Joni, Neil and Tull, plus more; continuing to explore the golden era of the Warner catalog
The exploration of Warner during the early 70’s continues- we are going to look at Joni Mitchell (briefly) during this era, with one under-rated “pick” from me. We are also going to pay some attention to a few of the early Neil Young recordings that are hardly obscure, but are great musically, along with a few notes on pressings.
Finally, and as part of a more elaborate write-up, we will be doing a “shoot-out” among the various pressings of Tull’s Aqualung in my possession. (I have quite a few, and that is largely due to the fact that the original recording is not so great). But, this is the album that put the band over the top, commercially, and was an enormous success for Warners (Reprise) in the States, though the band was signed through Chrysalis and the album was released by Island in the UK. I got to hear the band just before Aqualung was released- Glenn Cornick (who sadly passed away last summer) was still playing bass on this tour, but did not appear on the album.
Given the breadth of the Warner catalog, I expect this series to continue for a while on TheVinylPress.com, but not to the exclusion of reviews, articles and interviews on other labels, artists and recordings.
There’s more to come on Island too, as well as some technical articles that are in the works, some essays on a few important records- from the height of early psychedelia to the depths of Chicago electric blues.
I’ll probably throw in a review of Roy Harper’s Stormcock soon, which, though an acquired taste and never an enormous commercial success, was and remains a significant album. Harper, seemingly unknown on this side of the pond, is a hugely influential figure of unconventional music- tying folk, baroque and lyrical poetry together into something dark, satisfying and unique. He figures prominently as an influence on Led Zeppelin, among many others (Ian Anderson cites Harper as an influence as well). Harper also has the distinction of being one of the few vocalists to step in to a leading role on a Pink Floyd record, the great album, Wish You Were Here.