For those who wanted to spend the Summer of '74 in a mellow mood, there were plenty of new releases from June of that year from which to choose.
By far the most successful album came from an artist whose earnestness was so profound, nobody has recorded a decent cover of his many songs since Peter, Paul and Mary. Let's face it, this guy either really did believe a night in the forest filled up his senses or he was the greatest bullshit artist of his time. My money's on the former theory.
In 1974 our second artist was having a tough time with drug addiction and watching his wife top the charts.. which led to an album of brooding tunes, faux rock and no hits. Even with his wife and the McCartneys laying backing tracks on "Let It Fall Down", the album is just slightly better than One Man Dog. Yet, there are moments that make our hero sound happy in his domestic life and in a few years he would break out of the rut with JT.
The third tune is not from a bootleg, but from a vinyl only release in Japan of a concert done on this very date in 1974. Apparently the Sam Cooke cover went over so well, our third hero released a studio version as a single. It went Top 10 in the US and #1 in Canada.
The fourth track is a deep cut from the first LP pairing this band with famed Beatles producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick. The band was back on its hit making track at least for now.
The final track comes from an artist whose formula for cross-over success was already grating the critics nerves when this album was released. Will not give you access to the "God Only Knows" cover for your own good.
Thanks for this - as you say some mellow summer sounds
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