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In 1973, Johnny Winter, the albino blues guitarist from Texas, made a powerful comeback with his album "Still Alive and Well" after a two-year hiatus due to his struggle with heroin addiction. This marked a triumphant return for Winter, proving his resilience and passion for music.
In a year of shortages, there was no shortage of good rock material. 1973 was a very good year for rock 'n' roll, although there were a few disappointments. 1973 was the year when many established artists produced albums as good, if not better, than any in their respective careers. Artists with only a few albums under their belts found the formula to turn out high-quality works, and several new faces emerged with respectable debut albums.
The Beatles, as solo artists, had their best year since they disbanded. Ringo Starr released an album that could fall into rock's "easy listening" category. Surely the best by the large-beaked drummer, Ringo united all of the Fab Four on a single disc for the first time since their breakup. The album was by no means a breakthrough in rock music, but all the songs fit into Starr's somewhat nasal-sounding vocals, making for a thoroughly enjoyable album. Paul McCartney's Red Rose Speedway, which was released in the spring, was a disappointment, but his latest, Band on the Run, although still not up to what he is capable of producing, is one of the better albums of his solo career and may mark a step towards better and more significant work.
Band on the Run will be reviewed later in Youth Seen. John Lennon hit a low point in his career when he released Sometime in New York City in 1972, but he bounced back with Mind Games, the best album of his career and the only album by a solo Beatle that can be compared to the former group's classics. Lennon is in Los Angeles now, working on a new album of old '50s rock 'n' roll hits with producer Phil Spector, and if Mind Games is any indication, it should be a masterpiece. George Harrison's Living in the Material World wasn't as inspiring as his All Things Must Pass album but was a decent effort nonetheless. Also, it has been said that Lennon and McCartney have settled their differences, which could make way for a Beatles reunion.
The number two group that became the number one group when the Beatles disbanded, the Rolling Stones, released one of the best albums of their careers, Goats Head Soup. The Stones, who have always been dedicated to black music, finally got their production and managerial problems ironed out, all the while maturing as musicians, to produce a blues and rock 'n' roll album of unprecedented quality. The Who released the best concept album since Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the best rock opera ever. Titled Quadrophenia, the album is about the teenage frustrations of a boy growing up in London during the mod era.
The Who's, and particularly lead guitarist Pete Townshend's, most ambitious work, Quadrophenia is a landmark recording of the '70s. Bob Dylan, who hasn't recorded much in the past five years, appeared in the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and wrote and performed the music for it. A single from the soundtrack was released, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," but the album was rather poor when compared to his earlier work. However, Dylan signed with Elektra-Asylum Records this year, and an album to be called Ceremonies of the Horsemen, featuring The Band as backup musicians, will be released sometime this month. When Dylan switched labels, Columbia retaliated by releasing Dylan, the worst ever by the poetic minstrel.
It is a collection of songs written by other artists, and Dylan's versions don't even compare to the originals. Another major disappointment this year was Jethro Tull, who released the absurd Passion Play, two sides of Tull at their worst.
Johnny Winter, the albino blues guitarist from Texas, released the excellent Still Alive and Well after a two-year absence from recording. Winter had been fighting heroin addiction, and many felt he would never record again. Johnny's brother, Edgar, reached stardom with his album They Only Come Out at Night, from which two singles, "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride," were released. Despite the death of Duane Allman, The Allman Brothers Band made the second-best album of their careers, Brothers and Sisters. The country-flavored "Ramblin' Man" was their first successful single, although they've had numerous album successes.
Elton John was the performer of the year, releasing two splendid albums, Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, along with a string of AM radio hits. Rod Stewart didn’t cut any solo albums this year, except Ooh La La with The Faces, which, like all Faces albums, was a step below Stewart's solo efforts. However, Mercury released Sing it Again Rod, a collection of Rod's greatest hits. Yes was also very quiet this year, except for their live album Yessongs. Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman released an excellent solo album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and is planning another, a musical adaptation of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. The J. Geils Band finally reached stardom with their fourth album, Bloodshot, one of the best records ever released by a white rhythm 'n' blues band.
Their latest, Ladies Invited, is even better than Bloodshot, both lyrically and musically. Steve Miller also reached stardom with The Joker, already a certified million-seller. Because he released the single of the same name from the album, The Joker may be one of his biggest sellers, although it isn’t his best album. Miller, who began his career with a blues band, later became one of the leading West Coast musicians with albums such as Brave New World, Children of the Future, and Journey from Eden. The Raspberries' contribution for 1973, Side Three, is the group's best so far. It had several outstanding cuts, but four lackluster ones kept the album just above mediocre. Like the Raspberries, Blue Ash is dedicated to the British rock of the mid-'60s.
Their debut album, No More, No Less, thankfully not as teeny-bopperish as Side Three, is one of 1973's outstanding albums. Another of this year's outstanding albums was made by a new group, Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The band is dedicated to hard rock and roll, similar to the type played by the Rolling Stones in 1966–67. Their album, appropriately titled Bachman-Turner Overdrive, is the best hard rock and roll album so far this decade, with the exception of Mott the Hoople's Mott. Grand Funk Railroad decided to drop their pretentious "hipness" and released a solid rock album, We're an American Band. The most overlooked yet talented artist in rock, Marc Wirtz, churned out his second top-notch album, Hothouse Smiles. Wirtz, who is every bit as good as Harry Nilsson and lyrically two steps ahead of McCartney, possesses an uncanny ability to produce nice, toe-tapping melodies. His lyrics sometimes sparkle with the sarcasm of Lennon at his best or the wit of Ray Davies. Joe Walsh's The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get is as good as any from his James Gang days. However, without Walsh at the helm, the James Gang hasn’t made any noteworthy rock contributions. Led Zeppelin’s fifth album, Houses of the Holy, was one of their best albums, although the band seems to get better and better with each new release.
Many artists who broke into stardom in the '50s and early '60s are still successful in the '70s.