Jim's Gems 1974: Bowie, Van, and Planxty among the albums marking 50-year anniversaries
Jim Comet's 1974 picks include Bowie's Diamond Dogs and Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece
While the early 1970s was one of the greatest eras in music, by 1974 a subtle dip in quality began to emerge. Artists who had survived the ’60s artistically began to struggle, Ziggy was gone, glam had lost its glitter and others seemed to be merely going through the motions.
While 1974 was an incredible year for live albums, I’m sticking to the studio for these highlights. Agree or disagree with my selection? Feel free to add your own comments on the form below.
The forgotten masterpiece and my favourite Van album alongside Astral Weeks. In 1973, physically and mentally exhausted after a gruelling American tour, and freshly divorced from Janet (Planet) Rigsbee, Van returned to Ireland for three weeks touring around the Republic at a time conflict was waging in the North.
While south of the border, he was inspired to write a lot of the songs that made up this record. It has a very Celtic spiritual feel to it, like Astral Weeks but without the meandering jazz overtones. Song wise it stands alone, ‘Bulbs’, ‘Cul De Sac’ and ‘Who Was The Masked Man’, which remains one of the best songs written about the Troubles. The album wasn’t well received, and Van disowned it and wouldn’t record again for three years.
They’ve been described as ‘the Beatles of trad’ and its not an inaccurate description. Planxty released six albums in the space of 10 years that transformed the genre. For me, admittedly a trad novice, this is the finest. At this point Donal Lunny, exhausted from touring, left the band to be replaced by Johnny Moynihan from Sweeneys Men. The resulting album, which Lunny contributed to, is deeper, more song-based and more worldly than its predecessors.
European and particularly American folk influences become evident, especially on tracks like ‘Lakes Of Ponchantrain’ and Andy Irvine’s excellent ‘Green Fields Of Canada’.
Being a teenage Bowie fanatic in the late ’70s, one quickly realised that Diamond Dogs was a bit different to his other albums. However, its rather bleak outlook of what the future might bring provided serious fodder for the more fanatical angst-ridden fans like me. I can remember writing the lyrics to all the songs on my army jacket and wearing it to school at the North Mon every day, thinking it was so cool.
Musically it was rougher than its predecessors but there were hits. The title track and of course ‘Rebel Rebel’ were monsters. It was the deep cuts that excelled, ‘We Are The Dead’ and the mind-blowing ‘Sweet Thing’ suite spread over three songs. Today, it’s an album I rarely revisit. I think I went off it as I got older, but I have friends who still regard it as his best album.
The second and final album by Gram Parsons was released nine months after his untimely but not unexpected death from a drug overdose. By 1973 Parsons was a train wreck, totally unreliable and ostracised from the music business due to his drug and alcohol use. The glory days of The Byrds and the Flying Burritos a distant memory.
In rare moments of coherence, he could still outsing anybody, as this album shows. The duets with a young Emmylou Harris on ‘Hearts On Fire’ and ‘Love Hurts’ are timeless, while ‘$1000 Wedding’ is one of the greatest songs ever written. Initially the record was a flop, though it did provide a launch pad for Harris’s career, but today it is recognised as one of the most influential albums in the country rock genre.
I first came across this in the summer of 1977 when I went off to the Gaeltacht (Beal Atha an Ghaorthaidh) for three weeks at the end of the school term. The brother who was teaching us music used this album to teach us songs. I’d never heard anything like it.
It was very different from normal trad I was used to hearing on the radio or TV. They used mainly acoustic instruments, and they all sang. Their voices blended so beautifully and seamlessly, particularly on the track ‘Rince Philib a Cheoil’, the song we were attempting to learn. Máire (Moya) Brennan on her own also had an amazing voice - ‘Coinleach Ghlas an Fhómhair’ and ‘Chuaigh Mé 'Na Rosann’ are up there with Sandy Denny at her best.
The thing about the early ’70s Blaxploitation movies was that 50% of the budget went on the music, so you had a lot of bog-standard films with these incredible soundtracks. This is no exception. An instantly forgettable movie in which Hayes makes his acting debut delivers a killer soundtrack. Arguably one of the best of the genre.
The much-sampled title track and the gritty ‘Run Fay Run’ are slices of pure ’70s street funk. Again, it’s the deep cuts that really excel. The chugging dirty funk jam that is ‘Joe Bell’ and the timeless ‘Hung Up On My Baby’ with builds up from a basic drum, bass and two guitars to a crescendo with strings and the Memphis Horns, showcasing Hayes’ talent not only as a composer but as an arranger and producer as well.
As the 1970s progressed Neil Young was feeling the pressure of being both a huge solo artist and a member of the world’s biggest supergroup, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Under increasing pressure to deliver a follow up to Harvest, he began to feel increasingly isolated from the music business so he did what any artist would do. He retreated to the studio and made a series of albums that were almost purposely non-commercial. They would be known as the Ditch Trilogy.
This is the third of the series and is a bit more upbeat and commercial than Tonight’s The Night. However there are still some weighty subjects. ‘Ambulance Blues’ deals with the head wreck of being in CSNY while ‘Revolution Blues’, with the greatest backing group ever ( David Crosby, Ben Keith, Rick Danko, Levon Helm) is inspired by meeting Charles Manson. While the record wasn’t well received initially, many now regard it as his best record.
While I don’t think Roxy Music really clicked until their third album, Stranded, in 1973, they were on fire by the time they released Country Life. Probably their most complete, and for many their best record, it takes that European electronic feel of the first few albums and pushes it to the limit without going over the top. They still had one eye on Top Of The Pops, though. ‘All I Want Is You’ was a huge hit. The group and this album were hugely influential on the punk and post-punk movement, Simple Minds and Magazine among the bands acknowledging the artistic debt owed.
By 1974 Dylan had become a marginal figure in the music scene. He hadn’t toured since ’66 and his records continually fascinated and frustrated his fans who longed for the Dylan of old. I’m not sure if Bob cared, but it may have been on his mind when he decided to work with The Band for the first time in eight years.
The resulting album was his best and most cohesive in years. ‘Hazel’, ‘Never Say Goodbye’ and ‘Wedding Song’ showed that the master hadn’t lost his touch, while ‘Forever Young’ became an anthem and a staple of his live shows for years. It’s not without its faults. The fast version of ‘Forever Young’ was unnecessary, and he inexplicably decided to overdub his own backing vocals, despite having three of the greatest backing vocalists in rock history in the studio with The Band.
Three decent solo albums since leaving The Byrds but the group’s main songwriter was having no luck. People just didn’t seem interested. However, in 1973 The Byrds reunited for one album which resulted in a record deal with Geffen for Clark. Label boss David Geffen pulled out all the stops and threw everything at the record which was probably the biggest production Clark had been involved with to date.
Geffen, however, failed to see the brilliance of the finished product and freaked at the lack of hit singles. This came to a head in a restaurant one night when a drunk Clark hit Geffen. As a result, the company refused to back the record which sank without trace and was eventually deleted from their catalogue. Clark never recovered from the disappointment.
Minnie Riperton, Perfect Angel: Second solo album from the voice of Rotary Connection. The one with ‘Loving You’ and ‘Reasons’ on it.
Stevie Wonder, Fulfillingness First Finale: The fourth in that incredible run of five albums that began with Music Of My Mind in 1972.
