The Chi-lites (1976) I Turned Away - LOST 70s GEMS

A soaring cinematic soul number full of bluesy electric sitar notes and battling lead vocals barrel away. Lyrically one of their best even if still in the shadow of their talisman and recently departed singer Eugene Record. But the way the strings announce the refrain of I Turned Away along with high delivery of the words dramatic. The duelling vocals plus the punctuation of the rhythm section all work to give the song a strong beat but the dive bombing violas and funky scratching accentuating the propulsive of every line is what makes this stand out in the sleepy, smooth days of the early to mid 70s where country rock and philly soul ruled with mild, laidback ballads.

England Dan and JF Colley (1976) It's Not the Same - LOST 70s GEMS

A delicate soft rocker with a nice acoustic backing and the duo's trademark placid 'old timey' close harmony singin full of latent feelings and conflicting emotions about father time and the trajectory of relationships.

Ian Matthews (1976) Lonely Hunter - LOST 70S GEMS

 This startling track produced by Dan Fogelberg's Producer Nortbert Puttman, on an album full of covers and sonic experimentation.
 A funky track with Lap steel harmonics, trickling piano vamps, kalamazoo sounding harmonicas before the lonesome harmonies lead by Matthews enter in, the backing piano and rhythm section give a lite jazz beat to the proceedings. It has a mix of Dan Fogelberg and Kenny Loggins, with it's odd choice of instruments with a dissonant melody is all keeping with the frankly ridiculous album picture of a airbrushed, handsome box car racer with flaxen hair and raised cheekbones, hardly resembling Matthews's less photogenic face and shaggier look. Also on the Go For Broke album is a haunting Kraut rock inspired version of Darkness, Darkness with ethereal synthesizers sounding like glassy organs with ARP melodies that ping out in a thick, eastern lines that mimic pan's flute. There is also a dreadfully analogue sounding, Caribbean version of Hall and Oates's When The Morning Comes that plain don't work. However the arpeggio drenched, New Wave song Rhythm of the West, features Matthews on more folk driven malaise type of material plus a layered Moog part, though Lonely Hunter remains the sterling piece from a colourful misstep.


Though you can't argue that the use of AfroCarribean rhythms, synthesizers and electric pianos make his arrangements stand out a bit more and mirror what Richie Furay was doing with more soul and success in his solo career. As singer songwriters of the confessional folk rock of the early 70s beefed up their songs with more instruments and orchestras, the 'Less is More' School was now out in the second half of the 70s.

Eagles (1972) Nightingale - LOST 70S GEMS

 This rocker was best described as the 'sleeper' of the band's country rock debut with its heavy backbeat, guitar hooks including use of delicate harmonics interweave withe layers of doo wop backing vocals. It was the Eagles reworking a Jackson Browne tune into a showcase for their vocal and guitar talents but taken to the absolute extreme. Though Henley sung it well I  can't help shake this feeling that this would've suited his old musical partner Glenn Frey's voice better with it's dark lyrics contrasting well with the laidback melody; a combination that was served Frey's swaggering vocals well. Also as Take It Easy had proved Frey was particularly adept at delivering Browne's songs to the fullest, while the fact it was a song named after a bird kept the loose avian concept around, the 'free as bird' theme was in keeping with this album's iconic blue sky cover; it's depiction of the vistas of the South West particularly LA.

Ian Matthews (1978) King Of The Night-LOST 70S GEMS

From his smooth AOR album Stealin Home, Ian Matthews use his supple vocals to deliver some fairly standard pop rock material, but King of the Night stands out with its Elton John sound, a late night piano track with his nice, 'worn down' vocal style. There many nice moments, the harmonies of Let There Be Blues, the rhythm guitar on Don't Hang Up on Your Dancing Shoes, the phased strings of Stealin Home and Carefully Taught. It all creates an airy Twilight scene that was quite nice if like James Taylor's material for the same period lacked their early 70s bite, the lyrics and emotions remain vague and on the surface unlike their unvarnished singer songwriter work that faded in favour of late 70s yacht rock arrangements.

Rick Springfield (1971) Speak To The Sky- LOST 70S GEMS

A bouncy pop song with standard country blues format, replacing where a violin would come in with a thick electric guitar tone common in sunny 70s pop. Rick Springfield's early solo song has a slightly dark edge with the final refrain 'The world will look better if I'm up there' referring to the sky he allegedly speaks to, or possibly its an upbeat message about seeing the whole picture.

Zoot (1970) Hey Pinky - LOST 70s GEMS

Rick Springfield's early group that once donned all pink outfits said goodbye to their teeny bopper image with this groovy, hard rocker full of sitar backing and tactile slide licks, atmospheric harmonies and interesting lead vocals. The rhythm section ramps up by the time the end comes along with a scream but it's Springfield's' guitar tone sliding up and down the neck that is the biggest draw of the song.

Abba (1972) People Need Love

 From their debut album Ring Ring (1973) credited to "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid", the group hadn't solidified as a permanent act, and while it shows with the focus being a bit too much on the boys with additional backing from the girls, it's still a phenomenal song and the first real taste of Abba in the powerful harmonies with a Wall of Sound production Benny and Bjorn had leaned from their 60s bands and an aireyness from Swedish folk music. The song has the upbeat teachings of some of their best hits too.

A jaunty pop song filled with a reverse echo transition, rock guitar, joyful traded harmonies between the two sets of members, the ethereal power of their Scandinavian voices against a powerful backing is truly memorable. It reminds me of Mike Curb Congregation hits, this was the era of I'd like to buy the world a Coke' not to mention the bubblegum La Las; but its the ending fadeout of warbling, cross harmonies and more reverse echoed filters on the vocals now to create a nice experimental tag.

Grass Roots (1975) It's A Cryin' Shame

A pounding piano beat drives this Rob Grill patented bubblegum soul pop rocker, along the lies of their 60s htis Temptation Eyes, Two Divide by Love and Sooner or Later. Ably assisted by keyboardist Dennis Provisor's deep gravelly vocals similar to Bobby Whitlock's barrelling croon the two deliver a great song reminiscent of the beat group's late 60 heydey where they mixed soul's horns with bubblegum melodies and countrified lead vocals reminiscent of Bang Records artists like Neil Diamond, Andy Kim. They pretty much started the bubblegum/AM pop sound of the early 70s and did it better than anyone as shown here with their circular melodies, rolling piano and stark, joyous horns all heralding some simple pop message in a production bigger than the Super K productions of 1910 Fruitgum Company etc and closer to blue eyed soul and the Phil Spector groups.

Robin Trower (1976) Same Rain Falls

From Trower's more funkier and accessible 1976 record Long Misty Days we get this squealing stallion of a rocker, starting right from the off with Trower's preferred use of wah wah and dark, arpeggiated chord progressions. The mix of the raucous solo is excellent and the song is perfectly paced, I particularly like the bouncy riff shapes as we cap off Tune No.3 of the Robin Trower trilogy of Blog Posts.

Robin Trower (1974) In This Place

From Robin Trower's progressive hued sophomore album, Bridge of Sighs, this track dominated by a supreme sounding arpeggio sequence that resembles Funkadelic's Maggot Brain down to the fatalistic echo added. Though this is faster with nice mix of wah wah guitar licks and a downbeat vocal by bassist James Dewar and some bluesy ninth chord slides which add a contrasting upbeat bursts to the overall track creating a dark intoxicating composition. The album as whole was a top notch effort with a mix of Sabbath and Dick Wagner's style of gloomy blues with a progressive and soul attitude; check out the title track with it's crystal clear wind chimes and wind effects adding a sonic layer to this beautiful production even if it lays on the 60s styled blues and soul a bit too much for 1974.

Robin Trower (1977) Somebody's Calling

From the blues guitarists' commercial and very funky 1977 album In City Dreams, comes this track full of smooth late 70s vibes and prog level sonicicity (Note; that's not a word). The thick Isley Brothers' esque tone is doubled by a strong layer of ragged distortion like a synth before edging into some light grooves for the bluesier vocal passages. But the warped guitar track with it's THX level phasing and panning is so heavy it's hard to focus on anything else, the the bass is wonderful; classic funk style. Also check out Further on Up The Road, a straight forward blues house rave up with added crowd noises like whooping and whistling to give it a warm, slightly cheesy 70s rock effect.

Earth Wind and Fire (1974) Devotion

That Oberheimer smoothly holding a note like a horn is complemented by a chilled, very laidback EWF melody. The lead vocals overlapping with the backing voices always in a elegant and spaced out way that group was best at, their instrumental skills were just as great with their tight, relentless percussive force. Mix this with the vocal attack of Phill Bailey and you have a formidable group just starting out.

Main Ingredient (1975) Rolling Down A Mountainside

An inspirational soul song, a wah-wah inflected belter in memory of Cuba Gooding Snr. The tremelo electric piano is a great addition mixed with the great positive lyrics, deep basslines and chickenscratch guitar Ala Love Orchestra style.

Blue Magic (1974) Answer to my Prayer

A hypnotically sensual groove, like their cover of Just Don't Want to Be Lonely, it repeats the same melody over and over again emphasising their delicate, ethereal harmonies full of melancholic beauty. Ted Mills' falsetto chimes with the sparkling vibes and syrupy strings, this smooth melody is excellent at presenting the band's sound.