My Seventies Music

Author: Paul

  • Janis Joplin – “Cry Baby”

    “Cry Baby” was one of Janis Joplin’s iconic numbers, full of the energy and passion that characterised all her music.

    Janis Joplin only just made it into the Seventies – she died 40 years ago in 1970, on October 4th, aged 27.

    But her music kept her name alive through the Seventies and beyond nonetheless.

    Here’s a live video from that year, “Cry Baby”, filmed in 1970 in Toronto:

    My first encounter with Janis Joplin was in 1971, as a young teenager, when I heard one of the last two songs she had recorded, less than a year earlier: “Mercedes Benz” on the posthumously published album “Pearl”.

    I was staying at someone’s place in Wellington, New Zealand, waiting for a lift the few hundred miles to my home – the younger brother of a friend of my parents.

    Many years later I was to meet up with him again in Frankfurt, Germany, where I also lived at the time, but almost all I remember of his flat in Wellington was “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me, a Mercedes Benz, my friends all drive Porsches, I must make, amends”, and that album cover…

    Janis Joplin's "Pearl" Album Cover
    Janis Joplin's posthumously published album ""Pearl"

    By coincidence, as I was locating this video, I discovered it was Janis Joplin’s birthday just a day or two ago (depending on where you live): January 19th.

    So here’s a belated “Happy Birthday” Janis. I see you got your Porsche in the end…

    Janis Joplin's Porsche 356 convertible
    Janis Joplin's Porsche 356

    Paul

  • The Eagles – “Ol’ 55” and “Desperado” (and “Already Gone”)

    I first heard “Ol’ 55” from the Eagles in 1975 (I only found out just now, 35 years later, that it was actually written by Tom Waits…)

    It was on an early album before they really took off and became mainstream after Joe Walsh joined them.

    Here’s a live version from 1974:

    And, from the same album, “Desperado”:

    Let me know how you like them!

    Paul

    But wait, there’s more…

    Sorry, I just couldn’t resist another one, also from this album – “Already Gone”:

    I’m outta here (already gone… see me… I’m gone…really…)

  • “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh

    “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh of The James Gang fame has always been one of my favourites from the Seventies.

    Definitely a touch harder than the “America” tune we had yesterday….

    If you’re into blues/slide guitar and all kinds of effects, then this piece from the album “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” is for you.

    In fact I like it so much that I decided to do videos of more than one version today. 🙂

    So first here he is after moving on from The James Gang, with his band Barnstorm, still looking quite young:

    In 1977 Joe played “Rocky Mountain Way” with the Eagles, to whom he brought a somewhat harder touch… (this was the year of their giant hit album “Hotel California”). Unfortunately the video of that one has been removed “due to a copyright claim by Eaglesrecordingcompany”…

    So instead, much more recently, here Joe still shows how it’s done:

    I first heard this song and the album “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” with its iconic cover at a student party in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Actually I don’t remember the rest of the album, but these guitar riffs and the image of the old biplane have stayed with me ever since…

    Hope you like it too!

    Paul

    P.S. While updating the videos I just came accross a collection of over 75 Joe Walsh tracks you might like to check out, including “Life’s Been Good” (warning though, there are ads for things like Heinz ketchup in between some of the tracks!):

  • My Seventies Music – Welcome!

    Welcome to My Seventies Music – an ongoing and random selection of videos of great rock music from the 1970s – “My Seventies Music” – together with any commentary, reviews, associated information and anything else that seems relevant at the time.

    Or not…

    Anyway, to start the ball rolling, just for the fun of it, let’s begin with the letter “A” for “America”, and one of their big hits, “Don’t Cross The River”.

    I saw America live in the mid to late Seventies (don’t remember exactly when…) in Wellington, New Zealand.

    I do remember them saying the towels at the hotel were so fluffy they could hardly fit them in their suitcases. 🙂

    Incidentally, while this blog is dedicated to music of the Seventies, occasionally you’ll see and hear live versions recorded in later years, and sometimes I’ll refer to bands or soloists I actually saw after the Seventies, but those were the years when they first made their name.

    I actually did manage to see quite a number of acts in the Seventies themselves, as a student in New Zealand, and also a few while travelling around the UK and Europe in 1977/78 and again in 1978/79 (long summer vacation in New Zealand, winter in Europe).

    From 1980 onwards the concerts I went to were almost all in Germany, where I lived until 2004, when I moved to Scotland.

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy “Don’t Cross The River” from “America” as much as I do!

    Thanks for dropping by,

    Paul

1764442924