14 (Austria), #17 (Belgium, Italy), #19 (Germany, Denmark), #20 (Spain), #34 (New Zealand), #37 (Sweden), “Beauty and the Beast” #7 (France), #30 (Belgium), #39 (UK)

+++ 70s Music: Album by Album certifies David Bowie's "Heroes" as one of the great albums of all-time. +++

“Heroes” was David Bowie’s 12th studio album and his third installment of the Berlin Trilogy, which also includes 1977’s “Low” and 1979’s “Lodger.”

“Heroes” by David Bowie (Click Here)

The album was recorded with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, "Heroes" continued the ambient experiments of Bowie's previous album Low (released earlier that year) and featured the contributions of guitarist Robert Fripp. Of the three albums, it was the only one wholly recorded in Berlin.

Upon its release, it was met with positive critical reception and was named NME Album of the Year. The title track remains one of Bowie's best known and acclaimed songs. David Bowie composed all the lyrics and music with the exception of “Heroes,” “Moss Garden” and “Neuköln” were co-written with Brain Eno and “The Secret Life of the Arabia” co-written by Brian Eno and Puerto Rican guitarist Carlos Alomar.

Every track on the album was a first take. According to producer Brian Eno, the first take of every song ultimately need up being the best one.

Two singles were released from the album; “Heroes” which was a hit throughout the world and though it is considered a classic in the US the song never made it on to the US singles charts. Written by written by Bowie and Brian Eno, “Heroes” was inspired by the sight of Bowie's manager Tony Visconti embracing his girlfriend by the Berlin Wall, the song tells the story of two lovers, one from East and one from West Berlin. Visconti can be heard in the song banging on a metal ashtray that was found in the studio. The song was also released in German and French. The German version is called "Helden" and the French is called "Heros."

"Heroes"

The second single “Beauty and the Beast” was a minor hit in select countries in Europe.

One of the album's most popular tracks "V-2 Scneider" was written as a tribute to Florian Scnieder, a co-founder of the German electronic band Kraftwerk. Bowie has said Kraftwerk influenced him heavily in producing his Berlin albums.

David Bowie (1977)

Dvid Bowie (Heroes Tour 1978)

Link to “Heroes” (Click Here)

Check out The David Bowie Resource Center: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1789895121229585/

DAVID BOWIE

Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets (1974)

“Here Come The Warm Jets” (album) by Brian Eno (1974)

Release Date: January 1974
Produced by Brian Eno
Chart Positions: #151 (US), #26 (UK)
Certifications: N/A
Singles: N/A
Label: Island

Here Come the Warm Jets is the debut solo album by Brian Eno, credited only as "Eno". Produced by him, it was released on Island Records in January 1974. The musical style of Here Come the Warm Jets is a hybrid of glam rock and art rock, similar to Eno's previous album work with Roxy Music, although in a stronger experimental fashion. In developing the album's words and music, Eno used unusual methods such as dancing for his band members and having them play accordingly, and singing nonsense words to himself that would form the basis of subsequent lyrics. The album features various guest musicians, including members of Roxy Music (Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay), Hawkwind, Matching Mole and Pink Fairies, as well as Chris Spedding, and Robert Fripp of King Crimson, who collaborated with Eno a year before with the album "No Pussyfooting."

“Here Come The Warm Jets” by Brian Eno 

"Here Come the Warm Jets" peaked at number 26 on the United Kingdom album charts and number 151 on the US Billboard charts, receiving mostly positive reviews.

Eno recorded “Here Come The Warm Jets” in just twelve days in September 1973. The album’s most popular track, "Baby's on Fire" is a bizarre fantasy about a photography session involving a burning infant and unthinking, laughing onlookers. Art-guitar guru Robert Fripp provides a jagged solo on “Baby’s On Fire” The sentimental "Some of Them Are Old" is constructed around harmonies highly reminiscent of the Four Freshmen giving it a melancholy feel. It is worthy of note that the “frippertronics” guitars of “The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch” were later used on another Eno production, U2′s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” is the closest thing to a Bowie song musically, predating “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)” by some six years. All the lyrics to "On Some Faraway Beach" came to Eno in a dream. He would wake up often throughout the night to write down his dreams and from those scribblings would be lyrics to songs.

Eno has said about the song "Baby's On Fire," "Vocal techniques. That's something I've never even thought about. Why, I propose the question to myself do people sing certain ways at certain times in history? Why should I want to sing through my nose? What I like is when you get a combination of something that's very turned-down and dark and sinister, but not dramatic – very underhand and almost inaudible, as opposed to the kind of aggression that people like The Floyd use, which is very obvious assault. Iggy Pop does it as well."

Eno's compositions are quirky, whimsical, and catchy, his lyrics bizarre and often free-associative, with a decidedly dark bent in their humor ("Baby's on Fire," "Dead Finks Don't Talk").

"Baby's On Fire" (1974)

Brian Eno (1974)

Link to “Here Come The Warm Jets” (Click Here)

BRIAN ENO

#brianeno #eno

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975)

“Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd (1975)

Release Date: September 12, 1975
Produced by Pink Floyd
Chart Positions: #1 (US, UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark) #2 (Austria, Norway) #4 (Germany, Bolivia, Japan), #5 (Argentina), #7 (Uraguay) #8 (Croatia), #10 (Italy), #14 (Canada, Sweden), #15 (Switzerland, Greece), #17 (Spain), #19 (Finland, Portugal), #20 (Poland), #21 (Korea), #34 (France, Czechoslovakia), #77 (Belgium)
Certifications: Diamond (France), 7xPlatinum (Australia), 6xPlatinum (US), 4xPlatinum (New Zealand), 2xPlatinum (UK, Austria), Platinum (Germany, Canada) Gold (Argentina, Poland, Italy)
Singles: “Have A Cigar” (#48 Italy)

Written entirely by Roger Waters, Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by Pink Floyd, released in September 1975. Inspired by material the group composed while performing across Europe, Wish You Were Here was recorded in numerous sessions at London's Abbey Road Studios. Some of the songs critique the music business, others express alienation, and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a tribute to Syd Barrett, whose mental breakdown had forced him to leave the group seven years earlier. It was lead writer Roger Waters' idea to split "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" into two parts and use it to bookend the album around three new compositions, introducing a new concept as the group had done with their previous album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

As with The Dark Side of the Moon, the band used studio effects and synthesizers, and brought in guest singers to supply vocals on some tracks of the album. These singers were Roy Harper, who provided the lead vocals on "Have a Cigar", and The Blackberries, who added backing vocals to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". The album became an instant commercial success and record company EMI was unable to print enough copies to satisfy demand.

“Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd (Click Here)

The album opens with the 13-minute “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V), Part I begins with the fade-in of organ, harp and minimoog synthesizer and works into a bluesy guitar solo played by David Gilmour. During this section some very faint conversation in the studio can be heard in the left channel.
Part II comes in at 3:54 and begins with a four-note theme, known informally as "Syd's Theme" repeated throughout much of the entire section. Nick Mason starts drumming and Waters his bass playing. We’re treated to another solo by Gilmour.
Part III starts at 8:42 and begins with a Minimoog solo by Rick Wright accompanied by a less complex variation of Mason's drums from Part II. This part includes Gilmour's third guitar solo.
Part IV works in at 8:42 with Roger  Waters singing his lyrics, with Gilmour, Wright and female backing vocalists Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams on harmonies. (Fields and Williams were part of the vocal group The Blackberries)
Part V starts at11:10 with two guitars repeating an arpeggio variation on the main theme for about a minute with the theme of Part II (Syd’s Theme). Dick Parry comes in with saxophone, the sax solo is accompanied by an ARP string synthesizer keyboard sound. A machine-like hum fades in with musique concrète and segues into "Welcome to the Machine". “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” though it is was not released as a single peaked at #10 in Poland due to extensive airplay.

The second track “Welcome To The Machine” describes the band's disillusionment with the music industry as a money-making machine rather than a forum of artistic expression. The plot centers on an aspiring musician getting signed by a seedy executive to the music industry (the "Machine"). The voice predicts all of his seemingly rebellious ideas ("You bought a guitar to punish your ma / You didn't like school / And you know you're nobody's fool"). His illusions of personal identity are further crushed with lines such as "What did you dream? / It's all right, we told you what to dream."

Track Three “Have A Cigar” was released as a single but failed to chart. Regardless the song is considered a classic and is widely known by music fans around the world. Written by Roger Waters, the song's lyrics were a critique of hypocrisy and greed within the music business. The music is more straightforwardly rock-oriented than the rest of the album, beginning with a churning riff played on electric guitar and bass. The track is filled out with additional guitar, electric piano and synthesizer parts to create a rock texture. Concluding with a guitar solo, which is interrupted by a synthesizer filter-sweep sound effect as the music reduces in volume to tinny, AM radio-like levels. Finally, the song ends with the sound of a radio being dialed off-station; this effect is used as a transition to the title track, "Wish You Were Here". Roy Harper performs the lead vocals on “Have A Cigar”. Both Roger Waters and David Gilmour had attempted to sing the song on separate takes, as well as on a duet version, but they were unhappy with the results. Harper was recording his album HQ in Studio 2 of Abbey Road at the same time as Pink Floyd were working in Studio 3, and Roy Harper offered to sing the part ("...for a price").

"Have A Cigar" (1975)

Segueing in from “Have A Cigar” track four “Wish You Were Here” has a sentimental feel to it. Its lyrics encompass Roger Waters' feelings of alienation from other people and his distrust for the music industry. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. David Gilmour and Waters collaborated to write the music, and Gilmour sang the lead vocal.

The album closes with a 12-minute recording of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX).
Part VI begins with a howling wind from the preceding song "Wish You Were Here". As the wind fades away, Gilmour comes in on the bass guitar. Waters adds another bass with a continuing riff pattern. Then Wright comes in playing an ARP Synthesizer and after a few measures, several rhythm guitar parts and drums come in, as well as a Minimoog synthesizer to play the opening solo. At the two-minute mark, Wright's Minimoog and Gilmour's lap steel guitar play notes in unison before Gilmour does a lap steel guitar solo with some counterpointing from Wright's synthesizers. It lasts for about three minutes and Gilmour plays each section an octave higher than the previous one. Then the vocals come in.
Part VII starts at 4:39 with vocals by Roger Waters then segues into part VIII.
Part VIII opens at 6:09 with Waters playing a second electric guitar for a high-noted sound riff while Gilmour plays the arpeggio riff that bridges Parts VII and VIII. A solid progression of funk plays for about two minutes before very slowly fading out. Throughout this section, Wright's keyboards dominate, with the use of a Minimoog synthesizer, and a Hohner Clavinet. In addition to their guitar solos, there is occasional trading of leads from Gilmour and White instead of the keyboard sounds as heard on record.
Part IX begins at 12:28 Gilmour described Part IX in an interview as "a slow 4/4 funeral march... the parting musical eulogy to Syd". Again, Wright's keyboards dominate, with little guitar input from Gilmour. Mason's drums play for much of this part, and the keyboards play for the final minute before fading out. On the fade-out, a short keyboard part of the melody of "See Emily Play,” one of Barrett's signature Pink Floyd songs, can be heard. This was the final solo writing credit Rick Wright would receive in Pink Floyd during his lifetime, as well as his last writing credit of any kind until The Division Bell in 1994.

David Gilmour and Roy Harper (1975)

Link to “Wish You Were Here” (Click Here)

PINK FLOYD

Roxy Music - Siren (1975)

“Siren” by Roxy Music (1975)

Release Date: October 24, 1975
Produced by Chris Thomas
Chart Positions: #50 (US), #4 (UK), #8 (Sweden), #9 (Netherlands), #15 (Norway), #3 (New Zealand)
Certifications: Gold (UK)
Singles: “Love Is The Drug” (#30 US, #2 UK, #3 Canada, #9 Netherlands, #15 Belgium, #18 Australia, #24 New Zealand, #39 Germany
“Both Ends Burning” (#25 UK)


“Siren” is the fifth studio album by English art-rock band “Roxy Music. This is the album that put Roxy Music on radio stations across the US due to their hit “Love Is The Drug.”

"Siren" by Roxy Music (Click Here)

“Siren” was well received by critics upon it’s release with many of them putting it amongst the best of the year. In the 1975 Pazz and Jop critics poll it was voted the 13th best album of 1975. Cream Magazine music critic, Dave Marsh, rated the album as the 4th best album of 1975 in his Book of Rock Lists. The album was ranked number 371 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The cover features band member Bryan Ferry's then-girlfriend, model Jerry Hall, on rocks near South Stack, Anglesey. Graham Hughes, working during August 1975, took the cover photo directly below the central span of the bridge on a south-side slope. He worked from sketches produced by Antony Price; with photography featuring Hall striking various poses. The idea for the location was Bryan Ferry's, after he saw a TV documentary about lava flows and rock formations in Anglesey, in which South Stack was heavily featured. Hall' recalled in her autobiography, Tall Tales that the blue body paint she wore to look like a mythical siren would not wash off. According to the model, Ferry took her back to his house to help her remove the paint. Jerry Hall left Ferry in 1978 to date Mick Jagger.

Producer Chris Thomas has worked with the most popular British musicians including The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend and a host of others. Thomas produced a total of five albums for Roxy Music including “For Your Pleasure,” “Stranded,” “Country Life,” “Siren” and the live album “Viva.” Thomas met Bryan Ferry during recording sessions for Procol Harum.

The first single “Love Is The Drug” originated as an Andy Mackay instrumental which later Bryan Ferry added lyrics. The song was an instant hit in the UK where it zoomed up the charts to #2. It was kept off the top of the UK charts by a re-release of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” “Love Is The Drug” was their first song to bring attention to Roxy Music in the US where it received a good amount of airplay on progressive rock radio stations and eventually jumping over to Top 40 radio. The song peaked at #30 on the US Billboard chart.

"Love Is The Drug"

The second single “Both Ends Burning” was not nearly as successful but did manage to squeak out a #25 peak position on the UK singles chart. Singer Bryan Ferry recalled to The Mail on Sunday June 28, 2009: "We were on a punishing world tour schedule in 1975 and there were a lot of late nights to get the Siren album finished on time. I guess this was the inspiration behind this song.

Other album highlights include the Bryan Ferry/Phil Manzanera written “Whirlwind” and the Bryan Ferry/Eddie Jobson written “She Sells,” the latter a quirky song that is reminiscent of earlier classic such as “Do The Strand” and “Editions of You.”

Roxy Music (1975)

Roxy Music Siren (Alternate Album Cover 1975)

Link to “Siren” (Click Here)

ROXY MUSIC