About 50 years ago this month, artists of all stripes were making big moves with their albums. Some were consolidating the gains of previous successes. Others were striking out into exciting new territory that hadn’t been well trodden by their peers.
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Taken as a whole, May 1975 stands out as a quite impressive period for new music. To prove our point, we’re taking a look back at five memorable albums released in that month.
‘Red Headed Stranger’ by Willie Nelson
Nelson had already started striking out on his own, away from the Nashville establishment, when he created this concept album. Operating a high degree of difficulty, he managed to fashion a moving story about love and loss, sin and redemption. Amazingly, he pieced the tale together through not only his own songs, but also via some material from country music’s rich past. He sinks deep into the character of The Preacher, whose violent outbursts cause him great pain and sorrow. Musical themes recur cleverly, while individual moments stand out, such as beauties like “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” and “Hands On The Wheel”. Rightly regarded as an outlaw country masterpiece.
‘Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy’ by Elton John
Elton John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin had built up a ton of success and goodwill by 1975. They earned the right to mythologize their working relationship to that point. The timing for the album was just right as well, as it represented a dividing line between John’s halcyon era and his struggles later in the 70s. While some of the spunk of previous releases is missing, Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy rides high on the ballads. “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” offers one of John’s most powerful melodies, while “We All Fall In Love Sometimes” gives Taupin a chance to testify to the depth of feeling between the two men.
‘Venus And Mars’ by Wings
Paul McCartney had pretty much rescued Wings with the batch of songs that he delivered on the 1973 album Band On The Run. After making that album with a skeleton crew, he filled the roster back up to a quintet for Venus And Mars, all the better to tour the world. McCartney played into that vibe with songs like “Rock Show” and “Letting Go”, perfect for arenas everywhere. But the album also finds him unapologetically dipping into a number of non-rock styles and doing so quite well. The old-timey “You Gave Me The Answer”, soulful “Call Me Back Again”, AM-friendly “Listen To What The Man Said”, and sentimental “Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People” make this one of Wings’ most varied and winning records.
‘Gorilla’ by James Taylor
At this point in his career, Taylor had largely steered away from some of the darker aspects of his early work. He fully dove into crowd-pleasing, mellow mode on Gorilla. Top studio vets from the West Coast helped him fill out the sound, which included the welcoming grooves of big hit singles “Mexico” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”. The title basks in self-deprecating humor, while even “Angry Blues” seems more like a put-on than Taylor getting his ire up. Other album highlights include “I Was A Fool To Care”, which glides with Cole Porter-like suavity, and “Love Songs”, where Taylor calmly defends his optimistic belief in feel-good music.
‘Soap Opera’ by The Kinks
This somewhat forgotten Kinks project finds the band caught between two worlds. On the one hand, Ray Davies still wanted to indulge his love for grand concepts. But except for a few tracks (such as the campy “Holiday Romance”), the band was segueing away from antiquated music. Instead, they hearkened back to the harder-edged rock and roll of their earliest years. For example, the opening track
“Everybody’s A Star (Starmaker)” possesses a crunch that the band hadn’t cultivated for years. Some of the dialogue sprinkled into the mix gets a bit tiresome. But the album finishes strong with the elegiac “(A) Face In The Crowd” and the relentless “You Can’t Stop The Music”. This album’s a lot better than its reputation as a flop suggests.
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