Leslie´s Motel-Dirty Sheets (1972)

Another of those obscure and unknown bands from the 1970s was the impressive Leslie's Motel, who played a Southern rock with hints of blues and hard rock. They only had the opportunity to record one forgotten album, which was rediscovered several decades later. Hailing from Kentucky, their original lineup consisted of vocalist and guitarist Bill Tullis, guitarist and vocalist Mike Seibold, keyboardist Richard Bush, bassist Ray Barrickman, and drummer Roy Blumenfeld, the latter a former member of Al Kooper's Blues Project. In 1972, they recorded a series of songs that would later appear on their debut album, "Dirty Sheets", which featured tracks such as the jazzy "Step Down Baby", the frenetic blues-rock "My Sweet Woman", the psychedelic hard rock "Blister", the dusty "Reason Why" and "Windmills", and "Latino Motel", the latter a jam tour de force with clear influences from Santana's Latin sounds. In the following years, the band toured extensively throughout North America with renowned artists such as Harvey Brooks, the Charlie Daniels Band, and Mike Bloomfield, among others, before finally disbanding some time later with little media or commercial impact.

James Taylor-Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1971)

James Taylor is one of the greatest singer-songwriters in history. His deeply sensitive, acoustic songs have made him one of the most influential artists of all time. His beginnings were quite turbulent; mental health issues stemming from excessive drug use and a rather unpredictable life marked him for the rest of his life. Musically, his beginnings weren't much better. His first two albums from the late sixties had little impact, and it wasn't until the early seventies, with his second album, "Sweet Baby James", that he achieved recognition from both the public and critics. With a style clearly related to folk, in which he practically used no electronic instruments, Taylor gave much more importance to his voice, his poetic and poignant lyrics, his guitar in the foreground, and minimal but effective percussion. Tracks like the understated “Oh Susannah” (a version of Stephen Foster’s 1848 classic) and the brilliant “Fire and Rain” propelled the album to a surprising third place on the US charts. However, this success would be overshadowed the following year with the release of her next album, “Mud Slide and the Blue Horizon”, which featured a small group of musicians including Carole King (who even contributed the hit “You’ve Got a Friend”), Danny Kortchmar, Joni Mitchell, and Leland Sklar. Following the same musical pattern as her previous album, Taylor presented a series of acoustic songs with minimal accompaniment that reached number two on the Billboard charts and a number one single with the aforementioned “You’ve Got a Friend”, in addition to selling two million copies in the US market.

Queen-Live At Wembley ´86 (1986)

After the massive 1985 concert, "Live Aid," the British band Queen, immersed in a deep creative and internal crisis and facing doubts about their future, persevered, rising from the ashes with their next album, "A Kind of Magic." On the tour following this album, the band performed around thirty concerts throughout Europe, though not in the United States, where they were banned due to their provocative and (in the eyes of the American authorities) obscene promotional video, "I Want to Break Free." On July 11 and 12, 1986, they performed at the legendary Wembley Stadium, and the material from those performances was released later that year as the double live album "Live at Wembley '86." Before more than 150,000 people who filled the stadium during those two days, Queen, with Freddie Mercury at the helm, presented a wide repertoire of their greatest hits such as "Under Pressure", "Another One Bites The Dust", "I Want To Break Free", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" or "Bohemian Rhapsody", in addition to several songs from the album that motivated the tour such as the eponymous "A Kind of Magic", or other emblematic songs such as "Seven Seas of Rhye" or the infectious "In the Lap of the Gods"; the hard rock "Tie Your Mother Down", "Now I'm Here" and "Hammer to Fall"; or a moving tribute to late 1950s rock and roll with "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care," "Hello Mary Lou Goodbye Heart," and "Tutti Frutti," culminating in a thrilling finale with the energetic "Radio Ga Ga" and the unbeatable duet of the iconic "We Will Rock" and "We Are the Champions.". To close, the British anthem "God Save the Queen," with Freddie Mercury dressed in a cape and crown emulating the Queen of England, perhaps the most legendary and memorable image of one of the greatest singers in rock history.

Danny Joe Brown-And The Danny Joe Brown Band (1981)

Danny Joe Brown is best known for his membership in the legendary Southern rock band Molly Hatchet, with whom he recorded six outstanding albums: "Molly Hatchet" (1978), "Flirtin' with Disaster" (1979), "No Guts...No Glory" (1983), "The Deed is Done" (1984), "Lightning Striker Twice" (1989), and "Devil's Canyon" (1996), before leaving the band due to health problems shortly after the release of the latter album. However, he had already temporarily left the band after the album "Flirtin' with Disaster" (Molly Hatchet's biggest commercial success, achieving multiple platinum records) to found his own, The Danny Joe Brown Band. With them, he released the self-titled album "Danny Joe Brown and The Danny Joe Brown Band" in 1981, which became a cult classic of southern rock. Its repertoire was packed with American hard rock anthems like "Sundance", "Nobody Walks on Me", "The Alamo", "Run for Your Life", and in particular, "Edge of Sundown" a superb guitar epic that emerged directly from the depths of southern rock classics like Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and the Outlaws' "Green Grass & High Tides", crafting a tremendous album that rivaled anything from his main band. In 2005, Danny Joe Brown passed away due to problems stemming from diabetes and kidney failure, which he had suffered from since the late 1970s.

Ted Nugent-Ted Nugent (1975)

In 1975, Ted Nugent began his solo career after disbanding his previous psychedelic rock band, The Amboy Dukes. This debut would become one of the most outstanding in the history of American rock, featuring a stellar lineup of musicians led by singer Derek St. Holmes, bassist Rob Grange, and drummer Cliff Davies. On this first album, Ted Nugent delivers an energetic record of pure rock and roll, with Southern influences and hints of blues, achieving a work that is both perfect and superb. From the opening track, "Strangehold", a spectacular piece of experimentation with a tense and hypnotic atmosphere, the album unfolds with a relentless succession of songs that offer no respite. This is followed by the effective and visceral "Stormtroopin' ", the mid-tempo "Hey Baby," a track that provides a counterpoint to the frenetic rhythm, the psychedelic "Just What The Doctor Ordered", and the defiant "Sneakeskin Cowboys", the latter of which concludes the first side of the original vinyl. Side two begins with the frenetic "Motor City Madhouse", followed by the melodic "Where Have You Been All My Life" and "You Make Me Feel Right At Home", before ending with the powerful and potent "Queen of the Forest", thus concluding one of the best American hard rock albums, Ted Nugent's magnum opus, and a true gem of rock music.