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 Post subject: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2020 11:18 am 
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So as you may or may not have seen at the beginning of lockdown I decided on a whim to listen to the Top 500 singles of 1964 and when I'd done that I thought I might as well do 1965 as well. Afterwards I posted some of the music I'd discovered in a thread.

Well since then I've done 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and I am about to head into the 1970s. So I thought since I'm going into a new decade maybe I could get something going here on Obner.

This is the plan. I'll post one video ever day, we can listen together (kind of) and if you've got anything to say about it, then say it. I'll listen to the full Top 357 - 500 independently but I thought on Obner we'd do the Top 356 of 1970 and that way there's one video per day over the course of a full year.

Now bare in mind I'll not have heard most of these songs so I can't vouch for their quality, it might be that the first 10 or 20 are utter garbage, but I've found that in the previous years I've produced a Like short list of about 150 - 200 out of 500 so fingers crossed if that sort of ratio is maintained it won't be too painful and of course different people have different tastes.

If no one is interested I'll probably just keep the thread going anyway all on my lonesome. I also rate everything out of 5 stars. 5 being classic, 4 being good, 3 being average, 2 being poor and 1 being beyond any kind merit whatsoever. 4 & 5's go on a yearly shortlist.

So no time like the present....

356 - JONI MITCHELL - The Circle Game



I have to admit I quite like some of Joni's later pop/jazz work but I've not heard her earlier material which was, I imagine, more in a folk vein. Definitely a very strong folk influence here, her voice is a beautiful as ever and the song has a nice catch on the chorus. Not the kind of music I am going to stick on under normal circumstances but it has it's time and place. Joni's voice alone puts it above the averageness of the herd so I'm going to give it 4/5 and the first track makes my 1970 shortlist.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 7:54 am 
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355 - THE HUMAN INSTINCT - Midnight Sun



A New Zealand heavy psych band I've never heard of. Can hear a bit of Hendrix in there as you'd probably expect during this time period. My big issue here is that the sound quality is poor, not sure if that's the original recording or the YT upload. It's also lacking some 'drive', something this kind of music needs otherwise it tends to fall a bit flat. Overall I'd say these guys needed to hone up their act or fall by the way side as just another generic genre band. Since I've never heard of them I'd imagine they fell by the way side. I'll give this 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 8:48 am 
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354 - THE BEACH BOYS - Cotton Fields



Ah! The Beach Boys! Perhaps the greatest band in history.....that I don't really like. Now it would be obtuse to say something like 'Good Vibrations' wasn't genius however my gloomy Northern European mindset never really bought into the affluent Californian sunshine pop aspect of the Beach Boys and I tend to find them a little saccharine. This Leadbelly cover has aspects I both like and don't. The style of the harmonies seem like the genesis of a lot of bad middle-of-the-road 70's pop tripe and the middle eight makes me want to dash a chair off the wall. On the other hand there's come nice country style guitar (obviously influenced by The Byrds) and the fade out is almost rockin'. This is borderline, a high three, or low four? In the end my own bias are probably casually tossing this into the mediocre pile 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 7:32 am 
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353 - SHIRLEY BASSEY - Something



Shirley Bassey has a belter of a voice that could knock over garden sheds and her bombastic Bond themes are brilliant but this Beatles cover seems a little misguided. For me it doesn't suit her voice and requires a gentler touch than the little Welsh tornado is capable of. Having said that the general public, in their wisdom, conferred hit status on Bassey's version and I'm sure it was one of the highlights on the chicken-in-a-basket circuit, so what do I know? One last note before I dawn the black cloth and pronounce verdict; the bass is pretty good, I wonder if it was a known player? Anyway, this falls into to that by now familiar 3/5 bracket.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:09 am 
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352 - RARE EARTH - (I Know) I'm Losing You



A white, psychedelic rock/soul/funk outfit on the Motown label although I have to admit I don't recognise the name despite them having several major hits. Perhaps a sort of 'Hootie & The Blowfish' style Big-Over-There situation. This song bothered me at first as I thought it sounded like something until I realised it was a cover of the Temptations hit. I actually quite liked this. It has that cross over style of the time, a bit rock, a bit psychedelic, a bit soul, a bit funk, in the vein of say early Funkadelic or Love or Sly Stone or any number of others. The basic song writing of the original track has serious pedigree (Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield wrote it) and as a result there's a solid base for the band to improvise off of although I have to say I actually prefer the 10 minute album version as it gives the band more space to work with. This version seems a little confined in vinyl single form like a captured man eating tiger contained in a small cage at a Victorian zoo. I'm going to give this 4/5 and hence it becomes the second track to make my 1970 shortlist.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2020 7:42 am 
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351 - JOE SOUTH - Hush



Another artist I am unaware of although a little background check from my cop car reveals he wrote 'Rose Garden'. Step away from the vehicle sir. From what I gather this was the original version of the song, released in 1967, Deep Purple then covered it and made it a big hit in 1968 and then the Joe South version was re-released in 1970 perhaps to take advantage of the fact that Deep Purple had success with it. Unfortunately, in an 1970 context it sounds definitely more 1967 than 1970 and thus, contemporaneously, a little dated. Also the YT upload sounds a little muddy to me which is not to its advantage either. The Deep Purple version actually sticks pretty closely to the original but has much more chutzpah than Joe South's so while this version of 'Hush' isn't bad per se it's hard not to compare and contrast with the more illustrious, indeed wolf howlin', Deep Purple take on the song. 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:01 am 
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350 - THE 5TH DIMENSION - One Less Bell To Answer



A song in which the (apparent) rending of the human soul is reduced to this awful couplet 'One less egg to fry, and all I do is cry'. If there is a supermarket in Hell it's playing this vapid dreck with it's vacuous easy listening background music and insipid faux emotional lyrics. I'm all for driving a truck load of eggs up to her house and throwing them at her. 1/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:45 am 
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349 - STEVIE WONDER - Never Had A Dream Come True



My gran's favourite song was 'I Just Called To Say I Love You' and therefore, as an angry punky kid, I grew to detest Stevie Wonder and his milquetoast nonsense, an attitude that may not have been entirely fair, based on one song as it was. Having listening to his 1960's output for the first time I can say that the mercury in the barometer of hate is dropping but this particular track is a plodding and asinine affair, I'll reel myself in from using the phrase 'loathsome blandness' (oops just did!), however it falls somewhere between being not bad enough to really hate on and not good enough to admire in any way. Thus the Doktor's ghastly clawed hand plucks Mr Wonder and slings him on to the great dazed pile of 3/5s.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:15 am 
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348 - THE CHI-LITES - Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)



Well if nothing else I've learned where Beyonce picked up the sample for 'Crazy In Love'. This is a little over involved and messy, there is just a little bit too much going on and it goes out the lines quite a lot but the brass/bass stabs are great and I'm a fan of deep voiced soul so I've gotta give it a 4/5.

347 - THE METERS - Hand Clapping Song



It's a little repetitive at points but it also has a coolness factor and nice rhythm when it picks up the pace. Overall this is border line between a 3 and 4 but there's little licks of great here and there so I think I can just about authorise short list status. 4/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 3:22 pm 
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346 - GRUP BUNALIM - Tas Var Kopek Yok



My notes say this is a Turkish heavy psych group. Could be interesting, here we go! OK, the start of this record actually got me quite excited, it sounds somewhere between garage rock and Hendrix, or in other words not a million miles away from Blue Cheer, particularly the clattering drums. However you have to say the vocals are pretty poor lacking some, nay, any charisma and the solo wasn't great either which hinders the nascent potential. Overall then I think this could have been a 4 if it had had better vocals or was better recorded or the guitarist was any good but it's just lacking that little something, that little invisible factor that turns misses into hits. 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 11:14 am 
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345 - GREYLOCK MANSION - Catafalque



Hail Satan! And down with polyester! My dislike of Christian piousness is such that I'm all for Satanic trolling of bible botherers with Dungeons and Dragons, tarot cards and that picture by Eliphas Levi of the Sabbatical Goat and his snake constricted metaphorical cock. However this rather silly effort at pre Black Sabbath devil rock is so lacking in anything other than cartoon darkness that it's unlikely to provoke anything other than slight disapproval from rent boy ploughing TV evangelists. Some where between The Doors, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, but much, much campier, this tracks raison d'etre is probably best served as an intro to an Elvira style schlocky horror show. Rubbishy daftness appeals to me but this project is a serious undertaking and there has to be some quality cut off so I can only give this 3/5. By the way a catafalque is a 'wooden framework supporting a coffin while lying in state'. Don't say you don't learn anything reading these 'reviews'.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 5:25 pm 
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344 - JAMES BROWN - It's A Man's Man's World



Assume this must be a re-release or unofficial release as obviously this was originally released some years before. James Brown reputedly kicked a pregnant girlfriend down a flight of stairs, beat Tammi Terrell to a pulp and had a list of charges and allegations of domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault and violence towards women but, hey, it's a man's world but it would be nothing without a woman, eh James? Presumably to punch in the face. So James Brown was a complete slime ball, a coward and a hypocrite and for some reason he seems to get a free pass for a lifetime of violent misogyny but you can't deny he made great music. The whole question if you can separate a work of art from the personal failures of the artists is one that is being asked increasingly these days but my 10 cents is that a great work is what it is, unto it's self. I give James Brown 0/5, I give James Brown's terrible wardrobe 0.5/5 and I give It's A Man's Man's World 5/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 5:42 pm 
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343 - YES - Looking Around Me



Before I even listen to this I want to declare that while I know nothing or believe I know nothing of Yes, they are a band I've always just assumed I'd hate with a passion. Let's dive in and see if my baseless Yes bigotry was entirely unfounded.

OK, having listened to 'Looking Around Me' it's turns out Yes are an affront to mankind who should nailed to the bottom of a public latrine in a city square, preferably one near me, to be shat on for the rest of human existence and even when they pass from this realm no respite should be allowed and society should continue to fire stodgy logs onto their decaying faces and that it might even become a fun sport to attempt to shit a turd into one of the numerous empty eye sockets, thereby scoring 'a hole in one'. And that all this should be done under a black banner on which the motto 'Fuck All Organs' is written in the entrails of their fans, per chance any can be found.

1/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:47 pm 
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342 - LINK WRAY - Fire And Brimstone



Two musical entities have inspired such devotion from me that I was actually prepared to leave my home town and travel to a strange land to see them. The first of these was The Cramps. I saw them at the Glasgow Barrowland in 1991 and they blew me away. So when they announced a London gig in (rough guess) 1994 I was on the 10 hour overnight coach to England's capital before you could say 'Jack Robinson'. Saw them at the Brixton Academy and afterwards slept rough on a bench in Regent's Park (in February!) before heading back up the road on the first coach back from scuzzy old Victoria with the vision of Poison Ivy in a skin tight leopard skin one piece that will forever be laser etched into my temporal lobe. The second of these events was, you may be ahead of me here, a trip to Manchester to see the legendary Link Wray. He was well into his 60s at this stage but true cool is cool forever. He came out with no shirt on, just a leather jacket with a giant silver crucifix hanging from his neck. Sunglasses after dark of course, with his hair pulled back into a pony tail while wailing away on a bright orange guitar. Talk about presence. He played 'Rumble' at least four times precisely because he's Link Wray and Link Wray can do whatever the fuck he wants. Sorry, I've gone into autobiography mode. I wasn't actually familiar with his 1970s output so I've never heard this song before you won't be surprised to know I think it's great. It's Link Wray. Link fucking Wray. 4/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
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341 - ARETHA FRANKLIN - Call Me



These weekend reviews tend to be exercises in brevity. Therefore I will sum this up as 'a bit slushy'. 3/5

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
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340 - RAY PRICE - For The Good Times.



First of all, NO ONE is holding their warm and tender body next to yours cos you look like you should be carved into the guttering of a medieval church ya fucking gargoyle! Secondly this makes the above Aretha Franklin number seem like a barbarous face slapping Viking war song. 1/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2020 7:16 pm 
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339 - TRADER HORNE - Here Comes The Rain



Is it just me or is this psychedelic muppets style album cover quite terrifying? Look at that face! Is it supposed to be the sun or something? Ghastly. Anyway my only previous experience of Trader Horne was that one of their songs came up in the 1969 list and I didn't like that one and I don't like this one. I suppose the music is reasonably OK but the vocals bother me, they sound like an slightly more effete Bee Gees. The whole thing, I don't know, it just seems a little....complacently unremarkable. 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 10:00 am 
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338 - THE PRETTY THINGS - The Good Mr. Square



As you listen to this you have to remind yourself that the The Pretty Things were at one time the wildest, most dangerous band on the planet. This on the other hand sounds like ELO except ELO hadn't been invented yet. Funnily enough before I put this on I was thinking 'Surely The Pretty Things were a band that should have been contained wholly within the 1960's'. They just seem to me a very 1960s type of band and while some bands, The Rolling Stones for instance, were capable of crossing the decades and I'm not hearing anything here to suggest they were relevant in the 1970s. I will remain opened minded should they crop up again. 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 6:24 am 
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337 - ORANGE PEEL - I Got No Time



Despite the misleading YT video, Orange Peel were in fact a German group. They say there is a thin line between success and failure and that's especially true in music. This has a lot of elements that point to classic psychedelic rock - echo feedback, nice fuzzy guitar and bass tone, decent drum fills, husky voiced singer. However strip away the psychedelic cosmetics and the actual song is pretty mediocre and no amount of tarting up with voguish paints turns very basic song-writing like this into an aural treat. Another 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 3:42 pm 
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336 - APPLE GLASS CYNDROM - Going Wrong



What's with all the high pitched singing voices in 1970? It's all very by the book psychedelia, bass is quite good, some nice organ but at the end of the day it's just a little bit bland. 3/5

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
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335 - NICKY THOMAS - Love Of The Common People



As an eighties pop kid I know this song from the Paul Young version. Since I can't imagine he made any impact in the US I'd describe him as a sort of Thatcherite hair moussed Cliff Richard but with worse dress sense and less attitude. But enough of Paul Young what of Nicky Thomas? Well I like the song but the production is off putting. The band is really muddy and I don't like the strings which make it sound more poppy than I prefer my reggae. Also Ol' Nick isn't the best singer and has an odd slightly out of time delivery and patois only takes you so far. There were far better rocksteady and reggae tunes kicking about during this time period so I've got to give out yet another average mark of 3/5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 2:21 pm 
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334 - BOBBY BARE - How I Got To Memphis



I thought Bobby Bare was going to be some kind of swingin' soul cat. Instead he turns out to be a mawkishly sentimental cowboy. I do like some country music but it has to be said it can often droop into the maudlin and this kind of overly affected emotion gets my goat. To me it just seems unauthentic. Give sappy Bobby a kick up the chaps I say. 2 out of 5.

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
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333 - THE LOST GENERATION - The Sly, Slick & The Wicked



Seems like a while since we had a good one. Will The Lost Generation deliver? Eh no. This isn't actually bad in anyway, sounds a bit like The Impressions if you deducted the towering genius of Curtis Mayfield from their output. Overall though there isn't a whole lot that stands out. It's the definition of OK. 3/5

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 Post subject: Re: MUSIC SCHOOL. Listen with the Doctor. Episode 1 - 1970.
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332 - THE STAPLE SINGERS - Love Is Plentiful



I thought The Staple Singers were traditional gospel but this is quite rowdy, almost rock music with an Aretha Franklin sensibility thrown in. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised as psychedelic rock was a big influence on soul music during this period, in fact psychedelia lived on in black music long after it had been given up as a fad by white musicians. Nice drums by the Muscle Shoals guys (not sure who exactly, possibly Freeman Brown) but in my opinion the guitar could be better, should have got Eddie Hazel in! Great vocals as you'd expect, the song, it's more gusto over quality writing but I'm still going to give it 4/5. Hooray a good one after something of a lean period.

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331 - LEAF HOUND - Drowned My Life In Fear



Leaf Hound. I know this album is well regarded by vinyl junkies as one of the great collectable psychedelic albums but sometimes with those guys you think they are more into album covers than the music. However listening to this it's....decent....but with obvious influences. There's a little echo of 'Sweet Leaf' in there and it also has a whiff of 'Tons Of Sobs' era Free and various other groups. Overall though...well it didn't make my eyes come out on stalks but you have to say it's better than the average psychedelic group so I'm going to give it a 4/5. Hey, these 4 out of 5's, they are like buses. You wait ages for one and then two come along at once.

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