Love & Peace, a message by the Smooth Operators

-
Cari Ann Wayman
The Smooth Operators give you a message of hope in these dark and troubled times with a selection of protest songs that emphasize love and peace.

In general, a protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change. It was especially popular during the Vietnam war. Monumental protest songs are ‘What’s going on’ by Marvin Gaye and ‘War’ by Edwin Starr. Around the mid-sixties protest songs were very popular on the American West Coast, most notably in the Summer of Love (1967). When the Vietnam war ended, the protest song lost its popularity fast and it never became as widespread as it was between 1965-1975. The Smooth Operators hope it will make a strong return soon! We need it now more than ever.

Tracklist:

Chambers Brothers - What The World Needs Now Is Love (1967)
The Love Committee - One Day Of Peace (1974)
Omar - Stop War, Make Love (2013)
Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On (1971)
The Jones Girls – At Peace With Woman (1980)
HD – Nothing But Love (2016)
TCB Band – Children Of The Future (1980?)
Billy Jones & The Twinkle Stars – We Want Peace (1973)
The O’Jays – When The World’s At Peace (1972)
The Staple Singers – For What It’s Worth (1967)
Reuben Howell – Help The People (1975)
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Wake Up Everybody (1975)
MFSB – Love Is The Message [A Tom Moulton Mix] (1976)
Al Wilson – La La Peace Song (1974)
Minnie Riperton – Love And Its Glory (1975)
Ryan Shaw – People Get Ready (2010)
Kenny Rankin – Peaceful (1967)
Barbara Mason – World In A Crisis (1974)
Billy Paul – Let ‘Em In (1976)
Razzy Bailey - I Hate Hate (1974)
Aloe Blacc - Love Is The Answer (2013)
Gil Scott-Heron - Save The Children (1971)
Curtis Mayfield - We Got To Have Peace (1971)
Edwin Starr - War (1970)
Myles Sanko - This Ain’t Living (2017)
Johnny King & The Fatback Band - Peace, Love Not War (1969)
Father’s Children - Who’s Gonna Save The World (1979)
The Undisputed Truth - Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite The World) / Friendship Train (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