I also listened to small town radio stations and still, radio didn't censor or ban anything. I'm very fortunate to have not grown up in the midwest or the south. It's hard for me to imagine how some of you grew up, not knowing there was more to the pop music scene.
Oh yeah! 1975 was John Denver's biggest year. His music was all over the place. But, we also made fun of him. Let me put it this way: Barry Manilow was cooler than John Denver where I grew up. We also loved Elton John. 1975 was another huge year for him, too. He always had our respect. But, we also made fun of him.
Did we mention anything about Olivia Newton-John's "Something Better To Do"? I love that song! I like that kind of soft music, and I can see her singing it while walking through a beautiful garden wearing a long white dress carrying a parasol, and looking sad and blue, and beautiful. Another single that I really love that was out that fall is "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" by AWB. The B-side had a cool bluesy tune called "School Boy Crush". I first heard it on KBBC around Christmastime that year, and thought it was strangely cool to have sleigh bells on it. They had in moderate rotation.
Those were two great records - ONJ and AWB. I like this period best for Livvie. As for AWB, I'm pretty certain School Boy Crush was an A-side with Groovin' The Night Away as the B-side. It was the follow-up to If I Ever Lose This Heaven b/w High Flyin' Woman.
Oops! Yer right. I pulled out my copy and I had it wrong. It is "High Flyin' Woman". I'm sooo embarrassed!
Another tip of the hat to the recently departed comic book legend Stan Lee. 1975 saw the release of one of the odder records in history: Rock Reflections of a Superhero. This was a no-kidding attempt to create a rock album based on Spider-man and Marvel heroes. I still recall the comic books of the time heavily pushing this record, with Stan doing his usual hard sell. I've heard the record, and it's... OK. Not exactly Magneto and Titanium Man by Wings. But there are a couple of pretty groovy tracks. My favorite is probably this one. Spidey has a nightmare where Dr. Octopus, his arch foe, is preparing one of his periodic attempts to take over the city, and ... well, Stan explains it in his intro to the song in this clip: (I think the songwriter really liked All the Young Dudes...)
Now that I think about it, I rather liked John Denver's song ""Fly Away" back then -and I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm one of the rare ones on the forum that likes "I'm Sorry". My favorite song of his is the Peter Paul and Mary cover of " Leavin' On a Jet Plane" from late 1969. I have to admit though...many of his songs did make me cringe when I would hear them on the radio...
There was also a similar record in 1972 -- (I can't paste image -- computer won't let me -- it's called "The Amazing Spider-Man - A Rockomic!") which I talked my mother into buying for me at the time - I thought the cover was cool. Note that it is called a "Rockomic". I still have this (what my mom bought for me in 1972) -- but it is in bad shape from what I did to it as a kid. It has a couple songs (maybe four, and they aren't very good) -- but mostly it is a five part drama acted out on record. The other thing I remember about this is that it had the purple Buddah label which I hated. We had some 1968 singles (e.g, Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co.) on the earlier Buddah label which I much preferred.
Over the weekend we will keep going on the year end for 1975, and what songs you liked the best, which ones you thought should have been #1 that weren't. I looked for a year end video last night, and apparently they've all been taken off of youtube... so I guess we'll just have to do without one!
This is one song that I thought should have gone higher on the charts. It was a cover of the hit from 1974 by Sunny Leslie in the UK. Lovely pop gem written by Greenaway/Cook
This is my definite "Shoulda been #1" song. I love Tavares, they had such a great sound and good energy. This was #1 R&B however... so it WAS a #1, just not on the hot 100.
Most of his songs would have more appeal for me if someone else was singing them. I never liked his voice. And Elvis himself couldn't have turned "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" into an appealing song.
Some favorites from 1975 that didn’t hit Number 1: Bad Time - Grand Funk Railroad Feel Like Making Love - Bad Company Who Loves You? - The Four Seasons Please Mr. Please - Olivia Newton-John When Will I Be Loved - Linda Ronstadt Sing A Song - Earth, Wind, & Fire and this power pop classic by Sweet:
Songs that should have hit #1 for at least 1 week, good golly... Paul McCartney & Wings - Junior's Farm (Yeah, he had a giant run at the top with "LTWTMS", but this could be the greatest stand-alone 45 Macca ever released) Queen - Killer Queen (Who knew what was coming next? The chart debut of one of the biggest acts in rock history) Grand Funk - Bad Time (My favorite single from them) Ace - How Long (Paul Carrack's introduction to American listeners. He'd have more chart success later, but this track is still wonderful) Linda Ronstadt - When Will I Be Loved (Ronstadt had a banner year in 75. This actually charted higher than her #1 in the year end wrap up) 10cc - I'm Not In Love (Amazing production on this track, it established 10cc as a leader in art rock) Barry Manilow - Could It Be Magic (Sure, it's just as sappy as Mandy, but the way this track builds up began a blueprint for many more Manilow hits) Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Jackie Blue (Hey, I'm from Missouri, so I gotta pull for the home team) Sweet - Ballroom Blitz (Echo what everyone else has said)
Man, "Jackie Blue" so, so deserved the pole position over the execrable "He Don't Love You" cover. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", "Boogie On Reggae Woman", "How Long" and "At Seventeen" also got robbed by Billboard, although at least several of those got robbed by great songs ("Fame", in the case of "At Seventeen"). Surprised "I'm Not In Love" didn't make it to #1 on any of the charts.
Killer Queen and Grand Funk's Bad Time were better than any of the number ones of this year (and quite a few others)
Does anyone remember Cotton, Lloyd & Christian? Darryl Cotton, Michael Lloyd and Chris Christian. Michael Lloyd may ring a bell since he was reportedly the youngest exec at MGM in the late 60s, early 70s. He also produced the Osmonds among others. Anyways, these three joined up in the mid 70s and released a few LPs and singles, none of which amounted to much. Some station here played one of their early singles - I Can Sing, I Can Dance - and I quite enjoyed this pop nugget with a light Disco tinge in the chorus.
That's a decent piece of pop. Chris Christian would go on to put Amy Grant on the map, producing her first album. He's also got a Top 40 solo hit coming up in a few years.
