Split would definitely fall into the Blues/Rock category, but there are certainly tinges of Progressive Rock in this power trio’s fiery instrumental breaks. Of course, by now the focal point of the group was Tony McPhee, singing in his distinctive fashion and ripping the blues out of his guitar with great long solos in the live arena.
This is the rock album release of 2003 by a country mile. This collection of songs stands head and shoulders above anything else during that twelve months.
As ever, original space rockers Hawkwind go where nobody has gone before, not because of any particular enterprise, but perhaps because they don’t care if everybody else just thinks they are off their collective rockers.
There are a lot of positives to this record, Yes’s fourth album, “Fragile” (1971). After all, it went double Platinum on the American Billboard and included Yes’s greatest-ever track ‘Roundabout.’ Also in truncated version, it was released as a single and made the top twenty.
Two concerts were recorded at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester and De Montfort Hall, Leicester, on the band’s tour of the UK supporting the Foxtrot. (Magnificent they were too.) As a result, five songs were released on Genesis Live, which met with great critical acclaim and enthusiasm by the British record-buying public.
At this stage of his career, Bruce Springsteen was just a new upcoming kid from the Jersey Shore. After this album, he became the Boss and could do no wrong in the eyes of working America.
Peter Banks, known as the architect of Progressive Rock, having his finest hour. His playing was inspired, aggressive and precise. Colin Carter improved immeasurably on vocals; his stage presence was now also very assured.
Fire and Water was a smash hit all over the world, selling over two million copies and climbing to number four on the Billboard chart. This was even more remarkable as although by then veterans of the circuit, they were all still under twenty when this album was released.
‘Aqua’ arrived in the record racks in the summer of 1974. The perfect accompaniment to sunny times, the album contains four pieces of music to blow your mind.
In early 1971, Jethro Tull went into the newly opened Island recording studios for three weeks to record their new album (the other band in residence at Island at the same time was Led Zeppelin, who were laying down tracks for their fourth album). When they came out again, they had recorded one of rock’s great moments. “Aqualung” was released to its adoring public, and in reality, it gave Ian Anderson and his bunch the right to lifetime superstardom.
