Roy Ayers Ubiquity (2024)

UK import

2024 box set of five albums by vibraphonist Roy Ayers - sometimes known as the "Godfather of Acid Jazz" - released in the years 1975-1977. I almost didn't buy this set because I already had two of the five albums, but I wanted to hear Vibrations and this set was the cheapest way to pick up a (legitimate) copy. At $30 ($6 per album), it's a hard to pass up this shining set. I mean, everybody loves the sunshine, right?

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A TEAR TO A SMILE (1975)
10 tracks, 40 minutes

In which Ayers moves from his early '70s funky jazz to a funk-jazz-soul-R&B-disco mix while maintaining his bona fides as one of the best vibraphone players in the land. There's a new focus on vocal tracks that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. There's some great grooves and performances to be had throughout. With this album, Ayers begins his slow transition from jazz player to conductor/producer/arranger as he inches toward the smoother, more commercial sound of his late '70s peak.

I love how he adds descriptors for each performer in the credits.

Reviews/ratings:

• Record World: "The feel flows throughout"
• CashBox: "a low keyed approach to funk, sprinkled ever so lightly with the essential life juices of jazz and rhythm and blues."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #181
• Record World Jazz: #11

Tracks: I enjoy 2000 Black, Show Us A Feeling, The Old One Two (Move To Groove), and A Tear To A Smile. My current favorite cut is the ethereal ballad, Miles (Love's Silent Dawn). The only track that plays it safe is a cover of Earth, Wind & Fire's The Way Of The World, but just because it's safe doesn't mean it's not extrememly enjoyable. (And quite frankly, that song is just begging for jazz covers.) Ayers hits the vibes more on this album than a few of the subsiquent releases, especially on tracks like Ebony Blaze, Time And Space, That's The Way Of The World, Miles (Love's Silent Dawn), and the title track.

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MYSTIC VOYAGE (1975)
10 tracks, 43 minutes

Previously appeared on The CD Project. Note: the 7" version of Evolution is included in this box set as a bonus track.

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EVERYBODY LOVES THE SUNSHINE (1976)
10 tracks, 40 minutes

Previously appeared on The CD Project.

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VIBRATIONS (1976)
11 tracks, 42 minutes

Following up the success of Everybody Loves The Sunshine, so we've got more of the same. I'm not complaining. Rather than trying to reinvent himself, Ayers doubled down on the formula he had been refining all decade: warm vocals, sophisticated jazz harmonies, and irresistible funk grooves. This album also marks the beginning of a shift to utlizing disco/dance grooves on a few tracks. While not having the commercial success of Everybody Loves The Sunshine, Vibrations did quite well on a variety of charts.

Reviews/ratings:

• DownBeat (★½): "I've been known to walk out of restaurants for no other reason that stuff like this coming over the loudspeaker."
• Billboard: "elements of jazz and soul that fuse together for a varied array of mellow and upbeat compositions."
• CashBox: "Roy Ayers Ubiquity is a classy jazz/rock/funk aggregation that, on each album, gets better and better."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #74
• Billboard R&B: #11
• Billboard Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #94
• CashBox Jazz: #4
• Record World Jazz: #4

Tracks that could have fit on Everybody Loves The Sunshine: Baby I Need Your Love, The Memory, Better Days, Searching, Vibrations, and Baby You Give Me A Feeling.

Tracks embracing the disco trends of the time: Domelo (Give It To Me), Come Out And Play, and Moving Grooving.

Too funky to fit neatly in either of the above categories: Higher and One Sweet Love To Remember.

Bonus track: 7" version of Domelo (Give It To Me)

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LIFELINE (1977)
10 tracks, 43 minutes

I bought this box set because I dig the albums Mystic Voyage and Everybody Loves The Sunshine and wanted more of the same. That's just what we're treated to here. (I also recommend the 2003 compilation, Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981, which I recently discovered at my local library). To say I am pleased with this box set is an understatement.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "There are some subtly cooking gems on this set"
• CashBox: "shines with fresh vitality and as much variety as you'll hear pressed in vinyl"
• Record World: "Ayers has disco-fied his sound as never before and the results should reach a much wider audience."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985): ★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #72
• Billboard R&B: #9
• Billboard Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #74
• CashBox Jazz: #3
• Record World Jazz: #1

Tracks: my favorites are This Side Of Sunshine, Gotta Find A Lover, Lifeline, and Sanctified Feeling.

Bonus track: 12" version of Running Away, which peaked at #19 on Billboard's R&B chart and #14 on Billboard's dance chart

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Previously revisited for the blog:
Everybody Loves The Sunshine (1976)
Mystic Voyage (1975)

Erik Tagg - Rendez-Vous (1977)

Note: the CD I listened to was the Music On CD reissue (The Netherlands, 2024) with 4 bonus tracks.

I first discovered Eric Tagg in the early 1980s through his stellar vocals on Lee Ritenour's 'Rit' album, but was completely oblivious to his earlier solo albums for many years. This cluelessness was mainly because Tagg, a US native, was living and working in the Netherlands at the time and his albums weren't released in the US. (It also explains why he changed the spelling of his first name.) I've since found a couple of them, but I'm always on the lookout for other early Tagg CDs.

Here's the only US press I was able to find regarding this album. Up, up, and away...

In any case, this album is typical late-70s blue-eyed soul/jazz-pop/sophisticated Adult Oriented Rock. Production is lush but restrained with lots of warm Fender Rhodes, silky backing vocals, tasteful horn charts, and mellow grooves. All this good stuff supporting Tagg's airy tenor that can sound soulful and is always in complete control, almost as if this guy is incapable of over singing. The album was produced by Hans Vermeulen of the Dutch band Rainbow Train and you can hear a bit of a slightly European feel when compared to US soft rock of the time. (See also Lava). There's also several points where you can tell Tagg spent a lot of time taking in the ballads on Songs In The Key Of Life. Then again, who wasn't listening to that album back in 1977? 

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Not originally released in the US

Tracks: All songs written by Tagg. My top picks on today's listen are Got To Be Lovin' You, Fancy Meeting You, Marja's Tune, and Mutual Feeling; but it all goes down easy. As do the...

Bonus tracks: Living Off The Love is the best of the four bonus tracks, but I also dig The Love I Gave and Who Are You. These four lean more to the Westcoast/AOR sound but also more to CCM (or were they still calling it "God Rock" back in '77?)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Tagg/McNulty Band - At The Legendary Popsicle Toes Club In Dallas TX 1986 (2018)

The Blackbyrds - Action (1977)/Better Days (1980)

EU import

Back in 2022, I was introduced to the song Soft And Easy through a compilation CD and liked it so much that I immediately sought out the 1977 album on which it originally appeared, Action. I found Action on this Blackbyrds twofer reissue on the BGP label and bought it immediately. The compilation captures the band's transition from danceable R&B (Action, produced by mentor and namesake Donald Byrd) to more synth based funk (Better Days, produced by George Duke). I prefer the former to the latter and if sales are any indication, so did the record buying public.

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ACTION (1977)
7 tracks, 34 minutes

Sleek grooves, tasty EWFish horn arrangements, disco strings, and bass lines perfect for your local lighted dance floor. Features guest appearances from Ernie Watts and Ray Parker, Jr. Sticking with the group's characteristic formula, the album lacks a Top 40 hit, but it is definitely funky enough for the club while still being refined enough to remind you the band members came from jazz backgrounds.

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "A sizzling, multilayered, funk-laden disc destined for mass appeal"
• Billboard: "cheery, funky synthesized r&b...mellow, sleek soul ballads...midtempo jazz-tinged efforts."
• Record World: "should hurdle jazz, r&b and rock barriers with little difficulty."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #43
• Billboard R&B: #8
• CashBox: #47

Tracks: Nothing to skip among these seven tracks. Three singles were released from the album: the aforementioned Soft And Easy (#20 R&B), Supernatural Feeling (#19 R&B), and Street Games. However, I think the smoothest cut here is Mysterious Vibes (Wikipedia tells me a remix of Mysterious Vibes was released in 2002, but consider the source).

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BETTER DAYS (1980)
10 tracks, 40 minutes

It seems like the group was trying to be a cross between Rick James and Kool & The Gang and it didn't quite work for them. Pity. The grooves are here, there's plenty of production tricks that were popular in 1980, and the performances are quite good. The only thing missing is hooks. 

Press of the time:

• Record World: "fuel for the body and spirit"
• Billboard: "a polished collection of punchy sophistosoul"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #133
• Billboard R&B: #40
• CashBox: #142

Tracks: Four singles were released from the album: Don't Know What To Say, Dancin' Dancin' (#59 dance), What We Have Is Right (#38 R&B), and Love Don't Strike Twice (#52 R&B). I think the best track is Without Your Love plus there's plenty of filler cuts.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Minnie Riperton - Stay In Love/Minnie (1977/1979)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2004 UK reissue.

Many years ago while visiting a fantastic record store in Chicago, I purchased a similar Riperton Twofer (Perfect Angel/Adventures in Paradise) disc and it gets a lot of spins around here. One of those many, many spins led to the ordering of this similar CD. If a little bit is good, more is better, right? And while it's not quite as good as the earlier stuff, there's still nothing to skip among these two albums and they make great companions to the earlier disc. Since I first received this disc, I normally listen to both discs in succession and it usually makes for a wonderful afternoon of soul, R&B, soft rock, and in the case of the later albums, disco. Both compilations are highly recommended.

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STAY IN LOVE (1977)

Subtitled "A Romantic Fantasy Set to Music," this album was produced by disco legend Freddie Perren. I dig the disco feel throughout but the critics didn't care for it because of the critical bias against disco at the time.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "Riperton's singing is, as usual, just fine - it's the rest you'll have to block out."
• High Fidelity: "Aretha she ain't, but Minnie she is - and that's a plus"
• Billboard: "uncluttered and easy to listen to."
• CashBox: "unquestionably an album for romantics"
• Record World: "not so much a concept album as one given over to a particular subject and outlook - the many sides of love"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #71
• Billboard R&B: #19
• CashBox: #81

Tracks: Three singles were released: Wouldn't Matter Where You Are, Young Willing And Able, and Stick Together (#57 R&B, #23 dance), a collaboration with Stevie Wonder using the pseudonym El Toro Negro. I think the best cut is Young Willing And Able, followed closely by Gettin' Ready For Your Love, Stick Together, But as I wrote earlier, don't skip any tracks.

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MINNIE (1979)

This was Riperton's first album on the Capitol label and the last to be released during her lifetime. This is the better of the two albums included on this CD.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: Best of the Month
• High Fidelity: "too ornate and cure to be convincing, despite a fine set of pipes"
• CashBox: "it is the warmth and vitality she conveys via her singing approach, along with her striking compositions, that truly merit attention"
• Record World: "she has a way with ballad material that makes a song all her own"
• Billboard: "may be this singer's strongest work on disk to date."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #29
• Billboard R&B: #5
• CashBox: #43
• Rolling Stone: #37

Tracks: Two singles were released: Memory Lane (#16 R&B) and Lover And Friend (#20 R&B). Those two songs are also the first two tracks on the album and it's a heckuva way to open a LP. Such great, timeless grooves. I also enjoy the bossa feel of Never Existed Before, the highly danceable tunes Love Hurts and I'm A Woman, plus the disco funk of Dancin' & Actin' Crazy. The album closes with a cover of The Doors' Light My Fire and José Feliciano drops by the studio to help out.

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Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Perfect Angel/Adventures in Paradise (1974/1975)

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (1977)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1993 Rykodisc reissue with 9 bonus tracks.

I normally don't look for Elvis Costello CDs, but I was pursuing the used bins of my local store and I spotted this Rykodisc version - complete with trademarked green jewel box - of Costello's acclaimed debut and the collector in me just couldn't resist. It's a great first release to be sure (in 2022 it ranked at #64 in Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time"), but I still think his best album is Trust.

Recorded on a shoestring budget, the album was produced by Nick Lowe and used three members of the band Clover as the backing musicians in the studio. Arrangements are impatient, hooks are everywhere, tempos are almost always upbeat, and the clever lyrics are examples of teenage angst set to rock beats. And Costello's late-'70s reboot of the "angry young man" was unleashed.

In The Village Voice's annual 'Pazz & Jop' critic's list, this album placed at #2 for 1977.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "the work of someone who comes as close to being the Compleat Rock Star as anyone within recent memory - driven, funny, and totally original"
• CashBox: "demonstrates great promise"
• Record World: "One of the brightest and freshest new talents to emerge from England this year"
• Billboard: "Costello does a lot with the basic four/four, guitar and drum format"
• Robert Christgau (B+): "I like the nerdy way this guy comes on, I'm fascinated by his lyrics, and I approve of his rock and roll orientation"
• NME: "an album often of intense brilliance"
• Rolling Stone: "has only begun to surprise us"
• Trouser Press: "Elvis Costello has produced a classic in his first try"
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave (1998): ★★★★

The album is listed in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, calling it "a heady combination of punk and quality songcraft."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #32
• CashBox: #33

Tracks, ranked in order of personal preference:

1. Alison
2. Less Than Zero
3. Watching The Detectives (not included in the UK album, but released as a single in October 1977, then added to the US release as the last track on side one; it appears as track 13 on this CD. This song was the only single to even catch a whiff of the US Billboard charts, bubbling under the Hot 100 at 108)
4. Welcome To The Working Week
5. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
6. Pay It Back
7. Sneaky Feelings
8. Waiting For The End Of The World
9. Miracle Man
10. Mystery Dance
11. Blame It On Cain
12. No Dancing
13. I'm Not Angry

(If you don't agree with my ranking, second and third opinions available over at Billboard and the EC Fan Forum.)

Bonus tracks: These 9 tracks receive some explanation in the CD's liner notes, which all boils down to "these songs are in a radically different style" than the songs included in the album. Most tracks are called "pre-professional" recordings, which I believe to be a way to gloss over the fact they are demos. Still, because of the DIY ethos of the time, the demos aren't too bad, just different - most skew towards country. Good of Costello to recognize what should fit on the album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I was but 11 years old at the time of this album's release and was listening exclusively to AM Top 40 radio at the time and nobody in my immediate circle was listening to the emerging New Wave sounds being imported. I probably didn't hear a track from this album until 1983ish.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Painted From Memory (1998)
Spike (1989)
Imperial Bedroom (1982)
Trust (1981)

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)

Note: This release was originally given to me as a LP, later replaced by this CD.

I'll save you the trouble: "Hey Mark, I thought this album would have appeared on the blog years ago." Well, for many years, I - like many people born in the 1950s and 1960s - had a vinyl copy of Rumours that I liked to spin. But when my youngest son decided he was going to collect vinyl, I wanted to encourage his worthwhile pursuit of physical media so I let him take any of my records that he wanted. Rumours was the first thing he pulled from the shelves. Smart kid. So I picked up this CD.

I consider Rumours to be a seminal summer album and I really can't add anything new to the mountains of words written about this great collection of songs, so I'll just shut up, listen, enjoy, and attempt to rank the tracks. Spoiler alert: I like the singles that I remember hearing on my AM radio back in '77 (see below).

Press of the time:

• High Fidelity: "will end up as one of the year's top ten releases."
• Stereo Review: "it seems rather pointless to shell out $7.98 for what is essentially a one-song album."
• Rolling Stone: "bright little three-minute singles with a hook in every chorus."
• Robert Christgau: A
• Billboard: "Fleetwood's astonishing breakout success of 1976 is consolidated and verified"
• Record World: "A consistently beautiful sounding album that encompasses many styles and emotions."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1
• CashBox: #1
• CashBox CD (1984): #28

The album won the Grammy award for Album of the Year, besting the likes of Aja, Hotel California, and the soundtrack to Star Wars. Over at the My Favorite Decade blog, I ranked Rumours as the 4th best album of 1977, behind The Stranger, Aja, and the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. Other awards, honors, and accolades available over at the album's Wikipedia entry.

Tracks, ranked according to today's mood, and peak on the Billboard Hot 100:

11. Oh Daddy
10. Never Going Back Again
9. I Don't Want To Know
8. Second Hand News
7. Songbird
6. The Chain
5. Gold Dust Woman
4. Go Your Own Way (#10)
3. Don't Stop (#3)
2. You Make Loving Fun (#9)
1. Dreams (#1)

I've long maintained that the best thing Stevie Nicks ever wrote was Sara, but Dreams certainly runs a close second. And before you tell me that I should have purchased a CD that included the track Silver Springs, save it. I bought this CD to replace an LP and I wanted to replace it as is. (as was?)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: As I mentioned above, this is a quintessential summer album and I'm immediately taken back to the summer of 1977. I turned 11 that summer and it consisted of the usual stuff: swimming pools, miniature golf, trip to my paternal grandmother's house in Tyler, Vacation Bible School, etc. I also took a trek to Las Vegas NM with my father to climb to the top of Hermit's Peak. In related news, Summer 1977 was also around the time I discovered backpacking and camping wasn't for me. And then, in late summer, I started my first and only year as a member of a tackle football team through the local Boy's Club. In related news, Summer 1977 was also around the time I discovered contact sports weren't for me. Below is a picture of me and the cabin caretaker at a cabin near the base of Hermit's Peak. That kid looks like he's up to no good but sweet mama I sho do miss that thick blonde hair.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Greatest Hits (1988)

Various Artists - Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind, Vol. 18 (1995)

Volume 18 of a 20 volume Rhino series. I had no plans to collect all 20 CDs, but they keep appearing in used bins and I simply can't help myself so we'll have to wait and see where this leads. From what I can ascertain, the later volumes released in 1995 are getting harder to find which normally translates to higher price tags, so I'm lucky I happened across this one because I think it is one of the strongest in the series. Singles included on this volume charted 1975 - 1977, the years in which I developed a serious commitment to radio and music.

Tracks, with Billboard chart peaks:

1. Give It What You Got - B.T. Express (1975, #40 pop, #5 R&B)
   If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The group's 1974 single Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)" topped the R&B chart in 1974 so this is more of the same as far as groove, style, and lyrical content are concerned. Not quite as successful on the pop chart this time around, though.
2. Wake Up Everybody (Part 1) - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (1975, #12 pop, #1 R&B, #34 AC) 
   Typical Philly Soul greatness from Teddy Pendergrass and company. Sadly, the lyrics continue to be relevant half a century after they were written.
3. Sweet Thing - Rufus feat. Chaka Khan (1975, #5 pop, #1 R&B)
   I listen to something this good and can't help from hollering, “@#$%&, Chaka! Sing that $#%!”
4. I'll Be Good To You - The Brothers Johnson (1976, #3 pop, #1 R&B)
   George & Louis Johnson teaming up with producer Quincy Jones made for several excellent collaborations. This was the first.
5. Kiss And Say Goodbye - The Manhattans (1976, #1 pop, #1 R&B, #12 AC)
   Recorded in Philadelphia with MFSB as the backing band, this is a fantastic slow jam. I love this song from the spoken intro to the smooth ever-so-slightly-out-of-tune doo-wop harmonies. A simple break up song, but oh so well done. Pleading, soulful vocals over an insistent, pulsing string hook. After a Barry White-ish spoken word bass voice intro, we're treated to a beautifully subtle, falsetto voice that grows in intensity for the next 3 minutes.
6. You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine - Lou Rawls (1976, #2 pop, #1 R&B, #4 disco, #1 AC)
   Lou Rawls and Gamble & Huff? Gimme! What a voice and what a soulful pair of writer/producers.
7. Who'd She Coo? - Ohio Players (1976, #18 pop, #1 R&B)
   A play on the suggestive euphemism "hoochie coo," but when you've got a funk groove this good, lyrics are practically superfluous.
8. You Are My Starship - Norman Connors (1976, #27 pop, #4 R&B)
   Drummer/producer Connors sure could put together a solid group of musicians for his jazz/R&B albums. This one features vocals by Michael Henderson and a soprano sax solo by Gary Bartz. It was the biggest solo hit from Connors but is one of my least favorites cut from him. Go figure.
9. Dazz - Brick (1976, #3 pop, #1 R&B, #7 disco)
   Dazz is supposedly a combination of disco and jazz. I'm not sure that's what it is, but we're treated to mean flute solo.
10. Tryin' To Love Two - William Bell (1976, #10 pop, #1 R&B, #25 AC)
    This didn't get much airplay in west Texas so I don't recall hearing it as a child. That's my loss because this thing is fantastically smooth. I finally heard it about 15 years ago - better late than never.
11. I Wanna Get Next To You - Rose Royce (1976, #10 pop, #3 R&B, #9 AC)
    We're treated to another fantastic slow jam, this time from the mind of Norman Whitfield. I once included this one and Kiss And Say Goodbye (track 5) in a playlist I titled "The Greatest Slow Jam Mix Ever:
    
12. Best Of My Love - The Emotions (1977, #1 pop, #1 R&B, #11 disco)
    Written and produced by musical genius Maurice White. The bass line is awesome in its simplicity. Great groove throughout. The single deservedly won the Grammy award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Hearing most of these songs while riding around Odessa, Texas through the AM radio in my mother's yellow station wagon (a Ford Country Sedan, maybe?). Particular favorites at the time were Kiss And Say Goodbye, You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, and Best Of My Love. Other personal faves of 1976 can be found here: Counting down the Top 76 of '76

Previously revisited for the blog:

Volume 5	Volume 13
Volume 6	Volume 14
Volume 12	Volume 15

Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits 1977 (1992)

Truth in advertising from the good folks over at Rhino: ten top dance tunes from 1977, and half of those hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. After purchasing, I discovered many tracks with which I was unfamiliar. CD liner notes here.

One in a series of ten covering the years 1976-1985, not to be confused with either The Disco Years or Special Editions Disco series, also issued by Rhino.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with chart peaks. Extended mixes marked with an asterisk, others are 7" single versions:

	Song	Artist	Time	Dance	Hot 100	R&B
1	Overture*	D.C. LaRue	5:08	2
2	Quiet Village*	The Ritchie Family	3:09	1
3	Rumour Has It	Donna Summer	3:37	1	53	21
4	Girl Don't Make Me Wait*	Pattie Brooks	10:52	2
5	San Francisco (You've Got Me)	Village People	3:31	1	102
6	Slowdown	John Miles	4:21	2	34
7	I Feel Love	Donna Summer	5:57	3	6	9
8	Hold Tight	Vicki Sue Robinson	5:58	1	67
9	Got To Give It Up (Pt.1)	Marvin Gaye	4:12	1	1	1
10	Do What You Wanna Do	T-Connection	3:27	1	46	15

Nothing to skip - a great mix of the familiar and previously unfamiliar. The Summer and Gaye tracks are disco classics and continue to get much play around these parts. Of the new-to-me tracks (and there were quite a few: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 10), my favorites are Overture, Girl Don't Make Me Wait, Do What You Wanna Do, and Hold Tight (written by David Gates and originally released by Bread earlier in 1977). The Village People track bears quite a resemblance to their latter hit, Macho Man.

I Feel Love certainly deserves more recognition as a groundbreaking song. With none of the typical disco strings and high-hat cymbal, the backing tracks are all electronic, save for the bass drum (more on the recording over at Wikipedia). Pretty gutsy for 1977, but the song set the blueprint for dance music in the '80s and beyond. People may argue that Kraftwerk was the pioneer in electronic music and there's certainly some truth to that, but there's no denying Kraftwerk didn't get nearly the same amount of radio airplay as I Feel Love.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

Billboard Top Dance Hits 1976 (1992)	Billboard Top Dance Hits 1980 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1978 (1992)	Billboard Top Dance Hits 1985 (1998)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1979 (1992)

Talking Heads: 77 (1977)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1988 reissue.

I've written plenty about Talking Heads on this blog and there's still more to come. So, instead of discussing the band, I'll write about how unfairly I treat this album. In 1977, 11 year old Mark was an AM radio junkie with no connection to this sort of stuff. My first memory of Talking Heads is seeing David Byrne jerk around in the video for Once In A Lifetime when it aired on MTV in late '82/early '83. From there, I heard Remain In Light, then Speaking In Tongues helped soundtrack my senior year of high school, then I caught on to the live albums, and so on. So I didn't hear the music on Talking Heads: '77 until I was already deeply immersed in the band's later œuvre. As such, these songs didn't have the impact on me as they might otherwise have. Is that fair? Probably not. Is that way it is? Yup. Shrug.

Comparisons to Marquee Moon are common and not without merit. This album met with more critical success than commercial success, possibly because the press didn't know how to classify the eclectic rock/funk/pop/new wave sound of the music. As the CashBox review (below) states: "this band has been tagged with the 'punk' label, which fits them about as well as a tux at the beach." I'll leave you with this blurb taken from the CD booklet, also printed on the back of the CD longbox:

It is indeed a masterful debut, but today I'd place it either 5th or 6th if I was ranking the group's eight studio albums.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "a style that crosses precise and lightly funky arrangements with a shade of avant-garde/modal progressiveness that's neither hard, soft nor punk."
  
• CashBox: "An interesting and highly appealing band that bears watching."
• Record World: "The Heads are really far removed from this mainstream."
• Robert Christgau: A-
• Rolling Stone: "one of the definitive records of the decade."
• Trouser Press: "This album will test your capacity for wonder."
• Roadrunner: "it will get inside your head and it won't leave you alone. You have been warned."
• Record Mirror (++++): "An impressive debut."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave (1998): ★★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #97
• CashBox: #169

The album was voted the year's seventh best album in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. It was also included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, where it was written that the band "had taken elements of punk, funk, and disco and convincingly created a unique sound of their own." In 2013, Rolling Stone ranked the album at #68 on their list of "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time;" however, it was dropped from the 2022 revision of said list.

Tracks: Let's rank 'em!

11. Tentative Decisions
10. No Compassion
9. New Feeling
8. The Book I Read
7. Happy Day
6. First Week/Last Week...Carefree
5. Don't Worry About The Government*
4. Pulled Up
3. Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town
2. Psycho Killer
1. Who Is It?

*Note: I'm really worried about the government.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Best Of (2004)	Speaking In Tongues (1983)
Little Creatures (1985)	The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)
Stop Making Sense (1984)	Remain In Light (1980)
	Fear Of Music (1979)

Television - Marquee Moon (1977)

A fantastic guitar album - the riffs on this thing!

I dig all the mythology of this group and its relationship to CBGBs, Max's Kansas City, Patti Smith, etc. and you can readily hear the influences of predecessors such as The Velvet Underground and New York Dolls as well as contemporaries Talking Heads. To someone who came to the album many years after its release (I'm talking about me), it's simply another good album from the '70s. But to have it heard it the mileau of the 1970's NYC scene must have really been something. Sorry I missed it. If you want to hear this music as part of an evolution from the Velvets to R.E.M., it's there, but if you also want to hear it as part of an evolution from The Doors to Tom Petty, that's there too.

To aid in my understanding of the context in which this music was created, I turned to the 2011 book in the 33⅓ series:

The book places the album firmly in a noctural, lower New York City setting ("...a quintessential album of the New York night.") and that's spot on. I'll add that it seems like a very summerish album to my ears, so my preferred listing situation is outside on a hot, summer night, strolling the neighborhood, taking in the sounds while I sweat and swat at mosquitoes. At 222 pages, the book itself is one of the longer I've read in the series. The first ⅔ of the book is familiar history of that time and place, but well-done. The book really takes off on page 156 when we finally get to the album, complete with a thorough track-by-track breakdown.

My copy of the CD (a 1987 reissue) contains the full 10:40 version of the title track but, unfortunately, no lyrics.

Press of the time:

• High Fidelity: "Leader Tom Verlaine's lyrics are all but indecipherable, but it doesn't matter - the music more than makes up for it."
• Stereo Review: "sounds to me like warmed-over Bruce Springsteen"
• Record World: "The playing is solid and imaginative"
• CashBox: "While Tom Verlaine's whiny voice is nothing to write home about, the instrumentals are above average"
• Robert Christgau (A+): "I haven't had such intense pleasure from a new release since I got into Layla three months after it came out, and this took about fifteen seconds."
• Rolling Stone: "[Verlaine] structures his compositions around these spooky, spare riffs and they stick to the back of your skull."

This album placed third in The Village Voice's annual 'Pazz & Jop' critic's poll for 1977:

In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked Marquee Moon at #107:

The music on the album is quite varied. It’s Post-Punk at heart, yet it’s filled with Jazz and Rock ‘n Roll influences. It’s a New York record through and through, with many references to Manhattan throughout. The album is a solid listen from start to finish...Still such a fantastic record.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• CashBox: #158
• Official Charts (UK): #28

Tracks, ranked but it's all a close race. Certainly nothing skippable among these eight:

8. Torn Curtain
7. Elevation
6. Friction
5. Prove It
4. Venus
3. Guiding Light
2. See No Evil
1. Marquee Moon

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Roberta Flack - Original Album Series (2012)

A repackaged reissue that includes five of Flack's first seven albums released on the Atlantic label, 1969-1977. The two albums not included in this set are Chapter Two (1970) and Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972). Despite those omissions, getting five great albums for $18.87 makes for a fantastic deal and at least one happy customer. Probably more than one, actually - these albums were at home on the R&B, pop, and jazz charts. Beautiful music from a beautiful soul.

The box set takes the listener through the evolution of Flack's sound during the decade. Headphones recommended. Also recommended, the episode of American Masters dedicated to Flack's career.

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FIRST TAKE (1969)
8 tracks, 46 minutes

A wonderful introduction to a wonderful talent. The album is a compilation of slow-burning tracks - most are about 6 minutes in length. The music is intentionally sparse and unrushed. There's space to hear all the notes. Lots of perfectly arranged ballads performed by Flack alongside names like Ron Carter on bass and John Pizzarelli on guitar.

Liner notes by Les McCann.

Press of the time:

• Record World: "a new great taking her bittersweet time"
• High Fidelity: "For lonely winter's eves"
• Billboard: "Her soft, sustained vocal style gently skirts the lyrics and hypnotizes with its creamy evenness."
• Rolling Stone: "You feel the world differently after listening to it"
• Stereo Review: "Run to your nearest record outlet and buy not one, but two, maybe three"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #1
• Billboard R&B: #1
• Billboard Jazz: #3
• CashBox: #1
• Record World Jazz: #15

In 2017, it was ranked at #148 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.

Tracks: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was a massive hit in 1972 once Clint Eastwood used it in his movie Play Misty For Me. That spurred the single to Grammy Awards for Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year. Billboard ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972. To be honest, I didn't think much of it when I was a tot - too boring! I wanna dance! - but I started warming up to it in the '80s when I bought Volume 6 of the Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947-1974 set. Now I'm all in. It's the best tune on the album, followed closely by the other 7 tracks.

The single released in 1969 was the album opener, an upbeat take on Compared To What, which, oddly, is unlike any other track on the album (but I still dig!). As far as the other tracks, I'm hard-pressed to decide which is the most powerful: Angelitos Negros, I Told Jesus, Tryin' Times (that acoustic bass line!), or Ballad Of The Sad Young Men.

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QUIET FIRE (1971)
8 tracks, 42 minutes

More of the same. And that's a good thing. Mostly carefully selected covers plus one Flack original, all performed by a great supporting cast (full playing and writing credits here).

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "The title spells out the flavor and feel of this easy and yet sometimes penetrating commercial package."
• Record World: "ever-quiet, ever-exciting"
• Rolling Stone: "an exercise in lifeless sophistication and dramatic understatement carried to its unfortunate extreme: emptiness"
• Stereo Review: "Roberta Flack is a special kind of multi-talented musician, but her appeal is wide"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #18
• Billboard R&B: #4
• Billboard Jazz: #5
• CashBox: #20
• Record World Jazz: #1

Tracks: The single released from this album was a cover of Will You Love Me Tomorrow which only managed to peak at #76 pop and #38 R&B. As one might expect, the tempo is slowed considerably and is performed by only Flack on piano and Ron Carter on bass floating above the occasional string arrangement. The better pieces to my ear are the original Go Up Moses and Flack's take on Bridge Over Troubled Water.

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KILLING ME SOFTLY (1973)
8 tracks, 41 minutes

In which Roberta Flack becomes a full-fledged soft rock icon. Heck, with this release, CashBox magazine declared Flack "THE top female artist of the decade." And this album certainly helps that argument. For the most part, Flack's arrangements are slightly more uptempo and fuller than the earlier two albums in this set.

The album's title track won three 1974 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The album itself was nominated for the Album of the Year award, losing to Innervisions. 

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "a total masterpiece"
• Record World: "Ms. Flack's finest recording to date."
• Billboard: "delicate, introspective work."
• Rolling Stone: "It's too calculated, too restrained for my taste...but god knows it has its appeal."
• High Fidelity: "my favorite Roberta Flack so far."
• Stereo Review: "the Ella Fitzgerald of the Seventies."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #3
• Billboard R&B: #2
• CashBox: #1
• Record World Jazz: #1

Tracks: While the title cut is an undeniable classic, my favorite tunes here are the upbeat No Tears (In The End) and gospelish track, River. Leonard Cohen's Suzanne is mesmerizing with an almost sadistic, driving high-hat figure. The cover of Janis Ian's Jesse (#30 pop, #19 R&B) is quite tasteful.

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FEEL LIKE MAKIN' LOVE (1975)
9 tracks, 47 minutes

Flack starts producing her own records and things just get better and better. I'll simply say this is my favorite album included in this box set.

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "No doubt that this is top 10 material"
• Record World: "The Flack feel flows as it mellows the soul through her flawless synthesis of sounds."
• Rolling Stone: "Flack's least satisfactory album to date"
• Billboard: "this set should mark her as one of the landmark performers of the '70s"
• Stereo Review: "the combined effect of her lustrous technique and superior material is downright stunning"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #24
• Billboard R&B: #5
• Billboard Jazz: #11
• CashBox: #17

Tracks: I can't decide if the title track is my all-time Flack cut (the only other single in the running is Where Is The Love with Donny Hathaway), but needless to say, it's the best thing on this album. Also good is the lead track, Feelin' That Glow (#76 pop, #25 R&B). In fact, there's not a stinker to be found and that includes a Stevie Wonder tune which morphs into fusionish instrumental piece, I Can See The Sun In Late September.

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BLUE LIGHTS IN THE BASEMENT (1977)
10 tracks, 41 minutes

By 1977, Flack's sound had changed quite about since her 1969 debut and the style that once got her attention from the jazz crowd had developed into 3 or 4 minute pop stylings aimed at the adult contemporary folks. As someone who considers himself a member of both populations, that sort of movement is fine with me. The problem here isn't Flack or the other performers, it's a lack of quality material, which is often uninteresting or oddly arranged. I like it fine; it just doesn't hold up to its predecessor.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "very disappointing"
• CashBox: "Flack is in her element here and sounds as good as ever."
• Billboard: "lacking the drama of her previous hits"
• Record World: "she has lost none of her vocal magic"
• Rolling Stone: "contains no surprises, but it's a very satisfying record."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #8
• Billboard R&B: #5
• CashBox: #11

Tracks: The lead track, Why Don't You Move In With Me, is a straight-up disco tune and a dang catchy one, at that. But then comes the hit duet with Donny Hathaway, The Closer I Get To You (#1 R&B, #2 pop, #3 AC) and I'm immediately swept back to 6th grade trying to come to terms with suddenly wanting to be around girls. That song is the best cut on this album, but I also dig This Time I'll Be Sweeter, 25th of Last December, and After You, presented as a well-sequenced three-fer in the middle of the disc.

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Personal Memory Associated with these CDs: None apart from hearing the singles on the radio during my youth.