That's a good summary. There was A LOT of MOR, light-rock songs (Christopher Cross), pop-country songs (Kenny Rogers) on the radio. Yet, there were many new types of songs, like Gary Neuman's Cars and Devo, too.
Linda Rondstadt's You're No Good.... Makes sense. Like someone else on another thread once said about The Beatles and The Beach Boys (they weren't really "competitors."): The Beatles rocked harder, but The Beach Boys rocked better...
That is the last Aretha LP I bought for many years. Actually, the lone single to chart from that album had probably just fallen off the Hot 100 by Feb. '75. Without Love (#45) is a great tune!
I remember when Maria Muldaur had a hit with Midnight at the Oasis an album reviewer claimed she looked bad on her album cover and said in real life Linda Ronstadt wasn't that good looking but they always made her look hot on her album covers.
That was the long LP version. The 45 edit sounded something like this: The label shown on this clip was a Plastic Products pressing; my copy's a first-issue Specialty . . . And to think this cooking number could only muster #5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart . . .
Aww yeah, a song that made me get funky long before I even knew how! PUTP gets everyone up out their seats. The middle section kills me - the guys start chanting the title, and then that sax just takes off. Reportedly, it was Bonnie Bramlett who gave them their band name. They'd gotten a spot opening at Clapton's Rainbow concert, and Delaney & Bonnie were also on the bill. Never have figured out what they called themselves before that. Sadly, their drummer Robbie McIntosh didn't get to enjoy the song's success - he fatally OD'ed on cocaine laced with strychnine at a party in the band's honor in September '74. They would've probably lost bassist Alan Gorrie as well if not for Cher, who kept him awake until help came. The great Steve Ferrone stepped in as drummer after that.
Reminiscent of "Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks which I didn't hear until several years later as it was never a hit in the U.S. Should've been though
It’s kind of weird with this song. Everyone knows it - it’s kind of ubiquitous. I certainly remember it on the radio and really liked it. But, I not sure how many can name the song title or the band who played it. It’s become kind of funky elevator music. I don’t mean that in a negative way - it’s just a tune that’s used as background music for a lot of things.
Brings back dances in middle school and going to the swap meet at our locsl drive-in theater on weekends to find the good deals with my older sister and her husband where all the hits of the mid seventies would be playing through the concession stands stereo.
Great opening leading to a slick groove that sounded so cool blasting from the radio. The album is chock full of funky R&B and most songs have vocals which was a pleasant surprise when I bought the LP way back when.
Linda was down on her looks (as well as her singing) too. She didn’t like her hair and complained about her ‘bad’ skin more than once. She’d have probably agreed with the reviewer.
Another one I don't remember at all. Probably because I was too young at the time to remember hearing it as a hit, and it wasn't old enough for the oldies station when I was a teenager (the cutoff was usually 1973).
Pick Up The Pieces - I didn't really like it at the time it was a hit, but it's grown on me over the years. Now I think it's a very catchy piece of funky jazz rock, and enjoy it quite a bit.
There's something wrong with this version of the story. They recorded the song "Cut The Cake" with McIntosh on the drums. That party happened after that session. The band finished the album with Steve Ferrone while the single "Cut The Cake" was riding up the charts. They chose Ferrone because he is a fellow Brit.
What'd their music be, then - "Blue-Eyed Funk"? I've long been a fan of this one, but much prefer the 45. Much tighter, I.M.H.O.
McIntosh died on 9/23/74. "Cut the Cake" (single) entered the Hot 100 on 4/12/75. Cut The Cake (album) entered the Billboard 200 on 6/28/75.
I do remember hearing this in the mid '70s. What nailed the song in my memory was hearing it played on Dick Clark New Years Rockin' Eve at about 15 minutes to midnight - in what (I'm guessing) must have been the show that rang in 1976. I remember liking the brass parts -- I always liked brass -- which came primarily from liking Herb Alpert and early Chicago, among others. However, like many instrumentals in the pre-Internet days, it was probably another 7 or 8 years before I figured out the name of the song and the artist, because I don't remember hearing it at all after that New Year's Eve. I think I learned the name of the song and the artist when the first copy of Billboard Top 40 Hits appeared around 1984, which listed the #1 songs. But I didn't actually hear the song for a few more years after that. I remember that Atlantic put it on a late '80s compilation CD of some kind (maybe associated with 40th anniversary of label in 1988), and that is how I reconnected with the song.
Besides, I didn't even mention "Cut The Cake", just that McIntosh died before "Pick Up The Pieces" was a success and they chose Ferrone to replace him going forward. Nothing "wrong" about any of that.
The group reminds me of a scaled back Tower Of Power. The album is great, very tasty blue-eyed soul/funk from a bunch of UK white boys.
