The Bottle, Gil Scott-Heron
(Gil Scott-Heron)
In the mid-1970s, Gil Scott-Heron created a quiet storm jazz/rap fusion that sounded like nothing else in pop music. “The Bottle,” a look at the personal destruction caused by alcoholism, became one of his most famous songs; a sad irony for a man who would later experience significant substance abuse issues that derailed his career. Gil Scott-Heron was asked about this song in 2009 and reflected on the people that inspired it, “(One was) an ex-physician who was dumped because he was found performing abortions…a schoolteacher who had somehow juggled her grades to get somebody promoted that shouldn’t have been…an Air Traffic Controller who made a mistake while on duty and ran a flight into a mountain. These were not people whose ambition was to be an alcoholic; they could have gotten into that career much earlier.”
Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe, Barry White
(Barry White) (#1)
After a stint in jail as a teenager, Barry White released a string of unsuccessful singles in the 1960s and worked behind the scenes – in artist development, as well as being a songwriter, musician, and arranger. In the early 1970s, he became an unconventional sexy symbol, crooning words of love with his deep, silky baritone voice. “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” is an extension of the Philly soul sound and a step toward the disco beat. Alone with your significant other on a Saturday night? Step one, put on a Barry White record. Step two, dim the lights.
Dancing Machine, The Jackson 5
(Hal David, Don Fletcher, Dean Parks) (#2)
“Dancing Machine” was a comeback hit for The Jackson 5, who hadn’t visited the Top Ten in two years, a veritable lifetime in teen pop. The song took funk to the dance floor, with the vocal arrangement making it a true group effort and the lively instrumentation resulting in a successful entrance into the embryonic disco market. Their last great single on Motown.
Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing, Stevie Wonder
(Stevie Wonder) (#16)
Stevie kicks off the song with some humorous slick hustler pickup lines before moving into the smooth Latin jazz groove. Wonder has a good time on this song, even doing a modified scat in the bridge. As an example of his ability to cross into different musical cultures, “Don’t You Worry ‘bout a Thing” was covered in the 1970s by jazz fusion artist Roy Ayers, the soul vocal group The Main Ingredient, and Brazilian bossa nova specialist Sérgio Mendes. The British acid jazz band Incognito scored a U.K. hit with their faithful 1992 cover.
Hollywood Swinging, Kool& the Gang
(Robert “Kool” Bell, Ronald Bell, George M. Brown, Robert Spike Mickens, Claydes E. Smith, Dennis R. Thomas & Rick A Westfield) (#6)
A trifle at best lyrically, “Hollywood Swinging” was Kool & the Gang’s second Top Ten hit in 1974, following “Jungle Boogie.” There may have never been a more influential bass line in music history than the three notes that Chic used as the foundation of “Good Times.” And this is where they most likely got it.
It Ain’t No Use, The Meters
(George Porter, Jr. / Ziggy Modeliste / Art Neville / Leo Nocentelli)
New Orleans most famous backing unit had moved toward a more contemporary funk fusion sound by 1974’s Rejuvenation album. “It Ain’t No Use” is almost twelve minutes of taut lead guitar, fat bass, soul sister reinforcement, and an aching, bluesy vocal by guitarist Leo Nocentelli. This is funk that sounds like the free jazz of a rock ‘n’ roller’s dream. Also, a true tour de force for Dixieland meets Mardi Gras drummer Ziggy Modeliste.
I’ve Got to Use My Imagination, Gladys Knight & The Pips
(Gerry Goffin, Barry Goldberg) (#4)
Gerry Goffin formed one of the most famous songwriting teams in pop music history during the 1960s with Carole King. As a lyricist, Goffin was known for his perceptive writing skills in developing lyrics to be delivered from a female perspective and as King has noted after his death in 2014, his ability to put “big ideas into simple words.” After Gerry Goffin stopped working with Carole King, he wrote a number of hits with different musicians. His credits include “Theme from Mahogany” by Diana Ross, “Saving All My Love for You,” by Whitney Houston, and “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” by Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson. On “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” an American version of the northern soul style popularized in the U.K. in the last ‘60s, Gladys loses a man and looks for a reason to keep on keeping on, a phrase that might have caught Bob Dylan’s attention.
Love’s Theme, Love Unlimited Orchestra
(Barry White) (#1)
Barry White wasn’t one to think small, he created a 40-piece orchestra to serve as his backing group, then recorded that unit as a solo act as well. “Love’s Theme,” a series of beautiful cascading strings on top of a dance beat, was a #1 pop hit, and an influential record within disco music. White had originally envisioned the song with vocals, but after hearing the string arrangement, determined that adding lyrics would only be a distraction. Love Unlimited Orchestra also had an influence on the syndicated music program Soul Train. After paying for a budget busting performance by the entire orchestra with added vocals by the trio Love Unlimited, program host and producer Don Cornelius decided that all future acts on his show would lip-sync.
Nothing from Nothing, Billy Preston
(Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher) (#1)
“Nothing from Nothing” was nothing but fun, with a circus style intro and Preston playing ragtime/barroom piano. It was his last major solo hit, although a much more reserved Preston scored a #4 pop hit with Syreeta Wright in 1979 on the duet “With You I’m Born Again.” He did hide one more Top Ten single on his 1974 album The Kids & Me; Preston co-wrote and first recorded “You Are So Beautiful,” which Joe Cocker croaked to #5 in 1975.
Rock the Boat, Hues Corporation
(Waldo Holmes) (#1)
The Hues Corporation started performing in 1969, their name being an African-American pun on the company founded by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, The Hughes Corporation. The trio provided music for the blaxploitation horror flick Blacula in 1972 and in 1973 they recorded band manager/songwriter Waldo (“Wally”) Holmes’ composition “Rock the Boat.” The single bombed when first released, but became a hit on the New York dance scene and pop radio followed. Band member St. Clair Lee, “It was a song that you could do anything on. You could cuddle or you could get crazy if you wanted to. It was a love song without being a love song, but, it was a disco hit and it happened because of the discos.” Record label executives would not ignore this phenomenon.
Rock Your Baby, George McCrae
(Howard Wayne Casey, Richard Finch) (#1)
George McCrae somewhat backed into a #1 song on the pop charts. His wife Gwen McCrae, who scored a Top Ten hit in 1975 with “Rockin’ Chair,” was signed to a solo contract and George was working as her manager. The creative leaders of KC and The Sunshine Band wrote “Rock Your Baby” and thought it might work as a single for Gwen. She wasn’t available for the session and George, who had lead his own vocal group as a teenager, had no problems hitting the high notes. In a reflection of how dance music was beginning to impact rock ‘n’ roll, John Lennon used “Rock Your Baby” as the blueprint for his #1 hit “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.”
Show and Tell, Al Wilson
(Jerry Fuller) (#1)
Soul singer Al Wilson first hit the U.S. Top 40 in 1967 with “The Snake,” a song that became a minor hit in the U.K. in 1975 after becoming popular on the northern soul nightclub scene and one that Van Morrison might have heard before writing the intro to “Wild Night.” “Show and Tell” was a mid-tempo love song that Johnny Mathis had recorded in 1972. Wilson was able to project both power and vulnerability, landing one of the last soul records to hit #1 on the pop charts before the disco movement became entrenched.
Sideshow, Blue Magic
(Bobby Eli, Vinnnie Barrett) (#8)
Blue Magic was a Philadelphia quintet, with a sound similar to the Stylistics and Chi-Lites, that connected with the MFSB crew for their only major pop hit “Sideshow.” Charting at the tail end of the falsetto soul era and featuring the type of romantic hyperbole typical of the form, there’s a comforting beauty in the vocal arrangements and production on “Sideshow.” They tried to capitalize on the “Sideshow” theme with their followup single, “Three Ring Circus,” but stalled at #36 on the pop charts.
Standing on the Verge of Getting it On, Funkadelic
(George Clinton, Eddie Hazel)
There was always a shock element that dabbled with the grotesque in Funkadelic – this track begins with a golden shower fantasy, but its main theme is a statement (we are the band of the moment) and a request (get on board). This is James Brown meets Jimi Hendrix spaced out boogie funk. The next cut on the album, also the B-side to this single, supported a gay friend with typical Funkadelic contrariousness -“Jimmy’s Got a Little Bit of Bitch in Him.”
Tell Me Something Good, Rufus
(Stevie Wonder) (#3)
The band Rufus evolved from The American Breed, a Chicago based group that went to #5 in 1967 with “Bend Me, Shape Me.” The eponymous debut album from Rufus in 1973 didn’t produce any hits, but it did capture the attention of Stevie Wonder, who wrote “Tell Me Something Good” for Chaka Khan’s voice and gave her vocal instructions during the recording. The song is stripped down, bass heavy funk with a grinding chorus that reinforces Chaka’s promise of sexual gratification.
Then Came You, Dionne Warwick and Spinners
(Sherman Marshall, Philip Pugh) (#1)
Dionne Warwick was established as a sophisticated pop singer with her string of hits in the 1960s, written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The hits dried up in the 1970s and producer Thom Bell recommended a duet with Dionne and the Spinners. Bell recorded the basic track in Philadelphia, then went to Los Angeles to record Dionne’s vocals. She was unimpressed, but Bell thought it was a hit and added the vocals by the Spinners as well as string and horn arrangements. A fine example of smooth supper club soul, Dionne grew to appreciate the song as it became her first #1 single.
T.S.O.P. (The Sounds of Philadelphia), MFSB featuring The Three Degrees
(Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff) (#1)
As the popularity of the syndicated music program Soul Train expanded in the early 1970s, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff pitched the idea to Don Cornelius of writing a theme song for the show. The producers worked their velvet magic with MSFB with a few vocal lines from the trio The Three Degrees, who would score a major hit later in 1974 with “When Will I See You Again.” The producers pitched the title “Soul Train.” Protective of his brand name, Cornelius rejected that udea, a decision that according to Gamble he would later describe as “the dumbest move I ever made.” While “T.S.O.P” had more of an R&B edge than most of the Philly Sound material, heavy string arrangement’s gliding on top of a four on the floor beat, popularized by MFSB drummer Earl Young, would become the basic building blocks for disco music.
Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do), Aretha Franklin
(Stevie Wonder, Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax) (#3)
Stevie Wonder recorded this song in 1967, but it wasn’t released under his name until 1976. In the meantime, he pitched it to Aretha and it was one of her best, and most straightforward, pop productions of the early 1970s. Bassist Chuck Rainey, “I still remember that groove, and when things groove like that, you smile like you’re George Jefferson.” Her last Top Ten hit until 1985’s “Freeway of Love.”
Up for the Down Stroke, Parliament
(George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Fuzzy Haskins, Bernie Worrell) (#63)
By 1974, Parliament had transported Sly Stone’s pop funk into a new hemisphere -hard funk on the bottom, weaving soul horns, overlapping vocals, chants, handclaps, and Bernie Worrell’s colorful keyboard squiggles for texture. This is funk as an explosion, an instant party, a litmus test for the groove impaired.
You Haven’t Done Nothin’, Stevie Wonder
(Stevie Wonder) (#1)
A weird one, “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” was written in the funk style of “Superstition” and “Higher Ground” with a bouncier melody and The Jackson 5 on doo wop background vocals. Supposedly, an indictment of the Nixon administration, it’s reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s “finger pointing” songs of the 1960s and generic enough that it could be about anyone that falls short of their stated ideals. Wonder, “The best way to get an important and heavy message across is to wrap it up nicely. So if you have a catchy melody instead of making the whole song sound like a lesson, people are more likely to play the tune. They can dance to it and still listen to the lyrics and hopefully think about them.”
