The Smooth Operators Present Mellow Morning Moods

-
Paula Pire
Good morning! ;-) The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) pay tribute to the heyday of the 1970s FM radio sound with our series Mellow Moods. Enjoy this new chapter: Mellow Morning Moods! In this edition we try to make the morning pass as gentle as possible.

‘S-s-s Single Bed’ by Fox (and written by Kenny Young) was in the charts almost 40 years ago. It reached #10 in the Netherlands. A tribute to a "one solitary lonesome single bed":

"Oh but all I got
Is a s-single bed
Ain't no room
For your sweet head
Now ain't it a shame
You missed the last train
Coz all I got is a s-single bed... "

The closing track is 'Give up your guns' by The Buoys. It was written by Rupert Holmes (famous for his 'Pina Colada Song') and released in 1971. The song was not a big hit in the US, but it reached #5 in the Dutch Top 40 a year later and after its re-release in 1979 it became a top ten hit again. Their debut single 'Timothy' (written by Rupert Holmes too) went to #17 in the Billboard Hot 100. Their only album, also named 'Timothy', contained both songs. Rupert Holmes is featured in this mix with 'Morning man' as well.

Tracklist:

Kalapana – When The Morning Comes (1975)
Gil Scott-Heron – I Think I’ll Call It Morning (1971)
Little River Band –Light Of Day (1978)
Emily King – Sleepwalker (2015)
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Wake Up Everybody (1975)
John Valenti – Morning Song (1976)
Myles Sanko – Lonely Dreamers (2014)
Norman Connors– Be There In The Morning (1979)
Larsen-Feiten Band – Morning Star (1980)
Knobsticker – Early Bird (2009)
Rupert Holmes – Morning Man (1980)
Monk Higgins – Walking In My Sleep (1972)
Salena Jones – Morning Dew (1970)
Nankosoul – The Sky At Sunrise (2015)
Sheila E. – Lovely Day (2013)
Maysa Feat. Bluey – Good Morning Sunrise (2013)
Airbag – One Day You Will (2016)
Fox – S-S-S Single Bed [Bill Brewster Edit] (1976)
Young Gun Silver Fox – So Bad (2015)
Gerry Rafferty – Sleepwalking (1982)
Falqo – Sleepy Crusader (2015)
Luther Vandross & Patti Austin – I'm Gonna Miss You In The Morning (1978)
Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’77 – After Sunrise (1972)
Fessler – Happy Morning (2000)
George Duke – Alone 6 AM / Brazilian Sugar (1979)
Craig Donaldson – We Dance And Sing (1980)
Shaun Cassidy – Morning Girl (1976)
The Buoys – Give Up Your Guns (1972)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disco Knockouts!

-
Image
Apart from the picture of Sharron Davies, there are two songs that inspired me to make this mix. One of them is a recent track from Duck Sauce. The repetition of the female vocals reminded me of Stars On 45 (I believe they both sampled 'Gotta Go Home' by Boney M). The other one is from Dutch singer Dee Dee. I heard ‘I put a spell on you’ on a recent episode of Tim Sweeney’s ‘Beats in space’. In the accompanying video she looks a little bit like a sex doll, but I love the song! I like the closing track from soul veterans the Drifters, but isn’t it strange to hear guys who were in their thirties at the time sing about schoolgirls? Different times, I guess, when no one had heard of R. Kelly yet... One of my personal favourites is ‘Night time’ from Maggie MacNeal. I bought the 7” which was produced by Michael Lloyd (known for his work for the Osmonds, Lou Rawls and Solomon Burke) way back in 1979. Maggie MacNeal was one half of successful Dutch duo Mouth & MacNeal. Their bigg
Read more

The Smooth Operators Present Classic Yacht Rock

-
Image
Unsplash The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) introduce you to yacht rock songs that you must have heard at least once in your life! We present some real yacht rock classics and yacht rock songs that we think should have been classics. Harden My Heart by American pop/rock group Quarterflash was written by guitarist Marv Ross and included on the band's debut album, Quarterflash (1981). The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band. Quarterflash's version became a top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1982. Guitarist and songwriter Marv Ross remembered that a friend of his had given him the title and that he came up with the lyrics very quickly. Last Monday Michael McDonald, front man of the Doobie Brothers, celebrated his 72th birthday: "Emerging from the laid-back California rock scene of the '70s, McDonald found his niche in a unique blend of
Read more

West Coast Sundown: Yacht Rock, Late Night Pop & Sunset Soul

-
Image
Unsplash Enjoy the soundtrack to a West Coast sundown! 😊 The closing track by Matt Duncan is brand new, by the way. It sounds like a lost recording from The Nightfly sessions by Donald Fagen. At the time critics sometimes called David Cassidy’s music bubblegum pop. That was simply defined  music manufactured to sell as much records as possible and it was mostly aimed at a very young audience. Bubblegum's classic period ran from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. At that point disco music took over the single market. However, David Cassidy certainly made some very good records, although in later years he found it difficult to shake off his teen idol image. “His wispiest, breathiest hit was called ‘I Am A Clown’. Poor, sweet, forlorn sexy David – marshmallows could’ve bruised this sound.“ (Bob Stanley in his book Yeah Yeah Yeah )  Midas Shadow by Al Stewart is from his classic 1976 album The Year Of The Cat . The message of this song is that when a successful businessman stops
Read more