Bringing obscure songs from the 1970s such as deep album cuts, underrated cover songs and forgotten singles back on this blog. The 70s was a great time for music, possibly the best and the most diverse; that some gems that need to be rediscovered
From his first solo album, Roger McGuinn,still full of jazzy, laidback late 60s rock like Lost my Driving Wheels. One track called Time Cube interestingly features interplay between banjo and a minimoog which certainly was a little gimmicky as the song is another basic shanty, not a fresh idea as it's very similar to Space Odyssey and Moog Raga from five years prior on the Notorious Byrd Brothers. He hadn't totally run out of ideas after the Byrds, Bag Full of Money is a strong country rocker and M'linda is a calypso pop tune that suits his quirky high tenor that looked forward to his highly successful Back to Rio (1993) solo album!
Written with frequent collaborator Jacques Levy, Draggin mixes prog like atmosphere with Beach Boys harmonies, Have A Listen! It starts with some high frequency airplane hum, a saxophone enters before the surf rock body fo the song enters, it works well even with McGuinn's drone, he was never a hugely animated vocalist when it came to pop or rock even his folk work would still feel restrained even the shanties! His sense of pop melody was always strong throughout his career, just his folksiness was what could hold him back.
The Bee Gees dominated the late 60s/early 70s with a beatlesque ballad sound but soon found they had hidden talents in a funkier soul sound previously unexplored. It practically began with an almost full immersion on the Philly sounding Mr Natural album in 1974, where the jet fuelled funk of Down the Road and the reverbed vocals and boogie of Heavy Breathing were already some early examples of the burgeoning Disco genre. With each album they improved musically and songwriting til it came to it's peak with Stayin Alive, Night Fever, More Than a Woman and How Deep is Your Love in 1978's Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. That sleek sound owed to supple string synthesizers, drum samples, addictive chicken scratch guitar riffs and even sleeker, falsetto harmonies. Though the sound started off raw with tracks like 1975's Jive Talkin's rough chug; the song's prog synth motif closer to 60s flower pop than 70s funk. Even though the Bee Gees sound reached it's glory in 78, but 1976's Children of the World was an important moment where the hits became more frequent and a lot smoother.
On Children of the World, the sound of Nights on Broadway and Winds of Change from the prior album were now established as their trademark sound, a twilight lounge mix of saxophones and horns blending with funk guitars and ARP strings. While Lovers and Can't Keep a Good Man Down are the best songs and indicative of this signature sound, the album also featured attempts at hardcore funk Commodores-esque songs like Boogie Child and You Stepped Into My life as well as songs in their older soft rock stylings in Love So Right and Love Me. These latter two come out more natural than the painfully embarrassing Wild Cherry white funk sound of the other two tracks but shows their genuine affection for Kool and the gang boogie music.
It's on the song Subway that they find the right compromise and it is so smooooth; the string arrangements and synthesizers dance back and forth with the accompaniment of a soaring late 70s saxophone part. Barry Gibb's pop rock vocals are tight and melodic but always dripping in soul, but the chorus is the best as the trademark reverbed ethereal vocals sing 'Take me to the SUBWAAAY'. It's a delicious package full of fluid string ensembles, perfect for casual listening or dancing it is more effective than most dance music as it could be classed much more as a power pop track or funk ballad.
A revved up pop/glam rocker with big harmonies, Paper Lace carried a sort of mix of the Rubettes and the quirkiness of 10cc, not to mention the way they describe a scene. Of course Billy Don't Be a Hero is the best example it's still interesting to hear a song where a tale is told instead of a video showing it, just ignore the odd scrooge mcduck whistle thing.
Cardiff Rose is the best solo material of the Byrds' captain, here collaborating intriguingly with Mick Ronson, there is a strong nautical theme to the album from it's over and title to the sea shanty styled folk ballads McGuinn had become accustomed to; while it's not the Sailing Christopher Cross type of Yacht Rock it's more a diluted country rock. Partners in Crime is one of the best with a lilting fuzz guitar section interrupted by a rock n roll piano part melody in the middle.
Ronson's production contributions are minimal but maybe that's best though I feel, this pairing doesn't really have much chemistry, particularly on a song like Rock n Roll Time where Ronson's riffing is fabulous but too meat and potatoes for McGuinn who couldn't quite growl, he was always best at folk, pop and country rather than heavier fare unlike say Elton John who could balance those elements better; incidentally the solo on Rock n Roll Time is excellent. Jolly Roger, a nice colourful pirate tune complete with flute and some Jangly chords combine to create a nice folk tune but not enough to recapture the early Byrds magic or the haunted tunefulness of the latter lineups; McGuinn had found his niche early on and worked best in a band format rather than all alone, which is a shame that with a confident lead guitarist like Ronson more could have come from this effort. Maybe it should have gone for a more stronger pop sound, instead of being too firmly steeped in roots rock and yacht rock. Interestingly McGuinn never really rediscovered the Byrd's mix of roots and rock through a streamlined pop harmony vocal sound, which never fell too deeply into any genre always maintaining an edgy commercial stance too sorely missed here in his later work aside from maybe McGuinn Clark and Hillman and his successful Back From Rio album.
Another dark atmospheric folk rock tune from one of the best singer songwriters. His ghostly falsetto and contemplative style perfect for the epic arrangements and mediations on love. Not sure what the song is about but the delivery is entrancing and works well with twinned with Scarecrow's Dream or Sketches from the same album but also remains romantic. The towering Netherlands album was his pinnacle, with the exception of Sketches, its full of tight pop rock infused, folk ballads structured around haunted love and tortured souls even hinting at the supernatural.
Starting with a demonic circus organ part reminiscent of the use of circus music in Sly and the Family Stone's many treatises on humanity and society. It uses the circus and zoo imagery as an interesting point of analysis, also used by The Stylistics and Chi Lites, as the Kennedy/ Johnson vision of a 'Big Society' was coming true in Urban America of the early 70s amid a worsening economiclandscape. Twangy guitars meow away in a dissonant manner as does a trumpet; an absurd addition contributing to the deranged circus, inmates-in-charge-of-the-asylum vibe is established. The funky rhythm guitars are metallic and bouncy and the group vocals are great on lines like 'I don't want to get down to that level!'. There is a definite Sly influence, like Assembly Line another track from this incredible debut album from The Commodores; the lyrics are powerful, particularly the line, 'We're treated like animals outside our cages'. Its all delivered slickly as a guitar is plucked endlessly at the end and the tension boiling all over this track. The Commodores wouldn't be known for being this political but it's shame as they displayed some great chops here to continue in the Sly tradition.
From his last Glam album, Diamond Dogs, released just before his Plastic Soul venture later that year Bowie is a lot more all of over the place and strung out what is meant to be an Orwellian theatrical concept album that miss fires on virtually every track except for the classic Rebel Rebel and Sweet Thing. Starting with reverse echo into a beautifully dystopian distorted guitar riff over a melancholic piano beat. Bowie's singin is up and down, best when the song picks up and he goes didactic.
His character filled vocals manage to work with the call and response with the backing vocals and the crystal clear upper register piano runs as well as that acid guitar solo. It's still a bit of a mixed up track that actually segues into an early disco song called Candidate, not even half as good as this one; summing up the whole album brief moments of interesting music broken up by a lot of overdone, gurning vocals and schizophrenic shifts in tone and playing to leave a rather indistinct impression.
This gloriously Salsa inflected folk rock tune from the little known duo Aztec Two-Step, has great relentless percussion mixed with standard folk pickin and a rock tempo allowing their soulful and poppy vocals soar. This is a near perfect mix of Latin, country and rock, the close harmony singin, the strident country pop lead vocals, the funky Latin pace plus lilting guitar lines create a ridiculously listenable folk effort Simon and Garfunkel would have loved to come up with.
Like a forgotten hit single, this was the best single song on their debut album which had some strong contenders but this upbeat pop ballad features their best qualities and unique melody. From the sparse laidback verses pondering on the nature of love before the drums kick in announcement of the title complete with call and response vocals, pastoral and smooth this merges upbeat pop verve with downplayed country rock balladry and subtle hints of soul arrangements foreign to both. The nonchalant almost matter of fact delivery by Tom Kelly of 'It's just the way love grows!' while the backing harmonists sing it out in a ragged ,drawn out manner nicely contrasting Kelly's delivery of 'it was flowing with the time'. The wet mix of piano and serene pedal steel is also quite appropriate for the track never feeling like country music for a second despite their roots of the song being from that genre. The raw group vocals sound like they were recorded live and acoustic like a choir with crisscrossing vocal lines, the way they deliver a spiritual message with 'even though the years fly by, no our love will never die'. It's intricate arrangement drawing from pop, soul and other genres made this song and Fools Gold the country rock group closest to the Eagles along with Silver and possibly Poco.
Tango All Night is an improvement on Las Brisas from the prior album, it's livelier with a real good groove, while Sneaking Sally Through the Alley is another upbeat and highly melodic cut, most tracks are disco driven tunes that have far more verve and dynamic than the bland background music of Ringo's Rotagravure could offer. The song Wings has a cool hard rock guitar opening but the 2012 version is definitely a better, a sprightly reggae regeneration of the cheerful if fairly average tune.
It's No Secrets starts with jazz guitar picking and the whirring pings of a analogue synthesizer adding a Sci-fi vibe to a straightforward disco tune, sending it into the stars in this floaty synth soul. The synth work get's more agitated and echoey as the songs comes to the with an orgy of aireyness like the wah-wah guitar picks and dazed backing singers and another synth streaming underneath.
However Gave It All Up is the true revelation, a touching ballad that is heartfelt and sticks out of the majority of Ringo tunes that have a light, frivolous feel, this has impact with it's tale of his younger, wayward years seemingly striking a heart string and delivered in a beautifully restrained, lethargic way accompanied by a fitting use of lonesome harmonica and a laidback drum beat.
Player started life as a semi acoustic group called Riff Raff and after name changes, personnel changes and legal entanglements they emerged with this gloriously unique album. Some cuts are by this point dated to having been written in 1975 and recorded in 76 with a Bee Gees mix of funk ballads and high thin falsetto choruses like this one and Love is Where You Find It. But it's a strong sound with a bouncy back and forth beat, thick mix of acoustic guitars and a sweet lead guitar tone with a lush sustain resembling the soft rock of Bread and Guitar Man. The harmonies are high and punchy as opposed to the syrupy dreariness of Bread, this band visually and in their arrangement are closer to white funk band Wild Cherry with their gruff lead vocals and offbeat drum beat. Movin Up's chorus rhtymm is punctuated by the furiously tactile playing of scratchy funk guitars, heard mainly in jazz fusion records. All in all a nice and unique sound of funky disco cowboy soft rock!
Ringo's Rotagravure had material suited to his style; the McCartney Wings esque dreamy soul of Pure Gold would have been a good single while the mariachi Las Brisas looks towards the whole lite adult rock star records of the 80s but actually dosen't feel like a diluted novelty act as it fits Ringo's limited country like delivery. Clearly the least serious or ambitious of the Beatles and lacking a bit of the musicianship of his few solo records in the early 70s, 1976's Ringo's Rotogravure displays the AOR that was cutting edge at this point if it also carries on the dancehall quality of Ringo's work too over say more serious and rootsier AOR artists like Elton John, England Dan and John Ford Colley, etc. There's great smooth synthesizer on You Don't Know Me At All and awesome wah-wah guitar on A Dose of Rock and Roll and nice soul backing singers on a lot of the tracks for an upbeat feel even on the melancholic, slower songs.
The best track has to be the John Lennon penned Cookin' (In The Kitchen Of Love) with it's mix of reggae beat, barrelling piano and country guitar. There is fast tempo to the song that differentiates it from most of his songs, the speedier song also has a funky blues licks interjecting with sweet tone, as always Ringo's albums have great instrumental skills behind them and are produced cleanly and not to drastically so it is a pleasant listen. Though I must say there is a Lennon demo of this just john and a piano. It is full of his natural charisma, ingenuity when it comes to melody and delivery that frankly wipes the floor with this version, sorry Ringo..
Jazz guitarist John Tropea's instrumental is full of thick, lush funky chords mixing with a soaring analogue synthesizers thick and dirge like or thin ad weeping like strings. There is of course a technical proficient solo, a bed of African percussion and even mild, countrified blues bridge all repeating to keep this classified as your average jazz fusion/disco record of the mid to late 70s. The influence of disco pioneer arrangers like Mike Post and Barry White and the Lover Orchestra who started the turned in 74 are clear in the ending guitar lick.
Where do I start in this special extended essay length blog post, probably with the wider context of the Country Rock genre; one of my favourite topics. It is important to note that Take It Easy, the breezy breakthrough hit for American rock band, the Eagles, was country rock's defining hit and the commercial breakthrough for the whole format. It's a watermark for being the first major chart success (peaking at no 12 on billboard). Before that various artists had tried to find a commercial nationwide market for country rock but failed. From its first strains in Buffalo Springfield's debut album and the Byrds's second album to the solo efforts of Gene Clark and Michael Nesmith to the many incarnations of Gram Parsons.
While Gene Clark's solo work is where it really started for me, especially his collaboration with Banjo player, Doug Dillard in Dillard and Clark as it was the first instance of a prominent young rocker embracing country music. Then it was Richie Furay with his new outfit, Poco who set about creating an effective template for the burgeoning genre with angelic four part harmonies, multiple lead singers and instrumentalists; it involved a folk pop vocal style overlaying a track with a 50s Rock n Roll intensity, avoiding contemporary forms of rock such as heavy rock or psychedelia. This winning formula reflected the trends of the 70s such as the 50s nostalgia of the decade and the focus on the plight of the individual that was at the core of country and blues.
Most commercial success for country rock before the Eagles and Poco came from folk rock institution the Byrds, Mr Spaceman with it's clear country flat picking, twangy solo was merged with psychedelic subject matter and phasing peaked at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September of 1966; even if country and rock were still an alien concept at this point.
The progressive elements of folk music, instrumental in delivering ideas at the forefront of social change pretty much due to it's roots in Europe, meant country music with it's established values and conservatism and more American roots failed to catch on with the boundary pushing rock n roll crowd until the inherent burnout of the 60s and the resulting tumult. The Byrds were trendy in the 60s and may have tried may country configurations, their commercial successes were firmly located in the folk/psychedelia vein such as My Back Pages, revealing where commercial tastes leaned in the 60s. This was also compounded by Gene Clark's country rock endeavours which didn't make a splash commercially either, while the Buffalo Springfield had delved into occasional country sounds but failed to fully take on that mantle. Country was still the antithesis to commercial rock success during the 1960s though the tide would shortly be shifting just a few years later.
As the new decade began countrified rock had it's first related hit with the jangly, mandolin driven Mr Bojangles reaching no 9 on the Billboard hot 100; a cover by the pop, psychedelic jugband known as the Nitty Gritty Dirt band from their 1970 masterpiece double album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy. Mr Bojangles was far more Olde English swing-around-the-maypole folk then country, though it contained enough downhome vocals to be part of the new genre particularly with it's loose restrained beat and cascading acoustics mixing with pop harmonies. While the rest of the album was dominated by arrangements coloured with plenty of bluegrass playing, particularly violin. In 1970, Michael Nesmith's First National band had a hit with "Joanne", having received a lot of radio play, it got to No. 21 on the Billboard Singles Chart.
No surprise Joanne was a toned down, open country strum set to a gentle pace if not bearing any harmonies it did importantly not bear the psychedelic elements the band were known for. Stripping away the dated 60s 'trippy' vibe was indicative; no more Mr Spaceman, the acid drenched guitars and colourful nudie clothing would hold back country rock pioneers the Flying Burrito Bros too. The First National Band wouldn't last collapsing after two albums, with a third on the way in 1971, proving with Poco's failure to break into the top 40 charts that even as late as 1971 this genre still hadn't quite bloomed despite having been around three years by now.
The stage was set for a band with a stable core and strong stylistic foundation to set the genre alight, it would require a group that could rely on a central songwriting talent like the distinctive singers/guitarist partnerships of classic British bands. While early country rockers Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen had a hit in 1971 with a cover rather than their own material; recording the most successful version of "Hot Rod Lincoln,". Commander Cody's version reached No. 9 on the Billboard charts and No. 69 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972. The song mixed a clean rock n roll sound with a heavy countrified shuffle and the faint sound of pedal steel
nicely downplayed by the car sound effects and the retro 50s novelty sounds. Meanwhile the New Riders of the Purple Sage had there first two albums chart in the top 40 in 1971 and 1972, as market steadily developed for the genre, centred around college kids.
But now to the song;
This endlessly listenable, timeless song has a refrain based around one of the most common phrases in the English language; Take it Easy. Used so often in common parlance it's really an exercise in writing radio gold, but the fact the progression is so unique; with it's brisk, almost rap styled verses full of bravado broken up by the elongated singing of Easy and the longing ache to 'not let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy' is genius. The long held, backing vocals meld with Frey's gruff exterior like his subconscious or inner angel guiding him; as pointed out by a critic once, the line is more a mantra the protagonist is trying to embody than a straightforward declaration, Frey's vocals subtly give way to some vulnerability and uncertainty.
'This is Grown Man Music', as one youtube commenter correctly pointed out.
Take it Easy pretty much set the template for the Eagles, a detached observer full of angst singing smooth country inflected vocals over a gentle multilayered acoustic and electric shuffle with gigantic stacks of downhome backing vocals derived from Doo Wop and The Temptations. This all mixed to a winning formula, The Eagles had an immediately identifiable sound that kept the country ingredients to the absolute minimum, a mix that had just as much Memphis Soul, old style chugging RnB and doo wop as country and bluegrass.
They took the basic elements of acoustic guitar, the Pedal steel sounding B Bender guitar, twangy rural vocals and performed it with economy; delivering it with a smooth sheen, a pop sensibility, dressed with a vague country twang completely analogous. They didn't sound local to any particular state naturally as they are from all over the country and so did not represent any natural locale other than the melting pot of Southern California, their style represented a fictional paradise, an idealised land they would soon take apart on as their career progressed. Some have often said the Eagles remove the freedom of bluegrass and country western music, only emphasising the occasional laidback southern vibe dialling down any banjo or B Bender and creating a slicker, urban version of country rock; I've always felt most Eagles song's could be classed more easily as country flavoured power pop.
No matter what, the Eagles took the laidback folk attitude of the Laurel Canyon singer songwriter circle they inhabited in the Troubadour merging it with country music's dark commentary and a soul music sense of arrangement. The Eagles were born in the guise of a major mainsteam rock band closer to the mould of Zeppelin and Sabbath who mixed rootsy pop with heavy rock than the wackier courtry rock pioneers with their light-hearted names of Flying Burrito Brothers, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Air Men and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Their name was more straightforward signifying a strong and meaningful group on the cutting edge similar to the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and other ambitious groups as opposed the playful oddity of Poco's short name. This is fitting as Glenn Frey brought a razor sharp fuzz guitar, stripped of the psychedelic connotations of the late 60s country rockers like First National Band and New Riders of the Purple Sage, to create a harder straight-edged focus closer to the edginess of the folk singer songwriter or the directness of outlaw country stars then country music's quirky bluegrass base.
Musically the signature sound of the Eagles Greatest hits was also established with Henleys' 'well-behind-the-beat' shuffle contrasted with Freys' very on the beat eight note acoustic strumming.
While Bernie adapted the B string Bender to a fairly commercial playing style with relative ease;it's twangy yet fluid lines complement Frey's crystal clear acoustic strum over say Roger McGuinn's extensively jangly electric 12 string which it was often partnered with in the Clarence White era Byrds. The B Bender along with Bernie's endless banjo runs finding space and adding instrumental colour to the airey arrangements recorded in Olympic Studios,London using Revox echo heads. Then Meisner's smart bass lines bubble underneath it all alongside Henley's equally sparse drums keeping it rooted in order to allow the space for the guitars of Leadon and Frey to cascade much like their easygoing harmonies.
In 1972, in the first six months after Take it Easy, two similar sounding singles would be released; both based around acoustic strums and harmony stacks country lead vocals Pure Prairie Amie and the Doobies Brothers' Listen to the Music. The latter featuring a banjo and a lyrical plea to 'meet me in the country'; it in fact bettered Take It Easy by one place by reaching no 11 on the billboard chart. Listen to the Music with it's laidback hippie vibe delivered another direct message delivered in a short and simple phrase. With it's stacked harmonies and an acoustic chord progression proving country music had locked onto a viable rock persona containing less bluegrass and psychedelia then many of the early pioneers of the genre originally thought. The Eagles didn't invent this sound, Poco did, but they definitely had the songwriting prowess in Henley, Frey and their many collaborators not to mention their stable core of Randy Meisner and Don Felder to keep country rock a major and long lasting success after it's long difficult birth was finally over.
Take it Easy and the Eagles came just before a wider acceptance of country into the mainstream music industry when the country pop artists broke through into the pop charts in the mid 70s with hits by Dolly Parton, Glenn Campbell, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris,Charley Pryde etc. Possibly this mainstream country success was afforded by the great struggles by the country rock artists who lingered and persistently fought to usher in the anti-commercial genre throughout the late 60s and early 70s, groups like The Byrds latter lineups, Poco, Dillard and Clark, Gram Parsons, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The First National Band and of course the Eagles who made it to the top of the mountain and flew the highest.
While Flyer is another sleek disco ballad along the lines of Lady Blue Eyes from the first album and album track Dear Carmen is a plush single, Gamblin Man is the strongest of this sophomore album, Spirit Of A Woman.
