This week we're looking at three videos I found on YouTube of songs featured on the 70s Session vol.1 playlist.
As with volume 4, I'm cheating and posting video of three live performances rather than music videos because there weren't very many of them at the time. These are completely off-topic anyways (no such thing as a good music video for jiujitsu) so let's get down to business:
3. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder
A song about reincarnation.
If the date is correct on the above performance, this was recorded after Stevie's near-fatal car crash in 1973. During his recovery his manager sang the melody into his ear and Stevie would move his fingers with the music.
Pretty badass.
Stevie played all of the instruments while recording the album version of the song, and here we get to see him playing live with a band it's fantastic.
Higher Ground is a good song for jiujitsu and should be on your playlists on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music & YouTube.
2. Personality Crisis - New York Dolls
The Midnight Special was a late night music variety show that aired after Carson Friday nights/Saturday mornings. Episodes featured acts performing live, which was unusual, because at the time it was standard for musicians to lip-sync to pre-recorded audio (like the Sex Pistols appearance on Top Of The Pops).
The Midnight Special YouTube channel is seriously cool, sharing a lot of performances from the almost-ten-year run; Blondie, Kiss and Thin Lizzy are a few of my favourites off the top of my head.
But the video I wanna talk about is the New York Dolls doing Personality Crisis in the early years of the show.
First, this is a monster of a track, good for jiujitsu and should be on your playlists. Add it on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music or YouTube.
Back to the video...
I can't add anything insightful about the performance, but what does stick out when I watch this is how the crowd is seated on the floor, like an elementary school assembly.
Amazing.
1. Children of the Grave - Black Sabbath
Look, I don't get out much.
Until I saw this video, it never occurred to me that you could have seen Black Sabbath in the daylight, with the sun beating down on you while standing on a race track. I almost never go to see bands play live, and when I have it's either been after dark in some sort of club or in a larger venue like an arena.
But back in 1974 at Cal Jam Sabbath played a set in the days before metal had the dress code black look, and here the guys are dressed like any other band from the era.
Or maybe they were expecting heat and wore brighter outfits?
Either way, this is a great performance. For my money, Children of the Grave is the song that invented a particular sound I associate with metal, with Bill and Geezer holding down a groove here that's not so apparent in the album version of the song.
Add Children of the Grave to your playlists on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music or YouTube.
The album versions of the above three tracks can be found on the 70s Sampler no.1, one of our 200′ Extended Playlists for jiujitsu.
Check out the playlists, or let me know what you think about the videos above in the comments below.