There was amazing music being made in the early 70s.
Bands were finding ways to synthesize (or touch on) the blues, popular 60s rock, the progressive scene, plus all the soul and r and b that everyone actually loved.
Plus acid. And Lemmy started Motorhead with guys from Pink Fairies, after he was kicked out of Hawkwind.
Pink Fairies were never hitmakers, but they were consummate synthesizers. They made 12 minute prog rock songs and helped invent punk. I admire them hugely. Every song isn’t boss, but every sound is in the groove. Here’s a good one:
Oh, and happy new year! I hope it’s a good one for us all.
Plus, rock bonus: This is the sound that the Pretenders used for Tattooed Love Boys and Boots of Chinese Plastic. Are there others?
Back in the day we regarded the Fairies as our private too-cool-for-school band. Nobody had heard of them and I don’t remember how we did. It might have been a sales guy at King Karol on 42nd St., a great record store – they had everything or could get it, and the employees would look at our choices and say “If you like this you’ll like THIS,” and invariably they’d be right. They definitely hipped us to Roxy Music though we had heard about them. It’s interesting that at the time there was no real distinction between hard rock and metal. We thought of the Fairies as a cut above Black Sabbath on subject matter alone, sort of like no-frills Deep Purple. After all, every band was a hair band then.
I remember that King Karol, but I don’t think I ever shopped there. Discomat in Grand Central was my place, because I worked right across the street for a few years and the prices were good. There were also a few discount record stores on Fifth Avenue that were great for finding old cut out soul and r+b for a couple of bucks. Too true about the hair.
I think I remember Discomat. There was a place called Downstairs Records in that neighborhood that was great for 45s, and of course Bleeker Bob’s. I got some of my 1950’s education at both places.