When Tabernakel was released

When Tabernakel was released at the beginning of 1974, the US president was Gerald Ford who had taken over from the impeached Richard Nixon (both Republicans). The UK Prime Minister was Harold Wilson (Labour) who had defeated Edward Heath (Conservative) in the elections. In Holland Queen Juliana was still on the throne and Joop den Uyl was prime minister. Pope Paul VI was leader of the Roman Catholic church.

Famous people born in 1974 include Penelope Cruz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robbie Williams and Jewel Kircher. At that time people in the US were listening to The way were by Barbra Streisand. In the UK Tiger Feet by Mud was the top song. In Holland it was Rock your baby by George McCrae.

Blazing Saddles, a comedy western, was one of the biggest grossing movies released in 1974, while Watership Down by Richard Adams was one of the best selling books.

Date of Release

The original LP was released in America at the end of 1973 but was only widely available from January 9, 1974. Hence the discrepancies in the stated year of release.

Grand Gala Du Disque Populaire 1974

An album was produced after the Gala Du Disque including 17 tracks as follows:

A1 –Carpenters Top Of The World  A2 –Julien Clerc Ça Fait Pleurer Le Bon Dieu  A3 –The Three Degrees Dirty Ol'Man  A4 –Oscar Peterson, Stéphane Grappelli Thou Swell  A5 –Euson Leon  A6 –Cornelis Vreeswijk Damrak Blues  A7 –JAN AKKERMAN BRITANNIA  A8 –Reinhard Mey Gute Nacht Freunde  B1 –Tom Jones Help Yourself  B2 –Georges Moustaki Le Meteque  B3 –Donna Hightower This World Today Is A Mess  B4 –Jürgen Marcus Irgendwann Kommt Jeder Mal Nach San Francisco B5 –Barry White Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up  B6 –Don McLean Living With The Blues  B7 –Thijs Van Leer Rondo  B8 –Dobie Gray Loving Arms  B9 –Dawn Who's In The Strawberry Patch With Sally

From Stereo Review May '74

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT

JAN AKKERMAN: Tabernakel. Jan Akkerman (guitar); orchestra. House of the King; Javeh; Lammy; A Pavan by Thomas Morley; and six others. ATCO SD 7032 $5.98, 0 TP 7032 $6.98. © CS 7032 $6.98.

Performance: Lovely

Recording: Excellent

Jan Akkerman. the guitarist with Focus, has brought out one of the most interesting albums of the year. On a variety of guitars, (acoustic, bass, electrical), his playing suggests that the pop Julian Bream has arrived. If it were only on the basis of his work in the traditionally inspired material, such as John Dowland's Britannia or Morley's Pavan then I might be tempted to judge him as a gifted technician with a peculiarly Seventies approach to the classics. But when he shifts gears into one of his own compositions, such as House of the King, with its rock beat and his vital performance on electric guitar, and proceeds to produce some of the most elegant sounds that I've ever heard in rock, then I know that I'm listening to a real artist. Akkerman is still developing, but all of the preliminary sketches for what will come are clearly there: the technique, of course, the compositional ability, the beauty of the sound he draws from his instrument, and the sheer order of his musical conceptions I don't mean order in the Teutonic sense of one must and one will; instead he seems to sense the truth of the French dictum that it is impossible to achieve true elegance without order. (Imagine the park of Versailles planted in blue spruce, or finishing off a dinner at Caravelle with a Hostess Twinkie. or Catharine Deneuve accenting her Givenchy with patent-leather high heels and turned-over athletic socks, and I think you'll get an idea of what I mean. Akkerman already knows all the components that go into a pleasing musical experience, and he displays them with the assured grace of a great gourmet ordering a dinner for you. If all this strikes you as a mite too civilized, too unspontaneous to be representative of true rock, then let me remind you that rock is well into its third decade, stagnating faster and faster, and could use the dynamism of an obviously trained musical mind. In fact, if rock is to be saved at all, it is people like Akkerman who will do it, not a soon-to-be-old Mick Jagger going through his over-rehearsed paces some time in the I980's with all the aplomb of a Ruby Keeler. "Tabernakel" is the kind of straw-in-the-wind album that makes reviewing fun.

Peter Reilly