Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier · 09-04-2012, 02:57 PM

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

I’ve finally decided to put together an album by album history of hard rock and heavy metal. I’ve decided to do this on a year by year basis, with what I feel were the ten best and most essential albums for each year. The journal will be written with fairly in-depth album reviews, insights and the type of impact that these albums had if any at the time and in the future. I decided that I would do this from 1970 to present day (so a hell of a lot of albums here) but I quickly realised that the real birth of this music, probably started a year earlier in 1969 which was such a pivotal year, so for that reason my reviews will start there, despite sounding an odd place to start number wise.

The motivation for the journal actually comes from various friends of mine, who often ask me how should they get into metal and heavy music, and where should they start. As always I often say at the beginning, where it was more melodic and less heavy by today’s standards, as a I know chucking them a Sepultura or Slayer cd will have them running for the nearest exit and swearing never to listen to anything heavy ever again! So this journal will hopefully be educational and interesting to any reading and possibly even nostalgic. For me it actually allows me to put all the stuff that I’ve listened to, finally down in a cohesive list once and for all, I also hope to sneak in some albums that I may have forgotten or overlooked as well. Also for some of the years for me, it will be almost impossible to choose just ten albums, but I’ll worry about that when the time comes. The format may well change slightly as I go along but that depends on how the journal goes. So I’ll kick of position 10 for 1969 on my next entry, after inserting a 'pre-listening list'.

**Janszoon** · 09-04-2012, 03:01 PM

Sounds like quite an undertaking! One I'm very much looking forward to though, since as I think you know, I struggle to get into pre-thrash metal. I'll definitely be looking forward to checking out some of your recommendations.

Unknown Soldier · 09-04-2012, 03:10 PM

10 Influential albums worth listening to (before moving onto the main list)

Ten pre-list 1967 to 1969 albums by different bands, that were highly influential on the development of heavy music in the late 1960s.

Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced? 1967
A heavy psychedelic classic that needs no introduction, one of the very best albums in the history of rock.

Cream
Disreali Gears 1967
A psychedelic blues-tinged classic and the birth of the power-trio, quintessential in the history of rock music.

Jeff Beck
Truth 1968
This is a must listen to album, amazing atmosphere and guitar work by Jeff Beck, and Rod Stewart sounds nifty as well.

Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge 1967
One of the very best cover albums ever, as Vanilla Fudge take a heavy slant and make each song their own.

Gun
Gun 1968
This may well be the most "proto-metal" album here and a must listen to release from the Gurvitz brothers.

Head Machine
Orgasm 1969
A Forgotten album, by a band that relied on very heavy tones and there is some great sludgy sounding stuff on here.

Blue Cheer
Vincebus Eruptum 1968
Groundbreaking power-trio who relied on brute force over finesse. The heaviest album of the whole bunch.

Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf the Second 1968
Despite no "Born to be Wild" on here, their second album showed them at their most diverse and interesting.

Iron Butterfly
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida 1968
With their loud sonic assault, this album is included for its legendary title track which takes up the album B-side.

Coven
Witchcraft Destroys Souls and Reaps Minds 1969
Basically a loud psychedelic band that fuelled their songs with 'occult influences' they were an influence on Black Sabbath.
There were some amazing similiarities too, the bass player's name was Oz Osbourne and they had a song called "Black Sabbath"

Trollheart · 09-04-2012, 04:57 PM

What do they say, go big or go home? Looking forward to it, and glad to see you've taken what surely must be seen as the next logical step in your musical evolution!

Dr_Rez · 12-29-2012, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

Jeff Beck
Truth 1968
This is a must listen to album, amazing atmosphere and guitar work by Jeff Beck, and Rod Stewart sounds nifty as well.

Great choice as Beck often gets overlooked. This song fvcking rules.

Unknown Soldier · 12-30-2012, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Rez

Great choice as Beck often gets overlooked. This song fvcking rules.

Thanks for checking in and hope you enjoy the reviews, sure that's a great album which usually gets overlooked but is essential in every way. That's a great song as well.

Unknown Soldier · 12-30-2012, 07:57 AM

01. Deep Purple Machine Head 1972 (Purple Records)
Hard Rock

A relentless high-octane mother of an album!

Overview
Often cited as one of the most important albums that influenced the ‘heavy metal genre’ Machine Head would prove to be the crowning glory of Deep Purple and one of the greatest albums surely of the decade. Like any great album, it has the band with their definitive line-up of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, a line-up that would be the envy of any band. Since the bands gradual shift in direction from their proggy roots on their third album, to the more high octane powered sound on In Rock, Deep Purple were surely destined to release a monster of an album, to match the very best that either Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath had put out. In Rock nearly got them there and Fireball should’ve been the album that launched them into the stratosphere, but in the end Fireball proved to be too light-hearted and too self-indulgent to make that leap and so it would be down to Machine Head to concrete the band in the annals of heavy music awesomeness! Machine Head usually figures in most greatest albums lists and is easily one of the best features on the “Classic Albums” television series that was featured here in the UK and the album like a lot of classic albums, was recorded under rather troublesome conditions. The album was recorded in Montreaux Switzerland, but not in the original location that had been planned for the band in the Montreaux Casino. As the Casino had been involved in a fire during a Frank Zappa concert prompting the band to choose a different location, which would turn out to be the abandoned nearby Pavilion Theatre. The fire that took place at the Montreaux Casino would be famously documented on “Smoke on the Water”. Once in the Pavilion Theatre, the band quickly set-up there and started to cut the album, but they soon fell foul of the local police, who had dozens of nearby residents complaining of the noise! This forced the band to then then move onto the Grand Hotel now their third venue and after an arduous and problematic recording sessions they finally cut the complete album. Now this review just wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the album cover at some stage and its deceptively basic blurred image of the band, really leaves things open to the viewer's own interpretation.

Ian Gillan- Vocals
Ritchie Blackmore- Guitar
Roger Glover- Bass
Jon Lord- Keyboards
Ian Paice- Drums

Production- Deep Purple

Album
Highway Star- A bona-fide classic which sees Ian Gillan’s revved up crooning blazing away, with the super-fast sound of the song and contains the legendary soloing duet between Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, which just doesn’t let up for a second. Maybe I’m a Leo- A plodding heavy number that remains one of the albums most solid entries and a great second track after the frantic opener. Pictures of Home- The band at their most melodic and this a real band effort throughout, is often quoted as being Jon Lord’s favourite song from the album and further engages us with some extended jamming towards the end of the song. Never Before- Another song that starts off with a plodding intro, which continues throughout the song and is then accompanied throughout the song by Ian Gillan’s melodic vocals, and later enhanced by Jon Lord’s keyboards towards the end. Smoke on the Water- Need I really say anything about this song? So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 40 years you should know this riff! If you don’t then please do so, as it’s vital that you do! Lazy- 7 minutes of progressive style jamming and the longest track on the album and then finally emerges into another heavy bluesy effort. Space Truckin’- Of all the tracks on this album this has to be my very favourite. It starts off as a pacey light hearted number, before moving into one of Ritchie Blackmore’s top-of-the-class driving riffs and probably Ian Gillan’s most revved up screaming vocals to date and let’s not forget Ian Paice’s brilliant drumming on the track as well. Later versions of the album have the vital “When I Blind Man Cries” This is a beautiful song that closes the album, as an album like this should close.

Verdict
Machine Head might well be the most complete hard rock album ever recorded and despite being essentially just a hard rock album, there are so many varied elements on this album. From the speed of “Highway Star” to the progressiveness of “Lazy” to the heavy bluesy feel of “Maybe I’m a Leo” and onto the dinosaur heaviness and riffing of “Smoke on the Water”. All these aspects would later prove to be vital in the development of heavy metal as the decade went on, thus making it not just another hard rock release. If we break the album down, we can see that Machine Head captures the high speed and intensity of In Rock, with its classic album opener “Highway Star” which proves this point to perfection. Then there is the bluesy plodding of “Maybe I’m a Leo” and “Never Before” two tracks which provide the heavy backbone of the album, and then there is the melodic approach of “Pictures of Home” and again “Never Before” which now mixes both melody and heaviness to a real level of excellence. Also the progressive elements of the band are satisfied as well, not just on individual tracks, because here they help to form and shape certain tracks like “Pictures of Home” and “Lazy”. There is of course “Smoke on the Water” which is based around the Frank Zappa concert, which saw the burning down the Montreaux Casino and the song probably has one of the most famous riffs in all Metaldom! Also this review would not be complete without mentioning the sheer madness and heaviness of “Space Truckin'” a song which still makes me go weak at the knees! Finally there is “When a Blind Man Cries” which for many a year I thought was actually officially part of the album, as it was always on my copy of the album, but I later realized that it was just an extra song and actually a b-side. Personally Machine Head in its original form is the perfect album, but “When A Blind Man Cries” is added to the album, it seems to enhance proceedings even more and serves I think as the perfect album closer, as it’s the only ballad style track on the album and also resonates a real beauty to highlight the franticness and heaviness that the rest of the album has. Machine Head is quite simply a monster of an album and suitable for both a beginner or an experienced ear, to hear the finer delights of such a fabled hard rock recording!

Howard the Duck · 09-04-2012, 05:58 PM

give me Manowar or give me death

Unknown Soldier · 09-05-2012, 03:05 PM

1969

1969 was such a pivotal year as bands such as Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad gave hard rock bands with heavy blues based roots a much firmer identity, in both sound and marketing appeal. As pre-1969 it had basically been a much looser affiliation of like-minded artists, which had consisted of a number of blues and psychedelic based bands that had played very loud music, which in turn had helped to forge out a very heavy sound and an early identity. Artists like Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and Blue Cheer were prime examples of this. One of these artists Jeff Beck had in 1968 put out his first solo album Truth, this album remains an extremely influential release even today, in fact it could be seen as an appetizer for what was to come in the following year 1969. Now speaking of 1969, here is my entry at number 10, effectively the album I think was the 10th best within the chosen genre for the year and from there it will go in a logical direction to position 1.

10. Deep Purple Deep Purple 1969 (Harvest)

Progressive Rock-Hard Rock

The transition from progressive rock to hard rock.

Overview
By their third album Deep Purple were still in a crux over whether they should progress as a progressive rock band or make the switch to a hard rock outfit, as uptil then success had mostly been just limited to the "Hush" single from their debut album. In essence Mk.1 Deep Purple and the future Mk.2 Deep Purple line-up were two very different animals. The former of which perform on this album, were essentially a progressive rock outfit and like most bands of their ilk were prone to over indulge and to show their ability as prog rock musicians. Whilst the future Mk.2 line-up right from the word go, were a hard rock outfit that believed in hitting hard, whilst still showing off their musical excesses whenever the occasion arose. Now that scenario didn’t quite happen overnight as is often believed, because over the course of their first three albums, the band had already been moving into a heavier direction and all the elements of their early progressive sound and their heavy tendencies came together superbly on their third album the eponymous Deep Purple. It’s on this album that the foundations and future direction of the band were finally laid down and even today it’s still an absorbing listen for both prog fans and hard rock fans alike.

Rod Evans- Vocals
Ritchie Blackmore- Guitar
Neil Simper-Bass
Jon Lord- Organ/Keyboards
Ian Paice-Drums

Production- Derek Lawrence

Album
Chasing Shadows- Kicks off with a steady drum intro by Ian Paice, before Rod Evan’s voice eases into the song. The song really showcases the band’s musical virtuosity, especially the ability of future Purple pillars Blackmore, Lord and Paice who are great here. Blind- A song that has all the hallmarks of a typical 1960’s song. Lalena- A Donovan cover that amazingly sounds like an early version of “When a Blind Man Cries” it’s beautifully sung by Evans and has some great organ work by Jon Lord. Fault Line- A great intro section to the following song….The Painter- A song that typifies the excitement and intensity that was around at the time, this type of song and intensity were already being taken to a new level by Led Zeppelin on their first two albums. Why Didn’t Rosemary- One of the strongest tracks on the album with some complex and sublime guitar work by Ritchie Blackmore. Bird Has Flown- Another great track and probably the heaviest track on the album. April- The showcase track on the album, that is an accomplished three-part suite that really brings to a close the MK.1 phase of the band. It also ranks as one of the band's most ambitious offerings.

Verdict
In hindsight, this is an album that often gets overlooked in the annals of heavy rock development and is usually just treasured by Deep Purple fans. But here is an album that demonstrates a band’s talent and their ability to move forward and seek out a new direction. The album is blessed with Derek Lawrence’s production as well, because at this time here was a producer that really knew how to capture a live based band on a studio album and he got it just right with Deep Purple on this album. He would later go onto star with Wishbone Ash, whose early material as a footnote has a lot of similiarites with this album. Sadly this album though, would prove to be a watershed for the band, as band leaders Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord thought both vocalist Rod Evans and bassist Neil Simper weren’t the ideal men to push the band in the required direction and they would soon give way to both Ian Gillan and Roger Glover for the next studio album.

The Batlord · 09-06-2012, 10:05 AM

Dude, amazing! I actually had this almost exact same idea a little while back, but you obviously would be much better suited for this than me, seeing as how you lived this time period more or less. Will be waiting with baited breath for the next installment.

09-04-2012, 03:01 PM	#2 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	Sounds like quite an undertaking! One I'm very much looking forward to though, since as I think you know, I struggle to get into pre-thrash metal. I'll definitely be looking forward to checking out some of your recommendations. __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die last.fm

09-04-2012, 04:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	What do they say, go big or go home? Looking forward to it, and glad to see you've taken what surely must be seen as the next logical step in your musical evolution! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018