1972

[humprof]

I feel like somebody must have started a thread on this topic already, but neither Google nor the QQ Search box is helping me find it. So, halfway through 1972's Golden Anniversary year, here we go. Somebody who knows the history better than I do can speak to what an important year it was for quad. But here are a few really good pieces on what a landmark year it was for pop music, period.

This one is encyclopedic:

Is 1972 the best year ever for great albums? From Aretha and Stevie to Bowie and the Stones, quite possibly

The bounty of landmark albums that came out 50 years ago was remarkable then and is even more so now

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

This one, more selective (and it kicks off a still-ongoing series of entries on individual albums):

It was 50 Years Ago Today

The Album Renaissance of 1972

davidyaffe.substack.com

And this focuses justifiably on Stevie Wonder alone:

Half a century ago, Stevie Wonder defined what an 'artist's classic run' could mean

For the occasion of its half-centennial, cultural critic and poet Hanif Abdurraqib takes the measure of Stevie Wonder's unmatchable artistic achivements in the early-to-mid '70s.

www.npr.org

 

[winopener]

Think it's missing a very big elephant pair, Machine Head and Made in Japan. Especially MIJ became the blueprint for live rock albums and it's still going strong 50 years later...

 

[Quad Linda]

In '72, I was listening to:
These surround releases were usually released later than '72

Connection - Don Ellis
Santana w/Buddy Miles SQ/Q8/SACD
Caravanserai - Santana SQ/Q8
Catch Bull at Four - Cat Stevens Q8
There's a Riot - Sly
Living in the Past - Tull
Last Days & Time - EWF
New Blood - BS&T
On the Corner - Miles
Honky Chateau - Elton John SACD
Icarus - Paul Winter/Winter Consort (later Oregon)
Big Bambu - Cheech y Chong
Chicago V SQ/Q8/BD DVD-A is 5.1 mix
Still Bill - Bill Withers
Azteca SQ/Q8
Can't Buy a Thrill - Steely Dan QS/Q8
Buzzard Luck - Ballin'Jack
America (1st)
Country Wine - Raiders
Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts CD-4/Q8
Birds of Fire - Mahavishnu Orch SQ/Q8/SACD
Primal Roots - Sergio Mendes
Age of Steam - Gerry Mulligan DVD-V
A Song for You - Carpenters Q8/CD-4 (Japan)
Music of My Mind & Talking Book - Stevie Wonder

It was the year I gave up radio and programmed my own listening.

 

[humprof]

Think it's missing a very big elephant pair, Machine Head and Made in Japan. Especially MIJ became the blueprint for live rock albums and it's still going strong 50 years later...

Sure. To be fair, though: the first piece actually does mention Made In Japan (which Wikipedia says didn't hit the US till the spring of 1973), even if it omits Machine Head. But the writer also inserts the caveat that he could list 72 of his favorite albums from 1972 and "it would still be incomplete." So there are undoubtedly omissions that other folks would find significant, too. Counting on QQ to fill in the gaps.

In the world of prog, I'd start with Matching Mole's self-titled album and PFM's Per Un Amico. Jazz: Ornette Coleman's Skies of America, Julius Hemphill's Dogon AD, Charles Mingus's Let My Children Hear Music, and Keith Jarrett's Facing You. Afrobeat: Fela Kuti's Roforofo Fight. Film: Nina Rota's score for The Godfather.

 

[par4ken]

It would take me quite awhile just to list all the great albums that I was listening to in 1972. That list would be much longer if I include all the 72 releases that I discovered in latter years! Overall 1972 was one of the best years for album releases for sure!

For me hit singles reached their peak in 1970. In 1971 (in addition to singles) a lot of great albums started to appear. Looking back often albums from the sixties contained a couple of hits and the rest was just filler. The hits of 1971 were still very strong, as were the album releases "that was a very good year".

I noticed a bit of a decline in the quality of "the hits" in 1972, a trend that would accelerate with each passing year. On the other hand the quality of the album releases grew while that of the single kept declining! By the eighties it was almost the rule that the worst track on any album would be touted as the hit!

 

[Q-Eight]

I would start the argument that this world has never seen again the greatness of the music that was put out between the years 1969 through 1974. Try to change my mind.
I think I too have read other articles on 1972 being quite pivotal; in regards to monster smash hits from all types of genres during that year. We could mostly agree that '72 was the peak of that timeframe.

I work at an auto parts place now, with quite a few younger people. They play a bit of their music in the back and often bug me asking if I like their music - to which I reply "I don't". Music shouldn't be vulgar. It shouldn't have cuss words in it. I've felt this way since I was a children! One of the girls I work with on Saturdays started asking me about what I listen to and she used her bippity-boopity phone to lock on to some Grass Roots songs that I love. She actually liked "Sooner or Later" and asked me how popular that song was.
To which I told her I believe back in the day it sold 4,000,000 copies. ( pretty sure it went 4x Platinum, didn't it? ) which floored her because she's aware of modern music stats and today, a "Hit" song will have something like 250,000 downloads.

The idea that 4-million people had to physically go out and buy a little record was an idea that just had her flabbergasted.

 

[Nyad]

I would start the argument that this world has never seen again the greatness of the music that was put out between the years 1969 through 1974. Try to change my mind.
I think I too have read other articles on 1972 being quite pivotal; in regards to monster smash hits from all types of genres during that year. We could mostly agree that '72 was the peak of that timeframe.

I work at an auto parts place now, with quite a few younger people. They play a bit of their music in the back and often bug me asking if I like their music - to which I reply "I don't". Music shouldn't be vulgar. It shouldn't have cuss words in it. I've felt this way since I was a children! One of the girls I work with on Saturdays started asking me about what I listen to and she used her bippity-boopity phone to lock on to some Grass Roots songs that I love. She actually liked "Sooner or Later" and asked me how popular that song was.
To which I told her I believe back in the day it sold 4,000,000 copies. ( pretty sure it went 4x Platinum, didn't it? ) which floored her because she's aware of modern music stats and today, a "Hit" song will have something like 250,000 downloads.

The idea that 4-million people had to physically go out and buy a little record was an idea that just had her flabbergasted.

Ha!
"She's so swishy in her satin and tat
And her frock coat and bibbity-bobbity hat
Oh God I could do better than that" 1971 Bowie - "Queen Bitch"

 

[Stephen W Tayler]

I would start the argument that this world has never seen again the greatness of the music that was put out between the years 1969 through 1974.

That particular period really was important to me - my last years at school and my time as a music student, and I was hugely interested in so much of that iconic music at the time. 1974 became the year I started in the recording industry as a recording engineer, becoming a mixer and producer.

It is now fascinating that I am actually having the opportunity to create new mixes of several albums from that very period that I was a fan of at the time, many of which I bought when they were originally released! I can't begin to express the emotions I relive when I am hearing them again and mixing them. Fifty years on!!

SWTx

 

[soesbeout]

Those years for me were exploring the big world of traveling around the world courtesy of uncle sam and living in California , what a great time for live concerts spending weekends at Winterland Arena and seeing Ozzy with Black Sabbath at the Hollywood Bowl.

 

[MidiMagic]

The music I listened to includes these from the 1972 hot 100:
American Pie - Don McLean
Brand New Key - Melanie*%
Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass**
Oh Girl - The Chi-Lites**
Nice to Be with You - Gallery**
Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress - The Hollies**
How Do You Do - Mouth & MacNeal**
Song Sung Blue - Neil Diamond**%
Popcorn - Hot Butter**
Nights in White Satin - The Moody Blues#%
Beautiful Sunday - Daniel Boone**
Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens#
City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie
Burning Love - Elvis [email protected]
The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A. - Donna Fargo**
Where Is the Love - Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway**
Layla - Derek and the Dominos**
Black and White - Three Dog Night*
Sylvia's Mother - Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show#&
Joy - Apollo 100
Never Been to Spain - Three Dog Night*
Family Affair - Sly & the Family Stone*$
Taxi - Harry Chapin#
Vincent - Don McLean

Key:
(no mark) Bought the single
* Bought the album
** Bought a multi-hit album
# Got single through servicing jukeboxes
@ Bought a used CD-4
& Liked the flip side better
$ SQ
% Works with extracted quad

I had a lot of other music, but I can't remember what year they were from.

I also had the Dynaco 4D Demonstration Disc, The Stereo-4 demo disc, and the original Columbia SQ demo disc.

 

[Ranasakawa]

The album 1972 by The Black Crowes is pretty good

 

[Bill B]

The album 1972 by The Black Crowes is pretty good

Wow, a cd with six songs for $15 on Amazon.... righteous bucks, more like pretty expensive.

 

[jimfisheye]

I would start the argument that this world has never seen again the greatness of the music that was put out between the years 1969 through 1974. Try to change my mind.

Absolute fact!

 

[jamoke]

Here is a partial list of performers for the Boston Common Sunset Series of concerts in 1972.
I went to most of them....and for $2.50 a ticket.
72 was indeed a great year for music.

Here is the full list:
Jun 19 - Tom Rush / Bill Withers
Jun 21 - Mahavishnu Orch / Loggins and Messina
Jun 26 - Smoky Robinson and the Miracles / Labelle
Jun 28 - Arlo Guthrie / Doc Watson
Jul 2 - Seatrain / Billy Preston / The Stawbs
Jul 5 - The Association / Jackie DelShannon
Jul 10 - Lou Rawls / Donny Hathaway
Jul 12 - Deep Purple / Malo
Jul 17 - Kris Kristoferson / Rita Coolidge
Jul 19 - Buddy Miles Band / Merry Clayton
Jul 24 - Cutis Mayfield / Detroit Guitar Band
Jul 26 - BB King / Paul Butterfield / Bonnie Raitt
Jul 31 - Canned Heat / Captain Beyond
Aug 2 - Richie Havens/ Pamela Pulland
Aug 7 - Blood Sweat & Tears / Chris Smither
Aug 9 - The Poco Show
Aug 14 - Savoy Brown / Fleetwood Mac / Rory Gallagher
Aug 16 - The Doors / Dr. John
Aug 21 - Maynard Ferguson / Weather Report / Michael White
Aug 22 - Virgil Fox Plays BACH on the Big Organ
Aug 23-24 - The Beach Boys

 

[Infomas]

That particular period really was important to me - my last years at school and my time as a music student, and I was hugely interested in so much of that iconic music at the time. 1974 became the year I started in the recording industry as a recording engineer, becoming a mixer and producer.

It is now fascinating that I am actually having the opportunity to create new mixes of several albums from that very period that I was a fan of at the time, many of which I bought when they were originally released! I can't begin to express the emotions I relive when I am hearing them again and mixing them. Fifty years on!!

SWTx

Any hints as to what you're working on?

 

[Stephen W Tayler]

Any hints as to what you're working on?

I wish I could say, but I am always sworn to secrecy until official announcements are made.

The only newly mixed albums that have already been mentioned and are awaiting release are 'Sound On Sound' from Bill Nelson's Red Noise, and 'Holidays In Eden' by Marillion. Two others (one of which is a massive box set containing numerous studio albums and several live concerts) finished and being scheduled, and three others almost complete, and another just started. Three of these projects date from that crucial 1969-74 period.

More being lined up as we speak!

 

[boondocks]

I don't remember too much music specifically, part of 72 I was in the Army overseas and part back home, unboxing and setting up some new quad gear! Then it was back to a "real" job.

I keep thinking Moontan came out that year, or was it '73?

 

[Infomas]

I wish I could say, but I am always sworn to secrecy until official announcements are made.

The only newly mixed albums that have already been mentioned and are awaiting release are 'Sound On Sound' from Bill Nelson's Red Noise, and 'Holidays In Eden' by Marillion. Two others (one of which is a massive box set containing numerous studio albums and several live concerts) finished and being scheduled, and three others almost complete, and another just started. Three of these projects date from that crucial 1969-74 period.

More being lined up as we speak!

I know. I had to ask though, right? "Sound on Sound" should be an interesting one to check out. Thanks for the info.

 

[winopener]

In the world of prog, I'd start with Matching Mole's self-titled album and PFM's Per Un Amico.

Italian prog had a explosive year in 1972: Banco 1st and Darwin, Orme Uomo di Pezza, Trip Atlantide, Rovescio della Medaglia io come io, Formula Tre sognando e risognando... and a lot more.

 

[Genious]

The album 1972 by The Black Crowes is pretty good

How did I not even know about that album? Especially after going through a serious binge listening of all of their stuff right when it was released, because I was finally reading Gorman's book which is an absolute eye opener and great read.
Thanks for bringing that album to my attention.