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| 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)
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| 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".
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| 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)
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| 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.
