Best Of 70s Soul: Mellow Gold

-
Hot Chocolate

British band Hot Chocolate made 'funky rock 'n roll',  a unique cocktail of soul, rock, pop and a tiny bit of disco. They had a string of first class hit singles in the 1970s. Not many people know that Hot Chocolate was discovered by John Lennon. When he heard their version of Give Peace A Chance, he immediately signed them for the Apple label that was owned by The Beatles. But the Fab Four split and Mickie Most contracted Hot Chocolate to RAK a little later. He also produced their biggest hits. They were at their best around the mid-seventies, when frontman Errol Brown sang passionately about his love life, supported by the distinctive guitar sound of Harvey Hinsley. Hot Chocolate was certainly not just another disco band (they even made anti-disco songs). The architect of the group, forementioned Errol Brown, passed away in 2015.

In 1974, former Motown writer and producer Johnny Bristol launched his career as a solo singer. His highly sensual debut single Hang On In There Baby reached number 2 R&B and number 8 on the pop chart. The same titled album had some more great tracks, like You And I. But its successor Feeling The Magic wasn't as successful, although there were quite a few highlights on it as well, like Love Takes Tears and Lusty Lady. 

Soon afterwards Bristol left his record company MGM. Bristol's Creme, his Atlantic debut album, put him back on the map. The LP had two superb singles, I Sho Like Groovin' With Ya and Do It To My Mind. The latter would become his last hit record, reaching number 5 on the R&B chart in 1976. The successful singer, songwriter and producer passed away in March of 2004 at the age of 65.

Enjoy these mellow gold tracks from the seventies! The track by The Ebonys is on Yacht Soul, the upcoming part of the Too Slow To Disco series.

Next up is a Mixcloud Exclusive, followed by a new show on Mellow Mellow FM for all listeners.

Tracklist:

Raydio ‎– Is This A Love Thing (1978)
The Ebonys – A Love Of Your Own (1977)
Banda Black Rio – Samboreando (1978)
Chi-Lites – Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So) (1970)
Chocolate Milk – How About Love (1976)
Hi-Tension – British Hustle (1978)
Johnny Bristol – I Sho Like Groovin’ With Ya (1976)
Hot Chocolate – Cheri Babe (1974)
Marvin Gaye – Time To Get It Together (1978)
Spiders Webb – I Don’t Know What’s On Your Mind (1976)
Patrice Rushen – Hang It Up (1978)
Tony Wilson – Love, I Thought I Would Never Find Love (1979)
Mud – Laugh Live Love (1976)
The Three Degrees ‎– Take Good Care Of Yourself (1975)

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