I'm not a fan of most music from the '70s. In fact, I once made the argument to my brother that one is very hard pressed to find a hit song from the '70s that wasn't campy or ridiculous in some way. Obviously, there are exceptions ("Imagine" by John Lennon, I suppose), and I don't really consider this one of them.
British music was really really really really really cool in the early '70s, so I think it's neato that this little band from Tampa was able to pull off a hit song amidst all the Brit-hype. Singer Mike Pinera has a very unusual voice for this kind of music. He almost sounds like an aging blues singer who can't fully break from his gutteral nature to sing a rock song. The really cool thing, though, is that it totally works.
I read this quote from Pinera about the process of writing this song, and I absolutely need to share it here:
"I went into the bathroom, and I shut the door, and I just meditated. I calmed my mind, and I started hearing music. I went out and sat at the piano, which was a Rhodes Model No. 73, which had 73 keys. So I say, 'Okay, I need a first word.' And what came into my head was 73. I liked the rhythm, and I went, '73 men sailed in, from the San Francisco Bay.' The song sort of just wrote itself from there." (Source)
It's a cool little story that matches one of the coolest, if not the coolest song from that era.
It's a shame that Blues Image was never able to match the success of their hit song, but really, did they need to? This song is still an icon of the '70s, and it still often appears in '70s flashbacks in popular movies and television shows. And if that doesn't tell you that you wrote a cool song, I don't know what does.
Listen
| Available On: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorman (Soundtrack) | Universal | B0002864-02 | CD |
I'll start with one of my favorites from our rotation. This is Heidi's lead-off single; she's been the vocalist for country group Trick Pony since 1996 and has just launched her solo career. As you may have deduced from the title, it's (sort of) about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The singer expresses a desire to have a "love like [theirs]," complete with "rings of fire, burning with you." She even adds that "when you're gone, I wanna go too."
He's the king of honky-tonk and has been for years, thanks to songs like "Chatahoochee" and "Don't Rock The Jukebox." Alan's latest single certainly isn't about anything serious; he's just looking for a party when he's off work. The song does wonders to capture the spirit of being off work on a Friday night and wanting to nothing more than kick back and hang out with friends. We've all been there, right?
This song would be cuter if the vocals weren't so annoying. It appears to be the summer song of choice for fans of country radio, so I guess I can't argue with that. It's not about anything, in the sense that it's about a desire to do nothing. No depth here, so this one gets a short review.
Reba's latest album is a collection of duets. On the album she sings this one with Kenny Chesney, but the single version (with which I am familiar) is done with Skip Ewing, who co-wrote the song. It's about a divorced couple who see each other only every other weekend, when their children transition from one house to the other.
It's no secret that country singers (males especially) love to write about old shit. They love to sing of the way things used to be, the way things were when they were kids, or when their kids were kids. Country music has an overwhelming longing for the past, which makes sense considering the primary listening audience.
I'm trying really, really hard to like this song. It seems like it should be likeable, and I should sure as heck like Craig Morgan for all the charity work that he does. I'll be honest though; I'm struggling.
After "Before He Cheats," I never thought that Carrie would release another single that would make me smile. I was wrong.
I'm actually surprised that this album hasn't ever made it to CD. It contains the classic track "Passion," which has been sampled by countless DJs, including the legendary Felix da Housecat. "Jukebox" is a classic as well, but it's been released on a bunch of compilation CDs, as it's somewhat of an '80s radio classic. The rest of the album is beachy surf-party-rock fun, but "Jukebox" and "Passion" alone justify a CD release of this album.
If It weren't for an old friend of mine, I never would have appreciated Falco's musical talent. Everybody who knows '80s music is familiar with his track "Rock Me Amadeus," but few remember that he originally recorded the song "Der Kommissar" before it was made famous by the group After The Fire just one year later. Aside from that track though, there are several golden early rap numbers on this LP. My personal favorite is "Zuviel Hitze" (German for "Too Much Heat").
An absolute favorite from my childhood! Snoopy goes flashdance as he sneaks out at night and breakdances in the local discotheque. Mega '80s and totally tubular! The title track would have fit right into Top 40 radio in 1983. The female vocals on it (and the other songs on this record) are sung by Desiree Goyette, who also holds a special place in my heart for doing music for some Garfield specials as well. She's a talented lady with a beautiful voice. She now runs 
A classic synthpop record, and one of St. James' two solo albums, both of which are genius. This one sticks more to a solid synthpop/new wave sound, while his second album, Fast Impressions, was more of an exploration in MIDI programming and instrumentals. This one sports some killer vocals and melodies, and an awesome version of the Q classic "Playback," sung as a duet with Miss Q herself.
I'm cheating a bit on this one, as it has indeed been pressed on a CD, but only in Japan. When it's on eBay it sells for ridiculous amounts of money.
Every single track on this record is brilliant. It's from the golden era of new wave. It's a perfect blend of electronic new wave and new wave rock. Bottom line, it makes you want to dance your ass off. I'd love to have this one on CD so I can crank it super loud without hearing "s" distortion, and so I can hear the full instrumental quality of "Talk Of The Town," "Katmandu," and "Don't Take The Candy."
Executives at EMI Records, heed my words: If you re-release this album on CD, it will fly off of the shelves. This album has such a cult following that I'm stunned that it's never been pressed on a CD. Maybe I'm biased because I consider it to be the soundtrack of my life, but I'm not going to accept that that's the only reason I want this on a CD. I think these songs deserve to be heard by today's ears again, because they're the masterwork of the artists that worked on them.
