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Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 22/08/71 : Split - The Groundhogs The last entry was our second ever mention of Atomic Rooster and this is our second ever mention of The Groundhogs - and I don't have any clue as to what I'm going to get here. Hmmm - how to describe it? It's definitely rock, but it has more of a blues/psychedelic element than most of the proggier stuff we've seen this year - it feels more rooted in the late 60s than most of the stuff we've heard. And, like Atomic Rooster previously, it's not really my sort of thing but it's all perfectly listenable (except for the end of "Junkman" which is most peculiar) because it's well done with plenty of skill involved - I also really like the album cover (you can really imagine Dave Grohl going for something like that) We're at #27 in the charts this week on their 23rd week of a surprisingly lengthy 26 week run with it having peaked at a surprisingly high #5 in i...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 29/08/71 : In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster - Atomic Rooster Only the second ever mention for Atomic Rooster and I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be weird prog which I find particularly unpleasant - always happy to be proved wrong though. Well, it is prog - but it's not really weird or unpleasant. I was reminded of Genesis's output from around this period - it might wander aimlessly around for a bit longer than strictly necessary, but there's nothing wrong with it and they obviously all know their way around their instruments. So, all in all, I'd say this was a pleasant surprise (if not exactly something I'm going to ever rush back to) - I'm also intrigued as to what the album title actually means. We're at #32 in the charts this week on their third week of a four week run, with it having peaked at #18 in its second week. The top five this week were TOTP Vol 18 (seriously?),  Simon & Garfunk...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 05/09/71 : Deep Purple In Rock - Deep Purple Our third visit with DP and our second this year and my expectations are very much that I'll appreciate the skill, but not the noise that they make with that skill. Well, well, well. Not only did I appreciate the skill, but I also quite appreciated the noise - wonders will never cease. It's good old-fashioned 70s rawk and I don't really have anything more to say about it - so let's  just crank up the volume and rock out.   We're at a year low of #34 in the charts this week on their second week of a five week run - but that was its third run and the first one was definitely the most successful, lasting 54 weeks and peaking at #4 in its second and sixteenth weeks. The top five this week were  Simon & Garfunkel ,  The Who  (a new entry),  The Moody Blues , TOTP Vol 18 (the third one we've seen in the top five this year) and  Rod Stewart , with there bei...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 12/09/71 : Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer Our third visit with ELP and our second this year - I believe this is one of their better reviewed albums so I'm interested to visit it. Well, the opening title track is really quite the thing - over twenty minutes of prog pomposity which doesn't really do anything or go anywhere. I assume that was the A side and the B side is a very different creature with six tracks coming in at just under eighteen minutes in total! None of which are exactly great (there's a lot of musical noodling going on) and they don't hang together at all, but at least they don't outstay their welcome - overall, I think I'm fine without ever listening to this again. It's also a most peculiar album cover. We're at #23 in the charts this week on their last week of a fourteen week run, with it having peaked at #1 in its second week - it's weird that it dropped all the way out aft...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 19/09/71 : Everything Is Everything - Diana Ross Our fourth visit with Diana and our second in a week - and I'm hoping this is slightly better than her last offering . Yeah, I think it's better without being exactly great - the production doesn't sound quite so shoddy, but there's still a load of pointless cover versions. And some of them are really quite peculiar - she absolutely murders "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and doesn't do a lot better with "The Long And Winding Road" - somewhat surprisingly she does a much better job with another Lennon/McCartney composition "Come Together", which doesn't feel like it would suit her at all. It was a bit weird to hear "I'm Still Waiting" after we had on our previous visit and I also have to ask who thought it was a good idea to call a track "Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoo". Ove...

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 26/09/71 : Man In Black - Johnny Cash Our second visit with the original MIB (and the last one was over five years ago!) - I'd struggle to say I'm a fan, but I admire the man for his dedication over the years, so I'm happy to listen to this. To my surprise, I didn't mind this at all! It's pretty straightforward guitar-based US country/folk, but it's well done - earnest but not overly so. And I actually liked the title track and "Look For Me" - the addition of June Carter Cash on the latter definitely lifts it. It's also nicely different from everything else we've heard so far this year, so that made for a pleasant change. And it's a pretty cool album cover as well. We're all the way down at #18 in the charts this week (skipping over a LOT of compilation albums) on his third week of a seven week run, with this being as high as it got. The top five this week were  Rod Stewart , Deep ...