Chapter 26: Down by the River (October - December 1971)

29 October 1971

Pink Floyd - Meddle

Released: 29 October 1971

Recorded: January - August 1971

Producer: Pink Floyd

Track listing[1]

Side A

One of These Days
A Pillow of Winds
Fearless
San Tropez
It Is Obvious

Side B
Love Song
Seamus
Wined and Dined
Echoes

Pink Floyd's sixth album initially began as a series of experiments to spur some creativity in the band when they were low on ideas. These experiments would eventually form the basis for a song called "The Son of Nothing" (later re-titled "Echoes"), running at well over twenty minutes (23:31, to be exact). Seven minutes were cut for the final album, although later releases on CD would utilize the full length.

By that point, to the surprise of his bandmates, Syd Barrett had been seeking help to recover from his drug addiction; his absence from touring helped his situation greatly.

SYD BARRETT: "Learning about what happened to Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson was a bit of a wake up call to me. I've already got mental problems, and fueling myself with drugs wouldn't help me at all. I'm never touching another bottle or fag [British slang for cigarette] as long as I live." (1971, to Roger Waters)

Upon release, Meddle reached #3 in the United Kingdom but was below the Top 40 in the United States at a pitiful #70. Although the album was met with good reviews, the single "One of These Days" backed with "Love Song" did not chart on either side of the country. And despite being in a better mental state than he was three years ago, Barrett began to feel more and more distant from his bandmates.

5 November 1970

The Yardbirds - Stairway to Heaven

Released: 5 November 1970

Recorded: December 1970 - February 1971, July 1971 (mixing)

Producer: Jimmy Page

Track listing[2]

Side A

Black Dog
Rock and Roll
The Battle of Evermore
Night Flight
Stairway to Heaven

Side B
Misty Mountain Hop
Four Sticks
Going to California
Down by the Seaside
When the Levee Breaks

Stairway to Heaven, the Yardbirds' ninth studio album, was recorded fairly quickly from December 1970 up to February 1971, but the final mixing did not take place until July, and it was another four months before it was finally released to the public. It was kept off of the top spot in the United States by the Ladders' Imagine, and also fought against the Who's Lifehouse and the Rolling Stones' Exile on Mars. It still managed to reach #1 in the United Kingdom for two weeks and become one of the best-selling albums of all time, even ranking #69 on Rolling Stones' list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

JIMMY PAGE: "When Stairway [to Heaven] first came out, we were practically competing against the Ladders, the Who and the Rolling Stones all at once. Who and Stones were reaching the climax of their deluded rivalry, but we kicked both of their asses in the 1970s by having a consecutive string of number one albums. And didn't put out an album every year!" (2008)

Although it was not released as a single due to its eight minute length, the title track "Stairway to Heaven" has since become one of the Yardbirds' most popular song, even eclipsing "For Your Love" from the pre-Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham era, let alone one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded. Despite its popularity, Robert Plant would eventually resent having to perform it live, even calling it "a bloody wedding song". Also due to its length, music stores would eventually refuse to allow novice guitar players play "Stairway to Heaven", even becoming part of a joke in the 1992 comedy Wayne's World.

"No 'Stairway'! Denied!" Wayne Campbell (portrayed by writer Mike Myers) would exclaim to the audience.

December 3, 1971

Bob Dylan - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

Released: December 3, 1971

Recorded: April 24, 1969, March 3, 1970 - November 4, 1971

Producer: Bob Johnston, Leon Russell

Track listing[3]

Side A

Watching the River Flow
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Living the Blues
Wallflower
George Jackson
I Shall Be Released

Side B
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Working on a Guru
Only a Hobo
Woogie Boogie
Wigwam
Down in the Flood

Bob Dylan's twelfth album came about in a most unusual way. One of the tracks, "Living the Blues", was recorded on April 24, 1969, two weeks following the release of Nashville Skyline and was then shelved. "Woogie Boogie" and "Wigwam" were both recorded during the sessions of Back to Mono and "Working on a Guru" during the New Morning sessions. "Watching the River Flow" was recorded in mid-March and released as a single in June with "When I Paint My Masterpiece" as the B-side. ("Masterpiece" was later covered by The Band for their album Cahoots.)[4] New versions of "I Shall Be Released", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and "Down in the Flood" were all recorded in September alongside the new track "Only a Hobo". And lastly, Dylan's latest single "George Jackson"/"Wallflower" were both recorded on November 4 and released as a single eight days later, seemingly following the "instant single" approach the Beatles took with "The Ballad of John and Yoko"/"Two of Us" two years previously.[5]

"George Jackson" was written as a response to the murder of the Black Panther leader of the same name at San Quentin Prison on August 21 whilst escaping from the prison. The murder of Jackson was an indirect cause of the Attica State Prison riots in September. Dylan's single reached #33 in the United States but did not chart in the United Kingdom, likely because those living there would not have understood Jackson's plight. The single also stirred up controversy for the lyric "He wouldn't take shit from no one", resulting in radio stations either censoring the swear or not playing the track at all.

The resulting album, You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, was released to middling reviews and failed to reach the Top 10 in either the United States (#14) or the United Kingdom (#12). The most common criticism was that Bob Dylan was retreading old ground by re-recording songs he had given away and had mixed older recordings with new recordings. On Dylan's end, he believed that his record label Colombia had not given either the album or the single proper promotion, likely due to the then-ongoing controversy between Colombia and Apple as to who should have the rights to distribute The Concert for Bangladesh because of his presence on the album.

BOB DYLAN: "That was something of a wake up call for me. From what I had heard about Apple, they cared about their artists outside of the Beatles and gave them plenty of promotion. By the start of the 1970s, I was becoming yesterday's news. I knew that once I'd put out You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, I wasn't going to renew my contract with Colombia. Shortly after the album came out, I talked with George on the phone and he agreed to make some arrangements about having me transferred to Apple. It was a brand new beginning for me." (2009)

Footnotes

1. All tracks from OTL's Meddle are utilized with "Echoes" being the 16:30 edit from Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. "It Is Obvious", "Love Song" and "Wined and Dined" are all sourced from Syd Barrett's Barrett.
2. All tracks from Led Zeppelin IV are utilized with the inclusion of "Night Flight" and "Down by the Seaside" from Physical Graffiti.
3. Tracks are sourced from Side Tracks ("Watching the River Flow", "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "George Jackson", "I Shall Be Released", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and "Down in the Flood"), Self Portrait ("Living the Blues" and Woogie Boogie"), and The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971) ("Wallflower", "Working on a Guru", "Only a Hobo" and "Wigwam").
4. The actual B-side to "Watching the River Flow" was a cover of "Spanish is the Loving Tongue"; "When I Paint My Masterpiece" was recorded during the same sessions but was unreleased until November on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II.
5. The acoustic version of "George Jackson" was the B-side whilst the big band version was the A-side; "Wallflower" remained unreleased until 2013.

Author's Comments

Not really a lot to say about this chapter. For the chapters of this series, I like to have a general theme going on with them. The last chapter, for example, was about the Who putting out their greatest album and the Rolling Stones building up to their greatest album. This chapter, however, is kind of a filler chapter with not much of a theme going on; it covers most of the leftover albums from 1971 before we get into 1972, where things start to get more serious.