The year 1977 was on the cusp of the Disco Era (the week of July 21, 1979, is often cited as a peak period, with the top six songs in the US and seven in the Billboard Top Ten being disco tunes). It was a year that featured hits by Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Hall & Oates, Al Stewart, and Dave Mason. It also featured some unlikely hits by David Soul, Andrew Gold, Meco, Alan O’Day, Kenny Nolan, and Shaun Cassidy.
The top 10 best-selling singles of 1977, based on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles chart, are:
“Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” – Rod Stewart
“I Just Want to Be Your Everything” – Andy Gibb
“Best of My Love” – The Emotions
“Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)” – Barbra Streisand
“Angel in Your Arms” – Hot
“I Like Dreamin'” – Kenny Nolan
“Mull of Kintyre” – Wings
“Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” – Julie Covington
“When I Need You” – Leo Sayer
“Don’t Give Up on Us” – David Soul
So “Don’t Give Up on Us” by David Soul and “I Like Dreamin'” by Kenny Nolan ended up on AM Gold 1977. Not bad. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | Fleetwood Mac– | Don’t Stop Music By, Lyrics By – Christine McVie | 3:13 |
| 2 | Linda Ronstadt– | It’s So Easy Music By, Lyrics By – Buddy Holly, Norman Petty | 2:30 |
| 3 | Daryl Hall And John Oates*– | Rich Girl Music By, Lyrics By – Daryl Hall | 2:28 |
| 4 | Climax Blues Band– | Couldn’t Get It Right Music By, Lyrics By – Colin Cooper, Derek Holt, John Cuffley, Peter Haycock*, Frederick Jones | 3:20 |
| 5 | Al Stewart– | Year Of The Cat Music By, Lyrics By – Al Stewart, Peter Wood | 4:39 |
| 6 | Commodores– | Easy Music By, Lyrics By – Lionel Richie | 4:24 |
| 7 | Andrew Gold– | Lonely Boy Music By, Lyrics By – Andrew Gold | 4:0au2 |
| 8 | 10cc– | The Things We Do For Love Music By, Lyrics By – Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman | 3:33 |
| 9 | Dave Mason– | We Just Disagree Music By, Lyrics By – Jim Krueger | 3:03 |
| 10 | David Soul– | Don’t Give Up On Us Music By, Lyrics By – Tony Macaulay | 3:39 |
| 11 | Meco*– | Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band Music By, Lyrics By – John Williams | 3:38 |
| 12 | Rose Royce– | Car Wash Music By, Lyrics By – Norman Whitfield | 3:18 |
| 13 | KC And The Sunshine Band*– | I’m Your Boogie Man Music By, Lyrics By – Harry Casey | 4:05 |
| 14 | Marilyn McCoo And Billy Davis Jr.*– | You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) Music By, Lyrics By – James Dean (3), John Henry Glover | 3:55 |
| 15 | Atlanta Rhythm Section– | So In To You Music By, Lyrics By – Buddy Buie, Dean Daughtry, Robert Nix | 3:20 |
| 16 | Alan O’Day– | Undercover Angel Music By, Lyrics By – Alan O’Day | 3:34 |
| 17 | Shaun Cassidy– | That’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Music By, Lyrics By – Eric Carmen | 2:56 |
| 18 | Kenny Nolan– | I Like Dreamin’ Music By, Lyrics By – Kenny Nolan | 3:32 |
| 19 | Glen Campbell– | Southern Nights Music By, Lyrics By – Allen Toussaint | 3:02 |
| 20 | Firefall– | Just Remember I Love You Music By, Lyrics By – Rick Roberts | 3:14 |
Oh baby, does this collection bring back memories of college and early adulthood. Unsurprisingly, I know every song here—and, perhaps equally unsurprisingly, I like most of them—even if some of them are liked because of the rosy glow of nostalgia. Probably my favorites here are “Year of the Cat” (one of the most 70s album covers of all time) and “You Don’t Have to Be A Star”. But I probably wouldn’t turn off the radio if any of these songs came on. Again, nostalgia can alter one’s perceptions, lol.
Deb, I remember these songs playing on my radio back in 1977. Love “Year of the Cat”! Sirius/XM Radio plays it occasionally on THE BLEND.
Top honors here have to go to Linda Ronstadt. I also like/moderately like/tolerate Marilyn McCoo, Fletwood Mac, Al Stewart, and Glen Campbell; I’m afraid I don’t recognize the rest. These were the years when I was too busy doing other things and our kids were way too young to listen to pop music. As far as the quality of the songs go, I can’t weather a judgment, so I’ll bow to Deb because whippersnappers like her are far more qualified to judge.
Jerry, you can’t go wrong with Deb’s judgement! Like AM GOLD 1977, Deb’s musical tastes are golden!
I remember all but two of them. In 1977, with a two-year old daughter and another baby on the way, mu wife and I bought our first home, a townhouse in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. The price? Read it and weep. $40,000.
Fred, Diane and I bought our first house in 1980…$46,000. But our mortgage interest rate was 16%!
My family moved from Kailua, HI to Fairfax, VA in 1983, and I rejoined them after another year at U Hawaii…everything seemed inexpensive, even in the DC area, after Hawaii. (Except uni…my tuition at U Hawaii was $317 a semester in ’82, while George Mason U started at +/- $2K per year in ’84…still doable, vs. what’s happened since.
Ha…carried over the Babs song from your other list.
I remember almost everything here because in 1977 I’d recently got my driver’s license and the family Ford Granada only had an AM radio. There’s nothing here that I’d listen to today but I be bemused to hear about half of these tracks if they were playing in the background in a store.
I was in love with Linda Ronstadt and even have a poster of her on my bedroom wall, next to my Roger Dean and Star Wars posters, beside my Dune Calendar. I remember thinking the Al Stewart track was kind of cool at the time but was still way more into Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street.” I hated the Meco, especially since the actual John Williams recording had already been climbing the charts at the time and this just killed it. The David Soul was probably the single worst thing I’ve ever heard but will admit he was actually a much better actor than he ever got credit for.
Byron, David Soul surprised the musical world in 1977 with his hit “Don’t Give Up On Us”–the 10th best selling single on the BILLBOARD pop chart. And, I agree: he was a good actor who was underrated.
Byron’s black beasts on this album are mine as well–the Meco and the Soul–but I’d certainly listen to the Fleetwood Mac (not my favorite of theirs) with no complaint. The Streisand I might switch off without a second thought, but in no hurry.
This album is elevated by the lack of Leo Sayer songs, one of the very worst performers from a decade of horrible chart-riders. His very face was annoying, much less any sounds he emitted.
Lots of good stuff here and, like Deb, it provoked a bit of time travel for me.
Favorites are Al Stewart, Glen Campbell, and Firefall.
I know it wasn’t very popular here but I do like Mull of Kintyre.
Beth, same here!
For a while (still?) the best-selling single thus far in the UK.
“It [“Mull…”] went on to become the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK and became the UK’s best-selling single of all-time (eclipsing the Beatles’ own “She Loves You”) until overtaken by Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984 (which also featured McCartney on the B-side).[12] The song remains the UK’s best-selling completely non-charity single, having sold 2.09 million copies.[13] (Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” has sold more in its two releases, but the profits of the 1991 release were donated to charity.)[2]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_(song)
If you listen carefully, he says “I like dweamin'” rather than “dreamin’.” Well, sure, I know them. If I had to pick, I’d go with Linda and the Fleetwood Mac, but several others are OK. I would pass on Shaun Cassidy and David Soul.
Jeff, both Shaun Cassidy’s song and David Soul’s song benefited from their TV presence.
I can barely remember Cassidy’s voice or music, which suggests to me I lucked out and missed him, or found him trivially inoffensive, or some mix of those. Soul was obviously incorrectly impressed with his own lack of musical/composition talent.