Displaying items by tag: Today's 70s Song You Should Know

Singer Vyonne Elliman is best known for a string of hit singles she had in the 1970s, including "If I Can't Have You," "Love Me" and a remake of the Barbara Lewis hit "Hello Stranger." But she's had a much more interesting career than you might suspect from those familiar tunes.

Elliman's first recording came when she was living in London. She was a virtual unknown and still singing random gigs in clubs when she was hired sing Mary Magdalene's part in an double-album concept version of the new musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." That version is thought to be the best version of the show ever recorded and it led to a Top 30 single with "I Don't Know How to Love Him." She went on to play the role in the original Broadway production of "Superstar" as well as the movie.

While appearing on Broadway, she was hired to sing back-up vocals on the Eric Clapton song "I Shot The Sheriff" and that led to her touring and appearing on a string of Clapton's 1970s albums, including "461 Ocean Boulevard," "There's One in Every Crowd," "E. C. Was Here," "No Reason to Cry," and "Slowhand." In 1977, she released her fourth solo album and that included "Love Me," her first solo hit. By the end of that year, her Bee Gees written and produced single "If I Can't Have You" was her first and only solo hit.

"If I Can't Have You" is a cover of the song by The Who and comes from her 1973 solo album "Food Of Love." It was her second solo album and while it's wildly uneven, it also has some real high points. Thanks to some guitar work from Pete Townsend, this track is a great example of a fun 1970s rock single and it's a shame that it never received the airplay it deserved. A couple of pieces of trivia about the song. It was later sampled for Fatboy Slim's "Going Out Of My Head." And the "Food Of Love" album included the song "Happy Ending," which was the first commercially released recording of a song written by Jim Steinman. He went on to have a string of hits with Meatloaf, Air Supply, Bonnie Tyler and others.

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Spector's voice is instantly identifiable, and as the lead singer of The Ronettes, she had a string of hits arranged and produced by the infamous Phil Spector. "Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You," "Walking In The Rain" and other singles helped define the pre-Beatles soundtrack of the early 1960s. But the group broke up in 1967 & the following year Ronnie Spector (born Veronica Yvette Bennett) had married Phil Spector. Where she quickly found herself in the grasps of a manipulative, angry psychopath.

She famously left the marriage when she escaped barefoot from his mansion in 1972, but in the years of her marriage she experienced a simply stunning level of abuse from her husband. In her 1990 memoir, "Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts And Madness," she detailed years of psychological torment. He surrounded the house with barbed wire, guard dogs and confiscated her shoes to keep her from leaving. On the rare occasions he allowed her out alone, she had to drive with a life-size dummy of Phil. She also claimed he sabotaged her career by forbidding her to perform. 

It wasn't until 1976 that she began an attempt to build a solo career by appearing on the Southside Johnny recording of "You Mean So Much To Me." The track was written by Bruce Springsteen and that association brings us to "Say Goodbye To Hollywood."

In 1976, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band were hobbled by a lawsuit filed by former manager Mike Appel. They were legally prohibited from recording a follow-up to the "Born To Run" album and spent much of their time touring. But members of the E-Street Band did also did some session work, including drummer Max Weinberg and pianist Roy Bittan appearance on Meatloaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" album. In January of 1977, Steve Van Zandt decided to take the entire E Street Band into the studios and cut some tracks with Ronnie Spector. The result was a single of Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" b/w "Baby, Please Don't Go." Release on the same CBS-distributed label as Meatloaf (Cleveland International), it was billed as the first single off an upcoming album.

Joel had released "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" in 1976 and was obviously inspired by the Phil Spector Wall of Sound that framed the Ronettes work. So much so that his version of the song began with the same drum intro as their single "Be My Baby." "Baby, Please Don't Go" was written by Steven Van Zandt. Both tracks are magnificent updates of the iconic Ronettes sound as listening to them now, it's hard to believe "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" wasn't a hit. Incessant piano undertones, the incessant Clarence Clemons sax counterpoints and an overall production that is best described as "timeless." There was some level of work done on an album, but in later years, Ronnie Spector said she was distracted by custody issues and other legal problems that prevented her from focusing on her career.

She released several solo albums in the years before her death in 2022, including a 1999 album produced by Joey Ramone and the 2016 album English Heart. But her most recognizable work as a solo act is likely her vocals on the 1986 Eddie Money hit "Take Me Home Tonight."

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The British top 40 music charts have always been a bit peculiar when compared to the U.S. Sure, they are often on top of new music trends way ahead of the Americas. But their charts are also sprinkled with weird revivals of a song a decade after it was released or there's the embrace of a song that is just too strange to have been a hit in any other country.

That's certainly the case with the short-lived band Sweet Dreams, which in 1974 had a Top Ten British hit with a cover version of ABBA's "Money Honey." The track briefly charted in the U.S. and some other countries, but in every other country than Britain, the original version by ABBA was the clear-cut winner.

The oddest thing about Sweet Dreams is that during the period when the song was a hit in Britain, the female lead singer inexplicably performed the song in blackface.

The song was recorded by Polly Brown, who had previously has a top five U.K. hit in 1970 when she was a member of the pop-rock band Pickettywitch. The "Money Honey" cover was recorded in the same session that also included "Up In A Puff Of Smoke," which was her first solo hit. Brown and her producers decided to release "Money Honey" under the name Sweet Dreams and recruited singer Tony Jackson to perform with her as the male member of the group. They made an appearance on "Top Of The Pops" and eventually released an album.



While "Money Honey" was a hit in the U.K., none of the group's follow-up singles charted and the group broke up after one album, with Brown going on to release "Up In A Puff Of Smoke" under her own name. Jackson's solo career faltered, with the highlight being his recording of the song that was used as the theme for the film The Cassandra Crossing. He found a bit more success as a background singer, performing on hits such as  "Knock on Wood" by Amii Stewart, "Every Time You Go Away" by Paul Young and "Wishing Well" by Terence Trent D'Arby. 

There isn't a lot of documentation about the band, but when the first single was released, Brown decided to give herself the name "Sara Leone" (an apparent reference to the country Sierra Leone) and perform in blackface. It apparently didn't anyone long to decide this might not be the wisest career move and by the time the dup appeared on "Top Of The Pops," Brown was in semi-blackface, wearing a wig and sporting makeup that made her look more deeply tanned than black. Still, it's a weird thing to do and I haven't been able to determine why she decided to do it.



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If you're a casual classic rock fan, you've probably heard the hit song "Free Ride" by The Edgar Winter Group. Since it was a #14 hot for the band in late 1972, it's been used in countless commercials and movies, thanks to a killer hook ("C'mon, take a free ride") and a guitar riff that's memorable ear candy.

Weirdly, that song wasn't the big hit off the band's album They Only Come Out At Night. The biggest single of the band's career was "Frankenstein," an all-instrumental track that went to #1 on the Top 100 singles charts. At the time, the song was everywhere but over the years its been neglected in favor of the commercial-friendly "Free Ride."

They Only Come Out At Night was the first release by the band, which Winter had assembled after releasing the well-regarded 1970 solo album entrance and two albums released with some musicians from Texas and Louisiana under the name Edgar Winter's White Trash. The second album went gold, but Winter apparently was looking for wider success.

The Edgar Winter Band included Dan Hartman (who sang the vocals on "Free Ride" and later had the 1980s hit "I Can Dream About You"), guitarist Rick Derringer (who had been a member of the McCoys when they had their hit "Hang On Sloopy,"), lead guitarist Ronnie Montrose and drummer Chuck Ruff. Montrose and Ruff had previously worked together in the band Sawbuck, which released their lone album in, 1973, just after both men left the band.

Montrose left the band after They Only Come Out At Night and released a solid string of late 1970s albums under the group name Montrose (the first two featuring Sammy Hagar on vocals). Rick Derringer replaced Montrose on lead guitar for the Edgar Winter Group's follow-up album Shock Treatment. It didn't have the success of the debit album, although the LP was certified gold and the single "River's Rising" went to #33 on the Billboard Top 100 Singles chart. 

The band released the album Jasmine Nightdreams in 1975 and The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer the following year. Derringer had continued to work with the group, although he released a solo album in 1973 that spawned the hit single "Rock & Roll Hootchie Koo."

So let's remember "Frankenstein" one more time, if for no reason because it contains a very 1970s drum solo. And be sure to check out Edgar Winter in this video, who had invented a strap that would allow him to rock out with the rest of the band while playing his keyboard. The downside is that by the 1980s, this setup had evolved into the cheesy keytar.


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With all of the cultural changes the United States has undergone in the past couple of decades, it's easy to forget that there was a time in the not-so-distant past when racism and homophobia was used primarily as a way to get a cheap laugh. A perfect example of that is the 1974 Jim Stafford hit single "My Girl Bill."

Stafford was a fixture on television during the height of the variety TV show boom of the mid-1970s. He even had a short-lived 1975 summer variety series, The Jim Stafford Show. But he's probably best known for a series of hit singles from his brief two album recording career, including the weirdly homophobic "My Girl Bill."

Stafford grew up in Florida and in high school played in a bad that included soon-to-be country rock legend Gram Parsons and Kent LaVoie (who had a string of 1970s hits under the name "Lobo"). Stafford's first brush with fame was in 1968, when he was a performer/supervising writer on the short-lived The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Revival Show. In 1973, his old bandmate LaVoie produced his first album, which included the creepy creole rocker "Swamp Witch." But most of the album was comprised of the quirky little comedy tunes that would later make Stafford a fixture in Branson, Missouri. "Spiders And Snakes" went to #3 on the Top 100 and was a gold record. The album also included the #7 hit "Wildwood Weed" and "My Girl Bill," which peaked at #12 on the charts.

"My Girl Bill" is an odd song in that the entire punchline of the song is built on the fact that at first Stafford seems to be singing about his "girl" Bill. What!?!? He has a boyfriend?!?! Of course, it turns out that Stafford is simply singing that "she's my girl, Bill." It's the kind of mildly homophobic joke that was pretty common in the world of show business in the 1970s.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Bill walked me to my door last night
And he said, 'Before I go
There's something about our love affair
That I have a right to know
I said, "Let's not stand out here like this
What would the neighbors think
Why don't we just...step inside
And I'll fix us both a drink"

My girl, Bill
My, my, girl, Bill
Can't say enough about the way I feel
About my girl
(My girl, my girl)
My girl, Bill

William's hands were shaking
As he took his glass of wine
And I could see we both felt the same
When his eyes met mine
I said, "'Who we love and why we love
It's hard to understand
So let's just sit here on the couch
And face this, man to man"

My girl, Bill
My, my, girl, Bill
Can't say enough about the way I feel
About my girl
(My girl, my girl)
My girl Bill

Bill, you know we just left her place
And we both know what she said
She doesn't want to see your face
And she wishes you were dead
Now, I know we both love her
And I guess we always will
But you're gonna have to find another
'Cause she's my girl...Bill

While Stafford first album was a big hit, his 1975 follow-up "Not Just Another Pretty Foot" didn't chart and while both the "Your Bulldog Drinks Champagne" and "I Got Stoned And I Missed It" singles squeaked into the Top 40, Stafford's pop music career was essentially over.

He opened the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson in 1990 and was a fixture in that nostalgia country scene until he retired to Florida in 2013.

One other interesting piece of trivia: Stafford was briefly married to famed singer Bobby Gentry in the late 1970s.

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By the time The Carpenters were set to begin work on their 1977 album Passage, the duo was at a bit of a musical crossroads.

The album A Kind Of Hush had been released in 1976 and while it spawned the hits "I Need To Be In Love" (#25) and the title track (#12), the album was considered a bit of a sales disappointment. It was the first album since the group's debut that didn't hit platinum status. And writer/producer Richard Carpenter was feeling burned out and fighting an addiction to sleeping pills. All of this was complicated by a change in Pop radio, who increasingly saw the duo as out-of-touch with younger listeners.

Months were spent trying to find a new producer, but the group was unable to convince any top tier producer to sign onto the project. So Richard Carpenter returned to his producing duties, but decided to shake things up a bit.  Passage was the only non-holiday Carpenters album without a Richard Carpenter or John Bettis song and Karen Carpenter didn't play drums on any of the tracks.

The song choices were equally unusual. There was a cover of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada/Don't Cry for Me Argentina." The country-tinged 'Sweet, Sweet Smile," which was co-written by Juice Newton, became the duo's first Top Ten country hit. "I Just Fall In Love Again," was strongly considered as the lead single, but label A&M Records decided the four-minute length was too much for pop radio. The song ended up being recorded by Anne Murray two years later and it became a #12 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" sounds very much like a typical Carpenters tune, but even though it was the album's lead-off track, it topped out in the U.S. at #35 on the Billboard chart.

Then there was "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft."

Written by Terry Draper and John Woloschuk, the song appeared of the debut album by their band Klattu. The original track had become a modest hit in the U.S. in 1976 (topping out at #62), after rumors circulated that Klattu was in reality a secret Beatles reunion project. There were no band photos on the album, Capital Records released it and to be fair, the music was very Beatlesque. Then a DJ in Rhode Island noticed that Ringo Starr's recent solo album featured cover art of Starr appearing in place of the character Klaatu from the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. And so, a crazy rumor was born. 

It's still not clear why The Carpenters decided to record the song then stick pretty closely to the original version released by Klattu. But it sounds unlike anything else the duo ever recorded and perhaps that's why it received a mixed reception when it was released as the album's second single. It did slightly better than "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song," hitting #32 on the American pop charts. But it was a top ten hit in a number of countries outside the U.S., including becoming the group's only #1 hit in Ireland.

Despite efforts to mix up the sound of The Carpenters, the group's hit records were mostly a thing of the past. It was three years before the duo hit the Top 40 again, when 1981's Touch Me When We're Dancing became their last hit single, going as high as #16 on the Billboard Top 100.




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While the band had a couple of hits in the United States, they had a string of Top Ten hits in the U.K., including two #1 singles. But by the later Seventies, the band had lost much of its best-known lineup and had reinvented itself as a rock/power pop band. The effort didn't find much commercial success, but it did result in one really strong album that pretty much no one outside the band's few remaining fans listened to.

The band "Elevator" was released in 1979 following the addition of South African-born Duncan Faure as the band's new lead singer. Renamed "The Rollers," the band's new sound was very Beatlesque, with famed alternative magazine "Trouser Press" describing the album as having a "Rubber Soul" feel to it. Despite getting the best reviews of the band's career, "Elevator" was also the band's first album not to chart either in the U.S. or the U.K.

There are probably a half dozen tracks I could highlight, but I've always had a fondness for "Hello & Welcome Home," a Beatles-inspired mid-tempo track that includes some really tight harmonies.




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If you are a fan of power pop music, there has never been a better place to live than Chicago from the late 1970s through 1990 or so. In an alternative universe, this music scene would have exploded in the same way Seattle's grunge scene did in the 1990s. 

The depth of talent that was in local clubs back then was insane, and while a number of bands ended up with major label deals, Cheap Trick was the only act to break big nationally. And let's be honest, even Cheap Trick struggled to get their first hit.

One of the bands that fell into the category of "how did these guys not get a big hit?" is Off Broadway, whose 1979 debut album On is near-perfect mash-up of Beatlesque harmonies and crunchy Move-like guitars. 

On sold a respectable 200,000 or so copies, but the lead single "Stay In Time" only reached #51 on the Billboard Top 100 charts. Follow-up singles failed to chart at all and the band rushed out a follow-up album which was good, but not crammed with as much ear candy as their debut.

But a string of tough breaks is what eventually broke up the band in 1983, ranging from management and label issues to addiction problems and an unfortunate decision to book Off Broadway as an opening act for various metal bands, which ground down the will of the group.

Four members of the original band got back together in the late 1990s under the name "Black On Blond," but the following year they changed the name back to Off Broadway and released Fallin In, their first new album in 17 years. A live album soon followed, but while the band remained popular with longtime fans, it never received the attention it deserved.

Lead singer Cliff Johnson passed away a few days ago and it felt like a good time to remember this stellar example of Midwestern Power Pop.


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While The Boomtown Rats were nothing much more than a footnote in the U.S., the band had a string of nine Top Ten hits in the U.K. in the late 70s. Late by Bob Geldolf, the band's new-wavish sound combined with socially conscious lyrics hit quite hard in England, where Geldolf had famously written their first hit single while waiting at the unemployment office.

The band's lone appearance on the U.S. singles chart was "I Don't Like Mondays," which only reached #79, although it went to #1 in about a dozen countries. The song was co-written by Geldolf and fellow bandmate Johnny Fingers, after hearing about the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer. She shot up a San Diego area elementary school, killing two adults and injuring eight children and one police officer. The January 29th, 1979 shooting was the first killing spree in the world conducted by a teen at a school and after she was arrested she famously told a reporter that she did it because "I Don't Like Mondays."

This might seem like the wrong day to highlight this song. But given the fact that we are still dealing with school shootings more than 40 years later, it's worth being reminded just how long this has been going on.

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The 1970s was the decade of the pop singer-songwriter. Carole King, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Jim Croce and a hundred other musicians who cranked out thoughtful pieces of ear candy that are still being sung more than fifty years later. But that explosion of talent also inspired a generation of singer-songwriters who attempted to upend the traditional pop sound of the genre and create something new. And of all of those musicians, few are as musically interesting as Andy Pratt.

Pratt had released a solo album on Polydor to very little attention in 1969, but his self-titled 1973 debut on Columbia Records garnered rave reviews from the rock press, especially for the track "Avenging Annie." The tune was loosely about Annie Oakley and Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw and if there is a singer-songwriter equivalent to "Bohemian Rhapsody," it's this spectacularly complex tune. It begins with hoof beats, two gun shots and a soaring piano that propels the rest of the tune. The lyrics tell the story of Annie's devotional love to a man who was cruel and violent to her:

He treat me worse than I ever imagined,
He even say he don't want me around.
Kept it up so long I couldn't be strong,
He run me right into the ground for five long years,
He picked me up and then he slapped me down.

Pratt's voice flows around the lyrics and his rollicking piano, creating a song that is distinctively unlike anything else you're ever heard.  "Avenging Annie" wasn't a hit - an edited version of the song only made it to #78 on the Billboard Top 100 Chart. But the album track was a staple on FM Rock radio. It was also covered by Roger Daltry on a solo album, although to be honest, it's a pretty lifeless version.

Pratt signed with Atlantic's Nemperor Records and released "Resolution" in 1976. Helmed by Bee Gees producer Arif Mardin, the album was an attempt at a more commercial sound and indeed was Pratt's best-selling album (it reached #104 on the Billboard album charts). It also earned rave review including this one from Rolling Stone:

"By reviving the dream of rock as an art and then re-inventing it, Pratt has forever changed the face of rock."

Unfortunately, the album didn't break Pratt wide open and neither two other criminally under-appreciated albums he released later in the 1970s. In the early 80s, Pratt converted to Christianity and has continued to release albums of a more spiritual nature. 

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