The Boxer – Simon & Garfunkel—One of their last ever singles together. It took over 100 hours to record in at least three different venues, one of which was St Paul’s Chapel, at 209 Broadway, right here in NYC.
The Chokin’ Kind – Joe Simon-Winner of a Grammy the following year for best male R&B vocal performance. The bass line is an absolute corker as well.
The Composer – Diana Ross & The Supremes-Incredibly adventurous melody written by none other than Smokey Robinson I don’t know whether or not that’s Papa Zita Benjamin or Pistol Allen on the drums , but one of ‘em is tearin’ it up here. That hi-hat is just infectious.
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack-A #1 hit in 1972, but recorded in 1969. Playin’ fast and loose with the rules I know, but the tune is spectacular, so it goes in here.
The Grooviest Girl In The World – The Fun & Games-As my regular readers know (all 12 of you) I am a major fan of the sunshine pop genre and discoveries like this absolutely make my day. From Houston no less, they moved to California cut one LP and disappeared from sight.
The Nitty Gritty – Gladys Knight & The Pips-Not as much a song as it is a celebration, and I mean that in a good way.
The Prophecy Of Daniel And John The Divine – The Cowsills-This tune tries to walk a fine line between trippy psychedelic spoken passages combined with a biblical theme. Apparently too confusing for radio, but it’s great-The vocal power is second to none.
The Price Of Love – Status Quo-I hate to rag on these guys, but I just cant get into them.
The Real Thing – Russell Morris-It’s a real trip. A basic tune gets the full on psych studio treatment and goes to #1 in Australia as well as three major US markets with no promotion at all.
The Star – Ross D. Wyllie-A Bee Gees influenced kinda thing that was a big Australian hit. Decent but not memorable.
The Thrill Is Gone – B.B. King-I must have heard this thing hundreds of times. Now faced with the task of writing a blurb about it, I’m frozen because nothing I write can do the tune justice.
The Ways To Love A Man – Tammy Wynette-Listening to Tammy this time around, I’m struck how she can bellow out those high notes so loudly always while singing and never screaming. Unbelievable vocal range and power.
The Windmills Of Your Mind – Dusty Springfield-Complex, yet simple. Comforting, yet disturbing. It goes from very quiet to very loud without you even really noticing.