Ten stone cold 1970s bangers that time has forgotten

“YOU ARE THE MUSIC” – Trapeze (1972)

“You Are the Music” was the final track on the last proper Trapeze release, called You Are the Music … We’re Just the Band.” It was the last album with the original core – Glenn Hughes, Mel Galley, and Dave Holland. Trapeze once had a sax and keyboard player as well, but by the time of their third and final album, they were essentially a power trio, with Hughes singing and playing bass, Galley on guitar, and Holland on drums.

On many of the other tracks from You Are the Music…” they brought in guests like Rod Argent to play piano and Jimmy Hastings to blow some sax. But on the title track, they kept it simple. It’s just the original three and it’s Trapeze at their best.

Hughes, who would leave and eventually play with both Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, said Galley was the guitar equal of Clapton and Hendrix in the late 1960s, and when he got the chance to join him, Hughes quit his own band and learned to play bass. He went on to say that though they were Brits, he felt they took their groove from Memphis, and that shows on much of their best work.

“You are the Music” is a non-stop groove, coming from all three instruments in perfect harmony. Huges is a quality singer, and there are lyrics to the song, but quite frankly, they don’t matter all that much. You listen to Trapeze to hear the tightest version of Memphis blues rock you will ever from some kids from the West Midlands.

“DISTANT SUN” – Captain Beyond (1973)

Captain Beyond’s self-titled debut album hit in 1972 and was an immediate darling amongst prog rock fans. The follow-up, Sufficiently Breathless, proved more divisive. Original drummer Bobby Caldwell, who had co-written the debut’s tracks with lead singer Rod Evans, had left, and the entire band contributed songs and ideas to the second album (though bass player Lee Dorman was the only member credited – Captain Beyond was always involved in legal and contractual disputes with former bands and record labels.)

Sufficiently Breathless was a bit less progressive, focusing on longer, more coherent songs. But there was still plenty of experimentation to go around. Caldwell was replaced by a traditional drummer as well as a second percussionist who played a variety of Latin instruments. Reese Wynans joined on electric piano. Many fans heard echoes of Santana in the new lineup.

It all comes together on “Distant Sun,” a fabulous piece of art rock, that begins with a Wynans’ piano splashing away over Dorman’s driving bass. Then the guitar leads into Evans’ assured vocals. They have to be assured because there is a riot going on beneath his lyrics. Then, after the second verse, the kind of tonal shift fans loved in the first album sends the song off into a gentler Latin bridge. But the drums, which I take to be timbales, maintain momentum even through this slower section.

Eventually, the song morphs again into a guitar-based jam which carries to the coda. After Sufficiently Breathless, Evans, who had co-founded Deep Purple before being replaced by Ian Gillan, essentially quit the music business.