Last week I featured a couple of debut or sophomore albums that propelled artists to fame in the early 70s.
Today’s Random Weekend track comes from a debut album released in 2001 that seemed poised to do the same.
But Pete Yorn, whose Musicforthemorningafter was one of the best examples of the alt-rock genre from the turn of the millennium, never reached the heights this record promised.
I wish a fond Happy Birthday to America today, a little prouder of my country after the momentous news of a week ago that same sex couples have the right to marry.
We’ll celebrate the 4th of July with a randomly selected song from across the pond, written and performed by a gay icon: ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ from The Smith’s classic album The Queen is Dead.
January of 1972 saw the release of Jackson Browne’s self-titled debut album.
The album’s cover depicts a canvas water bag decorated with Browne’s face and the words “saturate before using” across the top. Many fans, as well as DJs and the record label itself, mistakenly referred to ‘Saturate Before Using’ as the album’s title.
Browne had kicked around for 6 years as a songwriter and band member for others so he was pretty seasoned by the time he cut this debut, and critics praised its confidence and polish.
Eat a Peach, released in February of 1972, was the third album by The Allman Brothers Band and the last one to feature guitarist Duane Allman, who died in a motorcycle accident in October of ’71 at the age of 24.
Much of the album was written following Duane’s death as a tribute to him, but the double album also included tracks recorded before his death both live and in the studio. Two full sides of Eat a Peach contained a 34-minute jam (titled ‘Mountain Jam’) that would presumably try even a true fan’s patience.
Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack to the Blaxploitation film Super Fly was released in the summer of 1972 and became one of the rare soundtrack albums to gain greater acclaim than the film it accompanied.
Mayfield’s socially conscious lyrics put him in the same conversation as Marvin Gaye, and his funk compositions helped define the genre for a decade.
