Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 13:00 on 4 November 2011
Brian Protheroe started out in life as an actor and was spotted by a record company employee when playing the part of a pop singer. His first single, Pinball, was something of a one-hit wonder, though.
But it’s just such a good song.
Brian Protheroe: Pinball
He later returned to acting and has had fair success, noted by Wikipedia.
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 13:00 on 5 August 2011
This seems to sum up something about the US, or it did at the time. Quite what it sums up Iâm not sure, though. Lost innocence maybe.
For a long time I thought the song was written by Guthrie himself but it was actually composed by Steve Goodman.
Arlo Guthrie is of course the son of the perhaps more famous Woody.
Arlo Guthrie: City Of New Orleans
Posted in 1970s, Lyrics, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 13:00 on 1 July 2011
Another all but forgotten gem; from 1971. It’s about the aspiration of living up to a parent’s successes. (And the impossibility of achieving them.)
I particularly like the line, “He conducted the Hallé Orchestra at the age of twenty two.”
It’s another from that school of song with jaunty tune and much less jaunty lyric.
Vaughan Thomas: I Wanna Be Famous Like My Dad
I see from the label this was produced by Mike Batt! I have previously mentioned Mike Batt in connection with this post.
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 13:00 on 27 May 2011
Another song solidly from the seventies – though Dobie Gray did have a hit in the 60s with The âInâ Crowd.
I like the tick-tock sound the drummer makes at the beginning of the second verse, âBeginning to think that Iâm wasting time.â The video blips just after that for some reason (at about 1 minute 10 seconds.)
Wikipedia says Drift Away wasn’t a hit in the UK.
Well, I bought it!
Dobie Gray: Drift Away
Posted in 1970s, Music, Reelin' In The Years at 13:00 on 20 May 2011
Now we’re in the seventies proper.
Al Stewart has one of those distinctive voices. You really couldnât mistake him for anyone else. He almost doesnât sing but more or less speaks instead. (Donât knock it. Johnny Cash made a career out of not singing.)
Time Passages was one of the songs I considered for the title to this category. It was a hit in the US but not the UK. He got a lot of airplay in Britain but not many sales I think. Year Of The Cat was his only hit single over here.
This is a live version, pretty faithful to the record.
Al Stewart: Time Passages
