Rock & Roll: From The Beginning

This episode will focus on singer/songwriters and the more introspective, lyrical and confessional style they introduced in the early '70s. We'll begin with Cat Stevens (later Yusuf Islam) and move on to Carol King and her epic album, Tapestry, one of the best-selling albums of the '70s. Other singer/songwriters surveyed will be James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot. We'll also do a brief survey of other trends that take hold later in the '70s (including Disco) as manifest in the evolving styles of the Bee Gees, Donna Summer and others.

The various and diverse manifestations of Psychedelic Rock will be surveyed, beginning with the Doors and moving on to Jefferson Airplane and others. Jimi Hendrix and his unique psychedelic-soul blend will be analyzed, especially the landmark album Are You Experienced? and Cream will be seen as making the transition from more conventional psychedelia to progressive blues, due in large part to its emphasis on Eric Clapton's blues-based guitar virtuosity. We'll also take a look at the Heavy Metal style, starting with pioneer Led Zeppelin and continuing on with a selection of British Heavy Metal rockers up to the mid-'80s.