Smooth Sailing In The Summer Of Love

Aránzazu

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some but for everyone”

I tried to capture the sound of the hippie and Woodstock generation in the late 1960s, early 1970s. It started in San Francisco, where the peace and love movement gathered for the first summer of love in 1967. Later on it spread all over the country.

Jackie DeShannon started as a teen pop star in the early 1960s, but being so did not make her happy. She once told in an interview that it was very hard to be a female singer-songwriter in the 1960s. You were either a singer or a songwriter, but you could not be both at the same time. Big stars had hits with her best songs and she herself recorded compositions from others. For instance, she made the Bacharach/David song What The World Needs Now Is Love popular in 1965 and on the other hand, she recorded her composition Break-A-Way first in 1963, but it took until 1983 before Tracey Ullman made it hugely successful. Tables turned in the late 1960s when she had made name for herself as an independent female folk-rock singer. In 1969 she was on the pop charts again with her composition Put A Little Love In Your Heart, 20 years later recorded by Al Green and Annie Lennox, and then again in 1993 by Dolly Parton. Her song When You Walk In The Room has been covered many, many times, just as Bette Davis Eyes (Kim Carnes!). Although she is not well-known by a large audience, Jackie DeShannon was one the first female singer-songwriters and one of the true innovators of the folk-rock scene.

The 5th Dimension are featured in the very interesting Disney+ documentary Summer Of Soul about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival aka ‘Black Woodstock’. Many listeners thought they were a white group, so the 5th Dimension were very glad to perform at the festival to show that they were black. Singers Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis of The 5th Dimension were a couple and continued as a duo when the band split. Their single You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1977.

If you think you hear Whitney Houston's voice on What The World Needs Now Is Love by The Sweet Inspirations, you are not far off, because it's her mother, Cissy Houston! 😊

You can find Hang On Sloopy by Golden for free on Bandcamp! 

Enjoy this fresh part of Smooth Sailing! Next up is a new episode of the funky chillout series.

Tracklist:

Matthews Southern Comfort – Woodstock (1970)
Jackie DeShannon ‎– Laurel Canyon (1968)
Odyssey – Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love (1972)
Beverly Ann – You’ve Got Your Mind On Other Things (1968)
Golden – Hang On Sloopy (2022)
The Sweet Inspirations – What The World Needs Now Is Love (1968)
The Sunshine Company – Happy (1967)
Pinkerton's 'Assort' Colours – Mirror Mirror (1966)
The Foundations – In The Bad, Bad Old Days (1969)
Harpers Bizarre – The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (1967)
The 5th Dimension – Up-Up And Away (1967)
Paul Bender – Summer Fool (2022)
The Everly Brothers – Bowling Green (1967)
The Cowsills – Indian Lake (1968)
Autumn – My Little Girl (1971)
The Four Seasons – Watch The Flowers Grow (1967)
David McWilliams – I Love Susie In The Summer (1969)
Del Shannon – Colour Flashing Hair (1968)
Unit Four Plus Two – Baby Never Say Goodbye (1966)
Episode Six – Morning Dew (1967)
Lulu – Try To Understand (1965)
Edwin Starr – Stop The War Now (1970)
Messengers – California Soul (1967)
Milton Floyd ‎– I'm A Shadow (1973)
Bill Withers – Harlem (1971)
Mitch Davis – Bear The Cold (2022)
Donovan – Catch The Wind (1965)