Beach Boys (1977) The Night Was So Young

From their experimental Love You album, effectively a Brian Wilson solo record, dominated by his vocals, songwriting and enthusiasm for analogue synths, it all also has been successfully adapted to the usual themes, topics and tone of the Beach Boys; oh and also they sing on the all the songs also! While the jaunty, educational 'Solar System' has a bit of the old 60's baroque vibe and I bet He' So Nice has some awesome battling synth work, I prefer The Night Was So Young with it's gossamer flavour, the little guitar twangs, the wonderful choral backing and the delivery by the Carl and Brian full of wracked emotion and tortured souls. The Phil Spector styled production complete with big group vocals and percussion was still enormously atmospheric over the New Wave sounds coming in with their flat sound, Wilson managed to mix acoustic percussion, unfiltered vocals with a heavy synthesizer for maximum effect. I also enjoyed the handknit album cover which ironically resembles the kaleidoscopic designs of their 60's heyday though they were never a part of it, it also resembles 8 bit animation fittingly maybe Brian is a genius.

Orleans (1973) It Comes Back Again

Full of twilight feeling with jazzy pianos and a pervasive funky guitar lick and John Hall smoothly crooning about taking care with what you do because as the song states 'it all comes back again'. Also suggesting a political context this early in his career hinted at where his post music career would go. The closing track from a debut album packed with fully funked up guitar stylings and anonymous high harmonies reminiscent of California acts like Beach Boys/America, though uncharacteristic of their future Yacht rock hits full of smooth crated arrangements, the harmonies and twilight feel is still present if the album is too memorable; ABC records wouldnt even release it unhappy with the material on this or even the follow up Orleans II (1974). The album track Mountain is also a pretty good song full of that laidback blue eyed soul that Steely Dan and the Doobies did.

The Swinging Blue Jeans (1974) Dancing

The lead single from a 1974 album by the early 60s Merseybeat group, The Swinging Blue Jeans, a band famous for it's twin guitar jangle though admittedly also for not straying far from their sound or the original hit singles they were known for, today they one of the hardest working touring bands in the nostalgia circuit. Lead singer Ray Ennis' scorching rock n roll vocals was one hallmark of their sound, still present on this chugging glam rock tune. The blue jeans now sporting proper 'swingin' blue jeans in the shape of flowing bell bottoms now play with a compact 50's bop a'la Sweet/ T Rex and even boast some pioneering three dimensional synthesizer lines of a reverbed ARP, as well as some clear toned doo wop backing vocals.

Add Ennis's voice and a serviceable melody and you have a nice gem from a group from Liverpool's glory days, it's a shame they didn't put out more material as Rainbow Morning from the same album is also a nice folk rocker; they looked like Hello and could have done just as well as that group in the Glam Rock scene with their Rock n Roll chops.

Dr Hook and the Medicine Show (1972) Marie Laveau

 The oddball countrified outfit that channelled cartoonist Shel Silverstein's material into southern fried boogie are on form here in this Rocky Horror esque track. A freakier style of Witch Doctor pop along the lines of Lime in the Coconut except this remarkably features along with the animated vocals and funky beat a reoccurring screeching from Dr Hook that is pretty annoying but the track is worthy of some attention for it's spooky, quirky vibe; an aural cartoon indeed. 

 With the animated vocals reminiscent of Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas, funky and rough country honky tonkers (I Call That True Love) along with more slower, sensitive countrified soul (The Things I Didn't Say), Dr Hook had excellent musical chops plus a some humour, rare amongst artists of the serious 70s.

Orleans (1974) Sunset

A soulful and rockin piece of soft rock , Orleans II (1974), was a the second ABC album for the new yacht rock unit and featured glistening harmonies of bands like the Beach Boys and America with the kind of smooth jazzy arrangements of Steely Dan with focus on rocking guitars and delicate piano figures. It is the drummer Wells Kelly, formerly of King Harvest, who belts out a nice uplifting gospel song about romantic loyalty called sunset that is the best. Its record bursting with clear rock n roll, arena rock, blues and sunshine pop roots but is overwhelmingly in the yahct rock vein, though lyrically far lighter hearted than the Doobies or Steely Dan.

Dave Mason (1977) Let It Go, Let It Flow

From his most successful solo album, Let it Flow, which produced the hit We Just Disagree, a yacht rock album full of Mason's sterling clean sunshine acoustics. This underrated gem features his standard carnival upbeat feel with heavy cowbell and a calypso edged electric piano part.

The Guess Who (1972) Heartbroken Bopper

An insane level of funky hard rock guitar as the band proved to have as much raunchy boogie power without Randy Bachman, it's admittedly a simple track but it has an immense power even it doesn't carry the level of melody and lyricism we've come to expect from these Canadian rockers. The twin guitars really working alongside the latter heavy wah wah, while Burt Cummings works it good.

Stories (1973) What Comes After

 From their second Stories About Us album, filled with Beatleseque harmonies, some psychedelia melodies and still a mix of prog and heavy rock they come across a more radio friendly Yes. Though known for the hit Brother Louie, none of their songs ever sounded like that hit often more crushing power chords and funky piano lines along with singer Ian Lloyd's vocals; sounding like his parents were Rod Stewart and Jon Anderson. What Comes After (the Laughter) is an astonishing choral reverbed track with a catchy Lloyd melody cloaked with some reverse echoes of I'm not sure what alongside some more crystal clear church piano. His high tenor soaring like a spirit over the sea in this short track that precedes of course Brother Louie's wah wah heavy Isley's sounding RnB hit.

Fools Gold (1977) Runnin and Hidin

 Starting as Dan Fogelberg's backing band this slick country rock outfit boasted some exquisite vocals, and while there was more interesting tunes on their 76 debut which came across as with a more pastorale yacht rock that had more polish than the Eagles, there second album was a little to bland arena pop heavy on piano and soundalike melodies but this track with it's cinematic pedal steel opening and harmonies as silky as an ocean breeze hits you on a bigger scale than country rock usually ever did. To me this group was far more successors to the Eagles than say Firefall or Poco with well written songs, clear production and future 80s hit songwriter Tom Kelly's distinctive tenor.

Defending The Eagles: Glenn Frey's Legacy

A year on from Glenn Freys death and the effective demise of the legendary 70s group The Eagles and it still amazes me the hatred of the Eagles particularity some tacky, tasteless and provocative articles published immediately after eulogising the band with an disturbingly intense feeling. At first I wasn't a fan of the smooth sound of Lyin Eyes and Tequila Sunrise, but Freys sensitive vocals full of darker, complex thoughts of self examination and doubt belied the supposed cockiness or smugness and cut through the glorious array of strummed acoustic guitars. Lyrically I always thought the songs were all about insecurity and doubt laying bare the macho veneer, which is why at 21 the band got to me particularly After coming of age in the time gangster rap music clichéd bragging and threats. While their slick thickly layered production was inspired by Hi Records and Willie Mitchells' Memphis soul of the 70s with The Eagles it didn't work and opened them up to a whole host of criticism. I admit I wasn't a fan of the three guitar sound they were going, one guitarist as Jimmy Page proved, if you listen to the Glynn Johns' album's he balanced the tracks more evenly. To me the hard rock of Outlaw Man, Witchy Woman and even the guitars of Chug All Night are more raw then the later Joe Walsh records. Their early days were the best when they had personality, edge and identity. The original lineup to me were magical; a four piece bar band that sounded huge like a heavenly down home choir with the strongest backing vocals and a good mix of acoustic and electric dynamics. They mixed a the laidback beat if 70s soul with doo wop harmonies, folk rock easiness, country lead vocals, r n b intensity and pop songwriting.


Even as we enter the mid 70s towards their peak the album cuts are what should do them justice over the overplayed hit singles, their greatest hits were arguably the band's setlist for almost forty years, understandably beating their lush crafted soft rock into the ground considering it was also the highest selling album of all time for a decades. The ennui, disillusionment so heart achingly rendered by Frey's subtle complex vocals in songs like After the Thrill is Gone and Ol 55 or songs like Hollywood Waltz shows a deeper band than the titles of the most famous songs; the irony was that there was nothing ever that easy about their music that was the point they were making. While some of the hard rock didnt always work and some of the ballads were just to laidback and too streamlined they managed to show off their soulful side and discontented vibe quite often such as Wasted Time, Victim of Love, I Can't Tell You Why and Sad Cafe off their latter albums when Mr Frey took a step back from vocal duties. Sadly their focus on perfection meant their music carried a all too flawless sheen that put off many listeners too and cloaked the self critical words buried within not to mention the melancholic vocals that often accompanied them. So long, lonesome ranger you made life a little easier for some of us ;)

Commodores (1975) I'm Ready

 The final post in our Milan Williams keyboard songs, is this an instrumental from the Commodores's sophomore album, Slippery When Wet, in the vein of the smash hit Machine Gun and Rapid Fire from the first album. I'm Ready, another Milan Williams composition sonically resembles the two previous tunes, clearly added to this ballad and soul based album to gain some airplay and replicate Machine Gun's success, though this one lacked the catchy grooving clavinet hook of that song which is made it an automatic party and dance club anthem. Here though we get a strutting clavinet rhythm before some low key jazzy chords that resemble those in Led Zeppellin's The Wanton Song. This leads into a descending scale on a ARP before leading into a more swaggering section with longer sustains on the keyboard and fiery horns, continuing to alternate between these three sections and a spot of machine gun moog runs at one point. This robotic sounding funk sound matched their space aged Funkadelic outfits they wore on stage.

 Though with synth lines similar to the other two tracks this one has ore range if not as iconic as Machine Gun, this would be their last club groove to rely so heavily on synthesizers over horns as they would soon ditch them for more bass lines and traditional horn based tracks as they headed into their late 70s peak. The track is ready than ever with it's mix of tempos and styles perfect for any dancefloor, it's modulated sound almost makes it better than Machine Gun.

Commodores (1974) Rapid Fire

I couldn't resist doing a couple more Commodore tunes as that's what I am listening to at the moment, for me Milan Williams the clavinet and synth member of the group launched them with his titular instrumental Machine Gun. A distinctive jam, though it started them off they were a group eager to break out into ballads even though that hit gave them a unique synthesizer driven sound. There was one other song on their 1974 debut that had a similar sound, it was called Rapid Fire, even titled again similar, starting with an odd terse sucking sound before breaking into a grasshopper beat with a choppy pace before adding an iconic, odd sounding synthesizer line. It's space age with the thick whining synthesizer before a drop down around 1:40 before the returning synth line which resembles a machine on a spaceship whirring off as it performs a task. The heavy propulsive beat, clavinet and interjecting horn blasts being the most likely reason for the name; rapid fire indeed.

Commodores (1974) Machine Gun

The title cut from the funk six piece from Alabama, this debut release would feature some quirky pop like The Zoo (The Human Zoo) with its circus intro, also some dynamic composition like Assembly Line but is dominated by Funkadelic sized doses of dance Fonk.

Machine Gun's addictive jaunty clavinet rhythm lines are iconic and often a touch point for the 70s soundtrack with its early disco sound. The moog flourishes give it a unique brand of a heavily worn genre, the machine gun like attacks of the synthesizer operated by the band's saxophonist and lead singer one Lionel Ritchie. His contribution always centre to the band even during an instrumental bit even here its hard to deny the base for his synth which is the songs author Milan Williams memorable clavinet boogie.

Byrds (1971) Jamaica Say You Will

This haunting rendition of the Jackson Browne tune is vividly rendered by the Byrds' new countrified lineup with its veteran superstars of the country rock scene, Gene Parsons and Clarence White. The bottom end acoustic picking, cavernous piano that is drenched in the gospel sound pasted on in this Byrdmaniax album. Clarence White's drawled meandering voice was almost as distinctive as his twangy guitar and it adds a childish whimsy to the proceedings along with Roger McGuinn's strained harmonies, however this mix of raw country and commercial production would miss the mark that a group forming around the same time would finally hit; the Eagles who balanced the pop and rock equations more naturally with an aim for radio that this set fo songs sadly missed with a drowned mix.

Bobby Whitlock (1972) Dreams of a Hobo

Probably one of Eric Claptons underrated collaborators, Eric seemingly connected stylistically and on song writing with Bobby Whitlock than say Jack Bruce. To me Derek and the Dominoes was a far more complete and successful group then Cream almost on level with his seminal work with Alex is Korner.

Both men enamoured with Southern variety of blues and on debut solo album post the split of their band Whitlock shows off his composition skills along with his extraordinary vocal abilities. Dreams of a Hobo is rightly singled out on AllMusic as the best cut with its folky bluegrass playin and soulful falaetto croon.