Concrete cold face cased in steel

King Crimson - In the Wake of Poseidon - 1970

When talking about their debut album a few days ago, I mentioned how surprised I was about the fact that they were so much leading the way as far as progressive rock was concerned, and how I thought that while the album was brilliant, it still wasn't fully the idea I have of King Crimson.
Well, this one is probably still not fully there, but it's quite a step closer, at least at times.
This may be a slightly more uneven album than the previous one, and that can perhaps be explained by the fact that by 1970, all that was pretty much left of King Crimson was Robert Fripp. Ian McDonald and Michael Giles had already left, and so had Greg Lake, although he actually sang most of the songs in the album.
As usual, I prefer them at their craziest, and not so much at their most melodic, so the "Peace" interludes and "Cadence and Cascade" aren't too big favourites of mine.
But when they go a bit crazy, or straight-forward progressive, that's when this album comes to life, and I am so glad to have rediscovered this one!

• "Pictures of a City" is loud and boisterous, almost as much as "21st Century Schizoid Man" in the previous album. This one is jazzier and crazier and the closest to what I think of as "the King Crimson sound" like any other song so far.
• The title track is at the same time a calm and epic progressive track. And perhaps the first classic prog rock song I've come across so far. It wouldn't be out of place in a Genesis album a couple of years from now, for example. 
• There's a song called "Cat Food". It's somewhere between crazy and what one would think King Crimson could release as a single if they were that kind of band.
• The (virtually) closing track is 11-plus minute madness "Devil's Triangle". It's them again doing their slightly chaotic, slightly amorphous experimental pieces. Again, I think Pink Floyd's habit of eventually bringing their ones into some sort of shape works better, but still is an interesting track.
• When Greg Lake's presence as singer for the album was in doubt, Fripp considered an unknown (at the time) singer: Elton John. I can't help but think that would have been interesting.
• It was my intention to put "Pictures of a City" but, again, not easy to find the videos. Found this one from Top of the Pops, of all places, of them playing "Cat Food". 

Long as I remember, the rain been comin' down

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory - 1970

At the time of its release, this album was, perhaps, the biggest success in CCR's career.
Personally, I think I will always have a soft spot for Green River, so in a way I think I had forgotten how many great tracks this album really has. 

I don't think it's all good and, for the most part, the cover songs are not as good as Fogerty's tracks. There's of course, the exception of "Heard it Through the Grapevine", which is an awesome song and a hell of a good cover. 

And their own songs are just brilliant, with some big favourites of mine, and probably of everybody, such as "Run through the Jungle", "Who'll Stop the Rain", or "Lookin' out my back Door". 

As usual, Creedence hardly ever disappoints, and this one is really one of their best works.

• "Travelin' Band", a classic rock which reminds a lot of "Good Golly Miss Molly", actually made it into the post 9/11 "inappropriate titles" list distributed by Clear Media.
• While it was thought for a long time that "Run Through the Jungle" was about Vietnam and the war, it actually is about gun ownership in the US. 
• While it was never a single, and it's not necessarily one of their most famous, "Long as I can see the Light" is one of my favourite CCR songs, so I'm putting it here.

Send me no more sorrow

Trapeze - Trapeze - 1970

This is one of those bands: I have a bunch of stuff by them, I had no idea why. 

Now I know why, and I have to admit I don't like much the idea of having to listen to a bunch of stuff by them. 

This one apparently was produced by a member of the Moody Blues, it's a weird mixture of hard rock and progressive ("weird" not really in a good way), and while the band did have a singer called John Jones, who would anyway leave soon after this album, all the singing here is done by bass player Glenn Hughes.
Yes, the guy who would squeak sometimes in Deep Purple.
I really can't get past his voice. He annoys me in Mark III DP, and he doesn't sing all that much. Just imagine it here, a band that does music that sounds a bit like the songs The Beatles discarded between 1966 and 1970, all with that squeaky voice. 

Nothing to add. This one I'm putting here is not a bad song, I guess.