A whole raft of new releases this week. When I say new I mean new to me! Nearly all these albums date from the '70s. My listening has been influenced by a documentary I viewed on something called "Yacht Rock" which is basically soft rock by another name. The very heavy Led Zeppelin debut album is an outlier but other than that we cover a soft rock range from singer songwriter Carly Simon, through to prog soft rock band Styx, via the more traditional guitar rock of Bob Seger, Steve Miller and The Climax Blues Band.
Styx - Pieces Of Eight
Bob Seger - Against The Wind
The Climax Blues Band - Flying The Flag
Steve Miller - Fly Like An Eagle
Led Zeppelin - I
Carly Simon - No Secrets
STYX
Hate is a very strong word but I am actually going to say I hated this Styx album. Urgh, it makes me shudder to think of it again now. Yuck. So naff. I might try another as I recognise some of their other famous covers but I'm 99% certain they will be the same.
That's another thing. With the artists I like, many many of their albums are different. I just know all Styx is going to be the same. Go on, surprise me! I'd never consciously heard any Styx before but one of the big disappointments was it sounded just as I expected. There was no surprise at all.
And they are (or were?) hugely popular in the States. Maybe they filled a gap between that middle of the road cruising rock like The Eagles for instance, and more challenging rock or prog bands like Rush and Yes, both of whom I can hear slightly in this record (that's not surprising really though as they throw everything into the music, and then when its done, they add another fatuous vocal or keyboard track).
THE CLIMAX BLUES BAND
I love the cover of the Climax Blues Band album - it was probably the reason I bought it in the first place (I don't think I'd heard of the band formed in 1967 and still going today with 19 albums to their credit).
I saw a BBC documentary the other day on something called "Yacht Rock". No, I'd never heard of it before either - I guess just a recently made up term in order to sanction another documentary on '70s West Coast music. Well although not released until 1980 and from as far away from LA as you could get, in the midlands British town of Stafford, this is pretty much Yacht Rock and hell, there's even a yacht on the cover.
You don't need me to describe what Yacht Rock is do you? The documentary featured The Doobie Brothers, Michael MacDonald, Toto, Tom Petty and Steely Dan, but it could have been a number of other bands.
Hang on, let's see if there is an actual definition on Wiki...
Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast sound or adult-oriented rock) is a broad music style and aesthetic commonly associated with soft rock, one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to early 1980s. Drawing on sources such as smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B, funk and disco, common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies. Its name, coined in 2005 by the makers of the online video series Yacht Rock, was derived from its association with the popular Southern Californian leisure activity of sailing.
Funny how they say sailing like it's an unusual activity, and perhaps one confined to Southern California only. Marginal yacht rockers and Laurel Canyon residents Crosby, Stills and Nash, could certainly be linked by this association. Several of their songs and album covers refer to (I refuse to use the new term "speak to") sailing and David Crosby famously spent much of the '70s stoned on his beautiful schooner, The Mayan:
BOB SEGER AND THE SILVER BULLET BAND
Another 1980 release was Bob Seger's Against The Wind. With that title it sounds like this could be another Yacht album. Actually it's not. It's much more gritty guitar based rock than the "Yacht Prog" of Styx.
Yacht Prog?: Rock music that has progressive pretensions but is actually just middle of the road soft rock with high sheen production values, and lots of instruments.
I made that up.
I know Seger is famous and has a much revered Live album to his name but this, again, must be Stateside only as I've never heard anything by him, nor am I aware of any of my UK friends having any of his albums - that's quite a statement in 40 years of listening to rock music on my part.
So anyway, it's fun to try new artists for the first time. Perhaps not always fun (Styx), but revealing in any case. I liked Against The Wind - some of the tracks reminded me of Thin Lizzy strangely! I'll follow up with some further listens, probably should check out that live one.
LED ZEPPELIN
Led Zeppelin I must have been an eye opener on its release in January 1969. Playing it again now I wonder if it hasn't aged so well as I used to think. Sure there are some classic hits on here - the opener Good Times Bad Times (famously also the opener again on the band's comeback O2 gig as long ago as 2007 now!) and Communication Breakdown. But also a fair bit of blues derivative filler which if you compare with what The Beatles (or even more comparable bands like Jimi Hendrix or Cream) were doing at the time was perhaps unremarkable relying mostly on power and volume. Rolling Stone agreed at the time:
Two much-overdone Willie Dixon blues standards fail to be revivified by being turned into showcases for Page and Plant.
However the combination of blues influences and originality come together brilliantly for the final track How Many More Times which points the way towards what they would become. The follow up II coming only 9 months later represented a huge leap forward.
THE STEVE MILLER BAND
[Initially] I was surprised how synth led this album was (but in a good Hawkwind-y type of way). I was expecting lots of guitar but the album [initially] features keyboards, synthesizers and effects [first three tracks].
It's also pretty mellow and laid back. If I'd heard this on the radio without any warning I would not have guessed it was Steve Miller (not that I've really heard much before, but I had pre-conceived ideas)....
...Actually Stop Press - the second half is much more guitar led, and more what I was expecting. It's quite yacht-y actually in a boogie/blues/JJ Cale/Beach Boys way. Tracks like Rock 'n Me and Mercury Blues are pretty lightweight. Perhaps this is more road rock, Californian driving music, with the yacht in tow.
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury
And cruise it up and down the road
CARLY SIMON
No Secrets is one of those classic famous early '70s female singer songwriters' albums like Tapestry or Blue. It has that West Coast Laurel Canyon vibe but was actually recorded in London (where the iconic cover photo was shot).
It's pretty good. Not particularly surprising or unusual but good at what it does. Easy listening and melodic, what's not to like really? I even like the very very famous You're So Vain. The subject of that song has been debated for years and is rumoured to have been Warren Beatty or Mick Jagger (who guested on the album - the two oddly look very similar, Jagger and Simon). In truth Simon has never publicly confirmed the identity of the subject matter suggesting it was written with several people in mind.