"I Keep Looking For That Sunset" Can anyone identify this '70s rock song?

[TOMT] 70s or 80s soft rock song no one can identify : tipofmytongue

 

Note the original poster swears it wasn't a religious song because he says he wouldn't have recorded it if it was.

 

For that matter, I'd be surprised if any CCM/type song would have lyrics so openly about personal fulfillment. In my experience playing that stuff on the radio back in the 80s, if it were religious we'd be hearing much different wording about the journey and how they're getting there. I am hearing "meaning of it all" as the opening words as the clip starts playing and if it's another "Sometimes" phrase (like maybe "Sometimes we don't know the meaning of it all") then I'd seriously doubt it's religious. But that's just my guessing, which we're all more or less doing.

 

Could it be a jingle about the radio station it played on?

 

in theory, but the guy who recorded it (ottertrack1 here) swears it wasn't a commercial or something like that.

 

Anyone else got any suggestions on who we could contact that might have some idea?

 

I'm not sure there is anyone to contact. This has been a mystery for months now.

 

I did ask Bob Sirott, the Chicago radio guy who's heard a tonne of stuff and he'd never heard this before. Maybe there's some producers or something that could be asked about it who were active in Chicago in the 70s, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start with that.

 

These forums got mentioned in this article about the song here:

Here's another mystery song from the past. Can you identify it? No one else can. Yet. - Alan Cross' A Journal of Musical Things

 

It sounds to me like a progressive AM country tune that would have been 1973-1976. 1970-1972 seems too early to me and it doesn't sound like it was sourced from FM. Is it possible this was a featured cut sourced from a reel to the cart and played once or twice? What AM country stations existed in Chicago during those years?

 

Interesting comment at YouTube:

 

Listening to Les Fradkin's song "God Bless California" (notable for having an appearance by Paul McCartney in the early 70's version), it does have a similar vocal and writing style to the "mystery song."

 

Les Fradkin is an unsung hero of highly melodic pop of this type. But he has released so much unanthologized material on so many labels over the years that if the mystery song is his, he'd probably be the only person able to ID it.

 

A theory is that it is the last track "Sometimes" from the 1974 album Pass On This Side where he was involved (later reissued on CD under the band named The Godz and retitled Godz Bless California), but the album isn't on YouTube or Spotify, and the album art doesn't seem to have printed lyrics. Anyone here have it?

Thornton, Fradkin & Unger And The Big Band* - Pass On This Side

 

It would be perfect as a 70's TV theme!

 

Sometimes WAS the b-side of the God Bless California single...I guess it's possible some DJ flipped it and played it.

 

That seems in character for WXRT.

 

The slide guitar part reminds me of either David Lindley od Waddy Wachtel, anybody else hear that?

 

First group that came to mind is First Class, who has the hit "Beach Baby" and have lots of forgotten and obscure singles.

This one seems to have a similar style to the posted song

 

This song Sometimes seems to be on a couple of somewhat cheap 45's / lp's if anyone is willing to buy a copy

 

I have the Thornton/Fradkin/Unger song and it's not it.

 

I am positive the lyrics are:

.... (in love we are)
Sometimes we're (a) part of laughing
Sometimes we're (a) part of crying
We are a part of it all
I keep looking for that sunset
I don't know where it will be.

I'm not sure about the partial line at the beginning but that's what it sounds like to me.

 

I am hearing George's voice and the slide is one of his distinctive licks. Paul was involved with BADFINGER with whom George recorded similar licks. Are there studio quality ' demo acetates' that were given try outs on a few select stations, and never developed further ?

 

EXTREMELY unlikely.

For one thing, the clip excerpted is longer than 30 seconds, meaning this would have to have been a 60-second commercial, and by this era of radio 60-second spots were a rarity.

Also, there's that big pause before the piano bit comes back in. You're just not going to do that with a commercial jingle, which is supposed to grab your attention and hold it throughout.

And finally, what sort of product or service can you possibly imagine this song advertising?

 

Uh, Poco was not "a Christian Rock band."

They had a member for their first few albums who was a born-again Christian, but that doesn't make them in any sense a Christian Rock band.