10cc - "Wall Street Shuffle" 1974

One of the best top songs of the Seventies, performed here again by the band on a Swedish television show. This is the same band that gave us "I'm Not in Love" and the immortal "Rubber Bullets".

From Wikipedia: In a BBC Radio Wales interview, Eric Stewart added: "We were crossing Wall Street in New York in a stretch limousine, celebrating the fact that we'd got in the charts with Rubber Bullets, and we'd gone across the big financial district of America there, and just as we were going across the street, Lol said 'Wall Street! The Wall Street Shuffle!' And I said 'Do the Wall Street Shuffle,' the melody, I had the melody in my head. But it was Lol, Lol's words. Wall Street Shuffle. And by that time I'd started writing more so I was getting a little bit more competent in what I was doing in, in the writing partnerships. And those things stay with you, as I was saying earlier on, if someone says a nice line to you or you hear something on radio, there's a part of your brain suddenly locks it in if it's good, and you'll never forget it."

"Bad Luck" (1975)-- Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Featuring Teddy Pendergrass/Richard Pryor, Host

This is one of the great soul groups of the 70's, appearing on the regular nation-wide Saturday "Soul Train" show. The regular host, Don Cornelius, was replaced this November 22, 1975 by the great comedian/actor Richard Pryor, who introduces the group here and has a few laughs with each member.
"Soul Train" was a regular viewing experience for me back then, and I've always loved this song. Other super hits for this group, (which by '75 might as well been called "Teddy Pendergrass and the Blue Notes"), included "The Love I Lost", "Don't Leave me This Way" and "If You Don't Know Me By Now".

"Bad Luck" peaked on the Billboard Top 100 at Number 15 that Summer of 1975, was Number 4 on the Soul/R&B charts in the USA and was the number one dance tune for eleven straight weeks. That set a record for the Philadelphia based-group not to be equalled until 1983, when Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album became the biggest dance hit album probably of the century.

Alas, Teddy Pendergrass was badly injured in a car accident a few years after this taping, in 1982, and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life with a spinal cord injury.

Five years prior to that, Teddy left Harold Melvin's group (over financial issues) and launched a successful solo career that included several gold and platinum albums. The Blue Notes never found a successor to his mantle. He returned to the stage in 1985 for the "We Are the World" charity album, recorded at that years Grammy Awards. He died in January, 2010, from cancer, at age 59. (source: Wikipedia)

"Funky Nassau" (1971) - Beginning of the End

Some songs aren't world-beaters, but they bring back good memories. I always associate this song with the pick-up basketball games I'd play as a kid with other friends at my friend Tim's house across the way. On hot Summer days like the ones many feel in the USA right now we used to play there because his family had a backboard and net set-up. It was a pretty busy avenue; if other kids were passing by, we'd try to get as many as we could into the game.

It seemed looking back like this song was always playing on the radio he had plugged into the garage as we traded shots.

Playing with Tim's older brothers made me a slightly better basketballer than I could have been, but the truth I was born to be a baseball player in those days and my team was always releived when I passed the ball then when I tried a jumpshot.

Ideally, despite practice, I would have been a better referee. :-)

This is one of the first Caribbean songs I remember from back then as well.

From Wikipedia: The Beginning of the End was a funk group from Nassau, Bahamas. The group consisted of three brothers and a fourth member on bass. They released an album entitled Funky Nassau in 1971 on Alston Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records), and the track "Funky Nassau - Part I" became a hit single in the U.S., peaking at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #7 on the Billboard Black Singles chart. The same track reached #31 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1974.
Ray Munnings - organ
Roy Munnings - guitar
Frank Munnings - drums
Fred Henfield - bass

Three Songs by Jackie DeShannon (Break-A-Way, What the World Needs Now..., Put a Little Love...)

Born in Kentucky in 1944, Jackie DeShannon is one of the  top pop composers, singers and all-around musicians of her time.  Many people remember her for biggest hit, 'What the World Needs Now", written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

 

 

  Perhaps fewer people know she also first recorded and, according to some sources,  co-wrote "Needles and Pins" (a bit hit for her and a bigger hit for The Searchers in 1965). This was her second Top Ten hit, back in 1969.

 

 

 

She also co-wrote and performed the song "Bette Davis Eyes" on a 1974 album.  It was later covered by Kim Carnes in 1981 and became a  Grammy-winning Number one hit in the USA. 

 

She still performs and records music, releasing an album last year and has perfomed from Los Angeles to London in the past few years. 

 

    She was the opening act for The Beatles in their first North American tour in 1964 and later performed with Johnny Cash at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.  (Not bad company, eh?) Her rockabilly roots are on full display in this recording of "Break A Way" which she co-wrote. This  trac wasn't released until this greatest hits compilation came out in 1994.

(from Wikipedia) "DeShannon also co-wrote "Break-A-Way", recorded by Irma Thomas in 1964 and by Tracey Ullman in 1983. "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" reached Billboard No. 9 in 1989 as a duet by Annie Lennox & Al Green and was also covered by Dolly Parton in 1993. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Stevie Nicks had a Top 40 U.S. hit in 1986 with a cover of "Needles and Pins", which DeShannon originally recorded but did not write. A version of "When You Walk in the Room" by Pam Tillis in 1994 topped the country charts. Another recent cover of "When You Walk in the Room" was in 2004 by ex-ABBA vocalist Agnetha Fältskog, both in her comeback album My Colouring Book and as a UK (no. 34) and European (no. 53) hit single. Country rock artist Chris Hillman, one of the original members of The Byrds, also did a cover of "When You Walk in the Room" on his solo 1998 album "Like a Hurricane".

 

Marvin Gaye "What's Going On / What's Happening Brother"

One of those great songs with themes and laments that will never grow old.

From Wikipedia:

"In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine, Marvin Gaye discussed what had shaped his view on more socially conscious themes in music and the conception of his eleventh full-length, non-duets studio album:

"In 1969 or 1970, I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say... I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home. I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.[5]
—Marvin Gaye
Barry Gordy (head of Motown Records) eeventually gave in, certain that the record would flop. Upon its release in January 1971, "What's Going On" became Motown's fastest selling single at that point, going to the number-one spot on the R&B charts for five weeks and number-two for three weeks on the Pop listings, with "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night retaining the top spot."

"The Movie Star"-- Tina Louise Birthday Tribute

Born on February 11 in New York City as Tina Blacker, this actress was one of the earliest sex symbols I remember discovering on television as a youngster, courtesy of the kid-popular show "Gilligan's Island".

Her role as "Ginger Grant, movie star" stranded on an island for three seasons with six other disparate characters (including the incomparable Jim Backus, as reprobate capitalist Thurston Howell) made her a household name for a time. It did not help her main career goal as a serious actress, but then female actors usually have a narrow window to establish themselves and the people who ran the studios decided Tina was a better commodity for them in sexy lightweight fare of which "Gilligan" was perhaps the lightest on record.

Accepted into Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio in New York as a younger thespian, she worked in several films with outstanding directors like Anthony Mann, Robert Altman, Roberto Rossolini, Michael Curtiz and Richard Brooks. She also did some outstanding small roles in television films showing a dramatic side they hinted at what kind of career she might have had given the right break.

But that as it may, I've always had a fondness for Tina, not just for the fact that she is beautiful (she was voted the second most beautiful woman in television history a few years back according to TV Guide) but also for the confidence she brought to her appearances on talk shows and her determination not to let Ginger Grant define who she was.

I discovered last year that she continues to live in Manhattan and volunteers as a reading teacher to young children. She also has written a memoir and at least one best-selling children's books (and looks good for a lady of a certain age.)

Anyway, here Ms. Louise is in her career salad days, in a nice tribute put together from a You Tube subscriber. (Which also features
a classic R&B song from the Isley Brothers.)

Frank Zappa Dedication in Baltimore

The late but never conforming Frank Zappa was honored in his birthplace by a statue placed in front of a local library.


From the official Frank Zappa Website:

"The sculpture is a gift to the city of Baltimore orchestrated by three guys from Lithuania: Saulius Paukstys, Saulius Pilinkus and Arturas Baublys. It is a replica of the bust of Frank Zappa installed in Vilnius (pictured here), created by artist Konstantinas Bogdanas. The gift and location were approved by the Baltimore City Public Art Commission and sanctioned by the family.

"Legendary musician and composer Frank Zappa was born in Baltimore in 1940 and passed away in 1993, at home in Los Angeles. He is internationally recognized as one of the most innovative composers and musicians of the 20th century with a career spanning more than 30 years."



Frank Zappa composed many types of songs and controversial pieces of an alternative and uncompromising nature in the 1960's thru the 90's , and was a major influence on any number of mainstream musicians. His reputation in Europe was higher than in his native country. He also fought against music labeling warnings on albums, fearing it would lead to censorship.
In his later years, he also composed music directly for symphonies and choral groups.

More about the statue and all things Zappa here: http://www.zappa.com/whatsnew/

"I Will Survive" Dancing at Auschwitz With Adolek Kohn and family

An 89 year old Jewish Holocaust survivor (Adolek Kohn) from the Second World War revisits sites in Poland where millions were gassed by the Nazis. His grandchildren accompany him to the site.

This video has drawn controversy and a rebuke from the American Jewish Anti Defamation League. I see it as a celebration of survival and the continuance of a cultural thread that goes back thousands of years.

George Harrison--"What is Life?"

From the 1970 album, "All Things Must Pass". This is my favorite of George Harrison's hit singles. It peak at Number Ten on the Billboard Top 100 list in Feburary of 1971.

This most spiritual of The Beatles proves here he can do a catchy little pop tune with the best of them I think .

I think the videoographer did a good job here with the images--although a few more from the post-Beatles period of a more mature Harrison would have been nice.

"If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out " by Cat Stevens from "Harold and Maude" (1971)

"Harold and Maude" is a 1971 satirical film written by Colin Higgins and directed by Hal Ashby. It was a flop when it first was released, but began to attract attention when it came out as the second part of twin-bills a year after its first run. The result was a film that defined the term "cult film". Its off-kilter and counter-culture styling made it a treat for repeated viewings. (The second-run theaters I attended with friends used to have a lot of double features and "Harold and Maude" was a favorite, not least of which being much of it was shot in the San Francisco Bay Area and had a spark of the irreverence against convention that was floating about for young people at that time.

The story concerns Harold, a rather sensitive 20-year old man (Bud Cort) who is fixated on the idea of killing himself and also attending the funerals of complete strangers. His rich parents try to bring him out of his lethargy and morbidity with a variety of schemes, including psychoanalysis, self-help books, some prodding from the commandant of a military academy, and even pointing a very young, swank, and willowy blond debutante with the unusual name of Candy Gulf in his general direction as the Ultimate Distraction Therapy.

But Harold isn't buying. He goes on freaking people out by fake gruesome "deaths".

It's only when he meets 79-year old Maude (Ruth Gordon), a fellow funeral crasher, that Our Hero comes out of his shell and sees that life holds opportunities and choices beyond what his parents or their stuck-up strata of society offers. Maude is a concentration camp survivor from World War II. A critic of the film summed up the difference in their situations in life.

"Harold is part of a society in which he is of no importance, existentially he is without meaning. Maude has survived and lives a life rich with meaning. It is in this existential crisis, shown against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, that we see the differences between one culture, personified by Harold, handling a meaningless war, while another has experienced and lived beyond a war that produced a crisis of meaning."
[from Wikipedia]
This song, written and sung by Cat Stevens (later Yusef Islam) sums up Maude's--and the film's--philosophy--life is a gift; use your free will, and see what it offers while the time you have lasts.
Even if you've never heard of the film, you gotta listen to the song!

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "100 Days, 100 Nights"

Here's a return to some solid "70's Soul" from a contemporary group! From an appearence last Feburary on "Late Night with David Letterman", soul veteran Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings perform the title trac to their 2007 album.

Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia (hometown of James Brown) in 1956. After spending alot of her recording career as a backup singer on Gospel and R & B, Funk and Rap songs, she struck it big in the last few years. (Prior to that, to make ends meet between sessions and touring gigs, she worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island Prison in New York City.)

The Dap Kings have also been featured as a back-up band for Amy Winehouse, for whom Ms. Jones might have hard feelings about since she had to toil a bit longer in relative obscurity than Amy. But Ms. Jones is quoted in a recent interview as saying , ""if it took Amy and Mark Ronson to have us be heard in the mainstream, that's good. There's nothing negative between me and Amy. I just wish she'd get herself together and get back to the music."

Tina Turner Live at Birmingham NEC - Let's stay together

If you, like I, thought that this was a great song when Al Green brought it out in 1972, check out what the ageless Ms. Tina Turner does with it in a live performance. The song is also featured in a studio version on her latest greatest hits album, "Simply The Best". She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, along with her late husband/wife-beating bastard, Ike.
In January she starts her European leg of a major tour, the first in eight years, in Germany.

Rocking Back to 1978, Part Three-- Bonnie Tyler It's A Heartache

Bonnie Tyler was born in Wales in 1951 and launched her career at eighteen rdoing a version of Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days" in a talent contest in Wales. (She came in second.)

After some work as a lead singer with a band, she started getting some success on the charts in Germany and the UK. In 1977 she had to have surgery to remove nodules from her vocal cords. She started singing and using her voice too early afterwards--the result was that her voice gaineda husky quality that she thought might imperil her career. Litle did she know that the next album she came out with would contain her first major international hit. I had a heartache myself back 30 years ago so I could relate to this one. Heart restored, it still stands out as one of the best of the Seventies in terms of post-partum break-up songs.

Rocking Back to 1978--Patti Smith's 'Because the Night'

My friend Fred posted some music he had heard back in his high school days--early 80's--and asked the musical question "is memory fonder than reality when it comes to music?" The music of one's youth that is.
I would say it very often is. Back in the late Seventies, I got into and out of the songs that Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, Donna Suimmer, Evonne Elleman, et al, were sending up the musical charts with. I don't care to listen to that stuff today, although I could enjoy one or two of those songs back then for a short while. And then I felt like the stuff was banal and ubiquitious.

Nowadays, I prefer the rock music from the earlier part of the decade generally.

I'm going to feature three songs over the next couple days from the year 1978, my high school graduation year. I'm only going to pick ones that stil l resonate for me.
Here is Patti Smith-at Number #72 for that year.
It was co-written or written (depending on the source) by Bruce Springsteen, and, to me, sounds better than when I first heard it. In a year dominated by disco acts and and those sappy love songs by Barry Manilow, this one makes for quite a counterpoint. Patti Smith has been called "the godmother of punk", and I gather she has been quoted as saying this particular song, her biggest mainstream seller to date, is commercial s***. To which I say, "Don't be so hard on this one, lady."

For more on Ms. Smith: http://www.pattismith.net/news.html

The Temptations Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)

With all the brokering in Washington among politicos over how to bailout Wall Street, the Campaign Without End 2008, and the seemingly endless quagmire that is the Afghan/Iraq and now northwest Pakistan wars, I got this song in my head a couple days ago. It came out in 1970 and has a major hit for the Temptations. Some of the problems this song enumerates are less controversial now, but many are still with us, and some I fear will never go away. So, you Motown fans, I hope you haven't heard this one in awhile: here's Paul Williams, the baritone of Melvyn Franklin, Dennis Edwards, the original member from 1961, Otis Williams, and the falsetto of the great Eddie Kenricks: The Temptations!


1, 2... 1, 2, 3, 4, Ow!
Eddie: People moving out, people moving in. Why, because of the color of their skin.
Run, run, run but you sure can't hide. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Vote for me and I'll set you free. Rap on, brother, rap on.
Dennis: Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the...(preacher.)
And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the...(teacher.)
Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration, Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation.
Ball of confusion. Oh yeah, that's what the world is today. Woo, hey, hey.
Paul:
The sale of pills are at an all time high.
Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky.
The cities ablaze in the summer time.
And oh, the beat goes on.
Dennis:
Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul.
Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon.
Politicians say more taxes will solve everything.
Melvin:
And the band played on.
So, round and around and around we go.
Where the world's headed, nobody knows.
[Instrumental]
Oh, great GoogaMooga, can't you hear me talking to you.
Just a ball of confusion.
Oh yeah, that's what the world is today.
Woo, hey, hey.
Eddie:
Fear in the air, tension everywhere.
Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record's a gas.
Dennis:
And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation.
Melvin:
And the band played on.
Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors,
Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills,
Hippies moving to the hills. People all over the world are shouting, 'End the war.'
Melvin:
And the band played on.
[Instrumental]
Great GoogaMooga, can't you hear me talking to you.
Sayin'... ball of confusion.
That's what the world is today, hey, hey.
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya.
Sayin'... ball of confusion.
That's what the world is today, hey, hey.
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya.
Sayin'... ball of confusion.

Warren Zevon (1947-2003)

Here's the third part of my series, a fellow who needs little introduction to those who came of age in the late 1970's, when Zevon's music started  getting some serious air play.  Friends and myself in High School could disagree on many artists, but it seemed Mr. Zevon was a universal favorite.  His 1978 album,    "Excitable Boy", was both very funny and quite gothic, especially the title tune, which was unsettling and funny as a send-up of all the teenager-angst songs of the rock era. "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" followed and it was just as edgy and disco-free as one could hope at that time.     

Mr Zevon was the son of a small-time LA gangster with Russian-Jewish roots and a Mormon mother originally from Salt Lake City, Utah(!)   He had his ups and sons in his career, and cancer claimed him all too soon. But few artists went to their final resting with as strong an album as "The Wind" featuring Bruce Springsteen and many, many others helping him out with great songs like "Disorder in the House" and "Knocking on Heaven's Door".  

The second video here is his last performance on television, playing one of his earliest hits on "Late Night with David Letterman".             

Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes (1970)

This is a song that, to me, epitomizes hot Summer days as many areas in the Northern Hemisphere are deep into right now.
Back when this song was popular--the early 1970's--I was living in sunny San Jose in northern California. My friends (all budding juvenile delinquents whom our teachers no doubt thought would end our days in the laundry room at San Quintin Prison) would often while away a Sunday afternoon at the local High School, which offered its two swimming pools, one for swimming and one for diving. I once went off the 10-meter board and hit the water wrong--yow!
Anyway, none of our parents houses came with pools so my friends and I paid a modest fee on the weekends to join dozens of other kids and adults at the Prospect High's swimming pool.
This Edison Lighthouse song was one I heard often on the stereo/radio that was somehow usually on in the men's locker room. It's the one song I associate with the relief of hitting that moderately heated water on a hot day.
Listening to those opening chords, I can almost feel the heat and the sting to my eyes of the chlorine from the treated water. Fun times indeed. Hope you enjoy this.

For more on the brief success of Edison Lighthouse and its lead singer, Tony Burrows, see the link below.
PS: If anybody knows where this video was filmed, please let me know.








http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_L...

Back to '72--Johnny Rivers 'Rockin' Pneumonia -Boogie Woogie Flu'

This one surprised me because it wasn't as big a hit on the Billboard charts (#101 ??!! ) as I remembered from hearing it often on the radio. Well, it's my second favorite Johnny Rivers tune, behind "Secret Agent Man", and since he had so many Top 10 hits and sold an estimated 30 million albums , I'm sure he took the realtive lack of success of this one in stride. Mr. Rivers cover on "Memphis" is another great tune, of course, and I'm sure many of you have your own faves. Here is pure rock and roll and pure fun.

Back to '72-- Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken - Live

Counting down on my list of favorite songs from then and now of '72, I couldn't leave this one out. It's by a major star who has only recently re-emerged out of retirement from the music scene after twenty-odd years.
"Morning Has Broken" wasn't written by Stevens--now known as Yusef Islam--but was originally a Christian hymm with Scot-Gaelic origins. The lyrics were written in 1931 by Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) , one of the siblings of a noted English family of letters. She counted among her friends D. H. Lawrence and Robert Frost. Farjeon wrote a variety of literature, and won several literary awards, but is remembered mainly for her writings for children.
The music came from a traditional church medley, "Bunessan". I hope this brings back some nice memories for you as well.

Here is a link to a recent CBS story on Cat/Yusef:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/sunday/main2221286.shtml

Where Were You in '72?-- "Main Ingredient-Everybody Plays The Fool"

We're rolling along here, back on the Soul Train to the number 29 song of that year by the Main Ingredient. I liked it then and I think it holds up now.

"Everybody Plays the Fool" I thought was this group's one and only hit, but it turns out they had another one in 1974, "I Just Don't Want to Be Lonely". If you recognize the lead singer for "TMI" its because he is Cuba Gooding, Sr., the father--not surprisingly-- of Cuba Gooding, Jr., the popular actor around today in a number of movies, mostly comedies, and whose biggest hit was as the "show me the money!" football star in "Jerry McGuire" back in 1997.
So here's the "Soul Train" intro from Don Corneilius, the coolest guy on day time television back then.