Beach Boys (1971) Long Promised Road - LOST 70s GEMS

Beach Boys's 1971 Surf's Up is an extraordinary album form the group primarily as they ceased to be fronted by the Wilsons but two new band members, young South African rock rhythm section Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin and it's heavily submerged, murky Prog Rock sound still lifted by their trademark Barbershop and Doo Wop vocals which now take on a far more sinister air in this new Prog sound divorced from the dreamy harmless Psychedelia of the past lineup.

While I almost chose album side,the devilish Looking at Tomorrow (Welfare song) with it's dissonant, chamber vocal by Al Jardine with a slick, cracked vocal sounding almost demonic against a background of chiming capoed acoustic guitar fingerpickin and a general phased filter on both guitar and vocals for a creep sheen; not to mention the very haunted reverse echo 'ba ba ba, bup bup bup' nonsense verse and glistening organ towards the end.

Long Promised Road is the gem however as its more meaty starting with a contemplative Carl Wilson vocal with wet, plodding Wurlitzer before heavy drum and another raging chorus steps in a unabashed pure joy as Carl sings with freedom and gusto how 'But I hit hard at the battle that's confronting me, yeah,Knock down all the roaddblocks a-stumbling me
Throw off all the shackles that are binding me down'

Written by Carl Wilson and Jack Rieley it includes a dazzling synthesizer roller coaster line for the bridge where Carl's vocal gets touchingly poignant as he decries futility 'Long promised road

Flows to the source, gentle force, never ending, never ending'. Later a fuzzed out synth reminds me of modern day dubstep while the chorus stomps on in a thoroughly melodic fashion that the Beach boys rarely were able to achieve.

Beach Boys (1973) We Got Love - LOST 70s GEMS

Early 70s Beach Boys were a formidable Prog group, shirking a great deal of their commercial pop writing for more 'out there' Post-Hippie, hazy rock n roll.

This track from the live in concert album of 73 was a composition, written by new members Blondie Chaplin, Ricky Fataar and Mike Love; Fataar was famous for his later role in Beatles spoof The Rutles and longserving drummer for Bonnie Rait, while Chaplin who also came from the same South African band The Fire with Fataar would go onto be a acoustic rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the Rolling Stones touring group. Both were very talented musicians who made up the rhythm section and occasional guitar and keyboard support for the Beach Boys; In fact they were Beach Boys, full members who made many contributions during the early 70s from 72 on wards, of note was Chaplin's song, Sail on Sailor, which he sang lead on and would be a successful single for the band.


Starting with a delicate country lead guitar whine and a tumbling, endless piano run that sounds like a tumultuous waterfall while Chaplin sings in that smooth countrified pop voice of his before the organs come in for the hippie anthem chorus. The gospel bridge full of church organs and oohs and Chaplin's restrained mood singing before we enter a groovier organ part, it ends in a very clean country guitar solo. Chaplin's musing on the universe being on his side adds a cosmic feel supported by this Progressive phase of the band of which Fataar and Blondie dominated the band effectively fronting it with Fataars keyboard support and Blondie' occasional guitar and lead work. Good Job guys!

Fleetwood Mac (1972) The Ghost - LOST 70s GEMS

 The circular melody of the blues pop title track, Bare Trees, retains a certain Peter Green vibe; however this was the album where the streamlined folk pop sound they would become widely known for started to become introduced. While it may have seemed out of left field, there was always a layered dreaminess to the Green era Mac, though Christine McVie, the new addition of Bob Welch and the underrated songwriting of Danny Kirwan continued a transition to more overt folk and less blues.

 The key was to subtly commercialise their tunes by slowly dropping the rudimentary, studied guitar driven blues rock for a more lush keyboard rock sound. It may not have been clear how successful they would be from this album as it is still the guitar tracks, such as the brilliant sunshine blues licks of Sunny Side of Heaven still stand out. 

 Spare Me a Little of Your Love is a classic McVie composition; along the deeply romantic and honest lines of Come a Little Bit Closer, Did You Ever Love Me and You Make Loving Fun. The Ghost is a great transition song; starting with a jazzy, Latin blues line played on an acoustic guitar before ethereal pedal steel/flute or keyboards enter with a delicate pastoral line contrasting the heavy aggressive beat. Bob Welch's vocals sounding hurried yet smooth uniting the disparate elements, while my favourite is the hook; a breathless vocal by Welch that hits the brakes on the rhythm section to a more halted almost slow shuffle as he sings about 'And then the winds start to blow
And the fire comes scorching down (yeah)
And then the sky dissapears
In the cloud with an awful sound (yeah)'. 

 It captures lyrically and musically the mystic blues and soft pop of their two defining periods crashing together

Journey (1979) Lovin Touchin Squeeze - LOST 70s GEMS

Probably the home of one of the best endings to a song since T Rex's Hot Love as well as best use of nonsense verse with the rousing and endless calls of 'na na na, na na na , na nana na'. The soulful buildup about a lover 'loving touchin and squezin another' is also a great calm before the storm. Its far more hook driven and memorable than their later 80s work; they were more melodic in their late 70s output when sharing lead singers and producing songs such as Feelin This Way, Just the Same Way and Anyway you Want It...sigh why couldn't they have stayed like this?

Blue (1973) I Wish I Could Fly- LOST 70s GEMS

 This Scottish pop rock trio wrote this beautiful blues number; it has a classic opening with a minor key piano part that seems to tell you everything, it is punctuated by electric guitar strikes. The sincerity of the singer's voice and it's unfiltered melancholy along with the descending piano progression sounds like a confessional.
 The singer's delivery sounds so honest and unvarnished, his desire to escape and achieve the things he wants. It hits hard when he sings about his 'troubled mind' or brutally earnest statements such as 'I have happiness within me, but very soon I'm left without' or how 'everything I've ever dreamed about, is still lying on the shelf' it's heartrendingly pure and feels incredibly close. 

It's a bleak song devoid of any warmth just despair dripping from every word, with the desperation and hopelessness peaking in the angelic chorus of 'I wish I could fly, fly away, leave today'. The guitar solo also cuts deep with it's warbling rock distortion cutting through the rootsy piano in an immaculate contrast like the piano/guitar opening; this is not blue eyed soul or plastic soul but real soul. I wish they produced more material such as this, they were signed to RSO, the Bee Gees label but remained in Blue Mink Grass Roots' league of bubblegum pop soul, instead only remembered by some for their ridiculous claim in court that people would confuse them with the boy band Blue.

Stephen Bishop (1978) Losing Myself in You - LOST 70s GEMS

These lilting Jazz arrangements are the definition of mellow yacht rock, Stephen Bishop relies on laidback love songs and acoustic guitars and soft keyboards. The closing track When I Was in Love has wonderful lyrics such as "When I was in love, life was easier to be around each day went by without a care", while the misspelled but cool, I've Never Known a Nite Like This, features a slick groove full of jazzy funky chords that the Doobies and Steely Dan would kill for full of tight drums, silky keyboards, incredible slide guitar, a chorus that picks things up considerably and more of Bishop's pretty singing. Only the Heart Within You is a sleepy story song with a serene landscape of acoustic finger-picking and soaring strings, Bish's Hideway has nice flamenco guitar lines but most adventurous is Prelude: Vagabond from Heaven, is a highly animated track packed full of slamming drums, a tight disco bassline and dressed in multilayered polyphonic Moogs in the intro and strident strings flurrying back and forth in the outro. Weirder, if thats possible is What Love Can Do which sounds like a Disney tune with it's plodding rhythm, mischievous string lines, meowing cat effects and Seven Dwarfs styled deep backing vocals all giving a theatrical backdrop to another Bishop love song. I get the feeling Bishop is more easy listening and based in standards than his more soulful contemporaries Michael McDonald and Robbie Dupree.


Losing Myself in You starts with more coursing strings, this is a very sweet sounding album steeped in Jazz and standards, Bishops' delicate high tenor works well navigating the funky bass and acoustic pickin and smooth keyboards with a excellent melody as he describes the 'A palace in the South of France, where only the lonely people learn to dance' or 'The dog is barking and the sheets are cold, even that guy out on the street he knows'; the hopeless desperation of the chorus is also perfect. The big hit off the album was the almost Looking For The Right One, though it doesn't to me have the same heft as Losing Myself which manages to be string but have an effortless easy melody too and not sound as on the nose as LFTRO.

Poco (1971) You Are the One -LOST 70s GEMS

From my favourite Poco album the Steve Cropper produced From the Inside, where Cropper brilliantly strips down Poco's sunshine acoustic sound to more bluesy elements to emphasise more of the darkness present in their songs ; it's an often underrated contribution.


This romantic light footed track recalls Pickin up the Pieces with it's awesome chamber reverbed group vocals calls of 'hey!' The rootsy pickin and Richie Furay patented ode to the joys of devotion of which he always was his forte. This album was the best not too overdubbed slick and ultimately as pop and lightweight as some of their other albums in the mid 70s but with grit. Listen to the contrast of the bleak melody and positive lyrics of Bad Weather, while From the Inside is another well arranged harmony laden folk rocker. What If I Should Say I Love You is on the same level as the title track and features a slow beat and exquisite guitar parts while Just for Me and You hints at the more upbeat melodic material of their next album, the acclaimed A Good Feeling to Know (1972) album.