Hits of the 70s comes in a nice hinged tin box with a booklet that provides some information on the songs and the artists. I did not know that Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” hit Number One in 1979. And, I did not know that Mark Lindsey, lead singer and sax player for Paul Revere and the Raiders, also hit Number One in 1970 with “Arizona.” Paul Revere and the Raiders also hit Number One in 1971 with “Indian Reservation.”
Rare Earth did not hit Number One with their rendition of “Get Ready” in 1970–their hit only reached Number Four despite heavy airplay on FM rock radio stations. Once again, there seems to be no rime or reason for the selections of these songs from the Seventies (unless you can discern some pattern). I like Edwin Starr’s “War” and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “Tears of a Clown.” I’m not so keen on Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ “Jackie Blue.” Another mixed-bag of songs. Do you see any favorites here? GRADE: B
Tracklist
| A1 | –Edwin Starr | War | |
| A2 | –Stories | Brother Louie | |
| A3 | –Badfinger | Come And Get It | |
| A4 | –The Chi-Lites | Oh Girl | |
| A5 | –Gallery (2) | Nice To Be With You | |
| A6 | –Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds | Fallin’ In Love (Again) | |
| A7 | –The Miracles | Tears Of A Clown | |
| A8 | –Rare Earth | Get Ready | |
| A9 | –Paul Revere & The Raiders | Indian Reservation | |
| A10 | –Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes | If You Don’t Know Me By Now | |
| B1 | –The Sweet | Ballroom Blitz | |
| B2 | –Badfinger | Day After Day | |
| B3 | –Brewer And Shipley | One Toke Over The Line | |
| B4 | –The Grass Roots | Temptation Eyes | |
| B5 | –Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds | Don’t Pull Your Love | |
| B6 | –Mark Lindsay | Arizona | |
| B7 | –The Ozark Mountain Daredevils | Jackie Blue | |
| B8 | –Freda Payne | Band Of Gold | |
| B9 | –Pilot | Magic | |
| B10 | –B.J. Thomas | Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head | |
| C1 | –Anita Ward | Ring My Bell | |
| C2 | –Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes | The Love I Lost | |
| C3 | –Todd Rundgren | Hello It’s Me | |
| C4 | –Mickey Finn’s T. Rex | Bang A Gong (Get It On) | |
| C5 | –Heatwave | Boogie Nights | |
| C6 | –Atlanta Rhythm Section | So Into You | |
| C7 | –The Chi-Lites | Have You Seen Her | |
| C8 | –Maxine Nightingale | Right Back Where We Started From | |
| C9 | –Walter Egan | Magnet And Steel | |
| C10 | –The Sweet | Fox On The Run |
Thanks for the Custer book!
Bob, glad you’re recovering from your procedure! We’ve missed you! Enjoy the Custer book!
A real mixed bag—and, chronologically speaking, all over the decade (in fact, I always think of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” as a late-sixties song). Of the songs here, my favorite is “Tears of A Clown” (which actually was recorded in the 1960s—Motown kept it in a vault for a few years until releasing it in 1970). I loathe Paul Revere & the Raiders version of “Indian Reservation,” which strikes me as the worst sort of patronizing. The original version—which charted in England, but not in the States—was written and performed by someone with Native American ancestry.
Deb, I’m with you on “Indian Reservation.” It always rang hollow to me. I would also choose “Tears of a Clown” as the best song on these CDs.
So much great music in the 70s and so little of it here. There’s nothing really appealing here but I can tolerate Badfinger and Todd Rundgren. As well as I can recall I’ve never actually bought a compilation and never bought an album by anyone here.
Michael, as Deb points out this compilation is a real mixed-bag of songs. Big Name groups of the 1970s are mostly absent from these CDs.
I was apparently absent without leave through the seventies. I recognize very few of these.
Patti, most of these songs entered the BILLBOARD charts…and then fell off quickly.
I’m with Tony Soprano – I like the Chi-Lites songs, as well as Smokey Robinson. Here are a few other comments at random on the list: “War” always makes me think of the funny scene in SEINFELD, where Jerry convinces Elaine that Tolstoy’s original title for WAR AND PEACE was WAR – WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? I’m surprised Deb didn’t name the Teddy Pendergrass songs with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. At one point, when WCBS-FM still played real oldies from the ’60s and ’70s (rather than the crap they mostly play today), Jackie and I used to joke that they were required to play “Band of Gold” every day, as that seemed to be how often we heard it. There aren’t many #1 songs about sexual dysfunction. Every time I hear an American singer try (badly) to sing “English” I think of Maxine Nightingale. She is English, but you would never know it listening to her sing. I did know about “Arizona” and the other as we’ve seen both Paul Revere & the Raiders and Mark Lindsay perform (separately) in recent years.
Jeff, I thought PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS and Mark Lindsay had a parting of ways.
They did. We saw each of them separately in different oldies shows. Lindsay is the one you usually see these days.
Very little here that interests me and very little worth remembering. I will, however, give a solid plug for ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE — not the Brewer and Shipley version, but the entirely misunderstood and unintentionally hilarious version performed by Lawrence Welk’s crew of solid lily-white singers.
Jerry, Lawrence Welk is underrated.
No he isn’t.
Steve, Buffalo has a large Polish community and Lawrence Welk shows up on our local PBS station with regularity.
Yes, I’ve seen it. Brilliant. It brought to mind Lily Tomlin’s line in THE SEARCH FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE: “Is this happening, or is it the hash?”
Jerry-The Lawrence Welk version can be seen on Youtube.
Not a lot here to like other than Tears of a Clown and War. A few I detest and a few I don’;t recall.
I like T Rex but this is not the original version here. Mickey Finn’s T Rex was formed as a touring band in the late 90’s. Finn had been in the original T Rex. This version is far inferior to the original. T Rex without Marc Bolan? No way.
A lot of good music made in the 70’s-Springsteen, Tom Petty, Dylan, The Clash, Talking Heads, Blondie Lou Reed. All superior to what’s here.
I give this a D.
Steve, I agree there’s a lot of mediocrity here. But, for dollar at a Salvation Army Thrift Store, I guess it’s worth it.
Seems my original comment was lost …
I don’t remember many of these songs, have no CD of the artists in my collection, did listen to other stuff (Blues and Real Rock).
But I remember “Indian Reservation” – it was one of the reasons why we stayed a night in Cherokee and of course visited the Cherokee museum on our last trip to the USA from Nashville via Savannah to the Space Center and back.
Fond memories!
Wolf, “Indian Reservation” had a big impact decades ago.