Girl, To Be With You Is My Fav'rite Thing Uh Huh And I Can't Wait Til I See You Again Yeah, Yeah

70’s Song of the week

“Boogie Shoes” by K.C. and the Sunshine Band (1975)

Some say Disco was spawned because the Nazi’s banned jazz. The next best thing was to develop clubs where they played records. The first ‘discotheques’ sprung up in WWII and continued after in clubs like the ‘Whisky a Go-Go” in Paris. The ultra chic set did not have exclusivity to this trend for long.

The seedy ‘Peppermint Club’ in New York spawned the short-lived dance craze ‘The Twist”. The culture of this was embedded in the teenagers who would drive the commercial direction of music. The Beatles would swoop in to NA in 1964 and no one cared about their ‘Twist” records anymore which had every variation you can imagine by this point.

There was something slightly Victorian about the new dance crazes though – you danced alone. There was no contact with the other person. Sock-hops and record parties in the sixties were somehow made safer to on-looking adults because of this.

You want to stay out with your fancy friends I'm telling you it's gotta be the end Don’t Bring me down....grrooss!

70’s Pick of the Week

“Don’t Bring Me Down” by Electric Light Orchestra (1979)

When Electric Light Orchestra, aka ELO released the album “Discovery”, my friends and I called it ‘Disco –Very’. Not that we didn’t like the album, but it was that all groups around that time seemed to go through a disco phase, even the Rolling Stones, and this was ELO’s disco album. The strange thing about ELO is that they never had a number one hit in the U.K. or in the U.S., yet they have had the most top 40 songs in the U.S. than any band in history.  Weird huh?

Birmingham, England’s Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne set out to make pop songs that had a bit of classical music interwoven. Wood left after the debut album and its lukewarm reviews. Lynne of course went on to write, arrange and produce every album after that – all 11 of them.

But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be all right

Quick Hit

“Revolution” by the Beatles (1968)

 One of my favourite Beatles songs was written entirely by John Lennon, but credited as was usual practice, to both McCartney and Lennon. Recorded in the Abby Road Studios this classic song is inspired by the French government under Charles DeGaulle.  Student uprising were occurring all around the world primarily in the U.S. against the Vietnam War. When strikes in Paris resulted in riots. Lennon was directing this song at the world’s young revolutionaries – he was anti-war.

Well the rain exploded with a mighty crash As we fell into the sun And the first one said to the second one there I hope you’re having fun

70's Pick of the Week

“Band on the Run”, Wings (1973)

Of all the post-Beatles stuff, this album is my favourite. It seemed to just fall together well with an unintended grace that is beautiful and simple.

When the needle hits the record we heard ‘Band on the Run’, transition to ‘Jet’ and then into the mellow ‘Bluebird’, ‘Mrs. Vanderbilt”, and finally “Let Me Roll It’.

Side 2 kicks it up a bit with the hit “Helen Wheels” (not in the U.K. version), “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty five”, and “Picasso’s Last Word’s’ (with a little help from his friend Ginger Baker at his studio).

Bored with recording in the U.K., McCartney asked EMI for a list of recording studios in the world. Intrigued by Lagos in Nigeria, off they went – without taking time to check it out.

But what's puzzling you Is the nature of my game

70's Pick of the Week

“Sympathy for the Devil”, The Rolling Stones, 1968

You’ve heard these discussions I’m sure, maybe on a bus or in a mall. They go something like this:

Dude 1: “Hey man, what band do you like better, The Beatles or the Stones?”

Dude 2: “The Stones man, the Beatles were just not cool”

Dude 1: “No way. The Beatles really pioneered the way songs were written man”

Dude 1: “Ya but the Beatles were so clean cut and played stuff my Mom listened to – Beatle mania crap man. Jagger and Richards knew how to make a real rock song!”

Dude 2:  “Dude, Lennon had more talent in his little finger than Jagger will ever have, and beside the Beatles gave the Stones their first hit song”

...and on we go...Do we care?  That is the point at which you turn up your iPod, and stare out the window.

Get Back To Where You Once Belonged!

Quick Hit

“Get Back”, The Beatles, 1969 (Apple Building concert)

On Thursday January 30, 1969 the Beatles made their final public appearance atop the ‘Apple Records’ building in London England. This was a very historical moment for pop music. They played an ad hoc lunchtime concert conceived only days earlier, as they practiced to lay down the final studio tracks as a band forever.