Big Youth – Natty Universal Dread 1973 1979

Following the success of Piledriver, Status Quo opted not to change a thing, unfurling the mind-numbing boogie attack of Hello! The strategy worked, resulting in the group's first number one album and in "Caroline," its first top-five single. Mostly, the album succeeds in spite of itself. "Roll Over Lay Down," not immediately impressive, builds into a tizzy over the course of five minutes. It is one-upped by "Caroline," the definitive Status Quo rock song, a not particularly hard or fast four-on-the-floor stomp saved by a massive, deceptively simple guitar hook. "Forty-Five Hundred Times," less catchy but harder rocking, is brutally long, but is rescued by its placement as the album's closer.

On this relaxed date, guitarist Barney Kessel and bassist Red Mitchell had a musical reunion; they had played together often in the 1950s. The music includes three Kessel originals, a pair of then-current pop songs ("Alone Again Naturally" and "Killing Me Softly With His Song"), "Summertime" and "Wave." The playing is fine, but no real surprises occur, and some of the subtle interpretations are a bit sleepy.

German rock band formed in Hamm (north-east of Dortmund) in the late 1960's, originally known as Fashion. Adding English vocalist Chris Williams (from Grail), they became Abacus in 1971.Their debut LP was progressive rock with a classical edge mixing British and Krautrock elements. After that they got more jokey and eccentric, and released three further albums with a borderline pop sound (hints of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and The Move). Through to the mid 1970's the line-up changed completely, with only Klaus Kohlhase from the original line-up in a 1979 reformation. Jürgen Wimpelberg from that line-up kept the band going issuing a CD much later.

After the hostile reaction to the politically charged Sometime in New York City, John Lennon moved away from explicit protest songs and returned to introspective songwriting with Mind Games. Lennon didn't leave politics behind – he just tempered his opinions with humor on songs like "Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)," which happened to undercut the intention of the song. It also indicated the confusion that lies at the heart of the album…