Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
This week’s Idelic Hour poses the question—where were you in the Summer of ’76? For me, it was an epic summer of road tripping across America in celebration of the much hyped Bicentennial.
I always loved 1976 in music because it was the time when as a music fan, I could first recognize the winds of change. What had started the year before with Kiss and glam rock was morphing before our very ears. Leading the way was of course David Bowie’s brilliant soul inspired live interpretation of his Diamond Dogs album. I saw it on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and I believe it was called it “The 1984 Floor Show.” It quickly led the way to the Young Americans album and new look for the thin white duke.
In the record shops of Greenwich Village I picked up on a new wave of excitement coming out of the UK. For me it all started with a fascination with import, 7-inch records. I love to use the expression “punk before there was punk” and indeed for me the summer of ’76 was just that.
So with open roads and forty-five cents a gallon and forty-fives on my turntable, I set out to salute the 235th anniversary of this great land with a playlist that captured the essence of 70’s freedom rock and the origins of punk. In the end, this set is about the winds of change—the American sounds stayed in my crate.
A few new summer records did make it on this mix. M83 and Dum Dum Girls also new comers Lana Del Ray and The Pack A.D are blown into the scene
The Idelic Hit of the Week: Lana Del Rey – Video Games
