What Came Next...

Although it was a parody of progressive rock - Ian Anderson wasn't too happy about Aqualung being lumped in with such - Thick As a Brick reached number one on the Billboard 200 despite the fact the album was one song that took up two sides of the record.  Efforts to do a follow-up at the Château d'Hérouville in rural France proved fruitless, being renamed by Anderson and crew "Château d'Isaster" a...

Alan Parsons cut his teeth as an assistant on the Beatles' Abby Road, and by 1973 he was the main engineer for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.  Producing was the next step and, in 1975, the Scottish band Pilot had a top five it with the song "Magic".  Parsons joined with songwriter and keyboardist Eric Woolfson and arranger Andrew Powell and, with Pilot and a number of session musicians vo...

Chicago's second album, simply titled Chicago but at times retconned to Chicago II, is what really broke the band.  The singles from Chicago Transit Authority didn't exactly light up the charts in 1969, but a year later they were re-released and shared the spotlight with the ones from Chicago.  The band went on a massive tour and then right back into the studio for Chicago III, having to come up w...

Traveling Wilburys were a surprise dream come true of a supergroup and their 1988 album, Vol. 1, was one of the best of the decade.  It pretty much brought out the best in every member and put them on the comeback trail.  Unfortunately, Roy Orbison died shortly after its release.  Still, it was successful enough that George Harrison decided to give it another go and get Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and B...

After becoming one of the biggest pop bands of the early 1980s Air Supply realized the ballads were where it was at.  That meant that the rock and disco songs from the previous albums were no more, but the ballads were enhanced by the orchestral arrangements of keyboard player Frank Esler-Smith, elevating Air Supply's music for a short time above that of their soft-rock counterparts.  

The Moody Blues may have been an afterthought of the 1960s, a one-hit wonder in most countries with their version of the R&B song "Go Now".  However, in 1967, they were asked to appear on a stereo demonstration record for their label, Deram.  That album, Days of Future Passed, became a major hit and revitalized their career.  However, needing to sustain their success and without a symphony orchest...

Machine Head was the culmination of everything Deep Purple had worked for since reinventing themselves on Deep Purple in Rock.  The 1972 album spawned a hit single in "Smoke on the Water" and became a heavy metal classic.  At the time the band were on par with Led Zeppelin in terms of popularity.  However, a worldwide tour, followed by label and management pressure to immediately return to the stu...

After is work with conductor and orchestral arranger was a success on Eldorado, Jeff Lynne decided to build on his hit single "Can't Get It Out of My Head", but simplify the music.  The result was Face the Music, maintaining some nods to progressive rock, but going in a decidedly more pop direction.  It was the beginning of a formula that would spell success for ELO. 

Afte the success of Rio the pressure was on to keep Duran Duran a hitmaking machine.  Despite going to exotic locations to film videos, wearing the latest fashions and being featured on the cover of a number of magazines, the sudden fame was weighing on the band, and their fortunes were in danger of being seized by the British government.  In tax exile they began working on what was originally a c...

Five years after their album Metallica made them the biggest heavy metal band in the world, Metallica returned with a new album, Load.  Though the lyrical content was more personal and still quite dark, the appearance was of a lighter, more mainstream Metallica, with short hair and eyeliner.  While the album still sold well it was obvious the old Metallica was gone. 

After giving up on their reel-to-reel video movie Vileness Fats and spending a good portion of the 1970s working on the album Eskimo, the Residents had found some critical and cult acclaim.  During that time they had released a 7-inch EP called Duck Stab! and, as they were working on Eskimo, came up with a similar EP called Buster and Glen.  Rather than release it on its own, it was combined with ...

After Welcome to My Nightmare, and especially a hit single with "Only Women Bleed", Alice Cooper as a solo artist was continuing the same success as he had with the band called Alice Cooper.  The problem was that success was catching up with him in the form of alcoholism, sapping both his health and his creativity.  Still, guitarist Dick Wagner and producer and keyboard player Bob Ezrin managed to...

While Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables was definitely the album that solidified Dead Kennedys' spot in hardcore punk, I have always felt their sophomore effort, Plastic Surgery Disasters, was the stronger of the two albums.  It sees them start to move away from the conventions of punk music while remaining true to the spirit, both in the aggressiveness of the music and in their politics.  

After the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles released a series of singles with a related sound to the album throughout 1967, without releasing any songs from the album as actual singles.  Toward the end of the year they planned a double-disc E.P. release of newly recorded soundtrack music for a one-hour BBC Boxing Day special, Magical Mystery Tour.  While the film itself...

Yes had achieved chart success in the U.S. beginning with their third LP, The Yes Album.  Original keyboard player Tony Kaye would be let go after that album, with former Strawbs keyboard player Rick Wakeman joining in mid-1971.  Both the albums Fragile and Close to the Edge would be considered both fan and critical favorites, with a successful tour a triple-album live album and concert film in Ye...

Most of Herb Alpert's albums are thrift store mainstays, with Whipped Cream and Other Delights being the most recognizable.  However, the reason there are so many is because the music, unlike a lot of easy listening at the time, was enjoyable to a wide arrange of listeners and of consistent quality from album to album.  Still, 1965 seemed like one of the best years for Alpert, as his band, origina...

Recently Kate Bush's 1985 single "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" has gained renewed attention due to the show Stranger Things.  It was, in fact, her only top 40 hit in the United States, and the album it came from, Hounds of Love, was also her highest charting here as well.  In the UK it spawned three other singles that made the UK top 40 as well.  After a compilation album, a duet with P...

Aerosmith, in the mid-1970s, was hated by critics and loved by their loyal fans, the Blue Army.  They were one of the biggest hard rock acts of the time, selling millions of records and having back-to-back platinum albums with Toys in the Attic and Rocks.  Unfortunately, not only was success going to their heads, but plenty of other things were going into their veins and up their noses.  As a resu...

Accept was one of the most popular heavy metal bands in Europe, and in fact the world, and they remain so today.  There is one major exception: the United States.  Balls to the Wall went Gold in the U.S., and with Accept pursuing a decidedly more commercial sound, 1985's Metal Heart should have pushed them over the top.  Instead, despite being one of the band's favorite albums, it pushed them towa...

After weathering the death of lead vocalist Bon Scott and releasing one of the biggest selling albums at all time, AC/DC were at the top of their career.  So, what came next?     Like what you hear? Donate to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ericwincentsen   Background Music: "Organ" by Eric Fourman