The seventies were the decade of the singer-songwriter. Not only Bob Dylan, but also Jackson Browne, Carole King, Randy Newman and hundreds of poets and troubad tours who hoped for the same status. Rolling Stone reviewed thousands of albums between 1970 and 1979. Including some jewels who never found the audience that they deserved. We found the archives and found 10 singer-songwriter albums that ran on our record players in the seventies. Since then have been wrongly forgotten.
Rory Block, “Intoxication”
Block left her home in Greenwich Village at the age of 15 and traveled to the south to learn blues guitar from living masters of the country blues (Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, etc.). In 1978 she was 26 years old, dominated her instrument and wrote modern blues songs about female ambitions and identities. In the eighties, she celebrated greater successes when she signed with a rounder and recorded in the classic Delta blues style; In the meantime she has released over 20 albums.
What we said back then:
“Intoxication is a small masterpiece: an addictive album that does not make you up or insane, but sparked a certain shine every time … The songs that she writes keep the integrity of her sources with traditional awe. From Hall in an R&B ballad to the swing of the gospel piano (which she plays)-block meets every detail.” – Ariel Swartly, RS 259 (February 23, 1978)
David Forman, “David Forman”
Forman, a former puppet maker (and assistant by Philip Petit on his high rope act between the Twin Towers in New York), published a debut album that was showered with praise for his jumping steep romance. The album flopped, and Forman then wrote songs with Gerry Goffin before making a career in the advertising music. In the nineties, he founded the Doo-Wop Group Little Isidore and the Inquisitors.
What we said back then:
“Forman’s style is rooted in soul singers such as Barbara Lewis, Curtis Mayfield and Smokey Robinson -adult pop singers and lexers … Forman is not just a brilliant poet. His melodies have been successful, and he is a captivating, although derivative and occasionally insecure singer … regardless of what the charts say -David forman is an artistic success.” – Dave Marsh, RS 223 (October 7, 1976)
Hoyt Axton, “Less Than The Song”
In 1973 Axton had already released two forgotten albums and wrote several songs for others, including “The Pusher” for Steppenwolf and “Joy to the World” for Three Dog Night. With producer Bob Johnston, Axton developed his country blues style into a “quiet jewel of an album”. This was followed by a number of smaller country hits in the seventies while he fought with drug addiction; Axton died of a stroke in 1999 at the age of 61.
What we said back then:
“Axton’s songwriting has a strikingly independent note. Most of his songs are straight or modified folk ballads with angular melodic phrases, whose essence (musically and lyrically) is in the powerful chorus … Overall, Less Than The Song is one of the most rewarding works of singer/songwriter of the year.” – Stephen Holden, RS 137 (June 21, 1973)
Randall Bramblett, “Light of the Night”
Randall Bramblett actually wanted to go to the seminar until he found music. Objected to keyboard, guitar and saxophone, he worked with Gregg Allman and other artists in the early 1970s before publishing two solo albums (this was the second). After this elegant work about “The peculiar Malaise des Southern Rocker”, Bramblett played at Sea Level, Traffic and other bands-but this album remained its last solo publication until 1998.
What we said back then:
“Light of the night is a brilliant brilliant debut album that other mile-a classic of the seventies. In the seventies. Recorded in the Sea-Saint Studios in New Orleans, this gentle, soothing radio offers the perfect medium for bramble-rich, expressive voice, its smooth keyboard and sax game Incredibly subtle song art. – John Swenson, RS 213 (May 20, 1976)
Andrew Gold, “Andrew Gold”
Gold, the multi-instrumentalist son of the Oscar-winning composer Ernest Gold and Marni Nixon (the secret singing voice of numerous Hollywood divas like Natalie Wood), made a charming but retro debut in the style of the Beatles to the rubber soul era. Two years later he had a top 10 hit with “Lonely Boy”, but his greatest fame came with “Thank you for stog a friend”, the title song of the sitcom Golden Girls. Gold died in 2011 at the age of 59.
What we said back then:
“No sound or clock is wasted, and Gold’s guitar solos-variants of early Beatles riffs-are particularly delicate and perfect for their modern arrangements. Golds ballads are as captivating as his skirt pieces, if not more. ‘That’s why i love you’ deserves recognition as one of the best teenagers song-easy and sweet, with a hint of melancholy, draws He is on the spell from the first clock … Here is an artist whose freshness, vitality and musical talent nostalgia make it socially acceptable again. ” – Stephen Holden, RS 201 (December 4, 1975)
Tony Joe White, “Tony Joe White”
Until 1971 Tony Joe White published three albums, the hit “Rainy Night in Georgia” (a success for Brook Benton) and landed a goal with “Polk Salad Annie”. Despite this success, his former music was “boring and irrelevant” according to Rolling Stone. However, this album was seen as an artistic breakthrough – although he did not bring the hoped -for great success. White remained active musicians throughout his life.
What we said back then:
“In song around song, his performance exceeds the mere comparison of influence: they all speak of a personal depth and naturalness, as can only be found with the best new singer-songwriters … Tony Joe White has finally made the album that the men separate from the boys?” – Jon Landau, RS 79 (April 1, 1971)
Wendy Waldman, “Love has got me”
Waldman was a member of the La group Bryndle; Her debut in Laura Nyro’s style was supported by prominent friends with singing, including Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur and Jennifer Warren. Despite musical skills and songwriting talent, their albums sold badly. She later achieved her greatest success in Nashville as a songwriter-her best-known work: “Save the Best for Last”, a number one hit for Vanessa Williams.
What we said back then:
“Love Has Got Me is an apt title for this collection-it is a stream of celebration and includes almost every existing pop style. Wendy Waldman, a 22-year-old Südkalifornian who wrote over 150 songs, makes music that not only uses these styles, but also merges them with grace and elegance.” – Stephen Holden, RS 146 (October 25, 1973)
Jesse Winchester, “Jesse Winchester”
Winchester moved to Canada in 1967 to avoid Vietnam, and hit Robbie Robertson from The Band, who produced his self-titled debut. Rolling Stone praised it as a masterpiece of the Americana (or Canadiana) – as well as the subsequent album Third Down, 110 to Go from 1972. Both were little hits in Canada, but hardly noticed in the USA. In 1977 Winchester returned and continued to work as a musician; He died in 2014 at the age of 69.
What we said back then:
“I admit it-this album packed me. I discovered it during the Kent State/Cambodia crisis when it was the only one that could tear me out of my depression-I’ve heard it a hundred times … It was the first album in which I wanted a fireplace … I think every patriotic American should hear Jesse Winchester, the man who loved and left his songs-until his song was all limited- On one: that of art. ” – Ed Ward, RS 64 (August 6, 1970)
Steven Grossman, “Caravan Tonight”
This “moving, but not self -pitying” album in the style of a male Joni Mitchell was groundbreaking because of his topic: Grossman was gay and sang openly about the life of a homosexual man in New York West Village. Rolling Stone called him the first artist of a major label to address homosexuality at everyday level, instead of being laughed at as a chic decadence or future fantasy. Grossman died of AIDS-related complications in 1991 at the age of 39. Caravan Tonight remained his only publication during his lifetime.
What we said back then:
“His vision is just as convincing as that of other brilliant center atlantic as Elliott Murphy and Bruce Springsteen … The most important thing is the purity of Grossman’s sensitivity. Its conveying intensive sympathy, honesty and tenderness outsources the imperfections that are inevitable in such a young artist (he is only 22) – the emotional effect of his caravan is overwhelming, his appeal is over best human values universal. ” – Stephen Holden, RS 161 (May 23, 1974)
Elliott Murphy, “Lost Generation”
Rolling Stone celebrated the first two albums of the verbose New Yorker Elliott Murphy-after the debut Aquashow predicted Superstar-Ruhm and called the follow-up album “Brillant but exceptionally difficult to access”. Murphy wrote in the eighties for Rolling Stone and Tom Waits and Buster Poindexter, published dozens of albums and lives in France today.
What we said back then:
“On aquashow, Elliott Murphy had the audacity, Fitzgeralds of the Great Gatsby with Dylans ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ to merge a song called ‘Like a Great Gatsby’; on Lost Generation he conjures up Hemingways Paris of the twenties, the magic of Hollywood and many other gods, only around Pound, Braun and even Hitler Binding rock’n’roll-pile and putting everything in flames … When it is on the street, the sun also opens-above one of the best. ” – Paul Nelson, RS 191 (July 17, 1975)