#greatest hits (1977)

[diceriadelluntore]

Storia Di Musica #267 - Black Sabbath, Greatest Hits, 1977

Questo è uno degli album con la storia più strana del mondo rock. Con protagonista una delle band che più hanno colpito un certo immaginario collettivo. Ma partiamo dal filo conduttore delle Storie di Musica di Marzo, le copertina con quadri del Rinascimento. In quello di oggi, vi è una sezione del capolavoro del 1562, Il Trionfo Della Morte, di Peter Bruegel, conservato al Museo Del Prado di Madrid. Quadro di una drammatica bellezza, ha in sè una leggenda niente male: innamorato dello stile di Antonello da Messina, Bruegel, che era fiammingo, viaggiò fino in Sicilia per vedere i quadri del Misterioso maestro. E secondo molti critici lo sfondo di questo e di un altro suo leggendario capolavoro, Caduta Di Icaro (1558), sono ispirate a coste siciliane, e il mortifero cavallo della Grande Falciatrice in questo fu ispirato da quello dell’affresco, omonimo, ma di due secoli più antico, conservato adesso a Palazzo Abatellis a Palermo. E qui parte la storia strana del disco: il quadro non è nemmeno accreditato sulla copertina del disco quando uscì nel 1977 (e ancora adesso non compare in molte discografie ufficiali), perchè probabilmente questa raccolta era una carta di riserva della casa discografica NEMS (fondata da Brian Epstein, ma poi acquistata dal management del gruppo di oggi) preoccupata che qualcuno dei Black Sabbath potesse morire da un momento all’altro, vista la quantità e la qualità di cose pericolose che immettevano nel loro corpo in varie modalità. Dico subito che la storia non si può verificare in alcun modo, e rimane leggenda, ma dato che il disco ebbe diffusione bassissima, la alimentò a dismisura, quasi da considerare il disco una sorta di bootleg ufficiale e adesso è un pezzo forte del collezionismo (in qualsiasi pur pessima condizione vale almeno 100 €). I Black Sabbath erano esplosi 7 anni prima, quando per qualche centinaio di sterline e 12 ore in sala prove, Tony Iommi (chitarra), Bill Ward (batteria), Geezer Butler (basso) e John “Ozzy” Osbourne (voce), da Aston, periferia di Birmingham (all’epoca, uno dei posti più deprimenti dell’Occidente) creano, partendo dal blues, un qualcosa che mischiato con campane a morte, tuoni nella notte, urla disumane, chitarre lancinanti come lame infernali, un nuovo stile, l’heavy metal. La via esoterica al rock parte con i primi, clamorosi, cinque dischi: Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (stesso anno, il Sgt. Pepper’s del metal), Master Of Reality (1971) e gli appena più “affaticati” Vol. 4 (1972) e Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973). Nessuno prima di loro aveva aggredito in modo così “scabroso” gli spettatori, segnando, come raramente è accaduto, un genere. Il disco è semplicissimo: 10 brani, 5 dal fantasmagorico esordio, 3 da Paranoid e Vol. 4., 2 da Black Sabbath e una ciascuna dai restanti due. In scaletta tutti i brani mitici del gruppo, canzoni culto come l’allucinata Paranoid, la brutale e meravigliosa Iron Man, gli 8, incredibili minuti di War Pigs, che stravolgono il blues, la tosse che apre al riff già stoner di Sweet Leaf, ma anche la dolcezza del piano di Changes, il brano più romantico del repertorio, come Tomorrow’s Dream, che apre addirittura al romanticismo: “And let tomorrow's dreams\Become reality to me\So realize I'm much better without you\You're not the one and only thing in my heart\I'll just go back to pretending I'm living\So this time I'm gonna have the star part”. Il terremoto sonoro è completato dalle quasi omonime Black Sabbath e l’altro riff micidiale di Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Mancano alcuni capolavori, riscoperti anche dopo anni, come Electric Funeral (da Paranoid, apocalittica) o la imprescindibile per i fan Children Of The Grave (da Master Of Reality). Quando uscì nel 1970 Paranoid, la rivista Rolling Stones, dopo averli pesantemente criticati per il primo lavoro, che nonostante tutto arrivò nella Top Ten inglese, scrisse: “Sul loro secondo e pesantissimo disco, Paranoid, troviamo lamenti sulla distruzione della guerra e l'ipocrisia dei politici, i pericoli della tecnologia e dell'abuso di droga”, parole che possono andare benissimo per questo disco antologico, introvabile ma magnifico. Va detto a onor di cronaca che la Nems sbagliò di pochissimo le previsioni di uno scioglimento, ma non per decesso, sebbene Ozzy e Iommi facevano a gare di riabilitazioni e entrate in cliniche: dopo il deludentissimo Never Say Die, uscito nel 1978, dove rispetto alla “brutalità” del punk neonato (che prese moltissimo dal loro essere iconoclasti) sembravano quelli di Top Of The Pops, Ozzy abbandona in un primo momento, poi finisce il disco, e se ne va definitivamente, sostituito nel 1980 da Ronnie James Dio, Ma quella sarà un’altra band, ed è anche un’altra storia.

[rolandrockover]

(You Make Me) Even Rock Harder

What does Kiss, or better (You Make Me) Rock Hard have to do with Muhammad Ali?

Oh, quite a lot, but only indirectly. On the film soundtrack and in the film credits for his biopic there is this heart-rending piece of music entitled The Greatest Love of All, which was interpreted by George Benson. In 1977.

However, since I hardly assume that Paul Stanley would have thought of the extremely catchy bridge of this song in 1988 (1) as a source of inspiration for Kiss' planned single release on their forthcoming Best Of album, I am therefore happy to shift our attention to the 1986 version by Whitney Houston. You know, the one that was a number one hit in America, Canada and Australia and mercilessly clogged up the airplay of radio stations and music television worldwide. Whitney Houston's second biggest hit overall, trumped only by her ultra-hit I Will Always Love You from the Bodyguard soundtrack, which sold how many copies? 30 million? No, no, 44 million copies!

Holy Christ! That sounds more like a bit of comprehensible inspiration, doesn't it?

But Rock Hard should actually ring another bell, namely one with the name Diane Warren engraved on it. The lady who is credited as its co-author (2), who happens to be the composer of dozens of hits and dozens of top ten hits by dozens of world stars, all of which I can't and I am not willing to list here because I have something else to do in two hours. Including, and this should go without saying, almost half a dozen of songs for Whitney Houston. Even though that happened a couple of years after Rock Hard, I nevertheless say with a satisfied smile: If that's not a good transition, then I don't know what is.

(You Make Me) Rock Hard and Whitney Houston. Somehow I had always suspected without realizing it. But finally I know for sure.

I will always love You (Make me Rock Hard).

Side Note:

(1) This means, I don't really care if Paul outed himself as a lifelong fan of classic soul. Decades later.

(2) And of course also of Turn On the Night and, ahem, Nothing Can Keep Me From You.

The links are both highlighted and start at the bridges to the chorus. Just listen for yourself:

(You Make Me) Rock Hard (1988)

The Greatest Love of All (1986)

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

George Michael and Mary J. Blige - As 1999

"As" is a song written and performed by American singer and musician Stevie Wonder from his eighteenth album, Songs in the Key of Life (1976). The song was released in October 1977 and reached number 36 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Black Singles chart. It gets its name from the first word of its lyrics. In 1998, British singer George Michael (of former Wham! fame) and American singer Mary J. Blige covered the song for George's greatest hits album, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (1998). It was produced by Babyface. Released outside the United States on March 1, 1999, as the second single from the album, "As" charted within the top 10 in the UK, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. "As" was not released on the US version of Ladies & Gentlemen or as a single in the US. George cited Mary's record company president, Jay Boberg, for pulling the track after George's arrest for committing a lewd act in a public restroom. If you can't get enough of George Michael and/or Mary J. Blige, the video is perfect for you. :) "As" got a total of 56,7% yes votes.

[forestdeath1]

Poet

@prongsfoot-microfic

January 23, 1977

James lies with his eyes closed on the dusty bed in the Shrieking Shack, his nose buried in Sirius's waist. His left hand casually rests on his friend's thigh. Sirius, leaning against the headboard, is flipping through the pages of some yellowed book, faintly illuminated by the dying light of sunset seeping through the cracks of the old windows.

"What's that you're reading?" James mumbles sleepily into his friend's shirt.

"Some muggle poetry. Lily gave it to me," Sirius responds.

"Why does Lily give you books?" James lifts his head slightly.

"Because, unlike you, I'm not a toerag. I can actually talk to her without making a fool of myself, you know?"

"Oh, shut it," James exhales, lightly hitting Sirius's book with his hand before rolling onto his back. "She likes me."

"Of course, she does," Sirius agrees, without looking up from his book. "Everyone does."

"Right," James pretends not to hear the irony in Sirius's voice. Or maybe he genuinely doesn't.

"Muggles can write beautifully, did you know?" Sirius asks a few minutes later.

"Nah," James answers lazily, yawning and stretching. Today he had to get up even earlier than usual – Stone had set a penalty training for their team for "improper conduct on the field."

"Listen to this," Sirius starts reading, sliding his left hand into James's hair.

Sirius twirls a lock of James's hair around his finger while his voice fills the room with the dramas of human lives, clothed in rhymed lines. James looks at the log ceiling, studying the patterns of darkened grooves and scratches, listening. 

Sirius has a beautiful voice. He even makes poetry sound interesting. Poetry? Since when did James care about poetry? But with Sirius, even poetry seems fascinating.

Well, it's not like he's genuinely into poetry, but he likes how Sirius reads them – like he's the hero of these stories, not just a bystander.  If any of them has a refined soul, it's definitely Sirius, though he'd never admit it. 

This boy has a knack for finding the hidden poetry in the prose of life – something James has always lacked. Sirius – a lyrical child of the night. Daunting, dark, and dangerous, but only to those who haven't yet learned to understand it, who haven't seen that he is a reflection of the most dazzling white light.

"Do you like it?" Sirius asks after a while.

"Yeah," James whispers, turning back towards Sirius and pressing his face against his side, slipping his hand under the shirt to rest it on Sirius's chest. "Write me a poem," James looks up, smiling slightly.

Sirius laughs softly and clears his throat dramatically.

"Oh, James the Magnificent, greatest of the great, brightest of the bright..." he begins theatrically, extending his hand in a caricature of a gesture.

"And who's making a fool of themselves now?" James sighs, suppressing a chuckle, and lowers his head back to Sirius's waist. Sirius flicks him on the head in response.

They lie like that for a while. James hears the rustle of turning pages and the howling of the winter wind. He feels the warmth of Sirius's body under his palm. They're always warm, both of them. Moony often jokes that they can use them instead of warming charms for their dorm.

"Actually, I found a poem here," Sirius suddenly says, "just needs a little tweaking..."

"Tell me."

Sirius pauses for a moment, then flips through the pages and stops at the right one. James raises his gaze to him, looking up – Sirius has always dubbed this particular expression as 'the deer look'.

Sirius thoughtfully shifts his gaze from the book to James, smiles with one corner of his mouth, ruffles James's hair, and, returning his grey eyes to the book, quietly says:

"He is my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I think this love will last forever: am I not wrong?"

"What did you change?"

"Just the last line. It's originally about loss. 'I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.' But I like my version better. You?"

"Me too," James lifts himself on his elbows, presses against Sirius's ear, and whispers, "I think this love will last forever," then kisses him, moving lower down his neck and deeper, sliding his hand under the shirt. "You are not wrong."

___

October 31, 1981

He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden

[the-hottest-band-tournament]

Round Two

XTC

Defeated opponents: America

Formed in: 1972

Genres: pop, art rock, new wave, post punk, art punk, progressive pop

Lineup: Andy Partridge – vocals, guitar

Colin Moulding – vocals, bass guitar

Dave Gregory – vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizers, Chamberlin, string arrangement, tiple

Albums from the 80s:

Take Away/The Lure of Salvage (1980)

Black Sea (1980)

Live & More EP (1981)

5 Senses EP (1981)

English Settlement (1982)

Waxworks: Some Singles 1977–1982 (1982)

Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977–1982 (1982)

Mummer (1983)

The Big Express (1984)

Skylarking (1986)

Oranges & Lemons (1989)

Propaganda: Weird and wondeful, XTC made it a point to actively avoid any familiar approaches and clichés in their songs, and maintained a solid cult following. They also had decent success when they used a pseudonym to play psychedelic rock.

Journey

Defeated opponents: Extreme

Formed in: 1973

Genres: AOR, hard rock, soft rock

Lineup: Steve Perry – lead vocals

Neal Schon – guitars, backing vocals

Gregg Rolie – keyboards, harmonica, backing vocals

Ross Valory – bass guitar, bass pedals, backing vocals

Steve Smith – drums, percussion

Albums from the 80s:

Departure (1980)

Dream, After Dream (1980)

Captured (1981)

Escape (1981)

Frontiers (1983)

Raised on Radio (1986)

Greatest Hits (1988)

Propaganda: A band so hot (both in appearance and popularity) that even the abysmal music video for "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" couldn't hurt them.

[rock-and-roll-hell]

July 24, 1977

Love Gun Tour

Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, British Columbia

According to the promoter: “The cops heard of KIϟϟ’ so-called reputation and they ordered four squads to the show. They played poker all night and billed us $8,000 for overtime” (Montreal Gazette, 8/2/77).

From a local review: “Hype? Not really. KIϟϟ promise nothing less than the greatest spectacle in rock and nothing less is exactly what they provide. From that it is easy for the unaware parent or pundit to mistake KIϟϟ for a threat to our civilized way of life. But understand this, KIϟϟ are not self-pitying, humorless nihilists like the punk rockers. If anything, they are a fantasy for an age that has seen just about everything. Of course they appeal to the escapist stripe. It would be fun to stand seven feet tall, spit fire, deafen everyone within a 1,000 yard radius and make a million bucks doing it” (Vancouver Sun, 7/25/77).

From another local review: “The KIϟϟ concert Sunday night was better than the fireworks display the Sea Festival holds annually. The Coliseum took on all the aspects of kid’s day at the PNE’s Playland with harried parents leading offspring by the hand up into the stands, plopping their plump selves down into the same seats they had at The Ice Capades or The Shriner Circus, and stopping up their ears with cotton… KIϟϟ was perfunctory as you please, well rehearsed, but musically deadening and the sound from the press box was, as usual, muddy except when Ace Frehley took off into one of his solos. Frehley appeared to be bored, or tired, or sick, or drunk, or all four, while batman, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley did their best to whip up a surprisingly complacent audience which eventually succumbed and went nuts when the hits and the gimmickry got into gear” (Georgia Straight, 7/28/77)

[scary-grace]

masterpost/faq/etc

**UPDATE: My fics on Ao3 are currently locked for registered users only. I have plenty of invites available, so let me know if you’re in need of one!**

I have been meaning to make one of these for probably a decade, but here we are. I'm Grace, I'm 28, and I'm a purveyor of weird fics and zero-note personal posts. I write exclusively for the Tolkienverse (with heavy emphasis on The Hobbit and heavier emphasis on Barduil) and for My Hero Academia (Erasermic, Shigaraki x reader, and probably other stuff if I stay in the fandom long enough). You can find me on Ao3 at BiSquared.

My askbox is always open! I'm basically always accepting prompts, but I'm bad about doing them with any consistency, so there's usually a backlog. That being said, when I do answer prompts, I answer them in the form of full one-shots (which for me are almost always 3k+), and if you're on Ao3 I'll gift them to you! I don't really do commissions, but I do have a Ko-fi.

My Fics (Greatest hits)

Tolkienverse:

seeking a friend - the Barduil zombie apocalypse AU you were probably not warned about. This is a series - the main fic, seeking a friend for the end of the world, is complete, and there's also a lot of bonus content, including an AU of the AU where there are no zombies. (280k+ words)

bring on your wrecking ball - the Bagginshield and Barduil band au nobody asked for. Come for the thought of Thorin singing lead in a country band, stay for the ridiculous bedtime stories, homemade song lyrics, and very slow burn. This is a series, involving the same events told from three different perspectives -- Thorin's, Bilbo's, and Bard's. (650k+ words and counting)

Kairos - a Barduil fic set in 1977, wherein Thranduil and his children move into an enormous house on a sprawling estate and Thranduil falls in love with the caretaker. This fic is a monster. I finished writing it in 2021, and it's 565k words long, so it'll be posting for a while. (243k+ words and counting)

soon you'll get better - a collection of thirty whump prompts featuring Bard and Thranduil, all written during February 2022. (90k+ words)

more than words can wield the matter - canon, post Battle of the Five Armies, featuring Bard receiving some rather inappropriate letters from a certain Elvenking. One-shot.

and many more...

My Hero Academia

one headlight - Erasermic hanahaki AU series, featuring both Aizawa's and Mic's POVs! (58k+ words and counting)

the rooftop gang's guide to finding a family - Erasermic no quirks AU series, featuring Jewish Present Mic (check out @corndog-patrol's art for the inspiration), adoption of various children and pets, and very awkward first meetings. (79k+ words and counting)

Ghost Tales - Shigaraki x reader ghost AU series, featuring ghost Shigaraki and a bunch of other characters. The main story is complete, with multiple spinoffs planned and an Erasermic spinoff already posted. (150k+ words and counting)

As Above, So Below - Erasermic AU based on Junji Ito's Uzumaki. In progress but close to completion! (72k+ words and counting)

promise i'll be the cure - Erasermic sex pollen fic, wherein Aizawa gets nailed with sex pollen and Mic finally gets the chance to take care of him. Warning: No sex. One-shot.

and many more...

If you have any questions, feel free to hit up my askbox or send me a message! I'm always happy to chat.

[cartermagazine]

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Today We Honor Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American singer-songwriter and actress, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania July 6, 1949. She was best known for her singles from the late 1970s through the early 1990s including: You Know How to Love Me, Living All Alone, and Don’t Wanna Change the World.

She performed on a national tour with the group, New Direction. Later she joined All the People while working with another group, The Hondo Beat. She made her acting debut in 1974 in the film Lenny. Hyman also led a group called Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor.

Hyman’s debut solo album named Phyllis Hyman was released in 1977 on Buddah Records. When Arista Records bought Buddah Records, she transferred to the new label and released four albums: Somewhere in My Lifetime (1979), You Know How to Love Me (1979), Can’t We Fall in Love Again? (1981), and Goddess of Love (1983).

She also performed on Broadway in the musical, Sophisticated Ladies, the tribute play for Duke Ellington. For that work, she received a Tony Award, nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, and won a Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer.

In 1983 Hyman recorded the song “Never Say Never Again” for the James Bond movie of the same name which starred Sean Connery but the song she recorded couldn’t be used for the movie soundtrack due to legal reasons. In 1986 Hyman released the album, Living All Alone, on the Philadelphia International label. She also appeared in the movies, Too Scared to Scream (1985), Spike Lee’s School Daze (1988), and The Kill Reflex (1989).

In 1991 Phyllis Hyman released the album, The Prime of My Life, on Philadelphia International, which was the biggest album of her career. It included her first number-one R&B hit as well her first Billboard Top 100 hit, Don’t Wanna Change the World. The album, her last released while she was alive, was certified gold by 1992.

Phyllis Hyman… One of the Greatest Artists of our Lifetime.

CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #cartermagazine #carter #phyllishyman #music #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history #spikelee #schooldaze #staywoke

[mamusiq]

Françoise Hardy - Mon amie la rose Hommage pour ses 80 ans ! Jan 14, 2024 "Mon amie la rose" est l'une des chansons phares de la chanteuse Françoise HARDY. Une chanson poétique qui parle de la mort d'une manière raffinée et parfois implicite. Sortie en 1964.

Françoise Hardy Greatest Hits 🌹 RIP 1944 - 2024 🌹

Françoise Madeleine Hardy 17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024) 🌹 was a French singer-songwriter and actress. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure of the yé-yé wave.

In addition to her native French, she also sang in English, Italian and German. Her career spanned more than fifty years with over thirty studio albums released.

Born and raised in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, Hardy made her musical debut in 1962 on French label Disques Vogue and found immediate success through the song "Tous les garçons et les filles". Drifting away from her early rock and roll influences, she began to record in London in 1964, which allowed her to broaden her sound with albums such as Mon amie la rose, L'amitié, La maison où j'ai grandi and Ma jeunesse fout le camp….

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she released Comment te dire adieu, La question and Message personnel, to further establish her artistry. In this period, she worked with songwriters such as Serge Gainsbourg, Patrick Modiano, Michel Berger and Catherine Lara. Between 1977 and 1988, she worked with producer Gabriel Yared with the albums Star, Musique saoûle, Gin Tonic and À suivre. Her 1988 record Décalages was widely publicized as Hardy's final album, although she returned eight years later with Le danger, which completely reinvented her sound to a harsher alternative rock. Her following albums of the 2000s—Clair-obscur, Tant de belles choses and (Parenthèses…) - saw a return to her mellow style. In the 2010s, Hardy released her last three albums: La pluie sans parapluie, L'amour fou, and Personne d'autre.

Hardy remains one of the best-selling singers in French history, and continues to be regarded as an iconic and influential figure in both French pop and fashion.

🌹

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

Q̲u̲e̲e̲n - 1977 Greatest Hits - N̲e̲ws O̲̲f T̲he̲ W̲o̲rld (Full Album)

[rastronomicals]

12:29 AM EDT March 23, 2024:

Elton John - "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" From the Compilation album   Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II (September 13, 1977)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

★★★★

Originally released as a single MCA-40344 b/w "One Day At A Time" released 1974

--

[idrinkyouryouthquake]

Imma lay some information about Marc Bolan on you coz it's just hanging out in my head for free

Marc Bolan is seriously the greatest wizard who's ever lived. Every other rock legend is really easy to explain. Like Jimmy Page is a great guitarist and writes great riffs and stuff and Robert Plant has an amazing and versatile voice so all that checks out and like Bruce Springsteen is a great songwriter and dynamic performer and The E Street Band is just a fucking excellent band so we all get that and Billy Joel is the fucking Piano Man and Queen is four great singer/songwriters who are also great at instruments and ditto The Beatles and The Stones are a bunch of little freaks being weird and most of them are really good at instruments but we mainly like watching them jumping around saying the filthiest shit we've ever heard and that also makes sense. And like David Bowie is some kind of space goblin with a borderline classical voice who can kick ass on like 7 different instruments and ditto Prince.

All of this makes perfect sense.

And then there is Marc Bolan. Who sold more records in the UK than The Beatles. Like he beat The Beatles at their own game. And what exactly did Marc do? Well, he had this really fast vibrato so it always sounded like he was singing his Torah portion. He was 5'5 and always wore muscle shirts under pink satin suits and feathers and had Barbra Streisand's exact hair. He wrote this kind of free associative poetry that is completely open to interpretation and no one actually knows 100% what any single song is about. Like, some of his biggest hits, people are like, that song is about a car. And then other people are like, you're fucking ignorant, that song is about a PHONE. And these people are still arguing. And he's been dead since 1977.

And the rest of his songs are about weird fucking cockney dudes who just confused the shit out of everyone in the East End where everyone knew their names, but not like their actual names, but like the random shit people called them instead of their names because people didn't know who the fuck they were even though they'd been living there since the dawn of time.

And then there were other songs about how Marc Bolan wanted to have sex with you. But these songs were also ALWAYS about cars. And then there were songs where he'd just sing shit like "we're the leopards" over and over and over again and he'd call it "The Leopards Featuring Gardenia and the Mighty Slug" and I cannot stress this enough, there was no Gardenia or Mighty Slug featured on the album, it was just his wife.

And a major part of Marc's wizardry is that he is consistently name-checked in lists of the greatest guitarists of all time. If you go back to his first, I don't know, 7 albums or whatever before like Electric Warrior came out, he was BAD at guitar. So bad that Eric fucking Clapton took pity on him and just straight up showed him how to guitar right. And I'm gonna tangent off to say one thing about this man's personality: he was hella difficult. But like, even after he learned how to guitar real hard, he still wrote songs that had like 3 goddamn chords in them. I'm going through the rolodex in my brain, but he pretty much never wrote a song in a minor key. Life's an Elevator, that one's in a minor key. And then maybe nothing else ever again? He was rocking as hard as is humanly possible with as little as is humanly possible.

Back to the whole Marc was difficult thing: Marc kept pissing everyone in the world off and couldn't keep a band together. Did it matter? NO! His drummers kept mysteriously dying so the answer to who is the drummer in his band, at any point, was A) who is a drummer who is alive? And B) who is a drummer who can tolerate Marc Bolan's personality? And like half of them were named Mickey.

David Bowie tells a good story about meeting Marc Bolan. They were good friends, even though Marc was a giant pain in his ass. I'll let him tell the story because it's just better.

Marc was OBSESSED with Syd Barrett. Fair enough, aren't we all? He used to hang around Pink Floyd's manager's office constantly because of that. If you don't already know, Pink Floyd's manager at the time brought on this very nice woman named June Child to basically look after Syd and then they became lovers, but she was literally an employee of the company. Marc was SO OBSESSED with Syd, he MARRIED JUNE CHILD. He did that.

I've talked a lot here about how he was obsessed with cars, right? Well, he became very rich very fast and bought a fuck ton of old cars. Could he drive? FUCK NO! He was terrified he was going to die in a car crash, that was his greatest fear in life, so he never learned how to drive. And so guess how he died? IN A MOTHERFUCKING CAR CRASH. At 29 years old. Just after quitting cocaine and champagne and starting to get his life back together.

He named his son Rolan Bolan. His songwriting did not get worse on drugs, it just got more lyrically insane, but it was not a far trip. He influenced punks everywhere and is one of the most underrated proto punk artists (example B) and also made a ton of disco at the same goddamn time. So much disco.

He started out doing Lord of the Rings inspired folk and released a boatload of albums like this. He wrote giant fuck off fantasy novels as a teenager called shit like The Krakenmist and Pictures Of Purple People and I think maybe one called The Children of Rarn or maybe that was his poetry collection but he has like 3 different songs called The Children of Rarn anyway. Rarn was the fantasy world he had invented.

Then he went electric and made all of these hard rock/disco/proto punk/boogie albums that we've already covered. And then he died. And he did aaaaaalll of this shit and so much more I couldn't possibly cover or even have knowledge of in a mere 29 years.

So in summary and in summation: a billion albums, an infinite amount of unproduced demos that they keep putting out in compilations to this day, folk, pop, rock, punk, glam, disco, blues, bop, novels, poetry collections, an ironic death, feathers, big hair, AND THE MAN WAS DYSLEXIC AS FUUUUUCK.

I don't know how to describe this man, but Marc Bolan is my hero.

[ourshadowstallerthanoursoul]

On this day... - April 19th

On this day Led Zeppelin performed:

+ 1970 : Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA CANCELLED SHOW

+ 1977 : Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

“While the tough, metallic sounds of the Sixties have almost faded from the rock scene […] Led Zeppelin still flies high on its own brand of helium—a heavy avalanche of sounds engulfing audiences with dominating raw energy, the basic roots of primitive rock power. Yet, Zep always shows their diversity—and thereby their genius in the rock music field—by playing songs from which their roots began to grow. […] Zep completed a repertoire ranging from their greatest hits like Stairway to Heaven to little known English and American folk songs. The wide range proved that collectively the Zep is a brilliantly talented group, the leading exponents of hard rock then and now and maybe for years to come, and that individually the Zep members are among the finest rock has to offer. […] It was simply stunning, sensational, spectacular and superb!” – ‘LED ZEPPELIN FLIES HIGH IN CONCERT: Sensational! Spectacular! Superb!’ by K. Williams (News Journal)

[soulmusicsongs]

Soul From France

Soul From France in 12 tracks. Listen and learn about the sounds of France in the ‘70s the ‘80s.

Calories, Stop Calories - Peggy Moore (Je Suis Celle…, 1977)

Cash - Jean-Yves Labat (Transition # 1, 1978)

Drugstore Breaking Blues - Zabu & Co (Zabu & Co, 1976)

Funky Crookie - Exile One (Exile One, 1974)

Let's Get it Together - Fooka Mainty Band (The Mellow / Let's Get it Together, 1976)

Mangos - Julien Clerc (Sans Entracte, 1980)

Ophis Le Serpentaire - Vincent Gémignani (Modern Pop Percussion, 1972)

Le Petrole - Ambroise Bia (Le Petrole / Je Cherche Une Femme, 1975)

Soul Makossa - Pierre Spiers (À L'Orgue Hammond, 1973)

Talk - Big Jullien And His All Star (Riviera Sound N°1, 1970)

This Song - Fireball (Drive Me To Hell, 1976)

The Spoiler - Vigon (Greatest Hits, 1972)

More Soul Songs

Tour de France Soul Music

Funk from Spain in 12 tracks

Funk from Belgium

[doll-elvis]

sorry but am i the only one that thinks elvis wasn't that good with karate? 😳

I think he would definitely karate kick both of our asses for questioning his skills 😩 but I totally get what you mean- the first time I watched his Gladiator tape I was flabbergasted lmaooo

apparently in Kenpo karate, the kind of karate that Elvis practiced, when giving an award to someone you kick them in the stomach as a sign of respect and when Elvis gave an award to the guy in the gif on the right he accidentally kicked him in the balls 😭

“At one point during that demo, Elvis promoted Bill Wallace and gave him a trophy. In Kenpo, when you get promoted, you get kicked in the stomach by the person who promoted you. Elvis kicked a little low and accidentally hit Bill in the balls. Bill took it well”

honestly I don’t know anything about karate outside of Elvis so I personally can’t speak to his skills but based on what Dave Hebler, a 10th degree black belt in kenpo, and Ed Parker, who invented kenpo karate, have said it seems like Elvis definitely had the basics down and had a great passion for it, he just couldn’t practice it as much as he’d like too ⬇️

“Although Elvis was the greatest entertainer ever, he wasn't the greatest martial artist ever. To my knowledge, he never trained on a regular basis in any style or with one single instructor in his entire adult life. He did have sporadic lessons here and there and even some semi-regular lessons with different instructors over the years, but nothing on a longterm basis. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. His fame got in the way” (excerpt from “The Elvis Experience”)

It was Ed Parker who signed off on all of Elvis’ promotions, all the way up to his 10th degree black belt, and Dave Hebler talked about how in his book it was more of a gesture of kindness towards Elvis than something that he had actually earned, much like the police badges he got and the narcotics officer badge he got ⬇️

so yeah he may have not had the skills of an actual 10th degree black belt but his love for the sport was so genuine and unlike some of his other interests like horse back riding, it was something that he loved up until the end of his life. In fact he was still showing Ginger Alden karate moves in 1977

“Having always been interested in karate, I asked Elvis to teach me some beginning steps and stances. He was happy to oblige me one night. I pestered him a little as he was teaching me. I wanted to learn fancier, more advanced moves, but Elvis kept telling me to start at the beginning. We finally stopped to rest at one point. He sat on the bed and I put my feet up against the bottoms of his.The next thing I knew, I was on the floor. I think his strength actually shocked him, because Elvis burst out laughing” (excerpt from Elvis and Ginger)

I never knew this before but Elvis actually helped Dave Hebler start a program to teach women self defense: Lisa was probably too little at the time but I definitely think Elvis would have made sure she could have kicked ass in karate 😩 ⬇️

“Part of Elvis's overall mission with the martial arts organization he was forming, that I was going to be a part of, was a self-defense program for women. He and I discussed what kind of material we would put into the curriculum. Elvis knew how important a specific self-defense program for women was to me. I wanted to get more training specifically for women. Back in those days, women in the martial arts were rare. There wasn't many of them and the material didn't suit them well. The material didn't work and didn't relate to women because they have unique needs when it comes to self-defense. I wanted to have an emphasis on training specifically for women that would address their needs” (excerpt from “The Elvis Experience”)

(Elvis pictured with one Dave’s female students alongside Kang Rhee, a world renowned karate master who often worked with Elvis)

[chronotsr]

Pre-G1 Modules, part 4...A - The Judge's Guild Roundup

Part 4a? This is one of those projects that keeps ballooning in scope forever.

Again, keeping with the theme of "trying to not get too historical", Judge's Guild was a group formed by Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen to release DM aids, in part because then-TSR didn't think it was a viable market. Note that this is Bob Bledsaw Sr., the guy responsible for the nazi incident at Judge's Guild a few years ago was Bob Bledsaw Jr. Anyway, JG was responsible for a lot of materials ranging from setting materials, adventure modules. A lot of luminaries ultimately come from JG, including recently passed legend Jennell Jacquays, so they're a very worthwhile topic to review. I will not talk everything they put out between 1976 and G1 because I'm already planning on touching on (edit: 3 of 6) items today, so we will focus only on their for-sale, non-serial modules.

City-State of the Invincible Overlord (1977)

This is stretching the definition of module -- it's more of a setting book. CSIO is a setting supplement for, yeah, a city state of an invincible overlord. I hope you like maaaaaaaaaaaaaps! Essentially, an overlord stays above and aloof to the factional struggles of the people beneath him, roman emperor-style, and details out a bunch of characters and places within a city. It's, actually pretty good, I think a modern revision of CSIO would probably be pretty fun to play in, especially if you omitted a lot of 1970s gunk (like the frequency of slavery). It has this nice quality where it's much more brief per-location than modern city sourcebooks, but has many many varieties of the same concept. You might want a tavern, and there are so many to choose from. Here's a random assortment of buildings you can find in this book:

A park of sexy statues with a pleasure cult hiding in the rush

A 'fear shop' where the owner will go to ridiculous lengths to scare you

A GILF brothel

The tavern that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser always go to

A siege engineer you can bribe for promotions

The map is almost, too comprehensive. I'm not sure what % of buildings are described but it's gotta be close to 20%, which is REALLY HIGH by ttrpg city standards. I'd guess that Green Ronin's Freeport is maybe 1% described. The book also has the traditional regulars of a city book (laws, sewer maps, factions) as well as the admittedly novel idea of a full advertising system to acquire hirelings. It, probably didn't merit a full page, but the idea of caring this much about where precisely those hirelings is coming from is kinda novel.

Regardless, this is an adventure module review blog, not a city review blog, so we have done our due diligence and may now proceed.

Tegel Manor (1977)

Oh boy, it's a megadungeon. Here we go. So despite that ominous cover, it's only 30 pages, so it could be worse. The essential schtick of the adventure is that there's a destitute (by noble standards) paladin who owns the deed to an extremely haunted mansion and is desperately trying to pawn the problem off on someone else. You can bully him into helping, but he's a complete coward.

The house is magically fireproofed because adventurers are just like that. A good sign, I think? Surely this won't be a tedious monster closet festival? We have a pretty standard rundown of a town and,

That's one of the most unfortunate names I've ever seen. If I was a dwarf named Cretin Nodcock, I feel like I would also not give a damn about my appearance. Or maybe work on a name change. This adventure really lavishes in its old timey words, we have a paladin described as "poltroonerous" (cowardly), a passing mention of "white wassail" (a mulled white wine), et c. Relatively little is given about the surrounding town and countryside, just enough to get us into the manor asap.

The first floor is a greatest hits of a haunted house. Animated knives, disappearing ghosts, screaming, the walls ooze GREEN SLIME, et c. Here's the stuff (across this entire dungeon) that isn't rote:

A creaky floor that gets so loud that it stuns elves' sensitive hearing while a wall crusher goes off

An animated yellow mold that looks like a sleeping woman

An animated painting of a battle that shoots arrows outward randomly

An animated painting that paints the party, and if it succeeds the party is petrified

Rust monster on flying bed action

A room of opaque gas-filled tubes that contain a variety of people, monsters, objects in animation. I bet the elf lord would have some nice things for their rescuer.

The level of haunting really goes down and it just becomes an assemblage of roughly halloween monsters in increasingly ridiculous patterns. If I was running this, I'd probably shrink the manor down into a greatest hits version of these rooms, because this is a SPRAWLING manor and it's room after room of "there is a wolf, there is a wight, there is a moldering desk". When you think of Gygax going "why would anyone want to buy a module?", this is sticking in my mind. It's not "Dwarven Glory" bland but it IS a never-ending gauntlet of monsters punctuated by silly rooms.

A rare luxury after all the room-by-room shit. Just some good ol' fashioned silliness.

Inexplicably under the house is a further dungeon-dungeon, which is mostly rat tunnels. Happily some of these maps feature little blank lines to mark your revisions from the official map, which is a nice little conceit.

I am always, always, always happy to have a new riddle to throw at my party, although I'm not so good at riddling myself.

Curiously, lich is spelled with an e at the end here, I have no idea how normal this was at the time.

Like most GMs, I have a crippling addiction to random tables for miscellaneous crap. This is a really hard to parse table but I believe how it works is:

Roll a d12 to determine what the statue does from the first list of results

Follow that result vertically down to the array of concepts

Roll a d8 and pick from that vertical list of results So for example, I rolled d12=5; d8=8. I go to 5 in the first list (Advises), follow it down vertically to the third column of results (the one that starts with Location), and index down to 8 (Directions). My magic statue advises directions to the party. What a nice guy! This table bothers me so bad that I rejiggered it real quickly in excel, because with the benefit of widescreen monitors it's pretty easy to fix:

Tegal Manor wraps with some extra resurrection rules, in case you needed more realism in your magical revivification. I think I prefer it just working, thanks.

Modron (1977)

There's honestly a stunning lack of underwater content in RPGs, I think. Underwater is such a magical location, both experientially and in mythology. One of these days I will set an adventure in one of those sets from the old 1986 Journey to the West TV show, the underwater sea dragon palace ones? They're so fucking cool. Everything is better with underwater dragon palaces.

Right. Modron. Focus.

Modron is another one of those "straddling the line between module and setting book" situations, only much smaller than CSIO. The art all looks like Prince Valliant, which by that sentence alone either means you're going to love or hate it (I hate it). Our titular Modron is a goddess, but also a temple, but also a port town. We will deal with these in order.

Goddess Modron is a river goddess who was worshipped by the town and the temple. She is implied to be, kind of like wonder woman in a weird way? She has to exist underwater, or she dies in 6 rounds (so 6 minutes), which is pretty fucking lame but I too know the struggle of dry skin. She's a fertility goddess (who isn't) and she does d20 years of damage when she lovetaps you. Tragically, she is no longer worshipped in favor of Mitra. COWARDS! LOVE YOUR RIVER/SEA GODDESSES.

Modron's Temple is very, very briefly explained. Essentially, only the oldest people in town know how to find it, via the cellar of the tavern. It's completely underwater, and a lot of mermen hang out there. The head priestess can drain your water! Google says that one love tap would exhaust you, two would probably kill you, and three would definitely kill you. It's implied in this section that a JttW-style Triton Coral Kingdom is, in fact, hanging out off the shoreline somewhere.

Town Modron is your standard raided port town. There was once two gods worshiped here, then it got messed up by raiders and ECONOMICS and some light civil war. It's okay, ya boi Invincible Overlord is sending you a bailout, making him a better autocrat than most living politicians. Apparently they have a pet seamonster who serves the overlord directly? Awesome! We need more pet kaiju in the world.

The actual area-by-area is pretty blasé. The local rulers are varyingly competent (the king is competent but a huge sex pest), there's a guy who takes you on guided tours to, anywhere in the multiverse? Somehow the blacksmith has figured out how to rustproof armor, which will really piss off your rust monsters. The book makes a point to say that the jailor is a particular bastard, so Judge's Guild says ACAB? Unlikely but a very funny concept.

Tragically, we end our adventure without a map of the palace, the temple, the other temple, or anything. I don't believe this is the first supplement to contain Mitra as JG's most famous god (well, Mitra is a real-life god anyhow), but this is certainly the first adventure-ish module to feature him. Dark Tower is quite a ways away!

A poison coral table is, one of those things you would only ever see in early DND. That is so unbelievably specific. The book ends with many such cases, there's a pearl randomizer that doesn't include any fun magic effects or anything, merely linking to Supplement II. Boo!

So originally when writing this, I had intended that part 4 be a whole unit, but then I realized that I was going to have to include these semi-adventures in the roundup. So to my great shame, we will continue this later.