I'm driving in my car, I turn on the radio I'm pulling you close, you just say no You say you don't like it, but girl I know you're a liar 'Cause when we kiss Hmmm, fire

70's Pick of the Week

“Fire” by the Pointer Sisters (1979)

The idea of sister or brother groups is not new. The advantage of this arrangement can be stability. Have you ever heard the expression “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose family”? Well in some cases it works and others not so much. In the case of the Pointer sisters it gave them depth and versatility that saw them endure and reach great success.

Their parents, Reverend Elton and Sarah Pointer encouraged them as girls to listen and participate in gospel music. They told the girls that rock and roll and the blues was “the devils music”. This was not uncommon really. Secretly they sang songs when they were away from their parents until one day the youngest, June, brought home a copy of Elvis’ “All Shook Up”. Her mother had discovered the ‘B’ side of the album with “Crying in the Chapel” so let her pay it.

Still sane... You may think you're crossing the line... Still sane... You may think you're losing your mind

Well Worth a Listen

“Still Sane”, by Carolyn Mas (1979)

In the same vein as “Hold Your Head Up” by Argent or “Don’t Let is Show” by the Alan Parsons Project, “Still Sane” is one of those ‘self-help’ songs. It, like the other songs on her debut album of the same name, has an undertone of defiance, yet vulnerability. It always puzzled me why Carolyn Mas did not have better commercial success.

Born in NY, Carolyn’s father invented the battery charger. I didn’t know that when her debut self-penned album “Carolyn Mas” came out in 1979, but that is a good enough reason for me to listen if I had not already. Classically trained in voice, piano and guitar, in her early years she listened to Cole Porter, the Beatles, Dylan, and all kinds of classical and folk music.

One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all

Songs Everybody Should Know

“White Rabbit” by the Jefferson Airplane (1967)  

From the ‘Summer of Love”, with its classic psychedelic-era chords, a tinge of Spanish ‘bolero’ and the anti-establishment marching beat, “White Rabbit” is tie-dyed on my brain.  Banned as a ‘drug’ song, my older sister (quite young at the time) told me it was about drugs. She told me there were ‘pushers’ that made you ‘hooked’ on drugs.  I said “I thought Alice was in Wonderland”. She said, “Listen to the song! She takes drugs if you call that Wonderland!” (Much to my sister’s delight this song was used as the theme song in the 1973 movie “Go Ask Alice”).