40 Year Itch : Of Love in Boulder Canyon

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  In the Summer of 1973, you could not escape the cheery mop top with the granny glasses. John Denver was everywhere. "Rocky Mountain High" had already peaked at #9 in the Billboard charts. Now his new album, Farewell Andromeda, was rising into the Top 20.




    He hosted a BBC variety show and guest hosted The Tonight Show. On a chairlift in Aspen, he had just written "Annie's Song", a future #1 song on the Easy Listening Charts. Swenson had just introduced a new ice cream flavor called "Rocky Mountain High".

And, with a backdrop of films showcasing the Rocky Mountains, Denver was about to perform a seven night engagement at the Universal Amphitheater. My dad and stepmother --who both knew Denver before he became a households name took me to a John Denver concert in 1973 and again in 1974.

After the latter concert Dad wrote Denver this letter:

Dear John:
 Your concert in New Haven was stupendous! My God, when you came on stage that first moment and the Coliseum roared...it must be an extraordinary sensation, rather frightening, rather pleasing, rather contemptible even. I mean how is it possible not to react with something approaching scorn at the animal that gets unleashed. There is that crowd aura, that same frenzied grip that politicians strive for, that Hitler achieved ( he, too, had at Nuremberg that astonishingly staged and managed show which created a crowd frenzy). I don't mean to compare you to Hitler, my friend, all I mean is you have achieved that same quality of having crowds react to you but that, unlike Hitler, of course you deserve it. 

 You gave the impression of being perfectly at ease, in control and professional all of which you are, but it came across. And I think your music--that is, the songs you write, are getting more and more beautiful and lyrical. I think "Sunshine on My Shoulder" (sic) is one of the loveliest songs I've heard in years. Very simple, very true like all good writing must be. And "Goodbye Again" is lovely too. Of course "Rocky Mountain High"--the title suddenly for the first time struck me as perfect for a high school in Denver. Wonderful idea, the little girl saying "I'm at Rocky Mountain High" and the other responding "I'll say..."--anyway , Rocky Mountain High is such a pleasing song and a nice thought.

 

40 Year Itch : Samba Soul from 1973

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Inspired by a West Coast heat wave, I present here three great Samba Soul tunes from 1973. 

Let's begin with Tim Maia and "Gostava Tanto de Voce" from his 1973 self-titled album. Maia was one of music's great wild men and ranked by Rolling Stone as the greatest Brazilian singer. Ever.

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Nobody could fuse Brazilian samba with soulful jazz rhythms like Luiz Melodia who released his highly acclaimed solo album, Perola Negra, in 1973. The title track is a classic.

Marku Ribas , the King of Samba Soul, died in April of this year. A master percussionist and vocalist, Ribas had already been recording for 20 years when he worked on the Dirty Work album with the Rolling Stones and even appeared in the music video for "Just Another Night". 1973's Underground is the place to start with this artist.

40 Year Itch: Lemmings

In the Summer of 1973, National Lampoon released Lemmings, a soundtrack to its off Broadway show that mocked Woodstock. Future SNL stars John Belushi and Chevy Chase and Mockumentary master Christopher Guest were among the performers. Belushi did his classic Joe Cocker impression in what would now would fail the PC test with its jokes about Muscular Dystrophy (41:40). Chase plays adequate drums on most of the cuts and apparently pulled off a John Denver impression. Guest impersonated Bob Dylan ( at 7:45) and James Taylor ( at 26:00) . One year later a 30 year old TV executive named Lorne Michaels began searching for a cast for a show to be called NBC's Saturday Night.

It's not so funny today but in 1973 the show ran for 350 performances and the album peaked somewhere near #100 on the Billboard charts.

Meanwhile, in 1973, the magazine published the only thing they've ever had to apologize for:

40 Year Itch : Jethro Tull Goes Overboard

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I cannot recall an album by a British rock band that has given me more pain to endure.

-Chris Welch , Melody Maker

Here's the one takeaway from Jethro Tull's A Passion Play, released in the UK on July 6, 1973: Nobody likes it. People either love it:

"A masterpiece of spirited prog rock. The music keeps turning and twisting, never resting on one idea or theme for more than ten or twenty seconds. And there's never a wrong turn."

Or hate it:

"Hard to believe the same group could record a wonderful piece of music like "Brick" and then turn around and produce this drivel."

Jethro Tull's last #1 LP is a concept album about the life and death of  a man. We can gather that much from the lyrics. And not a hell of a lot more. 

But here. Take a shot and see if you can find the "deep inner meaning " of lyrics like:

Lover of the black and white it's your first night. 

 The Passion Play, goes all the way, spoils your insight. 

Tell me how the baby's made, 

how the lady's laid, 

 why the old dog howls in sadness.

Performances included the screening of this film, "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles",  written and directed by Ian Anderson.

Some critics used A Passion Play to proclaim the death of progressive rock:

The real disappointment is that it marks, seemingly, the end of an era. After studying this album at great length, stewing my eyes out over the lyrics, reprinted on the inner sleeve, bending an ear to each nuance of the music, I am left with the feeling of never wanting to hear another British rock group album again.

-Chris Welch again

Others. like Stephen Holden, claimed to be finished with Jethro Tull:

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One leaves A Passion Play with the feeling of having been subjected to 45 minutes of vapid twittering and futzing about, all play and no passion — expensive, tedious nonsense.

The Campus Report July 5, 1973

Alan Smason, WTUL


Top 3 albums played on various college radio stations, according to Billboard Magazine

WRCC (now WFUV)  Rockland Community College , Suffern NY

Steve Siciliano reporting

1. Copperhead Copperhead
2. Phil Everly Star Spangled Springer
3. Melissa Manchester Home to Myself

                                                WRBB-FM Northeastern University, Boston, MA
                                                Donna Hocheiser Reporting

1. Tower of Power Tower of Power

2. Ides of March Midnight Oil

3. Paul Kantner, Grace Slick and David Freiberg Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun

WETS FM, East Tennessee State, Johnson City, TN

Jim Blankenbecler Reporting

1. Cross Country Cross Country

2. Funk Inc. Hangin' Out

3. Reuben and the Jets For Real

40 Year Itch: Lou, Mick and Bowie at "The Last Supper"

Famous photo taken at the Ziggy Stardust retirement party,"The Last Supper",  taken by Mick Rock July 4, 1973.

40 Year Itch : Slade Star in Death Crash

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On July 4, 1973, the week Slade's "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" single debuted at #1, drummer Don Powell's Bentley crashed through a hedge and against a tree and brick wall. Both Powell and his 20 year old fiancee, Angela Morris,  were thrown from the vehicle. Morris died. Powell was badly injured. Surgeons drilled a hole in his skull to relieve pressure on his brain. Many thought he would die. Instead Powell, with cane in hand,  returned to the studio just six weeks later where Slade recorded the future #2 UK hit "My Friend Stan".



To this day Powell has memory problems. Nobody knows who was driving the car. Powell has also lost both his sense of smell and taste.