Jingo – Santana-Back when they were a band , instead of a vehicle for tiresome AOR pap.
Kick Out The Jams – MC5-An exhilarating, glorious mess of a record.
King Of The Rumbling Spires – Tyrannosaurus Rex- Marc Bolan was kind of a glam Chuck Berry in that he just played the riffs and sang over ‘em. Chuck was a consistently better songwriter, I’d gather. This one’s kinda forgettable.
Lady-O – The Turtles-The year of Judee Sill continues here at Rock NYC. Mark Volman does a very nice job of singing on this , The Turtles swansong.
Lamplight – Bee Gees-I dunno, this should be right up my alley, but I’m not feeling it. It’s got dense orchestration, great singing, but overall I’m missing something. Perhaps I should check out the entire “Odessa” record to get a better idea of where these cats were coming from.
Laughing – The Guess Who-Burton Cummings was not a very original vocalist, but he could sure hit those high notes.
Lay Lady Lay – Bob Dylan-One of the most lovely and heartfelt bridges Bob’s ever written.
Lemonade Kid – Kak-An odd piece of west coast psychedelia from a band that played in support of bands like Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. They never achieved the success of their peers, but their records are now highly sought after by collectors.
Let A Man Come In And Do the Popcorn, Pt. 1 – James Brown-Wonder how many of these seemingly ad-libbed James Brown raps either ended up either discarded or are still in the vaults.
Let Me – Paul Revere & The Raiders-False fade-outs seemed to be all the rage at this time. This one, not quite as effective as say….Suspicious Minds which we’ll see later on in the alphabet. Decent rocker, but ultimately forgettable.
Let’s Work Together – Wilbert Harrison-This would be an even bigger hit next year for Canned Heat
Life’s Little Ups And Downs – Charlie Rich-Wow, this is great. Did’nt know that Charlie Rich had this much vocal range. Stellar cut.
Lights Of Cincinnati – Scott Walker-The Walker Brothers had quite a few hits here in the US, most notably, “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”. They were even more popular in the UK, so when Scott went solo he transplanted himself over there and became an even bigger star. This is a pretty little melody backed with some glorious gospel-type flourishes.
Listen To The Band – The Monkees-A Mike Nesmith song, he was becoming more and more adept at delivering a kind of country-folk element to the group. Not their biggest hit, but one of their best tunes