155. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (January 1969)

1. Good Times Bad Times*

2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

3. You Shook Me

4. Dazed and Confused*

5. Your Time Is Gonna Come

6. Black Mountain Side

7. Communication Breakdown*

8. I Can't Quit You Baby

9. How Many More Times

****

Homer Simpson once quipped that Jimmy Page was "the greatest thief of Black American music of all time". This is kind of true, but it's worth noting that back in the late 60s British bands engaging in borderline copyright-infringing reworkings of old blues songs was a pretty common thing. And Page didn't just rip off Black people - he ripped off Jeff Beck's version of "You Shook Me" and straight-up stole the foundations of "Dazed and Confused". In any case, I don't know that that line of reasoning is especially productive. Whatever his sources, Page's approach was ground-breaking and unique. I can't imagine anyone preferring Beck's version of "You Shook Me" (though, to be honest, I don't much care for either version). And "Dazed and Confused" is one of those songs that pretty much rewrote the rules of popular music. Without it there'd simply be no heavy metal. Or at the very least no Black Sabbath. 

65 years later, the idea of skull-crushingly heavy riff-based stadium rock is pretty old hat. The genre's been celebrated, buried and resurrected any number of times over the years. But Zeppelin endure through it all, for the simple fact that they rock so fucking hard. Yes, Robert Plant's lyrics are, at this early point, not overly complex and frankly rather misogynistic. And he hasn't really learned to control his voice yet. But putting that aside, you have three of the finest instrumentalists in the history of popular music backing him up. And best of all, these guys can all play brilliantly, but they're not too proud to play dumb when it's called for. So you have immediate, ultra-rocking riffs backed up by a pounding rhythm section, but you also have blistering, technically dazzling solos and forays into gentle, complex folk and psychedelia. 

This is not my favourite Led Zeppelin album, mind. Of course that's IV. And truth be told, I find it difficult to sit through any of their albums except for IV and Houses of the Holy. But Led Zeppelin is a pretty kickass album. The eclecticism for which the band are famous is already present, and so you get a good mix of heavy rock with folk and even Indian influences. But there's also a simplicity and rawness to the album - probably attributable to the brief time and low budget of the recording, as well as the fact that most of these songs were worked-out live before hand and so tend to reflect one of their sets. "Dazed and Confused" is, I think, the only song here that can really stand alongside their later classics, but it's one hell of a brilliant song and worth the price of admission alone. The "so dumb it's brilliant" riff on "Communication Breakdown" is another highlight, and "How Many More Times" is a ferocious workout that highlights all the band's strengths (and gets pretty funky, too).

What really sets this album apart from its peers is the approach. Plenty of bands had rocked really damned hard before Led Zeppelin, but none in quite this way. The incorporation of so many different forms of music into a cohesive sound, rather than diluting the impact of the music, resulted in something incredibly immediate and thrilling. I'm actually looking forward to revisiting the first few Led Zeppelin albums, as I suspect I may find myself enjoying them a lot more than I did previously - especially coming to them from behind, as it were, with a better knowledge of just what preceded them and how they fit into the history of rock. It's fun to discover new music, but it's also fun to rediscover bands and albums you never gave a fair shake in the first place.

154. Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails (March 1969)

1. Who Do You Love Suite -

I. Who Do You Love (Part One)

II. When Do You Love

III. Where Do You Love

IV. How Do You Love

V. Which Do You Love

VI. Who Do You Love (Part 2)

2. Mona

3. Maiden of the Cancer Moon

4. Calvary

5. Happy Trails

**1/2

Does a twenty minute long exploratory jazz-acid reworking of the Bo Diddley classic "Who Do You Love" sound like a good time to you? If so, I strongly recommend Happy Trails. Personally, though, I kind of think this album is a waste of time.

I think I would have enjoyed the "Who Do You Love" suite a bit more if I wasn't intimately familiar with the original. As it was, I couldn't help thinking of how much I liked Diddley's version and how much the Quicksilver Messenger Service got wrong with their interpretation of it. The original is spooky, fun, sexy, concise and a rhythmic monster. The suite is a long, jammy exercise in so-so guitar heroics, anchored by some extremely unimpressive drum work. I mean, Bo Diddley is considered one of the fathers of punk rock. The Quicksilver Messenger Service are a freeform acid-jazz-rock combo built around twenty minute guitar solos and feedback experiments.

After a few listens, I was able to shed most of my preconceptions and appreciate Happy Trails for what it is, instead of what I wish it would be. And I have to admit - there are a few moments of real beauty here, and the musicians have some pretty impressive chops. But this really just isn't my cup of tea. And it's not just the Diddley covers. The two originals that close out the album are sort of pointless. I've bemoaned the fact several times, but I think you really need to be stoned to appreciate this music, and I'm not about to risk another psychotic break just so that I can properly appreciate "Maiden of the Cancer Moon".

I can see why people like this stuff. I think the problem is I sit and listen to these sorts of albums through, when they're really intended as party soundtracks. As background music to a swinging party, Happy Trails would be excellent. I tried listening to it drunk once while on the computer dicking around, and I didn't mind it. But my last listen was twenty minutes ago, at 11 in the morning, stone cold sober and preparing to go to work in a few hours. Not really an environment conducive to getting all groovy, to use the parlance of the time. 

Happy Trails is a solid album, and its approach points the way forward for a lot of jammy, exploratory music. I can definitely see why people liked it at the time - it manages to go to to some very strange places while remaining pretty accessible, and we haven't really had much like it in the Book at this point. Doing this project, I've found that I'm no great fan of the San Francisco sound, but for a lot of people in the 60s and onward this album must have been a window into a world, and a legendary scene, which a lot of people idolised and still mythologise and pine for to this day. Then there's the fact that this album's approach - taking classic songs and reworking them into long, unrecognisable forms - would be pretty popular through the early 70s until punk came along and remind everyone how to rock. Happy Trails manages to strike a solid balance between direct rock and proggy excess, and I kind of admire the Quicksilver Messenger Service for that. I just really doubt I'll be listening to this album again any time soon.

153. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (March 1969)

 

1. Candy Says*

2. What Goes On

3. Some Kinda Love

4. Pale Blue Eyes*

5. Jesus

6. Beginning to See the Light

7. I'm Set Free

8. That's the Story of My Life

9. The Murder Mystery

10. After Hours*

****1/2

If you're the sort of person who believes in "bests" then this probably isn't the best Velvet Underground album. The mix of in-your-face experimentalism with classic pop on ...& Nico, and the pure aural insanity of White Light/White Heat, tend to attract a lot more attention. Loaded, on the other hand, is just so damned accessible - I mean, it has "Rock & Roll" and "Sweet Jane" on it! But the older I get, the more I like The Velvet Underground best. Reed and co knuckled down and tried to write an album of commercial pop rock while still retaining the experimentalism of their earlier work. The result is an album of mostly clean guitars, containing mellow rockers and gentle ballads, where the sonic freak outs of the first two albums are twisted into more conventional song structures. It's an astonishing and truly ground-breaking album, but in a very understated and amiable way. The odd rhythms are still there, but slowed down and used to anchor beautiful melodies. The guitars are still weird and innovative, but they twist and wind around one another rather than bludgeoning you with white noise. And the lyrics are some of the best Reed ever wrote. "Candy Says" is a heart-breaking song from the perspective of a transitioning transsexual, and I kind of agree with Reed that it's probably the best song he ever wrote. "Pale Blue Eyes", another of my very favourites, is an incredibly mature love song about adultery and learning to accept that you can't always hold on to the one you love. And "After Hours", featuring the fragile, childlike vocals of drummer Moe Tucker, is the perfect closer - a 1920s-tinged number about turning away from the world and finding solace in isolation, even as you come to terms with the fact that it's really not what you want.

The only real misstep on the album is "The Murder Mystery". Reed claimed that it was positioned there as a cold rebuff to the story of personal growth told by the preceding eight songs. Personally, though, it just kind of sounds like an attempt to out-weird John Cale, who had left the group acrimoniously prior to the album. I mean, this song has a cool riff, and at first it's kind of fun in a "what the hell am I listening to?" kind of way, but it goes on far too long and getting to the end is something of a chore. Unsurprisingly, Reed himself apparently considered it kind of a failure. It serves its purpose on the album thematically, I suppose, and makes the appearance of "After Hours" twice as welcome, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. 

So yeah. Maybe they released "better" albums, but if I could only keep one it would probably be this. 

152. Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis (June 1969)

1. Wearin' That Loved On Look

2. Only the Strong Survive

3. I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)

4. Long Black Limousine

5. It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'

6. I'm Movin' On

7. Power of My Love*

8. Gentle on My Mind

9. After Loving You

10. True Love Travels on a Gravel Road

11. Any Day Now*

12. In the Ghetto*

***1/2

I've never been a member of the cult of Elvis. I like some of his songs fine, and I've more or less enjoyed the Elvis albums I've had to listen to for this book, but I pretty much never listen to his music (the only real exceptions being that I have "Heartbreak Hotel" in my liked songs on Spotify, and his Christmas album gets dusted off once a year). From Elvis in Memphis is a very good album, and I can certainly see why so many people hold it in such high regard. But the gushing reviews kind of baffle me. I guess Elvis and I just don't click. 

Possibly this is because this is big, bold Sixties soul music. It's an excellent example of the genre, but as I've said on numerous occasions that's not really a genre I much care for. All of which makes it sound like I'm ragging on this album, but I'm really not. It's a perfectly nice listen, and for Elvis fans it must have been a real treat after watching him spend the 60s releasing dreadful film after dreadful film and mostly recording pop schmaltz. I'd say this is, of the three Elvis albums in the Book, easily the best one; and if Elvis had recorded more material of this calibre he might actually deserve to be called "King of Rock & Roll".

Still, this is in many ways a standard pop album - a bunch of pretty good songs, mostly covers, with one or two truly brilliant songs thrown in. And really, "The Power of My Love" is pretty awesome - a funky, down and dirty behemoth of a song that gives Elvis a chance to be genuinely sexy for the first time in years. Then there's the pretty ballad "Any Day Now", and the touching "After Loving You" - I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but I'll always maintain Elvis' real strength lay in pretty ballads.

This is something I think is proved by the final song on the album. Really, "In the Ghetto" had to be a closer. It's very much the odd song out. For the rest of its running time this is a fun album of well-played R&B, soul and country. "In the Ghetto", on the other hand, is a very pretty and very bleak number chronicling the short, sad life of a child born into poverty, who grows up to be a car thief and winds-up getting shot by the police. Now, I love this song, and I always have. When I was a kid in the late 90s, I lived in a podunk town in the country. Our mum used to take us to the pub (kids were allowed in the general area, but not the main bar), and my little sister and I would drink fire engines, play darts and pool, and hassle mum into giving us money to play songs on the jukebox. I remember our three favourites were "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog", "We've Gotta Get Outta This Place", and "In the Ghetto". I was captivated by the sadness of the song, and the way it managed to tell a story in such a moving and well-constructed way. I guess I've always been kind of morbid. 

Anyway, this was a fun listen, and a must for Elvis fans. Even an unbeliever like me really enjoyed it. I can't imagine how much someone who genuinely loves the King's mush-mouthed warbling would like it. I guess in many ways Elvis' story is a bit of a sad one - a story of wasted potential and unmet expectations. He had it in him to be truly brilliant, but ended up being forced to grind out a load of crap. From Elvis in Memphis offers a glimpse of what might have been, even if it wound up being too little too late.

151. Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (March 1969)

1. Just a Little Lovin'

2. So Much Love

3. Son of a Preacher Man*

4. I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore

5. Don't Forget About Me

6. Breakfast in Bed

7. Just One Smile

8. The Windmills of Your Mind*

9. In the Land of Make Believe*

10. No Easy Way Down

11. I Can't Make It Alone

****

I can't remember the first time I heard "Son of  Preacher Man". Following the release of Pulp Fiction it became something of a staple of classic rock stations in the 90s, back when they still played music from the 60s and 70s. I do remember being captivated by it, though. I barely understood what sex was, and here's a song that's sexy and smart and soulful and irresistibly catchy all in one. And that really sums up this album. It's a classic pop album in that it's a selection of good songs (pretty much all covers), given a new spin by integrating pop with southern soul. But the approach is a magical one, and while there are many minor songs on this album there isn't a single bad one. 

I think this album's approach is best summed up by Springfield's version of "Windmills of Your Mind". The theme song to The Thomas Crown Affair, the original is a dark and paranoid folk number. Springfield and Co, however, twist it into a cathartic celebration of being driven to the edge of reason by love, sonically lush and almost upbeat, all in contrast with the borderline nightmarish lyrics. Apparently Springfield didn't want to record it, but I'm glad she relented. It's one of the oddest and most compelling songs I've ever heard.

At the other end of the spectrum is "Breakfast in Bed". Springfield at her best projects a smart, sophisticated and extremely classy brand of sensuality, and her vocals are beautifully served by the understated soul backing track. 

Given that this is really just a collection of songs, it holds together quite well as an album. The numbers are very well-chosen, and the album is structured so that things gradually progress from upbeat and sexy to darker and more wistful by the end. But things never get too dark, really. It's the sort of album you could put on post breakup, or at an easy going cocktail party, and either way it would fit perfectly. 

150. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (July 1969)

1. Time Has Told Me

2. River Man*

3. Three Hours

4. Way to Blue

5. Day Is Done

6. Cello Song

7. The Thoughts of Mary Jane

8. Man in a Shed*

9. Fruit Tree*

10. Saturday Sun

****

One of the frustrating things about doing this is that I'm often listening to music I don't like when I'm not in the mood for it. I tried to listen to Five Leaves Left yesterday and got annoyed. I woke up this morning, however, feeling sad and weird, with that odd sensation of nakedness that I sometimes experience that feels as though the world were trying to stab my soul. So I put this album on, and found it was the perfect antidote to my occasional feelings of hopelessness and fear.

It's kind of impossible to talk about Nick Drake without mentioning the mythology that surrounds him. A painfully shy young man who would almost certainly have been diagnosed with ASD had he been born a few decades later, he stumbled through life making counterintuitive bids at fame that completely eluded him, recorded three eerily perfect albums of melancholy folk music, and died (more than probably a virgin) at the age of 26 from an overdose of antidepressants that may or may not have been deliberate. A peerless guitarist with a soft, enchanting voice, his lyrics were at once deeply obscure and oddly resonant. With the benefit of hindsight, they describe the journey of a young man from a hopeful outsider who's optimistic that he'll one day, given time, find what he wants in life, to an embittered recluse who's unwillingly accepted that he simply has no place in the world. His three albums are like one long suicide note. As a consequence, he's become something of a patron saint for disaffected weirdos who, for one reason or another, just can't seem to fit in.

Despite all I've just said, Five Leaves Left is a largely optimistic album. The dark atmospherics are tempered by lush arrangements and uplifting melodies, and while Drake's lyrics explore alienation and the gulfs between people, they also give the sense of someone who is still hopeful, and perhaps even comfortable in their isolation. The best example is probably "Man in a Shed", a wryly funny song that's probably the most direct thing Drake ever wrote, about a weirdo who lives in a shed trying to seduce a woman who lives in a beautiful house, not really expecting to succeed but arguing that she might find that a shed is actually much nicer than she thinks.

The main thing that Drake trafficked in, though, was beauty. You may not always be sure what he's getting at, but his studio recordings are gorgeous and haunting, and nothing really captures this better than the strange and enchanting "River Man". It could be an old folk song that fell through a portal to another dimension. In any case, it was the first Drake song I ever heard, and the song that convinced me I needed to check him out.

 I still prefer his last two albums to his debut, probably because they were the two I owned on CD for years, but this is a strange and beautiful album, perfect for when the stress of the modern world is getting you down and you want to wander in a twilight world and ponder the great imponderables. Bryter Layter is baroque and rocking, while Pink Moon is stark and compelling, but Five Leaves Left is just so damned pretty. A very melancholy kind of pretty, but then that's the kind of pretty I like best. 

 

149. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (November 1969)

1. Gimme Shelter*

2. Love in Vain

3. Country Honk*

4. Live with Me

5. Let It Bleed

6. Midnight Rambler

7. You Got the Silver

8. Monkey Man

9. You Can't Always Get What You Want*

***1/2

More of the deeply frustrating, frequently off-putting, occasionally brilliant Roling Stones. Maybe the greatest singles band of all time, but their albums just don't do it for me. There are a few reasons for this, all I suppose pretty idiosyncratic. 

The first is that Mick Jagger is an affluent white guy from Britain who really, really wants to be a poor Southerner (ideally, a black one). It's weird. 

The second is the band's obsession with trying to make poverty, substance abuse and risky sex seem, for lack of a better word, poetic. Once again, these are very wealthy guys from middle class backgrounds, and few things piss me off more than rich people from good homes trying to sound poor. I also sincerely doubt Mick Jagger spent as much time hanging around in squallid basements shooting heroin as his lyrics seem to insist he did. 

The third is just that these are incredibly talented musicians and songwriters, and yet most of their music is just really well-played filler. Don't get me wrong, there are two absolutely brilliant songs on this album. And the Stones really do push music in some new and interesting directions - the style of music on this album, a clever mix of folk, blues, gospel and rock, would basically come to define the early 70s. But then you have crap like "Monkey Man" and the long, pointless jam "Midnight Rambler" almost completely tanking side two of the album. And "Love in Vain" is just a pointless exercise in attitude with utterly banal lyrics. The Stones seem to be trying to tap into the awesome power of Americana and American roots music, but they just don't have the lived experience and direct connection to the material to manage anything more than a bit of technically impressive play acting. I'm sorry, but I need a bit more to go on than something sounding really "real" and "bluesy". A decent hook might be nice, which "Country Honk" at least has even if it's not as good as the rock version.

All of which sounds pretty damning, but I'd say the complete opposite about the opening and closing tracks. On "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want", the band are firing on all cylinders, and Jagger manages to tap into subjects that genuinely matter and that he feels strongly about. "Gimme Shelter" is fucking apocalyptic, and perfectly captures the sense of dread and uncertainty in the air as the 60s came to a close. It also features one of the greatest guitar riffs ever devised, which helps. It still sounds like nothing else, a nightmarish mix of hard rock, psych and gospel that unfortunately sits completely at odds with the more mellow material making up the bulk of the album. 

"YCAGWYW" on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction. I don't have to describe it to you, as you've probably heard it about a hundred times, but it's a bold, risky track that shouldn't work yet really does. It's also one of the few moments on the album when Jagger drops the bullshit and sings about something real - there's no pseudo-Bluesman bullshit, just a direct and affecting song about learning to let go of the past and be grateful for what you've got. 

So yeah, I can see why people like this album so much, and it really is very good. It's just that I think the bookends have led people to overlook the weakness of the majority of the album and accord it legendary status when it's really just a mishmash with a couple of great songs and a couple of real duds.

Also that cover art is just awful.