Chapter 34: Smoke on the Water (November 1972 - October 1973)

November 1972 - January 1973

David Bowie as Aladdin Sane, 1973.

After completing the work for Hunky Dory's Melting Pottery duology, David Bowie could now turn his attention to his next project with the Rolling Stones. Their recording location was at Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Bowie's initial idea for the title was Love Aladdin Vein, which he later revised to Aladdin Sane, a pun on the term "A Lad Insane". The character of Aladdin Sane was to be a development of the Ziggy Stardust character Bowie had created last year, and the next album would essentially be "Ziggy goes to America".

DAVID BOWIE: "By that time, the Stones had practically won this little battle of the bands against the Who. They didn't put out an album in '72, but we did. I was practically the Stones' secret weapon in their victory. *laughs*" (2003)

MICK JAGGER: "Unlike Ziggy, there was no story going on with Aladdin. I think there was beneath the music, expressing how simultaneously disgusted and fascinated David was with America at the time." (1994)

KEITH RICHARDS: "David seemed to be going through a sort of identity crisis when it came to his characters. I mean, in '69, he had Major Tom, and then in '71, there was Ziggy. Now, come '73, he introduced Aladdin Sane. It was hard to tell at times, especially when performing, if the characters were a part of David, or if he were a part of them." (2017)

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, 1973.

With the exception of Keith Richards, all members of the Rolling Stones found themselves back in France to deal with an investigation there regarding drug suspicions. Fortunately, they were cleared of charges and were soon back in the Jamaican studio. Unfortunately, however, heroin and drug possession charges were laid upon Richards and his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, and both found themselves undergoing heroin withdrawal when their supplies ran out. Another recording interruption had taken place two days before Christmas when Mick and Bianca Jagger flew to Mangua, Nicaragua following an earthquake there; to their relief, the latter's mother had survived the event.

Shortly after the recording sessions had ended, the Rolling Stones performed a benefit concert for the earthquake victims at the Los Angeles Forum with local band Santana and and comedy duo Cheech & Chong as the opening acts. Afterwards, they flew to Hawaii to begin their tour in Australia and Asia.

30 March 1973

The Yardbirds - Houses of the Holy

Released: 30 March 1973

Recorded: December 1971 - August 1972

Producer: Jimmy Page

Track listing[1]

Side A

The Song Remains the Same
Black Country Woman
Over the Hills and Far Away

Side B
Houses of the Holy
The Rain Song
The Crunge

Side C

Dancing Days
Walter's Walk
No Quarter

Side D
D'yer Mak'er
The Rover
The Ocean

By the end of 1972, the Yardbirds were enjoying their revived commercial success from their studio albums and live performances. However, there were the inevitable debates as to whether or not the pre-1969 albums could still hold up compared to the releases from Going Down Like a Lead Zeppelin onwards. Indeed, the albums prior to Dazed and Confused ran at less than forty minutes overall, and their most recent album, Stairway to Heaven, had breached the 50 minute limit that vinyl records would allow, with the first side running at less than a minute longer than the second side.

JIMMY PAGE: "I wanted to see how far we could push vinyl records at the time. We'd managed to put out Stairway which ran at 51 minutes total. But could we squeeze an hour's worth of material onto a single record? I believed we could, but I had severely overestimated their capabilities. If compact discs had existed back then, this wouldn't have been a problem." (1997)[2]

The sessions for the Yardbirds' tenth album had begun back in December 1971 and stretched all the way to August 1972. The recording had taken place using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, the same studio used to record Fight the Horde and Stairway to Heaven, as well as the Rolling Stones' Life on Mars, the Who's Lifehouse, and Deep Purple's Machine Head. Twelve songs were recorded during that time, including potential hit singles "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "D'yer Mak'er".

The Yardbirds performing live, 1972. On John Bonham's drumkit, instead of the Yardbirds' name, three intersecting circles are used on the front of the bass drum as the new symbol for the band.

Instead of the blues rock distortion found on Going Down Like a Lead Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love, Fight the Horde, and Stairway to Heaven, Houses of the Holy went for a clean, expansive rock sound, becoming the Yardbirds' most eclectic album musically. Despite the intention to put up to thirty minutes' worth of music per side, Houses ended up becoming a double album with each side running close to fifteen minutes each. However, some single album copies were still released and have since become collectors' items among the Yardbirds fanbase.

ROBERT PLANT: "We recorded way more than we really should've at the time; with hindsight, we probably could've cut one or two songs and still have a single album." (2004)

But becoming a double album did not keep Houses of the Holy from reaching #1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was one of the greatest musical left turns of the 1970s, with critics complaining about the off-beat nature of the tracks "The Crunge" and "D'yer Mak'er" and saying that they had digressed into a watered down heavy metal act. Because of this, neither of the singles ("D'yer Mak'er", "Over the Hills and Far Away") reached the Top 10. Later reception proved kinder towards the album, with Rolling Stone ranking it #148 on "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003.

29 June 1973

The Rolling Stones - Aladdin Sane

Released: 29 June 1973

Recorded: November 1972 - January 1973

Producer: The Rolling Stones and Jimmy Miller

Track listing[3]

Side A

Watch That Man
100 Years Ago
Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
Angie
Cracked Actor

Side B

The Prettiest Star
Winter
The Jean Genie
Lady Grinning Soul
Waiting on a Friend

CHARLIE WATTS: "Aladdin Sane was the last album we did with Jimmy Miller. Keith describes Jim as going in a lion and coming out a lamb. After David came into the picture, we practically wore Jimmy down to the ground. He was a great producer, but the more successful he became, the more he started to act like Brian, such as carving swastikas into the wooden console at Island Studios in London, where we did the final mixing for Aladdin. Meanwhile, it was up to Mick, Keith and David to finish up the album." (1985)

Despite it being the Rolling Stones' final collaboration with Jimmy Miller, Aladdin Sane managed to reach #1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom, as did the lead single released in July, "Angie"/"The Jean Genie", although it stalled at #2 in the latter country. Critical reception for Aladdin Sane was largely positive, although more so in the United States.

Shortly after the release of the album, David Bowie recorded his third solo album, which was to be a collection of covers he called Pin Ups. Among the tracks he recorded for said album were Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play", the Kinks' "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", and the Who's "I Can't Explain". Hunky Dory members Syd Barrett and Lou Reed served as guest musicians for Pin Ups, released 19 October and reaching #1 in the United Kingdom.

19 October 1973

The Who - Rock Is Dead - Long Live Rock

Released: 19 October 1973

Recorded: May - June 1972, May - September 1973

Producer: The Who

Track listing[4]

Side A

Relay
5:15
Is It In My Head?
Long Live Rock
Drowned
Join Together

Side B

The Real Me
Dirty Jobs
Cut My Hair
I'm One
Doctor Jimmy
Love, Reign O'er Me

After being mostly inactive throughout 1972, with the members pursuing solo projects, the Who were now in their new recording studio, Ramport Studios, which they had modeled out of an old church. Pete Townshend still held onto the concept for Rock is Dead - Long Live Rock, and he had also written up new material such as "Quadrophenia" (a play on schizophrenia), "5:15", and "Helpless Dancer". However, not all the material could be put out on a single album.

PETE TOWNSHEND: "We'd put out Lifehouse a couple of years before, and it was a complete monster of an album running at over seventy minutes. We had to put out something that was a bit more small scale in comparison." (1998)

ROGER DALTREY: "It was a very simple agreement we came up with; put out Rock is Dead this year [1973], and anything that wasn't on the album could come out next year." (1975)

The Who performing live, 1973.

The final Rock is Dead - Long Live Rock was a middle ground between the Who's goofier, looser albums (A Quick One, Magic Bus, 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage) and their more serious, ambitious projects (Who's Lily, Tommy, Lifehouse) - an ideal showcase as to what made the six albums before it great. The album was preceded in September by the single "5:15"/"Long Live Rock", which reached #20 in the United Kingdom. The United States single, "Love, Reign O'er Me"/"The Punk and the Godfather", only managed to reach #76 there.

Rock is Dead - Long Live Rock hit #2 in the United Kingdom and the United States, being kept off of the top spot by David Bowie's Pin Ups and Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in the respective countries. Finding a copy for the Who's eighth album was difficult due to the shortage of vinyl caused by the OPEC oil embargo at the time despite the high charting position, but even then, the album was met with positive reception, being labeled as the Who's greatest masterwork.

On the second side - the rock opera half - the six songs formed a story about adolescence. The mini opera concerns a teenager by the name of Jimmy working a dead-end job and he gets mocked by his elders for his appearance regarding his hair and clothing. He later laments his self-destructive nature but soon comes to an epiphany that only love can reign over his problems. Along with some of the then-unreleased material from the sessions of Rock is Dead - Long Live Rock, the story would serve as the basis for a film in 1979 called Quadrophenia.

Footnotes

1. All tracks from Houses of the Holy are included. "Black Country Woman", "Houses of the Holy" and "The Rover" are all sourced from Physical Graffiti, and "Walter's Walk" is from Coda.
2. It is technically possible to include up to thirty minutes of music per side, but the sound quality isn't expected to be the greatest compared to compact discs.
3. Tracks are sourced from Aladdin Sane and Goats Head Soup, except for "Waiting on a Friend", sourced from Tattoo You.
4. Tracks are sourced from The Who Hits 50! ("Relay", the single edit of "5:15", "Join Together"), Odds & Sods ("Long Live Rock") and Quadrophenia. For the latter, "Is It In My Head" and "Drowned" are edited to fade out earlier on Side A, and for Side B, all tracks were initially re-edited to form a single track before be re-edited into individual tracks with new transitions.

Author's Comments

Has it really been eight chapters since we last saw the Yardbirds? Wow! It seems like yesterday when I put out Stairway to Heaven. Of course, there's not much I can really change with the Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin in the 1970s, save for the shifting in the tracklistings, but what can I do with them after I post the equivalent to In Through the Out Door (1979, during Phase Three)? 1980 was a crucial moment in their history as it's the year John Bonham died choking on his vomit and they broke up because of it. Either they still break up or they replace Bonzo; that I've yet to fully decide, especially if I can find good enough material from Robert Plant and/or Jimmy Page in the 80s.

Also, while the Rolling Stones' story will continue through Phases Two and Three, this is the second to last time in a while we will hear from the Who in Strawberry Peppers. There will be an album featuring the remaining material from Quadrophenia for 1974, but after that, I don't think I can do much justice to The Who by Numbers (1975) or Who Are You (1978) - though for the former, I'd swap "However Much I Booze" and "They Are All in Love" around so both sides are of roughly equal length. But as for the latter, I wonder if I can rearrange the tracks to serve as a sequel to Lifehouse.

Album cover for Rock is Dead - Long Live Rock was made by IdesignAlbumCovers on Tumblr.