The Follow up.

Welcome back, in todays’ blog we will be looking at the bands’ follow-up full  lenght album, also known as an LP.  The “sophomore” album is always a tricky one.  Sometimes it can break a band, and other times it can propel them to the next level of rock supremacy.  We’ll start west of the Atlantic this time beginning with the British bands.

the Beatles released With the Beatles on  November 22, 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  Needless to say there was bigger news to be heard on that day than a relatively obscure band from England.  It did become however the 2nd album to sell a million copies in the United Kingdom, the first was the soundtrack to the film South Pacific.  Containing half original material and half Motown/R&B cover songs the original All My Loving and the Smokey Robinson cover You Really Got A Hold on Me are regarded as the top songs from the LP.   The Who released A Quick One on December 9, 1966 the most famous song on the album is the title track “A Quick One While He’s Away” which was the first mini rock opera themed song written.  It has been used a few times in recent movies.  Another interesting note about this album was that the producers wanted all four members of the group to write at least 2 songs in order to showcase each of them as talented musicians.  Pink Floyd released Saucerful of Secrets on June 29, 1968.  It was the last album their leader and main writer, Syd Barrett would do with the band.  This LP also is the only Pink Floyd album to feature all five Pink Floyd members.  A rather short and obscure album, not known to many listeners outside heavy Pink Floyd fans.  Lastly we have Britain’s greatest representative for this post, Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin II.  Released on October 22, 1969 Led Zep II has become one of the greatest rock albums ever made.  Most of the songs are staples for rock radio stations including the opening track “Whole Lotta Love”.  Many musicians and rock critics site this album as one of the first Heavy Metal albums, even though it was many years before that phrase was coined.

Across the pond to America we start with the Beach Boys second album Surfin’ USA, released on March 25, 1963.  The album is known for its fresh, original surf-music sound with rich vocal harmonies and classic instrumentals done by the band.  This album propelled the band to new heights of stardom as well as put the Beach Boys on the map, largely with the help of LP’s  title track, “Surfin’ USA”.     Creedence Clearwater Revival released their second effort Bayou Country on January 5, 1969 to considerable success.  Much like the Beach Boys 2nd LP, CCR’s second album made them stars, with the help of the super famous song “Proud Mary”, which was later covered by hundreds of other artists including Tina Turner.  The Grateful Dead released Anthem of the Sun on July 18, 1968.  Similar to Pink Floyds’ 2nd album, the Dead were still changing its line up while making this album.  It was the first to feature 2 drummers in the lineup, something that stayed with them for the rest of their studio and touring lives.  The album again much like Floyd’s 2nd, is a rather obscure album with no famous songs to be known, except to Dead Heads.  Lastly we come to the Doors super masterpiece Strange Days.  Even the members of the Doors recognized that this was one of their best, with great tunes such as “Moonlight Drive”, “Love Me Two Times’, ‘People are Strange”, and the closing epic “When the Music’s Over”.  Strange Days was an effort to compete with the material the Beatles were releasing at the time, and even though the record sales don’t prove it, this album from the Doors definitely competes with the best of them. 

So who wins???

It may be a draw, maybe a slight edge to America.

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