Max Picks …songs from 1971

1971

This year may be the best ever for albums. You had Who’s Next (My number one), Led Zeppelin IV, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On, and so much more.

We will start off with what I think is the greatest rock song ever played in a concert environment. I’ve seen The Who play Won’t Get Fooled Again twice and of all the concerts I’ve gone to… I’ve never heard anything this powerful live.

Roger Daltrey’s Scream is considered one of the best on any rock song. It was quite convincing…so convincing that the rest of the band, lunching nearby, thought Daltrey was brawling with the engineer.

Now let’s visit Led Zeppelin and they released IV or Zoso a few weeks after The Who released Who’s Next. Stairway To Heaven…this song is considered by some as the best song in rock history. The song was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Marvin Gaye released this great song and it came off the album of the same name. A powerful song from a powerful performer. The song was written by Al Cleveland, Renaldo Benson, and Marvin Gaye.

The Moody Blues released the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and this song was on it. It may be my favorite song by them. Story In Your Eyes.

Great melody in this song. I bought the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour just because of this song and I ended up liking the album a lot. The song peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 in 1971. The song was written by Justin Hayward.

This is almost a perfect song…by the one and only Janis Joplin. There are few artists who give everything they have all the time. Bruce Springsteen is one…Janis was one. On film it comes through…she gives everything she has and more. It was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster.

She would die on October 4, 1970. Her nickname was Pearl and that was the name of her last album. She left $2,500 for her wake…. 200 guests were invited with invitations that read…”Drinks are on Pearl”…