John Denver (1970) Carolina in my Mind - LOST 70s GEMS

Denver's third album and first eligible for this blog, Take Me to Tomorrow, sees his spirited vocals bathed in a glowing deep register and while there are some strong originals such as Anthem-Revolution, with it's faux 60s flower power style, the album's best song and choice for this post is a cover. The title track is a funky carnival number with Purdie shuffle drumming, Follow Me has incredible echoed harmonies and Aspenglow is an early fore runner to Country Roads with it's ancient twinkly beauty, . However I like Carolina in my Mind features Denver's most celestial vocals, possibly revered or multitracked for supreme heavenliness it's a fabulous cover with its multilayered acoustic backing making it a 'More is More' interpretation of the sparse James Taylor classic.

Sidenote; I've always wondered who his voice reminds me of and i think I may have figured it out; some of his nasal folky vocals remind me of Don Maclean, particularly on folk numbers such as Jimmy Newman and Molly, where he goes full ragged, old worldly shanty spirit with a Dylanesque uprightness.

The Spinners (1974) He'll Never Love You Like I Do - LOST 70s GEMS

From their towering fourth album, 1974's Mighty Love, He'll Never Love You.. is a champion of the band's strengths, subtle, gospel inflected soul ballads that packed a hardier punch than any soul act around in the genre with mighty choruses and heavy beds of strings to line them.
This smooth soul classic with it's slinky blues licks played by a tremeloey soul guitar and the mellowness of chord progressions broken up by sharp stabs of punchy horns and distinctive sweep of Spinners 'trademark strings

The sultry hook of Bobby Smith claiming how he could never compete with another lover who has impeccable 'Standards of Living' 'Social Rating' and 'Nothing He Can't Buy!'; can only compete in the 'Luuuv' department.. ok sorry that was corny.

Stephen Stills (1975) To Mama from Christopher and the Old Man - LOST 70s GEMS

 Stephen Stills' third solo album Stills arrived in the mid 70s nadir where he couldn't do anything right and just before the disastrous reunion project with Neil Young. It's has a 60s approach to soft rock with its raw folk rock and sunny pop harmonies making for a more energetic yacht rock. While As I Come of Age is more CSN sounding wistful ode full of soaring supersonic solo full of exquisite sustains. But the best tracks are jam oriented like In the Way with its' curdling funk guitar, a malevolently slow build and electric piano and My Favorite Changes with its fluid melodies and a funky guitar riff that sounds so much like the Eagles' Life inthe Fast Lane of 1977 that it must be a case pending. First Things First has a funkilicious bass hook while Love Story is also a delight mixing some honky tonk and deep synthesizers into the gospel rock vibe of the album full of tension filled openings and stacked hooks.
 The best is To Mama from Christopher and the Old Man with it's fast paced acoustic strum, singsongy chorus, upfront percussion and downhome spirit. All choruses are draped in countrified soulful gospel harmonies and cowbells, with the album clearly displaying a vibrant Latin inflected Americana not a million miles away from Manassas's debut double album.

The Stills Young Band (1976) Fontainebleu - LOST 70s GEMS

This infamously short lived reunion of former bandmates Neil Young and Stephen Stills may have ended mid tour but did produce a nice sounding album, with yacht rock tunes that suited Youngs voice like Ocean Girl, Midnight in the Bay etc, one striking track called Fontainebleu. While the politics is lost on me, it seems to be about class conflict, the hallowed chorus sings the title in a long soothing ooh as "fontainebloooo" while the track features very aggressive toned blues guitar more likely from Young than Stills; Stills had the smooth guitar tone and gritty voice while Young has the smooth voice and gritty guitar sound.


The best moment in the song is the following lyric where Young is about sing the word 'shit' but instead pauses ever so slightly before returning to the chorus.

"I'm so scared of it
Is I stayed there once and I almost fit
I left before I got out of it
People were drownin' in their own...Fontainebleau"

It's the type of ingenious and sly tease a rapper would do and is my favourite part of the song, hearing it today I knew this little moment was worthy of a post!

England Dan and John Ford Coley (1976) There'll Never be Another for Me - LOST 70s GEMS

This is a delicious slice of smooth soul pop by the one of the defining yacht rock acts, it starts with wallowing sound of two slide guitars which were their trademark, along with their duelling harmonies, that added to the fabulous soft rock beauty..ahem I'm getting carried away! I found their music arrangements still secondary to the songs and this is another cracker with its overlapping chorus that mimics the bluesy slide guitar much like David Gilmour's There's No Way Out of Here; which came out a couple years later and could act as a dark flip side to this (seriosul listen to it as a companion piece). Particularly as Gilmour possesses a smooth raspy tenor similar to Dan Seals though often with an ironic sneer. For some reason I think of Disco because of the rolling Bee Gees sounding chorus and smooth unparalleled slide guitars wailing away in suhc a precise tone in all their hits, again just like the 'on point', timbre of their layered harmonies.