1970 Association Ad

A Billboard ad (2/28/70) for the Association's "Just About the Same" featured one of early '70s pop's favorite subjects: children. The single was a cover of a song by the Millennium, a group led by Curt Boettcher, who had produced the Association's debut LP in 1966. "Just About the Same," which bubbled under at #106, also bore the imprint of the era's Caribbean music trend. The single's entire marketing angle saw a fuller realization in Three Dog Night's "Black and White" two years later.

The Association - "Just About the Same" (Billboard #106, entered 2/28/70). Written by Doug Rhoes, Michael Fennelly, and Joey Stec. Produced by Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen. 45: "Just About the Same"/"Look at Me, Look at You" (Warner Bros. 1970). LP: (No album appearance).

Although the studio version of this song appeared on no album, a live version made the lineup for the 1970 The Association Live LP. 

The Stylistics debut LP's "Sales Power" Ad

African American pop music in the early '70s was like the month of March, coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb. The politically-charged, pulse-raising material that was mostly quarantined to soul radio playlists in 1970 gave way to ballads with broader appeal by 1975. This Stylistics ad from a 1971 Billboard really zeroes in on the metamorphosis, with enough marketing crisscross happening that I'm honestly not sure what the prevailing message of the ad is (if there even is one, other than "listen to the Stylistics").

But let's consider some possibilities: The most luscious sounding balladeers of the early '70s are relaxing in a meadow in a bubble - safe from society. They are inviting you into their blissful existence. But this doesn't mean they're out of touch. Black Power (see fist) ultimately drives them, and this association should appeal to their soul music base. Or is the "sales power" heading intended to soften or poke fun at Black Power, acknowledging that a new sound, embodied by the Stylistics, is on the horizon? Any of the above interpretations, actually, would fit the spirit of the times just fine.

All this aside, the Stylistics' eponymous first LP was a beauty, launching five singles into the Hot 100. It showcased the sweet lead vocals of Russell Thompkins Jr. and the formidable songwriting chops of Thom Bell and lyricist Linda Creed (except for "You're a Big Girl Now," which is consequently its weakest track). Bell's opulent song structures and string arrangements glimmer like city lights while Creed's lyrics are little humanistic wonders.

Here are the 5 charting singles released from their debut LP. When gathered together, all 9 tracks on the album are represented:

The Stylistics - "You're a Big Girl Now" (Billboard #73, entered 1/9/71; soul #7). Written by Marty Bryant and Robert Douglas. Produced by Marty Bryant and Bill Perry. 45: "You're a Big Girl Now"/"Let the Junkie Bust the Pusher" (AVCO Embassy 1970). LP: The Stylistics (AVCO Embassy 1971).

This first single, co-written and co-produced by the group's road manager Marty Bryant, got them signed to the AVCO label, after which Thom Bell took over their sound. Side B is a gritty non-album rarity that makes minimal use of Russell Thompkins, Jr.

The Stylistics - "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" (Billboard #39, entered 6/5/71; soul #6). Written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed. Produced by Thom Bell. 45: "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)"/"If I Love You" (AVCO Embassy 1971). LP: The Stylistics (AVCO Embassy 1971).

The Stylistics - "You Are Everything" (Billboard #9, entered 11/6/71; soul #10). Written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed. Produced by Thom Bell. 45: "You Are Everything"/"Country Living" (AVCO Embassy 1971). LP: The Stylistics (AVCO Embassy 1971).

The intro to "You Are Everything" features one of the era's memorable electric sitar riffs.

The Stylistics featuring Russell Thompkins, Jr. - "Betcha By Golly Wow" (Billboard #3, entered 2/26/72; soul #2). Written by Kenny Gamble, Linda Creed, and Thom Bell. Produced by Thom Bell. 45: "Betcha By Golly Wow"/"Ebony Eyes" (AVCO Embassy 1972). LP: The Stylistics (AVCO Embassy 1972).

Prince, who knew songcraft when he heard it, covered "Betcha By Golly Wow" in 1996.

The Stylistics - "People Make the World Go Round" (Billboard #25, entered 6/3/72; soul #6). Written by Linda Creed and Thom Bell Produced by Thom Bell. 45: "People Make the World Go Round"/"Point of No Return" (AVCO Embassy 1972). LP: The Stylistics (AVCO Embassy 1972).

"People Make the World Go Round" is a particular masterpiece, expressing the "ups and downs" and contradictions of urban life against a backdrop of music that's at once sullen and seductive.

The "My Sweet Lord" Chronicles

George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" is perhaps the most notorious plagiarism case in record biz history dues to its decades-long slog through courts concerning its similarities to the Chiffons' "He's So Fine." Most fascinating to me, though, are the possible effects the lawsuit had on the creativity of such an inventive songwriter. The "My Sweet Lord" saga likely informs everything Harrison wrote from 1971 onward.

A timeline:

The Chiffons - "He's So Fine" (Billboard #4, entered 2/23/63). Written by Ronnie Mack. Produced by Bright Tunes Productions. 45: "He's So Fine"/"Oh My Lover" (Laurie 1963). LP: He's So Fine (Laurie 1963).

The song Harrison was sued for plagiarizing when his "My Sweet Lord" became a hit had entered the US charts in 1963 and reached #12 in the UK that same year.

Edwin Hawkins Singers - "Oh Happy Day" (Billboard #4, entered 4/26/69). Written by Edwin R. Hawkins. Produced by La Mont Bench. 45: "Oh Happy Day"/"Jesus, Lover of My Soul" (Pavilion 1968). LP: Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord (Pavilion 1968).

This popular gospel recording by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, featuring the lead vocals of Dorothy Morrison, updated an eighteenth century hymn. It reached #4 in the US and #2 in the UK and most certainly influenced Harrison while creating "My Sweet Lord," but never came up in court. Hawkins claimed writer's credit for arranging the public domain piece (and also its B-side, Charles Wesley's "Jesus, Lover of My Soul").

Billy Preston - "My Sweet Lord" (Billboard #90, entered 2/13/71). Written by George Harrison. Produced by George Harrison and Billy Preston. 45: "My Sweet Lord"/"Little Girl" (Apple 1970). LP: Encouraging Words (Apple 1970).

Billy Preston's chugging interpretation of "My Sweet Lord," co-produced by Harrison, appeared on his Encouraging Words album two months before Harrison released his own version. The single entered Billboard's Hot 100, though, in early 1971.

George Harrison - "My Sweet Lord" (Billboard #1, entered 11/28/70). Written by George Harrison. Produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector. 45: "My Sweet Lord"/"Isn't It a Pity" (Billboard #1 [flip], entered 11/28/70) (Apple 1970). LP: All Things Must Pass (Apple 1970).

Harrison's glorious lead off single from his All Things Must Pass album.  It still stands as a distinct entity, no matter how much it may have borrowed from both "He's So Fine" and "Oh Happy Day." Harrison's - and co-producer Phil Spector's - awareness of its similarities with the recent public domain hit "Oh Happy Day" likely deflected notice that the song also shared marked similarities with "He's So Fine." How else to explain it? Spector had major girl group credentials, and it shouldn't have been lost on him. John Lennon in 1980: "He [Harrison] must have known, you know. He's smarter than that... Maybe he thought God would just sort of let him off."

The single's flipside, "Isn't It a Pity," clocked in at 7:10 and charted in tandem with "My Sweet Lord" as a double A-side, as per Billboard policy at the time. Its lyrics about heartbreak - then and now - sound like symbolic commentary on the dissolution of the Beatles and their era.

George Harrison - "Bangla Desh" (Billboard #23, entered 8/14/71). Written and produced by George Harrison. 45: "Bangla Desh"/"Deep Blue" (Billboard #23 [flip], entered 9/11/71) (Apple 1971). LP: The Best of George Harrison (Capitol 1976).

In February 1971, Bright Tunes Music, the company that owned "He's So Fine" at the time, filed suit against Harrison for plagiarism. It's unclear whether the suit was common knowledge before 1976, when stories about it finally appeared in Billboard, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times.

Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single, which featured complicated, non-intuitive chord changes and low memorability alongside a dour, uninviting demeanor, perhaps responded to the lawsuit as much as it did to the devastating famine in Bangla Desh. Harrison's post-1971 catalog would repeatedly tend toward unconventional, busy chord changes and elusive melodic turns in this way, as if to ensure ownership.

The flipside was called "Deep Blue," which earned charting status a month after "Bangla Desh" did. It made up for the A-side's severity with easy, major-to-minor acoustic guitar contentment. Oddly enough, the song hung in limbo as a non-album offering until just recently.

(The US picture sleeve used a "straight from the headlines" look that could have inspired the newspaper parody art for the sleeve of John Lennon's topical 1972 Some Time in New York City LP.)

Jody Miller - "He's So Fine" (Billboard #53, entered 6/26/71; country #5). Written by Ronnie Mack. Produced by Billy Sherrill. 45: "He's So Fine"/"You Number Two" (Epic 1971). LP: He's So Fine (Epic 1971).

The American country singer Jody Miller's version of "He's So Fine" verged on mockery, with an arrangement that borrowed blatant motifs from "My Sweet Lord."

The Chiffons - "My Sweet Lord" (did not chart). Written by George Harrison. Produced by Bill Frenz, Jr. 45: "My Sweet Lord"/"Main Nerve" (Laurie 1975). LP: (no album appearance).

One wonders whether Harrison viewed the Chiffons' sunny, pot-stirring 1975 cover of "My Sweet Lord" as a cheer or a jeer (or if he even knew of its existence).

George Harrison - "My Sweet Lord 2000" (did not chart): Harrison's 2000 revisitation of the song self-consciously alters the memorable melodic aspects that initially got him in trouble.

In the years following the "Bangla Desh"/"Deep Blue" 45, Harrison would release Living in the Material World (1973), Dark Horse (1974), Extra Texture (1975), and Thirty-Three and 1/3 (1976), albums that each include one or two memorable tracks among a majority of (deliberately?) unmemorable ones. In 1976, Harrison would be found guilty of "subconscious plagiarism" by the U.S. District Court with damages of $1.6 million. Harrison would later admit to having become "paranoid" about writing anything new.

In 1978, Allen Klein, who was Harrison's diabolical former business advisor, bought Bright Tunes and offered it to Harrison for exactly $1.6 million. In 1981, judges would decide that Klein had been duplicitous, ordering him to transfer ownership of Bright Tunes to Harrison for half a million. Although this ensured "He's So Fine" as Harrison's property, legal dickering regarding administrative fees and the like carried over into the 1990s.

In 2001, Harrison released an updated version of "My Sweet Lord" as a bonus track on the All Things Must Pass CD reissue, with his new lead vocal dancing purposefully around the original melody in a way that likely would not have attracted a lawsuit back in 1971.

Thoughts on "Monster Mash" circa 1973

The appearance of this ad for Bobby (Boris) Pickett's "Monster Mash" in a May 1973 Billboard indicates two things: that the 1962 single was exploding on the radio somewhere unexpected or that London Records was engaging in a very careful strategy to return the oldie to late October radio glory.

I'm going with both. The "Top Single Picks" column in the same May 12 issue reports "Monster Mash" as having caught fire in Milwaukee at WOKY-AM and WZUU-AM in early '73. This surely prompted London to start making noise about it only to get premature payoff when the song peaked (very respectably) at #10 in ... August. No, not October. Weird.

As for reasons why "Monster Mash" found new life in the early '70s, I'll stick with my notion of it being a desperately nostalgic time. Here's what Billboard says: "...maybe with Watergate and other scandals in the headlines, today's impressionable young music listeners find humor in the music. What else do they have to laugh about?" In the words of Pickett himself, who was rescued from the ski resort folkie circuit by the single's revival, its new success had to do with a country "crying out for laughter."

What I'd really like to know more about, though, is the nostalgic mentality of Milwaukee, which happens to be the fictional home of Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and That '70s Show. Is there anything to this or is it all just coincidence? 

Blue Haze's Reggae Pedigree

Blue Haze - "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (Billboard #27, entered 11/11/72). Written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach. Produced by Johnny Arthey and Phillip Swern. 45: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"/"Anna Rosanna" (A&M 1972). LP: (no album appearance).

A classic from the Great American Songbook, Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” appeared for the first time in the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film Roberta in 1933, after which jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman took it to the top of the Hit Parade the following year. The Platters would return it to #1 in 1959, but the song wouldn’t appear in the Top 40 again until Blue Haze, seemingly from out of the blue (sorry), resurrected it in 1972.

The group was a studio project led by British arranger Johnny Arthey and producer Phillip Swern, and their lone US Top 40 hit might strike listeners as a quick cash-in on both the nostalgia boom and the popular Caribbean sound. In fact, Swern and Arthey were already invested in reggae, which had been simmering to a boil in the UK throughout the late sixties. Arthey had done the British market string arrangements for Desmond Dekker's "You Can Get It If You Really Want," Bob and Marcia's "Young, Gifted and Black," and records by the Pioneers, among others. Along with Swern, he also produced and arranged Trojan singles by Teddy Brown, who sang lead on all of their Blue Haze output, including "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

Bonus:

The Seashells - "(The Best Part of) Breaking Up" (Billboard #115, entered 1/27/73). Written by Phil Spector, Pete Andreoli, and Vince Poncia. Produced by Johnny Arthey and Phillip Swern. 45: "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up"/"Play That Song" (Columbia 1972). LP: (no album appearance).

Another single Arthey and Swern produced "bubbled under" in the US at #115 - a version of the Ronettes' 1964 hit "(The Best Part of) Breaking Up" that sounds, rather incredibly, like a lost vintage Abba track. The Liverpool girl group included Vicki Brown and Mary Partington, who were sisters, along with Laura Lee. Brown, who is now deceased, was the wife of UK musican Joe Brown and the mother of vocalist Sam Brown, who had a US charting hit called "Stop" in 1989.

Early '70s "Soul Country" on the Charts: A Playlist

Although "soul country" never officially took flight, the early '70s were the era when such a genre might have, and John C. Pugh even voiced concerns about its hypothetical eventuality in a 1971 Music City News (I talk about this on pp. 180-181 of my book). Stations specializing in hybrid radio formats were certainly poised to accept such a genre, with the high profile success of African-American country star Charley Pride dropping hints, even though he was never less than 100% country.

Although the other notable African-American country artists of the era - O.B. McClinton and Stoney Edwards - were also too hardcore to qualify as "soul country," a few soul artists came close. Among these were the Pointer Sisters, whose "Fairy Tale" (1974) would only qualify as such because it is a faithful country diversion recorded by an otherwise soul-focused group. ("Fairy Tale," incidentally, won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal by a Duo or Group Performance; future country credentials for them came in the form of Conway Twitty turning their "Slow Hand" into an early '80s country hit.)

The most consistent dabbler in soul country was Dobie Gray, especially with his 1973 Loving Arms album. Gray even based himself in Nashville in the eighties and has the distinction of being one of the very few black artists to infiltrate the country charts during that decade, with his biggest country hit being "That's One to Grow On" (#35) in '86.

The other early '70s country soul experimentalists were the Chi-Lites, who got name checked by Nashville promotional executive Chuck Chellman in a late seventies Music City News. He referred to recent adds of the Chi-Lites to country station playlists as evidence that country's dalliance with rock music was leading to far greater travesties.

When I first read that, I automatically assumed that "Oh Girl" was the offending track, with its laid back, harmonica-driven feel. A recent listen-through of the group's 1973 Letter to Myself album, though, has me convinced that the interloping song in question was "My Heart Just Keeps on Breakin'," which reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is a unique hodgepodge of barnyard fiddle, drawled vocals, Philly soul polish with pizzicatto strings and street corner doo wop. Soul country if there ever was any.

The following 16 songs are my picks for the ultimate "soul country" hybrid records that could have easily crossed over from soul radio playlists to country radio playlists in the early '70s. Most of them, though, succeeded in bringing songs and sounds directly from the country repertoire to the soul charts. All of these charted on - or bubbled under - the Billboard Hot 100 between 1970 and 1974 and are listed chronologically. (None of the songs, by the way, appeared on the Simon Country album pictured above.)

1. Brook Benton with the Dixie Flyers - "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" (Billboard #45, entered 5/30/70, soul #31). Written by Joe South. Produced by Arif Mardin. 45: "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home"/"I've Gotta Be Me" (Cotillion 1970). LP: Home Style (Cotillion 1970). 

Benton's version of Joe South's "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" gave a deeply sentimental voice to the lyrics about highways, drag strips, and drive-in theaters blighting up the country fields of his youth.

2. Candi Staton - "Stand By Your Man" (Billboard #24, entered 8/29/70; soul #4). Written by Billy Sherrill and Tammy Wynette. Produced by Rick Hall. 45: "Stand By Your Man"/"How Can I Put the Flame Out (When You Keep the Fire Burning)" (Fame 1970). LP: Stand By Your Man (Fame 1970).

Staton's declaration of "after all, he's just a man," doesn't sound any less resigned than Tammy Wynette's original.

3. Joe Simon - "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (Billboard #69, entered 5/15/71; soul #13). Written by Kris Kristofferson. Produced by John Richbourg. 45: "Help Me Make It Through the Night"/"To Lay Down Beside You" (Spring 1971). LP: The Sounds of Simon (Spring 1971).

Other than Sammi Smith's classic country version of this Kris Kristofferson-penned song, all other versions of it that charted in the Billboard Hot 100 were by soul artists, and they're all on this list.

4. Dee Dee Warwick - "Suspicious Minds" (Billboard #80, entered 6/26/71; soul #24). Written by Fred Zanborn. Produced by Dave Cranford and Brad Shapiro. 45: "Suspicious Minds"/"I'm Glad I'm a Woman" (Atco 1971). LP: (no album appearance).

The last Hot 100 appearance for Dionne Warwick's younger sister.

5. Joe Simon - "All My Hard Times" (Billboard #93, entered 9/25/71; soul #26). Written by Joe South. Produced by John Richbourg. 45: "All My Hard Times"/"Georgia Blue" (Spring 1971). LP: The Sounds of Simon (Spring 1971).

This is the second song written by Joe South on this list ("Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" is the other), although it's really just a minimally adjusted version of the folk song "All My Trials." Ray Stevens' version of "All My Trials," coincidentally, charted on the Hot 100 around the same time as this, while Mickey Newbury would incorporate the song into his Top 40 hit "An American Trilogy" later the same year.

6. O.C. Smith - "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (Billboard #91, entered 11/13/71; soul #38). Written by Kris Kristofferson. Produced by 45: "Help Me Make It Through the Night"/"Diamond in the Rough" (Columbia 1971). LP: Help Me Make It Through the Night (Columbia 1971).

O.C. Smith was soul country before soul country was cool.  His version of Bobby Russell's "Little Green Apples" hit #2 in 1968, and here's what's especially interesting: it won the Grammy Award for country song of the year although it never appeared on Billboard's country singles chart.

7. Ray Charles - "What Am I Living For" (Billboard #54, entered 12/25/71). Written by Fred Joy and Art Harris. Producer: Joe Adams. 45: "What Am I Living for"/"Tired of My Tears" (ABC/TRC 1971). LP: Volcanic Action of My Soul (ABC/TRC 1971).

This oft-covered song was recorded first by Ernest Tubb in 1958.

8. Gladys Knight and the Pips - "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (Billboard #33, entered 3/25/72; soul #13). Written by Kris Kristofferson. Produced by Clay McMurray and Johnny Bristol. 45: "Help Me Make It Through the Night"/"If You Gonna Leave (Just Leave)" (Soul 1971). LP: Standing Ovation (Soul 1971).

In her spoken intro, Gladys Knight puts the widespread appeal of Kris Kristofferson's song into perspective: "I'm imagining a lot of happy people, and most of you are with someone you love. Well, you are the lucky ones."

9. Candi Staton - "In the Ghetto" (Billboard #48, entered 6/24/72; soul #12). Written by Mac Davis. Produced by Rick Hall. 45: "In the Ghetto"/"Sure as Sin" (Fame 1972). LP: Candi Staton (Fame 1972).

What to make of the appearance of campfire harmonica in this version's arrangement of "In the Ghetto"? Maybe to remind us that the city song comes from a country industry point of view.

10. Bettye Swann - "Today I Started Loving You Again" (Billboard #46, entered 1/27/73; soul #26). Written by Bonnie Owens and Merle Haggard. Produced by Rick Hall and Mickey Buckins. 45: "Today I Started Loving You Again"/"I'd Rather Go Blind" (Atlantic 1972). LP: (no album appearance).

The Louisiana soul singer Swann recorded a version of this for Capitol in 1969 (crediting only Merle Haggard as the writer). This later version on Atlantic would be her final Hot 100 appearance.

11. Dobie Gray - "Drift Away" (Billboard #5, entered 2/24/73). Written and produced by Mentor Williams. 45: "Drift Away"/"City Stars" (Decca 1973). LP: Drift Away (Decca 1973).

Written and produced by Paul Williams's brother Mentor, "Drift Away" remains a staple on oldies and Adult Contemporary playlists. A version by Uncle Kracker went back to the Top Ten in 2003. Surprisingly, none of Dobie Gray's early seventies output made the soul singles charts.

12. The Chi-Lites - "My Heart Just Keeps on Breakin'" (Billboard #92, entered 6/9/73). Written by Eugene Record and Stanley (Stank) McKenney. Produced by Eugene Record. 45: "My Heart Just Keeps on Breakin'"/"Just Two Teenage Kids (Still in Love)" (Brunswick 1973). LP: A Letter to Myself (Brunswick 1973).

As I said above, this is "soul country" if there ever was such a thing.

13. Dobie Gray - "Good Old Song" (Billboard #103, entered 12/1/73). Written by Mentor Williams and Ron Davies. Produced by Mentor Williams. 45: "Good Old Song"/"Reachin' for the the Feeling" (MCA 1973). LP: Loving Arms (MCA 1973).

14. Gladys Knight and the Pips - "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (Billboard #3, entered 2/16/74; soul #1). Written by Jim Weatherly. Produced by Kenny Kearner and Richie Wise. 45: "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (Buddah 1973). LP: Imagination (Buddah 1973).

A new version of a Jim Weatherly-penned song that Ray Price charted with in '73 (#82) and which ended up being Price's very last Hot 100 hit.

15. Dobie Gray - "Watch Out for Lucy" (Billboard #107, entered 9/21/74). Written by Lonnie Mack. Produced by Mentor Williams. 45: "Watch Out for Lucy"/"Turning on You" (MCA 1974). LP: Hey Dixie (MCA 1974).

MCA's art department took the problematic Confederate flag route for the Hey Dixie album's lettering.

16. The Pointer Sisters - "Fairytale" (Billboard #13, entered 10/5/74; country #37). Written by Anita Pointer and Bonnie Pointer. Produced by David Rubinson and Friends, Inc. 45: "Fairytale"/"Love in Them There Hills" (ABC/Blue Thumb 1974). LP: That's a Plenty (ABC/Blue Thumb 1974).

Although "Fairytale," a Grammy winner for Country Vocal Group performance, might have felt like a breakthrough at the time, it really only ended up representing the end of a highly experimental era at the beginning of a carefully formatted one.

Grand Funk circa 1970

Here's a photo of Times Square from June 1970. Grand Funk Railroad, from Flint, Michigan, were a true "rock for rock's sake" vehicle for the early '70s generation, too irritatingly apolitical for the tastes of the fading sixties counterculture. Here's an illustrative companion clip for this billboard image, capturing the band playing "Closer to Home (I'm Your Captain)" at Shea Stadium, a show they sold out faster than the Beatles had done a half-decade previous.

Grand Funk Railroad - "Heartbreaker" (Billboard #72, entered 2/14/70). Written by Mark Farner. Produced by Terry Knight. 45: "Heartbreaker"/"Please Don't Worry" (Capitol 1970). LP: On Time (1969).

The single and album versions both play for the full 6:30.

Grand Funk Railroad - "Closer to Home" (Billboard #22, entered 8/15/70). Written by Mark Farner. Produced by Terry Knight. 45: "Closer to Home"/"Aimless Lady" (Capitol 1970). LP: Closer to Home (Capitol 1970).

The 45 version of "Closer to Home" (linked to above) clocked in at 5:30, while the Closer to Home album version (confusingly titled "I'm Your Captain") stretched out to 9:47 on the album.

Grand Funk Railroad - "Mean Mistreater (live)" (Billboard #47, entered 10/12/70). Written by Mark Farner. Produced by Terry Knight. 45: "Mean Mistreater"/"Mark Say's Alright" [sic] (Capitol 1970). LP: Live Album (Capitol 1970).

Side B, spelled "say's" on both the album and single, is an instructive, polarizing document.