seventies survival, update eleven

Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Scraps.
Categories: Music, Songs, 70s Survival.

I am listening to the top 1000 singles of the 1970s (as determined by Billboard) on shuffle play on my mp3 player, and gradually weeding out the songs I don't want to hear anymore.

Chuck Mangione, Feels So Good
I'd forgotten that this has a funky Santana-like intro. This song was so ubiquitous in Lite Muzak contexts for a while that it was impossible to like. Even now the main sax riff makes me snarl, and the wacka wacka funk lite guitar behind it doesn't help, either. But I really like the guitar break (played by Grant Geissman) that starts at 1:39; this whole section sounds like it could be from a 1980s Carla Bley album. "Feels So Good", as was discussed in the comments at Jason Hare's weblog recently, is one of the last instrumentals to make the top five. The seventies were the last good decade for hit instrumentals.

Natalie Cole, Our Love
Typical sappy seventies ballad. Hackneyed strings: yes. Harp glissandos: oh yes. Cole has a great voice, and makes a dumb song bearable, especially on the extended, lightly bouncy bridge near the end of the song. Almost all of Cole's 1970s hits were written by the production team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy (and almost all Jackson and Yancy's hits were sung by Cole). Yancy came out of gospel music; he and Cole married, divorced, Yancy returned to gospel, and died at 34 of a heart attack.

The piano opening of "Our Love" reminds me strongly of something else, but damned if I can figure out what. At first I thought it was "Isn't It Time" by the Babys, but that isn't quite it.

Santa Esmeralda, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Not the worst weird disco cover. Santa Esmeralda made spanish-flavored disco, though they were actually French studio musicians fronted by a saxophonist/singer named Leroy Gomez. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" takes up an entire side of their Casablanca LP debut. The album actually has passionate advocates among disco revivalists. The followup album was called House of the Rising Sun, I'm afraid. I feel compelled to share the cover with you:

And that's all for today!

9 comments.

ethan

Comment on October 9th, 2007.

The intro to the Santa Esmeralda song was used to great effect in Kill Bill, and then to my great disappointment when I bought the soundtrack. Such a wonderful intro, such an awful rest-of-the-song.

And that piano intro from the Natalie Cole song is going to be bugging me, too. It sounds just like something.

Scraps

Comment on October 9th, 2007.

I don't see many movies, so I'm often surprised by songs I think of as relatively obscure getting well known through movies. Thanks.

Andy

Comment on October 26th, 2007.

Hey - I came across your site through Velma's Live Journal. Came across her Live Journal this summer on a mission to find any info about the goings-on surrounding Rose's Turn...it's all a vicious circle.

Anyway, my wife & I had been semi-regulars at Rose's Turn for the past 3 years or so (I'd/we'd end up there for a Friday or Saturday evening about once every 6 weeks). So, when they shut Rose's down, I went looking for info, and roadnotes seemed to be the go-to place for the Rose's Turn scoop. And, the more I read there, the more I enjoyed following along. So, I've adopted you two into my occasional reading, in part for updates on the former Rose's Turn staff, in part because I find your writings interesting...

I've only ducked into Rita Mae's once, but I should try to get over there more often. If I ever see you guys there, I'll introduce myself...

So, now that you're probably sufficiently creeped out by your new pseudo-stalker (sorry...I'm not a stalker, I swear!), I thought I'd pass along that the "Our Love" sound clip sounds almost exactly like the intro to Seal's "Kiss from a Rose". Link to youtube video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ateQQc-AgEM

Sorry you'll have to wait through the Batman stuff at the beginning of the video...

Hopefully this is the one you were thinking of - I know how maddening it can be wondering what a song reminds you of, etc.!

See you around -

Andy

P.S. - if you know if/where Michael Isaacs plays on the weekends, I would love to go check out his new gig! Do you know if he'll be picking up any shifts at Rita Mae's? Thanks!

Scraps

Comment on October 27th, 2007.

Thank you very much! I don't think I was thinking of the Seal song, but it sure does sound similar.

Michael Isaacs isn't working at Rita Mae's, and I don't think he will be any time soon. Michael plays Tuesday nights at Brandy's, and Wednesdays at Don't Tell Mama's, and he probably has shifts at other places I don't know about.

ALAN

Comment on February 5th, 2008.

Bruce Hornsby & the Range - The Way That It Is

JWilt

Comment on March 8th, 2008.

The piano opening of "Our Love" sounds a little bit like the opening of "Fantasy" by Earth, Wind and Fire. Is that what you were thinking of?

J

Anonymous

Comment on March 8th, 2008.

Actually, it's not the opening of "Fantasy", it's the actual tune.

Scraps

Comment on March 9th, 2008.

I think that's it!

JWilt

Comment on March 9th, 2008.

Yes - harmonically and melodically it is the same as the third line of "Fantasy" (and the world can't erase his fantasies), though obviously the instrumentation and mood aren't really in the ballpark.

Hope this helped...

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