Bill Brandon (1977) Hands Full of Nothing

A sweet stroller with nice mix of disco strings, congas and even some synth baking, the Thom Bell vibe is also pronounced in the upbeat feel. The lyrics are nice, but the thin, funky, oriental sounding guitar solo is also a great addition; only in the 70s.

Sister Sledge (1977) Blockbuster Boy

Just before their huge late 70's disco success, this sensual dance group of sisters had bubbled in the lower reaches of R&B charts for a while with a few sweet soul hits that fared much better in the dance charts, though this tune would introduce their Nile Rodgers' styled sound with an out of this world Bernard Edwards bass track. In fact their sound was pretty much the Chic sound, the difference being the softer ballads (they did hail from Philly) and those glorious harmonies shimmering full of shiny, silky, sultry groovesssss. The sibilance of their name and their sound full of studio sheen, ok thats enough Ss for this post; but listen to the blockbuster chorus always about girlish topics but with a womanly conviction.

The Presidents (1970) 5 10 15 20 25 30 years of love

A sweet soul number from the Washington DC soul group aptly entitled, The Presidents; the tune is complete with some radiant high harmonies combined with blasting saxes and pumping drums not to mention mournful strings coursing underneath. The killer chorus all about being grateful for a long happy marriage, the best is how the strings dance around, the occasional bursts of the blaring harmonies of the group and the contagious chorus " 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 30 years of love; Aren't we happy?" It's produced by Van ' The Hustle' McCoy and bears his style of echoey, high harmonies in acapella sections like the doo wop moments in his disco hit The Hustle.

Toby Beau (1978) Into the Night

This country band from the Rio Grande only had one single really land, My Angel Baby, a countrified easy listening hit. On the RCA label and produced by Kiss' road manager, this South Texas rock band produced a set of smooth rock tunes, full of twanging country licks, this track similarly titled to the Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith song of the same year combines sweet strings, lap steel, country, rock and pop with the best melody on the album.

Dan Fogelberg (1977) Lessons Learned

 From what I consider his best, 1977's Netherlands album where his balladry reached a peak in maturity as well as his compositions. This may sound like a simple, laid back country tune but the vocal arrangement and lyrical content is superb.

The ragged strum along with Dans' beautifully folkish tone manages too carry the strength and conviction of a rock music.The side harmonies are great lines like "Wanted to start something new" or "Are the spoils worth the cost of the heart?" The lyrics are also refreshingly different from the usual romantic/lonely dichotomy of pop music.

Kiss (1974) Black Diamond

 Kiss 1974 debut album was one of the most underrated of hard rock, the makeup novelty of the band distracted from an album of material that pretty much became half the band's setlist. It's actually far more subtle; full of chunky riffs colliding into slashing power chords with the odd Allmans Brothers esque guitar interplay. A late comer to Glam Rock, the animated vocals of Gene Simmons gave the band's look some sense, this band was full on and theatrical in the music; they didn't just look like comic book characters their songs were delivered in your face. While Love Theme from Kiss sums up the band's often fluid, instrumental style, tracks like Deuce, Strutter showed off lead guitarist Ace Frehley's inventive guitar licks, while Firehouse and Cold Gin show off my favourite side; the strutting power chord driven arena rock.

 The album didn't quite carry the electricity or atmosphere of their live shows, it's recorded compact and very clean for powerful thunder rock, one track carries the awesome anthemic style that would soon become their speciality.
 Black Diamond is the closing track and still the best, at some points its (believe it or not) on par with Zeppelin as it has more contrasts than any of their future albums or solo albums. It starts with a hauntingly discorded and demented acoustic lick, doubled eerily as Paul Stanley coos breathily the iconic lines;


"Out on the streets for a livin..pictures only begun..Got ya under their thumb"

Stanley then calls for Peter Criss to 'Hit it', a bold addition to a song, before the drummer takes over the lead; his raw,bluesy vocals are in direct contrast to Stanleys clean and clear tone. As the mammoth riffs rain down, the dystopian tune is lent a verity by Criss' rough pipes; an authenticity shines through as he lived a tough life running with violent gangs in Brooklyn, knowing more about life 'out on the streets' better then anyone. While a visual feast when performed live, the demonic bridge chords that play under Frehley's tortured solo is original sounding displaying the dark prog sound they occasionally possessed.  But best is last, the long coda that ends the album as power chords are struck in a masonic sequence, with every smash of the drums, the droning ending slowly draws out. It's a creepy, gothic ending to a truly incredible composition and an underrated, original hard rock album. The darkness of this album would be lost in their more dominant party rock sound later on which is a shame.

Seals and Crofts (1972) Hummingbird

A gentle folk song that almost erupts into a soft rock ballad before traversing into a disco sound this showed experimental song Simon and Garfunkel would kill for. Seals and Crofts harmonies still ring in your ear and the flaxen sunshine arrangements of horns and folky duo setup works with the quirky, slightly countrified songwriting. The Andalusian guitar work brings out the springtime feel of their tunes and is reminiscent of that of El Condor Pasa by that other famous folk duo but the funky back beat combined with strong rock instrumentation, stabbing cellos showed that the 70s folk sound was the direct antecedent of Soft Rock ultimately creating a bigger sound mixing sweeping strings with electric guitars; a combo made more prominent in the latent Disco sound. 

The Romantics (1979) When I Look In Your Eyes

With the bracing beat and glistening strummed rock n roll and power pop sound of their big hit, What I Like About You, this track is also reminiscent of the Knack. Whether New Wave or New Romantic, it was sort of like the term Glam Rock as the aesthetic of the band's look was truly unimportant, whether wearing all black or the size of their mohawk or that Kraftwerk Red suited album cover; all that mattered was the quality of these solid pop rock tunes from this young, late 70s band.

Hall and Oates (1977) Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Heart?

Doo wopish perfection from the New Wave duo on their underrated hard rockin album Beauty on a Backstreet, it certainly is an underrated album like their Prog Funk third album War Babies. This very memorable cut has a title that just slides right off the tongue without effort despite being seven word long question in this killer old fashioned groover. Does this duo keep produciing unearthed classics or what; probably the kings of 70s gems..

The Rubettes (1976) The Reason Why

Fired by an infectious hook, 'the things you do, don't always huurrt me, but when they hurt me, you're the reason why' Powered by the groups strong backing vocals and simple country rock n roll rhytmm the emphasis is on the power pop vibe rather than instrumentally it could almost work accapella in my opinion and stand out even more.

Blue Magic (1978) Four Leaf Clover

On their fourth and final album of the 1970s and their first without the original lineup (The Sawyer Brothers having parted ways after the poorly received Mystic Dragons album) it saw them record in LA. With Skip Scarborough as producer and songwriting assistance from Phillip Bailey the album has the sleek funk of Earth, Wind and Fire but also mixing in their extensive use of flutes and horns. The album is bears some of their strongest compositions in the closing two tracks; the sensual piano driven Sweet Woman and the successful Blue Magic/EWF collaboration, I Waited though most of the album still featured the usual set of ballads some attempted disco. While the guitar riff oriented Purple Passion is too lacking in feeling, Four Leaf Clover is the cut that works best at complimenting BM's style with a disco beat. The rocking bassline drives the song with layered harmonies and an upbeat vibe that still emphasised the lush, high harmonies of the group known for tear jerkers than floor fillers.

Earth, Wind and Fire (1974) Feelin Blue

From their breakthrough 1974 effort, Open Your Eyes, audiences certainly opened their ears to EWF's killer grooves a key band that transitioned from the smoky horns of Philly Soul's vocal groups to the dance based, big band funkier outfits of the late 70s Disco groups. While there are some great percussive talent on display in Caribou and the aptly titled Drum song, Feelin Blue to me is the best representation of the band's eclectic mix of samba, funk and soul full of glistening vocals, particularly Phil Bailey's irreplaceable falsetto but also the slow jam and quiet storm sound they would pioneer for the 80s. Taking the repressed funk and lush instrumentation of Philly and making it even more eclectic and vibrant to create soft ballads which could fill arenas, EWF were truly the most important RnB group of the 1970s over the talents of Parliament Funkadelic, The Commodores and Kool and the Gang. Devotion and Mighty, Mighty are also great examples of their vocal drenched funk ballad sound worth a listen, while Kalimba Story mixes their ballad and hardcore funk sides well with the titular instrument.

Journey (1979) Sweet and Simple

Sweet and Simple sums up the track and Journey's rise to 80s power ballad kings, here structured around a neat piano lick with Steve Perrys rudimentary warble before Neal Schons chunky guitar work manly locks in with the rhythm section. Their cavernous reverbed harmonies soon weigh in with 'It's what I like to do!' as the track evolves (wink wink) into a great coda along the lines of Anytime.

America (1972) To Each his Own

 With this track and Daisy Jane Gerry Beckley set the tone for his future hits (I Need You, Sister Golden Hair, You Can Do Magic).

The sunny use of organ makes the track alongside the strong chorus harmony with Dan Peek and his determined vocal full of spirit and dedication; a key theme to his love songs. The certainty mirrors the refrain of Daisy Jane ('does she really love me? I think she does').

Journey (1979) When You're Alone (It Ain't Easy)

A bright dose of pop rock balladry from one of the giants of classic rock, Journey. In 1979 they were quickly rising to the top, and here this song with the soulful vocals of Steve Perry, the thick guitar fluidity of Neal Schon's guitar and their ecstatic pop harmonies proved a formidable mix along the arena rock crowd of Van Halen, Foreigner and REO Speedwagon. While they had strong singles, few of their deep cuts had the same original flair or stand out quality, I chose this song for being an accurate reflection of the band as it headed into it's 80s heyday soon to ditch the jazz rock ambitions and keyboard work of Gregg Rolie in favour of a more synthetic glam pop attack. The track manages to turn the dark subject of loneliness into an upbeat song following their aerial acrobatic formula of soaring vocals and guitar licks.