American R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire from Chicago had quite a distinguished career in the Seventies, but the only (original) song from them that instantly comes to mind for me is “Boogie Wonderland”, from 1979.
I guess I just didn’t listen to their kind of music that often.
Nevertheless, the band was very successful, with six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards.
They were inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
What I do remember is the very strong horn section, and you’ll notice it here in “Boogie Wonderland”:
Squeeze are a UK band (I always thought they were called UK Squeeze) who began charting in the late Seventies with songs like “Goodbye Girl”, “Cool For Cats” and “Up The Junction” and continued to record in the Eighties and Nineties.
Actually I’ve just seen that they were called UK Squeeze initially outside the UK to avoid legal conflicts with other bands in North America and Australia, this must have been the time when I first became aware of them.
I don’t know any of the songs from their first album, “Squeeze”, but I do recognise numbers from the second, “Cool For Cats”.
Two tracks from this one reached Number 2 on the UK charts, “Cool For Cats” and “Up The Junction”.
I remember the live band at the Majestic Hotel in Palmerston North, New Zealand, playing “Cool For Cats” in 1979.
Most of their other songs I know I actually taped off a live show in Germany a few years later.
Here’s the 1978 track “Goodbye Girl”:
“Cool For Cats”, from the album of the same name, went to No. 2 in the UK and 5 in Australia:
Many Squeeze songs tell a story, and the 1979 track “Up The Junction”, another No. 2 hit, is no exception (if you’ve heard of the big railway junction just south of London, you’ll get the play on words in this one) :
The following year Squeeze again had a number of singles, one of them was “Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)”, sung here live on TV a few years later in 1985:
Another Squeeze favourite from around this time is “Tempted”:
And “Black Coffee In Bed”:
“Annie Get Your Gun” is a typical Squeeze track:
And this is “Annie Get Your Gun” live in 1982:
I hear Squeeze are together and touring again, must keep an eye out for them…
The Harry Nilsson song that stands out in my mind is his version of the Badfinger song “Without You”, which went to Number 1 across the charts (U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland…) in 1971.
“Without You”
For a long time Harry Nilsson, who became close friends with the Beatles (in particular John Lennon, with whom he collaborated to produce the 1974 album Pussy Cats”, and Ringo Starr) was better known as a songwriter than a singer.
Especially among other artists, and many of his songs are more familiar in other versions, such as the Three Dog Night hit “One”.
Here is Harry Nilsson’s own version of his song “One”:
Nilsson, who died in 1994, was not only successful at providing other musicians with songs, he is also known in theatre and as a provider of film music.
Most well known here is perhaps his singing of “Everybody’s Talkin’” in the 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy starring John Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
“Everybody’s Talkin’”:
Here are the opening scenes of “Midnight Cowboy” underscored by “Everybody’s Talkin’”:
Nilsson had actually written his Top Ten hit “I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City” as a contender for the movie:
A few years ago (2006) there was a documentary “Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)”.
I guess there is a reason “everybody’s talkin’” about him.
Johnny Nash had been singing quite a while when his single “I Can See Clearly Now”, which had been moving slowly up the charts for about a month, shot to the top in two weeks in 1972.
Around this time he was producing future reggae icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.
The Wailers were the backing band on the original recording in London, although it appears the single may have been made with members of The Average White Band.
“I Can See Clearly Now” has been used in a number of films, including a Jimmy Cliff remake in 1993 for “Cool Runnings”.
Johnny Nash, who wrote it himself, reached No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 5 in the UK with “I Can See Clearly Now”:
In 1975 Johnny Nash had his only No. 1 hit in the UK with “Tears On My Pillow, which has definite reggae undertones:
This one’s OK, but “I Can See Clearly” remains a classic.
I’ll be quite honest – “Love Is In The Air” by John Paul Young used to really get on my nerves!
But as I suppose it can be considered part of the legacy of the Seventies – it was a disco hit in 1977-1978 – I thought I’d include it here.
John Paul Young was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and emigrated to Australia with his family, arriving on Australia Day (26 January) in 1962.
“Love Is In The Air” was written by former The Easybeats members Vanda & Young, who also provided him with a number of other songs, and who played a role in the development of Australian hard rock band AC/DC (more on that another time).
So without further ado, here’s “Love Is In The Air” from John Paul Young:
Nuff said, i.e. I can’t think of anything else to say about this one…
