This release is the latest instalment in Grapefruit’s ongoing year-by-year overview of the British rock & pop scene of the mid-1970s. While this set contains plenty of good examples of the rock/pop of the time, very few tracks come close to anything progressive. No surprise there, however, as this was a period when prog was rapidly disappearing up inside its glittery cape, when triple albums like Tales From Topographic Oceans, and lengthy tracks with titles such as ‘The Revealing Science of God,’ were giving new meanings to words like ‘unlistenable’ and ‘Pretentious.’
1975, for this reviewer, gets undeserved bad press because, as Lazy Days reveals, there were some quite diverse genres making waves across the UK scene at the time .. this set alone combines elements of glam, rock, pop, soul, some slight prog leanings and other disparate tracks, including a couple with a slightly more sinister edge. This was also the year when the phrase ‘Dinosaur Bands’ was first used by rock scribes, who’d become increasingly cynical about established acts, like the Stones, Floyd and Zeppelin, and their lengthening distance from their fanbase, culminating with gigs in what were then seen as cavernous venues like Earls Court and Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena). This contributed in no small measure to the punk onslaught which followed in 1976, a year declared as ‘Year Zero’ with much of what had gone before on the receiving end of what was some quite vitriolic opprobrium, much of which was way wide of the mark, as music history’s come to realise.
Lazy Days, spread across 3 CDs, contains 65 tracks from a very wide variety of artists and bands, some of whom, like Hawkwind, Richard Thompson and Barclay James Harvest, are still releasing new albums and pulling in the crowds at gigs. There are friendly hits from John Lodge/Justin Hayward, several well-known hits from established seventies acts like Roxy Music, Slade, Cockney Rebel and 10cc, and a few quite unexpected hits, such as ‘Delilah’ by the Sensational Alex Harvey band, plus album tracks from sixties acts who were still going strong in the mid-seventies.. Manfred Mann, Pretty Things, The Kinks and The Shadows, the latter giving us a rare vocal performance, while the nascent pub rock scene is represented by Dr Feelgood, Ace and Kursaal Flyers. Brinsley Schwartz is also included but as The Brinsleys, with a track from their final album.
What was to become classic rock sees album tracks from Stray, Bad Company, The Sweet and Thin Lizzy, then on the cusp of a major breakthrough to the mainstream, though Nazareth would have been well advised to leave Tomorrow’s 1967 classic, ‘My White Bicycle,’ well alone as, frankly, this is a long way from their best moment. There are album tracks from artists who were releasing solo material while still playing in successful mainstream bands, such as John Entwistle (Who) Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music) and Ronnie Lane (Faces) plus a track from Peter Hammill, though Van der Graaf Generator never even came close to the mainstream. There are also tracks from bands who, whilst critically applauded, deserved to be bigger than the cult bands they became, such as Stackridge and Hatfield & the North. There’s also a release from the beguiling Noosha Fox and her band.
Lazy Days suggests whilst 1975 may not be a vintage year, it did have its share of good music which has lasted the distance, and its reappraisal from bodies like Grapefruit helps put a much maligned year into its proper perspective.
