My Seventies Music

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  • Steve Miller Band – “Fly Like An Eagle”, “The Joker”, “Take The Money And Run”, “Rock’n Me” and “Jet Airliner”

    The Steve Miller Band album “Fly Like An Eagle” was released in 1976 and reached No. 3 in the US album charts, with the single of the same name hitting No. 2 in 1977.

    Two other tracks from the album also charted, “Take The Money And Run” at No. 11 in 1976, and “Rock’n Me” took the top spot the same year.

    “Fly Like An Eagle” had actually been around since 1973, following the band’s hit “The Joker”.

    Here is the album version of “Fly Like An Eagle”:

    And this is the Steve Miller Band playing “Fly Like An Eagle” live in 1973:

    I was actually thinking I didn’t know the 1973 No. 1 hit “The Joker”, but as soon as I heard the intro I recognised it:

    Same with this one, “Take The Money And Run”:

    And this one too – “Rock’n Me”:

    Still going in the 21st century, here’s “Rock’n Me” live in Chicago in 2007:

    I also remember “Jet Airliner”, a No. 8 hit from 1977 off the album “Book Of Dreams”. This live version is from the same concert in Chicago 30 years later:

    And if you’d like to hear the original, and you like watching a big ole’ jet airliner taking off (like I do!), take a look at this:

    My brother actually flies these things. Wow!

    Paul

  • Gerry Rafferty – “Baker Street” and “Right Down The Line”

    Cover of "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty 1978
    In 1978 Gerry Rafferty wrote or at least released his hit song “Baker Street”, on his album “City To City” and as a single.

    Some time later, can’t remember if it was at the end of that year or on another visit to the UK a few years later when I was living in Germany, I cruised down Baker Street on a National Express bus entering London from the north.

    And about five and a half years ago, shortly after moving to South West Scotland with my family, on a visit to London we walked along Baker Street just before the shops shut looking for an artists supply shop to get something for my daughter.

    I remember that by that time my feet hurt and I did not enjoy the experience.

    In fact, on both occasions I was wondering what was so special about Baker Street to motivate Gerry Rafferty to write a song about it.

    I have in the back of my mind that it had something to do with Sherlock Holmes, but now I have just read that the song relates to the author’s days as a busker on the London Underground.

    Well, actually, watching the video below, turns out I was right about a Sherlock Holmes connection after all – can’t say I remember seeing the Sherlock Holmes Museum though, maybe it wasn’t there yet.

    This video of “Baker Street” is an HD stereo version that shows shots of the street, the museum and the Baker Street tube station:

    “Baker Street” is particularly famous for its saxophone solo, and apparently this had an influence on the use of the saxophone in other music at the time, and even on the sale of saxophones! (Reminds me of the “Saxophone Song” on Kate Bush’s “The Kick Inside” album.)

    Here’s another one from the same album, “Right Down The Line”:

    Gerry Rafferty earlier teamed up with Joe Egan to form Stealers Wheel, producing the well known track (well, to me at least…) “Stuck In The Middle With You”. I’ll save that for another time.

    Meanwhile I might watch the “Baker Street” video again and see if I can spot any more clues…

    Paul

    P.S. Meanwhile Gerry Rafferty died in the first half of 2011. R.I.P. Gerry…

  • Klaatu – “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft”, “Sub Rosa Subway”, “Doctor Marvello”, “California Jam” and “True Life Hero”

    Klaatu/3:47 EST album cover

    I think it must have been about 1976 or 1977 when I bought an album by a Canadian band called Klaatu with, among others, the track “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft” (which was covered by The Carpenters soon after it came out).

    It was rumoured that this was actually the Beatles in disguise, so to speak.

    Parts of the record certainly sounded like the Beatles, but you couldn’t be sure.

    Well, now you can. It wasn’t.

    The debut album “Klaatu” was actually called “3:47 EST” in Canada, but was changed by the US record label, so I guess I got the US version.

    The name Klaatu was taken from an extraterrestial (i.e. outer space person) played by Michael Rennie in the film “The Day The Earth Stood Still”. (I think Michael Rennie is also referred to by Richard O’Brien in the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature”, the title track of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.)

    Whatever, the music makes pleasant listening, Beatles-like or not.

    So without further ado, here are some tracks from that first album (there were more).

    “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft”:

    “Sub Rosa Subway”:

    “Doctor Marvello”:

    “California Jam”:

    “True Life Hero” (sounds a bit like Juke Box Hero”, doesn’t it…):

    May the force be with you…

    Paul

    P.S. Sorry, wromg film. 😉

  • Renee Geyer – “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”, “It’s A Man’s World”, “Stares And Whispers”, “Heading In The Right Direction”, “Do You Know What I Mean” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

    On a late January 1980 night at an open air festival in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand, in the southern summer heat, I heard Australian blues and soul singer Renee Geyer singing “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”.

    It has stuck in my mind ever since.

    I could only find a couple of very short fragments of Renee Geyer singing “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”, but I thought I’d include them anyway to give you a taste. Here she is in 1976:

    And here’s a video excerpt of Renee Geyer’s version of “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right” in 1982:

    One of Renee Geyer’s earlier successes was with the James Brown song “It’s A Man’s World”:

    Her biggest Australian hit was “Stares And Whispers”, here live in 1977:

    Renee Geyer’s first single released in the US and UK was “Heading In The Right Direction”, sung here live in 1976:

    “Do You Know What I Mean” came out just after the Seventies ended:

    And, still going strong three decades later, here with the classic “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”:

    What a voice. Just like on a hot summer night 30 years ago.

    Paul

  • Puhdys -“Ikarus”, “Ikarus II” and “Mephisto”

    I first came across the East German band Puhdys back in either 1978 or 1979 on a trip to Germany (before I lived there) and bought their album “Pudhys 5”, with tracks like “Ikarus II”, “Mephisto” and “Wilde Jahre” (Wild Years).

    Pudhys, who were heavily influenced by artists like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, were the first “Ostrock” or East German rock band allowed to visit West Germany.

    As you can imagine, there is not a lot of video footage from back then, so I have mainly only been able to find film of them playing in more recent times – it appears they are still going strong.

    This is “Ikarus”, live in 2006, I’m not sure if it’s the same song as “Ikarus II” on the album I have, it’s a bit hard to tell (this is just music without lyrics):

    Here is a live version of “Ikarus II” from 1993 (takes a while to get going and the video quality is not that great):

    This version of “Mephisto”, also on “Puhdys 5”, is the studio version:

    Actually I did turn up a couple of videos from the Seventies after all, but I found them a bit boring so I’ll leave it at that and play the record again some time to find the ones I do like.

    Paul

    P.S. On coming back to this page some time later and playing the first Ikarus video, I have now actually found a live version of “Ikarus” from 1979 (audio only sorry) that brings across the feeling of hard rock behind the Iron Curtain when this music first came out:

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