Monday, September 16, 2019

July 1968 - July 1969: An Endless Circle of Influence

Pictured above: Badfinger, 1969


“We were called The Iveys’ back then, but I think it was Neil Aspinall who suggested the name Badfinger to us, ya know, after the working title “With a Little Help From My Friends”? (laugh)”
- Tom Evans, 1974


Badfinger were one of the first signees to Apple, on July 23, 1968. However, it would take them about a year to release their self-titled debut album, with most of their material being taken from various recording sessions from 1968 through 1969, from before and after they were called Badfinger. 


Badfinger

Side A
- 01. See-Saw Granpa (3:36) [1]
- 02. Beautiful and Blue (2:40) [1]
- 03. Dear Angie (2:40) [1]
- 04. Think About the Good Times (2:23) [1]
- 05. Yesterday Ain’t Coming Back (2:56) [1]
- 06. Fisherman (3:11) [1]
- 07. Maybe Tomorrow (2:53) [1]


Side B
- 08. Sali Bloo (2:44) [1]
- 09. And Her Daddy’s a Millionaire (2:10) [2]
- 10. Angelique (2:27) [1]
- 11. I’m in Love (2:28) [1]
- 12. They’re Knocking Down Our Home (3:43) [1]
- 13. I’ve Been Waiting (5:17) [1]


Released: July 4, 1969
Track sources:
[1] - Maybe Tomorrow, 1969
[2] - Maybe Tomorrow, 1992 bonus tracks

Pictured above: The Who, 1969


“If I were to say what really inspired me to come up with Tommy, I suppose it was The Beatles’ Merseyside Summers from 1967. I heard stories that The Beatles were inspired by “A Quick One” to make it, so really, it’s an endless circle of influence, with certain people inspiring others and vice-versa.”
- Pete Townshend, 1970 


As 1968 was ending, The Who took a break on Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy (albeit at that point already renamed to Tommy) to go on tour, including appearing at The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus. They resumed sessions in January 1969, albeit playing gigs on weekends to avoid going further into debt. At that point a major tour had been booked for April, and the pressure was on to get the album finished by then. By March 1969, certain songs were recorded several times, yet Pete Townshend thought there will still some missing pieces. John Entwistle in particular got fed up with recording, stating “we had to keep going back and rejuvenating the numbers ... it just started to drive us mad.” Recording was concluded on March 7th, the same day Pinball Wizard was released as a single. Unfortunately mixing overshot it’s April deadline, and Tommy was finally released on May 17th, 1969 as a single disc on the ELP format, to nearly universal acclaim.


Pictured above: Pink Floyd, 1969


Having spent most of 1968 touring after releasing Scream Thy Last Scream, Pink Floyd had spent the first few months of 1969 recording their first album without founding member Syd Barrett. Another first is that it would be their first concept album, comprising of two musical suites dubbed The Man and The Journey respectively.


“Well, The Man bit is basically a day in the life of the working class man, from waking up, going to work, relaxing in the afternoon, snogging the wife and having a nightmare. The Journey part however, is a little bit more difficult to explain.”
Roger Waters, 1969


“I think it’s that album where we started to experiment more in the studio, to essentially push the boundaries of what we would be capable of.”
David Gilmour, 1985


Around that time, the band also recorded the soundtrack for the movie More, albeit the soundtrack would go unreleased due to a lot of the material being used on The Man and The Journey and later Ummagumma.


“I mean, some of it would just be filler if we did release it as a soundtrack, so it’s not really something we’d lose sleep over really”
Roger Waters, 2017


The Man and The Journey


Disc 1: The Man
- 01. Daybreak (7:27) [1]
- 02. Work (5:05) [1]
- 03. Teatime (3:13) [1]
- 04. Going Home (0:59) [1]
- 05. Afternoon (5:18) [1]
- 06. Doing It! (7:06) [1]
- 07. Sleep (7:13) [1]
- 08. Nightmare (4:49) [1]
- 09. Wet Dream (0:41) [1]


Disc 2: The Journey
- 01. The Beginning (2:58) [1]
- 02. Beset By The Creatures of The Deep (5:01) [1]
- 03. The Narrow Way (5:18) [1]
- 04. The Pink Jungle (4:58) [1]
- 05. The Labyrinths of Auximines (8:14) [1]
- 06. Footsteps / Doors (9:28) [1]
- 07. Behold the Temple of Light (3:24) [1]
- 08. The End of The Beginning (4:37) [1]


Released: June 13, 1969
Track sources:

Author's notes:

What's this? A new post that didn't take nearly a month to come out? Never thought I'd pull it off!

All jokes aside, I hope you enjoy this new post... I'll admit there isn't much going on yet compared to previous years quite yet, but I promise, the real meat of this year is on the way soon(-ish)!

Real titles of The Man and The Journey tracks are as follows:

Disc 1:
  1. Grantchester Meadows
  2. Syncopated Pandemonium / Sysyphus - Part Three
  3. Sysyphus - Part Four
  4. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party - Part One (Entrance)
  5. Biding My Time
  6. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party - Part Two (Entertainment)
  7. Quicksilver
  8. Cymbaline
  9. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party - Part Three (Exit)
Disc 2:
  1. Green is the Colour
  2. Careful With That Axe, Eugene
  3. The Narrow Way - Part Three
  4. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict
  5. Sysyphus - Part One / Sysyphus - Part Two / Sysyphus - Part Four
  6. Something Else / Up the Khyber / The Narrow Way - Part One
  7. The Narrow Way - Part 2
  8. Storm Signal / Celestial Voices

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A brief explanation for this blog.

This is an archive of the first draft of my music-focused alternate timeline history Something Creative , with every unpublished post republ...