Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975) [reuploaded]

In 1975 Mud decided they didn't need to be puppets of the highly successful songwriters/producers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman any longer. While the duo had written all the band's hits like "Tiger Feet" and "Dynamite," the group had been penning their own B-sides and felt they could strike out on their own without striking out. Their first self-penned single "L'L'Lucy" was a hit reaching number ten and the album Use Your Imagination reached number 33. Not exactly smashes, but enough to keep the band in the spotlight. The album was a bit of a departure from their previous records which were loaded with covers of rock classics and seemed nothing more than placeholders between Chinn/Chapman singles.

After building a solid core audience through relentless touring and a string of hard-rocking albums, Foghat finally hit the big time in 1975 with Fool for the City. It still stands out as the best album in the group's catalog because it matched their road-tested abilities as hard rockers to a consistent set of tunes that were both well-crafted and ambitious. The tone for the album is set by its title track: This hard-rocking gem not only pairs riff-driven verses with an effective shout-along chorus, but also throws in a few surprising moments where the guitars are taken out of the mix completely and Nick Jameson's bass is allowed to take the lead in a funky breakdown…

Although there's nothing here as overpowering as "Sailor's Life" or "Sloth," this record is still a choice release, as Sandy Denny's official return to Fairport. She wrote or co-wrote seven of its 11 songs, and dominates most of the others with her voice. This lineup (Denny, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Pegg, Jerry Donahue, Trevor Lucas, and Bruce Rowland, with Dave Mattacks - who quit partway through - drumming on some of the tracks) went for the gold with rock veteran Glyn Johns in the producer's spot. The result was the only Fairport album done after the departure of Richard Thompson that doesn't sound anemic in the electric guitar department. Some of the songs, especially the title track and "Restless," have the feel of compact, breezy pop/country-rock, reminiscent of the Eagles or Firefall, although it's hard to imagine either of those groups turning in anything with the ethereal beauty of Denny's performance on "White Dress" or "Dawn"…

Opus Avantra is considered one of the top avant-prog bands from Italy from the old school. Lord Cromwell Plays Suite For Seven Vices is their second studio album. As their name implies this is a group which mixes classical and opera with avant-garde passages and traditional melodies. To break it down even more Opus Avantra really have two sides to them on these first two 70s releases. There is their avant side which can sometimes be compelling and sometimes quite irritating, with instruments pressed into pursuit of the seemingly random. Their other side is the simply drop-dead gorgeous classical and opera over heavenly piano and flute melodies.