skograndcables.com Origins of Harder Rock- Part 2 Suggested Albums From Cream, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath Douglas Brown Following tenures with The Yard- to the 4 studio albums which they birds and John Mayall & the Blues- released. In Part 1 of my review of late 1960s breakers, in early 1966, Eric Clap- The compilation album The Very and early 1970s era albums which ton was looking for a new band Best of Cream [Polydor 314 523 were fundamental to the develop- to pour his restless and relentless 752-2] contains a diverse cross- ment of hard rock and heavy metal, musical ideas and guitar virtuos- section of Cream’s songs from all I explored some of the greatest al- ity into. While all three members four of their studio releases. Clas- bums from Jimi Hendrix, The Who of Cream were well-known in the sic tracks from Fresh Cream (1966), and The MC5. You can now find UK blues-rock music scene, when Disraeli Gears (1967), Wheels of this article in the “Features / Audio” they formed in the summer of 1966, Fire (1968), and Goodbye (1969) section on www.canadahifi.com. Clapton was widely regarded as the present their uniquely heavy and In Part 2, I’ll examine several bands best blues-rock guitarist in the en- technically challenging sound in all whose records redefined what could tire British Isles. of its overdriven glory. be done with hard music. The goal While songs like ‘Spoonful’, ‘Born here is to provide some direction as Under a Bad Sign’, ‘NSU’, ‘We’re to which albums you might want Going Wrong’, and ‘Sitting on Top to add to your music collection in of the World’ all display Cream’s the on-going search for cool music penchant for digging deep into which you may not have heard of. monstrous electric-blues grooves, it’s some of their faster and heavier Cream - The Very Best of Cream tracks like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, Formed in July 1966 and consid- ‘Tales of Brave Ulysses’, ‘White ered by many to be the first rock Room’, ‘Those Were the Days’, and ‘super group’ to ever exist, Cream ‘Crossroads’ that clearly influenced consisted of Eric Clapton (guitars), hard rock and heavy metal down Ginger Baker (drums and percus- Despite only existing for 3½ years, through the next 5 decades. Fortu- sion), and Jack Bruce (bass and Cream’s influence on modern hard nately for listeners, this compilation vocals). rock music is out of all proportion contains all of these amazing songs. 8 www.canadahiĮ .com originsofharderrock Regardless of whether you were to feature vocalist Ian Gillan’s dy- tures and meandering organ in- lucky enough to have seen them namic singing and Roger Glover’s terludes, the song ‘Child in Time’ play live in their halcyon days in powerful and melodic bass. Com- clocks in at 10:15. Musically speak- the late 1960s, or are just discover- bined with Jon Lord’s virtuoso key- ing, it redefined what could be done ing them today, The Very Best of board and Hammond organ work, with an epic-length hard rock track. Cream is a superb CD. drummer Ian Paice’s cerebral per- Part of this song was even used Cream’s sound mixed elements of cussion, and Ritchie Blackmore’s to great effect in the Hollywood the blues, swing, psychedelic, and frenetic guitar wizardry, today, In blockbuster movie Twister. late-1960’s nascent heavy-metal Rock is considered to be one of the In Rock is one of my ‘Desert Is- rock into a hybrid form of limitless cornerstones in the foundation of all land Discs’. This album delivered music which predated, foreshad- forms of modern-day hard rock and the speed, power, and technical owed, and influenced Led Zeppelin, heavy metal. virtuosity which would become the Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. As rock musicians went, in the tenets of the New Wave of British While the constant stress of tour- early 1970s Deep Purple’s indi- Heavy Metal [NWoBHM] move- ing took its toll on all 3 members, vidual members could out-play ment, of Heavy Metal in the 1980s the musical synergy that Cream just about everyone else who was and beyond, and of all modern rock had—especially live—is simply re- around at that time. As a collective music being played fast and loud. If markable. Just listen to the unstop- whole, Deep Purple’s musical syn- you’re curious to know where this pable groove that they have going ergy was simply unmatched. style of music started, it should be on the live version of ‘Crossroads’. While the first three Deep Purple on your ‘short list’ of albums to buy. Anchored by Clapton’s virtuoso albums had drawn influences from lead-guitar and Bruce’s powerful psyche, blues, folk, and even classi- Machine Head vocals, Cream played live like they cal music, In Rock took all of these Even though the members of the were on some sort of religious mis- influences further; in fact, much ‘Mach-2’ version of Deep Purple sion to bring their vision of electric- further. They collectively combined had only been together for two blues to the masses. the despairing sound of the blues, years when Machine Head was re- If I ever figure out how to build a the panoramic sound of psychedel- corded, the album sounds like a ma- time machine out of a Delorean, the ic music, and the light-hearted me- ture release from a band who knew first place in recent history that I’m anderings of folk music, and then exactly how to capture the volcanic going to visit is London England played them far faster and heavier. energy of their live shows on tape in to see Cream’s Farewell Concert at At the same time, they also added the studio environment. the Royal Albert Hall in November a darker edge to the music. What Ian Paice was an astounding 1968. Why…? Listen to the music emerged was a prototype collection drummer who had the musical ma- on this compilation and you’ll know of classic hard rock songs which all turity to never overwhelm, or over- why. future genres of metal classify as an play, songs with bombastic, lunatic, influence. or unnecessary drum solos; and/or The first track on In Rock titled superfluous percussion. ‘Speed King’ roars forth with a fast- Jon Lord played keyboards with breaking lead guitar riff. Combined such authority, dexterity, and con- with solid percussion, great rhythm, fidence, that he single-handedly and a curious organ solo, this song made the Hammond organ a force drives listeners headlong into a bar- to be reckoned with in hard rock rage of intricate lead guitar solos. music. Although formally trained Gillian’s knife-edged feral screams as a classical pianist, Lord’s at- set the vocal tone for the entire al- titude was that of a thoroughbred bum. rock musician who could play tech- The tracks ‘Bloodsucker’, ‘Flight nically intricate (read: near impos- of the Rat’, ‘Into the Fire’, and ‘Liv- sible) neo-classical keyboard lines, Deep Purple - In Rock and Ma- ing Wreck’ are all musically struc- but also had the creative skill and chine Head tured around the same heavy bass- imagination to, seemingly at will, An album that’s essential to under- laden rhythms, fast guitar lines, and add staggering amounts of atmo- standing the history of hard rock screaming vocals. Numerous swift sphere or utterly bizarre sounding and heavy metal is Deep Purple’s and atmospheric guitar, drum, or- staccato bursts from his keyboards. 1970 Deep Purple In Rock [Warner gan, and bass solos punctuate all of And, just as on the In Rock al- Bros CD 1877]. these songs with creative and unex- bum, Ian Gillan brings a command- While In Rock is Deep Purple’s pected musical complexity. ing swagger, unstoppable fun, and fourth album, it was their 1st release With its progressive time signa- screaming gusto to every track on 10 www.canadahiĮ .com originsofharderrock Machine Head. attempting to get some sort of understand- called ‘The Child’. In fact, he insisted that The song ‘Highway Star’ begins with a ing of what Zeppelin’s extensive back it should be referred to as something so galloping energy that infuses all listeners catalogue sounds like? There is a simple, heavy, so doom-laden, and so destructive with a demented smile. It’s one of those cost-effective answer to this question: and that the first thing to pop into his mind to ‘I just went temporarily insane Officer’ that answer is their Mothership (Atlantic adequately describe its awesome power, types of songs that’ll have you nervously R2 313148) compilation. indeed, was ‘The 1st four Black Sabbath searching for the right words to try to ex- Mothership is a 2-CD collection of 24 albums’. plain why you were driving 180KpH on a of Led Zeppelin’s songs. These two-dozen Despite innumerable personnel changes posted 100KpH freeway. tracks were chosen in 2007 by the remain- over the course of the last 45 plus years, If you use the ‘Highway Star’ legal de- ing members (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Black Sabbath is still touring and releas- fense in a traffic court in the British Isles, and Jon Paul Jones) of Zeppelin. The re- ing albums. As of June 2015, the sheer the presiding judge will (probably) dis- number of studio albums, live albums, miss your case, grant you leniency, and concert DVDs and Blu-ray discs which allow you to leave on your own recogni- the band has released is difficult to even sance.