Ah, 1977. What a fantastic year! Groovy bell bottoms... "Billy Beer"... Disco! Actually, wait a second... it wasn't all that good at all. Bell bottom pants? Jimmy Carter? Disco?! Ah who am I kidding... this whole blog is off to a big fat lie. I turned 6 years old towards the ends of 1977 and was lucky enough to remember not wetting the bed anymore never mind what kind of year it was. Yes indeed, I do not wet the bed anymore.
But going through some of my old CD's as well as some of my Dad's old albums (for those under the age of 25 who are reading this, and shame on you if you are, an album was usually referred to as a "record", made of non-biodegradable vinyl and played on a turntable or "record player". Seriously. Look it up), I realized that there were a lot of really, really REALLY crappy records that came out in 1977.
It's easy to call 1977 a loser year of music-- the #1 song was "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone making thousands of elevator operators want to kill her, people like Leo Sayer and Glenn Campbell not only had hits but were actually employed looking like they did, and shows like Dance Fever and Solid Gold debuted most of the disco crap that defined the '70s. Do a little dance, make a little love, and get down tonight.
However I would put three of these records into the Must-Listen category and after listening to them after a long absence, I did a little research about the albums and felt compelled to write about them. Well that, plus I was stuck on a conference call, and then stuck in traffic coming home, so I had some time to both listen AND write.
Before I begin, two points: first, I realize you might email me or make a comment and say "Mike how could possibly not include [insert lousy record by some one hit wonder, like "Player" or "Ambrosia"]?" and my answer is twofold: first, duly noted-- write your own blog about how great "How Much I Feel" by Ambrosia is and be prepared to be ridiculed; and second, I would include both the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease" however (a) SNF came out Christmas of 1977, so really it's a 1978 record and (b) "Grease", while still a great album in its form and played endlessly in our basement as my sister and our neighbors used to recreate it into some sort of disco palace/dance emporium-- and I wish I was making that part up-- totally jumped the proverbial shark after the remake of "Summer Lovin" that they now play at weddings and just brings back memories of prom chicken, cutting the cake, releasing the doves and, well, weddings. So get over it.
So I'll be putting on my music-nerd persona here for a moment-- this is where you add the part about you not being able to tell the difference-- and here are the three albums which you should listen to and recreate that time that WAS 1977... in no particular order of importance, chronology, preference, smell, grooviness or alphabet (note: by accident, they ARE in alphabetical order):
Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours". OK, they play songs on the radio way too much as just about every song is a hit, or pretty close, but next time you listen to any of these songs, think about these facts. (1) Like most 1970's bands, especially rock n' roll bands, everyone was on some serious drugs; (2) They recorded this album in a studio made completely out of wood with no windows and oh by the way (3) Every couple that comprised the band (Buckingham/Nicks, the McVies, Fleetwood and his wife) not only were breaking or divorcing, but the songs were written mainly about their own breakup, and oh by the way (4) they all had to play on these songs written about their breaking up and in some cases, about other people. "You Make Lovin' Fun"? That wasn't Christine McVie writing about her ex-hubby playing bass. Yet he played bass on it. Lindsay Buckingham writing about "Go Your Own Way"? That was about him breaking up with Stevie Nicks. Imagine that conversation, "Um, Stevie, can you sing the refrain on this?" Remarkably, she did. Yes, Lindsay's a guy and Stevie's a girl-- how cool was this band? This album also contains "Songbird" which, if it doesn't make you cry, proves that you are not human. I freely admit I ball when I hear this. There are songs about drugs ("Gold Dust Woman", do the math-- Nicks was on coke the entire time), new love ("You Make Loving Fun"), and telling someone to beat it ("Second Hand News"). What's best is that like most 1970's albums, this one has the lyrics. Remember when music had actual lyrics that didn't rhyme with "hizzle"?
Billy Joel's "The Stranger".I must admit that there are two big reasons why I love this album: 1. My parents played it continuously for oh, six straight months and 2. I choose to sing "She's Always a Woman" but with explicit lyrics when I'm forced to sing at karaoke bars. Who am I kidding... I usually volunteer. Anyway, this album's big hit was "Only the Good Die Young" which of course exposed how Catholic girls wait so long to have sex . And this also forced us kids to ask our parents what it meant when Billy sings abou the "Catholic girls starting much too late". Starting WHAT much too late, Mommy? I would assume that these sort of the same uncomfortable questions would be today's version of the "Mommy, why is that guy smiling so much after taking that Viagara/Enzyte?" This is my favorite Billy Joel album, closely edging out "Turnstiles" (extremely underrated) and like "Rumours", reflects love scorned as Billy wrote this after a breakup with his then-wife. The album cover has him staring at a mask on a pillow in bed and guys, how many of us have all been there before (metaphorically, not literally-- that would be a little creepy)? What makes this album great is the lyrics and, like "Rumours", they are printed in the album. "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" has the great middle part about Brenda and Eddie buying paintings from Sears and the lead track "Movin' Out" has arguably one of the best all-time lyrics, "And if he can't drive with a broken back/At least he can polish the fender." And "The Stranger" has one of the nicest piano parts and then grooves into poppish '70's rock. The only negatives is that "Just the Way You Are" is played more in Muzak and Casio keyboard demos than it is on the radio, but look past that and listen to this from beginning to end. And speaking of the end, when you listen to the part of "Everybody Has A Dream", it's essentially the same piano beginning that "Saturday Night Live" plays at the end of their shows when the host gathers everyone on stage and thanks everyone for "what a great show this was" and how "this was a huge experience". I swear that I think SNL actually uses cue cards for the end skit.
Steely Dan, "Aja". Those of you with any musical background and who have ever played an instrument are probably smiling and nodding right now and the rest of you who actually hooked up with a lot of girls in college and were considered "cool" probably have no idea that this album even exists and are surprised that Steely Dan had a hit besides "Reelin In the Years". "Aja" took forever to make-- about a year-- and is a musical masterpiece. Fortunately, it is digitally remastered on CD since this is one of the times where the "warmth" of vinyl does not do this album the justice it deserves. What's remarkable is that besides the two key members of Steely Dan, Donald Fagan and Walter Becker, the supporting cast are some of the best studio musicians in rock history and NONE of the songs actually were played ensemble; all of what you hear is are individual musicians playing their instruments listening to the other parts over existing tracks. Steely Dan had inside jokes all over this album and their entire discography-- they once wrote a song purposely in the key of Gb because they didn't want anyone to cover the song-- and this album is no exception. The first track, "Black Cow" is one of those decadent '70s songs with a funk beat that has every stereotypical '70's cliche into it; a fat snare, a honkytonk bass line, girls singing chorus, and I assume that this song )and presumably this entire album) were written with the thought of trying to expose what the 70's were about; excess, decadence and overproduction. The title track "Aja" has one of the best drum lines of any rock song, played by an admittedly-high Steve Gadd (who does the drums on Paul Simon's "50 Ways"-- go ahead and try and duplicate that) who messed up in the solo and hit his drumstick by mistake and allegedly was told to "keep playing" and they ended up using that track. The only hits on this album were "Peg" and "Deacon Blues" which were edited down and played on FM radio. "Home At Last" is one of my favorites and honestly, ahead of its times when they sing about a "super highway" with all sorts of flaws, much like my industry (ha ha). "Josie" closes the album in a classy way, sort of saying "if you weren't alive in 1977 and living in some old studio apartment in the lower East side of NYC, well, this album sort of tells you what it was like". I guarantee that if you have never heard this album before and listened to it, you will not like it the first time. And then listen to it again for the second time and you'll feel much different.
OK what a ramble... take a journey and go back in time and pick these up. If you'd like to comment on any of the above, well, it's a free country, so shake out your habs and hooters and remember, I love you just the way you are...
Mike
