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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "David Bash" <bashpop@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | Re: Cheezy Philly Soul....Yum Yum... |
| Date | Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:44:19 -0700 |
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--- In audities@yahoogroups.com, Paul Myers <paulm@s...> wrote:
> With regard to that Philadelphonica thread...
> I recall with great warmth, my youth in Toronto listening to 1050
> CHUM AM and sitting by my open apartment window in the winter time,
> snow blowing in, and dreaming that I would one day ask Maria Rossi
> out. I was listening to Betcha By Golly Wow and there were pre
> teenage tears in my eyes, I felt such strong emotions (what I would
> later find out was called "unrequited love") but was probably just a
> crush, and I've always wondered if it wasn't the music that pushed me
> over the top vis a vis the tears.
> In my adult life there have been times when that song, or You Make Me
> Feel Brand New, Have You Seen Her? or La La La Means I Love You or
> even Ooh Child , will come on the radio or be used in a movie as
> "instant nostalgia" and sure enough I get a little lump in my throat.
> (Quentin Tarantino used one of these in Jackie Brown to great effect.)
> Somebody else on this list pointed out that the seventies were an
> unusual time in radio, I quite agree. CHUM AM used to play rock,
> soul, pop folk and novelty songs all in the same sweep. You had the
> morbid weirdness of The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia a Bobby
> Russell tune (he wrote Watching Scotty Grow as well) and I remember a
> song called Timothy about three boys trapped in a mine with no food,
> except the flesh of their buddy Timothy, sample lyric "Joe was lookin
> at you / God what did we do?"
> I'm 42 now, and I'm already starting to say things like "Kids today
> don't understand..." even though every week there's a reason to be
> optimistic, a Rooney here, a Sloan there, the odd New Radical
> moment, the true hook is a dying art. Guess that's why I like
> Power Pop so much, the euphoric innocence of the three minute
> treatise on immediate wonderfulness...with a kickin backbeat and few
> big guitar hooks. Yessiree that's the ticket.
> And right you are, whoever said that thing about it not only being
> about Rock, some of my favourite songs were by wimpy poppers like
> Gilbert O'Sullivan or Dionne Warwick singing Walk On By....
>
> Rambling on in bliss....
>
> Paul Myers...
>
>
>
>
> <<<I totally love the slightly cheesy, less ballsy than Motown and Stax
soul
> of the 70's that preceded disco. The Chi-Lites (Have You Seen Her?)and
> Stylistics (Betcha By Golly Wow) are a couple of my faves from the era.>>>
>
> >> Add to that list, "La La
> La Means I Love You" by the Delphonics (is that the right # of La's?), You
> Make Me Feel Brand New, also by the Stylistics (?), and many many
others...
Keep on a ramblin', Paul. I just LOVE reading these kinds of reminiscences!
As a boy I have similar memories of listening to WABC, a small New Jersey
station called WWDJ, WXLO-FM (99X) in New York.
One of the reasons that series of cassettes I had of most of the top 40 hits
from January 1970-December 1974 was my most precious musical possession was
that, while listening to them, my life would flash before my eyes and my
mind's eye in a series of emotional and physical snapshots and moving
pictures. Some of it was tangible, some of it wasn't, but it was
essentially the essence of my youth. When those tapes were stolen, it was
as if a part of my life was pilfered as well.
I can't say with 100% certainty that today's kids don't understand, and I
never want to sound like some old fogey, but it does seem as if not just the
radio of my youth, but also the complete listening experience, was better in
my day. Eeek, "my day". Christ, I AM an old fogey!
Oh, just for the record, since you asked, you have one too many "La's" in
there. Also, the correct spelling is Delfonics. :-)
Finally, if you love The Stylistics and The Delfonics, you'll also love
Black Ivory, a similarly styled group from New York who had about 90% of the
talent as those groups, but alas about 10% of the chart success. There is a
great compilation of Black Ivory stuff on Sanctuary Records called "Spinning
Around: The Today Sessions" that is a must have for '70s soul fans!
--
Pop, Soul, and The AM Airwaves Rule!!!!!
Take Care,
David (N.P. "A Saucerfull of Secrets" by Pink Floyd...of all things!)
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