Final note on this: Three weeks ago, I launched a separate project to reduce the amount of Oppenheimer and Atom Bomb material you might see here in the “main” newsletter, as some might have fairly minor interest in that. Due to my many Oppenheimer/Hiroshima anniversary articles and media appearances in the past three weeks, a fair number of folks wishing to subscribe to Oppenheimer: From Hiroshima to Hollywood instead landed here at good old Between Rock and Hard Place and subscribed here by mistake. So if that’s you, you can unsubscribe if you wish and here is link to the other newsletter and thank you very much.
No high concept today, but since so many other 50th anniversaries are being celebrated, I’ll just take a look back to a few favorite songs from 1973. They deny the lie that while the great era of ‘60s music had passed this did not leave us in the doldrums, only to be “saved” by punk etc. Still pre-disco! So below just a slim sampling from my third year at Crawdaddy, and most not the obvious choices (no Bowie, “Rosalita,” “Kodachrome,” “Let’s Get It on,” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” or “Band on the Run” etc.). ….Enjoy, then subscribe if you have not, it’s still free!
First a few of our usual political cartoons…
Joni, “Raised on Robbery”
Reggae had arrived in force and everyone was borrowing, but no one in the world could top Marley and the Wailers as they urged you to “Get Up, Stand Up.” Or almost any other time.
Young Al Green was revving before he was Rev-ing, with “Here I Am, Come and Take Me,” live on Soul Train, dynamic even with arm in a sling.
Little Feat was about to peak, with “Fat Man in the Bathtub.” Taped at 9:30 a.m. in London, and Lowell looks it. Maybe the best band in USA at that time. Proven by Lowell playing guitar while also holding stick for cowbell.
Gram Parsons did his only tour with Emmylou early that year (I caught one show at Max’s in NYC) and the only video remnant is a tiny bit of grainy B&W footage from Texas. He OD’ed that September. Here “Big Mouth Blues.”
Stevie’s “Higher Ground” was one of the sensations of the 2023 Grammys. His run of albums in that period could not be topped by anyone.
Leonard Cohen came out with his first live album, which included “Story of Isaac.” A scheme is still not a vision….
Jackson Browne’s “For Everyman” signaled new maturity. A “Deluge” was on the way.
Bonnie Raitt, feeling “Guilty” (by Randy Newman) before Joe Cocker.
The Dan, “My Old School,” and I believe that was Bard. Somehow not a hit single.
Tom Waits, a friend for awhile, and Crawdaddy contributor, debuted with this, “Ol’ 55”
Just a lot of fun at first, later a classic used in maybe a dozen movies, Stealer’s Wheel when “Stuck in the Middle With You”
1973 was a underrated year for music! Here's nearly 7 hours of goodness: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1YEUC9lz5lXwnpGxDTXrzP?si=08e53142750646df
It always feels to me like there was such an explosion of great creativity in music during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Maybe that’s just because I was especially impressionable in those years--but much of the music I hear now doesn’t strike me as quite so timeless and, well, fun. Thanks for that great Little Feat video. Lowell, RIP...