40 Year Itch: A Big, Groovy Holiday Picnic

    On April 6, 1974 nearly 250,000 fans, paying between $10 band $15, jammed the Ontario Motor Speedway to see Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Black Oak Arkansas, Seals and Crofts,  The Eagles, Earth Wind and Fire and Rare Earth. Don Imus emcee'd the show which actually began 15 minutes early and stayed on schedule.

ABC Television co-sponsored the event while LA radio stations simulcast the concerts. 

Cal Jam grossed $2 million and, despite massive traffic tie-ups ( 700 cars were towed away after all 42,000 parking spaces had been filled), it was heralded as a huge success. 

  There were only 25 arrests.The smell of marijuana hung in the air, but that seemed to add to the peaceful vibe. Said one concertgoer who hiked 4 miles to find his spot: "It's like a big, groovy holiday picnic." 

  50 foot speakers helped provide the most powerful concert sound system ever assembled. Good news especially for Deep Purple, then the loudest band in the world. 

     This is the show that introduced Deep Purple's new members to the world: the still chubby vocalist David Coverdale and bassist and screaming vocalist Glenn Hughes. Richie Blackmore, apparently not used to having a camera in his face when he solo'd, attacked a cameraman and then set his amp on fire.

Emerson Lake and Palmer finished the night with Keith Emerson spinning end over end 50 feet above the ground in his piano contraption.

40 Year Itch: Those We Missed Feb '74

[Purchase]

They were one of the biggest bands in America and by the sounds of this album, they weren't going to do anything to jeopardize that. What's surprising is America didn't fall for all of the "Long Train Runnin'" sound alikes on Vices, they made deep cut "Black Water" (US#1) and the Chicago-by-way-of-Steely-Dan single "Another Park, Another Sunday" (US#32) the hits.

[Purchase]

Produced by George Martin, the third album from those whimsical British melody makers, Stackridge,  carries on where one of 1972's true nuggets, Friendliness, left off. It's like discovering XTC years before they existed. The band still tours.

{out of print}

Former Fairport Conventioneer , Southern Comforter and Plainsinger Ian Matthews sounds comfortable on this California-set collection of mostly covers. David Lindley is in the house on Matthews's cover of Jesse Winchester's "Biloxi" and that's Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on the Tom Waits cover "Ol'55".

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Well we know what side of the abortion debate these soft rockers stand on. I hate them for setting the standard for church rock. Seriously, every time I'm at a service and somebody pulls out a guitar I know I'm in for some lesser Seals And Crofts -styled proseltyzing . At least someone brought in a drum set for "King of Nothing".

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Dense progressive jazz and oddly sung English lyrics are what you get from the Finnish group Wigwam .

[out of print]

Legendary keyboardist Ahmad Jamal's Jamalca features soft jazz takes on recent soul hits by The Spinners, Sylvers and Marvin Gaye. 

40 Year Itch: Top 20 Albums August 4, 1973

1. Chicago VI

2. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon

3. Carpenters Now And Then

4. George Harrison Living in the Material World

5. Seals and Crofts : Diamond Girl

6. Carole King Fantasy

7. Paul Simon There Goes Rhymin Simon

8 Deep Purple Machine Head

9 Sly and the Family Stone Fresh

10 Leon Russell Leon Live

11 Deep Purple Made In Japan

12 Jethro Tull A Passion Play

13 Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy

14 Al Green Call Me

15 Carlos Santana and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin Love Devotion and Surrender

16 Curtis Mayfield Back to the World

17 John Denver Farewell Andromeda

18 Doobie Brothers The Captain and Me

19 Paul McCartney and Wings Red Rose Speedway

20 Diana Ross Touch Me in the Morning

Top 3 Single Debuts

1. Paul Simon "Loves Me Like a Rock" (US#2)

2. Elton John "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" (US#7)

3. Cher "Half Breed" (US#1) 

40 Year Itch: Six April 1973 Releases We Missed

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Although it lacks a hit single, Arlo Guthrie's Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys is an artistic success highlighted by some horn solos, fiddle solos and guitar work by Ry Cooder.

[Purchase]

Ah! The lean years for Fleetwood Mac. At least the band could always count on Christine McVie for some catchy pop. Bob Welch also adds some intrigue but far too much of this album is filler. Especially dreadful is the "Road Runner" cover sung by one album wonder Dave Walker.

 Seals And Crofts set the standard for what "good" contemporary Christian music is supposed to sound like : Cheery, banal and proselytizing. The duo had it written in their contract that they be allowed to hang out after their concerts to discuss their Baha'i faith with fans. Diamond Girl peaked at #4 on the album charts.

The most interesting thing about the Eagles concept album Desperado ( US #41) is that the title cut was never released as a single. And that's not really very interesting.

[Purchase]

The best of the ex Turtles albums, Flo and Eddie has comedy, cover versions of both The Kinks ( "Days"),  and The Small Faces ("Afterglow") and one absolute take down diss of the friend who made them rock and roll's most sought after backing up vocalists. It took years for Marc Bolan to forgive them for "Another Pop Star's Life" and it's one of the things Howard Kaylan ("Eddie") truly regrets after all these years.

[Purchase]

The Strawbs most successful and best album, Bursting At The Seams,  features the pub favorite "Part of the Union" ( A UK#2 hit in February of 1973) and the hit "Lay Down".  "Bursting At The Seams" might have been an apt name for the US tour that followed as Richard Hudson , John Ford and Blue Weaver all left the band in the months that followed.