Blarobbarg

Great thread, Unknown Soldier. I've mostly been lurking, but have been enjoying since the beginning. Keep it up.

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Unknown Soldier

I've now figured a way to include these albums The Stooges debut is now on page.5 post 35. I'll put up Funhouse and Atomic Rooster soon as they fit the new category for 1970.

Glad you're enjoying and lurkers are always welcome.

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The Batlord

Dude, that was a great review. I think it's awesome that you're willing to go above and beyond for your thread. I definitely can't wait for Funhouse. Iggy is a ****ing force of nature. I love how his nihilism is not only unfocused, but that he delights in it. He is just the essence of self destructive misanthropy.

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Unknown Soldier

This is the section for a classic borderline album, that I feel belongs in with another genre, but is always worthy of being mentioned here. Any album I place here, is easily worthy of a placing on my top 10 list. It's either a highly acclaimed album of just a forgotten or underrated gem. I'll try and include at least one album per year in this section and in some cases possibly two if I can't just decide on one album.


The Album
From the moment this struts off with "Down in the Street" you know it's going to be more of the same from the Stooges, but this time the songs are more focused and the playing and singing improved over the debut, the debut was great but flawed, this is great and it quite simply kicks the listener into touch. Also producer Don Gallucci was better suited to the band in my opinion than John Cale ever was. Don Gallucci was from a garage rock background and captured the band perfectly (even though there were issues between band and producer at the time of recording). After the opening song, the band flow through "Loose" but when they hit "TV Eye" you know the band have matured in just a short period of time and there is a greater assurance in the band as a whole. But when they hit "Dirt" we're into hard rock territory here and the guitars and singing throughout are great, which is even more surprising given the supposed limitations of the band! "1970 (I Feel Alright)" might be the most intense thing they ever did, especially with that saxophone blast at the end. The near 8 minute swirl of "Fun House" the title track sees another strong dose from the saxophone, which really helps to give side-two of the album a collective feel at certain times. "LA Blues" is quite simply utter carnage and that is all that needs to be said about it.

The album as a rule, always makes a whole host of influential album lists and it's not hard to see why. In many ways the band have moved beyond the proto-punk and garage feel of the debut, to include more hard rock licks and better singing and playing throughout. But what's so special about this album, is that on so many of the tracks, you can hear the bands they've influenced over the years, who range from both a whole host of punk and metal artists! The album also has far heavier hard rock leanings than the debut ever did, but you still feel that the heart of this band is punk in essence, no matter what they try to do. At times especially in the latter part of the album, there are signs of real intensity which later give over to complete carnage, which all helps to cement the apocalyptic feel of the band as a whole. This album still stands as a seminal work of its era and sounds as meaningful today as I guess it did back then. So for anybody looking to explore the boundaries of rock music back then, this is surely one of the places to start. I didn't include this album on my 'main list' as it would probably stick out like a sore thumb, its body is hard rock but its heart most definitely punk. Without doubt one of the greatest albums of its era.

Iggy Pop- Vocals
Ron Asheton- Guitar
Dave Alexander- Bass
Scott Asheton- Drums

Production- Don Gallucci

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Blarobbarg

Gotta second that. Funhouse is, and probably always will be, my favorite album of all time. It is chaos, destruction, madness, and perfection. To me, Funhouse is like the essence of music.

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Unknown Soldier

Glad you liked the reviews, but you know it was possibly for this reason that I left off a band like the Stooges (who I consider very borderline) in that they would detract possibly from the other artists in the journal. But they're in now and feel free to comment on whoever you like in the journal and anybody you reckon I may have missed off.

Next up I'll be putting on Atomic Rooster and then next week most likely I'll be starting the list for 1971 (in usual format) and the journal will be back on track again.

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The Batlord

Damn Stooges! How dare they rule so ****ing much?! Bastards!

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Unknown Soldier

Hard, Heavy and a Classic 1970

This is the section for a classic borderline album, that I feel belongs in with another genre, but is always worthy of being mentioned here. Any album I place here, is easily worthy of a placing on my top 10 list. It's either a highly acclaimed album of just a forgotten or underrated gem. I'll try and include at least one album per year in this section and in some cases possibly two if I can't just decide on one album.


The Album
Atomic Rooster were something of an enigma, they were good and didn't really seem to realize it! Band leader and organist Vince Crane had two great line-ups that lasted for their first two albums, before the line-ups on both occasions broke up, leaving us with a band that could've gone on to become major players. The line-up for this their second album Death Walks Behind You contained vocalist and guitarist John Du Cann and drummer Paul Hammond (who had a replaced a certain Carl Palmer who did the drumming on the debut album) and both were amazing additions and now joined organist Vince Crane. The band had emerged not long before, from the ashes of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown when Vince Crane set the band up and moved them into a progressive rock direction, which is the best label for their excellent debut album the eponymous Atomic Rooster also released in 1970. Death Walks Behind You their second is a superb fusion of the progressive rock of the debut and hard rock which are both fused together here. On listening to the album, the title track "Death Walks Behind You" Has a creepy start and then quickly sets the tone of the album with its heavy instrumentation and feel, as does the instrumental track "Vug". "Tomorrow Night" and "7 Streets" are great tracks where by now you know that the instrumentation and singing are going to be rock solid throughout with the songs to match. "Sleeping for Years" The best track on the album and also the hardest rocking! "I Can't Take No More" Great track and I'm certain ELO swiped a section of the song for "Don't Bring Me Down". "Nobody Else" Starts off as the most tranquil song on the album and actually reminds me a bit of early Toto before the thing starts rocking up. "Gershatzer" The most progressive track on the album as the band show their dexterity throughout the track, the whole thing lasts an impressive 8 minutes.

The fusion of progressive rock with hard rock was still something of a novelty back in 1970, despite the fact that bands such as Deep Purple and Lucifer's Friend had already laid the foundations of this style, a style that Uriah Heep would go onto dominate. Deep Purple had made the switch to hard rock back in 1969 and never looked back after In Rock. Whereas with Atomic Rooster, I always saw them as a progressive rock band that had hard rock tendencies and those tendencies were most evident on this album. This album was their crowning achievement and they never came close to matching this again, which of course wasn't helped by the multiple line-up changes they had. This is one hell of a hard rocking album at times, especially when they drop out the progressive elements. The song writing and playing of Vince Crane and John Du Cann was simply first rate here as well. Paul Hammond's drumming was so good, that Carl Palmer wasn't even missed. Over other albums, Vince Crane would carry the band on through diverse styles, whilst John Du Cann and Paul Hammond would later feature in Hard Stuff......errrrrrrrr surprisingly a hard rock band. Death Walks Behind You is the perfect example of both progressive rock and hard rock in bed together, it's just a shame that one kicked the other out!

John Du Cann- Guitar/Vocals
Vince Crane- Organ
Paul Hammond- Drums

Production- Atomic Rooster

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History