10. Tasavallan Presidentti - Milky Way MosesTasavallan Presidentti is Finnish and means President of the Republic. It's a weird name for this brilliant band that plays music with influences from jazz, funk and progressive rock. Milky Way Moses is in my opinion this band's best album. Especially the opening title-track is quite amazing. in addition to more typical instruments, there are beautiful saxophone and flute bits on the album. The guitar player Jukka Tolonen is often considered the best Finnish guitar player of all times. Along with Wigwam, Tasavallan Presidentti was one of the great 70's prog-rock bands that despite their brilliance never made it outside Finland. Eero Raittinen sings the vocal parts admirably with proper rock n' roll sound. Listen to the album on Youtube.
One of the most brilliant genres in the 70's was funk. Unfortunately most of the funk albums I've come across are not great as a whole. There are usually just a couple of good songs and the rest is not that interesting. Thrust, in my opinion, includes only good songs. There are four rather long songs. The sound is really raunchy, but that just adds to the music in this genre. These songs are outright background songs for a porn film. The bass lines and organs are absolutely brilliant. Hancock's type of jazz has more or less always been close to funk, but this is one of the funkiest albums by him. The album art is quite amazing. That's Herbie in his little spaceship flying over Machu Picchu apparently. I don't always have a right mood for this kind of music, but when I do, this is one of my favourite albums. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Mike Oldfield has always been one of my father's favourites. So you might say, I grew up with this music. I never truly appreciated his other albums besides Tubular Bells, but recently when I listened to this second album of his, I had to admit there was something there. Hergest Ridge only has four songs, but the most important thing is the mood these songs create. it's not about individual songs, but about the album as a whole. Oldfield is a multi-instrumentalist who plays most of the instruments by himself. This obviously requires a lot of talent. The album cover of an airplane over a field is fairly appropriate, since there is something light and airy in these sounds. This album is not meant to be just background music. It's better to relax, lie down and just listen. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Hurriganes is one of the most well-known bands in Finland. It's never been known outside Finland and there are probably good reasons for it. As the band's name suggests, they're not really that talented in English language (the name of the band wasn't intended to be spelt weirdly). Their lyrics don't usually mean anything. Their music on the other hand is quite interesting. They draw influences from traditional 50's rock n' roll, but the sounds are rough and big. The album consists mostly of these danceable rock n' roll songs, but my favourite, as well as many other Finns, is the ballad I Will Stay. That's one of the most nostalgic songs for Finns everywhere. Hurriganes is a great example of what it was like to be a musician in Finland in the 70's. Influences were all from the 'big world', but it was too far away for most of the people. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Roxy Music has been fairly unknown to me until now. I've always known they exist, but I've never really listened to them or gotten into their music. Country Life is their most classic album. The musical styles range from glam-rock to funky jams and more basic guitar-rock. Most of the attention concerning this album goes to the album cover. But the music itself is skilfully played and the songs are quite varied and interesting. I don't know yet how I will feel about Roxy Music's albums in few years, but now at the beginning it sounds promising at least from some parts. It reminds me a great deal of Lou Reed's solo stuff, T-Rex and Bowie's early recordings, so how could it be anything but good. Only time will tell how my relationship with Roxy Music will evolve. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Gong is one of the most interesting progressive rock bands of early 70's. Their music is not about catchy melodies or individual songs. It's all about hypnotising jams and wild improvising. The songs are mostly instrumental, but there are some minimal vocals included in few songs. You starts a bit dull, but as you get to over 10 minute jams by the end of the album, it gets really interesting. In addition to normal psychedelic sounding instruments, they use quite a bit of synthesisers and other electronic equipment. The saxophones are also used quite a lot. The bass lines take influences from funk movement as well, but it's not corny like it usually is in these kinds of situations. The album cover features some kind of Maya temple in space. Well, wherever you draw your influences from... Listen to the album on Spotify.
Diamond Dogs is in my view the last great bowie album. After that he has occasionally made some good individual songs, but mostly it has not reached the same level of brilliance as these early albums. Saying that, Diamond Dogs already shows some elements of the coming downfall in quality. The title track and Rebel Rebel became huge hits, and for good reason. They are the best songs on this album, although, Rock n' Roll With Me is also quite brilliant. I think for me Bowie's golden years are so separate in quality, because they still have good melodies, great emotions and more organic sounds. in later years, he moved on to use more artistic approaches, but basic songwriting suffered as a consequence. Bowie is one of my favourite artists of all times, but his music, to me, means his early 70's stuff. Listen to the album on Spotify.
We're approaching the golden years of Neil young's music. On the Beach is not the best Young album, but it's getting close. The songs are not as folky as on the previous albums, but these americana tunes already show the songwriting potential of Neil Young. There are some true country and folk songs as well at the end of the album. One of the best songs on this album is Revolution Blues, a hectic jam with melancholic melody and electric guitars. The title track is also a beautiful sad ballad. I haven't listened to this album as much as the others from the same era, but I'm hopeful that with a little time this will become as important to me as other Young albums of the time. Neil Young is one of pop-music's classics and it's general requirement to know his music. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Sheer Heart Attack is Queen's first classic album. The same year they had released second self-titled album Queen II. Sheer Heart Attack, however, was the album that really made Queen known around the world. one of the main reasons was the song Killer Queen, which in my opinion, is one of their best of all times. This album is still quite deeply in progressive heavy rock, but all the Queen's distinctive sounds are already there. The singing harmonies and guitars in Flick of the Wrist are classic Queen. Dear Friends is a beautiful ballad preceding all those great ballads yet to come on subsequent Queen albums. There are no bands like Queen in the history of rock, they're quite unique in their distinctive sounds and amazing songwriting. Sheer Heart Attack is their first true masterpiece. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I've had many other Tom Waits albums on this blog already, but none of them are as good as this one. The Heart of Saturday Night is one of the best albums of all times in my books. Waits' voice has not yet made the transformation to whiskey driven troll, but it's still perfect interpreter of late-night blues jams. The Heart of Saturday Night doesn't have a single song that couldn't be described as amazing. It's music for shady smoke-filled bars, for walking alone in the rainy night and for romantic evenings in the candle light. Tom Waits makes me want to improve my skills in playing the piano. The music is influenced by pre-60's blues, jazz and show-business music, but no other music before, or after, has succeeded in this kind of sound better than this. The Heart of Saturday Night truly deserves its first place on this year's list. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The lead singer on Milky Way Moses is Eero Raittinen, not Frank Robson.
ReplyDeleteRight you are! That's now corrected.
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