The Toy Box: 1973

Showing posts with label 1973. Show all posts

Retro Spins: Suzi Quatro - Suzi Quatro

Spanning a career multiple decades long, Suzi Quatro doesn't appear to be showing any desire to stop even in her 70's! She hit my radar not too long ago with her song, "She's In Love With You, from her 1979 album, Suzi...And Other Four Letter Words. Though I never really spring boarded from there into anything else from her.

Suzi was born to play music, having literally gotten her start playing drums for her father's jazz band at the age of seven. In 1964, at the age of fourteen, her sister started a garage band after seeing a broadcast of The Beatles. Suzi joined the group, providing vocals and bass. However, the band was limited to gigs, playing mostly at Cabernet venues, where it was more about their looks than the music. Still, this made them somewhat popular with the Detroit music scene, and they eventually released two singles in 1966 as the Pleasure Seekers.

In 1971, the music industry was looking for the next Janis Joplin, who had passed away in October of 1970. Quatro was garnering this attention with Elketra's president telling her that if she signed with them that she could be just that - the next Jopin. Enter producer Mickie Most, founder of Rak Records. Most promised he would take her to England and make her the first Suzi Quatro. However, there was just one problem. He didn't know how he was going to do that. This resulted in Quatro staying in a hotel for a year, while Most worked with her.

Quatro embarked on a tour in 1972 with Thin Lizzy and Slade, and it was during this time that she released several singles. While her first song, Rolling Stone, went to number one, this was only in Portugal. Her second single, Can The Can, went number one in both Europe and Australia. 48 Crash, Daytona Demon, and Devil Gate Drive would follow with Can, 48, and Devil all selling over a million copies. Her self titled debut would follow, but fail to garner much attention in the USA. Despite this, she would release five more albums throughout the 70's, Quatro (1974), Your Mama Won't Like Me (1975), Aggro-Phobia (1977), If You Knew Suzi... (1978), and Suzi...And Other Four Letter Words (1979).

She continued to be successful throughout Australia, but by 1980, this too waned when she switched labels to Dreamland Records. With the exception of a brief appearance in 1986 alongside the London Cast for Annie Get Your Gun, Suzi only released two albums in the 80's before disappearing. 1980's Rock Hard, and 1982's Main Attraction. To the general public, it appeared she had tapped out. However, this was far from the truth.

Though she would switch labels consecutively with each album, barring her last two, Suzi returned in 1990 with her tenth studio album, Oh, Suzi Q. She would then disappear until the middle of the decade, once again reappearing with 1995's What Goes Around - Latest And Greatest, which was part new album, part re-recorded hits. This was followed up with in 1998 with Unreleased Emotions, and 1999's Free The Butterfly, the latter which was by no means an actual album. Rather, it was a self-help sound therapy record in correlation with Shirlie Roden.

After disappearing again, Quatro would work on the album which would be presented as her come back. 2006's Back To The Drive. It was mildly successful in Switzerland, but failed to chart anywhere else in the world. With her comeback somewhat stunted, she would once again step out of the spotlight, but return with 2011's In The Spotlight...Which she ultimately wasn't, because that album too failed.

In 2017 Suzi returned with Andy Scott (of Sweet) and Don Powell (of Slade) for the aptly titled, Quatro, Scott & Powell. The album was a mix of covers and original material, and while the ingredients were all there, the album just didn't get any attention. But, Suzi didn't seem to care. She released another album in 1999, No Control, and again in 2021, The Devil In Me.

Despite Suzi's mainstay popularity in Australia, and a stunted career from the 80's and on, I'm here today to go back to her original debut album from 1973. I want to hear who Suzi was, where she started, and see for myself that piece of an era that I can't help but feel has most likely been forgotten by the world.

Well, sadly this write up isn't going to be long. While Suzi has a powerful voice, and her band is suitable for the tunes they're playing, they just aren't any good. In fact, they're so forgettable that as I was typing all of the above, I actually tuned it out. I was surprised when typing this paragraph that the album was wrapping up with the final track. Nothing stood out.

It appear that perhaps the rest of the world may have been right with this one. It's just not good. Well, let me take that back. It's just not memorable. And that, in and of itself, is probably worse than being bad. See, I'll remember a lot of songs I absolutely hate for all the wrong reasons. Whereas, even now, I can't really remember anything from this album that I heard. I couldn't repeat one word to you from any of the songs.

I guess for me, I'll stick to the one tune I pulled from her 1979 album, which I own, but have never heard in its entirety. After this listening session, I see no reason to really do so. But, I suppose if there's one thing to be happy about. At least we got her appearance on Happy Days to perform, Do The Fonzie!

Yeah...That's probably not something to be proud of.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Retro Spins: Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

By the time Gary Numan went solo in 1979, he had already released two albums with his band, Tubeway Army, which featured Numan on Vocals, Paul Gardiner on bass and Jess Llydard on drums. Though Gardiner would stay with Numan's solo iteration, Llydard would be replaced by Cedric Sharpley. Additionally, Chris Payne would join to fill the role of keyboardist.

Numan is of course known for his most popular song to date, Cars, a new wave synthpop treat. Because the time of it reaching the charts, number eighty-nine in February of 1980, Cars is often times mistakenly categorized as an 80's song, despite being released on Numan's 1979 solo debut, The Pleasure Principal. Cars would eventually crack the top ten, but not go any further than number nine.

Unlike many Retro Spins artists that I review, Numan is one of the few who remains active to this day, with his latest album, Intruder, slated for a 2021 release. Though personally, I've not heard anything from him, with exception of the above noted song.

And, it's because of said song that I'm here today listening to the album it's from, which just so happens to be Numan's first solo debut...which I think I said already.

Here's the thing. If you love synthpop, you will probably really like (or love) this album. It's new wave before new wave was really a thing. While I heard some tracks that intrigued me, nothing really stuck for me, with exception of the song I bought the album for, which again, was cars.

Numan has somewhat of a whiny voice, and it can actually grate on your nerves if you dwell on it too much. His music is by no means any form of masterpiece, heck, even cars is a pretty generic song, but it's catchy. I think this is what perhaps he thrives at as an artist. Simple songs that have catchy hooks.

I went ahead and read a listing of Numan's, "greatest hits", to see if there were songs I perhaps knew of, but had forgotten. I didn't recognize any of them. Suffice to say, I'm content with the song I bought this album for, and don't see myself branching off any further in his music.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Retro Spins: Queen - Queen

I by no means had to listen to Queen's debut album to write this post, but you best believe I did. To me, there was simply no better band out there. Considered the royalty of music by those who love them, or the most pretentious band of all time by those that don't, it seems there's two categories - You either love 'em or hate 'em, or so I am lead to believe.

One of the most disappointing things for me, as it pertains to Queen, was that I didn't get tuned into them until the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1991. At this point, lead singer Freddie, had already succumbed to his battle with HIV and AIDS, and while the world of rock 'n roll mourned a legend, my young mind was being blown away by the amount of songs I knew, but never bothered to put any effort into figuring out who sang the songs.

Yes, the bands I was big into during that era were all there, Metallica, Guns 'N Roses and Def Leppard, but among them, front and center, was the band that the show was ultimately for. I was hooked. To this day I still remember my first CD of Queen was Sheer Heart Attack, and my last, to complete my collection of their albums was, Hot Space.

Queen became a daily listen for me, quickly replacing the heavy metal sounds that were filling my speakers prior to that. I was hooked, and I wanted more and more from the band. Every time I saw a new live album or greatest hits released, I took notice, but in terms of the hits, didn't necessarily rush out to buy. To this day I pine for Queen to release more live material from the golden years, and give up chasing their current cover band iteration with Adam what his face. The proof is in the pudding that nobody wants this, with their 2020 live album with Lambert only going silver (AKA selling only 100,000 albums).

But I digress - Very angrily.

I wish I could tell you where I was, and how it felt to hear the debut self titled Queen album for the first time, but I can't. At this point in my life, I had a steady flow of their albums coming in, and not at all in the order they were released. To me, it was just another album to get my hands on. With that said, I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to pull the 1973 vinyl from it's sleeve back when it first came out and hear that amazing guitar lick of Keep Yourself Alive for the first time.

Admittedly, it's difficult for me to honestly critique any Queen album because I'm so invested in them. Even the worst of their stuff is good, and sometimes grow on me more when I listen to them. Despite this bias opinion, I will without a doubt claim that Queen, the 1973 album is pure perfection from front to back. This is not an album I skip around when playing it. I want to hear every track, in the order it was intended, and get lost in a blissful thirty-nine minute trance of the sounds.

If your only exposure to Queen has been their current iteration sans John Deacon and Freddie Mercury, first and foremost, shame on you. Second, do yourself a favor and go listen to the originals. Start with their self titled debut album, and work your way chronologically through their final posthumous, Made In Heaven. You won't be disappointed.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: Aerosmith - Aerosmith

I'm an odd one when it comes to Aerosmith. For starters, I didn't start to really get into them until their 1987 album Permanent Vacation, and I much prefer their non-hits to the actual songs that get (over)played on the radio.

My introduction to Aerosmith was an unwanted one. My brother got into them big time when he was in his very young teen years. He was so into them that he had all their albums on cassette, then got them all on vinyl, and then on CD. He also got my dad to go see them live when they toured for their Get A Grip Album, which in turn made my dad somewhat of a fan. Countless days of my youth I was subjected to album after album, which I suppose in a way turned out to be okay because I would eventually start to like(ish) them. In fact, I inherited my brother's CD's when he got out of owning physical media, which makes owning their albums all the more special to me.

I suppose it's cheating in a way to write a post on an album I've heard numerous times, but on the other hand, it would have felt weird to get through an entire year of Retro Spins based on classic rock and to not have them somewhere in the roster.

The band's 1973 debut has definitely invaded my ears on many occasions, and today is nothing more than yet another listen. More so to refresh myself on what exactly was on it. Though I did have to skip past Dream On. That song has been played to death between my brother and the radio. If I'm tired of hearing it, I can only imagine how tired the band is of having to play it. How boring it must be to have a catalog of hundreds of songs over decades to have to sing the same twenty over and over again, night after night.

But I digress.

What stands out within their debut album is how rhythm and blues oriented it is. Hearing this puts into perspective why they took such an approach with their 2004 Honkin' On Bobo. What people felt was a different direction for the band was actually a return to their roots, and I can appreciate that album more so for that aspect.

A song which doesn't get all that much acknowledgment, but is definitely one of the better on their debut album, is Walkin' The Dog. If you haven't heard it, I definitely recommend it. It not only captures the sound of the whole album within it, but the guitar work is amazing.

Their debut album will never be my favorite from Aerosmith, but for what it's worth, I like it. It's solid. Yes, the hits from it are very overplayed at this point in life, but it's still amazing to see that from their very first album the band knew how to craft songs that would last a lifetime and beyond.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: ABBA - Ring Ring

The year was 1973. The day, February 10th. The event, Eurovision. ABBA had been invited to represent Sweden, and after months of work between founding members Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeu and their manager, Stig Anderson, an eventual re-write in English by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody, the group recorded and submitted one of their soon to be most popular songs, Ring Ring. The soon to be international stars, with singing duo Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, ABBA were poised to be the champions.

They were not. The group came in third, officially leaving them out of the Eurovision contest. However, 1974 was just around the corner, and with it, an all new contest. This time, ABBA came back even stronger, unleashing the song, Waterloo. With it came the first place prize of the contest and a career which launched into orbit!

ABBA were formed in 1972 by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeu, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, with the name of the group being an acronym for the first name of each member. When they first began, it was well known that the quartet were actually two couples, Fältskog and Ulvaeus, and Lyngstad and Andersson. However, as their careers proceeded, and their lives became more and more public, this weight would unfortunately contribute greatly to both couples eventual divorces. If there's a bright side, this fortunately didn't impact the band as a whole, who continued to perform together through their final album in 1981. Though rumors continue to fly around that an all new album is in the works, to date, there's been no sign of this.

Despite their breakup, ABBA remains one of the most influential and successful groups of all time. Over a decade since disbanding, their 1992 Gold: Greatest Hits compilation album remains one of their highest selling releases of all time. Even today, fans long for the group to conduct a reunion tour. Something I myself would get tickets for, if it ever happened.

Today's Retro Spin takes us to the 1973 debut album, Ring Ring, an album I'm somewhat familiar with. I've definitely heard it before, but since it was so long ago, I had forgotten many of the tracks which didn't get shuffled off to the numerous greatest hits over the years. Most notable from this album are the songs Ring Ring, People Need Love, Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) and Nina, Pretty Ballerina.

As for the rest of the album, it's okay. However, it definitely doesn't pack the punch that their hits do. What it does offer is a glimpse at the foundation that ABBA was about to build upon. They show two song writers that had a vision, and were overlaying tracks in a way that would create their own unique sound. All of this was backed with a due of female singers who contrasted each other greatly, regardless of who was singing lead, sometimes backing Björn who takes the lead on a handful of songs.

Each figure of ABBA brought with them their own talents, which felt unstoppable when combined. Hearing Ring Ring, the album, serves only to excite me all the more to jump into their second, third and beyond records.