The Single Song That Marked All That Could Possibly Suck in the Second Half of the '70s
By Mr. Moderator on Mar 20, 2009
Last night I watched two DVDs of Midnight Special performances with Townsman Sethro. We skipped some performances, like Seals and Crofts, and concentrated on rocking artists that might provide insights into cool drum fills and rock faces. Along with the Edgar Winter Band performance that Townspeople are currently analyzing, highlights for discussion included Linda Rondstadt doing "You're No Good," which we've discussed previously in the Halls of Rock; The Guess Who struggling mightily to perform "American Woman," the custom-made lucite drums of Billy Preston's drummer; a busty Marc Bolan and T.Rex, all coked out of their minds; and a smokin' hot Debbie Harry and Clem Burke with Blondie, the two of them providing all the heavy lifting in that band, as was always the case.
Some day we may have to analyze the Guess Who performance separately. Both Burton Cummings and the porn soloing faces of the lead guitarist are rich in talking points.
But that's not the moment you've been waiting for; that's not the single song that marked all that could possibly suck in the second half of the '70s.
As we scrolled through the menu on these DVDs, I suggested we skip the following band, but Sethro thought there might be something there. There surely was something there.
Before we view this stunning clip, you might recall Townsman cdm's recent thoughts on Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein":
The 70's are a contender for the most interesting decade in rock in my book, but that song is a catalog of everything bad about 70s rock. (pop-prog leanings, cheesy synths, self-indulgence manifesting itself in a very uninteresting way, songs that go on too long, albinos, etc)
As I said to him, he makes a lot of sense, but I thought there was one song that - short of albinoism - covered all that cdm mentioned and then some, failing to deliver in any way on just about any of the "leanings" and indulgences he outlined. I would argue that this is the heart of darkness moment foreshadowing the worst of '70s rock:
Follow up:
21 comments
The T. Rex clip is so sad. This is just 73? How did he sink so low so quickly? There really should be a strict limit imposed on the number of tambourines used at one time with a rock band, and I could never condone tambourine on guitar violence.
Dig the Look dichotomy in the Guess Who -- Burton Cummings and the guitarist on the right in their clean 70s suits, and the other three going for a CFL player as rock dude Look.
We also dug the Look dichotomy of Cummings and the lead guitarist. That Cummings is sporting a monster porn 'stache.
I don't mind that Argent number so much.
And if it's bad
Don't let it get you down, you can take it
And if it hurts
Don't let them see you cry, you can take it
Hold your head up, hold your head up
Hold your head up, hold your head high
I wish I could write like that.
Argent did much worse, giving the world God Gave Rock & Roll To You. In checking to see if they ever did anything else of interest I saw that their second album has a song called Cast Your Spell Uranus. That's got to hurt.
RE; T.Rex - OUCH!-"Put down the tambourines, & back away slowly." The bat-wing costume & whip were nice touches, though. I've got a friend who works in the "big time" music biz, in a capacity where he is paid to have "good ears". Anyway, he told me he couldn't even get through the live stuff in T.Rex's "Born to Boogie" DVD, because the guitar was SO out of tune. I thought it was a bit sloppy, but never noticed it being that glaringly out of tune. Guess that's why he gets paid to do that kinda stuff. And this clip is even worse. Think I'll stick w/the studio albums. Flo & Eddie do better "female" back-up vocals than the screeching banshee sistahs in this clip.
As far as Argent goes; I'll take "Head Held High" by The V.U. any day over this plodding bore. Or just about anything The Zombies did, for that matter.
Then again, I always liked God Gave Rock N Roll To You, but just because it's so unashamedly dumb.
With classic songs like those, that's clearly were the Yoko analogy falls apart!
The other singer is Sister Pat Hall. Bolan produced and wrote (co-wrote?) an album for her as well as material for Jones. This stuff is pretty interesting (if not necessarily good) as a signpost to the soul direction that Bolan was heading at the time of his death.
TB
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds...
Let all the children boogie.
http://rateyourmusic.com/board_message/message_id_is_1399349
Along with a tidbit about the Boston cover, there's some other stuff you might find worth a gander.
I saw that too, I'll definitely track it down, it even has bonus tracks. I went back and listened to my copy today and there are a couple of "ehhh" tracks on the record but just a couple, and the title track is a should-of-been classic in my book, beautiful restrained string arrangement over congas Jone's Tina Turner-ish vocals.
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