41 Days of Music III

The Wicker Man, Dark Side of the Moon, For Your Pleasure, Raw Power and Closing Time all came out in 1973. Personally, I think that "Corn Rigs" is more menacing than anything Iggy Pop could ever dream up, but what do I know. Poor old thing.

I forgot what a weird warbler Brian Ferry was, even if he looks like Terry Wogan in my mind. As goofy as he may be, he's got nothing on King Crimson's "Cat Food". Seriously, the old creative well must have run completely dry if they were writing about cat food.

I can't hear "Lola" anymore without thinking about "L-E-E-L-A". I don't know if that is a good thing. I just know that I like Billy West in my head more than Ray Davies. Ironically, I can hear "Satellite of Love" without thinking of MST3K, but that's probably because Mike never sang any Lou Reed. An album of Mistie songs would be excellent. It goes without saying that they'd have to include the classic, "Hear the Engines Roll, Now" song.

Hearing The Wicker Man Soundtrack (my all-time favorite soundtrack by a wide margin) immediately before The Stooges' Raw Power has re-affirmed by belief that the subtext of that film is very conservative and reactionary. By 1973 the hippie daydream was dead leaving anger and cynicism to become entrenched throughout the culture. In the film its the earth first flower children that murder the police officer based on a philosophy that itself is based on a lie. If it was made in the 60s, the surrogate hippies would have been the heroes, or at least their belief system would not be fundamentally flawed.

Sgt. Howie may be as deluded as well (and he certainly is a prig), but he is not depicted as the murderous drones that the people of Summerisle are. I don't know why Raw Power cemented this for me. Its the first 70's record that I've listened to while doing this that doesn't feel like it still has a toe in the 60s (except for possibly Transformer). Even Funhouse, which came out in 1970, still felt tied to the previous decade. Raw Power is a record of the 70s, which a mindset changed and shaped by the events of the end of the last decade, and an nihilistic eye towards the future. Kind of like The Wicker Man.