The Hard to Find 45s on CD initially began as a compilation series collecting songs that appeared on 45s back in the 1960s. After a few volumes, the series branched out to include songs from a time when 45s were disappearing. You have to take “Seventies Pop Classics” with a grain of salt when you consider the 20 songs on this CD. Perhaps “Songs Not Heard Much Any More” would be a better subtitle.
There’s “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas which hit Number One in October 1974. Marlyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.’s “You to Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) was their first single after they left The Fifth Dimension. I’ve always liked Jennifer Warnes “Right Time of the Night.” And Bob Welch’s “Ebony Eyes.”
Do you remember some of these obscure hits? Any favorites? GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | Exile (7)– | Kiss You All Over | 3:28 |
| 2 | Suzi Quatro And Chris Norman– | Stumblin’ In | 3:28 |
| 3 | The Poppy Family– | Which Way You Goin’ Billy? | 3:21 |
| 4 | Edward Bear– | Last Song | 3:10 |
| 5 | Hurricane Smith– | Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? | 3:24 |
| 6 | Billy Ocean– | Love Really Hurts WIthout You | 2:59 |
| 7 | Carl Douglas– | Kung Fu Fighting | 3:14 |
| 8 | Maxine Nightingale– | Right Back Where We Started From | 3:12 |
| 9 | Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.– | You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) | 3:41 |
| 10 | Toby Beau– | My Angel Baby | 3:29 |
| 11 | Chris Rea– | Fool (If You Think It’s Over) | 3:32 |
| 12 | Samantha Sang– | Emotion | 3:55 |
| 13 | Jennifer Warnes– | Right Time Of The Night | 2:50 |
| 14 | Prelude (3)– | After The Goldrush | 2:07 |
| 15 | Boney M.– | Rivers Of Babylon | 4:17 |
| 16 | Daniel Boone– | Beautiful Sunday | 3:01 |
| 17 | Pilot– | Magic | 3:03 |
| 18 | Bob Welch– | Ebony Eyes | 3:26 |
| 19 | Sniff ‘n’ The Tears– | Driver’s Seat | 3:42 |
| 20 | John Paul Young– | Love Is In The Air | 3:2 |
I have this CD too, along with several other Eric compilations. This is a fairly representative slice of ’70s music. I actually like many of the cuts that others of better taste probably detest, like the Hurricane Smith, Daniel Boone, Chris Rea, and John Paul Young tracks–nostalgia is a powerful drug. An inferior Tom Jones cover of KUNG FU FIGHTING was featured in SUPERCOP, the edited America dub of Jackie Chan’s POLICE STORY 3. The Carl Douglas original was light-years better.
Fred, I forgot KUNG FU FIGHTING hit the top spot on the BILLBOARD chart. The Carl Douglas version is the Gold Standard.
Or the pyrite standard!
To me the represntatives of 70’s music are Springsteen, The Who, Tom Petty, Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Fleetwood Mac, Patti Smith, The ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, The Clash not this vapid stuff.
Steve, I agree with your line-up of major artists and groups of the 1970s. But HARD TO FIND 45s ON CD provided songs (including some vapid stuff) that some listeners were looking for.
I know every one of these songs—no surprise, given that I was glued to a radio for most of the 1970s. My favorite songs here are “Ebony Eyes” by Bob Welch (who wrote one of Fleetwood Mac’s dreamiest pre-Buckingham/Nicks songs, “Hypnotized”, but missed the band’s superstar status) and “Driver’s Seat” by Sniff & the Tears (which has such a modern sound, it’s hard to believe it’s 45 years old). Boney M were a disco act that tried to cram cultural lessons into their lyrics (don’t believe me? check out their song “Rasputin”), although I don’t think anyone cared when they were shaking their booties to the music on the dance floor. On the other hand, if I never hear “Which Way You Going, Billy?” again, I won’t complain.
Deb, I had a feeling these songs would bring back some memories for you! Like you, I’m a fan of Bob Welch. I realized after listening to HARD TO FIND 45s ON CD, VOLUME8 that I hadn’t heard some of these songs in decades!
Fleetwood Mac continued doing “Hypnotized” on their first post-Welch tour, with Stevie Nicks singing it.
I’m glad to hear that. It’s one of my all-time favorite F-M songs. Bob Welch also wrote “Sentimental Lady”. I’m not sure if it was recorded by F-M, but he did a solo version that I think had Stevie Nicks singing on it. (Sadly, Welch committed suicide a few years ago.)
Boney James, for whatever reason (the desire to instruct?) did a Lot better in Europe than they did here.
About the time Deb was glued, I became unglued. So only a few are familiar. Last night I heard a Bruce Springsteen tribute band for two hours and only recognized a few of their songs. Sad.
Patti, music is a big part of my Life. When I drive around while doing errands, there’s alway music in my vehicle. When Diane and I take a Road Trip, we listen to Sirius/XM Radio or play music CDs. But, like you, I have gaps in my musical knowledge. When I was working on my PhD. in the early 1990s, I wasn’t listening to much music because I was reading and writing so much so artists and groups from that era are vague to me.
Well, sure I know most of them. But surely “After the Goldrush” is Neil Young. Do not know this version. I do have the version on TRIO by Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, and Dolly said she knew the Prelude version when they did it. Deb is too kind about The Poppy Family. I’d rather shoot myself in the head than listen to that crap. Do not know Sniff ‘n’ the Tears. Some real earworm songs – Magic and Kiss You All Over. A few good ones but no real favorites. Maybe the Maxine Nightingale. You’d never know she was English, would you?
I should look for the ’60s versions.
Jeff, the 60s versions of HARD TO FIND 45s ON CD contain plenty of obscure hits that I love. But, they follow the format of this CD: some well-known songs mixed with some drivel.
I did check. I see what you mean, with the obscure mixed with well known. We have many compilations of ’60s songs already, as well as ’50s doo wop from what I think of as the Bill Crider era. There are some 1955-1960 collections of Hard To Find 45s on CD too. I didn’t see anything I “had” to have.
We did a George yesterday, went for our annual physicals and blood work. It all came back OK, so set for another year.
Jeff, congratulations to you and Jackie on your annual physicals and blood work! I’m always in favor of finding medical problems when they are small rather than letting them grow into Big Problems!
Did they have music in the Seventies? I don’t remember.
Well, Jerry, they did have what I enjoyed, even on AM radio in ’73-’76, the likes of
“Rikki Don’t Lose that Number” by Steely Dan (and Horace Silver)
“The World Is a Ghetto” among others by War
the release as a single of “Got To Get You Into My Life” (wish McCartney had tapped more often into his early exposure to jazz) (and Wings had some good ones)
“Nothing from Nothing” by Billy Preston (among others)
“Killing Me Softly” by Robert Flack
“You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon
“Right Place, Wrong Time” by Dr. John (along with his better songs from earlier, mostly)
“Long Train Running” among others, but particularly that one, by the Doobie Brothers
“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” by the Temptations…
and most of those from the 1973 charts alone…
I peobably heard some more – you couldn’t evade them if you were on the road and wanted the traffic news.
But the only one I remember is Rivers of Babylon – surely not one of my favourites, but hell …
Wolf, “Rivers of Babylon” brings back a lot of memories!
Since I was the record buyer among my siblings, everyone else spent their disposable cash on hip and trendy clothes.
I recognize them all. Favorites here are Kiss You All Over, Last Song, Emotion, and especially Driver’s Seat.
It’s no wonder Kung Fu Fighting was a hit; it seemed like every other movie during that time had what my Mom referred to as “flying feet.”
Beth, you’re right about “Flying Feet” being a feature of 1970s TV and movies!
I know pretty much everything here. And I don’t like any of them. This is not the music liked in the 70’s. I would give this an F.
Steve, I’m sometimes surprised that compilation CDs like HAR TO FIND 45s ON CD found an audience for so many years!
Unless AFTER THE GOLD RUSH is an obscure cover of the great Neil Young song, which I doubt, then KUNG FU FIGHTING is the only thing here that I’ve even heard, and it seems likely that I haven’t missed anything.
Michael, some of the songs on HARD TO FIND 45s ON CD, VOLUME 8 are obscure for a reason.
After the Gold Rush is indeed a Neil Young cover, done a capella.
Worst radio fodder of the early ’70s that comes to mind from my Connecticut years (1973-76):
“I Started a Joke” by the Bee Gees (even given it was released in 1969) and everything else by them
“Kung Fu Fighting” by, really, anyone
“Billy, Don’t Be a Hero” by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
“Run, Joey, Run” by David Geddes
“Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks (and, of course, Rod McKuen)
“Little Willy” and everything else by Sweet
“Beth” and everything else by KISS
though I like some of Melanie Safka’s songs, “Brand New Key” even down to its Really clumsy innuendo bugged me (spell-checker wants it to be Sifaka…perhaps a lemur might’ve performed the song more amusingly)
Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died”…one probably need not go on…
Todd, I’m alway curious how a song like “The Night Chicago Died” could have been a hit. What was it that lead millions of listeners to buy it????
I suspect that since they were the originators of “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero”, though the US cover got all the undeserved attention (the Paper Lace original got onto the lower rungs of the US charts), the thought probably was, well, these clowns can make a hit, and so let’s promote this one and see who salutes. It’s not as if the music industry has ever cared about quality of work, so much how easy it is to mulct the rubes with this or that thing.
Todd, that is a very deadly list of “songs”–and I especially agree with you on KISS!
No mention of Paul Anka’s “Having My Baby”? That song has got to be in heavy rotation on the jukebox in hell!
How about “Timothy” with its sensitive story of cannibalistic coal miners?
Or “D.O.A.” by Bloodrock. I don’t think I need say more about that.
And let’s not forget “Hello, This Is Joni” where the guy’s girlfriend has died, so he keeps calling her phone number so he can hear her voice on her answering machine.
TL;DR: we sure listened to a lot of crap in the 1970s. I know; I was there.
There’s always a Lot of crap, thanks to the Music Industry, which likes to sell crap at least as much as likes to sell art…happily for me, the Bloodrock and most of those other tracks weren’t playing on the Top 40 station, WIC, that was the only one I could get my ancient clock radio to tune to effectively, when I needed to be awakened and get ready to walk to the Nathan Hale Elementary School (I have but one life to sacrifice in the hostility and banality of whole lot that early/mid ’70s era, so very like the continuing crises in so many ways) in Hazardville, most mornings excepting summer. Even the Anka didn’t get much play…perhaps seen as to MOR for that era’s Top 40.
I mean, Tommy James and the Shondells were among the atrocities of the ’60s, not to bring up Rod McKuen again…the Royal Teens of the ’50s…
Todd, but one person’s musical “crap” is another person’s hit record. Someone bought a lot of those recordings of those crap songs by inferior artists and groups.
WTIC, that is. I believe. They might’ve had a all-news switchover eventually.
I don’t have HARD TO FIND 45’S ON CD: VOLUME 8, but if I did have HARD TO FIND 45’S ON CD: VOLUME 8 I’d enjoy a few of the cuts! Like HARD TO FIND 45’S ON CD: VOLUME 8’s After the Gold Rush (Jeff Smith is right, it’s an acapella rendition), Driver’s Seat, Fool (If You Think It’s Over), and Stumblin’ In! The latter is on a filmed performance that’s quite good, dubbed or live!
By the bye, the bookmark worked today!
Bob, glad to have you back! It always helps when the bookmark works correctly!