Park City Newspaper, December 28, 1977

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Park City Newspaper

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Music notes


Jay Meehan

That was the year that was. 1977. About to be spoken of only in the past tense. It was a year that featured music as bizarre as its politics, but then again that is probably not unique.

The trend continued to absorb yesteryear's hard-rockers into the middle-of-the-road mainstream. By year's end such one-time cult entities as Fleetwood Mac. Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, and the Eagles could be heard in elevators and as harmony to nitrous oxide in dental offices. What must be viewed in this corner as an equal and opposite reaction to this absorption, the new-wave or "punk rock," has provided what little interest there was in the big wide wonderful world of rock 'n' roll. There were some exceptions, of course, but more on that later.

When one gets last the naive rhetoric of the punk rockers (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols views Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger as irrelevant grandparents), what greets the listener is good ol' uptight (often humorous) rock 'n' roll. Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was recently released in the USA by Warner Brothers after a lengthy bidding war with other labels. Containing most of the tunes that have brought them infamy, the LP and the song "God Save the Queen," as Chet Flippo of Rolling Stone put it, "has brought anger back to rock 'n' roll." Besides, any band with a bass player named Sid Vicious can't be all bad. Also from the same genre is a very musical domestic release by the Ramones entitled Rocket to Russia on Sire, and a debut album from the very-strange-but-talented Elvis Costello. I have a feeling we're going to be hearing a whole lot from all three.

At the box office and at the deposit window at the bank it was the year of Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, Steve Miller, Peter Frampton, Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, and the Bee Gees. Boz Scaggs, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Debbie Boone and others also had rather big years. But of course it was left to others, those residing on the nether side, the street side, the integrity side of superstardom, that excited this column.

Take for example Jackson Browne's poignant concept LP from earlier in the year. The one called The Pretender. Better albums are just not recorded. Sammy Walker continued his folk-poetry with a mid-summer release on Warner Bros. Levon Helm and Rick Danko of The Band have each recently released solo LPs. Helm's features such notables ad Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Fred Carter Jr., and three-fourths of the old MGs, Booker T. Jones, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Steve Cropper. Danko's features Doug Sahm, Eric Clapton, and fellow bandites Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, and Richard Emmanuel. Both LPs are a must for anyone who enjoys the finest rock has to offer. There were two other major highlights in rock this year: the Rolling Stone's Love You Live and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors.

Both record-wise and in concerts, jazz had a super year. Herbie Hancock's VSOP Quintet (very special onetime performance) was organized for Newport '76, but carried over and became a major influence in mainstream jazz for 1977. Super-guitarist George Benson became a pop star (by singing of all things). The Crusaders just keep getting better and along with Stuff helped relieve the "Jazz Band" of its identity crisis. Jean-Luc Ponty continued to take the jazz fiddle places Stéphane Grappelli and Joe Venuti must be proud of Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke continued to evolve both together and apart. Al Jarreau brought back the voice as jazz instrument as did Marva Josie, currently with Earl "Fatha" Hines fine quintet. It's been strictly uphill for Maynard Ferguson since the Montreal Olympics and Chuck Mangione had three different albums on the charts. And favorites like Quincy Jones, Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Keith Jarrett, Donald Byrd, Ramsey Lewis, and McCoy Tyner released LPs which served only to embellish their past works.

It was year for country to go pop in a big way. Waylon showed the way with "Luckenbach, Texas" hitting the Top Ten early in the year. Then it was Kenny Rogers with "Lucille," and Ronnie Milsap's soulful "It Was Almost Like a Song." The only thing that kept Crystal Gayle from having the number one pop song in the country with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" was the fact that Debbie Boone became the first recording artist since 1955 to have a song at number one for ten weeks with the monster "You Light Up My Life." (If you're interested, the 50s tune was "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" by Perez Prado.) Debbie and Perez are two of my all-timers.

Charts aside, my favorite country album of the year was Willie Nelson's tribute to Lefty Frizell To Lefty From Willie. He could have had a monster commercial album had it been his desire, but he chose instead to pay respects to his roots. Merle Haggard's "Ramblin' Fever" was my favorite country single. The Hag, by the way, will be in concert at the Terrace on Jan. 7.

Although the Eagles and Grateful Dead never graced a Utah stage during 1977, a whole bunch of others did: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dickie Betts, Gordon Lightfoot, Elvin Bishop, Marshal Tucker, Ahmad Jamal, Linda Ronstadt, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Michael Bloomfield, Chick Corea, Dolly Parton, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Daniels, L.A. Four, Charlie Byrd, Possum, Gary Burton, Albert King, Jimmy Smith, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Herbie Mann, Fleetwood Mac, Eddie Harris, Kiss, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Kansas, George Shearing, and more. And Willie and Waylon are coming again in mid-February.

What goes up must come down Dept.: 1977 will also be remembered as the year we lost Elvis, and Bing, and Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassi Gaines of Skynyrd. Two great horn men are gone: Sonny Criss and Rashan Roland Kirk. And Groucho Marks and Charlie Chaplin, two who embody the essence of rock 'n' roll.

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The Newspaper, December 28, 1977


EC is mentioned in Jay Meehans's recap of the year in music.

Images

1977-12-28 Park City Newspaper page 11 clipping 01.jpg
Clipping.

1977-12-28 Park City Newspaper page 11.jpg
Page scan.

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