Three Albums Released on This Date in 1973

[Out of Print]

It was just an uncomfortable tour. I felt like a product, and I had this band of all-star musicians that couldn't even look at each other-Neil Young

True, Neil Young may have called Time Fades Away his worst album but he's only referring to the audio quality of the recordings and the vibe he gets when he thinks about the 90 day tour he spent with The Stray Gators ( which included Jack Mitzche on keyboards, Neil's buddy Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar, Tim Drummond on bass and at first Kenny Buttrey  then former Turtles/Airplane drummer John Barbata). Danny Whitten was supposed to play guitar on the tour but his drug addiction was too much for the band to handle so Neil sent him home where he died of a heroin overdose.

These songs--all previously unreleased-- are recorded just months later.

The crowd came for Harvest so they met a lot of these Crazy Horse style rockers with silence. Neil Young fans refer to Time Fades Away as the first of the Ditch Trilogy ( along with Tonight's the Night and On the Beach), Young's attempt to pull back on his super stardom. All three are dark, haunted and essential.

There is an online petition to get Young to reconsider keeping this album out of print here.

[Purchase]

The band just doesn't seem to matter much anymore.
 - Gordon Fletcher, Rolling Stone

   Fleetwood Mac continues its string of spotty albums dating back to Future Games with their second album of 1973, Mystery To Me. Bob Welch offered the best songs on the album including the single "Hypnotized". If the other members weren't so prolific they couldn't be blamed. Christine McVie and husband John were headed for a divorce while new guitarist Bob Weston was having an affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife, model Jenny Boyd. "Keep On Going" seems to anticipate the disco age ( and "Forever" could have been a tune off the Vampire Weekend debut) while a lot of the filler is straight forward, somewhat pleasant boogie.

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    Wake of the Flood has its devoted fans but the first album for the band's own label , Grateful Dead Records (and the first studio album in three years) , only has one classic song on it, the transcendent "Eyes of the World". The addition of Keith Godchaux and wife Donna may have helped the band fill out their sound but they can't bring life to songs like  "Stella Blue" which sounds like a George Harrison throw-away.

40 Year Itch: Six April 1973 Releases We Missed

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Although it lacks a hit single, Arlo Guthrie's Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys is an artistic success highlighted by some horn solos, fiddle solos and guitar work by Ry Cooder.

[Purchase]

Ah! The lean years for Fleetwood Mac. At least the band could always count on Christine McVie for some catchy pop. Bob Welch also adds some intrigue but far too much of this album is filler. Especially dreadful is the "Road Runner" cover sung by one album wonder Dave Walker.

 Seals And Crofts set the standard for what "good" contemporary Christian music is supposed to sound like : Cheery, banal and proselytizing. The duo had it written in their contract that they be allowed to hang out after their concerts to discuss their Baha'i faith with fans. Diamond Girl peaked at #4 on the album charts.

The most interesting thing about the Eagles concept album Desperado ( US #41) is that the title cut was never released as a single. And that's not really very interesting.

[Purchase]

The best of the ex Turtles albums, Flo and Eddie has comedy, cover versions of both The Kinks ( "Days"),  and The Small Faces ("Afterglow") and one absolute take down diss of the friend who made them rock and roll's most sought after backing up vocalists. It took years for Marc Bolan to forgive them for "Another Pop Star's Life" and it's one of the things Howard Kaylan ("Eddie") truly regrets after all these years.

[Purchase]

The Strawbs most successful and best album, Bursting At The Seams,  features the pub favorite "Part of the Union" ( A UK#2 hit in February of 1973) and the hit "Lay Down".  "Bursting At The Seams" might have been an apt name for the US tour that followed as Richard Hudson , John Ford and Blue Weaver all left the band in the months that followed.

40 Year Itch : The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival

Is this the rock fest that killed the Woodstock nation?

 The Erie Canal Soda Pop fest on Indiana's Bull Island certainly drew a huge crowd -- an estimated 200,00 hippies who came from all over the country Labor Day Weekend of 1972 to see Santana, Foghat, Canned Heat , Black Sabbath, the Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Cocker and Nazareth.

 That's not who showed up though.

 Black Sabbath was a no show. So were the Allman Brothers. Nobody saw Fleetwood Mac. When Joe Cocker saw the crowd he reportedly asked for more money and left when organizers turned him down.

 The traffic was a nightmare.

So were the drugs. Somebody was selling bleach. Two people died. And it rained.

 One very entertaining blogger who claims to have been there writes:

 If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would swear that the festival was a set-up, a sort of psyops to put an end to the ideal of the Woodstock nation. If it wasn't, then it was the biggest f**k up in the history of rock festival promotions.