When I reached the end of the 2nd week I thought we could be on for the best year so far. After the following 2 weeks though I had my doubts.
There is a clear winner in this batch which comes from Stevie Wonder with "Living For The City". In the interests of time I listen to the radio edit of each record, but for this one after listening to the radio edit I went on to listen to the full 7 minute version. The best thing he's ever done and hard to believe it's the same person who did "I Just Called To Say I Love You".
A surprise record occupies 2nd place. It was the 2nd and final and lesser known hit for Clifford T Ward. I was vaguely aware of this record but this was the first time I had a proper listen and found it a real joy to listen to.
In 3rd place are The Isley Brothers with "Highway Of My Life". They had left Motown by this point but were still producing the goods.
Then we have an early example of disco in the Top 40 with "The Love I Lost" by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. This was a time before the popularity of disco exploded and everyone jumped on the bandwagon and as a result it's a decent record.
Folk isn't a genre I think of when it comes to 70s music but we have a few in this batch. In addition to Clifford T Ward we have former Small Faces and Faces member Ronnie Lane with "How Come" which is up in 5th place. We also have "Star" by Stealers Wheel which is also alright and "After The Goldrush" by Prelude which is also alright but suffers somewhat from being acapella.
Alice Cooper is a name I think of when it comes to the harder side of rock in the 70s. His record "Teenage Lament 74" still fits that description but is a bit different to his typical sound and I like it.
Some soul records follow, I find "Rockin Roll Baby" by Stylistics pretty average and they've done better but the records from Diana Ross, Billy Paul and Barry White are all decent.
Down the bottom we have Jonathan King doing a novelty cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" under the name Bubblerock and is awful. Lulu made one of many comebacks with a cover of "The Man Who Sold The World" by David Bowie but it doesn't work for me. Despite Lulu being a 60s singer coming back in the 70s and David Bowie very much being of the 70s Lulu is the younger of the 2. In fact Lulu is one of the youngest of all these artists.
Glam Rock isn't really my thing and I've never liked "Tiger Feet" by Mud. Above that is "Teenage Rampage" by The Sweet which was the reason I got 36 instead of 39 on Popmaster because I couldn't identify some lyrics from the first verse. Even now the lyrics still don't stand out.
We've now reached the mid-point of the 70s and we've not seen the nosedive in quality I was expecting.
Score: 47
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