Hello. I'm back. I want to go through some heavy hitters from the time period as well as more isolated singles.
-Badfinger: the Straight Up album and the two great singles from it "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue". The other singles I heard were "Come and Get It" and "No Matter What"
Badfinger was a Welsh band who packed a solid 4 single wallop on me in a short span of time. As a result, they created a deep impact on me. It began when I started hearing McCartney's "Come and Get It" and then with "No Matter What". My brother Mike bought the great Straight Up album not long after it was released. I was exposed to some repeated playings of the album and it struck me that I really liked their stuff beyond the two singles from the album. Both "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" were driving forces in my listening times to the radio. I was always hoping that either of those two songs would pop up whenever I had KEED on.
As a kid, I didn't fully know how deeply connected to The Beatles they were even though they were on the Apple label. George Harrison and Todd Rundgren shared production on the album. Harrison started out working on the album first before he was called away to do the whole Concert For Bangladesh project. A side result of this is that Badfinger were one of the bands who played as part of the house band for the concert. And then Rundgren took over the rest of the work after Harrison got called away.
Little did I know the hardships this marvelous band was going through in being screwed over by management types. As the decade of the '70s wore on and into the early '80s, their being pushed around like they did would eventually lead to the suicides of Pete Ham and Tom Evans. The drummer, Mike Gibbins, passed away a few years ago. Only Joey Molland is left.
If there is one album from back in the early '70s that I would categorize as being "The Best Album By A Non-Big Name Band", then my vote would go for Straight Up. There is not a single weak song on this album. BTW, you should know that there is a song on the album that should have been released as a single and been a smash. It is one of the most heartfelt and affecting songs I've ever heard. I consider it to be a masterpiece. It is called "Name of the Game". Anybody who cares about Rock and Roll or great music in general needs to be exposed to this song so they can discover the artisitc greatness which was Pete Ham. The lyrics are profound and the vocals are utterly convincing.
Word is going around that a remasters series of the Apple Badfinger catalog is forthcoming. Hopefully, it will be at some point in 2010. When the remasters come out, I highly urge you to please get a copy of Straight Up and take it to heart. Secondly, Badfinger's story is one that is required reading by anybody who wants to know about what made the old-time record business so cutthroat. Other than the book, Apple To The Core by Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld (long out of print; the book is about the business end of the break-up of The Beatles-It is also definitely required reading), the book Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger by Dan Matovina is the the one book I would advise anybody to read. The book really drives home the point that musicians need to lawyer up even when their Art is all they know.
Badfinger were to be known for one other important contribution they made to the music of the early '70s. They were the ones who wrote "Without You". Do you remember that one? Well, you probably recall the great single by Harry Nilsson. Badfinger and Pete Ham were responsible for the existence of that song. Harry Nilsson found it and cut the definitive version of the song. Sadly, the song which sold millions for Harry, never saw barely a penny for Ham and Badfinger.
Carly Simon-"That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be", "Anticipation", "Legend In Your Own Time".
Carly was part of the famous singer-songwriter movement of the early '70s that a lot of critics would hold in disdain and contempt as time wore on. The one that really struck home with me was "Legend In Your Own Time". Since I was always pretty much alone most of the time, I always imagined that Carly was singing this song to me. The pace of the song is what really drove home what she was singing. I've always considered this particular tune to be Carly's greatest little gem. It's probably because of my personal attachment to it that makes me feel this way.
James Taylor-"Fire and Rain", "You've Got A Friend"-What can you say about two singles that helped to define the times? So many of us took the "Fire and Rain" single and made it our own based on what we were going through in our lives. James was using the song as a vehicle to describe getting through heroin addiction. "You've Got A Friend" was an anthem we all needed to get us through the post-'60s momentum that began to get lost with other movements as well as the various social fragmentation that was starting the process of becoming more accute.
Carole King-She is another example of "What Would the '70s Have Been Without Her?". The Tapestry album was a monster runaway smash. "I Feel The Earth Move" became a huge AM big seller as well as anthem for basketball playing Grade Schoolers like over at St. Paul. I still vividly remember the St. Paul Saints warming up before games and having the girl cheerleaders play this song while doing their dance routines. "It's Too Late" is a phenominal song unto itself and needs no explanation. "So Far Away" also came from this album as well.
After the success of the Tapestry album, I got hit unexpectedly by a song from her that I think is nearly criminally overlooked by people because of the shadow cast by Tapestry. Her next single after the Tapestry album was a song called "Sweet Seasons". I abosolutely love the paino and horn arrangements on this song. It always had good drive. Plus, Carole sings with such ease. She just killed me on this one. She would knock me out once again after I moved back to Santa Clara.
-The Chi-Lites-"Have You Seen Her?", "Oh Girl", "The Coldest Days of My Life" If I could explain the full impact of The Chi-Lites had on me as a kid back then, I'd be a genius. If there was one vital lesson Eugene Record and the Chi-Lites taught me is that it was o.k. to be a guy and to be vulnerable in showing your emotions. It is quite possible that "Oh Girl" was the one song I most wanted to hear on any given day when I was listening to KEED back then. It contains the greatest vulnerability line I've ever heard at the end of a Soul song-"Have you ever seen such a helpless man! Oh no."
The Chi-Lites also expanded my view of how music instruments could be used. They were the band that really forced me to focus on rhythm guitar in Soul music. They were the first band to make me realize that eletric harmonica existed. Plus, do I really need to say anything about the incredible harmony vocal work these guys pulled off? Seriously! Do I? I thank God that this group existed. They were incredibly important in the development of my personality.
-Joe Jeffrey Group-"My Pledge of Love"-Honest to God! I can't figure out why some people rip this song nowadays. I loved hearing it when KEED would dig it up and play it-which was often. If I'm recalling my facts correctly, this was a Black guy with a white group backing him. I never, for once, doubted the sincerity of the song. And hell, if I'm fucked up in the head for supporting this song, you might want to ask Steve Van Zandt of the E-Street Band about this song to his face. He's said he's a true believer in the song.
-Booker T. & The MG's-KEED also used to dig out this song from the '60s and play this one pretty frequently as well. I fell in love with this instrumental. It lay down the foundation for my love of Stax artists as I got older. Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and Co. never letme down.
-The Undisputed Truth-"Smiling Faces Sometimes"-Here was a heavy single from a Motown group that layed a message on me. Don't ever for a moment think that I've forgotten the importance of the lessons being taught in this song. It has protected me on many occasions.
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