Victor Navasky (1932-2023)

The Los Angeles Times provides a great capsule bio of the now late Victor Navasky.  As editor and later publisher of The Nation, Navasky was not perfect nor even the greatest editor, but definitely in the top three or four.  Navasky was a genial person and very much an open book. But, the strange thing for me is his (and Eric Alterman's) strong dislike of Freda Kirchwhey, The Nation's first female editor (Katrina vanden Heuvel would be the second) during the tumultuous left period of the 1930s through mid 1950s. Freda did end badly, wanting to sue various people for libel, but I tended to agree with Alexander Cockburn that Freda was no Stalinist, and penned one of the greatest short editorials of the 20th Century, Red Totalitarianism in May 1939.  She allowed Stalinists some space in The Nation pages, to be sure, but she was very clear where the disagreement was, and where the absurdities and murder were in the Stalin era of the Soviet Union--something the late Susan Sontag seemed to have missed in her admittedly off-handed praise of Readers' Digest while dissing The Nation. 

For me, I adored Navasky's book, Kennedy Justice, about a 35 year old RFK taking over the Justice Department, and learning from his staff as much as leading it through the heart of the African-American Civil Rights era. His book on the blacklist suffered from his ironically liberal's view of the Red Scare, and one recalls with some wincing, after Allen Weinstein's book was released, his attempt to deny Alger Hiss was a Communist Party member or affiliate, instead of hitting the main question head on: Was Hiss really a spy for the Soviet Union any more than Allen or John Foster Dulles were in the latter brothers' footsie relationships with various and leading Nazis? Navasky was unable to properly articulate how American foreign policy, within the DC power corridors, is really about leverage, maneuvering, and power relations--and how American domestic politics drives American foreign policy politics in nearly any particular time or era.  One thinks back even to the 1790s and how Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians accused each other of treason. The anti-New Deal right, in the immediate post-FDR period, successfully used the mass corporate media to push an anti-Communist hysteria, and its initial focus was to purge from government the New Deal Internationalists, meaning those who sought what was ironically a premature detente with the Soviet Union. Thus, it was necessary to make the usual diplomatic relationships various people in the FDR orbit maintained with Soviet officials from the late 1930s through World War II into something far more nefarious than any sober analysis would have revealed.  I once met Navasky at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival in the early aughts, and sought a chance to explore this point as part of a defense of Hiss and certainly Harry Dexter White. I don't blame him for a lack of interest as I remain a nobody. :). Still, he could have used the insight, if I may be so bold and perhaps arrogant to say. LOL.

Navasky's brilliance was to brand The Nation, something which his immediate successor, Katrina vanden Heuvel, even more fully embraced and developed. I used to proudly wear my black baseball cap of The Nation logo and t-shirt of the same style till they could not be worn anymore.  Over the years, though, The Nation faded as a place where I learned all that much--too many other outlets arose on the Internet--so that it is only the NYRB where I find I learn something profound in every issue.  I don't know if that speaks as much to my activist side or my antiquarian side as I myself age.  I hope Navasky's legacy in his works will burn bright, and his leadership of a political magazine continue to inspire. 

Another high point in progressive and classic rock/fusion jazz: 1973

 We are now beginning fifty years from 1973. Here is a nice post from the Lawyers Guns & Money blog about music, film, and literature which enters the public domain in this year, 2023.  

However, I am here to list great albums released in 1973--and even some not so great albums from people and bands who were and remain well known.  I am too lazy today to list the albums in monthly order, and will just list the bands and individuals off top of me 'ead, as The Who would have sang in slang for their great 1973 double album, Quadrophenia.  But, despite some clunker albums, 1973 is a definitely a high water mark for progressive rock and for classic rock.  I may have forgotten some obvious and not so obvious albums, but I hope this is comprehensive. :)

The Who, Quadrophenia.  I consider this The Who's best album, even better than 1967's clever The Who Sell Out, 1969's brilliant Tommy, and 1971's definitely remarkable and wonderful Who's Next, which I consider a perfect single album.  Quadophenia, though, flows right through two whole album disks, and is continually remarkable again for two albums.

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon. Any questions? Really? Any? I didn't think so.

Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy. Zep at its most aggressive and adventurous. It is a classic. Bar none.

Gentle Giant, Octopus (American release was in March 1973; British release was December 1972). Amazing album. Sublime all the way through.

Gentle Giant, In a Glass House (an import only album at the time of its release in the fall of 1973). Super amazing album.  Doubly sublime all the way through.

Gryphon. Self-titled. Amazing first album.

Jethro Tull, A Passion Play. I consider this perhaps the greatest single prog rock album of all time.  I recently listened to it again and was struck that I could call this a concerto that is deeper and richer than Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. It is just a powerfully brilliant album, which one may analyze the music even more than the lyrics, which themselves are Ian Anderson's final set of critiques of the way in which human beings distort theology and operate religions as institutions. 

Genesis, Selling England by the Pound. I have considered this album, released in November 1973, as the most beautifully produced Genesis album, and its most perfect flowing album--start to finish. It is a journey of gorgeousness, with Collins' drumming perhaps the most astonishing part of the album, despite being able to also say how great are Banks' keys and Hackett's beautiful guitar phrasing. 

King Crimson, Lark's Tongue in Aspic.  Fripp was paying homage to Ralph Vaughan William's The Lark Ascending, but with far more atonality in the title opening track. This is a perfect album to listen to, but it is not for the feint of hearts.  It is a rough album, but one Stereo Review called the most perfectly recorded album its staff had ever heard anywhere in any recorded musical work. That was high praise at a time when the attacks on progressive rock were in full force at The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Creem, and Circus magazines, as well as the NYT and LA Times.  Only Melody Maker and Trouser Press in Great Britain were showing respect and love for progressive rock--though the technical journals, Guitar Player, Keyboard Player, and Modern Drumming, were showing respect, as well.

Yes, Tales from Topographic Oceans. A double album that simultaneously is outstanding, and yet the excess that Yes was criticized for shows up to make those critics' point.  This is a double album that would have been better broken up or cut to one disk without excess phrasings and long-winded deviations from a clear musical path.  Jon Anderson's lyrics were never more dense, unfortunately, but the first side or song of the four sides/songs remains some of the most compelling musical work from the legendary band. It still doesn't top 1972's Close to the Edge, but it comes within the distance to be compelling on its own.

Rick Wakeman, Six Wives of Henry VIII. This was an amazing album, and ironically showed up his band, Yes.  Just start to listen to these six songs on this album and you won't stop till its done.

Renaissance, Ashes Are Burning. This is the greatest pop-prog album of all time. All. Time. Why this album did not transport Renaissance into a top selling band is a crime against the arts.  This is a gorgeous album that even non-prog fans, especially females of the time (Females who came of age starting in the 1990s became far more likely to embrace progressive rock than female Baby Boomers. It was a joke that was true that, at prog rock concerts, there were no lines for the women's bathroom halfway through--but there were lines at the men's bathrooms.).

Strawbs, Bursting at the Seams.  Some of the greatest progressive folk came from The Strawbs, and this album is a continuing delight from start to finish. This album will knock you over if you've never heard The Strawbs--and even if you have. The Strawbs is another band that should have had Top 40 hits but never achieved that in the US at least.

Kayak, See See the Sun.  This is the first album by this prog pop band, which should have had multiple hits in the US, but never did. The melodies they created were so clever, and made you want to jump around. Great stuff. 

Magma, Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh.  Yeah, hard to pronounce, but for prog fans, fun to listen to.

Veloso, from Brazil, Araca Azul.  Wild stuff from a band I missed the first time around.

Som Imaginario, Matanca do Porto. A master work from this Brazilian prog band. Again, missed this the first time around.

Al Stewart, Past, Present, and Future. This is the greatest of Al Stewart progressive folk albums and, apart from a weak opening track, is perfect. I mean it. Perfect. It is a brilliantly conceived album, with eight tracks, one for each decade of the 20th Century (history buffs will be amazed!), and the last song called Nostradamus, which is iconic.

Cat Stevens, Foreigner. Cat's most progressive of his progressive folk albums, with side one consisting of one song (title track) for over 18 minutes. The Hurt is on side two, and that is enough for most people--but this is a great album overall.

Steeleye Span, Parcel of Rogues. I have placed the progressive folk in one section as I type, and this is a classic Steeleye Span album.  My favorite remains the 1972 release Below the Salt, but this is a close second.

Horslips, The Tain. This is an amazing progressive folk and rocking album from my favorite Irish band of all time.  This is a concept album about Irish mythology that is a knockout.

Tranquility, Silver.  Just for the title track, one must hear this album. It is a classic that the title track alone should have gone major popular. The commercial failure killed this otherwise amazingly talented band.

Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin' Simon. This was not as strong as his debut album overall, but it contains Kodachrome and American Tune, so those are two important Simon works.

Kinks, Preservation Act 1.  This album is not as strong as Preservation Act 2, but it will more than do.

Peter Hammill, Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night. An eccentric album, to be sure, but for Hammill and Van Der Graaf Generator fans, always a pleasure.

Harry Nilsson, A Little Touch of Nilsson in the Night. An eccentric album of Nilsson doing 20th Century standards from the Great American Songbook. Out of place and time, and poignant to listen to in the early 21st Century. 

Victor Jara, Canto por travseura.  Jara's last album before his murder during the Chilean military coup, which our nation criminally supported.  The meaning of this title is Mischievous Songs.  Ironic. Or daring Fate. Sad and angering either way.  People call him the Bob Dylan of Chile. He is much more Phil Ochs, but as popular in Chile as Dylan has been here in the US.

Allman Brothers Band, Brothers and Sisters. This post-Duane Allman album contains Rambling Man and Jessica. Need one say more?  Nope.

Poco, Crazy Eyes. A surprisingly powerful album where its lead guy, Richie Furay, had just left.

Tom Waits, Closing Time. The Waits sound begins here. It is important.

The Stooges (Iggy Pop), Raw Power. Yeah. Just listen.

Queen, self-titled album. This is worth listening to if only to hear the beginning of a sound that resonates through today.

10cc, self-titled album. Same as with Queen. Hear the etiology of the sound that became well known, though not anywhere near as known as Queen.

Hatfield and the North, self-titled first album. This is an album one has to listen to at least twice to realize how brilliant it is--and how powerful it is.  It is powerful. It is wonderful. It is as perfect example of Canterbury progressive rock as one may hear.

Caravan, Girls Who Go Plump in the Night. One thing about Canterbury bands of the early 1970s were their sexist sort of humor, and naughty lyrics--not obscene in the crass way, but sorta Eton British-public-school sort of way.  A sort of Pythonesque approach to lyrics.  The music, though, was and remains very serious, and more fusion jazz than anything pop oriented.  It is powerful stuff. 

Henry Cow, Legend. Another Canterbury fan of which I was not so enamored, but respectful of. This is a classic Henry Cow album, and as good an album to try.  Henry Cow was not as enamored with the usual Canterbury band humor, and I think this is because there was a female vocalist, which kept the guys from being, well, sexist in their orientation. 

Soft Machine, Six and Seven, two very serious instrumental oriented jazz oriented rock from the Canterbury scene. Soft Machine was perhaps the original Canterbury rock band.

Frank Zappa, Over Nite Sensation.  I don't like this album as much as most Zappa fans. It has Dinah-Mo-Hum, Montana, and Zomby Woof, but those songs never moved me as much.  Still, it is a classic album and deserves the notoriety and fame it has among Zappa fans.

Nektar, Remember the Future. The true prog album from this band, which went more in a pop direction and gained some fame that Renaissance never could achieve. 

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery. This is an album that is not as consistent as Tarkus (1971) or Trilogy (1972), but its highs are the highest highs in the ELP repertoire.  The strongest tracks are Karn Evil no. 9 (both parts) and Jerusalem. 

Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells.  This was an event, which even the progressive oriented rock stations in NY and LA had to cover, even though this was essentially one song on two sides of an album. It became an unlikely hit because, unbeknownst to Oldfield, Virgin Records sold the rights to Hollywood to use in the horror film, The Exorcist, which pissed off Oldfield to no end--at least until the big royalty checks came rolling in. He was still righteously angry, but how could he not cash the checks? :)

Premiata Forneria Marconi, Photos of Ghosts (the English version of 1972's Per un Amico).  You just start with the song, Celebration, and it is a joyous ride throughout this album.

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Lo Sono Nato Libero. Another brilliant gem from this Italian rock band (as was and is PFM).

Le Orme, Felona e Sorona. An extraordinary album from a band that would continue well into our unfolding century, again from Italy.  It has been called one of the finest examples of Italian prog rock, which is saying something pretty strong.

Argent, In Deep. This is a highly unappreciated album, which contains God Gave Rock & Roll to You, but a great many others. This is an album one can simply drive through and say, "How did I miss THIS album?!"--right down to one of the greatest power ballad songs of all time, which closes the album (the song is Losing Hold).

Mahavisnu Orchestra, Birds of Fire. This may be the most complete album of the orchestra, right from the opening track, which is in 7/8 time.  This is four musicians who are at the top of their respective games, but still not done.

Return to Forever, Light as a Feather. This is a perfect album that is far more jazz than even fusion, with the beautiful vocal work from Flora Purim, and as cool a sound as ever produced in this era for any jazz album. Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke reshape the band the same year and produce a second album....

Return to Forever, Hymn to the Seventh Galaxy, which turns the band into a space age, psych-prog rock instrumental band that is the true rendition of jazz-rock fusion. The opening track is worth the price of admission to the rest of the album, even as it falls off.  It is just that hard driving to hear fifty years later.

Electric Light Orchestra, ELO 2, which contains the greatest version of Roll Over Beethoven, but has some outstanding progressive rock tracks, culminating with Kuiama, an anti-war song that is 11 minutes of compelling, hard-driving bliss.  This was the album Jeff Lynne took over the band and reshaped it from The Move--Roy Wood's band--to The Idle Race, Lynne's band before Lynne joined The Move as it was transitioning to what became ELO.  The first ELO album, No Answer, was more of a Roy Wood affair, with Lynne following Wood's lead. In ELO 2, it was now Lynne's vision. This second album was released early in 1973. Then, later in 1973, a third album from the band was released, which was both prog oriented but pop starting to assert itself....

Electric Light Orchestra, On the Third Day. This has some juicy prog-pop tracks throughout, and one can again just let the needle start and you will find yourself never picking up that needle until you turn the other side, and then start over again.  It is a flowing album.

Alice Cooper Band, Billion Dollar Babies. This is the last of the great Alice Cooper Band albums, before Alice Cooper went solo--and for me at least stopped producing compelling music. The run of albums going back to Love it to Death (1971), Killer (1971), and School's Out (1972) remain some of the most underrated albums in the annals of rock. These albums, including BDB, contain sophisticated rock tracks that make you stand at attention to listen to over and over.

Black Sabbath, Sunday Bloody Sabbath. This is where Black Sabbath went into its full metal mode, even more than Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (1972). It is an iconic album that defines the genre for the next several decades, it is that outstanding.

Todd Rundgren, Wizard: A True Star.  Rundgren's great progressive solo album, from start to finish. It is a continual joy ride where, despite the album cover saying there are separate tracks, this is akin to Tull's A Passion Play in being one album long song.  It is so much fun to listen to, and hear the overdub power, with beautiful melodies, throughout. One of the last lines of the album is "Wait another year/Utopia is here/But there's more..." which I had no idea meant a Rundgren band, Utopia, was coming in 1974--with a deeply progressive rock sound. That album is a knock out, too!

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Journey.  This is an album, which, when I heard it the first time in 1974, I said to a then-semi-girlfriend (who hated it), "This is so great an album that, when kids in the year 2000 hear this album, they will be amazed and awed!"  She just said this album stunk. It is still almost scary to listen to this album. I strongly advise keeping the lights on when listening.  But this album can't beat Kingdom Come's Galactic Zoo Dossier from 1971. That is one of the truly greatest progressive rock albums of all time.  All. Time.

Darryl Way's Wolf released two albums in 1973 that may as well have been one album. They are Canis Lupus and Saturation Point. The musicianship is as great as Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the songs often even more compelling. It is a tragedy this band did not get airplay in the US, as it should have. Really. It should have. 

Beach Boys, Holland. This is a great album, not even remotely appreciated as a very different sort of album from the classic Beach Boy albums. It is more Eagles oriented, but I loved this album more than the Eagles' work--which says more about my taste than most others.  Still, those who hear this album are nearly always more than pleasantly surprised and wonder why they did not hear more than Sail on Sailor on most commercial radio stations.

Billy Joel, Piano Man. This is the album that put Billy Joel into permanent stardom. It is a much recognized album and I don't have to say a word one way or the other. For me, it was an initial disappointment, because I knew Joel from Attila, the great progpsych album from 1971. But, for most Americans, this is a classic.  I enjoy it, I admit. 

Stevie Wonder, Innervisions. This is Wonder at his most prog oriented while maintaining a funk pop sound that makes him a visionary and well, wonder.  For Living for the City alone, this is an iconic album.

Spoken word/Comic albums:

George Carlin had an album, Operation: Foole, which I don't find all that important. However, Robert Klein released a comedy album, Child of the 50s, which is must listening. It is so damned funny fifty years later. I mean it.  It is fantastically funny!

More politically incorrect in various parts in 2023, but still laugh-out-loud and pee your pants funny, was the late Chris Rush's first album, First Rush, released in 1973. Rush was a cultural leftist of the time, and likely political and economic leftist, too. He never went right wing as far as I could tell, though he essentially stopped producing albums, with one in 1981 and one in 1997, both a decline from the first album--though the 1981 album had some high moments. Rush would show up at NYC clubs from time to time, but I never got to see him.

What were the individual Beatles up to in 1973?

John Lennon, Mind Games. I did not appreciate this album at the time of its release. However, by the 1980s, with the demise of prog rock from any radio stations and pre-Internet, I found this album and was shocked at myself for not seeing its brilliance, starting with its title track.

George Harrison, Living in the Material World. Another album that grew on me as the years went by.

Wings (Paul McCartney), Red Rose Speedway. I leave the weight of this double album to others, but respect Sir Paul too much to put in the clunker album pile below.

Ringo Starr, Ringo.  Oh My My, You're Sixteen (ew), and I'm the Greatest.  For me, this is awful and frankly embarrassing, but it's an album from a Beatle.  These songs remain popular on commercial radio, which I don't get at all.  Beatle or no Beatle. 

Bands who put out albums that were not my cuppa tea, but others adore:

Rolling Stones, Goats Head Soup. Angie is on this album, but, for me, nothing else is compelling. This was already in what I see as the Stones' decline into mediocrity and branding. But, YMMV.

Bob Dylan, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Soundtrack album. I am not sure what to say here, as it is not my cuppa tea, but I blow mostly cold on Dylan after 1972, meaning after Tangled Up in Blue.

Eagles, Desperado. An iconic West Coast sound album. Simple, direct. Not my cuppa tea, but I know that is just my elitist taste. :)

Jackson Browne, For Everyman. Another classic West Coast sound album I am admittedly not inclined to be listened to in my meh-ness for it. :)

Nazareth, Razamanaz and Loud N Proud. Another band, this one from Scotland, I was not into, but others swore by.

Now, for some albums released in 1973 that were very weak for these bands. However, as stated above, 1973 remains such an amazing year for music that even these relatively weak albums do not tarnish 1973 for its greatness:

Grateful Dead, Wake of the Flood. This is the first Dead album without Pigpen, its keyboardist who had died. Pigpen's replacement was a keyboardist with more jazz tastes, and, with the new keys player's wife in backing vocals, produced a different sort of Dead album that Dead fans may claim to love, but I personally did not find listenable at all. Maybe if I listened again?  Not sure. 

The Band, Moondog Matinee. Sadly, not a memorable album at all from this legendary band--at least in this not-humble guy's opinion. YMVV.

David Bowie, Aladdin Sane and Pin Ups. Other than The Jean Genie and perhaps a couple of other songs from Aladdin Sane, these two albums are in-betweeners for Bowie. Diamond Dogs is coming in 1974, which is sublime and iconic.

Santana, Welcome. A weak album from the legendary band. The previous three albums were the key albums, as even Classic Rock stations will show by what they play. 

Camel. Not a memorable first album (self-titled), but watch out for the next several albums that begin in 1974.

Uriah Heep, Sweet Freedom. A weak follow up the powerful 1972 album, The Magician's Birthday. 

Van Morrison, Hard Nose the Highway. A weak album, with nothing much one can begin to say.

Bee Gees, Life in a Tin Can. A forgettable album, in between The Bee Gees as a Beatleseque progressive folk act to a disco act. 

Flash, Out of Our Hands. Yup. Too bad, though.

Esperanto, Esperanto Rock Orchestra. A weak opening album, but its next album in 1974, Danse Macabre, is one of the greatest progressive rock albums of all time.