Styx released “Suite Madame Blue” on Equinox album

Suite Madame Blue Styx

Writer(s): Dennis DeYoung (see lyrics here) Released: December 20, 1975 as an album cut on Equinox First Charted: -- Peak: 7 CL, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): NA Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 6.344 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 1975, America was prepping for major celebrations of its bicennential the next year. 1976 wasn’t just the year that the country looked back, but the year that Styx looked forward. They had yet to become the juggernaut of classic radio, but they could see the possibilities. They’d broken through to top 40 radio with the #6 hit “Lady” which won them a major label record contract after four albums with Wooden Nickel. Their first album with A&M, Equinox, arrived in December 1975 and during the next year, gave the band two top 40 hits with “Lorelei” and “Mademoiselle.” However, the album also produced “Suite Madame Blue,” which wasn’t a single but arguably became bigger than either of the official hits. The song became a staple at classic rock radio and a regular feature in the band’s concerts. Dennis DeYoung, singer and keyboardist with the band, has called the song Styx’s “Stairway to Heaven,” FR a reference to the iconic Led Zepplien masterpiece and that each “starts slow and gathers steam as it roll on till the climatic end.” FR He wrote the song in response to the impending preparations for the bicennential celebration. Instead of writing a rah-rah patriotic tune, though, he took a more cynical look with lines like, “Red, white and blue / Gaze in your looking glass / You’re not a child anymore.” He said, “You started seeing commercials for the B-Centennial mug and the Bi-Centennial panties and all of that.” FR He told Classic Rock Revisited: “The 200th anniversary of America was being totally taken over by commercialization…I had grown up in the so-called glory days of the United States of America, which was post World War II until 1970. To live in this country at that time was really the golden age. The fallibility of the United States was something that struck me and that set the tone for ‘Suite Madame Blue.’” SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Styx FR ForgottenRockClassics.com (3/21/2018) SF Songfacts Related Links: First posted 3/10/2021; last updated 7/11/2022.

Styx charted with Equinox

Equinox Styx

Charted: December 20, 1975 Peak: 58 US Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: classic arena rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Light Up (DeYoung) [4:17] (1975, 13 CL) Lorelei (DeYoung/ Young) [3:19] (2/14/76, 27 US, 30 CB, 28 HR, 26 RR, 9 CL, 6 CN) Mother Dear (Curulewski/ DeYoung) [5:25] Lonely Child (DeYoung) [3:47] Midnight Ride (Young) [4:17] Born for Adventure (DeYoung/ Curulewski/ Young) [5:12] Prelude 12 (Curulewski) [1:21] Suite Madame Blue (DeYoung) [6:30] (7 CL) Total Running Time: 34:32 The Players: Dennis DeYoung (vocals, keyboards) James “JY” Young (guitar, vocals) John Curulewski (guitar, vocals, synthesizers) Chuck Panozzo (bass) John Panozzo (drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.785 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Equinox was “a pivotal album in Styx,s career.” UCR After four albums with Wooden Nickel, they were signed to the major label A&M after their 1973 single “Lady” was rediscovered and became a surprise top-10 hit. The album sold 350,000 copies upon release and eventually went gold. WK With “their synthesizer-led dramatics alongside Dennis De Young’s exaggerated vocal approach, the material on Equinox was a firm precursor of what was to come .” AMG It also showed a band “simultaneously inspired and disjointed“ UCR with “persistent progressive ambitions (‘Mother Dear,’ ‘Suite Madame Blue’)” UCR as well as “burgeoning mainstream aspirations (‘Light Up,’ ‘Lorelei’).” UCR It also marked the final appearance of founding guitarist John Curulewski. He left before the band went on tour, leaving them scrambling for a replacement. They found singer and guitarist Tommy Shaw, who would become a mainstay of the band through its classic years. The lead single, Light Up, extolled the virtues of smoking pot and having fun with friends. It didn’t make any traction on the charts, but gained an audience on album rock radio. It “is a brilliant display of keyboard bubbliness, with De Young's vocals in full bloom.” AMG The second single, Lorelei, proved much more successful, reaching #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Although it was the only song to chart from Equinox, the album itself is a benchmark in the band’s career since it includes an instrumental nature reminiscent of their early progressive years, yet hints toward a more commercial-sounding future in its lyrics.” AMG The “hard rock juggernaut Midnight Ride” UCR is the only song on the album written exclusively by James “JY” Young while Born for Adventure, written “about legends such as Robin Hood,” WK is written by him alongside DeYoung and John Curulewski. Curulewski sings the verses while DeYoung handles the chorus on prog-rocker Mother Dear. Lonely Child is “a melodic power ballad featuring 12-string guitars” WK That song and “Suite Madame Blue show tighter songwriting and a slight drift toward radio amicability.” AMG Despite never finding any chart success, “Blue” found a place on album rock radio and became “the most well-known song on the album.” WK The song was inspired by the then-upcoming U.S. Bicentennial celebration and the over-commercialization DeYoung saw attached to it. It became a staple in the band’s concert repertoire.

Resources and Related Links: AMG All Music Guide review by Mike DeGagne UCR Ultimate Classic Rock WK Wikipedia First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 5/18/2021.

Parliament Mothership Connection released

Mothership Connection Parliament

Released: December 15, 1975 Charted: February 21, 1976 Peak: 13 US, 4 RB Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Genre: funk

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. P-Funk Wants to Get Funked Up (George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell) [7:41] (2/21/76, 33 RB) Mothership Connection (Star Child) (Clinton, Collins, Worrell) [6:13] (9/4/76, 26 RB) Unfunky UFO (Clinton, Collins, Garry Shider) [4:23] Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication (Clinton, Collins, Shider, Worrell) [5:03] Handcuffs (Clinton, Glenn Goins, Janet McLaughlin) [4:02] Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) (Jerome Brailey, Clinton, Collins) [5:46] (4/24/76, 15 BB, 5 RB, sales: ½ million) Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples (Clinton, Collins, Shider) [5:10] Total Running Time: 38:06 The Players: George Clinton (vocals) Bootsy Collins (vocals, bass, guitar, drums) Bernie Worrell (keyboards/synthesizers) Garry Shider (guitar, vocals on “Handcuffs”) Gary Cooper (drums, backing vocals & handclaps) Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Grady Thomas (vocals on “Handcuffs”) Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Boom, Joe Farrell (horns) Cordell Mosson (bass) Michael Hampton, Glenn Goins (guitar) Tiki Fulwood, Jerome Brailey (drums) Debbie Edwards, Taka Kahn, Archie Ivy, Bryna Chimenti, Rasputin Boutte, Pam Vincent, Debra Wright, Sidney Barnes (backing vocals and handclaps)

Rating: 4.698 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings) Quotable: “The greatest R&B album ever made” – Joe S. Harrington, Blastitude.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: George Clinton launched not one, but two of funk music’s most important bands – Parliament and Funkadelic (often referred to collectively as P-Funk) – in the 1960s. They experienced their greatest commercial and critical success in the 1970s and perhaps never more so than with Mothership Connection. His “ranks were [already] stocked with the very best of his collaborators,” CS including “Bootsy Collins’ grooving bass, Bernie Worrell’s cosmic piano, a hot horn section and nearly two dozen others adding to the funkification of America.” RV This album marked the additions of Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. The two horn players had previously worked with James Brown and now “elevated an already mind-blowing band into the best funk band of the ‘70s, arguably the best funk band ever.” AMG Joe S. Harrington went so far as to call it “the greatest R&B album ever made” BT saying it is even more “ingenious conceptually” BT than Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. While Gaye “expressed urban blight” BT “Clinton’s otherworldly persona and outrageous lyrics” RV combined for the ultimate concept album. BT He loads the P-Funk gang into “a spaceship and blasts off to other galaxies, where it musically interacts with societies that surely found the collective as whacked-out as we did back here on Earth.” CS It “became a definitive statement for the genre and a template that was subsequently sourced by jazz, hip-hop, and EDM artists.” CS Certainly “there’s no questioning this album’s impact, one that is still being felt via rap-induced aftershocks.” AMG Mothership Connection picks up where previous album Chocolate City left off, perfecting P-Funk’s formula of “galaxy-bound cosmic slop.” BT Clinton mixed horns “and more dance-friendly rhythms in a definite JB-influenced direction.” BT The opening song, P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), harkened back to the opening title track from Parliament’s previous album, Chocolate City, laying down a languid synth aura for a spoken-word intro.” AMG The song “steps into second gear though, bringing in Bootsy’s bass, Wesley’s horn, Worrell’s piano, and a chorus of vocalists, it’s fairly evident just how large a step forward Mothership Connection is.” AMG “The second song, Mothership Connection (Star Child), makes the differentiation glaringly evident, most noticeably when the song enters the cosmic, proto-hip-hop ‘swing down sweet chariot’ bridge with its accompanying melody from beyond.” AMG “The funk doesn’t stop there though, with the remaining five songs keeping the tempo laden with dense interweaving rhythms, peaking on Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker).” AMG That song alon “makes the album classic.” CS In addition, if “Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication doesn’t get you moving, we advise urgent medical attention.” CS Notes: The 2003 reissue adds the promo radio version of “Star Child (Mothership Connection).”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Parliament AMG All Music Guide by Jason Birchmeier BT Blastitude.com (Winter 2002/2003). “A Loaded Proposition: Joe S. Harrington Picks the All-Time Top 100…” by Joe S. Harrington CS Consequence.net (9/12/2022). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Gary Graff RV The Review (October – November 2001; Vol. 128: numbers 12-23). “100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher First posted 7/23/2008; last updated 9/24/2023.

 

Queen released A Night at the Opera

A Night at the Opera Queen

Released: November 21, 1975 Peak: 4 US, 14 UK, 2 CN, 12 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.3 UK, 10.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock/classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…) (Freddie Mercury/Queen) [3:43] Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon (Freddie Mercury/Queen) [1:07] I’m in Love with My Car (Queen/Roger Taylor) [3:04] You’re My Best Friend (Deacon) [2:52] (5/22/76, 16 US, 9 CB, 15 HR, 7 RR, 2 CL, 7 UK, 2 CN, 40 AU, sales: 0.2 million) ’39 (Brian May/Queen) [3:30] Sweet Lady (Brian May/Queen) [4:03] Seaside Rendezvous (Freddie Mercury/Queen) [2:19] The Prophet’s Song (Brian May/Queen) [8:20] Love of My Life (Freddie Mercury/Queen) [3:38] (7/14/79, 30 CL, 63 UK) Good Company (Brian May/Queen) [3:23] Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury) [5:57] (10/31/75, 2 US, 1 CB, 4 HR, 3 RR, 1 CL, 16 AR, 1 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU, sales: 13.78 million) God Save the Queen (Queen/traditional) [1:15] Total Running Time: 43:08 The Players: Freddie Mercury (vocals) Brian May (guitar) John Deacon (bass) Roger Taylor (drums)

Rating: 4.356 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Queen’s A Night at the Opera can be simultaneously viewed as the group’s “crowning achievement” PR and “an extravagant indulgence.” PR On the latter front, “this is where the band let its over-the-top tendencies loose.” RS500 The group “celebrate their own pomposity” AMG in “a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece.” AMG In his book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, Tom Moon called it “the campiest rock concept album ever.” TM On the other front, it was the most expensive album made up to that time, taking months to record in as many as six studios simultaneously. PR That “detailed, meticulous productions” AMG was a mutual effort from Queen and producer Roy Thomas Baker, who “was more than happy to oblige the boys, piling on the overdubs until the analog 16-track tape shed almost all its oxide and literally went transparent.” GW The Queen sound by definition was filled with electric guitars in harmony, a rock-solid rhythm section, and many layers of vocals,” CRS but even by their own standards, Queen “broke down all the barricades on A Night at the Opera” AMG with a mix of “hard rock, wistful ballads, music hall pastiche and perfectly crafted pop with classical trimmings.” PR It was “the disc that established them as a completely unique entity in rock music, quite distinct from the Seventies glam/proto metal pack with which they’d formerly been grouped.” GW “It’s prog rock with a sense of humor as well as dynamics.” AMG “Delivered with sly winks and high-gloss dazzle, these put Queen closer, sensibility-wise, to the theatrical entertainments of a bygone age than anything on pop radio.” TM “Fully half of the album tends toward camp - there are seafaring sing-alongs (‘39) and vaudeville-style soft-shoe tunes (Seaside Rendezvous) and a few themes that might have been inspired by a toy calliope (Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon).” TM However, “tucked between the kitschy, amazingly detailed period pieces are several conventional pop songs.” TM The album “encompasses metal (Death on Two Legs, Sweet Lady), pop (the lovely, shimmering You're My Best Friend)...mystical prog rock (…The Prophet’s Song)” AMG, and “the zooming, cleverly harmonized confession I’m In Love with My Car.” TM They all serve as “head-spinningly intricate, illustrations of Queen’s ability to conjure music of preposterous flamboyance that somehow still manages to flat-out rock.” TM They “eventually bring it all together on the pseudo-operatic Bohemian Rhapsody.” AMG The group fretted that “this strange song with suicidal overtones, mood changes, and a pseudo-operatic section” CRS “was a bit over the top; it would either be a huge success or an equally huge failure.” CRS It proved to be the former, becoming the group’s most beloved song and one of classic rock’s staples.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Queen AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine CRS Tim Morse (1998). Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. RS500 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time GW Guitar World (2009). 50 Greatest Guitar Albums Louder Sound (2016). Every song on Queen’s A Night at the Opera, ranked from worst to best TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. PR Paul Roland (2001). CD Guide to Pop & Rock. B.T. Batsford LTD: London. U Discover Music (2018). A Night at the Opera: Queen’s Regal Invite Could Not Be Ignored Ultimate Classic Rock (2015). Revisiting Queen’s Masterpiece, ‘A Night at the Opera’ Vintage King (2018). Prophet’s Song: The Making of Queen’s A Night at the Opera First posted 3/23/2008; last updated 8/5/2021.

Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here” released as a single

Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Roger Waters (see lyrics here) Released: November 20, 1975 (studio version) Released: July 20, 1995 (live version) Peak: 1 CL, 13 AR, 68 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK, 0.75 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 455.4 video, 568.84 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The title cut from Pink Floyd’s ninth album “whose overall theme is absence.” DT Accounts vary as to the inspiration for the song. The general consensus is that it is inspired by the band’s founder and frontman Syd Barrett, who departed the band in 1968 because of problems with LSD and schizophrenia. One story says the song emerged from a poem that songwriter and bassist Roger Waters wrote for Barrett. DT However, Waters has also claimed the song was “about his grandmother’s final years and how she would think Waters was her long-dead husband.” XFM He’s also said the song was about himself, saying the lyrics are about “being present in one’s own life and freeing one’s self in order to truly experience life.” WK Any interpretation allows for the song to be viewed as “a commentary on how people cope with the world by withdrawing physically, mentally, or emotionally.” SF In addition, “the sighing introspection of the music sums up the mundane tragedy perfectly.” XFM The album version of the song opens with the sound oa radio station being tuned away from “Have a Cigar,” the previous song on the Wish You Were Here album. The listener flips through several stations including a piece of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony before moving on to the beginning of “Wish You Were Here” playing on the radio. The latter was recorded from singer and guitarist David Gilmour’s car radio. WK He performs “the delicate acoustic guitar intro” XFM as if he is playing along with the radio. The original version of the song was released as a single in 1975. Twenty years, later it was released again as a single in support of Pink Floyd’s 1995 live album Pulse. The latter version reached #13 on Billboard’s mainstream rock chart. In 2001, Wyclef Jean released a “soul-reggae version” SF which reached #28 in the UK. In 2012, Ed Sheeran and others performed the song at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in London and hit #34 on the chart. It prompted the original Pink Floyd version to hit the UK charts for the first time the next week at #68. In 2016, Avenged Sevenfold took the song to #16 on the mainstream rock chart. Guns N’ Roses performed the song live in 2017 in a medley with Derek & the Dominos’ “Layla.” One of the most significant covers, however, was in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst and Wes Borland performed the song live with the Goo Goo Dolls’ Johnny Reznik on the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon. They revised some lyrics for the occasion. The version simultaneously captured the sadness over American lives lost and the desire to seek revenge on Osamba bin Laden for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Pink Floyd SF Songfacts DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 91. WK Wikipedia XFM Mike Walsh (editor) (2010). The XFM Top 1000 Songs of All Time. Elliott & Thompson Limited: London, England. Page 314. Related Links: First posted 3/30/2023.