Across 110th Street, Bobby Womack and Peace
(Bobby Womack/J.J. Johnson) (#56)
Womack started working as a child on the gospel circuit and later wrote “It’s All Over Now,” which was popularized by The Rolling Stones. He raised eyebrows in the music community when he married Sam Cooke’s widow (Bonnie Campbell) three months after Cooke was killed and he also worked as a session musician for the Box Tops and Aretha Franklin in the 1960s. “Across 100th Street” was the title track for a soundtrack to a 1972 blaxploitation film about solving murder crimes in Harlem. While there is no subtlety in the high schlock arrangement, Womack’s gritty, been there, done that voice gives the lyrics about dope, pimps, and street prostitutes a sense of tragic urban reality.
Angel, Aretha Franklin
(Carolyn Franklin, Sonny Saunders) (#20)
Penned by Aretha’s sister Carolyn, who gets a shout out in the intro, and Detroit neighbor Sonny Saunders, “Angel” is a move away from hard edged soul to a contemporary ballad format. The production by Quincy Jones leans too hard on the strings, but Aretha holds nothing back on this lament of loneliness.
Call Me (Come Back Home), Al Green
(Al Green, Al Jackson, Jr., Willie Mitchell) (#10)
The 1973 Call Me album is generally considered Green’s career peak and the lead/title track sets a high standard to follow. Willie Mitchell had a production sound that was simultaneously lush and sparse, horns, strings, and backup singers weave in and out, nothing dominates but Green’s fluid falsetto. Guitarist Teenie Hodges was in the fine “less is more” tradition of Memphis guitar players and added sophisticated jazz chords into the soul groove. Lyrically, dedicated love man Al is willing and ready to accept your call.
Funky Worm, Ohio Players
(Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner / Marshall “Rock” Jones / Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks / Walter “Junie” Morrison / Andrew Noland / Ohio Players / Gregory Webster) (#15)
The Dayton based Ohio Players had been together in different configurations dating back to 1959, but their chart success started in 1972, after signing with the Detroit based Westbound label, which served as the home for George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic crew. “Funky Worm” was their breakthrough pop hit – a novelty/dance tune featuring commentary from a “granny,” a heavy funk bottom (the bassline stands out front and center), soul horns, and an often sampled, fat Moog synthesizer line that represented the travels of the worm. I would say that this sounds like P-Funk on LSD, but the prepositional phrase is probably redundant.
Here I Am (Come and Take Me), Al Green
(Al Green, Teenie Hodges) (#10)
There’s an improvisational feel to “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” as Al gives a deliberate reading during the spare verses than pitches up to falsetto squeals on the chorus. The Memphis Horns provide subtle, warm phrasing, then dig into the chorus hook. Green would only return to the pop Top Ten once after this hit with 1974’s “Sha-La-La (Make My Happy).” UB40 took their cover of “Here I Am” to #7 on the U.S. pop charts in 1990.
Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder
(Stevie Wonder) (#4)
By the early 1970s, Stevie Wonder was combining funk, soul, and pop musical influences with substantive lyrics to become one of the era’s most critically acclaimed and commercially successful performers. Wonder played all the instruments on the religious funk song “Higher Ground,” which was based on a hair raising clavinet riff, as was his early 1973 hit “Superstition.” “Higher Ground” lives up to its title, it takes you there.
I Can’t Stand the Rain, Ann Peebles
(Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, Bernard Miller) (#38)
While Willie Mitchell and Hi Records are almost synonymous with Al Green, he had signed St. Louis soul singer Ann Peebles in 1968. Peebles scored on the R&B charts from 1969 to 1979, but only “I Can’t Stand the Rain” made the pop Top 40. On this soul classic, Willie Mitchell added a plinky electric timbale hook to the intro and Peebles’ yearning take on this tale of rain and heartbreak would have a lasting impact – a disco cover by Eruption went to #18 on the charts in 1978, Tina Turner had a major European hit with her 1985 version, and Missy Elliot sampled the track for 1997’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).”
If You Want Me to Stay, Sly and the Family Stone
(Sly Stone) (#12)
Bassist Larry Graham was out of the Family for the 1973 Fresh album, but Rustee Allen, his replacement, is the centerpiece on the stripped down, staccato funk of “If You Want Me to Stay.” Sly provides an eccentric vocal, one that Prince most likely studied, that alternates between low register growls and high-pitched yelps. It doesn’t have a chorus, but it was the band’s last Top Twenty hit single on groove alone.
It Hurts So Good, Millie Jackson
(Phillip Mitchell) (#24)
Millie Jackson was more than a cult artist in the 1970s, she had three gold albums, but her unrestrained sexuality was too raw for mainstream pop audiences. “It Hurts So Good” was used in the film Cleopatra Jones and was her biggest hit. On this mid-tempo ballad, Jackson describes the endless pain she receives from an emotionally abusive lover. Then, she begs him to continue the indignities.
Jungle Boogie, Kool & the Gang
(Ronald Bell/Kool & the Gang) (#4)
Kool & the Gang started as a New York area jazz act, but evolved into get down boogie when they started recording in 1969. “Jungle Boogie” is dance floor, horn driven funk with lyrical chants from the band and humorous interjections from roadie Don Boyce. A pure party record, this was the band’s biggest hit until the 1980 #1 “Celebration.”
Killing Me Softly with His Song, Roberta Flack
(Charles Fox/Norman Gimbel) (#1)
A song with a disputed history, original vocalist Lori Lieberman claims that the inspiration was from a poem she had written after seeing a Don McLean concert. The credited songwriters have stated that Lieberman’s version of what occurred is not true, but the historical statements appear to support her claim. In any event, Lieberman’s reading was somewhat colorless and Flack added a sense of aching distress, a combination of vulnerability and unfulfilled desire, that resulted in a #1 pop hit and a Grammy for Record of the Year.
Let’s Get it On, Marvin Gaye
(Marvin Gaye, Ed Townsend) (#1)
After addressing more serious concerns with the What’s Going On and Trouble Man albums, Gaye went back to the bedroom on “Let’s Get It On,” a direct request for sexual gratification. The wah wah guitar notes on the intro sounds like a carrion call to every stripper on the planet and there has never been a more humorous pick up line than, “We’re all sensitive people.” Audaciously seductive.
Love Train, The O’Jays 1973
(Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) (#1)
While the early 1970s were full of anti-war songs, Gamble and Huff went a different route, simply making a call for international brotherhood. “Love Train” is a perfect example of pre-disco, early ‘70s dance music, retaining the beat of traditional pop music, yet adorned with cascading strings and polished horn charts. The message may be viewed as quixotically simple, but this is spirit lifting feel good music.
Midnight Train to Georgia, Gladys Knight and the Pips
(Jim Weatherly) (#1)
Originally titled “Midnight Plane to Houston,” songwriter Jim Weatherly recorded his composition as a country song. Cissy Houston (Whitney’s mom) cut a country soul version with the now famous title in 1973, but Gladys Knight producer Tony Camillo, who had worked at Motown, reworked the arrangement with horns and a 1970s contemporary soul sound. The vocal interplay between Gladys and her Pips was in the call and response tradition and yet also smartly advanced the storyline. A wonderful vocal performance by Gladys Knight, conveying empathy, determination, and love.
Natural High, Bloodstone
(Charles McCormick) (#10)
Bloodstone started as a high school doo wop band in the early 1960s and “Natural High,” their best known hit, sounds like doo wop recorded on top of Philly Soul – a slow dance love ballad with a bizarre jazz break in the middle. Bloodstone continued to hit the R&B charts until 1984, but their traditional vocal group arrangements sounded anachronistic during the disco era.
Pillow Talk, Sylvia
(Sylvia Robinson, Michael Burton) (#3)
Seventeen years after going to #11 on the pop charts with “Love is Strange,” as half of Mickey & Sylvia, Sylvia Robinson scored a bigger hit with the sexually charged “Pillow Talk.” Musically, string hooked, mid-tempo R&B. As for the vocal performance, she may have invented coitus sotto voce. This was Sylvia’s only Top 40 hit, but she would remain influential in the music business. In 1979, she was a co-founder of the groundbreaking rap label Sugar Hill Records.
Stir It Up, Johnny Nash
(Bob Marley) (#12)
Originally recorded by Bob Marley in 1967, this version of “Stir It Up,” was the reggae legend’s first hit outside of Jamaica. For Johnny Nash’s last major hit, he used members of The Wailers, Marley’s backing band, for an authentic feel. A hooky chorus carries the song through the unconventional slow paced verses.
Superfly, Curtis Mayfield
(Curtis Mayfield) (#8)
Mayfield’s last major pop hit was the title song from the Superfly soundtrack, featuring the type of flashy instrumentation that was standard for the era. Lyrically, another look at the cocaine dealing ghetto hustler whose days as a free man were numbered. Unsurprisingly, “Superfly” has been sampled many times, most notably with the direct lift of the intro on The Beastie Boys’ “Egg Man.”
Superstition, Stevie Wonder
(Jeff Beck, Stevie Wonder) (#1)
Stevie Wonder wasn’t known as a funk artist in 1972, but he took the genre into an exciting new direction with the clavinet riff/Moog bass on “Superstition.” Jeff Beck, who had agreed to collaborate with Wonder with the understanding that he would receive a song in return, started the composition with a drum beat. Wonder then added what Beck later described as “the riff of the century.” The leadership of Motown were more interested in Wonder’s commercial prospects than the agreement with Beck and Wonder’s version of the song was released as a single first. Beck later reflected on the disappointment within his camp,” We were gutted. We would have had a monstrous, monstrous hit.”
That Lady (Part 1), The Isley Brothers
(Rudolph Isley, Ronald Isley, O’Kelly Isley, Jr.) (#6)
The Cincinnati based family group The Isley Brothers started performing in the mid-1950s and hit the pop charts in 1959 with their frat rock classic “Shout.” They had a Top Twenty hit with “Twist and Shout” in 1962 and scored later that decade with “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)” and put some funk into their act with 1969’s “It’s Your Thing.” A bossa nova inspired version of “Who’s That Lady” missed the charts for the Isleys in 1964, but it was recut in 1973 as a showcase for guitarist Ernie Isley. The result – Santana style guitar licks on top of traditional R&B in the vocals and ‘70s funk in the rhythm section, which added up to new commercial life for the band.
