Lazy Days: The British Progressive Pop Sounds Of 1975＜限定盤＞

Grapefruit Records ongoing chronicle of forward-pushing U.K. rock, glam, and experimental pop sounds advances into the center of the 1970s with Lazy Days: The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1975. The series zeroes in on the most interesting or trend-dictating sounds of a given year, and 1975 finds the British zeitgeist smoothing out somewhat into the FM radio rock that would continue morphing throughout the rest of the decade and into the 80s. This style is represented by certified hits like Bad Companys "Good Lovin Gone Bad," ELOs "Evil Woman," and lesser hits by Ian Hunter, the Sweet, and others. As with every volume of the series, however, these better-known tunes are interspersed with more obscure offerings from the same year. Apparently, 1975 was a great year for obscure offerings, with the track selection on Lazy Days leaning as heavily on the undercelebrated as the ubiquitous. Still a calender year away from his hard-to-miss chart smash "Year of the Cat," Al Stewart was making grooving, crystal-clear pop tracks like "Carol," and theres a Sparks inclusion in the hyper-animated "In the Future" from their fifth album, Indiscreet. Londons grimy pub rock scene of 1975 is represented by tracks from Dr. Feelgood, Brinsley Schwarz, and the Motown-indebted "Hit Records" from Kursaal Flyers. Throughout the compilations extensive 65-song, nearly four-hour run, there are also tunes from big names like Hawkwind, Thin Lizzy, and Jethro Tull, and just as many songs from outliers like the theatrically wonderful glam of Heavy Metal Kids or the future world pop of Foxs "Imagine Me, Imagine You." ~ Fred Thomas