Rock Me – Steppenwolf-This actually has it’s moments, but much of it is ordinary and the extended break in the middle is just tedious and embarrassing.
Runaway Child Running Wild – The Temptations-Tremendous topical funk exercise.
San Francisco Mabel Joy – Mickey Newbury-One of the most widely recorded songwriters in the country western field. Member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame, and with tear jerking lyrics like these, it’s easy to see why. At one time in the ‘60’s he simultaneously had four Top 10 singles on four different charts.
Save The Country – Laura Nyro-There’s nothing wrong with this, in fact it’s pretty good. But Judee Sill blows her away at her own game.
Saved By The Bell – Robin Gibb-Robin’s short lived solo career produced this one international hit, not released in the US as far as I can tell. Its very sad and lushly orchestrated. It comes across as a downer initially, but upon repeated listening , the passion on display here really starts to emerge.
Second Lover’s Song – Townes Van Zandt-This sounds like it could pass off as early Leonard Cohen. Van Zandt was convinced to come to Nashville by none other than Mickey Newbury. One of the many highlights of this song is how Van Zandt’s voice interprets the longing and yearning quality of the lyric. Seems like he not only wrote it, but more importantly he also lived it.
See Me Feel Me – The Who- I really don’t need to hear this ever again, but I listened to it all the way through in the spirit of completing the task at hand. This, as well as most of “Tommy” just sounds like it was recorded without any balls.
Shadows On My Wall – The Poppy Family-My research yields this is a B side, and might actually be 1970. So we’re going to hold off for now because The Poppy Family return to the party later on in the alphabet.
Shake – Shadows Of Knight-Quite the checkered history behind these guys, but they had great electric blues chops, not unlike The Yardbirds or The Animals.
Shangri-La – The Kinks- I’m really hoping Ray pulls this one out for us on Saturday, a glorious paean to the plight of the common man
Share With Me – Curt Boettcher-I wrote about this guy at length last year and also in earlier posts on the 1969 singles. All I have to add here is that Curt excelled in the art of the stereo mix.
She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye – Jerry Lee Lewis-Written by Mickey Newbury who earns the first Rock NYC trifecta by being mentioned three times within one post. He must be a legend.
Singing My Song – Tammy Wynette -The more I hear from Wynette the more I like it. Hearing this on the way home, I went as far to think to myself that she may be the female Sinatra. Her voice is that good.