A high school friend played me her LPs of
Dark Side Of The Moon and
Wish You Were Here during the same month that a cousin in England sent me a cassette of early singles by the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks, etc. Major reality jolt & expansion of musical taste!
-Dave-
Ah I missed this yesterday!
I was remembering that from about '75-'81 I actually didn't have a home stereo, thus my comment about the AM radio in my car being the primary source of new music exposure.
Disco in general was a total turn-off to me having been immersed in progressive rock and '60's hard/psychedelic rock for many years before entering that period.
In retrospect I see Disco as the last hurrah of the studio session musician system that was so critical to both the West Coast studios and Motown.
We've discussed the Wrecking Crew and the Funk Brothers before, but I didn't know about the Funk Brothers back then.
Now I realize how many Motown Top 40's they were responsible for, and it was one of the reasons I could appreciate how much fun they were having on "ABC" that day I mentioned, when I left the radio tuned to it..
That reminds me, has anybody seen the FX series "Snowfall"?
It has a
great soundtrack.
It's a drama about how crack came to dominate the LA drug scene in the early '80's, well played and even a bit disturbing at times.
Pretty close to reality too, as far as I can tell, with acceptable dramatic license but little character stereotyping which always pouts me off.
But I was hooked when Rolling Stones' "Monkey Man" was used in first episode, another one was "Smiling Faces" by Undisputed Truth.
A lot of nice gritty stuff gets used, but I feel prompted to start a recognition list of other great soul stuff I loved as a kid.
How about "Tighter, Tighter" by Alive and Kicking? (loved the guitar in that, but gorgeous vocals put it over the top)
And remember when Rare earth was touted as "the white soul band from Detroit" for "Get Ready"? (Actually I much preferred ""I Just Want To Celebrate" for that stinging guitar intro, to this day all you have to hear is that first note to instantly recognize it)
More Temptations:
"Ball Of Confusion"
"Psychedelic Shack"
"Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
....
"Chain Of Fools"-Aretha
"Grazing In the Grass"-the vocal version by the Friends of Distinction
Oh yeah, 73, "That Lady"-the Isleys! Ernie started channeling Jimi and did it again with "Climbing up the Ladder", another one of those I heard on the AM for the first time in '77..
Woah... I see Ernie and Ronnie Isley collaborated with Carlos Santana just last year!
"Treat Her Like A Lady"-Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose
"Freak Out"-Chic
"Bad Girls"-Donna Summer
OK that's about all I can remember for now...anybody else?