Old Enough to Forget

When Burton Cummings left The Guess Who and embarked on a solo career, he caught his second wind. Through the mid '70s to the end of the decade, he was huge at home. He went on a double-platinum run starting with his self-titled album in ’76 and hit triple platinum with Dream of a Child in ’78. I always assumed he was Canada’s unofficial troubadour. He also seemed to have more specials on CBC than Wayne and Shuster (just kidding - no one had more specials than those guys), and he hosted the Juno Awards in 1979 and 1980 when he was at the height of his popularity. Me? I could take him or leave him. He was a hell of a singer and all that, but he was also really cheesy at times. Though I really liked “My Own Way to Rock,” mainly because the guitar solo was so good. Considering my limited budget as a teenager, I never felt the urge to spend my money on his stuff. The one album I found a while back that is pretty much essential listening was his 1980 two-record collection, The Best of ...

I'll admit I'm sort of a sucker for this era of soft rock. It likely explains why I'm such a big fan of Christopher Cross ... no I am not kidding. Before Mister Cross though there were others - one of whom was Stephen Bishop. A year earlier he had contributed a couple of songs to Art Garfunkel's 1975 album Breakaway , and this helped him secure a record deal. Careless would feature some of the best players of the '70s: Andrew Gold, Jay Graydon, Larry Carlton and Eric Clapton played guitar, Russ Kunkel and Jim Gordon among others on drums, and Chaka Khan who was also on ABC records appeared as a backing vocalist on a couple of track. Art Garfunkel also appeared on a few tracks. For a debut this is pretty awesome. Stephen co-produced the album with Henry Lewy who also engineered the album. Lewy was no stranger to great sounding albums which included  Mitchell's Blue and Neil Young's Harvest . The album opens with Stephen Bishop's biggest hit - or at least ...

David Cassidy was striking while the iron was cooling. Rock Me Baby followed a few months after his previous album Cherish went  gold domestically.  Rock Me Baby  would stall just outside the top 40 at 41. His solo career would fare better in the UK and Australia but in North America but it certainly seemed like the gold run for The Partridge Family and David's solo career had come to an end in the first half of '72.  It must have been incredibly perplexing for a young 22-year-old David, who seemed to be trying to step out of the bubblegum pin-up world he was confined to. Like a lot of people who grew up in the '70s The Partridge Family was essential television, but actually listening to the music outside the confines of the show was a lot to ask. I liked The Osmonds, but I wouldn't be caught dead listening to Donny. Icky ... germs. When I found a copy of Rock Me Baby I snapped it up. Why not? The album cover looked cool, although the back cover was goofy. My ...

Like any kid growing up in the '70s you'd have had to be living under a rock to not be inundated with Neil Diamond songs. The cover for Hot August Nights was the epitome of what a rock star was supposed to look like. Although I never heard the album in it's entirety until fairly recently. I was dragged to the theatre by my parents to watch Jonathan Livingston Seagull . Despite his many ear worms, I never had any Neil Diamond records growing up. He was too safe and well, kind of boring. A little while back I was watching The Last Waltz, and amidst a who's who of rock royalty, up steps Mr. Diamond to sing "Dry Your Eyes" and I thought it was okay, but he was pretty commanding from the stage. He may have known he was the odd duck there, but he didn't seem to give a shit. I didn't realize that the song he played came from an album produced by Robbie Robertson, and that Garth Hudson was featured on keyboard on the track.  Man I love the internet, there...