This Week's Review -- September 7, 1974

There were nine new singles on this week's Hot 100, with a very solid six reaching into the Top 40 and two Top 10 hits. Those two Top 10 singles are still played today; one has been embraced by its artist (also its inspiration) as a theme song of sorts, while the other is largely seen as a novelty. The Top 40 hits were a diverse group, with a change of direction for The Ohio Players that signified a new stlye for them, another "comeback" hit for The Righteous Brothers, a funk-laden hit for Kool and the Gang, and Steppenwolf's last chart hit. The songs that missed the Top 40 included a country #1 by Waylon Jennings, a song that showed that The Blackbyrds were stretching out, and a hit that was essentially a reworking of William DeVaughan's earlier hit. 

Over at Google Books there is a large archive of past Billboard magazines, including the September 7, 1974 edition. The full Hot 100 list is on page 56. A focus on family acts and their history in the R&B field begins on page 28. The large pull-out section features a spotlight on the music of Texas, which was a big part of the magazine featured a couple of weeks back. That one was from 1979 and included Oklahoma, but it's worth noting that the state is large enough to be quite diverse, and this proves that Texas is home to more than just country.

The Ohio Players - "Skin Tight"

(Debuted #45, Peaked #13, 11 Weeks on chart)



At the time they released the LP Skin Tight, The Ohio Players had been a regular presence on R&B radio but really hadn't broken through in a huge way. They had just switched record labels and had to be convinced that they needed to lay off the extended jam sessions in the studio and narrow their focus into just making great pop music. Hindsight shows they did quite well for the next few years following that advice. 

Kicking off the LP, the song "Skin Tight" provided a taste of what was to come. The title was appropriate for the band -- tight -- as they were one of the dominant pop/funk bands for the next several years. Featuring a notable trumpet flourish throughout the song, it was a celebration of the women's jeans that were then in vogue. It also served notice that the band had arrived.

Elton John - "The Bitch is Back"

(Debuted #63, Peaked #4, 14 Weeks on chart)



Even though Elton John was the "music" side of the John/Taupin partnership, he was figured in the lyrics for this song. Evidently, he was in a foul mood one day and caused Bernie Taupin's wife Maxine to sigh, "the bitch is back." Taupin loved the phrase and soon wrote a song around it. To his credit, John embraced it pretty quickly and adopted it as a personal theme song, showing that there's no hard feelings arising from a term that might be considered offensive.

Of course, being able to sing those words with one of the top bands in the world behind him as well as The Tower of Power horn section, and inside one of the premiere studios in the world (the Caribou in Colorado, James Guercio's studio that gave the LP its title) didn't hurt at all. Nor was being Elton John in 1974...he was on the top of the music world, enough of a star that he could get away with using a word that would have caused most record executives to step in and take action.

Now that didn't stop the record company from trying.When some middle America stations refused to play the song, MCA offered a version that blanked out the word "bitch." Which was probably odd, considering the number of times it's used in the lyrics (42). That's a lot of dead air for a station to have. 

The Righteous Brothers - "Give It To The People" (Not Available on iTunes)

(Debuted #77, Peaked #20, 9 Weeks on chart)



"Give it to the People" was the second of three hits after Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield reunited as The Righteous Brothers after a six-year break to go solo. While all three songs made the pop Top 40, neither it nor its followup "Dream On" were remembered in quite the same way as their first comeback hit "Rock and Roll Heaven," a #3 hit in 1974. The fact that the video above is the third one I've had to find underscores that, and I really don't expect this one to stay for long, either. I hope I'm wrong, but the fact that a couple of Top 40 songs can be forgotten even among fans of the decade kinda proves the point I'm about to make.

"Give it to the People" is a generic Righteous Brothers song, featuring the two voices doing their thing the same way they did on their earlier hits. However, while their earlier material often featured some interplay between them, this time around they just seem to be going through the motions. Earlier, their work with producer Phil Spector made for some very compelling radio singles; with Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter here, they seem to just be singing over a music bed from the action scene of a generic movie.

Steppenwolf - "Straight Shootin' Woman"

(Debuted #81, Peaked #29, 9 Weeks on chart)



Steppenwolf's final hit is pretty much what you'd expect from the band: a high-adrenaline rush with a guitar-based attack behind John Kay's vocals. It was pretty automatic for the band's material.

That said, the original group had been broken up in 1972 as Kay devoted time to his solo career. They reunited with a couple of new members in 1974 and produced three records for the short-lived CBS subsidiary Mums after Kay stated that Dunhill's support for his solo record was lukewarm. Slow Flux was the first of the three albums but "Straight Shootin' Woman" was the only single to chart. They once again broke up after 1976, but would reappear many times in the future.

Kool and the Gang - "Higher Plane"

(Debuted #84, Peaked #37, 8 Weeks on chart)



Recorded just after the group's first brush with wide success, the Light of Worlds LP followed a theme. Sine it was the band's ninth album (counting two compilations), nine songs were recorded and represented the planets of the solar system. The concept was itself a novelty, but the music was a serene jazz/funk fusion that represented spirituality and sophistication.

Part of that sonic landscape was "Higher Plane," a funk-injected workout that represented the band's work pretty well. Like much of the group's material, the music wasn't as much about the lyrics as the overall groove. And "Higher Plane" cuts a fairly solid groove through its five minutes.

William DeVaughn - "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"

(Debuted #87, Peaked #43, 9 Weeks on chart)



At first listen, it might be easy to confuse "Blood is Thicker Than Water" with William DeVaughn's hit "Be Thankful For What You've Got" due to a similar beat. Since both songs came from the same album, it's likely that the two songs were written and recorded at the same time.

DeVaughn was working for the federal government at the time, and used $900 of his own money to get his music recorded for a vanity label called Omega. The words had a religious feel to them to fit his beliefs as a Jehovah's witness. DeVaughn was solidly behind his own lyrics, even preaching to the audience at his live shows. He soon grew tired of the industry (and perhaps its "evils") and would leave until 1980.

Reunion - "Life Is A Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)"

(Debuted #90, Peaked #8, 15 Weeks on chart)



"Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" isn't as much a song as it is a list of influences that reached into the 1950s. The collection of musical acts, phrases and radio DJs was part of the overall nostalgic feel that was beginning to take hold of the population as they reflected on the fact that life seemed much simpler in the olden days. We all know it really wasn't, but things seem better when you're younger because the parents seemed to be the ones that worried. Once those kids grew up and realized that life was full of trouble, it's easy to think back on a time that didn't present the same troubles.

This is a nostalgic blog. Believe me, I understand the sentiment.

The vocals by in the song were provided by Joey Levine, the same guy who voiced dozens of bubblegum records by The Ohio Express and the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Chorus. Levine was also a producer and a big architect of the "bubblegum sound." However, what "Life is a Rock" did was showcase his rapid-fire delivery of a bunch of lines that may not make a lot of sense to the kids who didn't grow up with 1960s rock & roll.

Waylon Jennings - "I'm A Ramblin' Man"

(Debuted #91, Peaked #75, 7 Weeks on chart)



Before country's Outlaw movement took the genre by storm, Waylon Jennings was espousing its lifestyle well ahead of when it became "cool" to do so. At the time it was released, Nashville was still enamored of its Nudie suit-wearing, rhinestone-covered smooth singers. Little did the establishment know that the sound would soon get a shakeup in the form of long-haired, tough-living scoundrels.

"I'm a Ramblin' Man" seemed to come as a warning from Jennings that he was heading that way. While he doesn't apologize for his ways, he's also letting you know that it's not safe to get mixed up with him. In fact, his song is flat-out saying that he can't be held responsible for what happens if somebody gets "too close to the flame." Because he's going to keep on rambling his way on out of there.

The Blackbyrds - "Do It, Fluid"

(Debuted #94, Peaked #69, 6 Weeks on chart)



The Blackbyrds were the result of six full-time students from Howard University taking the lead of Donald Byrd, a working jazz musician who served as the department chair at the time. Beginning as a Donald Byrd project, The Blackbyrds took flight on their own self-titled debut LP and "Do it Fluid" was both the first track on the album and the debut single under the group's new name.

A solid jazz/funk workout, "Do it Fluid" represents the band getting acquainted in the studio and their way of getting to know each other as they prepared to make more music. It was a way of loosening up the crowd before the better stuff came down.

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 -- May 11, 1974

There were nine debut singles on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Four made the Top 40 and one reached into the Top 10. Among the bigger hits are Steely Dan's highest-charting song, a Golden Earring classic and two songs that were definitely reminiscent of their time. As for the others, one was a reimagined version of a 1960 "teen death" tragedy, two were remakes of hits from earlier in the 1970s, one was a playful Dr.John number and the other was a song that might have been overlooked because its singer was all over the place at the time.

Over at Google Books,you can read through a large archive of Billboard issues for free, including the May 11, 1974 edition. The full Hot 100 can be found on page 88. A feature about Isaac Hayes' multifaceted career begins on page 16. Also, a short paragraph on page 20 mentions that Gabriel Kaplan opened for The Persuasions at The Bitter End in New York City. This was pre-Kotter, and he was still doing his schtick as a stand-up comic.

Eddie Kendricks - "Son Of Sagittarius"

(Debuted #74, Peaked #28, 8 Weeks on chart)



No discussion of 1970s culture would really be complete without getting to the topic of astrology and astrological signs, or to the pick-up line "what's your sign?" While I'm not generally drawn toward astrology at all, This song by Eddie Kendricks hits me on a couple of levels personally: Not only am I the son of two Sagittarians, but I'm a Sagittarius myself.

So, looking up the info about the traits of a Sagittarius, I see that it is a fire sign (something mentioned in Kendricks' song) which lends people born under the sign to be outgoing and seek spontaneous expression. Since I blog, I seem to show that. It's also mutable, meaning that the person has an instinct toward change and can adapt to environments easily. Actually, that's me, too...but I credit being a military brat for 10 years and constantly moving around for that. Wikipedia has this definition: "Correspondingly, Sagittarians are reputed to be drawn toward travel and philosophy, and to enjoy social contacts, meeting new people and exploring other cultures. They are said to be highly intelligent, broad-visioned, tolerant in their views, mainly concerned with the 'big picture' but with little patience for the details."

Actually, that's a really good description, even if it's just a little bit off. But that isn't going to get me interested in seeking out more information. I'm here to talk about a song. "Son of Sagittarius" is another song that fits the mold of Eddie Kendrick's hits of the period, featuring his high tenor and backed by Motown's underrated studio musicians. Though it's largely a period piece, it's a damned tasty one.

Carly Simon - "Haven't Got Time For The Pain"

(Debuted #80, Peaked #14, 12 Weeks on chart)



I'll be crass enough to bring this up right now...the cover of the Hotcakes LP shows a beaming, visibly pregnant Carly Simon, who was carrying her daughter Sally (a musician and activist today). How ironic is it that the album contained a song called "Haven't Got Time For the Pain" when she was on the verge of having her own concept of pain changed forever? 

Of course, "Haven't Got Time For the Pain" was about a different type of hurt: the emotional type. Introspective songs like that were Simon's specialty, and it can be safely assumed that she was writing the words with her husband James Taylor in mind. It was a decent pop hit, but it was an Adult Contemporary smash, reaching #2 on that survey. 

Steely Dan - "Rikki Don't Lose My Number"

(Debuted #84, Peaked #4, 19 Weeks on chart)



I've been a casual fan of Steely Dan since I was a teenager. That means that I've pretty much paid attention to their singles and had Aja and Gaucho on cassette back in high school. There was something about those two albums that was nice to play in the background as I did whatever I did in my bedroom to pass the time when I wasn't hanging with friends (reading, doing howework, writing, stuff like that). Looking back now, the jazz sensibilities of those records likely had a hand in it, but I wasn't in any position to realize that at the time.

Eventually, I delved a little deeper into their catalog but wasn't as entranced with the band's earlier output for some reason. However, I did notice one thing: the lyrics seemed to be obtuse enough to mean whatever the listener wanted them to be. That might have been a benefit to me back then, as I was learning how to think and expanding my idea of what I considered to be logical. However, I've since learned that when it comes to Steely Dan, I really don't need to find any deeper meaning in the words. They're meant to be taken at face value, but not really.

With that understanding, it's a good thing that the music was usually solid. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is from the band's Pretzel Logic LP, recorded when there was still a "group" called Steely Dan that would get on stage, rather than an amalgamation of studio musicians brought together by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and refined like a recipe until the mixture of any particular song was right. Reaching #4 on the pop chart, it would become the biggest single of their career. Not bad for a tune that sounds like it originated as a pick-up line in a bar.

Wednesday - "Teen Angel"

(Debuted #89, Peaked #79, 4 Weeks on chart)



Right on the heels of their Top 40 remake of the 1963 tragic teen car crash song "Last Kiss," the Canadian band Wednesday decided to dip into the same well and release a new version of Mark Dinning's 1959 hit "Teen Angel." I say "new version" rather than a remake of this one, because the words are changed slightly. In Wednesday's song, the person who "buys the farm" is male, not female. In this case, the narration comes from the deceased group of friends, rather than the grieving boyfriend. Also, the item that is retrieved from the stalled car just before the train took it out was a photo, instead of a class ring.

Alas, lightning didn't strike twice. The song fell off the chart quickly, peaking at #79. It was their last chart single.

Diana Ross - "Sleepin'"

(Debuted #92, Peaked #70, 5 Weeks on chart)



Diana Ross' work in the 1970s was largely uneven at times. Yes, she enjoyed some massive hits, but she also had an awful lot of misses. As one of Motown's featured performers, her work was targeted to several different audiences; the R&B crowd brought her to the dance, the Pop crowd brought her fame (and more importantly, money), the adult contemporary crowd was becoming a more lucrative venture. Add to that the exposure her movies gave her. The hits were expected, but some of the misses may have been disappointing because there was some real potential.

Ross was a very busy woman in 1973. On the heels of the Film Lady Sings the Blues, she recorded a duet LP with Marvin Gaye as well as two albums on her own, in between her regular performances in Vegas and elsewhere. That's exhausting work, but also enough to overload somebody in the public eye. "Sleepin'" was from the second of those solo LPs -- Last Time I Saw Him -- and may have had a better shot if it didn't follow all that exposure.

"Sleepin'" was a ballad that might have been a natural for the AC crowd, but oddly didn't chart on that survey. It peaked at #70 pop and #50 R&B, which were likely considered disappointing after Ross' previous success. However, it features a great (if slightly "over-the-top") performance that wouldn't seem out of place in the stage in Vegas. While nobody would call Ross "underexposed" by any yardstick, "Sleepin'" was likely a better song than its final chart history would indicate.

The New Birth - "Wildflower" (Not Available on iTunes)

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



Most fans of 1970s music will recognize "Wildflower" as a #9 pop hit by the Canadian band Skylark in 1973, but it was given a salting of soul when it was covered by The New Birth the following year. At first, this new version doesn't offer much that the earlier hit didn't already do, but after a while the band's backing brass section fills in some of the difference, and the backing vocalists add a new dimension to the song. And there's even a spoken monologue in the bridge.

While "Wildflower" fell short of the pop Top 40, it was a Top 20 R&B hit and reached the U.K. Top 10. The video above contains the six-minute album track, which is a really good rendition. Like I said, it doesn't really start off as a unique piece, but evolves well on its own as the members of the ensemble are allowed to settle in and do their thing.

Dr. John - "(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away"

(Debuted #96, Peaked #92, 4 Weeks on chart)



After the success of his ablum In the Right Place, Dr. John went back to the studio and ordered up more of the formula that was seen by the public as tasty. He once again collaborated with Allen Toussaint and The Meters on the LP Desitively Bonnaroo, which included the single "(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away." However, the new record sold in lesser quantities than expected, and led to Dr. John switching the direction of his later releases.

It's a shame the song didn't do better than it did, however.

Maggie Bell - "After Midnight"

Debuted #98, Peaked #97, 3 Weeks on chart



"After Midnight" is probably best known as a song that Eric Clapton charted twice. It was Slowhand's first solo hit in 1970, and was re-recorded in a slower, more blues-based style in 1988 and used in a beer commercial. However, it was written by Oklahoma native J.J. Cale, and the success of Clapton's version helped to get his own career jump-started. It has been rerecorded several times through the years, with Maggie Bell channeling Janis Joplin with her 1974 rendition.

Maggie Bell was a Scottish singer and had been with the group Stone the Crows. That band suffered a major setback when guitarist Les Harvey electrocuted himself onstage by grabbing an ungrounded microphone in May 1972. Future Wings member Jimmy McCullough was brought in to replace him, but it wasn't the same and the band split in 1973. Bell's first solo project was the LP Queen of the Night, and "After Midnight" would be her only charted single. Featuring a calypso breakdown in the instrumental bridge, Bell's take on "After Midnight" was interesting, even if it never registered in the collective conscience the way Clapton's version did.

Golden Earring - "Radar Love"

(Debuted #99, Peaked #13, 20 Weeks on chart)



I've mentioned here before that despite my leaning towards 1970s music, I actually grew up during the 1980s. That said, I knew Golden Earring from their 1983 hit "Twilight Zone" and never even realized they'd had an earlier hit until after White Lion remade "Radar Love" in 1989. One of my high school friends ridiculed me for not knowing about it, since I'd already shown an affinity for the 70s. And that was yet another step down that road that led me to this blog.

Golden Earring was a Dutch band that was formed in 1961 and are still together more than 50 years later. In fact, their two founding members George Kooymans and Rinus Gerritsen have been there all that time. "Radar Love" was their first international hit and was about a man driving through the night to be in the arms of his lady. The title means they can communicate instinctively...which is fine as long as he doesn't pass through the radar of a traffic cop on is way.

"Radar Love" is a favorite driving song thanks to its steady rock beat and subject matter. There's even a mention of Brenda Lee's song "Coming On Strong," a #11 hit in 1966, which is referred to as "some forgotten song" despite the narrator immediately coming up with the title.

This Week's Review -- March 16, 1974

There were nine new singles debuting in the Billboard Hot 100 this week, with six eventually reaching the Top 40. However, five of those ended up in the Top 10, making this a very potent list. And why not? Considering the list included new songs by Chicago, Cat Stevens, The Jackson 5, Joni Mitchell and Three Dog Night, many of the era's most popular acts were aboard. The songs that missed the Top 40 weren't exactly slouches either, coming from Neil Diamond, The Temptations and Cozy Powell (not a big name, but a very respected drummer). The last song on the list is a returning hit that had already been a hit in 1955, but placement in a movie and then a TV show brought it back into the Top 40.

Although there is a large archive of past issues of Billboard over at Google Books, the March 16, 1974 edition is missing from the archives. Instead, I'll once again refer to my other regular music blog, 80s Music Mayhem, which runs new posts every weekday. Over there, I just finished a week's worth of songs from 1984. If you're into 1980s music at all, be sure to check it out.

The Jackson 5 - "Dancing Machine"

(Debuted #79, Peaked #2, 22 Weeks on chart)



When The Jackson 5 sent four straight singles to #1 and then followed with a pair of #2 hits, they had one of the greatest debuts in history. However, they never managed to reach those heights again until 1974, when they embraced the new, rising trend of "dance" music that would soon blossom into Disco. While performing "Dancing Machine" live, Michael would break out into "The Robot" (as he does in the clip above) during the instrumental bridge, showing the flair for dancing that he would make his trademark for the rest of his life.

It was the Jackson brothers' last big hit with Motown before the lure of more money and creative freedom lured most of them over to Epic. It would spend two weeks lodged at #2, kept out of the top spot by another song that was about a 1970s trend ("The Streak"), albeit a more passing fad.

Chicago - "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long"

(Debuted #80, Peaked #9, 15 Weeks on chart)



While their "regular" lead singer Peter Cetera handled the lead vocals on "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," the lyrics took a more introspective direction than many of the the hits that Cetera wrote did. That is because it was written by another group member, James Pankow, who also contributed backing vocals to the song. Pankow's main contribution to Chicago's "sound" was his brass arrangement (which is quite evident here), but he was also one of the band's main songwriters.

It would be the first of three fairly big hits off the Chicago VII LP, which helped cement their "new" direction away from the side-length suites and jazz/rock fusion jams of their earlier albums and moved to a slicker production and songs that were more tailor-made for pop radio. Though the change definitely brought them more fame and prosperity, critics began asking whether the direction was good for their music. It's a question they're still debating today.

Neil Diamond - "Skybird"

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



One of the phenomena that seemed to only be able to manifest itself during the 1970s was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It was originally a short novel in 1970 and featured a message of self-assurance in the story of a seagull who learns to love flying. Many saw it as a metaphor -- some said religious, others said it was nothing more than "pyscho-babble" -- and a movie seemed to be inevitable once it became an established craze. And when the movie (which featured no human actors that were on the screen) came out, the action was accompanied by several Neil Diamond songs as its soundtrack. 


Diamond's soundtrack ended up grossing more money than the film did. Setting a story that followed a seagull didn't bring Diamond a hit bonanza -- "Be" made the lower reaches of the Top 40 but "Skybird" fell far short -- but it kept Diamond on the radio until he was ready to start cranking out more MOR-friendly tunes later that year.

Joni Mitchell - "Help Me"

(Debuted #87, Peaked #7, 19 Weeks on chart)



Joni Mitchell is a well-renowned singer/songwriter, one whose influence doesn't equate to a large number of hit singles. For instance, "Help Me" is the only Top 10 pop single she ever managed to have under her own name, but other artists have scored with songs she wrote like "Both Sides Now," "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock." Her songs have been widely covered, and she's been named as an influence by hundreds of performers who followed her.  

"Help Me" was a track from Court and Spark, Mitchell's only #1 LP. Its unique sound came from the fact that she recorded it with with the jazz-based band Tom Scott's L.A. Express -- which included Larry Carlton as well as Scott -- instead of a session group that was more of a rock unit. It was apparently written about Eagle Glen Frey, but has been attributed to a few other musicians as well...it seems Joni got around quite a lot at the time.

Cat Stevens - "Oh Very Young"

(Debuted #88, Peaked #10, 17 Weeks on chart)



Although Cat Stevens was still a few years away from his conversion to Islam and his exit from the music business, his work always showed signs that he was curious about various religions and leaving behind the excesses of the life he was living. Imagery was a big part of his music, and a statue on the cover of his LP Buddha and the Chocolate Box showed he was still exploring those questions.

"Oh Very Young" was not only Stevens' first Top 10 pop hit in nearly two years, it showed that he was returning to the form that he showed on the record Teaser and the Firecat, which had been his most successful period. A song that looked at the idealism of youth from the perspective of someone who's crossed over into a more cynical or jaded viewpoint, it is a simply stated message that is still fairly well-played today on Adult-oriented radio.

Cozy Powell - "Dance With The Devil"

(Debuted #89, Peaked #49, 8 Weeks on chart)



Cozy Powell made a name for himself as a drummer extraordinaire. Although "Dance With the Devil" was his only solo hit single in the U.S., he was a part of several influential groups over the years, such as the Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, MSG, Whitesnake during its pre-hit period and a later incarnation of Black Sabbath. Later on, he took Keith Powell's place in ELP so they could keep the monogram.

Essentially, "Dance With the Devil" is a drum solo accompanied by sparse musical arrangements and chanting. That incantation was lifted largely from The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Third Rock From the Sun" and would later be sampled in Right Said Fred's 1992 hit "I'm Too Sexy." But it's the pounding of the skins that is front and center on the record. Although it ended up falling short of the Top 40 in the U.S., it was a #3 hit in the U.K.

Three Dog Night - "The Show Must Go On"

(Debuted #90, Peaked #4, 19 Weeks on chart)



Before the words begin to "The Show Must Go On," There is a familiar calliope that usually accompanies the moment when clowns enter the circus. Despite that association brought about by repeated playing, few actually know that the "fun" song was originally written as a military march. Julius Fukic wrote the tune in 1897 as "Entry of the Gladiators" for what was then a regiment of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Just a little fact that came up as I was researching.

"The Show Must Go On" was written by Leo Sayer, who would wear a clown's clothing as he performed it live. One thing that was changed when Three Dog Night recorded it was the final line of the song; they sang "but I must let the show go on" rather than Sayer's "but I can't let the show go on," which gave the entire lyric a different meaning. Sayer evidently wasn't pleased about it, despite the royalty payday he certainly recieved.

"The Show Must Go On" was the 11th Top 10 pop single for Three Dog Night, extending an unbroken streak of Top 40 hits since 1969. They would gain three more Top 40 singles after that, but never reached the Top 10 again.

The Temptations - "Heavenly"

(Debuted #96, Peaked #43, 9 Weeks on chart)



"Heavenly" was a majestic ballad that showed that The Temptations were still able to shift gears between their socially aware songs and their Psychedelic Soul and showcase the harmonies that brought them to Motown in the first place. However, the album that contained the song -- titled 1990, when that was still a not-too-distant date -- was a mix of all of those different sounds, which came off as uneven.

Although "Heavenly" stopped just short of the pop Top 40, it reached the Top 10 over on the R&B charts. It's been rumored that a perceived slight during an awards show led to DJs refusing to play the song...but a Top 10 showing in the group's target audience doesn't seem to indicate that a boycott of "Heavenly" took place. Not a major one, in any case.

Bill Haley and His Comets - "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock"

(Debuted #99, Peaked #39, 14 Weeks on chart)



Yes, this song is a #1 hit from 1955. In fact, it was the song that was considered to have jump-started what is now known as the "Rock Era" when it knocked Cuban bandleader Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" off the #1 position in Billboard's Best Sellers in Stores survey. In that era where there were no consolidated "hit" charts, it eventually took the top spot on the Most Played By Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts as well, holding the #1 spot in all three simultaneously for the entire month of August that year. More importantly, it was used as the opening theme to the film The Blackboard Jungle, where it cemented itself in the minds of true badasses and "wannabe" delinquents, especially when their parents disapproved of it.

A wave of 1950s nostalgia swept across the nation in the 1970s. After the Vietnam War began to wrap itself up and Watergate replaced it as a staple of news reports, many Americans looked back on the "better days" of the past. That nostalgic feeling is fairly universal (in fact, it fuels this blog), especially for the Baby Boomers who were looking at a nation that seemed so different than it did during their youth. Naturally, "Rock Around the Clock" resurfaced in that wave; it was prominently used in the film American Graffiti and was the theme song to the TV series Happy Days for its first two seasons. 

With its renewed exposure, it was once again issued as a single and re-entered the Top 40.

This Week's Review -- January 12, 1974

This week had some potent hits. Seven new singles debuted in this week's Billboard Hot 100, and six of them went on to become Top 40 hits. Additionally, three would enter the Top 10 and the lowest-charting debut went on to reach #1. That chart-topper is among the handful of songs that are among those tossed out by fans as a great example of 1970s music, as well as those who find it among the worst things ever etched into vinyl. The other Top 10 singles include a song that has aged well over the years as well as a rare song sung entirely in a foreign language. A gritty performance by The Stones, a celebration of the American spirit as viewed by an outsider and an R&B hit by The Moments are included, as well as a group effort credited to Joe Walsh.

There is a large archive of Billboard issues over at Google Books, but the issue from January 12, 1974 is not among them. Instead, I'd like to point out the tabs hanging off the picture of the 8-track tapes above. Each one has its own year listed, and clicking on them will bring up all the weeks (and songs) I have featured on this blog so far in that year. I update the list with each new post, so if there's a favorite year you want to look through or even a song you'd like to find from a particular time, check them out.

The Rolling Stones - "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"

(Debuted #83, Peaked #15, 11 Weeks on chart)



A lot of roles are switched around on this song. Keith Richards plays the bass, while Mick Taylor takes over on lead guitar. Two of the more prominent instruments don't feature members of the Stones at all but prominent sidemen: Billy Preston does the opening clavinet and Bill Price blows on the trumpet.

The situations mentioned in the lyrics (police shoot a man in a case of mistaken identity, a young girl overdoses on drugs) weren't actual events. Instead, Mick Jagger's words are meant to paint an image of life in inner-city America (as Stevie Wonder's "Living For the City" did around the same time). As he unleashes one of his more memorable performances, other group members add in their own "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo" refrains, which are present enough to have been included in the song's title.

While not one of the band's most-requested tunes or even one that gets a lot of play on the radio, it's definitely one of their high points during the 1970s.

Redbone - "Come And Get Your Love"

(Debuted #85, Peaked #5, 23 Weeks on chart)



The term "redbone" comes from a Louisiana Cajun term for a person of mixed racial ancestry, and the group Redbone was fronted by a pair of brothers named Pat and Lolly Vegas, who were of mixed heritage themselves. They were Mexican (their real last name was Vasquez) and Native American, which would be a large influence on their music.

The group's biggest hit was "Come and Get Your Love," a song that has stayed in the collective American conscience over the years thanks to its use in commercials in addition to its inclusion in many retro radio formats. Despite the fact that Lolly Vegas sounds like he's singing despite the fact he's fighting a cold, the song has actually aged quite well in comparison to much of the contemporary material it competed with on its way up the chart. The band's singalong in the chorus, the subtle string arrangement, the use of a guitar that sounds vaguely like a sitar and the funky-but-not-really bass all combine to give the song a timeless feel that works even in later eras.

Mocedades - "Eres Tu (Touch the Wind)"

(Debuted #90, Peaked #9, 17 Weeks on chart)



In Europe, the annual Eurovision concert is a big deal, as several nations bring out their best and brightest stars to vie for the title. Over the years, the contest has expanded to include other nations that aren't exactly European. "Eres Tu" was the runner-up in the 1973 contest; however, few would be ready to name the song that beat it out without looking it up (I definitely can't).

Hailing from Bilbao, Spain, Mocedades was originally known as Voces y Guitarras ("voices and guitars" in their native language). They were founded in the mid-1960s and went through some lineup changes before producer Juan Carlos Calderon changed their name around 1970. The success of the group (and the song) at Eurovision spurred a single release of the song, with its original lyrics on one side and an English translation -- called "Touch the Wind" -- on the other.

The Spanish-language version was a surprise hit in the U.S. and became one of the few songs sung entirely in Spanish to make the Top 10. There were others that were sung partially in the language (Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls"), there were others that were technicalities (I'm not counting The Champs' "Tequila," but it can be argued that its one word in the lyrics is Spanish), but for a nation with an ever-growing Hispanic population, there haven't been a whole lot.

Joe Walsh - "Meadows"

(Debuted #97, Peaked #89, 4 Weeks on chart)



The only one of the songs on this week's list that failed to make the Top 40 might not come as a surprise once you hear it. It's just not a song that was meant to be commercial. From the screaming that started off the song to the swing between light vocals and more bombastic instrumentals, it might have felt more at home on college radio during the 1990s.

"Meadows" was the first track on side two on the LP The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get. Though the album was credited solely to Joe Walsh it was meant to be a project for his band Barnstorm. His record company opted to make it a solo release to capitalize on Walsh's fame. The song featured Walsh on vocals and guitars, but the rest of the band is just as prominent throughout the song.

Gordon Sinclair - "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" (Not Available on iTunes)

(Debuted #98, Peaked #24, 7 Weeks on chart)



Gordon Sinclair's only "hit" was a spoken-word recording that started out as an editorial made after the news that the U.S. Red Cross had run into financial trouble. Sinclair was a journalist and read it in his position on the air at radio station CFRB in Toronto. After going on record to stand up in support of his neighbors to the south, U.S. News and World Report ran an article with the commentary.

Some other stations recorded the bit along with a patriotic background "bed" (as instrumental backgrounds are called in the business), including one by fellow Canadian broadcaster Byron MacGregor, whose single was released ahead of the "official" version by Sinclair. They would fight their way up the Top 40 -- with MacGregor winning the dogfight -- and a third version by Tex Ritter eventually charted as well. With the single, Sinclair became the second-oldest person to have a Top 40 hit at 73 years old.

"The Americans" was resurrected in 2001, after the events of September 11. They were often erroneously attributed as a response to the airplane attacks, even though Sinclair had been dead for 17 years and the "draft dodgers" alluded to in the piece had long since returned home.

The Moments - "Sexy Mama"

(Debuted #99, Peaked #17, 13 Weeks on chart)



The Moments were a trio of Billy Brown, Harry Ray and Al Goodman that formed in Washington, D.C. in the mid-1960s. Ray had joined the group after the 1970 hit "Love On a Two-Way Street," and sang lead on "Sexy Mama." He had taken the lead vocal duties from Goodman, who was experiencing issues with his throat at the time, and his sensual reading of the lyrics over the lush orchestration really fit the song well.

"Sexy Mama" would be the group's biggest hit under that name other than "Love On a Two-Way Street." In 1979, contractual problems forced them to change their name to Ray, Goodman and Brown for future recordings.

Terry Jacks - "Seasons In The Sun" (Original Not Available on iTunes)

(Debuted #100, Peaked #1, 21 Weeks on chart)



"Seasons in the Sun" is one of the many songs of the 1970s that are polarizing to fans. There are a lot of people who love it, but there are also a lot of people who would prefer extensive root canal surgery without any anaesthetic rather than listen to it again.

While known primarily as a Terry Jacks song, "Seasons in the Sun" predates him by more than a decade. It was originally written with French lyrics by Jacques Brel in 1961, while Rod McKuen penned a much different English translation. Jacks had originally worked with the song as part of a Beach Boys project, but it was never released.

What probably bothers many people about the song is that it's told from the perspective of a man who's about to die. Jacks' version doesn't necessarily state whether the person is suffering from a terminal disease or is about to be executed (or, as critics contend, simply from realizing that he's singing that song). Songs where somebody's getting ready to meet his doom aren't usually well-suited for pop music. The tenor of the song is appropriately downbeat, but maybe the cheerfulness of the chorus and its optimistic look at past events doesn't sit well with some.