Lazy Days: The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1975 - Various Artists (3CD)

Latest instalment of Grapefruit's acclaimed year-by-year overview of the British rock and
pop scenes of the 70s.
A compendium of hit singles, intriguing misses, cult classics and key album tracks from
1975.
While received wisdom among pop pundits is that 1975 was merely the calm before the following year's punk-instigated storm, there was plenty of vibrant, vital music being made in Britain and Ireland during that largely overlooked 12-month period.
Roxy Music, 10cc and ELO were still firing on all cylinders, Thin Lizzy and post-Free act Bad Company were emerging as prime contenders for stardom, Hawkwind remained linchpins of the still-thriving free festival circuit, and cult live performers The Sensational Alex Harvey Band unexpectedly achieved Top Ten singles success after covering a melodramatic Tom Jones’ ballad.
The London-based pub rock scene housed the likes of Ace, Brinsley Schwartz, The Kursaal Flyers and the game-changing Dr. Feelgood, successful glam-era bands like Slade and Sweet were still producing the goods, while a handful of 60s stalwarts – Manfred Mann, The Pretty Things, The Kinks – were updating their sound to appeal to a new generation of record-buyers.
All these and more are documented in ‘Lazy Days’, a four-hour, 3CD boxed set that, like every other release in the series, includes a 48-page booklet with photos, cuttings and the story behind each song.

Tracklisting

Disc One

1 Good Lovin' Gone Bad – Bad Company
2 Imagine Me, Imagine You - Fox
3 Right Or Wrong – Stealers Wheel
4 In For A Penny - Slade
5 Wild One – Thin Lizzy
6 My White Bicycle - Nazareth
7 Riding For A Fall - Moonrider
8 Everybody's A Star (Starmaker) – The Kinks
9 Precious Love - Stray
10 Jean Cocteau – Be Bop Deluxe
11 Both Ends Burning – Roxy Music
12 Blue Guitar – Justin Hayward & John Lodge
13 Good News - 10cc
14 Evil Woman – Electric Light Orchestra
15 Dan The Plan – Alan Hull
16 Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? - Ronnie Lane
17 I'll Regret It All In The Morning – Richard & Linda Thompson
18 Carol – Al Stewart
19 Ain't Gonna Stand For This No More (Single Version) - Ace
20 A Whole Pot Of Jelly (For A Little Slice Of Toast) – Pete Wingfield
21 Private Number – Babe Ruth

Disc Two

1 Fox On The Run (Single Version) - Sweet
2 Won't Get Burned Again – David Essex
3 In The Future - Sparks
4 Nothing To Do With Us - Jet
5 You Go To My Head – Bryan Ferry
6 Frontera – Phil Manzanera
7 Share It – Hatfield And The North
8 Stuck In A Hole - Caravan
9 Go And Sit Upon The Grass – Ivor Cutler
10 Sad Sing – Tom Newman
11 Run Billy Run – The Shadows
12 Heard It All Before - Pilot
13 Highbury Incident (Rainy July Morning) - Stackridge
14 Titles – Barclay James Harvest
15 Someone To Love – Speedy Keen
16 Hit Records – Kursaal Flyers
17 Lonely Eyes - Method
18 Summer Song – Clive John
19 Blue Eyed Boy – Heavy Metal Kids
20 Delilah (Live) – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
21 Raingame - Streetwalkers
22 Arms Of Mary – Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
23 There's A Cloud In My Heart – The Brinsleys

Disc Three

1 Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Single Edit) – Ian Hunter
2 Play Don't Worry – Mick Ronson
3 By Tonight - Mott
4 Running Through The City – Brian Protheroe
5 Spirits In The Night (Single Edit) – Manfred Mann's Earth Band
6 Minstrel In The Gallery (Single Edit) – Jethro Tull
7 Highfly – John Miles
8 Take It Away - Kestrel
9 Sad Eye – Pretty Things
10 Trust In Dick – The Winkies
11 Hard Times – Peter Skellern
12 L'Hippie Nationale – The Neutrons
13 Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean) – Steve Harley/ Cockney Rebel
14 La Maison De L'Amour - Son-Of-A-Gun
15 Mad Dog (Single Mix) – John Entwistle's Ox
16 Kings Of Speed - Hawkwind
17 Odd Man Out – Agnes Strange
18 Shoot Shoot - UFO
19 Lazy Day - Oddsocks
20 Back In The Night - Dr. Feelgood
21 Birthday Special – Peter Hammill