Fifty Years of Music • March, 1971

Elton John, 1971

The wealth of rock 'n' roll material in the late 60's - early 70's is a gold mine of riches to reflect upon. Such is the month of March, 1971. I think right now I have a playlist of three complete albums and eleven other albums with two or more songs, with a total of sixty-two songs. Do I write one post or four? Well, I settled for one because I have just enough words for about one post here. 

You see, I've also started writing my second book, which has cut into my word count here on Monday Monday Music. This blog suffered a bit with weeks of inactivity from 2016-2018 as I was running my educational consulting business and writing my first book, Learning Environment Design (LED (shameless plug here).

This go around I'm swearing, no not in a pledge, but cussing that I damn better hit 'Publish' every Monday Monday until a distant future blue hot cremation fire succumbs my body, "Am I in hell?"

Okay, first up is an all-time favorite, Friends (film soundtrack) that I probably played more in 1973-74 because my girlfriend was in love with Elton John and I was in love with her. We went to the $1.00 Cinema Theater in Orcutt, CA to watch the movie, as we did for Fiddler On The Roof, Finian's Rainbow and a bunch of other movies that weren't first run movies any longer. 

As a young teenager, friend Paul Hobbs was infatuated with the young French actress lead from Friends, Anicée Alvina as a young boy's dream. Every song from the soundtrack made the playlist this week as this soundtrack was a big hit with Elton's growing fan base.

Second up is Bryter Layter by English singer-songwriter Nick Drake. In 1971 Nick Drake was not on my radar, but over the years I have heard some of his music, and here 50 years later, I'm a fan. Unfortunately, Nick Drake suffered from depression and died from an overdose at the tender age of 26. This sad story just continued to play out in the early 1970's. 

Every song makes the playlist this week. Drake's shy introspect lyrics mesh with the wonderfully crafted string and brass arrangements from Robert Kirby as this album stands the test of time and is prime for a new generation to discover. Long live Nick Drake! 

Next up is Aqualung by Jethro Tull. This album got initial play in friend and next door neighbor Ron Zieman's bedroom and I dedicate the entire album to our listening experiences together. The album also got some quality airplay in my college dorm in 1975 as my room was music central. I brought my high school graduation stereo sound system with its 3 ft. cubic speakers packed in a two bed dorm room. My roommate Kevin Kuhlmeyer was a wonderful person and we bonded as education majors. Poor Kevin put up with many spur of the moment listening sessions with fellow dorm hall mates Mark Hunter and Chris Mitchell, and sometimes if we were lucky, a few girls from Zapotec Hall would join us. Chris really loved 'The Tull' and I remember him saying he loved Martin Barre's guitar playing on this album.

I've also got lots of songs from Alice Cooper (of all people), The Kinks, Buddy Miles, Leonard Cohen, John Mayall, Dave Mason and Cass Elliot, Humble Pie, Delaney and Bonnie, Janis Ian, Mott The Hopple, and James' brother Alex Taylor to finish the large mix of music this week. A little something for everybody.

I also want to dedicate this post to friend Kevin Kuhlmeyer, my dorm roommate in Toltec Hall from 1975-76. I found this picture of Kevin online in a 1977 San Diego State Yearbook pdf this past week, which I think is kind of amazing. I remember him telling me he was going to take a graduating class photo, and all these years later, I'm so glad he did. Here's to our days on campus, at Catalina Island, and you showing me around your home town of Pasadena. Rest in peace brother.

Enjoy my friends, stay well and mask-up!