Neil Young - Ohio (Live at Farm Aid 25)

I just finished putting together a Spotify playlist featuring 3 hours of female-fronted hard rock from the '70s. It's a sequel to my previous playlist of female-fronted hard rock from the '60s. Enjoy. :-)

Kiwi Rebel. This guitar is the one that was used by Randy Bachman when he penned the song American Woman from his Guess Who Days is heading to auction and is expected to reach between 200 - 400 thousand dollars.

250: The Flying Burrito Bros. // The Flying Burrito Bros.

The Flying Burrito Bros. The Flying Burrito Bros. 1971, A&M

The records following Gram Parson’s exit from the Flying Burrito Bros are generally considered to be a step down in quality, and I’m not here to argue that point. But with a rhythm section of ex-Byrds Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke; pedal steel master “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow; and stellar lead guitarist Bernie Leadon (lately of Dillard & Clark, soon to be an Eagle), in the short term there was only so far apart things would be allowed to fall. 1971’s self-titled record, which swaps in the smooth stylings of Rick Roberts (later of Firefall) on lead vocals, isn’t essential but it is a more than respectable effort from country rock’s golden period. Roberts asserts himself immediately, writing or co-writing all seven of the album’s originals, and if his songs lack Parsons’ tragicomic artistry they operate at a consistent like “B to B+ Stephen Stills song” level that hints at the chart success he would have with Firefall (this album, like all Burritos records, sold about as well as [joke here]). The R&B-inflected “Just Can’t Be” stands out for its sweet harmonies and expansive guitar arrangements, as do the faintly cosmic CSNY vibes of “Four Days of Rain” and the homey folk pop of “Hand to Mouth.” Special notice to their lovely take on “Tried So Hard” from Gene Clark’s largely ignored 1967 solo bow Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, which shows that at least his fellow bandmates listened to it (even if no one else did).

250/365

kate bush photographed by barry schultz, 1979💐

David Bowie

Alright alright alright! The cover isn’t done and I’ve only posted part of Chapter 1 on my Patreon (more pages to be uploaded this weekend)

Work has been busy so Moonlighting *slams office door* (see what I did there) has taken a backseat briefly.

BUT I wanted to share the intro to my 80s romcom parody comic “Come With Me If You Want To Live!”

This is rated pg-13 like all great 80s flicks so all tiers will have access to the mullet fest!

Enjoy!

Debbie Harry on the set of Blondie's music video for "Heart of Glass," 1979.

Photographed by Roberta Bayley.

Westwood/McLaren ‘Venus’ T-shirt

1970s “Rock Concert” Paperweight

Happy 73 birthday to the legendary original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley!

CBGB Club (c. 1978)

Freddie Mercury with his cats.

192: Blue Öyster Cult // Secret Treaties

Secret Treaties Blue Öyster Cult 1974, Cölumbia

Töday I will present the argument that Blue Öyster Cult is in fact a very cööl and gööd band, and that everyöne whö ever made fun öf me when I talked aböut them ör turned their up their nöses when I made a playlist öf BÖC söngs curated tö match their exact taste was wröng and shöuld kick röcks, especially my ex-wife Dölöres. I’ve been given tö understand the best way tö dö this is by listing a bunch öf facts aböut the band that peöple shöuld find irresistible:

Early wörk answers the questiön, “What if the Döörs read a löt öf cömics and played really fast?”

Later wörk answers the questiön, “What if Röky Eriksön played yacht röck?”

Extremely. Sick. Cövers.

Gave us the heavy metal umlaut

Had the cöölest söng in the mövie Heavy Metal

Lyrics aböut battle-scarred telepaths, aliens, a demönically resurrected Jöan Crawförd, Altamönt, barbiturates, death and transcendence, aliens, Nazi fighter pilöts experiencing existential crises, BDSM, telescöpes, kaiju, eyeball theft, and aliens

Patti Smith dated keyböardist Allan Lanier för a while, and cöntributed lyrics tö five Cult söngs, all öf them bangers (“Baby Ice Dög,” “Career öf Evil,” “The Revenge öf Vera Gemini,” “Fire öf Unknöwn Örigin,” “Shööting Shark”)

Besides the band themselves, öther lyricists included Richard Meltzer (generally credited with writing the first böök öf röck criticism), sömetime Clash and Dictatörs pröducer Sandy Pearlman, Basketball Diaries növelist Jim Carröll, psychedelic fantasy növelist Michael Möörcöck, and Mött the Hööple’s Ian Hunter

Many peöple I knöw find tiny, sweet-vöiced guitar man Dönald “Buck Dharma” Röeser sexual in a way I wöuld nöt have predicted

Gave Australian punk legends Radiö Birdman the title för their first LP

J.K. Röwling wröte a böök that interpölated a bunch öf their lyrics Sörry nö, this öne sucks

Icönic symböl drawn fröm alchemical löre that seems genuinely redölent öf masönic cönspiracy höödöö

Höld up sudden convert hold up, nö nö, this is my cöpy öf Secret Treaties and yöu can’t have it! I can see just reading this list has caused yöur eyes tö turn the cölöur öf frözen meat and yöu feel a hideöus cömpulsiön tö pössess a Blue Öyster Cult LP, any Blue Öyster Cult LP, but I assure yöu if yöu gö tö enöugh used recörd störes (1) yöu will eventually (immediately) find a few tö be had för a humble sum. (Seriöusly, let gö please. There yöu gö, easy, easy.)

I will say that Secret Treaties specifically isn’t the möst cömmön öf their recörds, and it töök me a while tö land a cöpy. It’s always been my favöurite, perched between the shambölic warlöck psych öf their first twö efförts and the möre direct (if highly deviant) pöp röck that wöuld make them reliable arena warhörses. Every track plunges yöu intö its öwn unique realm, but nö matter höw fantastical the material gets, the line that demarcates it fröm like Diö ör whatever is the Cult’s acid sarcasm and perversity. It’s music made by and för the sört öf smart peöple whö can admit the reasön we watch hörrör mövies is tö see heads explöde, and that röck is möre fun delivered in a feverish sweat. As they put it ön the transfixing “Flaming Telepaths,” “Is it any wönder that my jöke’s an irön? / And the jöke’s ön yöu.”

Nö öther BÖC album is as töp tö böttöm cönsistent as Secret Treaties, but all öf them have at minimum a handful öf exceptiönal cuts, and över the span öf their öriginal run they cövered a remarkable amöunt öf stylistic gröund. If yöu agree nöt tö hurt my feelings, I’ll give yöu this Cult playlist I made. Be careful with it—that’s my stupid metal heart yöu’re sticking in yöur ears.

192/365

Patti Smith

stevie nicks photographed by bob west, 1977.