1972
The Rolling Stones released Tumbling Dice, the first single from their landmark album Exiles On Main Street, in April 1972. (more…)
This is the first time I ever heard Johnny Cash, when he had a Top Five hit in May 1972 with A Thing Called Love.
I’d pretty much forgotten this rollicking blues-influenced rocker by another bunch of one-hit wonders, Jo Jo Gunne. It reached No.6 in April 1972.
Ringo Starr, who had just directed the documentary film Born To Boogie, paid tribute to its subject with this T. Rex hommage, Back Off Boogaloo.
Tom Jones had his 25th hit single with The Young New Mexican Puppeteer in April 1972, still at the top of his game in a career that began back in the mid-Sixties.
Over the course of 1972, probably the most-played album at my school was Deep Purple’s Machine Head. But not by me. Its opening song, Highway Star, exhibited the characteristic combination of leaden riffs and virtuosic classical-inspired solos that their admirers loved so much… and I couldn’t stand.
Pink Floyd followed up Meddle by taking time off from sessions for Dark Side Of The Moon to record the soundtrack for a film called Obscured By Clouds. It’s by far my favourite Floyd album.
Argent inexplicably had a hit on April Fools Day in 1972 with this long organ-fuelled dirge, Hold Your Head Up. Half a century later it sounds just as bad.
Lindisfarne achieved a belated breakthrough with this catchy slice of whimsical folk-rock, displaying their strong Geordie roots and showasing the songwriting talent of Alan Hull. (more…)
Paul Simon took a new direction for his second solo album, travelling to Jamaica to record Mother And Child Reunion with some of Kingston’s top reggae musicians. (more…)