W.B. said: ↑ There's one real jazzy tune coming up by Johnnie Taylor. It sounds a lot like MFSB. In fact, MFSB did an instrumental cover of it!
Some interesting developments bubbling down on the charts below the pole position in 1972: Yes had a good-sized hit with "Roundabout". Prog didn't exactly set pop radio or the singles charts on fire, but it was a massive seller on the album charts and huge on AOR radio. Jackson Browne, Carly Simon, Jim Croce and Harry Chapin showed up to further advance the singer/songwriter led conquest of rock. Elton too, who was fast becoming a superstar. Country/rock started to chart high ("Garden Party"), and the Eagles showed up. This would probably the most important trend in rock this decade, at least commercially. Chicago were becoming superstars, advancing the commercial fortunes of jazz/rock. A hybrid we'd come to hear a lot of in the '70s. Alice Cooper brought an Americanized version of glam to the US charts, and T. Rex managed to hit the top 10 with "Bang A Gong". Clapton furthered his reputation as a rock guitar god with "Layla". Country acts enjoyed considerable access to the pop charts (Charley Pride, Donna Fargo, Mac Davis, who of course made it to the top). Mellow pop/rock acts generated major chart action (Carpenters, Bread, America, Climax, Gallery, The 5th Dimension). In hindsight you can hear the origins of disco all over the place (Philly soul, cuts like The Chakachas "Jungle Fever", etc.). Covers were huge (Robert John, The Osmonds, MJ, everybody was having hits with covers of old songs).
The Eagles, like Elton John are another hugely popular act that started out strong then stumbled for a couple of years before finding their footing on the singles chart and blasting into the stratosphere.
That's a clever twist, although the point of "Secret Love" is that she no longer has to keep it under wraps ("My secret love's no secret anymore"). I wonder if the idea was to hint at a future where Billy and Mrs. Jones could be together openly?
I feel like the 70's REALLY begin in '73. Stevie Wonder's classic period takes off with Talking Book and the success of the singles, by the mid'70's one could argue he was the most beloved and acclaimed musician in the industry. 3 AOTY Grammy's, including 2 in a row. He became the most dominant soul artist on the pop charts. Elton John really begins to dominate, taking his title as king of the decade. It seems everything he released was a hit. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, basically just seals the deal and becomes the biggest (correct me if I'm wrong) mega hit album of the decade (massive singles and albums success). If you look at it also 3 acts who were previously in massive groups the decade prior really take off more so as solo artists. Paul Simon begins to have his first major solo hits after Simon & Garfunkel, and establishes himself as a viable solo act. Paul McCartney had already left for solo but it's in '73 that The Wings become the second most dominant act of the decade after Elton and The Bee Gees, the following year they begin their string of hit singles and hold that til '78. Let's not forget 1973 is also a year that sees George Harrison score a second #1 single as well, and Ringo hits his stride solo as well. Diana Ross had also been solo since 1970 but hot off the trails of Lady Sings The Blues most would agree she really became a solo act, based on the success of the films ST as well as Touch Me In The Morning and her duets album with Marvin. Before 1973, though she had solo hits, she hadn't really made her mark yet, at least not in the states.
There was an answer record to "Me & Mrs. Jones" called "Hey, Mr. Paul," by Realinda. I'd post it here, but the fidelity of the YouTube clip is poor.
Of that list, I have #2 - 5, 7 - 10, 13 - 15, 17 - 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 29 - 31, 34, 35, 38, 40, 45, 46, 62, 83, 85 and 87.
This was (and is) one of my favorite songs of all time...needless to say I snapped up a copy right after first hearing it in 1972. You are right on the money when you call it atmospheric. An utterly cool recording, and my favorite of all the Black movie themes. One of the things I love about it is the contrast between Marvin's almost delicate, frail vocal and the menacing lyrics. I also really like the B-side, "Don't Mess With Mr. T".
To get back a bit to "I Am Woman" (if based on the story in this link, and what I'd meant to mention during its examination): If Helen Reddy had a bit of a shrillness and stridency in her voice on that hit version - behind the scenes, she was massively fertutzed, and it had nothing to do with the song or its message. Ms. Reddy and then-hubby Jeff Wald had been assured by producer Jay Senter that she would get to record the song live in the studio with the musicians (or, at least, so they thought) - but by the time they arrived, the instrumental track had already been recorded, and she was in somewhat a foul mood when she laid her vocals down. It was afterwards that the "twangy" guitar (by Mike Deasy) was added, as were the backing vocals by The Blossoms; the other instrumentalists included drummer Jim Gordon, bassist Leland Sklar, pianist Mike Melvoin, Jim Horn on woodwinds (and string and horn arrangements), trombonist Dick "Slide" Hyde, and saxophonist Don Menza. In short, part of The Wrecking Crew. Small wonder that she would've later had no memory of who played on it, given that background.
This was another America single that I really dug and bought with my allowance money in 1972 -and with regard to the alligator lizard reference, I actually had several pet alligator lizards at the time, I really liked the little critters! I always listen for that alligator lizard reference when I hear the song-it still gets a lot of play on radio these days.
Another item of lyrical interest in "Ventura Highway" is the pre-Prince use of the term "Purple Rain". I have no idea whether Purple Rain is a general colloquialism or was made up for this song by Dewey Bunnell, but it sounds cool! Another song out around this time was the only Alice Cooper record I ever bought, "Elected" (just in time for the Nixon-McGovern election). This doesn't seem to be one of Alice's better known tunes, I don't think I've heard it on radio since 1972. It was on the dark green Warner Brothers label.
So many wonderful songs in 1972 that never made a dent, this is one of my favorites, that languished down at # 108 (But 73 would be a big comeback year for him)
Prince was a big Joni Mitchell fan so I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if America was in his stack as well.
Not to mention purple rain, as brought up by . . . As for "Ventura Highway," much prefer the original mix. Didn't the History version have a double-tracked vocal on the verses?
Yes sir, you have a keen ear. The remix is also smooth as glass while the original mix has a very homegrown feel about it. I like them both, but the original feels more genuine to me.
Five really good songs on this chart: 5 14 WITHOUT YOU –•– Nilsson 49 61 SOFTLY WHISPERING I LOVE YOU –•– The English Congregation 10 15 JOY –•– Apollo 100 32 20 IT’S ONE OF THOSE NIGHTS (Yes Love) –•– The Partridge Family 92 — WHITE LIES –•– Grin And ten others that I like a fair bit: 4 5 DAY AFTER DAY –•– Badfinger 24 25 LEVON –•– Elton John 39 65 MY WORLD –•– The Bee Gees 14 17 ANTICIPATION –•– Carly Simon 8 16 PRECIOUS AND FEW –•– Climax 15 9 YOU ARE EVERYTHING –•– The Stylistics 85 — MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION –•– Paul Simon 40 60 EVERYTHING I OWN –•– Bread 50 51 THE HARDER I TRY (The Bluer I Get) –•– The Free Movement 97 — A SIMPLE GAME –•– The Four Tops
On my 45 he says "We gotta be extra carelful, We can't afford to build our hopes up too high. I wanna meet and talk with you, At the same place, the same cafe, the same time. And we're gonna hold hands like we used to. We're gonna talk it over, talk it over. We know, they know, and you and I know that it was wrong, But I'm pretty strong." It seems to me that if they were really being extra careful they would meet at different places, at different cafes, at different times. Or, better still, not be seen in public at all! Here is a great live version:
The biggest group of the 70's would begin to stir in 1972, with a Swedish finals Eurovision entry that did not win, composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus... but 74 will be a different story, and they will explode on the worldwide stage.
The two songs were on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time for 8 weeks in early 1972. So, for the eight AT40 shows, Casey would have had 16 opportunities to mention the shared songwriting credits. And, for as much as he loved to repeat stories ("Joe Cocker at the Minerva!", "Leo Sayer jumped onstage and got beat up in the alley!") he never did that during the individual chart run on any song. So, there is a good chance it did it on one of the other 7 shows where the songs were together.
The biggest group of the 70's you say... hmmm... I am going to need help with that assertion! Can I use a lifeline, and ask these guys for help: Weekly Top 40 Is it one of these:
I don't know what that list is based on, but the group referred to above was a lot bigger (on the singles chart at least) than most of the acts on that list. Some of them never even hit the top 40!
Haha! So true. I'm guessing that it is combined singles/albums/opinion. Did the non-Blue Swedes sell many albums? They were surely a force, worldwide, on the singles charts. My vote for biggest of the 70's would go to the brothers Gibb, for reasons that I'm sure will be parsed to the nth degree in the upcoming months. Also, I have a count of 34 songs that have been claimed as "should-have-been-number-ones" over the last four pages of this thread, surely the most nugatory comment one could make. It means, "I like this song," and nothing more.
