Chapter 37: Happy Xmas (War is Over) (September - December 1973)

17 September 1973

The Electric Light Orchestra recording with Marc Bolan, 1973.

The initial recording sessions for the Electric Light Orchestra's third album had begun back in April and May, with the final sessions taking place in August, a month before the release of their next single, consisting of Jeff Lynne's "Showdown" and Roy Wood's "Angel Fingers". Although the B-side would turn up on the album, Hocus Pocus, the A-side did not. During the sessions for the album, violinist Wilfred Gibson had left the group due to a dispute over money and was subsequently replaced with Mik Kaminski.

"Showdown" managed to reach #2 in the United Kingdom, being kept out of the top spot by Donny Osmond's cover of "Young Love", but managed to reach #30 in the United States. The single showcased ELO's evolution in sound by incorporating a funkier back beat beneath the group's trademark sweeping strings, as well as the inclusion of a clavinet. The song was a favorite of John Lennon at the time, having the single as part of his personal collection.

9 November 1973

The Electric Light Orchestra - Hocus Pocus

Released: 9 November 1973

Recorded: April - May, August 1973

Producer: Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood

Track listing[1]

Side A

Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe
Meet Me at the Jailhouse
Dreaming of 4000

Side B

Angel Fingers
Oh No Not Susan
Buffalo Station/Get On Down to Mephis
Ma-Ma-Ma Belle
Gotta Crush (About You)

Hocus Pocus fared marginally better in the United States than the "Showdown" single, topping out at #25. However, it fared worse than the single in the United Kingdom at #9. The songs were significantly shorter than those on The Last Planet, barring the thirteen-and-a-half minute "Meet Me at the Jailhouse", Wood's response to "Kuiama".

During the August sessions, the Electirc Light Orchestra recorded a Christmas song written by Wood, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". When it was released on 10 December, it was paired with Lynne's "Daybreaker", originally recorded with Wilfred Gibson, his final ever contribution to ELO. The single reached #4 in the United Kingdom but did not chart in the United States. Despite being beaten by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas" has since been regarded as a Christmas classic.

November 30, 1973

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - So Far

Released: November 30, 1973

Recorded: December 28, 1969 - 1973

Producer: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Track listing[2]

Side A

Ohio [1970 non-album A-side]
Horses Through a Rainstorm [Déjà Vu outtake]
Laughing ["Tell Me Why" B-side]
Frozen Smiles ["Change Partners" B-side]
Go Back Home ["Music Is Love" B-side]
Till the Morning Comes [Remember Our Names outtake]

Side B

What Are Their Names ["Love the One You're With" B-side]
Singin' Call ["War Song" B-side]
On the Line [Human Highway outtake; new song]
Games ["Page 43" B-side]
Words (Between the Lines of Age) ["Immigration Man" B-side]
Find the Cost of Freedom [1970 non-album B-side]

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's So Far came about in an unusual way. In the summer of 1973, the quartet had regrouped to record their next studio album, to be dubbed Human Highway. It was believed at the time that depending on how much quality material the group had put out, the album could've had anywhere between ten and twenty songs.

GRAHAM NASH: "It wasn't as easy as it seemed at the time; David, Steve, Neil and I had very much exhausted our material from the early 1970s not just for CSNY, but for the side projects as well. By then, Neil had finished up recording for Tonight's the Night, which he would put out on Apple's American subsidiary label, Highway 61. And Stephen had just put out Down the Road with Manassas that May." (2000)

Originally intended for a release in early 1974, the few songs the group managed to complete for Human Highway were Stephen Stills' "See the Changes", "First Things First" and "As I Come of Age" (the latter of which having origins tracing back to 1971), Graham Nash's "And So It Goes", "On the Line" and an early take of "Prison Song". With David Crosby and Neil Young having nothing to offer, although the latter was working on the title track, it was decided by the group to delay the album until the end of 1974 at best.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, 1973.

STEPHEN STILLS: "We were left wondering what we could put out for the Christmas rush, but then David suggested that we take our previously released material, mostly released as B-sides, and put them out on a compilation." (1988)

DAVID CROSBY: "It seemed the only possible course of action at that point. Human Highway had barely begun and only half of us had plenty of material to choose from. We even included a couple of tracks that we'd previously recorded but never considered for album inclusion. It kept the fans' appetites for more CSNY music wet whilst we worked on writing more material." (2010)

Despite Neil Young disparaging the album as a "cash grab" (1979) in later years, So Far managed to reach #1 in the United States, despite the confusion surrounding the release of previously released B-sides and a couple of outtakes thrown in. However, it only reached #25 in the United Kingdom. After the confusion wore off, the album was generally positively received, with fans pleased that there were able to get non-album tracks onto a single album rather than simply buying all the singles to complete their collection. And with Graham Nash's "On the Line", the only newly recorded track for the album, serving as a preview to their next "real" studio album Human Highway, nothing could possibly go wrong for the band now, right?

Right?

December 3, 1973

President George McGovern addressing a crowd of reporters, 1973.

RICHARD NORTON SMITH: "When George McGovern became President following Richard Nixon's downfall, one of the first priorities of President McGovern was to end the war with Vietnam. The Democratic party was in favor of cutting off American funds for the war to withdraw our troops have have our prisoners of war freed. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Thieu had initially resisted in signing the peace treaty in Paris, but McGovern was persistent that Thieu do so if he wanted Vietnam to be whole again." (George S. McGovern: A Modern President, 2013)

Gunfire and fighting had ceased by the end of April, with the last of the American troops having left at the end of March. In June, the Case-Church Amendment had been approved in Congress which prohibited American military activity in Vietnam after August 15, although the United States would still provide military equipment and economic support to the South Vietnamese government.

In response to the ending of America's involvement with the Vietnam War on the battlefield, the Ladders' "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" from 1971 was reissued with "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" as the new B-side. It topped the charts in the United States over the Christmas season, but it was not re-released in the United Kingdom.

Despite the relief of America's citizens knowing that they were no longer involved in the war, the scars would never completely heal to those who had been involved, and the war would not end for another year with a North Vietnamese victory, and as a result, the reunification of Vietnam. But President George McGovern's work in the White House was far from finished, as he now had bigger fish to fry...

Footnotes

1. Tracks are sourced from On the Third Day and the 2006 reissue of Wizzard Brew. "Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe" and "Oh No Not Susan" are edited down to eliminate transitions, and "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" is the single edit found on All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra.
2. Tracks are sourced from So Far, the first disc of the CSN box set, David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name, Crosby & Nash's Graham Nash David Crosby, Stephen Stills' Stephen Stills and Stephen Stills 2, Neil Young's After the Gold Rush and Harvest, and Graham Nash's Wild Tales.

Author's Comments

It's kind of appropriate that I posted this chapter close to the Christmas season, isn't it? There's not really much to say as it's a shorter chapter than usual. It's basically meant to serve as a bit of a filler chapter before we get into the 1974-1975 period.