Author: Chris Barrus

1973 CDR 700 Go!

The CDRGO! Project has been putting together a series of yearly CDRs, in which the object is to fill up a 700MB CDR with mp3s of songs released in a given year. There’s no other guidelines – some folks went with hits, some with obscurity, some with both. I volunteered to do 1973 and here’s how it went:

  1. The Electric Company, “Third Season Theme”
  2. Alice Cooper, “Hello Hooray”
  3. CKLW radio babble – FM converter ad
  4. Queen, “Keep Yourself Alive”
  5. Black Sabbath, “Killing Yourself To Live”
  6. Blue Oyster Cult, “Hot Rails To Hell”
  7. Zior, “Entrance Of The Devil-The Chicago Spine”
  8. New York Dolls, “Jet Boy”
  9. David Bowie, “Watch That Man”
  10. The Stooges, “Gimme Danger”
  11. ZZ Top, “Jesus Just Left Chicago”
  12. Shocking Blue, “In My Time Of Dying”
  13. Joe Walsh, “Rocky Mountain Way”
  14. Franco Battiato, “Aria di Rivoluzione”
  15. Don Cherry, “Trans-Love Airways”
  16. Neu!, “Fur Immer (Forever)”
  17. Faust, “Krautrock”
  18. Area, “Le Labbra Del Tempo”
  19. Magma, “Mekanik Kommandoh”
  20. Ocho, “En Tropicana”
  21. Rare Earth, “Smiling Faces Sometimes”
  22. Jerry Reed, “Lord Mr. Ford”
  23. Charlie Daniels Band, “Uneasy Rider”
  24. Electric Light Orchestra, “Showdown”
  25. Pink Floyd, “Us And Them”
  26. Kevin Ayers, “Decadence”
  27. Fleetwood Mac, “Hypnotized”
  28. Al Kooper, “(Be Yourself) Be Real”
  29. Todd Rundgren, “Zen Archer”
  30. The Kinks, “Sweet Lady Genevieve”
  31. ABBA, “Ring, Ring”
  32. Deep Purple, “Woman From Tokyo”
  33. The Who, “Sea And Sand”
  34. Genesis, “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight”
  35. Amon Duul II, “Apocalyptic Bore”
  36. Roxy Music, “Mother Of Pearl”
  37. King Crimson, “Easy Money”
  38. Vicki Lawrence, “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”
  39. Dolly Parton, “Jolene”
  40. Charlie Rich, “Behind Closed Doors”
  41. Beach Boys, “Trader”
  42. Golden Earring, “Radar Love”
  43. Slade, “Cum On Feel The Noize”
  44. Little Feat, “On Your Way Down”
  45. Roy Harper, “Bank Of The Dead”
  46. Serge Gainsbourg, “Des Vents Des Pets Des Poums”
  47. Scott Walker, “Any Day Now”
  48. Stealers Wheel, “Stuck In The Middle With You”
  49. Kris Kristofferson, “From The Bottle To The Bottom”
  50. Lee Hazlewood, “Poet, Fool Or Bum”
  51. Buffy Sainte-Marie, “Why You Been Gone So Long”
  52. Marie Osmond, “Paper Roses”
  53. Roberta Flack, “Killing Me Softly With His Song”
  54. Lou Reed, “The Bed”
  55. John Cale, “The Endless Plain Of Fortune”
  56. Sandy Denny, “Solo”
  57. “Live And Let Die” movie radio spot
  58. Johnny Pate, “Brother On The Run (Opening)”
  59. Herbie Hancock, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door”
  60. James Brown, “Down And Out In New York City”
  61. New York City, “I’m Doin Fine Now”
  62. “Willow’s Song” from The Wicker Man soundtrack
  63. PFM, “Photos Of Ghosts”
  64. Bruce Springsteen, “Incident on 57th Street”
  65. Tangerine Dream, “Circulation Of Events”
  66. Agitation Free, “Dialogue And Random”
  67. Gabriel And Marie Yacoub, “Pierre de Grenoble”
  68. Gong, “Other Side Of The Sky”
  69. Mike Oldfield, “Tubular Bells Part 1”
  70. KFRC radio babble “Mick Jagger car giveaway”
  71. The Rolling Stones, “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”
  72. Eloy, “Future City”
  73. Neil Young, “L.A.”
  74. Steely Dan, “My Old School”
  75. Joao Donato, “Chorou, Chorou”
  76. TM Productions, Interkey promo spot
  77. Nazareth, “Razmanaz”
  78. Rory Gallagher, “Walk On Hot Coals”
  79. Hawkwind, “Orgone Accumulator”
  80. Can, “Future Days”
  81. David Essex, “Rock On”
  82. Ann Peebles, “I Can’t Stand The Rain”
  83. Sly And The Family Stone, “In Time”
  84. Betty Davis, “Game Is My Middle Name”
  85. Suzi Quatro, “Skin Tight Skin”
  86. Sylvia, “Pillow Talk”
  87. Jimmy Cliff, “Struggling Man”
  88. Stevie Wonder, “Living For The City”
  89. Donny Hathaway, “The Slums”
  90. 24-Carat Black, “Food Stamps”
  91. Fela Kuti, “Alu Jon Jonki Jon”
  92. Kraftwerk, “Kristallo”
  93. Leny Andrade, “Nao Adianta”
  94. Risken Finns, “Barnen Fragar Annu Efter Dig”
  95. Lucio Battisti, “Ma E’ Un Canto Brasileiro”
  96. The Gimmicks, “Att Fa Resa”
  97. Tom Waits, “Martha”
  98. Gladys Knight And The Pips, “Midnight Train To Georgia”
  99. Sweet, “Little Willy”
  100. Brownsville Station, “Let Your Yeah Be Yeah”
  101. Johnny Cash, “Oney”
  102. Alan Price, “Look Over Your Shoulder”

Threw together a cover too. Hooray for 1970s retrofuture! (and microgramma font)

1973_front

Poison pen architecture reviews

Boing Boing links to cranky architecture critic James Howard Kunstler’s “Eyesore Of The Month“, a monthly case study in design stupidity with hilarious commentary. His May 2003 entry is priceless.

kunstler-eyesore

 

The mother of all Modernist public places: Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY, podium level, completed 1973.

The farther back the 20th century recedes, the more you shake your head and wonder what was going through their minds. Perhaps the imperial impulse is endemic to all societies, whether they are theocratic despotisms or bureaucratic democracies. You acquire enough wealth and power and terrible things happen. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller wasn’t a bad guy. He did it all for the sake of aesthetics, being a “modern” art connoisseur. The architect was Wallace K. Harrison, better known for the UN building in Manhattan. What they came up with was a place that only a Toltec could love.

Considering I took this shot at lunchtime (12:15) on the first nice spring day… and considering that the four towers are full of toiling state workers, the emptiness of the vast plaza is rather remarkable. Conclusion: it totally sucks.

As America (and New York with it) enter the era of political psychosis attending the downside of the global oil curve, this place will surely become a favorite spot for the bloodletters.

Starbucks in Paris

Starbucks announces plans to open it’s first cafe in Paris and the locals are suspicious.

“It’s an absurd idea,” said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at the cafe. “The whole point about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you like, read the papers … taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is anathema, unthinkable. It’s the kind of thing you’d only think of doing at a railway station.”

Any bets as to how long it lasts before being set on fire?

The Zero Files

The Null Device links to an article on the FBI’s “Zero Files”, which is the destination for all the rants, crank letters and conspiracy manifestos sent to the agency.

I had a visit yesterday from two gentlemen who said they were from the SECRET SERVICE! They were looking for the HAMBURGLAR who said the PRESIDENT might choke on a CHEESEBURGER on AIR FORCE ONE! No wonder they can’t balance a TRILLION DOLLAR BUDGET in DC, they have to check out all the MCDONALDS in AMERICA for the DEADLY CHEESEBURGER that might KILL the PRESIDENT! This is not a JOKE!

— From the Zero Files, 8/15/1995– — —