July 26th 1972 – The Fantastical Gigs Of The Week: Can, Roxy Music, Stevie Wonder, Arthur Brown, Genesis & Hawkwind.

Relying on the gig pages of the UK music press can’t be said to be an entirely reliable business. Gigs were often cancelled, dates and venues rearranged, and schedules can prove to be highly misleading. (In Sylvain Sylvain’s fine memoir of his life as a New York Doll – There’s No Bones In Ice Cream […]

July 10th 1972 – Neal Adams, Making Superheroes Out Of The Mighty Groundhogs

On this day in 1972, heavy-blues trio The Groundhogs continued their only American tour with a concert at the Pocono International Raceway in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. Their sole excursion across The Pond was soon to be curtailed by band leader Tony McPhee’s fall from a horse. By the 21st of this month, they’d be back in […]

July 6th July – David Bowie’s Starman On Top Of The Pops

There seems little to add about Bowie’s famous break-through appearance on Top Of The Pops on this very day in 1972. It is, after all, one of the most of the most documented and discussed moments in the history of pop. But it’s also, in a broader sense, one of the key events in the […]

June 28th 1972 – The Month In Fantastical Music (Part 1 of 2.)

So what is ‘fantastical music’? Well, as the phrase goes, I know it when I hear it, or, at the very least, when I read the lyric sheet and catch sight of the promo photos. Inevitably, it’s in large part a personal matter. It can be decided by a feeling, a title, a sound, a […]

June 27th 1972 – The Fantastical In This Month’s Rolling Stone (2/2)

It seems rather odd, at a remove of 53 years, to see Alejandro Jodorowsky getting second billing on a Rolling Stone front cover, his name sandwiched between those of Van Morrison and the Grateful Dead. But the article, by Robert Greenfield, fully deserves its high billing, being a fascinating, and an often depressing and even […]