Long Time, No Seventies Pearls...but that's about to change...

Woof, time flies. I say that a lot around here, don't I? But yeah, it has been a while that we were back in this series' original roaming grounds and natural habitat, the 1970s. In order to confound expectations this time out, I'll start with some prog rock courtesy of Booth, Davis & Lowe. Usually I put the more proggy stuff towards the end, as sort of cosmic run-out grooves, but hey, gotta shake things up a bit from time to time, eh?! And this is definitely on the rockier side of the proggy side, ifyaknowwhaddamean. 

Sometimes a good cover version can reveal a song. I never much noticed Jackson Browne's “My Opening Farewell” on his debut album, and I can say I definitely prefer Michael Johnson's take on the song. Johnson's debut album, from which this is taken, sold pretty much nothing, but he became quite popular later in the 1970s, and then as a mainstream country star in the mid-80s. He is probaby also the biggest name around here. 

Portrait of the artist as a young man

I seemingly was in an upbeat  mood when assembling this, judging from Peter Goodale's groovy "Peter's Song", the b-side to his only single for the former memeber of Canadian psych band The Cycle. The Hoodoo Rythm Devils live up to their name with the ultra-heavy swamp groove of "Black Widow", while Heaven Worth "Ride The Tide" also lets the guitars loose. 

Another Canuck with another b-side to his only single is Bob Brunton with the mainstream pop-adjacent "Lies", complete with authentic vinyl crackle all over. Larry Groce's "Sad Bird" sounds appropriately sad, while my pedal steel gently weeps. And, in a totally different register, I also really like Eclipse's off-its-time disco arrangement of "Born To Be Wild". It's groooovy, baby!

Words fail me. Just...wow...

And didn't I mention that I usually put long, proggy stuff as an esoteric run-out groove. Oh boy, are you gonna be served here. German electronic ambient musician Michael Hoenig - later successful scoring movies  in Hollywood and video games - takes us on a trip for his "Departure From The Northern Wasteland". It's epic, it's cosmic, it's 18 minutes of spacey atmospheric music (slightly edited from the even longer original). What a way to take All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 22 home, if I might say so myself. 

So, get this, groove to this, tell me 'bout your favorites...