Time Machine 1970 #3

4-27-10 Time Machine 1970 #3

Thankfully, Strange Days magazine in Japan has kept up with it’s “Time Machine” series, which I find quite interesting.

Strange Days 2010.05 lists “March 1970 Albums” as: RINGO STARR – Sentimental Journey (Apple UK PCS 7001); THE FACES – The First Step (Warner UK WS 3000); CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG – Deja Vu (Atlantic US SD 7200); TYRANNOSAURUS REX – A Beard Of Stars (Regal Zonophone UK SLRZ 1013); CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – Willy & The Poor Boys (Fantasy US 8397); VAN MORRISON – Moondance (Warner US WS 1835); MOUNTAIN – Climbing! (Windfall US 4501); and CHICAGO – Chicago II (Columbia US KGP 24) double LP.

I must be getting old, because I remember all of these and I actually do own copies (of some sort) of all of these! Seems like the Japanese are now including a few more U.S. albums this month!

Me & my friend(s) got the Ringo Starr album the day it hit the streets here, but…it was a bit ‘traditional’ for us, the old songs. I like it a lot better now than I did then.

I knew Rod Stewart from the Jeff Beck Group, so I was, of course, interested to hear him in The Faces – could this possibly be the same band that did “Itchycoo Park” a few years earlier? Damn right, but Rod seemed to improve the mix. I had heard “Flying” on a Warner / Reprise sampler LP set.

Everybody (that I knew, anyway) were sort of anticipating a 2^nd album from Crosby, Stills & Nash, after their Woodstock appearance, the previous turn of the wheel. “Déjà vu” was kind of like “Required Reading” – you absolutely HAD to know about it.

By now, I was very curious about T. Rex – why did this album come out in th US on Blue Thumb Records? That initially made me suspicious – but, it did mean that the LP was almost immediately in the $1 bin.

C.C.R. was really churning them out, by album #4. It’s not a bad US pop album, though. My memory of it: SHORT. But a few good songs, and some good singles, too.

Bless the Warner / Reprise sampler LP’s! The singer of Them’s debut solo LP had a great tune on a sampler LP: “Caravan”. And I did like Van Morrison’s singles, for a while, anyway.

There was a TV special with Mountain in it – and the press of the day (Circus? Creem?) was touting them as “the American Cream”.

“Chicago II” was yet another double LP from the venerable Chicago Chicago band. It wasn’t a full price 2LP set, either – and it came with a poster. “Make Me Smile” was a pretty good single, which is what I bought immediately, probably before the album came out.