Cosmic Slop: The Summer of 1973

I was about one and a half years old in the summer of 1973 so I don’t have any music memories from this time specifically but… One of the earliest albums I remember listening to, which my parents had a vinyl copy of, was the soundtrack to Jesus Christ Superstar. Long before I ever saw the film, I would joyfully sing along with “King Herod’s Song.” To this day, it’s one of the random choruses that bubble up from my subconscious at random times to lodge itself in my waking brain. “Prove to me that you’re no fool… walk across my swimming pool.”

This was another pretty cool summer for music – seeing the national emergence of The New York Dolls, Euro-weirdness from Can and Gong, Lou Reed’s stone classic Berlin, and a crazy run of soul/funk gems. No David Bowie this summer but there are glam acolytes Mott the Hoople and America’s #1 unheard Bowie wannabe, Jobriath. My favorite discovery is probably Helen Reddy’s Long Hard Climb which, I’m sorry to say, is the only music of her’s that I’ve listened to beyond “I am Woman.”

What’s missing from this week’s collection: None of the too-long-for-a-mixtape tracks from Tubular Bells, John Fahey, or McCoy Tyner and nothing from Lynyrd Skynrd’s debut – they were frankly the easiest to cut out. Sadly, Larry Young’s Lawrence of Newark doesn’t seem to be on Spotify, so go listen to his Afro-Futurist freakout “Khalid of Space, Pt. 2: Welcome” on YouTube (or look for a “special feature” below the main playlist).

Here is the official mixtape playlist:

And here is the Larry Young ‘special feature’: