Incredible Bongo Band - 1973 - Bongo Rock

Unlikely godfathers of hip-hop, the Incredible Bongo Band was a revolving-door group of studio musicians led by bongo player Michael Viner, who by day worked as an executive at the MGM label and ran its short-lived Pride subsidiary. Viner had worked on Bobby Kennedy's ill-fated presidential campaign before entering the music industry as a talent scout and A&R man in Los Angeles. By the early '70s, he was successful enough to start his pet side project the Incredible Bongo Band, taking unused studio time to record percussion-heavy instrumentals and pop covers with African and Latin influences. He placed two songs on the soundtrack of the 1972 B-movie The Thing With Two Heads, released on Pride, and the following year issued the first Incredible Bongo Band full-length, Bongo Rock, which reportedly featured a guest spot by Ringo Starr. Viner's funked-up version of the Shadows' "Apache" went on to become one of hip-hop's earliest breakbeat staples, as first-generation hip-hop DJs Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash came to rely on its percussion breaks to get block parties moving. "Apache" went on to provide the basis for the Sugarhill Gang's hit of the same name, and stands as one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop history. The single "Bongo Rock" charted in the lower reaches of both the pop and R&B lists, and eventually assumed a status similar to "Apache" in the hip-hop world (though with lesser magnitude). Viner assembled a follow-up album, The Return of the Incredible Bongo Band, in 1974, but the band came to a halt not long after; Viner was getting overly ambitious (a planned session with the London Symphony Orchestra fell through), and mainstay drummer Jim Gordon fell prey to severe mental difficulties, all of which spelled the end of the road. The British Strut label later reissued both of the group's albums on a two-fer titled Bongo Rock: The Story of the Incredible Bongo Band.

01 - Let There Be Drums
02 - Bongolia
03 - Kiburi
04 - Apache
05 - Sing Sing Sing
06 - Dueling Bongos
07 - In a Gadda Da Vida
08 - Raunchy
09 - Bongo Rock
10 - Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley Your Tie's Caught in Your Zipper
11 - Sharp Nine
12 - Okey Dokey
13 - Pipeline
14 - When the Bed Breaks Down, I'll Meet You in the Spring
15 - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
16 - Wipeout
17 - Last Bongo in Belgium
18 - Got the Sun in the Morning and the Daughter at Night
19 - Slightly Reminiscent of Topsy

¡Aquí!

Bowie, David - 1973 - Aladdin Sane (30th Anniversary Edition)

Ziggy Stardust wrote the blueprint for David Bowie's hard-rocking glam, and Aladdin Sane essentially follows the pattern, for both better and worse. A lighter affair than Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane is actually a stranger album than its predecessor, buoyed by bizarre lounge-jazz flourishes from pianist Mick Garson and a handful of winding, vaguely experimental songs. Bowie abandons his futuristic obsessions to concentrate on the detached cool of New York and London hipsters, as on the compressed rockers "Watch That Man," "Cracked Actor," and "The Jean Genie." Bowie follows the hard stuff with the jazzy, dissonant sprawls of "Lady Grinning Soul," "Aladdin Sane," and "Time," all of which manage to be both campy and avant-garde simultaneously, while the sweepingly cinematic "Drive-In Saturday" is a soaring fusion of sci-fi doo wop and melodramatic teenage glam. He lets his paranoia slip through in the clenched rhythms of "Panic in Detroit," as well as on his oddly clueless cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together." For all the pleasures on Aladdin Sane, there's no distinctive sound or theme to make the album cohesive; it's Bowie riding the wake of Ziggy Stardust, which means there's a wealth of classic material here, but not enough focus to make the album itself a classic.

		1		Watch That Man	Bowie	4:30
		2		Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)	Bowie	5:07
		3		Drive-In Saturday	Bowie	4:36
		4		Panic in Detroit	Bowie	4:27
		5		Cracked Actor	Bowie	3:01
		6		Time	Bowie	5:14
		7		The Prettiest Star	Bowie	3:31
		8		Let's Spend the Night Together	Jagger, Richards	3:10
		9		The Jean Genie	Bowie	4:06
		10		Lady Grinning Soul	Bowie	3:52
		11		John, I'm Only Dancing [Sax Version]	Bowie	2:45
		12		The Jean Genie [Original Single Mix]	Bowie	4:07
		13		Time [Single Edit]	Bowie	3:43
		14		All the Young Dudes	Bowie	4:11
		15		Changes [live]	Bowie	3:20
		16		The Supermen [live]	Bowie	2:42
		17		Life on Mars? [live/#]	Bowie	3:25
		18		John, I'm Only Dancing [live]	Bowie	2:40
		19		The Jean Genie [live]	Bowie	4:10
		20		Drive-In Saturday [live/#]	Bowie	4:53

¡Aquí!

Can - 1973 - Future Days

Damo Suzuki's final effort is Can's most atmospheric and beautiful record, a spartan collection of lengthy, jazz-like compositions recorded with minimal vocal contributions. Employing keyboard washes to create a breezy, almost oceanic feel (indeed, two of the tracks are titled "Spray" and "Bel Air"), the mix buries Suzuki's voice to elevate drummer Jaki Liebezeit's complex rhythms to the foreground; despite the deceptive tranquility of its surface, Future Days is an intense work, bubbling with radical ideas and concepts.

		1		Future Days	Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit ...	9:30
Composed by: Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki
		2		Spray	Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit ...	8:28
Composed by: Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki
		3		Moonshake	Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit ...	3:03
Composed by: Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki
		4		Bel Air	Can, Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit ...	19:52

¡Aquí!

Psiglo - 1973 - Ideación

Psiglo es una de las míticas bandas de Uruguay, con bastante éxito en la década de los setentas, que incluia a Gonzalo Farrugia, baterista de Crucis (mas tarde). El álbum "Ideación" es la gran obra que lanzan antes del golpe militar en dicho país, y resulta tener tal influencia, que muchos comparan a Psiglo con otras bandas de hard-rock progresivo como Led Zeppelin o Uriah Heep. Los ritmos son bastante conmovedores en ciertos pasajes, lo que no quita su fuerza y precisión técnica.
Alta calidad musical y letras políticamente comprometidas con un momento .
01.- Siénteme
02.- En un Lugar un Niño
03.- Catalina
04.- Vuela a mi Galaxia
05.- Nuestra Calma
06.- Es Inútil
07.- No Pregunten Por Qué
08.- Piensa y Lucha
09.- En un Lugar un Niño (Single)
10.- Gente sin Camino (Single)
11.- Vuela a mi Galaxia

¡Aquí!

ZZ Top - 1973 - Tres Hombres

Tres Hombres is the record that brought ZZ Top their first Top Ten record, making them stars in the process. It couldn't have happened to a better record. ZZ Top finally got their low-down, cheerfully sleazy blooze-n-boogie right on this, their third album. As their sound gelled, producer Bill Ham discovered how to record the trio so simply that they sound indestructible, and the group brought the best set of songs they'd ever have to the table. On the surface, there's nothing really special about the record, since it's just a driving blues-rock album from a Texas bar band, but that's what's special about it. It has a filthy groove and an infectious feel, thanks to Billy Gibbons' growling guitars and the steady propulsion of Dusty Hill and Frank Beard's rhythm section. They get the blend of bluesy shuffles, gut-bucket rocking, and off-beat humor just right. ZZ Top's very identity comes from this earthy sound and songs as utterly infectious as "Waitin' for the Bus," "Jesus Just Left Chicago," "Move Me on Down the Line," and the John Lee Hooker boogie "La Grange." In a sense, they kept trying to remake this record from this point on — what is Eliminator if not Tres Hombres with sequencers and synthesizers? — but they never got it better than they did here.

		1		Waitin' for the Bus	Gibbons, Hill	2:59
		2		Jesus Just Left Chicago	Beard, Gibbons, Hill	3:29
		3		Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers	Beard, Gibbons, Hill	3:23
		4		Master of Sparks	Gibbons	3:33
		5		Hot, Blue and Righteous	Gibbons	3:14
		6		Move Me on Down the Line	Gibbons, Hill	2:30
		7		Precious and Grace	Beard, Gibbons, Hill	3:09
		8		La Grange	Beard, Gibbons, Hill	3:51
		9		Sheik	Gibbons, Hill	4:04
		10		Have You Heard?	Gibbons, Hill	3:14

¡Aquí!