1967: The Album as Art
Sound Opinions celebrates the 45th anniversary of one of the most influential years in rock and roll history: 1967. During this episode Jim and Greg explore the evolution of the studio as an instrument and talk about landmark releases by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and The Velvet Underground.
Music News
Soul Train host and creator Don Cornelius died tragically this week at age 75. Greg remembers the baritone-voiced Chicago native as not just a music pioneer, but a civil rights one. He broadened what we think of as "soul" and brought acts like Curtis Mayfield, David Bowie and Aretha Franklin to audiences of all races and ages. What American Bandstand was to pop culture in the '60s, Soul Train and Cornelius were to the '70s, '80s, and beyond. So to remember Don Cornelius, we play Barry White's 1975 orchestral performance of "You’re My First, the Last, My Everything."
1967
Not to make you feel old, but it's been 45 years since the "Summer of Love," the year of the hippie, and some of the most influential music in rock history. So Jim and Greg have decided to look back at the watershed year 1967. Television viewers were treated to memorable performances by The Who, The Doors and The Rolling Stones. Aretha Franklin recorded her famous Atlantic release "Respect." Fans from around the country gathered in California for the Monterey International Pop Music Festival. But during this episode Jim and Greg focus on the single LP's that changed the way people thought of the studio and a collection of songs. 1967 gave birth to the idea of album as art.
00:21:15 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band is, of course, the most prominent example of studio innovation on album in '67. Recorded at Abbey Road by George Martin on mono, stereo and four-track recorders, Sgt. Pepper's was a critical and commercial success. But, as they stated during our Revolver Classic Album Dissection, Jim and Greg don't think it's The Beatles' best. Nor is it the best album of that year. They'd point people to the landmark recordings The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd, Forever Changes by Love and The Velvet Underground and Nico by The Velvet Underground. Jim and Greg talk about these albums' innovations in terms of recording and artistic ambition. They also hear from Joe Boyd, who produced Pink Floyd's first single in 1967 and Jac Holzman, who discovered Love and signed them to Elektra.
Featured Songs
- MFSB, "T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)," Love is the Message, Philadelphia International, 1974
- Barry White, "You're the First, the Last, My Everything," Soul Train 25th Anniversary, MCA, 1995
- Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth," Buffalo Springfield, Atco, 1967
- The Beatles, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967
- The Beatles, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967
- The Beatles, "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967
- The Beatles, "A Day in the Life," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967
- The Beatles, "Good Morning, Good Morning," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967
- Procol Harum, "A White Shade of Pale," Procol Harum, Deram, 1967
- The Beatles, "All You Need is Love," All You Need is Love, Parlophone, 1967
- Tomorrow, "My White Bicycle," My White Bicycle, Parlophone, 1967
- Pink Floyd, "Arnold Layne," Arnold Layne, Columbia, 1967
- Pink Floyd, "The Scarecrow," The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Capitol, 1967
- Pink Floyd, "Astronomy Domine," The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Capitol, 1967
- Pink Floyd, "The Gnome," The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Capitol, 1967
- Pink Floyd, "Interstellar Overdrive," The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Capitol, 1967
- Love, "Alone Again Or," Forever Changes, Elektra, 1967
- Love, "The Red Telephone," Forever Changes, Elektra, 1967
- Love, "7 and 7 Is," Da Capo, Elektra, 1967
- Love, "My Little Red Book," Forever Changes, Elektra, 1967
- Love, "Live and Let Live," Forever Changes, Elektra, 1967
- The Doors, "Light My Fire," The Doors, Elektra, 1967
- Love, "A House is Not a Motel," Forever Changes, Elektra, 1967
- The Velvet Underground, "Sunday Morning," The Velvet Underground & Nico, Verve, 1967
- The Velvet Underground, "I'm Waiting For the Man," The Velvet Underground & Nico, Verve, 1967
- The Velvet Underground, "Heroin," The Velvet Underground & Nico, Verve, 1967
- The Velvet Underground, "Femme Fatale," The Velvet Underground & Nico, Verve, 1967
- The Velvet Underground, "European Son," The Velvet Underground & Nico, Verve, 1967
- Aretha Franklin, "Respect," I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Atlantic, 1967
- Violent Femmes, "Telephone Book," 3, Slash, 1988
- The King Blues, "The Future's Not What it Used to Be," Punk and Poetry, Transmission, 2011
- Leonard Cohen, "Crazy to Love You," Old Ideas, Sony, 2012
Dear Listeners,
For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!