EARLY '70S RADIO: Burt Bacharach

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Thursday, August 18, 2016

The 5th Dimension - "One Less Bell to Answer" (1970)

"One Less Bell to Answer" (1970) - The 5th Dimension

Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David * Produced by Bones Howe * 45: "One Less Bell to Answer"/"Feelin' Alright" (Bell) * LP: Portrait (Bell) * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#2), easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1970-10-24

The plush "One Less Bell to Answer" is the sound of an abandoned housewife reclining on her personal crushed velvet chaise lounge; she'll miss her man and his company but she won't be going anywhere and won't be losing anything other than him. It's definitely a more complicated economic iteration of the breakup songs that were otherwise populating the soul and country charts in those days. The other four members of the 5th Dimension are virtually absent on "One Less Bell to Answer," which was the group's first hit on the Bell label after switching over from Soul City. Marilyn McCoo contributed the lead vocal as she would do on all of their biggest subsequent hits. A classic entry in the Burt Bacharach-Hal David catalog, the song originally appeared as a 1967 Keely Smith vehicle, employing an opening doorbell gimmick and projecting an aura of despair. McCoo's version, in contrast, featured her cool composure and an elegant arrangement that gave the song a more sophisticated range of interpretive possibilities. The Portrait album's version of Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright"—a late sixties FM rock hit for Traffic later popularized even more by Joe Cocker and Grand Funk Railroad—appeared on Side B of the single.

Side A: "One Less Bell to Anwer"

Side B: "Feelin' Alright"

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Gabor Szabo - "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (1971)

"(They Long to Be) Close to You" (1970) - Gabor Szabo

Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David * Produced by Tommy LiPuma * 45: "(They Long to Be) Close to You" / "Love Theme from Spartacus" * LP: Magical Connection * Label: Blue Thumb * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#40) * Entered: 1970-12-19

Prolific as the Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo may have been, he appeared only once as a singles artist in Billboard, reaching #40 on the easy listening chart with "(They Long to Be) Close to You)." Szabo mostly channeled Wes Montgomery in his reinterpretation of what was then the latest Bacharach-David standard, with his own distinctive style eventually manifesting itself in bends and chitters. "Close to You" had been floating around since 1963 in versions by Richard Chamberlain, Dionne Warwick, and Dinah Washington, but the Carpenters' 1970 hit recording became the definitive one, prompting this cover by Szabo. A moody take on Alex North's Spartacus film theme, with shimmering orchestral strings, fills up the flipside. Having lived in the US since he was 20, Szabo returned for a visit to his home country in 1982, where he died of liver and kidney disease at the age of 45.

Side A: "(They Long to Be) Close to You"

Side B: "Love Theme from Spartacus"

Friday, June 24, 2016

The Renaissance - "Always Something There to Remind Me" (1969)

The Renaissance - "Always Something There to Remind Me" (did not chart). Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Produced by Snuff Garrett. Arranged by Al Capps. LP: Bacharach Baroque (Ranwood 1969).

One of Snuff Garrett's many instrumental productions, Bacharach Baroque - released on Lawrence Welk's Ranwood Records - put a classical spin on the sixties' and seventies' reigning King of Easy Listening (Bacharach) that owed as much to Britain's Swingle Singers as it did to the Old World's great composers.

The Renaissance - "Always Something There to Remind Me"

See also: A KMPC Playlist circa 1971

Friday, June 17, 2016

Dionne Warwick - "The Green Grass Starts to Grow" (1970)

Dionne Warwick - "The Green Grass Starts to Grow" (Billboard #43, entered 12/5/70; easy listening #2). Written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. 45: "The Green Grass Starts to Grow"/"They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes" (Scepter 1970). LP: Very Dionne (Scepter 1970).

Loaded with Bacharach production trademarks of the day (tuba, tack piano, strummed nylon stringed guitars, punctuating trumpets), this Warwick single angled for Christmas airplay with its line "the sunshine of your smile melts the snow" and its jingle bells on the end.

Dionne Warwick - "The Green Grass Starts to Grow"

See also: A KMPC Playlist circa 1971

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Good Words About Early '70s Radio

"Kim Simpson does a superb job analyzing the manifold factors that contributed to the radio format revolution while advancing the reader’s understanding of a transformative period in American culture. Ultimately, Simpson’s astute assessment of radio’s second heyday adds richly to the ever-growing canon of media studies. Early '70s Radio is must reading for anyone interested in the unique role specialized audio programming played in an era of historic social change."

–– Michael C. Keith, Author of The Radio Station

"All of the men and women, though the latter were few in music radio for many years, took radio programming seriously not only as a career, but also with passion for its viability. This included the disc jockey, the program director, and the general manager as more and more of them graduated from programming into management. Thus, I’m pleased to read this wonderful, compelling book by Kim Simpson. He treats with respect what all of us in the 60s and 70s took seriously. It was our life! And he employs penetrating wisdom and astonishing perception to correlate music with the cultural mores of our times and depict what really was and why. Great book!"

–– Claude Hall, B.J., M.Ed. Radio-TV Editor, Billboard, 1964-79, and Assistant Communications Professor, State University of New York at Brockport, 1983-89

"Too often we separate the agendas contained in business plans from the decisions of daily life. Kim Simpson’s Early ‘70s Radio reunites the items found on playlists with the passions and polemics that infused a complicated decade. His skilful scholarship and attention to detail clarify that what we listen to and how we lead our lives do not march to separate beats, for our actions and our aesthetic preferences bear subtle and significant harmonies."

–– David Sanjek, Professor of Music Director, Salford Music Research Centre University of Salford, U.K.

"Early '70s Radio is a fast-paced romp through the formatting revolution that changed the ways pop music continues to be sliced and diced. Surprises pop off every page. Examining everything from monster hits to obscure and often-hilarious novelty tunes, Kim Simpson shows how Top 40 splintered into middle of the road soft rock, album-oriented hard rock, crossover soul and disco, and country pop. Each format promised to serve up a distinct listening demographic to hungry advertisers. Yet Simpson uncovers fascinating commonalities across the dial—including the increasing desire of stations to attract women instead of men—that fundamentally changed the sound of pop music. And who knew there were so many songs featuring children in the era? If you ever wondered about the roots of the Miley Cyrus/Justin Beiber phenomenon or how Glee learned to appeal to parents and their kids at the same time, Early '70s Radio delivers. I’ll never listen to 'Yummy Yummy Yummy' or 'Rubber Duckie' the same way again."

–– Karl Hagstrom Miller, author of Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow

"Music historians are only now discovering what most everybody in the 1970s already knew: commercial radio formats really really mattered. Looking at the five key strands (Top 40, MOR, rock, R&B, and country), Kim Simpson surveys a moment when identity politics and counterculture were becoming niche marketing and new kinds of mainstreams. You can't explain what happened to American popular music after the 1960s without understanding these processes, and Simpson provides an able, accessible guide through a daunting range of sounds and contexts."

–– Eric Weisbard, University of Alabama and editor, Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music