PART TWO: FILL YOUR HEAD WITH ROCK
by Dave Sanderson
www.flowerbedmusic.com

On a typical Sunday morning in 1970, my sister would play her records while drying her hair, doing her nails or whatever. Meanwhile I’d be sat on the floor, still in my pyjamas, absorbing every detail on the album sleeves of Disraeli Gears, Axis: Bold As Love, Tommy and so many others as the discs were played.
Inevitably, Fill Your Head With Rock (one of the grooviest records in our house, at least!) would get a spin at some point and I’d study the sleeve for that as well!

Now, maybe I’d listened to my sisters talking or perhaps I was a discerning rock music fan at the age of four (!) but, for whatever reason, I was a close listener even then and looked forward to many moments on this album ….the busy rhythms of Santana, the spooky Black Widow, the orchestral Moondog. I loved it!

As well as all that, I can also recall knowing even at that tender young age that this was something quite different from your regular Thursday night Top Of The Pops stuff!
Nothing went ‘chirpy chirpy cheep cheep’ on this record.
But then surely you only needed to see the front cover to guess that!

The Sleeve

A demonic violinist in jeans pounces out from the dark shadows with a dehumanised mask-like face. Stripped to the waist and scorched in red light, his mane of never-ending hair flames upwards from his head as he appears to plunge downwards while ripping his bow against the strings of his evil violin.
To a rock fan of the time this front covershot no doubt signified freedom, energy and the promise of underground rock power with the violinist (not a guitarist for once!) portrayed as rock-god. To this child at the time, however, it looked like a monster.
Looking at it today, the front cover of Fill Your Head With Rock sustains itself (at least, in my mind) as one of the most distinctive from that period.

On the inside, the centre spread of the gatefold is packed with photographs of the featured artists (some black and white, some colour) arranged in a rather disorganised and confusing fashion. Presentation was often a bit messy then, wasn’t it?
Actually, I must say it’s odd but this part stirs very little in the way of memories.
Perhaps I was too busy reading the back cover where all the track titles were printed so big or looking rather puzzledly at the two-inch square picture (the only picture there, in fact) of a little girl gorgeing on a stick of rock candy (or ‘seaside rock’ as we call it in the UK!)!!
Nevertheless on the inside, Laura Nyro catches the eye most in a sizeable and wonderfully enigmatic black and white shot. Hair across the lower face with eyes closed, it seems to evoke the mood of her romantic epic “Gibsom Street” perfectly.
As well as that, Ceilia Humpris of The Trees stands out while rising dominantly above the heads of her band co-members.
Also, to reassure that four-year-old boy in 1970 who was unnerved by the front cover image, there’s Jerry Goodman from Flock again but in a far more ordinary violinist pose!

The Music

Was this “The Sound Of the Seventies” as CBS so proudly claimed on the front cover?
I don’t think too many were convinced of that.
Perhaps in retrospect, Fill Your Head With Rock could be more accurately described as effectively ‘closing the gate’ on sixties music rather than propelling us forward to a new sound. Bumpers on the other hand, released in the same year, seems to be a better indicator of what was to follow in the immediate years.
But that is only an observational aside. Far from being intended as criticism.
Fill Your Head With Rock captures the contemporary sound of so many great artists of the year. It’s unique, for sure!

When you consider the diversity of artists at CBS back then it must have taken some doing to order a programme that runs and coheres so well. This is the good work of a certain David Howells who, as it states on the back cover in small print, compiled the album. All his careful consideration and musical sense of pacing and structure certainly paid off in the end.

So on to the songs themselves….

Side One

Chicago’s “Listen” would always make us grin with gleeful anticipation as it kicked off the album with that familiar, welcoming mid-tempo groove. Soon it would be joined by stomping bursts of melody from the band’s brass section and a cool, soulful vocal.
Great start, great tune and a fitting fanfare-like introduction to the album.

To follow this, in a masterstroke of programme ordering, Santana’s “Savor” (or Savour, for us English readers) opens with an explosion of amazing percussion. Once the guitar, bass and organ have joined in, it never lets up for the next two action-packed minutes. Then, after so much rhythmic frenzy, it fades just as you’ve had enough.

After all that energy, Spirit’s “Give A Life, Take A Life” provides welcome relief with its calm vocal harmonies and quiet backing. Later, as if to show how free and flexible rock music of the time could be, the song seamlessly shifts into a lazy swing rhythm section and back out again. Lovely track.

Steamhammer’s “Passing Through” settles the heartrate even further with its simmering ride cymbal, easy strolling bassline and dreamy guitar textures. Another lazy but cool vocal performance here. And how we grinned at that false fade!

Finally, “Smiling Phases” by Blood, Sweat and Tears packs a similar punch to the Chicago track so that two impeccable brass-laden tracks bookend the album’s first side.
I’d say this lot probably surpass Chicago’s brass section for tightness and voicing. As well as that, the distinctive voice of David Clayton-Thomas and the superb instrumental section make this possibly the highlight track of the first side.

Side Two

If the opening side could be seen as having an overriding jazz-rock sensibility about it, then this second side (apart from The Byrds’ lovely easy-listening offering, ‘Gunga Din’) veers towards something far more earthy and paganistic.

At last, the connection between the music and the album’s front cover is made as the first track begins with a solo violin careering around in the ether (ok, reverb then!) with a frenzy of chromatic turns. After this alarming introduction, the other members of Flock join in and the track steadies into an easy-paced but punchy rendition of The Kinks pop hit “Tired Of Waiting”.

The fury of Flock’s folk-rock violin paves the way for the rustic musical path that follows as next we’re led by soiled hand to the nocturnal setting of Black Widow’s dark processional “Come To The Sabbat” with its breathy flute and soft, regular tom-tom beat. Any fear of this lot being serious in luring us to the occult is defied somewhat by the hammed-up wobbly cry of the line ‘Satan’s there’ towards the end. Nevertheless we can’t be entirely sure. They’re not serious, surely….are they?

The outdoor fun continues with Argent’s “Dance In The Smoke” with its hippy-like lure towards escape and abandon. The range of dynamics are particularly effective in this one with many powerful peaks and tranquil troughs along the way. Not forgetting, a tasty organ solo from the band’s namesake member.

Finally, after the aforementioned Byrds track has broken the spell (albeit refreshingly) with its upbeat sunniness, Side Two ends exotically with Skin Alley’s “Living In Sin” , a romping dance with flute and percussion followed by a shimmering flower-power styled guitar solo and cool sax during the middle eight.
All in all, a cracking second side.

Side Three

Somehow the flavour of the programme manages to change dramatically yet again.
Arguably the most colourful and eccentric side of the album, this sequence brings together the most diverse and individual sounds on the label.
It begins perfectly with Laura Nyro’s absorbing and highly dramatic “Gibsom Street” . This is such a heartfelt vocal performance and what a deep, spacious mix with rich piano and later, as the band make their presence felt, some punching organ and brass stabs. So many twists and turns. It feels huge. An epic track.

The claustrophobic intimacy of Leonard Cohen’s “You Know Who I Am” follows next. Contrasts on all levels between this and the track before. As well as the instrumentation, the mix, the sound and everything, Cohen’s intonation may not be as finely-tuned as Nyro’s (!) but he draws you in with such a distinctive, sleepy performance. A fascinating and haunting track.

As if that coupling of musical styles wasn’t odd enough, the album takes another turn again with a spoken word introduction by the mysterious, blind composer Moondog followed by his rousing orchestral miniature, “Stamping Ground” (misspelled as ‘Stomping’ on the back cover!). His poetic announcement, made in such austere fashion, appears to be made on the street (where, of course, he spent a lot of time!) and then we’re in the concert hall to hear his musical labours.
Odd, yet so innocent and all the more alluring for it.

Continuing the theme of novelty and oddness, next up is Amory Kane’s “The Inbetween Man”, a small acoustic gem peppered with various fingered bends, temple block hits (I think!) and other percussion novelties.
The delightfully pastoral and somewhat Gothic “Garden Of Jane Delawney” by The Trees charms us next with a beautiful combination of lead female vocal and harpsichord.

Al Stewart’s “Small Fruit Song” is fittingly short and sweet with its layering of acoustic guitar textures. Ultimately made all the more effective by the late, brief appearance of the singer himself in the last ten seconds.
An instrumental that isn’t. Yes, odd!

Finally, this epic of a third side is brought to a close in rather standard fashion (as much a shock as anything that’s come before) with the sleep-inducing Tom Rush and his “Driving Wheel”. That’s not to say it’s boring. It’s rather pleasant actually. However, a little ordinary after what precedes it.

And so…where to go next after all that breathtaking variety?
Well…unlike the spread of consistently good material across the four sides of Bumpers (next up for analysis), it has to be said FYHWR has a pretty weak Side Four!
Perhaps my sister, playing it way back in 1970, is to blame for this by changing the record at this point in favour of, say, Who’s Next or maybe even The Four Tops instead.
More likely, seeing as I’m not a blues fan really (and Side Four of FYHWR certainly serves up a solid sequence of blues arrangements for those who like them), this final side of the album fails to offer anything like the colour, depth and breadth of musical fare we’ve had the pleasure of listening to up to now.

So...sorry and all that.
I can sense a cry out from one or two patient readers of this article…
“What? No mention of Janis? Taj Mahal or Johnny Winter?” …
Well, no...I’m afraid!
Though there’ll be many out there who like Side Four, I will end my commentary on
Fill Your Head With Rock right here.

©2006 David Sanderson
Hear this writer's very own self-penned songs by clicking here

Fancy seeing the Fill Your Head With Rock promotional booklet?
Then visit http://homepage.mac.com/schuffelen/FYHWRmain.html