“Sanctuary” was J. Geils Band’s 8th studio album (10th album overall including live albums). It was their first to have 3 songs make it on to the US singles chart. After having achieved success with Atlantic Records, J. Geils Band switched over to EMI to produce their three most successful albums of their career.
“Sanctuary” was the band’s tightest sounding record in years. They produced a leaner and cleaner sound as they play up the keyboards more than in their past albums, giving the album an overall contemporary sound.
The first single release “One Last Kiss,” although not their highest charting hit, received a fair amount of airplay and put J. Geils Band in the minds of music listeners across the US. The hooky hit single was their first Top 40 since 1974’s “Must Of Got Lost.”
The second single “Take It Back” hints at what was to come in 1981 when J. Giles Band entered the realm of commercial pop and had their biggest hits with “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame,” “Take It Back” was a very distant prototype for those songs.
“Sanctuary,” the album’s third single just barely missed the Top 40 making it to #47 on the US chart. The song sports a Rolling Stone feel that is inescapable. This may have been a good direction to further explore.
Stand out track “Wild Man” continues with that Mick Jagger Rolling Stones vibe and begins with a dramatic keyboard opening. “Just Can’t Stop Me” brings in a glam feel with it’s “Rebel Rebel” sounding opening working into a rough jam band sound.
Singles and Chart Positions: “Blinded By The Light” (No chart data) “Spirit In The Night” (no chart data) Singles Certifications: N/A Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: All Tracks – Solid album from beginning to end
Trivia: This is where it all started for Bruce Springsteen. It was a humble start as the album only made it to #60 in the US and #41 in the UK. But the critics loved him as they called him a “daring new artists” with comparisons to Bob Dylan. It would take another 2 ½ years, with the release of “Born To Run,” before the public realized the genius of Bruce Springsteen.
Springsteen and his first manager Mike Appel recorded the album at the low-priced, out-of-the-way 914 Sound Studios to save as much as possible of the Columbia Records advance and cut most of the songs in a single week.
There was a dispute not long after the record was recorded—Appel and John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs. As such, a compromise was reached—the album was to have five songs with the band ("For You", "Growin' Up", "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City", and "Lost in the Flood") and five solo songs ("Mary Queen of Arkansas", "The Angel", "Jazz Musician", "Arabian Nights", and "Visitation at Fort Horn").
However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard the album, he felt that it lacked a hit single. As such, Springsteen wrote and recorded "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night". Because pianist David Sancious and bassist Garry Tallent were unavailable to record these songs, a three-man band was used—Vini Lopez on drums, Springsteen on guitar, bass, and piano, and the previously missing Clarence Clemons on saxophone. These two songs bumped "Jazz Musician", "Arabian Nights", and "Visitation at Fort Horn", leaving a total of seven band songs and two solo songs. The album was originally slated to be released in the fall of 1972, but it was moved back to early 1973 to avoid the pre-Christmas crush.
Both "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night" were released as singles by Columbia, but neither reached the US charts. Manfred Mann's Earth Band released a version of "Blinded by the Light" on their album The Roaring Silence, which reached #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM chart. This recording of "Blinded by the Light" is Springsteen's only number one single as a songwriter on the Hot 100. His best showing on the Hot 100 as a performer was in 1984, with "Dancing in the Dark", which peaked at number two for 4 weeks.[4] Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. first charted in the United Kingdom on June 15, 1985, in the wake of Springsteen's Born in the USA tour arriving in Britain; it remained in the top 100 for ten weeks.
According to Springsteen, “Blinded By The Light” came about from going through a rhyming dictionary in search of appropriate words. The first line of the song, "Madman drummers, bummers, and Indians in the summers with a teenage diplomat" is autobiographical—"Madman drummers" is a reference to drummer Vini Lopez, known as "Mad Man" (later changed to "Mad Dog"); "Indians in the summer" refers to the name of Springsteen's old Little League team; "teenage diplomat" refers to himself. The remainder of the song tells of many unrelated events, with the refrain of "Blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night".
"Blinded by the Light" was the first song on, and first single from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Springsteen's version was commercially unsuccessful and did not appear on the music charts.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band's recording of the song changes the lyrics. The most prominent change is in the chorus, where Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced with "revved up like a deuce." This is commonly misheard as "wrapped up like a douche" (the V sound in "revved" is almost unpronounced, and the S sound in "deuce" comes across as "SH" due to a significant lisp). Springsteen himself has joked about the controversy, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a feminine hygiene product that it became popular.
Blinded by the Light (1973)
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band also released their version of “Spirit In The Night” which made it to #40 on the US Billboard singles chart. The song was originally featured on their 1975 album “Nightingales and Bombers” and was released as a single to moderate success. After the huge success of “Blinded By The Light”, they re-recorded the and rereleased as a single in 1977.
Although "Spirit in the Night" was one of the last songs written for the album, it did grow out of an earlier version of the song that Springsteen had played live prior to receiving his recording contract. The lyrics themselves describe a group of teenagers — Wild Billy, Hazy Davy, Crazy Janey, Killer Joe, G-Man and Mission Man, who is the person in the song telling the story — going to a spot called "Greasy Lake" near "Route 88" for a night of freedom, sex, and drinking. But their escape to the freedom of Greasy Lake is short-lived, the emphasis is on the friends' togetherness. The lyrics of the song echo the Crazy Jane poems of Irish poet William Butler Yeats.
The follow-up album to “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle,” features a song entitled "Wild Billy's Circus Story".
In an attempt to capitalize on the success of “Blinded By The Light” and to a lesser degree “Spirit In The Night,” Manfred Mann’s Earth Band” recorded and released a third song, “For You,” from “Greetings For Asbury N.J.” They only made it to #106 in 1981 with the song.
The lyrics of “For You” are about a woman who has attempted suicide. She does not need the singer's "urgency" even though her life is "one long emergency" as Springsteen sings in the chorus (along with "and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free"). The singer is committed to doing anything to save her and admires her ability to hang on. Once again, the lyrics are evocative of images and not details.
The following review was written by Lester Bangs for the July 5, 1973 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine:
Remember P.F. Sloan? Sure you do. It was back when every folk rocker worth his harmonica holder was flushed with Dylan fever and seeing how many syllables he could cram into every involuted couplet. There was Tandyn Almer, of "Along Comes Mary" fame ("The psychodramas and the traumas hung on the scars of the stars in the bars and cars" -- something like that), and David Blue had his own Highway 61 too, but absolutely none of 'em could beat 'ol P.F. He started out writing surf songs, but shook the world by the throat with his masterpieces "Eve of Destruction" and "Sins of a Family," and all his best material was just brimming with hate.
Boy howdy, the first thing the world needs is a P.F. Sloan for 1973, and you can start revving up yer adrenaline, kids, because he's here in the person of Bruce Springsteen. Old Bruce makes a point of letting us know that he's from one of the scuzziest, most useless and plain uninteresting sections of Jersey. He's been influenced a lot by the Band, his arrangements tend to take on a Van Morrison tinge every now and then, and he sort of catarrh-mumbles his ditties in a disgruntled mushmouth sorta like Robbie Robertson on Quaaludes with Dylan barfing down his neck. It's a tuff combination, but it's only the beginning.
Because what makes Bruce totally unique and cosmically surfeiting is his words. Hot damn, what a passel o' verbiage! He's got more of them crammed into this album than any other record released this year, but it's all right because they all fit snug, it ain't like Harry Chapin tearing right-angle malapropisms out of his larynx. What's more, each and every one of 'em has at least one other one here that it rhymes with. Some of 'em can mean something socially or otherwise, but there's plenty of 'em that don't even pretend to, reveling in the joy of utter crass showoff talent run amuck and totally out of control:
"Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat/In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat" begins the very first song, and after that things just keep getting more breathtakingly complicated. You might think it's some kinda throwback, but it's really bracing as hell because it's obvious that B.S. don't give a shit. He singshoots his random rivets at you and you can catch as many as you want or let 'em all clatter right off the wall which is maybe's where they belong anyway. Bruce Springsteen is a bold new talent with more than a mouthful to say, and one look at the pic on the back will tell you he's got the glam to go places in this Gollywoodlawn world to boot. Watch for him; he's not the new John Prine.
This review showed up in Billboard Magazine – February 1973
“The comparisons with Dylan as far as lyrics are concerned will be inevitable, but this new artist proves himself highly original and able to run the gamut from humorous to rather sad songs. Best cuts include "Blinded By The Light," "Growin' Up," "Lost In The Flood," "For You" and "Spirit In The Night." LP should gain strong play from FM stations.”
“Living in the USA” is the 9th studio album by American singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt (her 12th if you count the three albums she released with The Stone Poneys). The album was Ronstadt's third No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and was the first album in history to ship Double Platinum. As a measure of her impact on popular culture in this time period, the front cover photograph of a roller skating Linda in a satin exercise outfit was noted to have increased the popularity of skating in the United States at the time. As People Magazine put it, “Anyone who gave Linda Ronstadt her first pair of roller skates deserves a place in this decade’s social history.”
It was Ronstadt's record sixth consecutive million-selling Platinum album. It was certified by the RIAA for 2 million copies sold in the US alone and has estimated real sales of 3 million US units sold.
“Living in the USA” was a smash hit even before it arrived in stores on Sept. 19, 1978. Given Ronstadt’s incredible streak of five million-selling albums, retailers couldn’t wait to pre-order the new disc; as a result, it reached the shelves as the first album in history to earn double-platinum status prior to its official release. And unlike certain other high-profile records that benefited from advance buzz, only to end up in the cutout bin, “Living in the USA” went on to dominate radio as well as retail sales.
The first hint of anything from the album happened on April 3, 1978 when Linda made an appearance for the premiere of the film FM she did a live performance of Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.” The song was not featured on the film’s soundtrack album but it did appear on Ronstadt’s upcoming album “Back In The USA.”
The album featured a mix of covers of proven hits and newer compositions by some of Ronstadt's favorite singers. Yet there were changes evident as well. For one, as the album's cover photo showed, Ronstadt had cut her trademark long hair and sported a short permed hairstyle. She also traded in her usual country-style dresses for hot pants, and her high heel shoes for roller skates.
In reference to the album cover Ronstadt said, "I remember I wanted to bring my roller skates into the studio. "My friend Nicolette Larson and I used to skate everywhere. She used to bring her skates into the studio because it was really big and she could skate around between takes. My studio wasn't that big. It had too much carpet, so I wanted them to take it out so I could skate."
While Ronstadt paid tribute to the King with a cover of "Love Me Tender," she also acknowledged the influence of the burgeoning British new wave movement by covering the other Elvis. "Allison" had first appeared on Elvis Costello's debut LP, My Aim Is True, and remains his best-known tune today. "I had a friend at the time and that song reminded me of her, so I sang it for her," Ronstadt says. "She was a really sweet girl, but kind of a party-girl type. I felt like she needed somebody to talk to her in a stern voice, because she was getting married and she would have to change." Ronstadt's version was released as a single in the U.K. but stalled at #66, and was dismissed in interviews by the acid-tongued Costello. Ronstadt commented, “I’ve never communicated with him directly, but I heard that someone asked him what he thought and he said he’d never heard it but that he’d be glad to get the money. So I sent him a message. ‘Send me some more songs, just keep thinking about the money.'” (Costello would ultimately end up contributing three songs to Ronstadt’s next album, 1980’s Mad Love.)
The album's first single, a remake of Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A," climbed to US #16. "Back in the U.S.A" was afforded its greatest impact when Linda Ronstadt remade the song in 1978. Ronstadt had heard the Berry original while being driven around Los Angeles by Eagles member Glenn Frey who had once been in her band, the track being on a "home-made" cassette Frey had playing in his tape deck. When 'Back in the U.S.A. came on Ronstadt said, “Boy that would be a great song to sing. I think I'll do that one."
"Back In The USA (1978)
A take of Doris Troy's "Just One Look" stalled at US #44, but Ronstadt wasn't happy with the recorded version. "It took me years to learn how to really sing that, but I could nail it now," she says, 15 years later.
The biggest hit from “Living in the USA” was Ronstadt's cover of Smokey Robinson's "Ooh Baby Baby," which climbed to US #7 and features alto sax by David Sanborn. "We used a live vocal from the rough mix," Ronstadt says. "We tried to go in and add things to it, but it never sounded as good as that live vocal."
Ronstadt is especially strong on her soulful cover of Little Feat’s “All That You Dream.” The song first appeared on Little Feat’s 1975 album titled “The Last Record Album.” Her soulful bluesy take of J.D Souther’s “White Rhythm and Blues” brings side one of the album to an inspiring close. Souther wrote this song for Ronstadt (he also wrote “Faithless Love” and “Heart Like A Wheel” for her). Souther later recorded “White Rhythm and Blues” for his 1979 hit album “You’re Only Lonely” as a duet with Phil Everly.
Although it was never released as a single, Linda Ronstadt's recording of "Love Me Tender" was edited together with the original by Elvis, creating a duet between the two that was played by many radio stations at the time. Elvis did the first verse alone, straight from his original recording, as Ronstadt didn't sing this verse on her version. It garnered enough airplay to chart at #59 on the US Country chart. Ray Quinn, program manager of radio station WCBM in Baltimore, dubbed together Elvis’s 1956 single and Ronstadt’s 1978 version. Although demand for the tape grew, no copies were made available to the public. A three-dollar bootleg single was made, however, on the Duet Label (Duet 101). The duet was inspired by the Barbra Streisand-Neil Diamond’s duet You Don’t Bring Me Flowers. Linda's version was in the same key as Elvis's record, and that would have made it easier for the record company to blend their voices together. There was some talk of recording additional instrumentation to smooth over the parts of the two recordings to give the impression it was just one recording. But that never came to be seen as RCA and Asylum could not agree on a contract for the release.
Billboard Magazine Review (September 1978)
Aside from being one of Linda Ronstadt's more perfect
albums, this collection of 10 songs ranging from Hammerstein/Romberg's
"When I Grow Too Old To Dream," to Elvis Costello's
"Alison" provides a unique display of her vocal charm. The
instrumentation, for the most part, is sparse, and it enables the special
qualities of Ronstadt's voice to shine through. There are many moods portrayed
here, including some husky ones that indicate maturity and a broadening taste,
although Ronstadt has always chosen material beyond the merely popular.
"All That You Dream" is a classic and could be her biggest song so
far. Best cuts: "All That You Dream," "Back In The USA,"
"Mohammed's Radio," "Just One Look," "Love Me Tender,"
"Alison."
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” 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"
Release Date: August 27, 1979 Produced by Peter Coleman, Mike Chapman Genre: Rock, Hard Rock, Pop-Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative Rock Label: Chrysalis
Singles: “If You Think You Know How To Love Me,” (No Chart Data), “Heartbreaker” #3 (France), #14 (New Zealand), #18 (Canada), #23 (US), #95 (Australia), “We Live For Love” #3 (France), #8 (Canada, New Zealand), #27 (US), #28 (Australia), “I Need A Lover” #19 (Belgium), #31 (Netherlands), “Rated X” #28 (France) Other Charting Tracks: N/A Best Tracks: “Heartbreaker,” “My Clone Sleeps Alone,” “ We Live For Love,” “Rated X,” “So Sincere”
Pat Benatar blast on to the music scene in a big way with her debut album “In The Heat Of The Night,” she was the very pulse of popular music. Her sound, style and look could not go unnoticed. Despite her huge popularity in the US and Canada, the album only made it to #95 in the UK and none of the singles charted in the UK. It wasn't until 1981's "Precious Time" and 1983's "Shadows Of The Night" that Pat had a hit album and single respectively in the UK.
The album included 3 original songs written either by Pat Benatar or her partner Neil Giraldo. Despite the originals the albums was largely full of cover tunes. Three of those covers were written by producer Mike Chapman and his songwriting partner Nicky Chinn. Those three are “If You Think You Know How To Love Me” and “In The Heat Of The Night” (both originally recorded by Smokie) and a cover of the Sweet tune “No You Don’t.” The other covers include John Cougar Mellencamp’s “I Need A Lover,” Nick Gilder’s “Rated X” and Alan Parson’s “Don’t Let It Show.”
“In The Heat of The Night” laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most remarkable careers in rock music. People Magazine called the album, "Perhaps the hottest debut of the year."
The first single released from the album, "If You Think You Know How To Love Me," was Pat's second single in her career. The song was original recorded and released in 1975 by Smokie and was a Top 3 hitting the UK. Pat's release of the song failed to chart and signaled a slow start to her career with Chrysalis records.
But hold on... it wasn't over yet for Pat... the very next single, "Heartbreaker," with its Cars like bass line, garnered the attention of hard rock and FM radio programmers. Before you knew it her voice was on almost every rock and Top 40 station across the US and Canada. Though, the song only reached US #23 it spent a very impressive 18 weeks on the charts and the album was taking off like wildfire. Pat Benatar was instantly a star that could not be ignored.
Though most of the chart success of the album and it's singles happened in 1980, the album itself and the first two singles were released in 1979, thus is a product of the 1970s.
"Heartbreaker" got Pat all the way in the door and the next hit "We Live For Love" kept her in. The song written by boyfriend Neil Giraldo, sounded very similar to Blondie's "Heart Of Glass," though Benatar's song did't hit the top of the charts as Blondie did but it still performed well scoring Pat her second Top 30 hit in the US and made it to #3 in France and the Top Ten in Canada and New Zealand. Benatar was certainly firmly on her way to superstardom.
"We Live For Love" (1979)
John Mellencamp, who at the time was known as John Cougar, just a few months earlier had a hit with "I Need A Lover," a song he wrote and recorded in 1977 and released initially in 1978. His 1978 release did not chart but he did not give up on the song and rereleased it again in 1979 and the song made it to US #28. Pat's hypnotic mid tempo rocking version of "I Need A Lover" was initially released as the b-side to "We Live For Love" but radio programmers in the Netherlands and Belgium picked up the song and it became a hit charting in both areas.
Finally, that brings us to "Rated X," a promiscuous song with a rock steady beat was written by Nick Gilder (Hot Child In The City) and was featured on his 1977 album "You Know Who You Are," which also included the song "Roxy Roller," initially recorded in 1975 by his band Sweeney Todd and then recorded in 1977 by Suzi Quatro. Benatar's "Rated X" was released only in France where it charted at #28.
Other songs that received minor amounts of airplay were; "In The Heat Of The Night," "My Clone Sleeps Alone," "Don't Let It Show" and "No You Don't."
Release Date: May 14, 1977 Produced by Mike Flicker Genre: Hard Rock, Folk Rock, Classic Rock Label: Portrait Chart Positions: #9 (US, Netherlands), #22 (Australia), #34 (UK, Germany), #44 (Sweden) Certifications: 3xPlatinum (US), 2xPlatinum (Canada)
Heart intended Magazine to be the official follow-up album to the debut Dreamboat Annie. However a contract dispute with their label Mushroom Records, resulted in the group signing with the newly formed Portrait Records, a division of CBS Records (now Sony/BMG).
The Mushroom contract called for two albums and the label took the position that they were owed a second one. On that basis, Mushroom attempted to prevent the release of Little Queen and any other work by Heart. The dispute dragged on and ended with the court deciding that Heart was free to sign with a new label but added that Mushroom was indeed owed a second album.
Little Queen was released 14 May 1977 and Magazine was re-released 22 April 1978. With the hit single "Barracuda", Little Queen outsold Magazine handily, eventually achieving 3x Platinum status.
After acquiring a substantial following with Dreamboat Annie, Heart solidified its niche in the hard rock and arena rock worlds with the equally impressive Little Queen. Once again, loud-and-proud, Led Zeppelin-influenced hard rock was the thing that brought Heart the most attention. Two sisters – Ann and Nancy Wilson – take over hard rock, led by Ann's supreme pipes and Nancy's ax-picking finesse. While "Barracuda" and "Kick It Out" are the type of sweaty rockers one thought of first when Heart's name was mentioned, hard rock by no means dominates this album. In fact, much of Little Queen consists of such folk-influenced, acoustic-oriented fare as "Treat Me Well" and "Cry to Me."
Led Zeppelin influences abound, from Wilson's "Summer-of-My-Smiles" phrasing on "Dream of the Archer" down to guitarist Roger Fisher's Page-ish intro on "Go On Cry" and his ferocious riffing on "Barracuda" and the title track. The latter are the roughest and best tracks on record.
Written by Ann and Nancy Wilson together with guitarist Roger Fisher and drummer Michael DeRosier the lead single “Barracuda” is an aggressive early try at heavy metal, but some refer to it as a heavy hard rock number notable for a galloping guitar riff and its use of natural harmonics. Upon its release "Barracuda" became Heart's second top-20 hit in the U.S., peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has become the band's signature song and is a staple on American classic rock radio playlists. In other parts of the world it was a much bigger hit reaching #1 in South Africa, #2 in Canada and #8 in Germany.
Barracuda (1977)
Ann Wilson revealed in interviews that the song was about Heart's anger towards Mushroom Records' attempted publicity stunt involving her and her sister Nancy Wilson in a made-up incestuous affair. The song particularly focuses on Ann's rage towards a man who came up to her after a concert asking how her "lover" was. She initially thought he was talking about her boyfriend, band manager Michael Fisher. After he revealed he was talking about her sister Nancy, Ann became angry and went back to her hotel room to write the original lyrics of the song. Producer Mike Flicker added that Mushroom was so obtuse in the contract negotiations that Heart decided to discard the album they were working on, Magazine - which the label still released in an unfinished form - and instead sign with the newly formed Portrait Records to make another record, Little Queen. As Flicker put it, "'Barracuda' was created conceptually out of a lot of this record business drama. Barracuda could be anyone from the local promotion man to the president of a record company. That is the barracuda. It was born out of that whole experience."
“Little Queen” was released as the second single from the band's second album Little Queen in 1977. The song is a midtempo rock and roll number similar in style to Heart's past hit "Magic Man." Though the song has become a classic tune for Heart fans it did not fare well as a single charting at #62 in the US and #58 in Canada.
“Kick It Out” another hard rocker was the band’s third single from the album charted even lower than “Little Queen” while the smooth rocking folk-tinged fourth single “Love Alive” missed the charts completely.
Album highlight “Dream of the Archer” displays the band’s versatility with a medieval sort of mood.
In it's May 21, 1977 issue Billboard Magazine featured "Little Queen" as one of four Spotlight Albums in their new release section. The following is the review that appeared: Following it's phenomenal debut album and single success on the small Mushroom label, Heart's switch to the small-roster CBS Portrait label finds the Northwestern sextet irrefutably proving that sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson can sing, write and play rock with all the hard drive and mystically lush overtones Fleetwood Mac is renowned for. Heart's music has complex textures and turbulent energy. The Wilson ladies are complete rockers without putting on any fake pseudo-macho butchiness. The Mike Flicker production brings lavish to the string-picking and synthesizer virtuosity of this brilliant group. Best Cuts: Barracuda, Little Queen, Dream Archer
Release Date: January 17, 1975 Produced by Bob Dylan Genre: Folk Rock, Classic Rock Label: Columbia Chart Positions: #1 (US, Canada, New Zealand), #2 (Norway), #4 (UK, Australia), #5 (Netherlands), #35 (Japan), #45 (Germany), #54 (Ireland) Certifications: 2xPlatinum (US), Platinum (UK, Canada)
Singles: “Tangled Up In Blue” #31 (US)
Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975 by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia Records after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan began recording the album in New York City in September 1974. In December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the record, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in a studio in Minneapolis. The final album contains five tracks from New York and five from Minneapolis.
In a 1975 radio discussion with Mary Travers, Bob Dylan stated that “Blood On The Tracks” was a personally painful work. He has claimed it was not autobiographical yet many of the songs seem to mirror what he was experiencing during the break-up of his marriage.
“Blood On The Tracks” is one of Dylan’s best selling albums having reached #1 in the US, Canada and New Zealand. The album reached #2 in Norway as well as #4 in the UK and Australia.
Initially, Dylan considered recording Blood on the Tracks with an electric backing group, and contacted Mike Bloomfield who had played lead guitar on Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album. When the two met, Dylan ran through the songs he was planning to record, but he played them too quickly for Bloomfield to learn. In the end, Dylan rejected the idea of recording the album with a band, and instead substituted stripped-down acoustic arrangements for all of his songs.
Dylan had finished recording and mixing, and, by November, had cut a test pressing on the album. Columbia began to prepare to release the album before Christmas.
Dylan played the test pressing for his brother, David Zimmerman, who persuaded Dylan the album would not sell because the overall sound was too stark. Robert Christgau also heard the early version of the album and called it "a sellout to the memory of Dylan's pre-electric period". At his brother's urging, Dylan agreed to re-record five of the album's songs in Sound 80 in Minneapolis, with backing musicians recruited by David. The new takes were accomplished in two days at the end of December 1974. Blood on the Tracks was released into stores on January 20, 1975.
While recording the album Dylan kept a tiny notebook in which he worked out lyrics and other aspects of the songs that became the album "Blood On The Tracks." This notebook and others numbering up to around 6,000 pieces have been kept in a secret archive for several decades. He sold this archive for $20 million in 2016.
“Tangled Up In Blue,” the albums only single release, was a minor hit reaching #31 in the US but failed to chart anywhere else. The Telegraph has described the song as "The most dazzling lyric ever written, an abstract narrative of relationships told in an amorphous blend of first and third person, rolling past, present and future together, spilling out in tripping cadences and audacious internal rhymes, ripe with sharply turned images and observations and filled with a painfully desperate longing."
During the song Dylan sings "some are carpenter's wives," which was a reference to Laura Nyro. NYro had been part of the New York music scene in the late 1960s and was very much inspired by Dylan. You may remember some of the hits she wrote such as "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoned Soul Picnic" (both hits for The Fifth Dimension), "And When I Die" (Blood Sweat and Tears, "Eli's Coming" (Three Dog Night) and "Stoney End" (Barbra Streisand).
The sixth verse, which begins: "I lived with them on Montague Street," is a direct reference to John Lennon. Lennon had moved into Ringo Starr's Montague Square apartment in 1968 (with Yoko) after Cynthia kicked him out.
Dylan wrote "Tangled Up In Blue" in the summer of 1974 at a farm he had just bought in Minnesota. He had been touring with The Band earlier that year. Dylan sometimes introduced this on stage by saying it took "10 years to live and 2 years to write." Dylan said he wrote this song after spending an entire weekend mesmerized by Joni Mitchell's album "Blue."
"Tangled Up In Blue"
Album highlight “Shelter From The Storm” has been covered by several musicians through the decades. Dylan got the title from a line in Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop The Rain?": "I went down Virginia, seekin' shelter from the storm..."
In his April 1975 review for The New Republic J.T. Lhamon Jr writes, "The last verse of the last song on the album describes how the performer finds his highest art by attending to himself in order to attend to others: 'Life is sad, life is a bust / All you can do is what you must / You do what you must do and you do it well / I do it for you, ah honeybaby, can't you tell?' And that's it right there: that immediate consistent and thorough involvement with an audience both characterizes rock as the primary popular form of our time and determines it's promising esthetic."
