Sounds of the Seventies: 1978 is Volume 10 of a 37 CD Time-Life series. And this 20 song compilation is a very mixed bag. Randy Newman’s “Short People,” a song hated by our short friends, and Eric Capton’s annoying “Lay Down Sally” show up on this disc. On the plus side, Steely Dan’s “Peg,” a favorite of our friend Peggy O’Neal, and Joe Walsh’s snarky “Life’s Been Good” raise the ante. Disco was still hot in 1978 so Alicia Bridges’ “I Love the Nightlife” represents as does Chic’s classic, “Le Freak.”
I always loved Linda Roostadt’s version of “Ooh Baby Baby” and Queen’s anthem, “We Are the Champions.” Rod Stewart’s “You’re In My Heart” never gets old. How many of these songs do you remember? Any favorites? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | Warren Zevon– | Werewolves Of London Music By, Lyrics By – Leroy Marinell*, Robert Wachtel, Warren Zevon | 3:31 |
| 2 | Eddie Money– | Baby Hold On Music By, Lyrics By – Edward Mahoney, James Lyon | 3:33 |
| 3 | Patti Smith Group– | Because The Night Music By, Lyrics By – Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith | 3:22 |
| 4 | Meat Loaf– | Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad Music By, Lyrics By – Jim Steinman | 5:25 |
| 5 | Nick Gilder– | Hot Child In The City Music By, Lyrics By – James McColloch*, Nick Gilder | 3:08 |
| 6 | Eric Clapton– | Lay Down Sally Music By, Lyrics By – Eric Clapton, George Terry, Marcy Levy | 3:32 |
| 7 | Foreigner– | Hot Blooded Music By, Lyrics By – Lou Gramm, Mick Jones | 3:04 |
| 8 | Joe Walsh– | Life’s Been Good Music By, Lyrics By – Joe Walsh | 4:41 |
| 9 | Steely Dan– | Peg Music By, Lyrics By – Donald Fagen, Walter Becker | 3:58 |
| 10 | The O’Jays– | Use Ta Be My Girl Music By, Lyrics By – Kenny Gamble And Leon Huff* | 3:22 |
| 11 | Queen– | We Are The Champions Music By, Lyrics By – Freddie Mercury | 3:01 |
| 12 | The Bee Gees*– | Night Fever Music By, Lyrics By – Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb And Maurice GIbb | 3:35 |
| 13 | Alicia Bridges– | I Love The Nightlife (Disco ‘Round) Music By, Lyrics By – Alicia Bridges, Susan Hutcheson | 3:11 |
| 14 | Exile (7)– | Kiss You All Over Music By, Lyrics By – Nicky Chinn And Mike Chapman | 3:30 |
| 15 | Randy Newman– | Short People Music By, Lyrics By – Randy Newman | 2:56 |
| 16 | Kansas (2)– | Dust In The Wind Music By, Lyrics By – Kerry Livgren | 3:27 |
| 17 | Chic– | Le Freak Music By, Lyrics By – Bernard Edward And Nile Rodgers | 3:35 |
| 18 | Foreigner– | Double Vision Music By, Lyrics By – Lou Gramm, Mick Jones | 3:32 |
| 19 | Rod Stewart– | You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim) Music By, Lyrics By – Rod Stewart | 4:29 |
| 20 | Linda Ronstadt– | Ooh Baby Baby Music By, Lyrics By – William Robinson*, Warren Moore | 3:15 |
Well, that certainly is a 1978 collection…Randy Newman’s song is a mockery of chauvinism, as I thought was obvious at the time (of course, I, like Newman, have always been on the tall side).
Since there’s no recording by Meat Loaf nor the Bee Gees I enjoy, no surprise that these are my two unfavorites. The Queen anthem does little for me; the Kansas is morbid. I don’t mind the Clapton, while the Foreigners are typically blandly catchy. The Zevon is a good choice of lead-off, and the best song on the album. Perhaps the most bland Patti Smith recording (still stands out here) and decent minor hits by Chic, the O’Jays, Rod Stewart, Alicia Bridgers, Ronstadt, and all.
There was much better new rock in ’78, but probably not so much on Top 40/AOR station listeners that this was aimed at.
I am a Steely Dan fan, but this doesn’t ring a bell…shall go listen.
Todd, “Peg” is our friend Peggy’s favorite Steely Dan song.
Bridges, vs. Phoebe
Todd, I find it ironic that Randy Newman, who wrote “Short People,” is in fact…short.
Apparently 6 ft tall.
There were much better hits out there at that time-Springsteen, Petty, Talking Heads. Rolling Stones, although most of these artists rarely turn up on albums like these.
Faviorites-Warren Zevon, Patti Smith.Randy Newman
Middling-Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt
Hate-Foreigner, Meatloaf, Eddie Money, Kansas, Exile
I woukld give it a c-
Steve, these Time-Life compilations are always a mixed-bag of songs.
Fairly random Top 10 from the web is a better set:
Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”
The Police: “Roxanne”
Dire Straits: “Sultans of Swing”
Blondie: “Heart of Glass”
Funkadelic: “One Nation Under a Groove”
The Ramones: “I Wanna Be Sedated”
Rolling Stones: “Miss You”
Chic: “Le Freak”
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: “Old Time Rock and Roll”
The B-52s: “Rock Lobster”
Todd, that list of songs would be a wonderful compilation CD!
Haste, Hate, HATE “Roxanne.”
No surprise—I know all the songs assembled here, and unlike many I’m sure, I love the disco stuff. But my two favorites here are “Werewolves of London” and “Because the Night”—proof that the late-seventies was more than the Bee Gees and power ballads.
Deb, a few years ago Diane and I went to an event featuring Patti Smith where she read from her book, talked about her life, and performed “Because the Night.” The audience gave her a standing ovation.
Pretty representative of 1978 Top 40. We were living in our first townhouse (cost, $40,000, a sum that wouldn’t even buy many models of cars these days) and our daughters were three and one. I heard most of these on drive time with my then-carpool.
Fred, now that the UAW strike is over, we’ll see if the GM, Ford, and Stellantis raise prices on their vehicles. The day of $50,000 vehicles–for the base model–is approaching.
Of course, I know them all. Do I love them? Not so much. The Zevon is the best here too.
We’ve seen a number in concert. Saw Patti Smith open for Neil Young in November 2012.
Saw Chic & Nile Rodgers open for Earth, Wind & Fire in 2017.
Saw Meat Loaf in concert several times. Ditto Linda Ronstadt. Rod Stewart once.
We’ve seen Steely Dan 16 times. “Peg” is a concert staple, though not my favorite.
Joe Walsh always get a great reaction doing “Life’s Been Good” at Eagles concerts.
Jeff, we’ve seen Steely Dan twice–and both times they did NOT do “Deacon Blues” or “FM”–and we saw Linda Ronstadt also at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Great venue and great concerts!
70’s music?
No way for me – I would put on cassettes of the songs/LPs I bought in the 60s, maybe early 70s.
Wolf, I was never a cassette or 8-track fan. I never liked the hissing and popping of vinyl albums so I was delighted (and still am!) when CDs arrived!
George, me too – but the first CDs were so expensive that I really had to select which ones I wanted,