Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 29 April 2022
A one-hit wonder from a Welsh band. The song was inspired by the film of the same name.
Racing Cars: They Shoot Horses Don’t They?
Posted in 1970s, Dumbarton FC, Events dear boy. Events at 20:30 on 28 April 2022
Former Son Graham Fyfe who played for the club in the late 1970s after appearing for Rangers and Hibs has sadly died.
He played 59 games for the club and scored 11 goals. As I recall one of those was a peach of a team move which he finished off with a glorious volley. Unfortunately I can’t remember who it was scored against. I seem to remember it was during an evening game though.
Graham Fyfe: 18/8/1951 – 19/4/2022. So it goes.
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 18 March 2022
Simply magnificent.
The full version, obviously.
Don McLean: American Pie
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 11 February 2022
This is one of those songs that is instantly recognisable. It is also one of those which is more known in retrospect than it was on its original release in 1978. It only reached no 87 in the UK charts. (A no 8 in Australia though, and no 21 in the US.) Its later use in a film helped keep its profile up though.
Warren Zevon: Werewolves Of London
Posted in 1970s, Events dear boy. Events, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 22 January 2022
So long then Meatloaf. I heard the sad news as soon as my radio alarm switched on yesterday morning.
I was never the greatest fan of his – the productions on his recordings were (I know deliberately) overblown – but I certainly recognised his ability as a performer whenever I saw footage of his concerts/performances on TV. You could certainly never mistake his voice for anyone else. That’s one of the things that makes for a distinctive artist though.
He seems to have been a relatively modest guy too; not like your usual pop star, though he would refuse that designation. He apparently didn’t like anyone using the words ‘icon’ or ‘rock star’ about him and refused to have them on any promotional material.
I must confess I don’t remember hearing the spoken word intro to this track – his first UK hit, albeit only at no 33 – before. Radio edits must omit it.
Meat Loaf: You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
Michael Lee Aday (Meat Loaf:) 27/9/1947 – 20/1/2022. So it goes.
Posted in 1970s, Events dear boy. Events, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 20:30 on 17 December 2021
Also in the Guardian last week was the obituary of Robbie Shakespeare, one half of the rhythm section players Sly and Robbie.
Reggae wasn’t/isn’t my thing but I knew Sly and Robbie were well-regarded in the music business.
Another (private) blog I visit posted this, recorded when he was nineteen, as a tribute to Robbie.
Bob Marley and the Wailers: Midnight Ravers
Robert Warren Dale (Robbie) Shakespeare: 27/9/1953 – 8/12/2021. So it goes.
Posted in 1970s, Events dear boy. Events, Music, Reelin' In The Years, The Moody Blues at 20:30 on 19 November 2021
Though he contributed spoken word pieces to the previous five albums plus an instrumental in Beyond from To Our Children’s Children’s Children only six Moody Blues songs were credited to their late drummer Graeme Edge as sole writer. This rocker, the last track on side one of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, was one of them.
The Moody Blues: After You Came
Graeme Charles Edge: 30/3/1941 – 11/11/2021. So it goes.
Posted in 1970s, Jethro Tull, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 12 November 2021
One of the more understated tracks on Jethro Tull’s 1971 LP Aqualung was this acoustic ditty, Wond’ring Aloud.
Jethro Tull: Wond’ring Aloud
On the compilation album Living in the Past, was a reworking/extension, Wond’ring Again, which may be Ian Anderson’s masterpiece. A meditation on humanity’s propensity to mess things – especially the planet – up. From forty years ago!
It’s also a perfect example of Anderson’s lyricism, moving from the poetic to the mundane within a sentence.
Jethro Tull: Wond’ring Again
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 1 October 2021
Another of Status Quo’s founder members, bassist Alan Lancaster, has died. He played with the band through their early heyday, from 1967-1985 and again in 2013-14.
This song is from 1972 from around the time the band had hit on the recipe of driving rock which would ensure more sustained success and fan loyalty than they had previously achieved. Lancaster’s bass was a major part of that.
Status Quo: Paper Plane
Alan Charles Lancaster: 7/2/1949 – 26/9/2021. So it goes.
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 12:00 on 24 September 2021
A piece of slightly risqué pop. The clip has Noosha Fox dressed as a schoolgirl singing a song about a woman who falls for her uncle. But in any case he’s gay.
On Top of the Pops this was introduced by a now infamous sexual predator.
That will be why this clip starts so abruptly; as he’s been cut out of it.
Noosha Fox: Georgina Bailey
