Tag Archives: 1972

David Bowie, Great albums

October 20: David Bowie Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 20 October 1972 (audio)

david bowie santa monica 1972

“Steve Martin here, backstage at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. It’s a cool night in Los Angeles, and as you may know or not know, the Santa Monica Civic is about a hundred yards from the beach so we have a cool breeze blowing off the ocean through the stage at our backs. The auditorium is packed, as a matter of fact, for the first David Bowie concert in the Los Angeles area. There will be one more tomorrow night, this is the concert tonight which will be recorded by RCA for the next David Bowie album and we expect to hear some new material by this British superstar. David and his group, the Spiders From Mars will enter from the other side of the stage. The auditorium is completely blacked out except for flashing strobe lights. Now the entrance music will be the Ode, or should I say the Ode To Joy which is featured in the movie Clockwork Orange and the house lights are starting to dim… here’s David Bowie.”

Intro & Hang On To Yourself:

Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with weird and gilly
And the spiders from mars. he played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man, then we were ziggy’s band

Continue reading October 20: David Bowie Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 20 October 1972 (audio) →

Beatles, Classic Concert, Concert films, John lennon

Video of the day: John Lennon Live in New York City 1972

ny1972_poster

“That Madison Square Gardens gig was the best music I enjoyed playing since the Cavern or even Hamburg… It was just the same kinda feeling when The Beatles used to really get into it”
– John Lennon

John Lennon Live in New York City 1972

Two concerts took place, in the afternoon and evening of 30 August 1972 . John Lennon Live In New York City was released simultaneously as an album and video in 1986, with different performances from the two shows on each.

ny1972

The Concerts were held to raise money for children with mental challenges at friend Geraldo Rivera’s request. Rivera introduces Lennon and Ono at the beginning of the album, and he is referenced in Lennon’s impromptu revised lyrics in the opening song, “New York City.”

The benefit concerts, billed as One to One, also featured other performers in addition to Lennon, including Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Melanie Safka and Sha-Na-Na, although their performances are not included on this album, nor on the simultaneous video release.

Live in New York City captures John Lennon’s last full-length concert performance, coming right after the release of Some Time in New York City, which was a commercial failure in the United States. Perhaps as a result, Lennon’s stage talk, while humorous, is self-deprecating and slightly nervous in tone. Backing Lennon and Ono were Elephant’s Memory, who had served as Lennon and Ono’s backing band on Some Time in New York City. Although the material Lennon performed was largely drawn from his three most recent albums of the period (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine and Some Time in New York City), he also included in the set list his Beatles hit “Come Together” and paid tribute to Elvis Presley with “Hound Dog” before leading the audience in a sing along of “Give Peace a Chance”. “Come Together”, originally in the key of D minor, was performed in E minor.

Continue reading Video of the day: John Lennon Live in New York City 1972 →

Classic Concert, Concert films, Grateful Dead

Classic concert: Grateful Dead concert video 1972 Denmark
Grateful Dead concert video 1972
Grateful Dead live Denmark April 1972

“There was a challenge for us, playing for people not familiar with what we were up to. But we were ready for fresh ears. We were hot.”
– Bob Weir

Grateful Dead concert video from April 1972 in Tivoli Concert Hall Copenhagen Denmark.

As far as I know this is a partial multi camera Danish (or French) TV pro-shot with graphics to fill in the missing video to make a complete show with great quality and great music! Not the full concert of course, but a very fine selection. The closing medley is sadly lacking, but can be found on the album release.

There exists a bootleg DVD with the full concert  it is fantastic (many more glorious minutes)! …but only these 13 tracks were filmed, the rest is audio only.

The highlights of the show for me are Big Railroad Blues and Truckin’ (starts at about 63 inn).

Continue reading Classic concert: Grateful Dead concert video 1972 Denmark →

Beatles, Paul McCartney

Unreleased – 1882 by Paul McCartney

7 Comments

1882_cover_edit

The Unreleased series

“Looking at it purely bluntly, there was sort of a dip for me and my writing. There were a couple of years when I had a sort of illness.”
– Paul McCartney (about his output around 1972)

But there were gems from that period that never saw the light of day, McCartney  was keeping some of his more interesting material to himself.

Today we present another fabulous unreleased track. 1882 by Paul McCartney was meant to be a part of The Red Rose Speedway album, this was when it was supposed to be a double album. It was however written at least a year earlier (maybe two).

1882 is an incredible song and it’s too bad that McCartney still hasn’t released it, but maybe when he comes to the Red Rose Speedway re-issue he’ll do it. Red Rose Speedway is one of my favourite paul McCartney albums and I have very high expectations for the re-release (if and when…).

It is a “story song” and lyrically quite straightforward but a bit on the dark side, and written right after the break-up of The Beatles.

He did play 1882 live on several shows in 1972 and there are many versions in circulation, and with great sound. He never played it live after the 1972 tour (to my knowledge).

1882 (first demo) – Paul McCartney:
00:00 – 1882 (Demo, 1970)
03:24 – 1882 (Live, 1972, Hague)

The song is sparse and with a hypnotic piano. It’s fun to hear him singing the guitar solo and then hear how similar the actual solo is on the live version.

There is another demo in circulation, couldn’t find it on youtube…but believe me, it is even better! Paul’s home demos from this time often give the listener a window into his private life: kids and dogs can be heard running around and playing in the background and  Linda is almost always present (as she is on the second demo). In this version the rhythm is close to a waltz and the piano is more pounding. It has a faster pace than the first one and the song is longer.

It is available on the world-wide web, but not on youtube. Seek it out people. It is on quite a few bootlegs, my favorite being Momac’s Hidden Tracks Volume 28 (great sound, interesting to great content). One more thing, don’t pay for bootlegs, support the artists by buying their official releases.

paul-mccartney-wings-live

The live version is very different and available on most if not all the European Tour taping from 1972. The Piano pounding waltz has turned into a soaring blues tinged number, I like both a lot.

1882 (live Hague 21 Aug, 1972) – Paul McCartney and Wings:

Continue reading Unreleased – 1882 by Paul McCartney →

Blues, Film, Muddy Waters

Chicago Blues 1972 documentary

chicago blues

This is a very fine “time capsule” directed by Harley Cokeliss, an American director, producer, writer and actor born February 11, 1945 in San Diego. The cinematography is by master cameraman Tak Fujimoto.

CHICAGO BLUES explores the hard lives of bluesmen in Chicago narrated by an insightful and incendiary commentary from comedian turned political activist Dick Gregory. CHICAGO BLUES is a an interesting document of a generation of great musicians trying to make a living in a racially divided America.

‘‘CHICAGO BLUES” is an angry film. To document Chicago blues at its source, the British director Harley Cokliss went to South Side clubs, storefront churches and homes. He wound up with both a performance film and an anti-travelogue on ghetto life. It is a stark, forceful combination.
– Jon Pareles (NYT, 1983)

 

Continue reading Chicago Blues 1972 documentary →