Still Crazy After All These Years/Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy
This weekend, On The Turntable will feature two lps released this very week, one in 1975, the other in 1971 … We will start with Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” and follow that with The Who’s “Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy”
Still Crazy After All These Years
Still Crazy After All These Years is the fourth solo studio album by Paul Simon. Released this very week in 1975, the album produced four U.S. Top 40 hits: “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”, “Gone At Last”, “My Little Town”, and the title track. The song “My Little Town” reunited Paul with former partner Art Garfunkel for the first time since 1970 …
Released 45 years ago this weekend … The album won two Grammy Awards… Album of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Guest musicians included Phoebe Snow, Art Garfunkel, Patti Austin, Bob James, David Sanborn and Valerie Simpson … Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers Still Crazy the 30th best lp of 1975 and the 376th of the decade … Digital Dream Door Dot Com ranked the album #16 on its top 100 of 1975….
Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy is a compilation album of singles by The Who. It was released this very week in 1971 and entered the US Billboard 200 chart on November 20th, peaking at number 11 .. the lp also peaked at #9 in the UK. That is a pretty good performance from a compilation lp in the 70’s, especially when you consider it was released just two months after “Who’s Next” which is one of the greatest rock lps of all time … In 1987, Rolling Stone ranked it number 99 on their list of the 100 best albums of the period 1967–1987. Aside from two songs, “Boris the Spider” and “I’m a Boy”, every track on the album had been released as a single in the UK … and the lp kicks off with “I Can’t Explain” which was the song the band started nearly every concert with …
The album is named after the members of the band: “Meaty” is Roger Daltrey, who was quite fit at the time; “Beaty” is Keith Moon, for his drumming; “Big” is John Entwistle, who was a large person, often referred to as “The Ox”; and “Bouncy” was Peter Townshend, who jumped about quite acrobatically during performances. The album has the distinction of being the first in a long line of Who compilations. It also has the distinction of being the best. Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers the album the 133rd best of 1971 …
Catch both albums played in their entirety – each side uninterrupted this Saturday at 6pm on KVOL 1330/97.7 The Rewind … you can also catch the replay on Sunday at 7am. www.kvol1330.com