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Wednesday, Apr 20 2022, 4PM
1973 hit from the Dutch band Golden Earring! kexp.org
Founded as The Tornados and then The Golden Earrings, the band gained international fame in the 1970s with the massive impact from 1973's "Radar Love". They opened for Santana, King Crimson, The Doobie Brothers, Rush, .38 Special, Procol Harum, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton
B-side to the Alta Mira single from 1973! kexp.org
Multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter was born in 1946 in Texas; he and his brother Johnny mastered numerous instruments and musical styles as performers and composers before leaving home to embark on musical careers. Edgar Winter also invented the keyboard body strap to enable him to move around on stage playing multiple instrumental solos!
More instrumental rock excellence from 1973! kexp.org
Guitarist DIckey Betts wrote "Jessica" with the goal of making sure it could be played with just two fingers, in honor of the Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Session musician Les Dudek completed the track while DIckey Betts stepped away to grill steaks -- and never received the credit he feels he deserved
Read more: en.wikipedia.org
Fusion banger from 1973! kexp.org
Pianist Chick Corea founded jazz fusion group Return to Forever in 1972 after his performances on Miles Davis' fusion classics "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew". Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke have been the two consistent members over the years in the supergroup that has included such greats as Jean-Luc Ponty, Earl Klugh, Al Di Meola, and many many more
"Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" featured a stronger pivot toward electric instruments than the band's previous two albums, with Corea playing electric pianos and organs along with Bill Connors' electric guitar and Stanley Clarke on electric bass
Neil Young live songs from the 1973 Harvest tour on this album! kexp.org
Neil Young's liner nodes for the compilation "Decade": 'Time Fades Away. No songs from this album are included here. It was recorded on my biggest tour ever, 65 [sic] shows in 90 days. Money hassles among everyone concerned ruined this tour and record for me but I released it anyway so you folks could see what could happen if you lose it for a while. I was becoming more interested in an audio verite approach than satisfying the public demands for a repetition of Harvest.'
He later went on to emphasize he thought this was his worst record ever, but a great documentary of what he was going through in 1973
British glam rock from 1973! kexp.org
One of Rolling Stones' 500 greatest albums of all time! "All the Way from Memphis" helped the band to capture international fans and received major airplay on album-rock stations in the US.
Bowie's sixth album, from 1973! kexp.org
According to author Nicholas Pegg, "The Jean Genie" originated as an impromptu jam, at this point titled "Bussin'," on the tour bus between the first two concerts in Cleveland and Memphis. Bowie completed the song in Autumn 1972 during his 1972 US tour, completing the song in New York City, where he spent time with the Warhol set's Cyrinda Foxe. Bowie later asserted, "I wrote it for her amusement in her apartment. Sexy girl." Bowie later in the 1990s described the song as "a smorgasbord of imagined America" and "my first New York song." bit.ly
1973 -- the final Roxy Music album with Brian Eno! kexp.org
Bryan Ferry described his idea for "The Strand" as "the 'dance of life' – The song gives no instructions on how The Strand should be danced. Simon Puxley, writing in 1973, suggested that the dance was "indefinable" and best thought of as "where it's at, whatever turns you on. The buzz, the action, the centre, the quintessence, the energy.' Read more: tinyurl.com
More Roxy from 1973 -- the first without Brian Eno, the first with songwritng contributions from Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera -- kexp.org
Despite no longer being in the band, Brian Eno called this one of his personal favorite albums from Roxy Music! Read more at Bryan Ferry's web site: bryanferry.com
1973! kexp.org
JD Souther stopped by a small club to see Judee Sill in 1971 -- 'he found a seat in the crowd, and placed his eyes on a 27-year-old musician with long honey-blond hair and round wire-rim eyeglasses holding an acoustic guitar. Someone in the audience yelled out a request for Judy Collins’ “Both Sides Now.” “First of all, Judy Collins didn’t write the song, get that straight,” she curtly replied. “Second of all, if you want to hear her sing it, what are you doing here?” Souther was blown away: “I thought, ‘Wow, I must know this woman.’” -- tinyurl.com
1973 -- second album from Jackson Browne! kexp.org
Jackson Browne wrote this song at age 16; it was first recorded by the model and singer Nico, with her arrangement then being covered by multiple artists, including Tom Rush, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jennifer Warnes, Gator Creek, Iain Matthews, and so many more
1973 epic from Stevie Wonder! kexp.org
Wonder recorded it three months before he was almost killed on his way to a benefit concert in Durham, North Carolina. The accident put Wonder in a coma for four days. His road manager and good friend, Ira Tucker Jr., knew that Stevie liked to listen to music at high volume, so he tried singing this song directly into his ear. At first he got no response, but the next day, he tried again and Wonder's fingers started moving in time with the song - the first sign that he was going to recover.
Recalling his time in the coma, Wonder said, "For a few days I was definitely in a much better spiritual place that made me aware of a lot of things that concern my life and my future and what I have to do to reach another higher ground. This is like my second chance for life, to do something or to do more and to face the fact that I am alive."
Stevie Wonder visited Sesame Street on April 12 1973! kexp.org
Stevie opened his appearance on the show with this song written just for the show; he guested in segments throughout the show, tried to teach Grover to sing, and laid down an amazing live performance of "Superstition"
Read more, and find videos to the sweet and wholesome and funky spots: tinyurl.com
1973: hip-hop's national anthem! kexp.org
Originally written by Jerry Lordan, this song was covered by Incredible Bongo Band in 1973; they recorded this song at Can-Base Studios in Vancouver. The track wasn't a hit on release, but was later heavily sampled by early hop-hop artists for the massive percussion break -- the band is now a staple for samples in hip-hop and drum-and-bass
1973 concept album and another ample source of samples! kexp.org
Dale Warren (nephew of the second wife of Motown legend Berry Gordy) took a young soul grip from Cincinnati, Ohio under his wing -- he convinced them to change their name to 24-Carat Black and produced this concept album, split into eight "synopses", each of which focuses on a different aspect of poverty
This album has been mined for breakbeats by Eric B, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Digable Planets, Naughty by Nature, Pusha-T, Kendrick Lamar, and many more
Awesome 1973 fusion request from Peter in Kenmore! kexp.org
The solo debut album from the great jazz fusion drummer Billy Cobham -- he'd previously worked with Miles Davis and played with Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was shocked when this album rocketed to the top of BIllboard's jazz charts and made it to #26 on the overall top albums of 1973!
1973 -- second album from Bruce Springsteen! kexp.org
Bruce's first two albums had little commercial success at first, but eventually became major FM radio and concert favorites after the huge success of "Born to Run". Springsteen and the E Street Band played this song in its entirety for the first time in a Madison Square Garden concert in 2009 -- read about the list of albums they played through in 2009: tinyurl.com
1973 tune for 4/20! -- kexp.org
Wikipedia tells us that panama red is a pure cultivar of cannabis sativa, renounced for its potency during the 1960s and 1970s; it was commonly cultivated in Panama's sparsely populated Pearl Islands. It's been mentioned in songs by The Yellow Balloon and by Van Halen
Another great album from 1973 with an awesome gate-fold picture -- kexp.org
Thanks to Severin for the request! The gatefold for this album featured massive plates of food from the famous Leo's Mexican Restaurant in Houston, which closed in 2001.
"The real Leo brought living history to go with his 'comidas deliciosas,' " said ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who was among the disappointed many when the restaurant closed in 2001. He added: 'I know where the original Leo's neon is. We'll have to sit a spell underneath the glow and swap a few more tall tales."
Read more about the legacy of Tres Hombres: tinyurl.com
British glam rock from 1973! -- kexp.org
The Sweet formed in London in 1968, and started out with a bubblegum pop style through to hard and glam rock throughout the 1970s
1973 album -- one of the most influential in the history of rock and roll! -- kexp.org
'Just in time for my weekly music history lesson. I assume you already have some Stooges in the queue' -- Jacob from Flagstaff
The name of the song comes from a Time magazine article Iggy Pop saw about the Vietnam War. - read more about the story and legacy of this song -- bit.ly
1973 solo hit from one of the founders of the Temptations! -- kexp.org
Eddie Kendricks solo career followed his bitter split from The Temptations. While his former bandmates went on to record hits such as "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (which was a reported jab at Kendricks and fellow ex-Temptation David Ruffin), this crossover hit brought Kendricks out of the shadow of his former band.
Watch the song performed live in 1987: youtu.be
1973 breakthrough album! -- kexp.org
Kool and the Gang's sixth album of new material produced multiple hits and broke them through to a wide audience, including "Jungle Boogie", "Hollywood Swinging", "Funky Stuff", and this track
British funk from 1973! -- kexp.org
Cymande began with friends and jazz fusion colleagues Steve Scipio and Patrick Patterson in 1971; their single "The MEssage" reached the Billboard charts in the US, and they routed with Al Green, Mandrill, and Ramsey Lewis, and headlined the Apollo THeater in New York in 1973 -- the first British band to do so
They later had a new life as a source for breakbeats for Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, De La Soul, and so many more
1973 epic that Chuck D calls "rap's great lost album" -- kexp.org
Lightnin' Rod was the pseudonym of Jalal Nuriddin, a member of militant proto-rappers the Last Poets
Chuck D said: '"It was probably the most influential record to set off all those early Bronx MCs, but very rarely does Hustlers Convention get mentioned in the annals. It's a missing piece of culture." Read more about this amazing album's legacy: tinyurl.com
1973 Blaxpoitation film 'The Mack' featured a score by Willie Hutch, an artist and producer for Motown Records -- kexp.org
Hutch co-wrote songs that were recorded by the Jackson 5 and their front man Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, the Miracles, and Marvin Gaye. Dr. Dre, Chance the Rapper, Chief Keef, and A$AP Mob have all sampled this track
1973 -- and KEXP will always be around. Thank you all for tuning in today!
The third studio album, and the group's first album for Atlantic after leaving Motown. "I'll Be Around" was the group's first American top-ten and R&B number-one hit. It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1973 ! kexp.org/50/