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The period of time from around l965 tillthe end of the decade was undoubtedly the period in which the most original, creative, and the highest quality music was being recorded in the feild of rock music. Never have rock musicians spent so much time,effort and money in the recording studio trying to perfect their music, as they did during this period.

But today, rock music has basically jUSt become an- other big business. One re- cords because that is their job, and to put bread on. the table (and a swimming pool in the back yard).

One has to_make a nice, sellable, commercial pro";fl duct. That is one of thew main reasons the recent Rolling Stones's records sound so lifeless and drab compared to their earlier recordings, like “Satisfac- tion,” and “As Tears Go By.” It also explains why Steve Miller's are basically blase instead of approximating greatness as they should; his albums have the solid technical production and sound that comes with money, but they lack the intense feeling essential to great music; that which comes from within.

"Oici Fashioned Goodness” I The Cellar '— Hughes-Drug Building

lOVED MUSIC"

by'Callum Back

Of courSe therehas been much excellent music re- corded since l969, most not- ably by Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon, but generally the quality of rock music is lower than it was in the sixties,uboth in .the level Of musicianship, and in the sincerity and feeling underlying the music.

Probably the main factor that caused this change in music qualityihas been the

' 'change in the basic philosophy and attitude of the youth of western society society; we have gone from the revolutionary spirit of the sixties to the secure apathy of the seventies. But why has there been this

[change of outlook on life? _ In the latter part of the

sixties kids were saying “Our parent's society is

plastic; their institutions and

and religions, social lives, and their attitudes are sup- erficial', against this. But they not only rebelled, they also

offered what they believed

to be the way out of the mess,

the way out of the plastic one-dimensional society of their parents. Their sol-

ution lay in their 'free love',

'do your own thing', and 'hang loose' philosophy, and

and they rebelled

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in the mind-bending drugs (especially L.S.D.), in» communal living, and in their new music. a

The record critics, the musicians, and the kids of the late sixties, Especially those in Southern California sincerely believed that their music was integral to the ' salvation of mankind. David Crosby said “Music is love.” Paul-Williams, the top rock music critic of the day (not the singer), believed that if people only heard that the new Beatles album, 'Sgt. Peppers', they would become happier, kinder, and more loving people. And he was dumb-founded when he real- ized that the hippies of Haight weren't being improv- ed one bit by this music. It is mainly because of this belief, along with a little bit of peer pressure that the musicians of this time spent so many months and dollars perfecting their

. music, and on trying to

create albums of epic pro- portions.

But then things started to happen,both little things to individuals who started to realize the misery-and selfishness associated withT the new lifestyle, and ma-. jor social catastrophes! like Altamont, where e- veryone started to realize that the optimistic an- swers given by the kids had failed. Their critique of society may have been ac- curate but their solution failed miserably. '

And with the failure of the solution an amazing thing has happened, the kids ,have become like their,pa- rents that were so harsh? ly criticized in the six- ties, and our'concerned basically with the same things that concerned them, our—own personal comfort, happiness, and ‘ affluence. The only difF ferance is that we do dif-

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ferent things to meet these goals.‘

~ I think this change in at-» Utitude towards life is why

most of the music today is so ordinary and blase, and why it lacks the sincerity and depth of feeling that both the early rock n' roll, and the rock of the late sixties had. It also ex- plains why so many lyrics today are just your basic love songs. The music to- as day is made to feed the simplistic (not simple). tastes of the public, not

to edify them. It is a mu- sic that is easy for the

vmusicians to record and to

make money from, and it is a music that doesn't chal- lenge people to think, or

to act for other people's

good. It is nice and com-

fortable.

The pupose of this colr

umn in future issues will

be to bring to your at-. tention (for your listen-

ing pleasure) what I con- sider to be among the best albums ever made in the history of rock, but which

(for the most part are not *Very widely known. The rea- rson fop giving this brief.

critique on the differences and the reasons for the differences, between the music of the late sixties,, and the music of today, is because most of the records

‘rl will talk about come from

this period, and this background should help you to understand what they're about. ’ .

My purpose in pointing these

albums out is not because I agree with their philosophy but because they contain ex-

cellent music ( just as Tchai-

kovsky's music is excellent), and unfortunately excellent

music is in rare supply on the

rock music scene today. Hope- fully you'll give a few of my suggestions a listen, I don't think you'll be.disappointed.

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