This Week's Review -- July 1, 1972

Twelve new singles showed up in this week's Billboard Hot 100, with six reaching into the Top 40. Three would make the Top 10 and one went all the way to #1. Four songs are debuts, from artists who enjoyed repeat trips to the charts (though one of those was primarily a country artist). The chart-topper is a country/rock tune that defined the singer/songwriter genre. Jim Croce sings about another Jim who is a bad mother...("shut your mouth!"). The Isley Brothers sing a song that is slyly about sex, while The Raspberries are a lot more direct about it. A 13 year-old singer shows up with a mature theme, The Partridge Family remakes a tune from the past, and David Bowie indirectly references his own past. Teddy Pendergrass pleads for the first (but definitely not the last) time, Bob Seger tries out another writer's material, and The Temptations sing a song about how life should be.

Over at Google Books is an archive of past issues of Billboard, including the July 1, 1972 edition. The full Hot 100 list can be found on page 56. A column on page 40 notes the recent passing of Clyde McPhatter. He was 41, which seemed to be really old in my opinion not that long ago...but seems to be quite young in my perspective today. The former frontman for the Drifters and soul legend died of a heart attack, which definitely isn't expected of a person that age.

Jim Croce - "You Don't Mess Around With Jim"

(Debuted #60, Peaked #8, 13 Weeks on chart )



A debut song is a perfect time for the artist who recorded it to let it be known they're around, and that messing with them is futile. In this case, however, the "Jim" in the title isn't Jim Croce at all. Instead, this is the story about "Big" Jim Walker, a badass pool hustler in New York. Croce goes on to tell how "Slim," an Alabama country boy, came back to get back what was his and how the story changes once the big man was ambushed. At the end of the song, Jim is out of commission (or dead) and now the guy to beware of is Slim.

So, at the end of a song that announced that Jim Croce had arrived, the "Jim" in the story has been taken out. The person in the song was based on a real person Croce knew in Philadelphia (not New York, as the song states), who was made into a composite of several people. Croce would go on to narrate other songs about social miscreants, most notably the lead character in "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown."

The Osmonds - "Hold Her Tight"

(Debuted #76, Peaked #14, 9 Weeks on chart)



In a case of stuff being recycled, the opening of "Hold Her Tight" is the same bass riff that leads off  Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." Don't believe me? Click the video above and see if you don't agree. In any case, the bottom-heavy arrangement and solid rock styling is not what you might expect from a group that counted Donny Osmond as one of its members, or from a group that made its mark playing Disneyland and The Andy Williams Show.

This was a track from the Crazy Horses LP, which also boasted a rocker in the title song. The story of The Osmonds might have been more interesting if they created an entire album of songs like this, but that wasn't going to be the case. But it proves that even a Mormon family can be subversive when they wanted to.

Mac Davis - "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me"

(Debuted #77, Peaked #1, 18 Weeks on chart)



Though he was noted for writing songs that others made into hits ("In the Ghetto," "Watching Scotty Grow"), Mac Davis's own career wasn't doing so well. As a result, Columbia Records demanded that he write a song with a "hook," rather than the country/rock material he was putting out. So, Davis put one in his title. 

The result was a #1 hit and a career-defining song. The lyrics were a warning to a woman to expect him to depart once he feels too closed in, and the music was definitely the country/rock sound Davis gave to his music. It's a well-crafted pop song, even with its country roots...and curiously, it peaked at only #26 country despite topping both the pop and adult contemporary charts.

A few years later, when Davis was singing "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" to Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show (while she was dressed as a mermaid and sat on a giant fishhook), I wonder if any parents bothered to explain the adult nature of the song. I know mine didn't.

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes - "I Miss You (Part 1)"

(Debuted #80, Peaked #58, 19 Weeks on chart)



For some, "I Miss You" was the first time the powerful voice of Teddy Pendergrass came over the speakers. It was the first pop chart entry for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and here Pendergrass explains how sorry he is while he commiserates about the fact that he's prepared to change in order for the woman he loves to return to his arms. He sounds like he's on the verge of losing it.   

Pendergrass's pleading is shifted into the background of the album version for one side of a telephone conversation where the protagonist lists all the ways he's changed. He picked up a job and is ready to take extra responsibility to show he's worth another chance. He's a little sore that she's ready to move on without him, and Pendergrass remains in the background, underscoring the point.

Once again, this song goes past the euphoria of falling in love that often appears in pop music, and is about the relationship after things get real.

Neil Young and Graham Nash - "War Song"

(Debuted #81, Peaked #61, 6 Weeks on chart)



Just like today, there was a Presidential election going on in 1972. And as the summer got underway, Democrat George McGovern (a Senator from South Dakota) was poised to unseat Richard Nixon from the Oval office. Although Nixon wasn't exactly popular, the race was no contest at all; McGovern received 17 electoral votes to Nixon's 520.

During the race, Neil Young wrote a protest song for the benefit of McGovern's candicacy. Called "War Song," the lyrics promised that "a man" was running who would put an end to the ongoing war in Vietnam (ironically, Nixon would do that after the election was over anyway). McGovern wasn't specifically named in the song, but George Wallce was. Young recorded the song with his former bandmate Graham Nash and a backing group called The Stray Gators. Interestingly, neither artist was an American citizen, as Young was Canadian and Nash was English.

The Isley Brothers - "Pop That Thang"

(Debuted #87, Peaked #24, 15 Weeks on chart)



Once again, I'm a sucker for performance footage from Soul Train, even when it's a lip-synched rendition. It captures more than just the music, it's the styles, the dance moves and an atmosphere of a bygone time. Not only that, but it shows The Isley Brothers "singing" the funky "Pop That Thang."

The lyrics for "Pop That Thang" use metaphors to get around the suggestive nature of the song. Yes "pop" could mean a gunshot (and it's certainly followed by the words "bang bang bang" to illustrate that), or it could mean the same "pop" that sometimes signifies a climax. The line "look at that rooster running after that hen" gives credence to that theory.

The Raspberries - "Go All the Way"

(Debuted #88, Peaked #5, 18 Weeks on chart)



Where the last song was suggestive, this one is a lot more straightforward. That said, when Eric Carmen wrote the song, he infused it with enough hooks to make it a classic. Phrasing that was broght about by "Let's Spend the Night Together" (another song witha fairly direct reference to what the singer wanted) and instrumentation that was inspired by The Beach Boys' classic Pet Sounds LP mixed to make one of the earliest "power pop" songs. That made The Raspberries a very big influence for the same kids that were establishing their "new" sound at the end of the decade.

With "Go All the Way," the music is so immediate, it would be easy to avoid paying attention to the words. However, the feeling behind the guitar blasts pretty much mirrors what the singer's trying to say. As a result, it's a perfect soundtrack for two teens trying to figure out what they're doing in the back seat at the drive-in. It's a feeling that we've all had while growing up...and that's what makes it a classic song.

Tanya Tucker - "Delta Dawn"

(Debuted #92, Peaked #72, 7 Weeks on chart)



Tanya Tucker's first hit was an auspicious one. She was 13 years old and had a voice that made her sound older, so she sang about adult topics. With "Delta Dawn," she told a story about a woman who was possibly demented, waiting patiently for a man from her past who promised to take her away from her Brownsville home but never returned. The smooth-talking suitor either died or left without her, but Dawn still waits for him to come and get her even at the age of 41.

Tucker's version fell far short of the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was a #6 country hit. Most pop fans know the song for its 1973 #1 rendition by Helen Reddy, who sang over an instrumental bed that closely mimicked Tucker's, but it was recorded by several artists as well. Bette Midler recorded it as well (her version actually predated Tucker's), but the original version was performed by co-writer Alex Harvey (not the Scottish rocker) in 1971. He wrote the tune with Larry Collins, one of the Collins Kids of the 1950s.

For Tucker, it was the beginning of a long and successful career, and the beginning of a style she continued as she matured.

The Temptations - "Mother Nature"

(Debuted #93, Peaked #92, 4 Weeks on chart)



All Directions would become The Temptations' biggest-selling LP in four years, buoyed by the strength of their hit "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." However, the initial singles from the album was "Mother Nature," which may have seemed to be a disappointment when it fizzled out at #92 on the pop chart and barely dented the Top 30 of the R&B survey. Today, the song is all but forgotten.

Sung as a slow ballad by Dennis Edwards, "Mother Nature" was one of the socially aware songs that producer Norman Whitfield preferred the group to perform. The lyrics -- written by Dino Fekaris and Nick Zesses -- could be interpreted as a plea to Mother Nature (ecologically) or to the racial changes taking place. It was really up to the listener to determine which.



Bob Seger - "If I Were a Carpenter"

(Debuted #94, Peaked #76, 9 Weeks on chart)



I was actually a little surprised to find that "If I Were a Carpenter" is available on iTunes and Amazon, because Bob Seger is one of those artists who hasn't yet jumped to the new digital format. In interviews, he refers to it as a business matter, but some of his fans ask if he's missing out on new fans due to the lack of his music on as many streams as possible. Personally, it's his material, and if he wants to keep it pent up...that's his prerogative. It's not like classic rock radio doesn't give him plenty of opportunity for his music to be heard.

However, "If I Were a Carpenter" wasn't a Seger original. It was written by Tim Hardin and was a Top 10 hit for Bobby Darin that year. It has been recorded hundreds of times since then and has become something iof a standard. The album that contained the song was Smokin' O.P.s, a record largely made up of songs from other writers. It was a return to Seger's harder-edged roots, and that gives Seger's version of the song a little more of an edge because it isn't given the reverent treatment that others sometimes give to the song.

While Seger himself doesn't seem to favor his earlier material, I think it shows a lot of promise, and would quickly toss this one on the platter as an example of what he can do even with somebody else's composition.

The Partridge Family - "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"

(Debuted #95, Peaked #28, 10 Weeks on chart)



"Breaking Up is Hard to Do" is a remake of 1962 Neil Sedaka song that remains fairly true to the original version, presented in a safe fashion by David Cassidy, Shirley Jones and a handful of studio musicians. While that may sound like I'm dismissing the song without giving it a listen, I'm really not. As part of a regular TV show, the song is defined as a middle-of-the-road type of song that will appeal to a wide range of people. However, even Sedaka managed to revisit his own song a few years later and give it a new interpretation (which mirrored Lenny Welch's 1970 treatment of the song), and that later version has really stuck with me as a much better rendition.

David Bowie - "Starman"

(Debuted #100, Peaked #65, 9 Weeks on chart)



"Starman" is one of the songs from David Bowie's concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and a Bowie classic that really isn't revisited as often as it should be. A song written from the perspective of a young fan hearing Ziggy on the radio, it has generated some debate among fans about its meaning. One of those involves the similarity of the "Starman" to Major Tom of "Space Oddity."

Featuring a unique guitar strum by Mick Ronson that sounded like a telegraph, the chorus that follows has some similarities to "Over the Rainbow," likely solidifying the child-like wonder of the lyrics. While it's hard to consider any Bowie song from this period "underrated," this one really deserves another listen if you're not that familiar with it.

This Week's Review -- June 22, 1974

This week marks another milestone, as 70s Music Mayhem marks its 150th different review. That number doesn't include the "Rewind" posts that run each Wednesday, since they are merely rebooted entries from the past. Still, 150 reviews is an awful lot but there are still about 365 of them to go before I run out. The next milestone is the 3-year mark, which is coming in August.

There were nine new singles in Billboard magazine this week. Six of them reached the Top 40, while four were Top 10 hits. Additionaly, there were two #1 singles, by Roberta Flack and Andy Kim. Elton John shows up with a song that would be a #1 single nearly two decades later. Chicago lends their own sound to a plea for unity as a marriage is falling apart. Joe Cocker and James Brown give their unique sounds an outlet as well, while The Temptations look to past glories. Curtis Mayfield does a "Kung Fu" song that predates the novelty single that Carl Douglas recorded. Finally, two nephews of an established singer show up with a remake.

There are several past issues of Billboard over at Google Books, including the June 22, 1974 edition. The full Hot 100 list can be found on page 64. An article on page 20 mentions the marriage of Sly Stone to Kathy Silva before a concert at Madison Square Garden. At least he didn't have too much trouble booking a band for the reception. Silva would eventually leave Stone in 1976. On page 46 is yet another story of a country singer having a song pitched in an opportune manner. This time, it was Don Williams and he was getting gas at the time. The attendant's song, "I Wouldn't Want to Live if You Didn't Love Me," would be his first #1 hit.

Elton John - "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"

(Debuted #70, Peaked #2, 15 Weeks on chart)



When composing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me," Elton John and Bernie Taupin were interested in making it a little more complex than they usually did. So when they recorded it, they attempted to go all out on it. For the brass parts, Tower of Power was hired. When they tried to get a Beach Boys-type backing harmony, they brought in two of the members of that group (Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston) and Toni Tennille to provide the voices. Actually, what they tried was to add in several voices on top of those -- including members of America, Three Dog Night and Dusty Springfield -- but decided it was just too much. 

Along with the non-single "Candle in the Wind," this would be one of the 1970s songs John would revisit later in his career. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" would hit again in 1991/'92 as a duet with George Michael, where it went to #1 on the Hot 100.

Roberta Flack - "Feel Like Makin' Love"

(Debuted #78, Peaked #1, 16 Weeks on chart)



Roberta Flack was at the top of her game between 1972-'74. In that span, she released five singles that made the Hot 100 and three of them reached the #1 position. And one of the other two (a duet with Donny Hathaway called "Where is the Love") went to #5. While that string would end with "Feel Like Making Love," Flack remained active, charting for another two decades.

A smooth vocal performance by Flack, "Feel Like Makin' Love" was a #1 single on the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts. This shouldn't be confused with a song she did in 1982 in a similar style called "Making Love" (and also charted on several formats) for the soundtrack of the movie of the same name.

James Brown - "My Thang"

(Debuted #79, Peaked #29, 13 Weeks on chart)



While many casual fans are pretty sure what they'll get in a James Brown single, "My Thang" definitely won't come as a surprise. The brass flourishes? The call-and-response with female background singers? Brown's spontaneous off-the-cuff shouts? They're all here.

That said, "My Thang" is a very good performance by The Godfather of Soul. The song is about as hard and tight as he ever got on vinyl. Even the Soul Train performance in the video above looks like a great time was had by all. The song was part of Brown's LP Hell, a double album that was as good as any he ever recorded.

Andy Kim - "Rock Me Gently"

(Debuted #81, Peaked #1, 18 Weeks on chart)



There's nothing like a long dry spell to get an artist to try harder. In the case of Any Kim, the creative spell that saw him write several hits and chart a few more in the late 1960s and early 70s dried up in 1971 and left him without a label. To get himself back in the game, Kim financed a recording session out of his own pocket for another single. The original B-side was called "Fire, Baby, I'm On Fire" and was considered strong enough to release on its own (I reviewed it here in October 2010), and the A-side was a bubblegum-flavored tune called "Rock Me Gently."

Upon hearing the song, Capitol Records heard a hit and released it. Maybe it was the quasi-Neil Diamond vocal (as Kim was known to speed up his earlier recordings), maybe it was the irresistable beat with the everpresent clavicle, but the song spiraled its way to #1 a little more than three months after it debuted.

Joe Cocker - "Put Out The Light"

(Debuted #82, Peaked #46, 12 Weeks on chart)



The video above features a 1976 live performance, which is slightly outside what most people consider "contemporary," but no other recording of "Put Out the Light" seems to exist (as of this writing, that is) on YouTube.

For his 1974 LP I Can Stand a Little Rain, Joe Cocker returned to interpreting others' songs, after one album that saw him penning his own material with Chris Stainton. Daniel Moore (who also co-wrote "Shambala" and "My Maria" with B.W. Stevenson) wrote "Put Out the Light," which Cocker rips through with his customary blues-influenced style.

Chicago - "Call On Me"

(Debuted #89, Peaked #6, 15 Weeks on chart)



Hearing the name "Chicago" brings totally different images to one's mind than the ones seen in the video above. It was filmed at James William Guercio's Caribou studio in Colorado (also the site of Elton John's recording mentioned earlier), which is a very long way from the group's home city. The song has elements of the group's classic sound: the brass section, the shifting sounds from verse to chorus and some great drumming.

There was an interesting genesis to "Call On Me": according to group member Lee Loughnane, he wrote it as he was nearing the end of his marriage. While the title sounds like it's asking for a late-night hookup, a readin of the lyric sheet fleshes out the story. In effect, it's saying let's part as friends, let's eventually look back on this as a nice time even if it did go sour. And feel free to keep in touch whenever you need somebody to talk with.

I'm guessing he might have written it a little differently after the lawyers got involved.

The Temptations - "You've Got My Soul On Fire"

(Debuted #90, Peaked #74, 6 Weeks on chart)



"You've Got My Soul On Fire" was from The Temptations' 1990 LP, which would be the last one they recorded under the tutelage of Norman Whitfield. Yearning to return to the ballads that were their main calling card in the 1960s, they began growing tired of the world-weary "message" material that Whitfield was having them record.

That said, the song was a funk-driven jam that called the band's earlier hits "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Masterpiece" instrumentally even as it eschewed any "message" in its lyric. Instead of singing about a ghetto burning in the title of the song, the lyrics refer to the effect of a woman's love, or at least a burning desire to get to knocking the headboard. It missed pop the Top 40, but was a Top 10 R&B hit.

Curtis Mayfield - "Kung Fu"

(Debuted #96, Peaked #40, 13 Weeks on chart)



There was an interest in the martial arts during the 1970s, largely brought about by the rise of Bruce Lee's films. The TV show Kung Fu was already airing before Curtis Mayfield's song and had nothing to do with it. In any case, the #1 song "Kung Fu Fighting" came along later in 1974, so there was no effort on Mayfield's part to ride along on that novelty. Instead, his "Kung Fu" was a funk-infused story song.

"Kung Fu" was Mayfield's final song on the top 40 as an artist, but his influence and material would remain for years to come. The Staple Singers ("Let's Do it Again") and Tony Orlando & Dawn ("He Don't Love You") would return him to the #1 position as a songwriter the next year, but although his contributions to pop music tailed off, his material proved timeless enough to revisit. Sadly, an on-stage accident in 1990 left Mayfield in a wheelchair, and he died in 1999 from a number of health ailments.

Andy and David Williams - "What's Your Name"

(Debuted #98, Peaked #92, 4 Weeks on chart)



It seems the artist link above needs to be corrected. That link goes to the singer Andy Williams' entry and is credited there as a duet featuring him. That's not the case here; there is definitely an Andy Williams singing here, but he and David Williams are actually the then-14 year-old nephews of the "other" Andy Williams.

"What's Your Name" is a remake of a 1962 Don & Juan hit that reached #7. It's performed in a style you'd expect by two 14 year-olds. In fact, it's similar vocally to another singer associated with the more established Andy Williams: Donny Osmond. The backing music is laid down by established L.A.-based studio performers and is mixed high enough to drown out the limitations of the pubescent vocalists.

Andy and David Williams stayed in the music business, and returned to the Hot 100 in 1992 as The Williams Brothers. Their song, "Can't Cry Hard Enough," bettered their 1970s teen idol chart run but just fell two places short of the Top 40.

This Week's Review -- June 17, 1978

There were nine new singles in this week's Hot 100. Six of those reached into the Top 40, with two making the Top 10 and one going all the way to #1. That #1 was the only chart-topper for Motown Records for all of 1978. Four songs are from first-timers to the chart, and all would return in the future with varying degrees of success. Other, more established acts are here as well, including Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand, Tom Petty and Andrew Gold.

Although there is a large archive of Billboard magazines available over at Google Books, the June 17, 1978 edition is missing. Once again, I'll give a plug to my other music-related blog, 80s Music Mayhem. That blog is coursing its way through the decade for the ninth time, having just spent a week in 1987. Up next...'88 and a rather eclectic group of styles. Check it out if you're into the decade.

Barbra Streisand - "Songbird"

(Debuted #67, Peaked #25, 10 Weeks on chart)



Barbra Streisand was in a rather prolific period of her career in 1978. Not only did she record her LP Songbird, but she also recorded music for the soundtrack of the film The Eyes of Laura Mars and issued her second Greatest Hits compilation. In fact, the Laura Mars soundtrack appeared soon after Songbird, and the lead singles from both projects battled each other on the charts. This has been given as teh reason neither song made the Top 20 in a period when "Babs" was at her commercial peak.

Not the similarly-named Fleetwood Mac song from Rumours, this was a ballad written by Steve Nelson and David Wolpert that was solidly suited for Streisand's style. Though it fell short of the pop Top 20, it was her fifth #1 single on the adult contemporary chart.

The Commodores - "Three Times a Lady"

(Debuted #73, Peaked #1, 20 Weeks on chart)



Showing how far Motown had fallen from its place in the 1960s, consider that "Three Times a Lady" was the only Top 10 pop single the label had in all of 1978. The Commodores made the hit count, however: it went to #1 on the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts, as well as in the U.K.

According to the backstory, "Three Times a Lady" was supposedly written on the occasion of an anniversary of Lionel Richie's parents. During a reception, Richie's father made a comment that stayed with his son enough to inspire the Commodores' first chart-topper. Here's hoping that he bought them a nice gift with the royalties.

The song was one of The Commodores' biggest and best-known hits, and helped set a standard for their future success. At first, they were primarily a funk-based band but once the ballads began outselling the dance jams, the soundalike material followed. Though "Three Times a Lady" wasn't the first -- the band already hit with "Sweet Love," "Just to Be Close to You" and "Easy" -- it encouraged future hits like "Sail On" and "Still" as well as several of Richie's solo hits during the 1980s. And all of them were huge sellers.

Wings - "I've Had Enough"

(Debuted #81, Peaked #25, 11 Weeks on chart)



After the multi-platinum success of Wings at the Speed of Sound and the band's subsequent 1976 tour, some changes were in store for Paul McCartney. First of all, guitarist Jimmy McCullough and drummer Joe English left the band during the recording of their next studio LP. Second, Paul and his wife Linda learned they would be having another baby, an event that required them to change their plans for any touring in the near future. So, stripped back down to the same trio that recorded Band On the Run, Wings made an album that was a solid effort even if it wasn't ranked with their best by fans.

"I've Had Enough" was the second single from London Town and an underrated rocker that may have been unappreciated in an age of Disco. McCartney seemed to pay attention to that lesson, releasing more dance-oriented material as singles for his next album,

Gene Cotton with Kim Carnes - "You're a Part of Me"

(Debuted #83, Peaked #36, 12 Weeks on chart)



"You're a Part of Me" marks the first appearance of Kim Carnes on the pop chart, but it wasn't exactly "new." Carnes wrote the song and had originally recorded it as a solo performance on her self-titled 1975 LP and had a minor hit with it on the adult contemporary chart that year. In 1978, the song appeared as a duet with Gene Cotton and helped bring her unique voice to a wider audience. 

This time around, the song was recorded for Cotton's album Save the Dancer. At the time, Cotton was the better-known performer and had a small handful of Hot 100 singles. The next decade, however, saw him move to Nashville and became more devoted to his family and charity while Carnes racked up several hit singles that made her a bigger "name" among music fans. That road began with "You're a Part of Me," where Carnes' rasp overpowers Cotton's smooth vocal style in several places.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "I Need to Know"

(Debuted #85, Peaked #41, 10 Weeks on chart)



By 1978, there was a focus in the music business on dance-length singles and "extended" 12-inch records. However, in the middle of all that, here comes Tom Petty with a focused record that clocked in at less than two and a half minutes yet sounds like it was longer due to its energy.

Taken from the band's second LP You're Gonna Get it!, "I Need to Know" just missed the Top 40. It comes off as a simple riff, but that's part of what made it great. Especially in an era where bands liked to show their complexity and the depth of their instrumental virtuosity.

Andrew Gold - "Never Let Her Slip Away"

(Debuted #86, Peaked #67, 8 Weeks on chart)



When MTV started its programming on August 1, 1981, one of the promotional videos that was played during the first day was Andrew Gold's "Never Let Her Slip Away." In fact, it was one of three songs from Gold played during that day. His inclusion wasn't necessarily because he was influential with the early days of the music video; rather, MTV played anything that was available to it during that start-up period before it developed into the iconic cable channel, even material from the previous decade.

That said, "Never Let Her Slip Away" is a decent pop song about the euphoria that hits when you fall in love. Undercut by a rolling keyboard riff and punctuated by a saxophone solo and background crooning, the song is an example of the classic songwriting style that Gold likely picked up by watching his parents (both were long-time show business veterans) in action. By that, I mean that it doesn't really sound as much like a 1970s artifact as it does a generic well-crafted pop song.

Evelyn "Champagne" King - "Shame"

(Debuted #87, Peaked #9, 19 Weeks on chart)



"Shame" was the debut single for Evelyn "Champagne" King, a 17 year-old singer from Philadelphia whose voice sounded much more mature than it was. According to the backstory, King was working with her mother as a cleaning lady in a recording studio and was "discovered" by a producer who heard her singing as she dumped trash out of a can in the building.   

The song was included on King's 1977 debut LP Smooth Talk but wasn't a hit until it was remixed into a 12-inch single for the disco market that laid a heavier emphasis on the beat. Once the transitional bridge kicked in and the catchy chorus made its way into the heads of dancers, the song was undeniable and became a dancefloor classic. It eventually made the Top 10 of Billboard's pop, dance and R&B surveys and started  King on a career that took her from the Disco era to the electronic dance material that replaced it.

The Cars - "Just What I Needed"

(Debuted #90, Peaked #27, 17 Weeks on chart)



The debut single for The Cars was written by group member Ric Ocasek but sung by bassist Ben Orr. In an era where many new (non-disco) bands were deciding whether to take their sound in a rock-oriented or New Wave direction, this Boston band went in both directions. That suited them well as a new decade approached, and made them one of the more exciting and innovative acts of the 1980s. 

"Just What I Needed" was one of several classic songs found on the group's self-titled LP. The mix of synthesizers and rock stylings has given it airplay on several formats (even letting it sneak in as a 1980s hit even though it's from before that decade). One neat effect in the song shows up in the final verse: the drums change, hitting on the first and third beats instead of the second and fourth as used in the rest of the song, before reverting to its original format in the final chorus. The change is noticeable after Orr sings the line "Wasting all my time, time" in that verse.

Spyro Gyra - "Shaker Song"

(Debuted #92, Peaked #90, 5 Weeks on chart)



Spyro Gyra's story begins in Buffalo, New York around 1974. Saxophonist Jay Beckstein and keyboardist Jeremy Wall were part of a combo where all the members were active in the local jazz community. A promoter asked for the name of the group, and when Beckstein suggested the biology term "spirogyra," it ended up being misspelled on the marquee. The band kept it, and despite some membership changes grew into a full-time pursuit.

"Shaker Song" was already two years old, the first track off the band's self-titled 1976 debut LP. The record was slow to sell originally but sales remained steady enough to keep the song in the public eye. A smooth jazz instrumental with a slight Caribbean rhythm and Calypso-styled breakdown, It exemplifies the sound the group has cultivated for more than three decades.

This Week's Review -- June 5, 1971

Of the ten new singles on this week's Billboard Hot 100, six reached into the Top 40 and two went Top 10. One of those songs even went all the way to the #1 position. Oddly, the four songs that missed the Top 40 were arguably deserving of a better shot. The chart-topper was a song by a noted singer/songwriter, but it was written by a different singer/songwriter. Gladys Knight shows why she's one of the era's great singers. Graham Nash writes what is essentially a "kiss off" to his chums. Freda Payne gives an impassioned plea for the return of "The Boys," while The Stylistics show up with their first Top 10 hit.

Over at Google Books, there is an archive of Billboard magazines, including the June 5, 1971 edition. The full Hot 100 list can be found on page 56. I continue to be amused at the stories in the Jukebox Programming section, if for no other reason than the way it gives a glimpse into the past. For instance, an article on page 34 talks about the fact that programmers have been reluctant about converting to a "two plays for a quarter" system because they're afraid of a customer backlash. Yeah, those were the days.

Freda Payne - "Bring The Boys Home"

(Debuted #66, Peaked #12, 13 Weeks on chart)



Interesting that this song pops up just after Memorial Day.

In 1971, the war in Vietnam was still raging without any apparent end in sight and people were still asking why there were Americans were halfway around the world doing a job that needed to be accomplished by somebody else. Though the peace movement wasn't as vociferous as it was just a few years before (not after four of them were shot to death at Kent State), the war weariness had set in and more people were wondering when the little "police action" was going to be handed over to the South Vietnamese for good. 

In that climate, Freda Payne recorded a song that addressed the issue. Rather than imploring the Powers That Be to simply end the war, she took a slightly different tactic: the song simply asked to get the soldiers out of harm's way. Actually, the three songwriters (including General Johnson) did that, but it was Payne's voice that was hitting the airwaves. Predictably, there was some controversy; Armed Forces Radio wouldn't play it, Payne was called names for taking a stance and some programmers simply set it aside. Despite the friction, the song peaked just short of the pop Top 10.      

41 years later, the location is different but the same question is being asked. They say that history will repeat itself to those who don't pay attention to its lessons...and the lessons of Vietnam didn't seem to get heeded. At least not by a new generation of Powers That Be who've sent another group of kids (many of whom weren't yet born when Saigon fell in 1975) into harm's way.

The Grass Roots - "Sooner Or Later"

(Debuted #77, Peaked #9, 11 Weeks on chart)



The Grass Roots sure knew how to make a catchy pop song. Since 1967, they had enjoyed a string of them and many shared similar hooks and elements. Basically, there was little chance you'd miss a Grass Roots hit because many of them featured a "sound" to them. Some call that predictable, but it was selling records and sounded great on the radio. With that kind of luck, there's no need to tinker with a successful thing.

"Sooner Or Later" generally followed the template and became the group's last Top 10 pop hit. It was written by Gary Zekley and Mitchell Bottler -- who also composed "I'd Wait a Million Years" for the group -- along with three others. While the band continued to make music that sounded great, the tastes of the public changed and the hits dried up. The Grass Roots have stayed together to the present, despite a revolving door of members and the death of lead singer Rob Grill. 

Neil Diamond - "Done Too Soon"

(Debuted #78, Peaked #65, 4 Weeks on chart)



Before "Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)," "It's the End of the World As We Know it" and "We Didn't Start the Fire," Here's a song whose lyrics consist largely of a list. The first half of the song is a list of people who died; some were recently deceased, and others had been gone for a long time. The last half of the song explains that all of then were "done too soon." Not necessarily "young," since Ho Chi Minh and H.G. Wells were pushing 80 when their time came, but "too soon" in the sense that many were still doing their thing when it happened.

With "Done Too Soon," there's a philosophical component that is often missing from pop music. The idea that life is a ride and that we all get one shot, and that it's up to us what to do while we're on it. While some listeners might be offended to hear a composition that lumps together such a collection of beloved figures and charlatans, it doesn't appear that Diamond is making any moral equivalence. He's simply saying that all were given a shot and did their part with the time they were given. They looked at the same sun and moon as the rest of us. That is part of the song's charm, in my opinion.

Graham Nash - "Chicago"

(Debuted #79, Peaked #35, 11 Weeks on chart)



Here's a novel idea for a protest song. When your fellow bandmates avoid something that you think is a good idea, write a hit song calling them out and force them to relive that decision every time you do the song in concert. That's exactly what Graham Nash did when he wrote "Chicago" after (according to legend) Stephen Still and Neil Young vetoed the idea of singing outside the courthouse where the "Chicago Eight" were being tried for their part in inciting riots during the 1968 Chicago Democrat National convention. 

The line about the "brother" who was "bound and gagged" referred to Bobby Seale, who was secured to a chair and eventually removed from the courtroom because of his outbursts in the courtroom. As for "Jack," that was a reference to Chicago mayor John Daley. Nash wanted to show his support for the accused by holding an impromptu concert, but after the idea was shot down, he wrote and recorded a song anyway. Releasing it under his own name, it made the Top 40 and was popular enough that it was occasionally dusted off when he and his buddies have performed in concert. That must be a pretty sharp pain that Stills (and Young when he sits in) feels when he harmonizes. 

James Taylor - "You've Got A Friend"

(Debuted #80, Peaked #1, 14 Weeks on chart)



How ironic is it when a noted singer/songwriter whose material is often deeply personal scores his biggest hit with another person's song? For James Taylor, that hit was Carole King's composition "You've Got a Friend," which became his only #1 pop single. I don't blame Taylor for recording it, though; King had been writing hits for more than ten years at the time and her LP Tapestry was the biggest-selling album of 1971. That album contained King's own version of the tune, but Taylor's success certainly helped sell a bunch of those, too.

"You've Got a Friend" is one of those songs that's familiar enough to listeners. There's little that I can add to what's already been written about it, and trying would be a disservice.

Gladys Knight and the Pips - "I Don't Want to Do Wrong"

(Debuted #91, Peaked #17, 11 Weeks on chart)



Recently, I mentioned elsewhere on the Web that Gladys Knight was probably "underrated" when it came to artists of the 1970s. I was quickly reminded that Knight's records sold in the millions, which would indicate that she was definitely popular, and a tag like that would be inaccurate. I responded by pointing out that Helen Reddy also sold millions of records, but nobody is holding her out (nor should they) as a standard-bearer of the era.  I never received a followup to that statement.

"I Don't Want to Do Wrong" is a perfect example of what I was referring to when I wrote that. Knight is in fine command of her own voice, and the Pips don't back her up on the recording as much as they hang on for the ride. This is all Gladys, and even Motown's famed Funk Brothers can only sit back and provide the track that she's heading down. 

That's kind of what I was getting at...Gladys Knight's name is rarely brought up with contemporaries like Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan or even Dionne Warwick, but she deserves to be in the conversation. That doesn't necessarily mean she was better, but she definitely earned a place at the table. When she was on the mark, she was one of the best of the era.

Mandrill - "Mandrill "

(Debuted #96, Peaked #94, 3 Weeks on chart)



Mandrill was a jam band in the same vein as Santana, but from a soul influence besides a Latin one. They also hailed from Brooklyn, New York rather than San Francisco. But listen to the groove the band lays down on this song and see if you hear a definite similarity between the two bands.

Mandrill is the group's name, as well as the title of their debut LP and the first song on that album. It's an instrumental that features a number of featured solos, even for the flute and vibraphone. It's rooted in Latin rhythm and R&B, but fuses other interests as well. It's an interesting concept.

Van Morrison - "Call Me Up In Dreamland"

(Debuted #98, Peaked #95, 2 Weeks on chart)



For a performer who's recorded a number of songs that his fans adore, Van Morrison hasn't seemed to have the hit pedigree to go along with it. Take "Call Me Up in Dreamland," for instance. The song is a fan favorite and occasional concert staple, yet it spent all of two weeks on the pop chart and peaked at #95.

One of his fans explained it to me once. His hypothesis was that Morrison's fans will gravitate toward his LPs, such as His Band and the Street Choir, the album that contained the song, rather than to be content merely with a single-length release. Of course, when I pointed out that the same record also contained "Domino" and "Blue Money," which were Top 40 hits on their own...and he wasn't so ready with an explanation.

"Call Me Up in Dreamland" is a bouncy tune that definitely deserved a better chance than the one it got.

The Stylistics - "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)"

(Debuted #99, Peaked #39, 9 Weeks on chart)



For many casual music fans, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" was the first time they got the chance to listen to the voice of Russell Thompkins, Jr. During the 1970s, they'd get the opportunity again. It was the first of ten straight Top 40 hits for The Stylistics, and part of a string of twelve Top 10 R&B singles.

Opening with a typically dreamy intro, Thompkin's voice takes command of the song rather quickly. The trademark strings are here, as are the sublime vocal harmonies and a mellow brass instrumental. While not their first single, it was the first track on their self-titled debut LP. In a sense, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" set the standard for the group's future hits. Fortunately, they (and producer Thom Bell) were up to the task.

The Supremes and the Four Tops - "You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart"

(Debuted #100, Peaked #55, 5 Weeks on chart)



Shortly after Diana Ross left The Supremes for a solo career and Jean Terrell replaced her, they recorded an album's worth of material with fellow Motown group The Four Tops. The result was called The Magnificent 7, whose success was enough to spawn a second collaborative LP. While the first album featuring the two groups relied heavy on Motown's past glory, the second (titled The Return of the Magnificent 7)  went largely with original compositions.

"You've Got to Have Love in Your Heart" was one of the songs from that second album. It mixes a little rock and soul with a little gospel influence. Toss in a fuzz box-affected guitar break and a piano during the jubilant fade-out, and you get an interesting mix. The public didn't agree (as the song peaked at #55), but the material on that album is ripe for rediscovery.

This Week's Review -- May 23, 1970

This week was another busy one, with 14 new songs (including a two-sided hit) making their debut on the Billboard Hot 100. Nine would reach the Top 40, with five making the Top 10 and two reaching #1. An end of an era was reached, as The Beatles called it a career. A new decade was beginning, and songs by The Temptations and War stretched the boundaries of what was "normal." On the other side of the coin, The Pipkins show up with a song targeted to kids that was seen as a novelty. Aretha Franklin gives us religion, as do Delaney & Bonnie. Two versions of the same song even appear.

Google Books has a large archive of Billboard issues, including the May 23, 1970 edition. The full Hot 100 list can be found on page 74. An article on page 1 announces an upcoming weekly radio show that will use the magazine's Top 40 as a basis. The show was set for distribution through Watermark Enterprises and Los Angeles-based DJ Casey Kasem was set to be the host. If you didn't know that would be the American Top 40 radio show, you must have missed out on the 1970s. Interestingly, the very first #1 record played on that show is among this week's debuts.

The Beatles - "The Long And Winding Road" b/w "For You Blue"

(Debuted #35, Peaked #1, 10 Weeks on chart)



Since this was a two-sided hit, here's a video of the often-forgotten B-side:



As "The Long and Winding Road" was beginning its climb up the chart, fans already knew that The Beatles had broken up. All four members recorded solo albums that year -- and all would be relatively successful during the early 1970s -- but fans held out hope that the band would get the itch to assemble in the studio once again when the hard feelings abated. Of course, we know that never happened, but it was a hope that many fans held onto until a fateful day in 1980.

While internal strife played a part in the band's dissolution, many of the tracks on the Let it Be LP hastened the decision, "The Long and Winding Road" in particular. The song was one of Paul McCartney's contributions to the album and was recorded as a simple ballad, but producer Phil Spector remixed it with a chorus and orchestra, which infuriated McCartney enough that it was one of the points he made in his letter that announced his desire to break up the band.

The B-side was "For You Blue," a song that George Harrison wrote as a 12-bar blues song. In fact, he even ad-libs "there go the 12-bar blues" during the song. It's been largely spared the overbearing Spector touch, so much that the two sides of the single seem to be from two entirely different bands.

When the dust settled, "The Long and Winding Road" was the last of 20 #1 singles in the U.S. for The Beatles in just over 6 years. While that seems an appropriate title for a group's final #1 song, it should be noted that the members were all still in their twenties at the time -- Ringo was the oldest and turned 30 that July -- so the long, winding roads were up ahead as the four musicians went along their own paths.

The Pipkins - "Gimme Dat Ding"

(Debuted #65, Peaked #9, 12 Weeks on chart)



"Gimme Dat Ding" is one of the four hit singles of 1970 that featured Tony Burrows on lead vocals but used a generic studio group name. In fact, it was one of three songs he sang for different acts on a single Top of the Pops program on the BBC, which might seem like a stunt but wasn't intended to be one. Burrows sings both the gravely "deep" voice and the high tenor on this quasi-novelty tune.

"Gimme Dat Ding" was co-written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood. Originally written as part of a British children's show that had a boy searching for parts to mend a grandfather clock, the "ding" in the title makes perfect sense in that context. However, that show wasn't aired in the U.S., so American listeners never had the chance to make that connection.

The Pipkins were a duo consisting of Burrows with Roger Greenaway, who had played together in a British band called The Kestrels in the 1960s. The group also consisted of Roger Cook, who wrote a number of hit records with Greenaway druing the era including the White Plains hit "My Baby Loves Lovin'," which Burrows also sang. It's never a bad thing to stay in touch with old mates.

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "Who's Gonna Take The Blame"

(Debuted #73, Peaked #46, 7 Weeks on chart)



The Miracles was Motown's first group, and their first act to sell a million records. They were led by William "Smokey" Robinson, who was also a songwriter for Motown and had as much of a hand in the label's success as anybody including owner Berry Gordy. While the 1960s were good to the label and the group, the road eventually wore on Smokey and caused a rift in his marraige. He was ready to move to a "desk" job and leave the touring to the younger guys. He was expected to quietly leave the group by 1970, which would have given "Who's Gonna Take the Blame" an ironic title. However, a quirk of fate gave the group a surprise hit later in the year with "The Tears of a Clown," which led him to stick it out for a couple more years.

"Who's Gonna Take the Blame" was written by Nikolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson and is a song about several times in life where the singer accepted the blame for bad things a girl did as they were growing up, and was forced to feel responsible when that girl grew up and went in a different direction. It was the band's first single to miss the Top 40 (not counting "Darling Dear," a B-side that charted separately), though it did make the Top10 R&B singles chart.

Aretha Franklin with the Dixie Flyers - "Spirit in the Dark"

(Debuted #74, Peaked #23, 8 Weeks on chart)



The album Spirit in the Dark was overlooked, as hard as it is to believe that any project of that era by her would ever have that label. At the time, it was her first Atlantic LP to miss the Top 20 on the pop albums chart (though it did reach #2 on the R&B chart) despite having two hit singles. However, time has been kind to the album, and most critics have given it a considerable bump among her output. In some ways, it pointed to the more disappointing chart fortunes Franklin experienced later in the decade, but it really didn't deserve it as much as the later efforts did.

The album's title song was written by Franklin herself, and showed the gospel influence she carried from her childhood. From the piano riff to the imagery to the call-and-response Aretha does with the backing chorus, all the hallmarks are there. Eventually, the song breaks out into jubilation, as if to swat any unbelievers with a Bible.

Sly and the Family Stone - "I Want To Take You Higher"

(Debuted #76, Peaked #38, 9 Weeks on chart)



A battle of competing versions of the same song broke out this week in 1970. Both went on to make the Top 40 (which was fitting, since both are good) but the original's inclusion was odd on the surface. It was recorded the previous year, was the B-side of Sly & the Family Stone's hit "Stand" and had been part of their Woodstock performance. Today, it's more common for a song to stick around like that, but in the fast-evolving musical world of 1969-'70 it was unheard of.

Yes, the Woodstock film had just been released in March 1970, but the song was used as a brief interlude during the band's set in the documentary. Instead, Epic records may have put it out simply because of the Ike & Tina Turner cover that competed with it, and because Sly Stone had entered one of his long periods where he wasn't producing any new music.

As part of the album Stand!, "I Want to Take You Higher" breaks from the "messages" that many of its songs stress. Instead, it's a celebration about the effect that music can have on a person (although, when Sly's own personal history is factored in, the "higher" in the title probably has a double meaning). It was one of the songs that used the different voices of the "Family Stone": Larry Graham's deep baritone is the most prominent, but Freddie and Rose Stone add vocals as well.

Ike and Tina Turner and the Ikettes - "I Want To Take You Higher"

(Debuted #78, Peaked #34, 18 Weeks on chart)



With two versions of "I Want to Take You Higher" entering the chart in the same week, there was a battle of the bands to see who got the most exposure. Normally, competing versions would beat each other up, but in this case both versions made it into the Top 40. However, that's just as far as both would go, with Ike & Tina Turner getting four places "higher" than the Sly Stone original. On that note, maybe the competition did weigh both versions down, since they definitely could have done better than they did.

Where Stone featured some of the other members of his "family," this was all about Tina Turner vocally. The rest of the voices merely serve as backup material.

The Temptations - "Ball Of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)"

(Debuted #80, Peaked #3, 15 Weeks on chart)



"Psychedelic soul" was the name used to describe The Temptations' move away from the songs about love and loss they performed in the 1960s to the more socially-aware material they began doing as the decades changed. And it was apt; no only was there a sense of realism in their vocals, but the music behind the voices was grittier and hewn from rougher material. That's not to say they went away from the sweeter material (you just need to listen to 1971's "Just My Imagination" for proof of that), but they definitely steered into a different direction beginning with 1968's "Coud Nine."

"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)" is an example of the new direction, even if it stays with a general point of view in its lyrics. Writer/producer Norman Whitfield specifically avoided being specific after the band's version of "War" was blocked by Motown and he was forced to tone it down for Edwin Starr's version. At first, the group's members weren't certain they could handle the song, as a result of the often rapid-fire tempo of the words. However, the song did a great job of showcasing the members. The main lyrics were assigned to Paul Williams and Dennis Franklin, who was given the lines that needed to be delivered the quickest. Eddie Kendricks was assigned a tenor, which was rare at the tame but soon became his trademark. Finally, the bass "and the band played on" that ended each verse was handled superbly by Melvin Franklin.

Speaking of bass lines, Funk Brother Bob Babbitt kicks off an ominous groove to begin the song. That type of instrumental never comes before anything that carries a positive message.

Three Dog Night - "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)"

(Debuted #83, Peaked #1, 15 Weeks on chart)



Three Dog Night was one of the biggest acts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and their reputation allowed them to choose songs from a wide array of talented songwriters. Randy Newman was the writer of "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)," a tune that was written in 1966 for Eric Burdon and the Animals. A tale by a naive outsider who's walked into a party only to find that it isn't exactly a "sock hop," the song is performed in an almost comical style by Cory Wells.


Kicking off with a distinctive Wurlitzer electric piano riff that sets the mood, "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" became the group's first #1 single. In fact, it was the song sitting at #1 the same week as the first-ever week that Casey Kasem counted down the American Top 40 radio show. The song already had a timely vibe that heralded the fact that the 1960s were indeed over, but that cemented its place in history.

Delaney and Bonnie and Friends - "Free the People"

(Debuted #84, Peaked #75, 4 Weeks on chart)



Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were heavily regarded by other musicians. In fact, Eric Clapton was fond enough of them that he would show up at several of their concerts to sit in because he was more interested in their material than he was with what his own group Blind Faith was doing. Dave Mason, George Harrison, Duane Allman and even Little Richard were known to stop by and play with the group in the studio.

"Free the People" was the final song on the duos third album From Delaney to Bonnie. Written by Barbara Keith, it had a message of brotherhood and a heavily religious feel. The fact that it starts with the hymn "Rock of Ages" sets that mood, and the lyrics continue, alluding to imagery of fire and seas, about salvation from The Devil, and even as the horn section begins to sound like it's blowing Gabriel's horn.

Ginger Baker's Air Force - "Man of Constant Sorrow" (Not Available on iTunes)

(Debuted #88, Peaked #85, 2 Weeks on chart)



Interestingly, this blog goes from one band that (inadvertently) contributed to Blind Faith's early demise to another that rose out of its ashes. After Eric Clapton went his own way, drummer Ginger Baker persuaded the other members Steve Winwood and Rick Grech to stay with him and form a new group whose influences were more diverse: blues, jazz, African rhythms, bluegrass, whatever their muse dictated. They ended up assembling a ten-piece group that also included Denny Laine, Chris Wood and Graham Bond, and recorded a live show at London's Royal Albert Hall that appeared as their first LP.

"Man of Constant Sorrow" is a traditional American fiddle song popularized in 1928 by fiddler Dick Burnett and was a staple of The Stanley Brother's act. When the Air Force recorded it, they kept the words and melody but improvised the arrangement for the live recording. Laine was the lead vocalist.

Movie fans might recognize the song (albeit in a faster, more bluegrass-inspired style) from the 2000 Coen Brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Luther Ingram - "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)"

(Debuted #95, Peaked #45, 9 Weeks on chart)



Luther Ingram served as Isaac Hayes' opening act on tour for several years and used Hayes' studio musicians and backup singers in the studio, so it's only logical that Hayes would provide him with material from time to time. In the case of "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)," the song was written by Hayes and his long-time collaborator David Porter. It appeared as a Sam & Dave performance in 1967, with Hayes and Porter cutting it themselves in 1972.

Though Ingram's version fell just short of the pop Top 40, it became his first R&B Top 10 hit. Featuring the smooth horns and lush strings in the background, it was a fine vehicle for Ingram's vocal stylings.

The Flaming Ember - "Westbound #9"

(Debuted #97, Peaked #24, 14 Weeks on chart)



Detroit is best known as the home of Motown, but its influence in soul music extends well beyond that label's acts. When the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland wanted to have greater control over their work, they broke from Motown to form their own Hot Wax imprint. One of their acts was The Flaming Ember, a local five-man "blue-eyed soul" outfit.

"Westbound #9" was The Flaming Ember's biggest hit on the pop chart. Using the imagery of taking a train to leave the old hometown for a seemingly better place away from the charlatans and hypocrites, the song mirrored the way a lot of people were migrating to other areas. In fact, even Motown did the same thing, a year after this song was a hit.

Eric Burdon and War - "Spill The Wine"

(Debuted #99, Peaked #3, 21 Weeks on chart)



War's first hit was a collaboration with former Animal Eric Burdon. At the time, they were seen as just another backing band for Burdon (in fact, many of the members were recruited after backing NFL player Deacon Jones when he tried to start a second career as a soul singer), but Burdon eventually felt burned out and the band struck out on its own. Despite what may have been a major setback, they became a solid and innovative unit.

"Spill the Wine" would be a very notable introduction to the group, given the diversity of styles in the song's groove. Concocted inside the studio, the title came along after group member Lonnie Jordan reportedly spilled a bottle of wine on a recording console while enjoying a late-night recording session. Burdon thought that was pretty funny and penned some words around the theme as the session moved to another studio. The group members began coming up with their own improvisations, and the result was a unique record.

There are a few lines of Spanish in the song (supposedly from Burdon's then-girlfriend), which sound like they were inserted after the song was finished. Also, although Burdon wrote several lyrics, contractual issues did not allow him to take a songwriting credit.

Little Richard - "Freedom Blues"

(Debuted #100, Peaked #47, 9 Weeks on chart)



Though best known for his 1950s output, Little Richard was still recording and touring as the 1970s were getting underway. While remembered for giving up Rock & Roll for the ministry in the late 1950s, be returned to secular music in 1962. Though his sales weren't up to the same level of his earlier records, he continued performing and had many of his old hits brought back by a new generation of artists like The Beatles and introduced Jimi Hendrix as a backing guitarist in his band.

"Freedom Blues" was no look back at his 1950s glory. While nobody was going to ask Little Richard for his credentials, he was still dong his best to stay "with it" in the new decade rather that coasting by on his past glory. The result is a song that featured the familiar guitar licks of late 60s/early 70s Memphis soul even as it provided a saxophone solo and Richard's familiar "Whoo!" It may have missed the pop Top 40, but it was his best showing on the chart since 1958.